Opinion: What Comes After Toyota's Reckoning?

(March 3) -- The past two weeks have been really bad for Akio Toyoda. Last week came the grilling before Congress over highly publicized problems with his cars. Then this week came news that U.S. sales slumped nearly 9 percent in February amid safety concerns.

The president of Toyota is a very wealthy man with his name on millions of automobiles, but he clearly has had a reckoning.

No matter how successful he and his family have been, no matter how wonderful is the story of Toyota's rise to becoming the world's biggest car company, when 52 deaths are attributed to your product, you have to fix the problem. Mr. Toyoda came to the United States and visited China to say that he is taking responsibility for Toyota's acceleration issues, and that his company is going to change.

Some people might look at these events and think that Toyota has a long, tough road ahead of it. No doubt, in the short term, that's true. But I actually look at what is happening to Toyota, and the way Mr. Toyoda is approaching things, and believe it's likely not only that Toyota is going to be even more successful in the future, but that it's going to be a happier business, and Akio Toyoda will be a happier person.

You see, I believe that having a reckoning is often the first step on the path to greater success and happiness. It certainly was in my case.

In 1984, I was 28 years old and had recently sold for $60 million an early New Media company that I'd built. And then in fulfillment of the randomness of life, I got on the wrong plane. A routine flight ended with an emergency landing. No one was hurt, but in the 35 minutes we spent unsure whether the landing gear was going to work, circling the airport, burning off fuel and learning how to brace for a crash landing, I had to face up to something I didn't like: If that plane crashed, I wouldn't die happy.

It was my reckoning, a wake-up call. It was the most important discovery of my life.

The moment I got off that plane, with shaking knees and a queasy stomach, I resolved to pursue happiness and live my life without regret. There were many steps along the way to my becoming a happier person, which I believe has led to my becoming an even more successful person. I learned to set goals -- not just business goals, but achievements that would make me a happier person. I created my list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in life, which was a start to my becoming happy, but only a start. Eventually, studying happy people I knew, I learned what would make me happier and, I'm convinced, a more successful person. It all began with that reckoning, with taking stock and determining I wanted to become happier, and systematically setting out to be so.

So last week when I saw Mr. Toyoda testify before Congress, and heard commentators talk about how this was "a moment of truth for a titan of industry," I immediately saw this as Akio Toyoda's reckoning -- and his opportunity.

If you want an example straight from the headlines of someone who had a reckoning, realized it and put it to good use, think of another person recently in the news: Bode Miller.

When Bode Miller stood on top of the podium in Vancouver and got his Olympic gold medal, it was clear the 2006 Turin Olympics were Bode's reckoning. What a low moment they were for him: partying all night, no medals. Four years later, he is so clearly a happier person. That happiness helped him achieve his gold-medal dream.

By building up from a reckoning in your life, using a low moment to take stock of what you need to do and then systematically setting out to achieve it, happiness can be created, and with it greater success. Let us hope Akio Toyoda takes advantage of the incredible opportunity he now has.

Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals and former AOL vice chairman, is an entrepreneur, film producer and philanthropist. His book, "The Business of Happiness," was published last month. Ted blogs at www.tedstake.com.


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