Akio Toyoda drops wisdom on students, then takes them drifting in unforgettable graduation ceremony

There’s no question that Akio Toyoda is one of the most impressive auto executives in the world. He’s one of us — an enthusiast — who races cars in his spare time. But even if we take that bias out of it for a minute, he oversees one of the largest corporations the world has ever seen, a brand that ranks sixth globally, just ahead of Coca-Cola and McDonalds. Many would pay dearly for just a minute of his time. If you had the chance to ask him anything, what would you say?

Graduating students from the Toyota Technical Skills Academy get that chance at no cost. Founded in 1938 by Kiichiro Toyoda and located in Aichi Prefecture, the elite Toyota-run trade school recruits students directly out of junior or high school and trains them to be future leaders in the Toyota workforce.

Tuition is completely free. In fact, they are considered Toyota employees right out of the gate, earning a salary while they learn. They live in dorms and are taught skills like high-level welding, precision sheet-metal work, robotics, and advanced machining by instructors that are pulled directly from Toyota factories.

Right before graduation Chairman Toyoda himself visits the class, giving them an opportunity to ask him any questions they like. He gets peppered with questions like, “What should I buy for my first car?” or “What’s your biggest regret?”. One particularly illuminating exchange comes at 14:24, when a student named Kumazaki inquires, “What would your dream car be like?”

Toyoda: A car that’s fun to drive forever.

Kumazaki: Is that even possible?

Toyoda: Eventually we’ll run out of gas.

Kumazaki: So, a car that won’t run out of gas?

Toyoda: That’s not what I mean. I mean a car that’s fun to drive. Do you have a license?

Kumazaki: Not yet.

Toyoda: What do you think a car is?

Kumazaki: A means of transportation.

Toyoda: You need to learn more.

Kumazaki: I’m sorry.

Toyoda: There’s the English word “move,” right? You said transport. That means move. But it can also move people emotionally. To me, a car isn’t just for transport. It should move people.

Next, another student by the name of Ito asks, “What made you love cars, and when did that start?” Toyoda replies that he was always around them. When she counters with, “What if you hadn’t been born into the Toyoda family?” he opens up and gives a heartwarmingly human answer.

Whether I was born a Toyoda or not, I think I still would have loved cars. I didn’t choose to be born a Toyoda. That’s just how it happened. And honestly, until I was about your age, I hated my last name. In junior high, when Toyota had defect issues, my nickname at school was “defective car.” I thought it had nothing to do with me, but the nickname always came back with every scandal.

People think I must be so lucky to be from the Toyoda family, and that I love cars. But in reality, my life has been a struggle with this name. After becoming president, going through the hearings [before the US Congress about the unintended acceleration issue], quality issues, the Great East Japan Earthquake, the floods in Thailand, and many other crises, people often asked me what name I’d want if I could live my life over again. When I really thought about it, I think I’d still choose this life again.

I truly love cars, and the moment I benefited from that most was during the hearings. That’s when the trust and credibility we had built over years was completely lost. In that moment, I realized there was nothing I could really do. So I asked myself, “Then who am I?” And the answer was, I love Toyota, I love cars, and I love driving.

I decided to stake everything on that. I won’t say I was protecting my beloved Toyota, but I decided to be the company’s rearguard. I was only told I was going to the hearings two week before, so I had no time to prepare. So, everything in my life up to then—from being called a defective car to all the painful experiences—came out at the hearing in my own words.

Your life is yours alone. You get to shape it yourself. You are the protagonist, the director, and the producer of your life. You can be a tragic hero if you want. It’s your choice, but never give that privilege to someone else. So, if you ask whether I’d want to redo my life under another name, I’ve already spent 69 years as producer, director, and actor, so I’ll stay as I am and head toward the final curtain. You have a future ahead. So I truly hope you’ll produce that future yourselves.

Toyoda responds to other students about why manufacturing skills are Japan’s national treasure, a person he’d most like to meet, and he even accepts an arm-wrestling challenge.

Then Toyoda takes students for a literal spin around the campus in a GR Yaris WRC car. How many junior employees can say they’ve gone drifting with the head of the company? Apparently, it’s not a present that every graduating class gets.

Hopefully this generation will take Toyoda’s visit to heart and spend their careers creating fun-to-drive cars. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” Toyoda says, “In another era, I’d be written up but now we’re a company that can do this. And the students are happy. They won’t remember what I said today but they will remember these sounds and smells.”