What we can do to improve leadership in Japan

Following essay was posted to monthly magazine "Staff Adviser " home page.
http://www.staffad.com/bilingual/shinbori/shinbori03_en.html

What we can do to improve leadership in Japan

●The type of leadership we can see in Nadeshiko Japan:One of most moving things I have seen this year was the first victory of the Japanese women's national soccer team at the 2011 Women's World Cup. When the team paid a courtesy call to the Japanese prime minister, Mr. Naoto Kan, at his place of residency, he praised the leadership of team captain, Ms. Homare Sawa, and told her as follows:

"You have organized and managed your team very well. I'm not sure if I'll make it in time, but I'd like to start learning from the leadership you displayed." This speech is still fresh in our minds.

The absence of leadership is not new in Japanese political circles. It seems that the seriousness of this matter stands out even more clearly amidst the current crises Japan is facing. As a result, Japan's government bond rating dropped below that of Spain and Italy, recording the lowest rating among the developed nations. Japan's presence at the G7 summit is also weakening. On the other hand, the people in charge of countries such as the U.S., Russia, China, the UK and France have been elected as representatives who possess a certain level of leadership.

●The difference between leadership and management:In the U.S, studies on leadership have always been popular. The September issue of the "Diamond Harvard Business Review" has a feature on "Great leadership." One of the articles by Professor John P. Kotter focuses on "The difference between leadership and management."

According to the article, management refers to the creation of an environment and systems that enable "ordinary people to execute ordinary tasks at a higher level of performance than normal." That is, Kotter speaks of management as "Organization Building," "Resource Allocation," "Control" and "Problem Solving."

On the other hand, leadership refers to moving an organization by working on individual members and its culture. That is, Kotter speaks of leadership as “Change," "Direction," "Motivation" and "Uniting people."

●Leadership is not required in bottom up management: In Japan, there is a tendency to think that leadership and management are one and the same. It might be that the concept of leadership had not existed because of the adoption of a bottom up management style.
Japan has traditionally been operated by a bureaucratic management and economic circle, and even without a strong leader presence, Japan has functioned well as the country by finding some form of solution to any problem that cropped up.

However, this is set to change in the future. Today the country faces many problems such as a "low birthrate and an aging society," "radioactive contamination" and "energy concerns."

We cannot simply get away with resolving problems as they crop up. We require strong leadership in order to carry out reform in Japan.

●Leadership as exemplified by Apple:In July in the U.S, Apple's market value exceeded that of ExxonMobil, the largest energy company in the world, to become the world's leading company in terms of market value.

I often used to visit Cupertino in Silicon Valley, where Apple is located. At that time, I was in charge of a Sony 3.5" micro floppy disc-related project. Apple was the first PC company to adopt the micro floppy. With this as a starting point, the micro floppy disk drive became a world standard.

At that time, Apple's president was Steve Jobs. Later on, Apple was to experience a slump, and he was banished from Apple at one time. Apple was nearly bankrupt. But 15 years ago he helped Apple turn things around. It was largely due to his overwhelming leadership and aesthetic sensibilities that Apple managed to recover and eventually become the No.1 company in the world.

●The way of Job's leadership:Steve Jobs gave a commencement address at Stanford University in July 2005 following his return from his first medical treatment. The speech included the following piece of advice.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
.... Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. "

There may be a limit to the amount of time given to a country such as Japan. If everyone were to follow their heart and intuition ,a strong new leader would surely be born. Let's hope for the arrival of a Japanese Steve Jobs.