Leadership in a SNS (Social Network Service) society

Following essay was posted to monthly magazine "Staff Adviser " home page.
http://www.staffad.com/bilingual/shinbori/shinbori04_en.html

Leadership in a SNS (Social Network Service) society
●Social impact brought about by SNS
It was said that the Jasmine revolution in Tunisia and the Civil Revolution in Egypt which recently took place were triggered by social media services such as Facebook and Twitter.
Appeals were made to people to rise up through SNS services.
The dictator in power of these countries lost the ability to govern their own country, and consequently the dismantling of dictatorial control began.

The way people communicate is now changing with the introduction of SNS.
The way human relationships are maintained and the way of working are also changing.
The way of management and leadership in the corporate world also seems to be changing as a result of SNS.

Ms A, an acquaintance of mine in her mid thirties, works at a financial company. She is now developing a love simulation game application for the iPhone.
She has not been satisfied with existing games in this genre.
This is why she started to create a story in line with her own interests.
She recruited colleagues who are in charge of designing, developing and marketing the software through Facebook.
Other members of the team, people who saw potential in her idea and business plan, joined her team and organized the development project.
Each member of this project has other full time work commitments.

Ms A, as the project leader, is in charge of overall project management such as creation of business plans and development schedules.
Regular meetings are conducted using Skype.
Even late into the night, everyone can get together on the same network and have a meeting, interacting with one another face-to-face.
Once the app is complete, the product will be sold on the global market as well as on the domestic market.
If the product becomes a hit, earning a profit of hundreds of millions of yen may not be a dream.

●SNS. The secret behind Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election
SNS has now started to bear great influences on the business scene as well as in people's social lives, as SNS is becoming more than social matching tool to be used for simply finding friends on a network.
The power of its influence is increasing in Japan.
The potential of SNS was quickly recognized in the U.S., where the first wave of its popularity swept three years ago.
It was the Obama presidential election campaign.
President Obama widely established grassroots support organizations during his president election campaign.
He succeeded in gaining a large amount of his election funds, an amount surpassing 3 billion yen, by collecting a large number of small donations.
This success was largely owed to an SNS which was setup called Mybo (my.barackobama.com)

●Leader of the SNS society, "Chris Hughes"
The person who created this website was a young man who was 23 years old at the time. His name was Chris Hughes.
He was one of founders of Facebook when he was a student at Harvard University.
He broke away from his associates who quit the university and moved to Silicon Valley.
After graduating from university he joined Barrack Obama's presidential campaign team.

It cannot be denied that new media like this was in the background of his overwhelming victory.
People could easily join his election campaign site through the Internet.
Consequently, supporters who were spread out nationwide could be individually organized on the Internet, and the combined power behind this movement is what led to Obama becoming president.
He is now operating an SNS called Jumo.
Jumo is the network which connects ordinary people with NPOs & Charity Organizations working to make social contributions.
People can donate money to the charity of their choice through this site.
Chris Hughes is a new type of leader who has helped push forward the SNS revolution.

●Common ground between Chris Hughes and George Bush
When I think about a president who exemplifies the typical type of leadership seen in the U.S., I can name George H. W. Bush (Big Bush), 41st president, and his son George W. Bush (Little Bush), 43rd president.
Both had their leadership put to the test as president: in case of Big Bush, the Gulf War in Iraq and in case of Small Bush, the 9/11 terror attacks.
Whether or not the decision to attack Iraq and Afghanistan was right, it can be said that both presidents received an extremely high approval rating.
There is common ground between the two Bushes and Chris Hughes.
Both of them spent their high school years at a boarding school called Phillips Academy, Andover, which is located in the suburbs outside Boston.

Of the approximately 300 boarding schools in the U.S. Phillips Academy, Andover is one of the oldest and most prestigious.
I had the opportunity to visit this school 30 years ago.
The brick walls of the school buildings and the extensive campus conveyed a level of grandeur that made it seem like something out of a movie.
One of features of the boarding school is the way it helps build character in students.
They put special emphasis on the creation of leadership qualities in people.

●Communication leadership which is required for a new era
The Bushes represent a top down type of leader.
On the other hand, Chris Hughes is a horizontal type of leader in this SNS society.
It is interesting how a young man, who in the eyes of many could be like "a beloved child," shows a different form of leadership from George W. Bush who graduated from the same traditional boarding school just one generation beforehand.

The essence of leadership is not to make others follow, whether the type of leadership is similar to a pyramid type structure found with people involved in the affairs of the state or a horizontally structured organization such as that often found in networks connecting people.
The foundation of leadership is the leader's ability to communicate with others.

With this in mind, can we say that there is proper education on leadership in Japan?
In the U.S., there are a extracurricular activities which make students think for themselves about topics such as "what is a leader?"
Simultaneously, there is a tradition for teaching and training the attitude, readiness and techniques to ready students for leadership.
Even ordinary people who are not in leadership positions are educated to attain the consciousness required to be an active participant when electing leaders and supporting the activities of leaders.

From such a point of view, I think Japan needs to further concentrate efforts in leadership education.
I hope that everyone from young children to college students get an education in the importance and necessity of the communication, and practical opportunities to exercise this learning.
Education in early childhood is vital in order to create the kind of leader who will support Japan in the future.
How we grow community leaders that are respected by the people is also an issue for us adults.