Eschew the Putative Best People 「最高の人材」など存在しない
Your company should not have mass appeal as a great place to work, if it is exceptional people you want to attract.
[:en]Campaigns Don’t Shape Brands[:ja]ブランドとはキャンペーンによって形作られるものではない[:]
[:en]Campaigns don’t shape brands. Leaders do. Campaigns merely project to the outside world the brand as perceived by the people inside your company, whether that brand is how you like it or not. Dissonance will cause any branding campaign to fail, no matter what you do.
[:en]Fire Your Distributor and Thrive[:ja]小売店をクビにすることでビジネスを伸ばす[:]
[:en]A number of CEOs hesitate to go direct even though their distributor relationships have outlived their value. However, there is absolutely no reason to avoid bypassing your distributor no matter what you may have been told.
[:en]2018 Predictions [:ja]２０１８年を予測する[:]
[:en]I love making predictions, so here is my list of ten predictions for 2018.
[:en]Market Entry Manifesto[:ja]日本市場参入について[:]
[:en]Last week, a reporter from The Telegraph in the UK contacted me for my views on the challenges of market entry in Japan. My market entry manifesto is below:
[:en]Identify Cause. Never Presume. [:ja]大切なのは原因を突き止めること。仮定はすべからず。[:]
[:en] The CEO of a well-known US company in Japan contacted me recently to ask whether I thought flatter organizational structures are better than more hierarchical ones. He learned that vital information from the ranks was not getting to him fast enough and thought that a flatter structure might resolve the problem. He was, in fact, asking the wrong question, because his question presumes cause is organizational structure, whereas it might not be.
Mitsubishi vs. Japanese Culture
[:en] In light of the recent Mitsubishi scandal, Bloomberg invited me back to discuss Japanese corporate culture and whether or not Japan is to blame for the recent scandal. You can watch our discussion in the video above. If you’d prefer to read this interview, the following transcript has been provided by Bloomberg:
[:en]Conversation with Nihon Michelin CEO [:ja]日本ミシュランタイヤCEOから学んだこと[:]
[:en]On October 19th, I conducted an on-stage conversation with Nihon Michelin CEO, Paul Perriniaux, at the Tokyo American Club for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the French Chamber of Commerce. Here are a few of my takeaways.
[:en]It’s Never Because “This is Japan”[:ja]日本が企業問題の原因であることはない[:]
[:en]Address real root cause, and you can accelerate change in your business. Blame your ailments on Japan, and you will remain permanently stuck. It’s up to you. What is it about Japan that makes companies as they are? Below are a few statements from a company manager, many of which you might find familiar in your own experience in Japan.
[:en]Japan, Rotten to the Core? No.[:ja]日本の企業文化が芯まで腐敗しているというのは間違いである[:]
[:en]When you hear of malfeasance in American companies like Equifax, Wells Fargo, Valeant, Countrywide Financial and Washington Mutual of subprime mortgage crisis infamy, and even Enron, no one questions whether or not something is rotten in the whole of American corporate culture. So, why should we think differently when it comes to corporate malfeasance in Japan?
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