Last week I visited India, and as some of you may have noticed, I am wearing an orange tie—one of the three colors on the Indian national flag which, in fact, represents courage and sacrifice. India is a big country with a population of over 1.3 billion that is expected to reach 1.4 billion. The Indian economy is the sixth largest in the world, and it is more than likely to move up to the third place. The GDP annual growth rate of India over the past 15 years averaged 7.5%, and as of 2017, around 34% of the population is settled in urban areas. It is also likely to be more than 50% urbanized soon as the population shift from rural to urban areas continues to increase. Six cities have a population of over ten million, and there are three cities with more than five million people and another three cities with over three million people—numbers that will soon increase up to ten million and five million respectively. There are also three cities with over ten million people in the neighboring countries of India. All of this means that the Indian consumer market is growing large.

 Today, I'd like to talk about the principle. As you all know, we currently face a number of daunting challenges. Competition with other global companies is getting intense, and above all, the needs of customers are changing fast. Our success in the market depends on how quickly we respond to these changes because they are coming faster than we can imagine. Speed is the key to business success, not the size.

 Through self-innovation, we will work together to overcome these challenges, and in the course of doing so, we must act according to the principle. This comes before regulation and/or policy. In other words, the principle underpins our policy and regulation. If the customers and the business environment change, we have to change our policy accordingly. The same goes for regulations; if it is not right for our present state, then naturally, we have to change. However, our first principlecan never change. The principle in question is Customer Centricity. Look at things from a customer's viewpoint, and if there is any policy or regulation that goes against the customers and their changing needs, then we must correct it. Keep in mind these two rules. Rule #1: the customer is always right. Rule #2: if you think the customer is wrong, go back and reread the first rule. That should show you just how important Customer Centricity really is. Because customers are changing and the world is changing, we must observe them carefully and think from their viewpoint when doing our business. That is the first and foremost principle.

 The second fundamental principle is Must-Do Initiatives. When it says "Do," it means we have to take action, not merely speak out loud. Nothing happens without action. From the development of a product to manufacturing, delivery, service and customer complaint handling—our journey is a series of actions taken for the sole purpose of finding and fulfilling the needs of our customers. The direction of our actions is set when we find the ways that let innovation take place. Innovation itself stems from creative ideas, but without any action, ideas are useless, and similarly, actions without creative ideas are of no use. Because creativity and innovation are only possible through humans, we put much effort into hiring and training new talent. A healthy organization is an underlying basis for Must-Do Initiatives. When we plan our actions, we must discuss them together, and whatever and whenever a decision is reached, we must accept it and follow it together. Don't grumble after a decision has been made but rather speak up when you had the chance during the discussion; the former is, simply put, a cowardly act.

 The third fundamental principle is to create a great highly engaged workplace. For that, we must build trust upon which our principles stand. Mutual trust—between you and the company, and between individuals—is important. It is the value that we all must keep. Autonomy is also an essential precondition of mutual trust. It is the ability to make and act upon one's own principles. Fostering creativity is also important. Encourage and engage individuals to be more creative by providing training and job experiences that the company requires and individuals need. We will keep changing our systems and organizational culture as they are the foundation of a good workplace where individuals can put their passion into work and work as a team. First though, we will set the principle right as it comes before policy and regulation, and accordingly upbuild our HR system and anything else involved with corporate management.

 I recently read a book titled I Decided to Live As Me. This book shares the challenges that young millennials are facing, and I am sure many of you have read it, too. Young people today struggle with uncertainty, unfairness and injustice in this world. They worry too much about how others think of them. I think though that such behavior is the result of not taking ownership of their lives. I want to build a good place for work that is a principled company where everyone can take ownership over their own lives, live and work according to the principle and actively take action. I believe that in our journey of building a good principled workplace, many of you will be able to gain self-esteem and autonomy. This journey has just begun. Don't stay behind but instead speak up your mind. I promise that I will listen carefully and do all that I can do. Take an active part in ongoing projects so that we can build a principled company, and in doing so, you will be able to lead a more fulfilling life. Do not be afraid of challenging yourself. Try something new in your life and enjoy the changes. Even though we are facing challenges, together we can work through them all. Exciting changes await! Thank you.