Don’t be a Japanologist
Japan-fatigue is real and can be fatal to your success and career. Don’t try to explain how Japan is different to executives in your head office. While such conversations are great for dinner parties, talks with students, and war stories with friends, unless executives in your head office are interested in Japanology as a hobby, […]
Your Own Worst Enemy
Businesses can be their own worst enemies when business process supplants business thinking. The CEO of a large industrial American company in Japan told me of difficulties he faces in buying from a division of a large Japanese industrial company, not because of a lack of will to sell on their part, but rather unnecessary and […]
Return on Human Intelligence
Artificial intelligence and expert systems in business can increase organizational capability, but at the same time, despite hype and promise, they are no silver bullet and can also dumb your organization down.
The Acumen of Gender Diversity
Most global companies outside of Japan have targets for increasing numbers of women employees, particularly in management. And even in Japan where women are often given short shrift, more global companies now have such targets as well. However, the leaders of the most successful companies I know achieve their objective by doing things right that […]
Work Less and Boost Productivity
If you want to increase productivity in your business, work less not more. A division of Microsoft Japan reduced the work week from five days to four, closing the office Fridays for everyone, and found productivity jumped forty percent! Yes, that’s right. Microsoft in Japan—not Microsoft in the United States or elsewhere. If Microsoft Japan […]
Strategy on Your Own Terms
The best military strategists always choose the terrain on which they will do battle, rather than allowing the enemy to choose for them. So, in business, why would you possibly allow others to define the topography of your business environment instead of choosing the topography yourself? Yet, that is often precisely what business people do.
[:en]There is No Japanese Mindset[:ja]日本人特有の考え方などというものはない[:]
[:en]Nationality and national culture are not granular enough to explain behavior. There is no “Japanese mindset.” I have traveled to more than twenty countries, and lived outside my native United States for almost my entire adult life. I speak Japanese and French fluently, and just enough Italian, German, and Mandarin Chinese to get myself into […]
[:en]Authority Isn’t Empowerment[:ja]権限とエンパワーメントとは同義語ではない[:]
[:en]Empowerment is like breathing. We all recognize its need but we’re rarely aware of it until something is wrong. Passivity in business is the most common symptom of lack of empowerment.
[:en]When Risk Aversion is Personal[:ja]個人的な理由からのリスク回避[:]
[:en] There is nothing wrong with risk aversion. It is only aversion to reasonable business risk that is a problem. When a business leader complains of excessive risk aversion in his staff, the underlying concerns are frequently personal.
[:en]No Pain Points, No Problems[:ja]問題を抱えない顧客へのアプローチ[:]
[:en]What if your prospects and clients have no pain points and no problems? Presumption of damage is never a good way to start a relationship with anyone, whether in business or otherwise. Not long ago, I was working with a sales team to help improve their capability to ask questions when meeting with prospects. Without fail, […]
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