[:en]Using R&D to Make a Sale is like Eating Your Young[:ja]研究開発部を利用して営業を上げるのは、リソースの無駄遣いである[:]
[:en]I often see sales people offer highly valuable expert services from an R&D division to a customer for free in order to make a product sale, even when the customer would likely have been happy to pay.
[:en]White Collar Work Reform is not a Labor Issue[:ja]オフィスワーク環境の改善は、労働問題の解決によって行われるものではない[:]
[:en] The Japanese government has lately been working in partnership with industry more than usual to promote white collar work reform to address perennial issues of low productivity, habitual overtime, and health issues related to overwork including death from overwork, known as karoshi. Reforms under discussion address mostly policy around regulating how people work and are paid, such as overtime limits and remuneration. However, these fail to address underlying cause, which is not about how people work, but rather is how managers with staff lead, or rather fail to lead. It is a leadership capability deficit issue for companies.
[:en]Conversation with AIG Japan Holdings K.K. CEO, Robert Noddin[:ja]ＡＩＧジャパン・ホールディングス株式会社代表取締役社長兼ＣＥＯ、ロバート・ノディン[:]
[:en] I conducted an on-stage conversation with AIG Japan CEO Bob Noddin yesterday. This was an American Chamber of Commerce in Japan luncheon event, held at the posh Tokyo American Club. About one-hundred people attended, and everyone got a free copy of my new book! While this event was off-the-record, allow me to elaborate on what my personal takeaways are from the provocative conversation with Bob Noddin.
[:en]Process, Not People[:ja]企業文化改革：人よりプロセスに焦点を[:]
[:en] The key to rapid culture change in any organization is process, not people. First focus on changing processes. Attention to people comes later. For example, in working with a leadership that was having difficulty in coming to consensus and making decisions in a timely manner, I asked them to try a process I had developed. Unconvinced, they humored me and gave it a try. As a result, they worked through a list of seventeen strategic issues requiring decisions in two hours. Previous efforts had taken weeks with no result. The CEO and many of the managers had ascribed cause to cultural and communication issues, or otherwise to personalities of […]
[:en]People are Resilient and Adaptive[:ja]人の順応性・適応性の高さ[:]
[:en] Economists predicted that the stock market would tank if Donald Trump were elected, as people had apocalyptic fears of what his policies might do to the world economy. The economists got it right and so very wrong at the same time. The stock market did tank as it became clear Donald Trump was the victor, and then rebounded and soared.
[:en]Presume the Best in People: The Gains Far Exceed the Losses[:ja]人を信用することから得られる利益と、疑うことから発生するリスク[:]
[:en] Recently, when traveling first class on the Shinkansen (the Green Car), I noticed that conductors no longer check passengers tickets. It used to be that uniformed conductor, often female, would first distribute complimentary disposable wet towels to new passengers who had just boarded, noting their seat numbers, and then some minutes later return to the same seats to inspect tickets. Now they just distribute towels. No one checks the tickets.
[:en]The Fallacy of the Buy-In Imperative[:ja]決断にスタッフからの賛同は必要であるか[:]
[:en]Staff involvement in decision-making is useful means of ensuring buy-in and achieving success, as long as staff involvement does not entail abdication of your role as a leader. Not all staff involvement is good, and buy-in is not always imperative for success. Some decision are best taken unilaterally, and some changes are best imposed despite objections.
[:en]Pride and Confidence[:ja]プライドと自信[:]
[:en] The goal of every business is to create a customer, and its mission is to contribute to the society in which it serves. This is not about CSR or charity.
[:en]The Productivity of Doing Nothing[:ja]何もしないことによる生産性の向上[:]
[:en] The best way to achieve rapid progress in your profession is to regularly schedule doing nothing. Management is primarily brain work as opposed to hands-on manual labor. The higher the level of the manager, the more significant the brain work becomes. We advance our businesses by the power of our ideas and innovation. One good idea can eliminate countless fruitless meetings, unnecessarily lengthy processes, rapid growth in profit, or an improved capability of staff. Ideas are not the product of brute force labor, but rather emptying of one’s mind.
[:en]French Chamber of Commerce[:ja]フランス商工会議所[:]
[:en] Last week, I was formally inducted into the French Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Here is a photo of me receiving my certificate from Chamber president, Bernard Delmas, CEO of Michelin Japan.
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