How to realize modern management of family business.

Panasonic Corporation of Panasonic Fortune Family introduced modern management science into the family business, which made the family business more prosperous. The following is the valuable experience of Panasonic's modern management, which is the management rule that contemporary entrepreneurs must know and the magic weapon to make enterprises bigger and stronger.

From 1950 to 1960 is the period of rapid development of Panasonic. Their household appliances gradually dominated the Japanese market. After this period of great development, the company miraculously jumped to the ranks of the largest companies in the world. If Panasonic's rapid growth in the 1930s and 1940s made it one of the big Japanese enterprises, it mainly benefited from the guidance of Kono's "mission of industrialists". Then, this rapid development is based on the "mission of industrial people" and also benefits from the guidance of Konosuke's world-famous "30 business rules" on enterprise management. Because of its high practical value, 22 of them are extracted as follows:

1. Location is more important than store size; The quality of goods is more important than the quality of places.

2. Treat the object of the transaction as your relative. Whether you can get the support of customers determines the rise and fall of the store.

3. Pre-sales commitment is not as good as after-sales service. This is the only way to create "permanent customers".

4. Take the customer's blame as a "Buddha's Word" and accept it gladly no matter what it is.

Don't worry about lack of funds, but lack of credit.

6. Customers who spend only one yuan have a more fundamental impact on the prosperity of business than those who spend one hundred yuan.

7. Don't push sales. Instead of selling what customers like, selling is beneficial to customers.

8. More liquidity is needed. The capital turnover of 100 yuan is 10 times and becomes 1000 yuan.

9. When customers return goods, they are more friendly than when they first sold them.

10. It is a good thing to sell good goods, and it is even better to publicize good goods.

1 1. Have such firm self-confidence and sense of responsibility: "If I don't engage in this kind of sales, society can't have a satisfactory activity."

12. Be kind to wholesalers. If you have legitimate demands, you should speak frankly and truthfully.

13. Even if the gift is just a piece of paper, the customer is happy. If there is no gift, send a "smile".

14. Since we hire shop assistants to work for ourselves, we should establish a reasonable system in terms of treatment and welfare.

15. Keep innovating. Beautifying the display of goods is also one of the secrets to attract customers.

16. wasting a piece of paper will also increase the price of goods.

17. The goods sold out are out of stock, which is tantamount to snubbing customers and unacceptable negligence of the store. At this time, you should apologize solemnly and say, "We will deliver it to your home as soon as possible." Leave the customer's address.

18. Strictly observe the same price. On the contrary, price reduction will cause confusion and unhappiness and damage credit.

Blessed are the children. Special care should be given to customers with children or children sent to shopping.

20. Always think about the profit and loss of the day, and get into the habit of not sleeping until you know the profit and loss of today.

2 1. to gain the credibility and praise of customers: "As long as it is sold in our store, it is good."

22. There is no such thing as a recession for businessmen. No matter what happens, you must make money.

1In July, 964, Panasonic held a symposium for sales companies and agent managers at the "New Fuji House" hotel in Rehai, Shizuoka Prefecture. At the meeting, the sales managers said frankly: the competition in the home appliance market is fierce, and the sellers are suffering huge losses. Konosuke was amazed when he learned about it! He immediately apologized very sincerely to the seller and said that he would try his best to change this situation.

1 964 August1day, Konosuke unexpectedly announced that he was temporarily the head of the company's sales department as the chairman.

This announcement is a rock-breaking event! The sales department is a functional department under the leadership of the general manager. It is too wronged to be the head of a department with the respect of the chairman. Second, the leaders of functional departments should personally take care of all related businesses, and at this time, Kono Sukeyoshi is 70 years old; Third, the home appliance market is in a crisis at this time. If we can't open the situation, Kono's wisdom is wrong. Because of this, his behavior of being the head of the sales department has naturally aroused widespread concern and admiration in Japanese society.

Regarding the first wish, Konosuke invited the general managers of six companies (Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Fuji, Sanyo and Hayakawa) and the general managers of seven largest home appliance companies in Japan to discuss and negotiate on August 16. As a result, everyone was open and honest, reached an understanding with each other and agreed to maintain the competitive order in the market.

Second, on the basis of improving the internal management system, we should make reasonable profits in sales. In the internal system, the centralized system implemented since 1955 has been changed to the business department system implemented since the 1930s. Then, there will be business contact between each business department and the sales company. The company will make necessary adjustments to the product items according to the market situation, appropriately reduce the business income index, and avoid "seeking fish from the edge of the wood" for the seller. Konosuke attaches importance to the idea of sellers and further improves Panasonic's sales network. By the end of 1980s, there were about 50,000 appliance stores in Japan, of which about 30,000 were Panasonic's agents, and most of them were located on the main roads.

Panasonic's marketing situation has been rapidly improved: 1965 1 1 the first phase (half a year) sales reached 1006 billion yen, with a profit of 6.3 billion yen; The sales of the first phase19661196 million yen, an increase of19.5% over the previous period; 1967 The sales of the first phase in May was156.8 billion yen, an increase of12.3% over the previous period; In the same year, the sales in the first period were110.905 billion yen, an increase of 2 1.5% over the previous period, while the profit in this period was as high as 1.2 1 billion yen, an increase of 22.8% over the previous period. Half a year's profit can exceed the mark of 100 billion yen, which is an unprecedented record in the development history of Japanese joint-stock companies.

Konosuke has a mantra: "In our company, everyone is the president"-this fully reflects his management philosophy of attaching great importance to people and is the development of Ford's "people-oriented" management thought. Because in Panasonic's mind, Ford's entrepreneurial spirit has the greatest influence on his career and is an example for him to learn.

In order to better embody the principle of "everyone is the president", Konojie asked the heads of all departments to make it clear that trainee employees (fresh graduates) are the backbone of Panasonic in the future and should care about their work, life and study with kind parents. Konosuke is also very bold in the use of talents. People who can be trusted, even those who are very junior and inexperienced, are often entrusted with important tasks to enable them to grow their talents in their work. At the end of 1970s, Konosuke had retired as a consultant, but he saw that Panasonic Group was smooth on the surface, and so were "big enterprises". It has implemented drastic reforms and resolutely adopted measures to rejuvenate its personnel. First of all, it made an exception by using 57-year-old Yamashita Toshihiko, the penultimate director of the board of directors, as the general manager. This move has created an innovative team for Panasonic Group that can work stably for 10 years. The company is full of vitality and forge ahead.

Panasonic paid little attention to talents at one stage. Kono Sukeyoshi sternly pointed out: "The company must adjust its direction and shift its focus to cultivating talents. It is important to produce products, but first of all, we should use our brains on how to train talents. Only in this way can our ideals be realized. " At his request, department heads paid more attention to finding talents by talking with young workers, and formed an atmosphere of mutual understanding and communication. In order to make the relationship between superiors and subordinates harmonious, Kono Suke also set up a rubber man with his own image in the company's comprehensive management office. If the workers are dissatisfied with the company, in addition to making comments, they can also take time to beat rubber people to vent their anger.

Konosuke knew that he didn't have enough formal education. This self-knowledge makes him often appreciate the advantages of others instead of paying attention to their shortcomings. Some people say that Kono's genius lies in his ability to authorize. He himself said: "In the prosperous period of the company, the host should be silent and not interfere in the following work;" When encountering difficulties, the host should personally direct everything. " He said so and did so.

Based on "people-oriented" and in order to inspire employees' "Panasonic spirit", Konosuke specially produced the company's "Song of Society". "In order to build a new Japan, we should contribute our strength and wisdom, try our best to increase production and let products be sold all over the world like spring water. Everyone should be sincere and harmonious, and long live Panasonic. " And formulated the "Panasonic Seven Spirits" of serving the country by industry, being aboveboard, being harmonious and consistent, striving for progress, being polite and modest, adapting to the times and being grateful for serving the country. In order to enable many business divisions to implement the business philosophy of Kono, Matsushita Group holds a "business policy briefing meeting" at the beginning of each year, and Kono will attend and give a speech. In every workplace, we must implement the system of "prostration", recite the company's "seven spirits" and finally swear: "As an industrialist, we will never be against ourselves"; A few minutes before leaving work, employees will also check the words and deeds of the day against the company's "Seven Spirits".

This "courtship" system has been adopted by enterprises in many countries in the world.

Until 1959, Panasonic opened the first overseas subsidiary to produce and sell household appliances in the United States after World War II. In 1960s, the company accelerated its overseas expansion and established 65,438+05 subsidiaries in Thailand, Taiwan Province Province of China, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Tanzania and Australia. In 1970s, they set up 30 subsidiaries in 17 countries and regions. Since 1980s, they have maintained a strong momentum of actively occupying the global market.

Kono Sukeyoshi not only founded Panasonic and brought it into the world's top enterprise groups, but also played a big role in promoting Japan's economic take-off and dominating the world, making it a "master" of Japanese industry and being honored as the "God of Management"; The management secret of his "30 business rules" and the management concept of "everyone is the president", "When the company is booming, the owner should be silent and not interfere in the following work; When encountering difficulties, the host should personally direct everything and set up a rubber man with his own image. Anyone who is dissatisfied with the company can take it out on the rubber man, which is an important chapter in the history of world management development in the 20th century.

Kōnosuke Matsushita's wealth family companies are not only innovative in management, but also unique in talent management. Although it is a family business, only by attaching importance to social talents can the family business become living water.

Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic Corporation, also has rich and original opinions on talent management, which is based on these thoughts. Specifically, Panasonic has "seven tricks" in employing people.

Looking for 70 talents.

Kōnosuke Matsushita believes that the employment of talents should be suitable for the company. If the degree is too high, it may not be useful. Of course, there are many people who work hard with high standards, but many people will say, "It's bad luck to work in such a bad company." If he is an ordinary person, he will be grateful to say "this company is very good" and work hard for the company. Isn't that great? Therefore, it is not appropriate to recruit people with high standards. The word "appropriate" is very important. The right company, the right store, and the right talent, if you are serious about recruiting talents, there should be no problem. Although they can't reach 100, it's not a problem to reach 70. Sometimes it is better to reach 70 points.

Talents are not "picked up" and must be cultivated with heart.

Excellent talents are difficult to "pick up" and "control", and it is best to cultivate them yourself. Everyone has to undergo training to become an excellent talent, just like athletes galloping on the sports field to show their talents one by one, but their amazing physical fitness and skills are not obtained out of thin air, but the result of strict training. Not only physically, but also mentally, we have to receive strict training. For example, the precepts of Zen Buddhism are so strict that most people can't stand it, but a well-trained monk doesn't feel bitter at all, but he can take it in stride. Therefore, people can only achieve their ideal goals if they are willing to accept strict training. On the contrary, if a person is born with the best qualifications, but refuses to receive training, then his quality cannot be brought into play. A leader must carry out strict training if he wants his subordinates to display their innate excellent qualities. But we should also pay attention to the training methods. If the ancient method is applied to the present, I'm afraid it will have the opposite effect. Therefore, it is also the responsibility of leaders to consider the application of methods.

The most important thing to cultivate talents is to establish "enterprise goals and management policies".

How do operators train talents? Of course, there are various specific methods, but the most important thing is to establish some basic principles such as "enterprise's goals and business policies", that is, to have a correct business philosophy and sense of mission. If the company's business philosophy is clear, operators and managers can achieve efficient leadership based on this concept and policy, and employees can judge right and wrong according to this concept and policy, then it is naturally easy to cultivate talents. Without business philosophy and policies, leaders' policies lack consistency and are easily influenced by enthusiasm and emotions. Of course, it is not easy to cultivate real talents.

The operator should also always explain his business philosophy and goals to his employees so that they can understand them thoroughly. If the business philosophy is just a paper, it is worthless; It must exist in the hearts of every employee and be integrated with them in order to have an effect. So we should take every opportunity to explain it to them again and again. At the same time, employees should have the opportunity to actually understand the business, that is to say, operators must set an example and gradually inspire employees to understand the business philosophy with the help of daily work.

More importantly, operators should fully authorize employees to take the initiative to take responsibility within their own responsibilities. The purpose of cultivating talents is nothing more than cultivating management talents, not just giving orders. This will only cultivate mediocre people who will only obey orders and work, and will not stimulate the management ability of employees and subordinates.

Cultivating talents focuses on stimulating independence.

When things are handed over to subordinates, it is inevitable that there will be some shortcomings due to poor consideration or lack of skills. In this case, the boss will always habitually instruct his subordinates what to do. Of course, when dealing with some major issues, it is absolutely necessary to give specific directions or principles to follow. But the problem is that if the instructions are too detailed, it may make subordinates form habits, form dependence psychology, do what they say, and are unwilling to use their brains. If it's just a mechanical command and an action, not to mention the method of doing things, how can we train talents?

The most important thing in cultivating talents is to make them think more, and then make their own plans and strategies and put them into practice. Independence is the only way to independence. The most important job of a leader is to stimulate the autonomy of his subordinates, so that everyone can work independently, instead of becoming a puppet of obedience.

Economic recession is a good time to educate people.

Obviously, recession is not welcome. In the recession, it is difficult to sell goods and collect money, and the company is in trouble. However, on the other hand, isn't prosperity a precursor to depression? In the economic recession, we should not just worry about it, but deal with it with a positive attitude. We can restore the economy through manpower. At least, this is a great opportunity to educate employees and strengthen the company system.

Don't hire friends.

If you want your friend to work or help in the company, you'd better ask him first: "Do you have employee awareness when you come to our company?" If so, you are welcome; Otherwise, you'd better not enter the company, just help. "If it is not announced in advance, he will become an' internal friend' of your company, not your employee. Once this happens, when you disagree with each other, because you have to take care of your friends, you can't take care of what you should take seriously. Even when you make a decision, he will disagree, which will lead to opposition. Such opposition is more likely to distract people's attention and affect morale than that of ordinary colleagues.

Don't poach.

Kōnosuke Matsushita never digs people. Digging the foundation can dig talents, but on the other hand, what do you think if you are also dug the foundation? Therefore, Kōnosuke Matsushita has always opposed this practice. Of course, some of Panasonic's tens of thousands of employees have resigned from other companies and volunteered to work in Panasonic, but the company has never taken the initiative to dig people. One of the reasons is that all the people who have been poached are not necessarily excellent talents. Although there are many people who can be trusted, they are still unreliable. It is better not to do so.

These seven measures reflect Kōnosuke Matsushita's talent view, and are believed by Panasonic, which has become the guiding ideology of human resource management in Panasonic enterprises in China.

Taking the introduction of talents as an example, the person in charge of the personnel and general affairs section of Beijing Panasonic Color Tube Co., Ltd. explained Kōnosuke Matsushita's 70% talent law. He said: "The so-called talents do not necessarily refer to people with high academic qualifications and high professional titles. Education is certainly good, but it depends on the position. Our 150 managers have a high knowledge structure, and more than 95% have bachelor degree or above. Other positions, such as the maintenance of automation equipment, also need a high degree, at least a bachelor's degree, otherwise it is difficult to be competent. Whether a talent is excellent or not depends on whether he has the potential for development and whether he can adapt to the development requirements of an enterprise. In a relative sense, outstanding talents are those with high quality and high IQ who can adapt to corporate culture and create benefits for enterprises. " What they emphasized was Kōnosuke Matsushita's special emphasis on "applicable" talents.

Another Panasonic joint venture in China was established in 1993. At that time, there were only five key personnel, and then all the personnel were recruited. At first, we openly recruited a group of employees through newspaper advertisements, which made the enterprise have basic employees. Then, according to individual vacancies, we will recruit separately by participating in talent exchange markets, large-scale talent exchange meetings and online inquiries. These people should first understand and accept the corporate culture (that is, "equal opportunity, full participation, competition principle and fair evaluation") and entrepreneurial spirit (that is, "serving the country by industry, being open and aboveboard, uniting and cooperating, being innovative and outstanding, being courteous, seeking truth from facts, respecting service and consciously observing discipline") established by the company, so as to demand and urge themselves to form good habits. "In this way, we gradually have a group of outstanding talents." First of all, let employees implement a clear corporate culture and spirit, which is the true story of Kōnosuke Matsushita.

Panasonic has published more than 60 works in his life. For well-known reasons, these works were compiled by his ghost writer-PHP researcher according to his lecture notes. Works are easy to understand, and the language is colloquial, such as Panasonic's Heart. There is no lack of lyricism, which is the embodiment of Panasonic's idealism.

In the 1990s, there was an authoritative book named "Soul of Japanese Business" in Japan, which introduced three outstanding cross-century entrepreneurs: Takezo Ishida (the big boss of Toyota, known as the phase of Toyota Zhongxing), Hirofumo Shangguang (once the president of Ishikawa Island Hiroshi Heavy Industry and Toshiba Corporation), and the other was Kōnosuke Matsushita.

Ishida Takezo and Shimonoseki are both thorough pragmatists, while Panasonic is pragmatic and pragmatic. The author of the book, Masajiro Ikeda, commented on Panasonic like this:

"Earlier, he was a practitioner of' spiritualism', and his business method has been very prominent. In his later years, Kōnosuke Matsushita was not so much an operator as an educator, moralist, thinker, social activist and even more a religious person. His image is really dazzling, and it is difficult to be confined to the small frame of the' God of Management'. "

Business is fickle, the law of the jungle and intrigue. Some people fight poison with poison and answer blows with blows, but it is really rare for Panasonic to settle down with a kind attitude, behave itself and pursue moral perfection.

Japanese writer Tadashi Fujita said in his works: "Doing business is a life-and-death competition. The higher the company's performance, the more its peers will gradually decline. Even if Kōnosuke Matsushita himself doesn't want to stifle the vitality of his peers, I don't know how many Japanese counterparts have closed down in the shadow of the rapid growth of Panasonic's electrical industry. "

Panasonic is therefore very painful. However, once he understood the mission of the enterprise, he stopped worrying. Panasonic believes that instead of letting many enterprises produce inferior and expensive goods, it is better to let a few excellent enterprises produce high-quality and cheap goods in large quantities, which is beneficial to owners, customers and society.

Panasonic has developed from a small workshop to an industrial group with 700 sons and grandchildren, and has experienced a long process of expansion and merger. Panasonic never takes advantage of people's danger to merge, but follows the negotiation and cooperation of business ethics. It is precisely because of Panasonic's goodwill that almost all partners automatically put forward to belong to Panasonic.

Among all Panasonic products, only the electric fan produced by Matsushita Seiko has no brand that uses music. The cause is 19 17. At the beginning of Panasonic's business, Panasonic failed to produce sockets and the factory faced closure. Just then, North Sichuan Electric gave Panasonic a batch of fan chassis orders, which saved Panasonic's life.

Return the favor, 1950, when Panasonic produced and sold a large number of electric fans, the first consideration was North Sichuan Electric. Panasonic gave North Sichuan Electric a large number of orders for wind turbines, and the production of North Sichuan Electric turned to prosperity, which was equivalent to saving North Sichuan's life. The electric fans produced by North Sichuan Electric are sold on Panasonic's sales network, and it is customary to mark the music brand, while Panasonic uses the old brand KOK of North Sichuan.

Chuanbei later became a relationship enterprise of Panasonic and merged into Panasonic Seiko.

In Panasonic's own works and other people's comments on Panasonic's works, people around Panasonic are full of goodwill. When they were young, they educated and helped Panasonic; When they were young, they helped Panasonic; When they are old, they respect and praise Panasonic. Matsushita himself said: "I am very lucky in the relationship between people."

Can this be simply attributed to luck? The main reason is that Panasonic is friendly to others. Even for people with low conduct, Panasonic tries to see the advantages of others.

1963, Asahi Shimbun published the "National Popularity Ranking", and Kōnosuke Matsushita ranked first. It can be seen that his popularity is excellent Others who entered the top 10 included Japanese Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato, baseball star Zhao Xiong, singer Hibari Misora and others.

Just as "1000 geese can't all fly", there are still many people in Japanese society who are western critical of Panasonic's character. They rebuked Panasonic way:

"Doing business is to make money, and talking about morality is hypocritical!" However, this statement naturally disappeared over time.

There is a reason for this. These people are old-fashioned and preconceived. The arrangement of subjects in ancient Japan was: scholar, martial arts, agriculture, engineering and business. Businessmen are weak and shameless for the country and the people. Therefore, in their view, businessmen are not qualified to talk about morality.

With the development of the times and the renewal of ideas, people are gradually proud of doing business. Especially after Japan became the second economic power in the world, people became more aware of the great contribution of businessmen to Japanese society.

Panasonic has been pursuing wealth, fame and longevity all his life. When people asked him the secret of his success, he simply said, "I am very lucky."

Panasonic believes that people can't get rid of fate. 90% of people's achievements are brought by opportunities, and 10% depends on people's wisdom. "Great people are lucky people." Panasonic came to this conclusion.

Panasonic believes in fate, but he is by no means a fatalistic pessimist. Since people can control the success factor of 10%, we should cherish this 10%. Matsushita said: "Learn to be patient, endure to the end, and wait until the time comes." When Panasonic was in a desperate situation several times, it was with this belief that it was waiting to accept its fate. Finally, as the ancient sage of China said, "Man proposes, God disposes."

On one occasion, Matsushita talked with Dan Yu Zheng, chairman of Matsushita Electric Trade Union. Dan Yu said, "I have heard many people ask you the secret of success. You always say,' I'm an ordinary person. There are countless people smarter and more capable than me. I can be a little taller than the average person. This must be fate's special care for me It's still hard to convince me. So, I'm going to ask you again. "

Panasonic smiled: "This is a cliche. I think it may still be my attitude towards fate. "

Panasonic went on to say, "Most people attribute their success to their own efforts and their failure to bad luck. My attitude is just the opposite. When business is good, I think it's because of luck. When business is not smooth, I will think that this is caused by my lack of hard work. "

Panasonic's words reveal how operators should grasp the true meaning of fate.

To sum up Panasonic's life, it can be summed up in 16 words: "Down-to-earth, perseverance, determination to reform and enterprising." Kōnosuke Matsushita is not just a name, but a symbol of success. His management thought is no longer exclusive to Panasonic, but has become a valuable legacy in the world economic history, and its influence has been recognized and praised by the world business and academic circles.

There is only one word difference between "rich and heartless" and "rich and kind", but their meanings are quite different. The former will be reviled and the latter will be praised. Panasonic is the latter. In order to cultivate senior political and economic talents in Genesis, he founded "Panasonic School of Political Economy" on 1980.

The idea of establishing a political and economic school originated from a dialogue with the great turtle of Dade Temple. The master said:

"Politics is like jade beads. Beaded ribbons are religious hearts, that is, kind hearts. If there is no ribbon, the jade beads will be scattered all over the floor and it will be difficult to clean up. If there is no goodwill in politics, it will not bring real happiness to the people. "

Panasonic believes that although politics, business and religion are different, their purpose is the same, that is, to benefit all beings with kindness. Therefore, in order to meet the arrival of the new century, it is an important mission entrusted to us by the times to actively train senior political and economic talents and make them become benevolent leaders.

Panasonic invested 7 billion yuan to establish Panasonic's "Institute of Political Economy".

The full name of Matsushita Institute of Political Economy is "Matsushita Institute of Political Economy", which is an advanced research institution focusing on educating people, equivalent to a graduate school. 1979 was approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture, and 1980 officially entered the school. Panasonic is the head of the school.

The enrollment targets of political and economic schools are domestic and foreign university graduates, or those who have graduated from universities for less than 3 years. The entrance examination is extremely strict, and the admission rate is about 1%. Panasonic insists on putting quality before quantity, and even if one of them is admitted, it will give him a class.

There are only 63 students in the first to fourth stages.

Political economy lasts for 5 years, with 2 basic courses and 3 specialized courses, of which 1 year goes abroad for further study.

Basic courses: besides general political and economic subjects, there are also international politics, international economy, international culture, English conversation and so on. , as well as tea ceremony, kendo, Buddhism and Taoism, political and economic spirit, China ancient ethics, China classical literature, etc. It can be seen that the school attaches importance to students' world outlook and moral cultivation.

Specialized courses mainly focus on students' self-study, covering a wide range, but they must be closely combined with social reality. For example:

2 1 century Japan's position in the world,

How long can Japan's rapid economic growth last?

Rice and the national economy and people's livelihood;

The influence of Confucianism on enterprises;

Social development and family changes;

My view on Japan-US trade friction;

How to treat the huge market of China?

Panasonic has set up an education fund of 6,543.8 billion yen for political and economic schools, half of which is allocated from the company's surplus and the other half is donated by Panasonic himself. Panasonic has been thirsty for talents all his life, and regards talents as life. However, the graduates of this school did not stay in Panasonic to serve, but encouraged them to participate in public opinion contests, engage in social activities, serve other enterprises, or start their own companies.

This shows that Panasonic has no self-interest in running a school. He is far-sighted, looking to the future, and heading for the 2 1 century of mankind.