What's strategy got to do with it ? Part 2

Continuing from the last post.....

I have concluded in the last post that western style strategy is not worth much for the typical Japanese organization due to some fundamental differences in our ways of thinking and how the organization function as compared to that of the Western ways.

So, what is the Japanese way of strategy, if there is such a thing ? Originally, it was not more than an extension of common sense combined with the collective wisdom and experiences.  Then the highly articulated and systematized concepts were imported from Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty in China region. They are what we call 兵法= "Art of War".  The concepts have been adopted and integrated into Japanese culture over the course of the last 1500 years.  However, the modern Japanese businessmen have not been taught anything about 兵法 and its cultural implications, nor have they been taught about our original value system that runs in our vein.

As for the western way of Strategy, In spite of the fact that the modern western business theories including the concept of Strategy and its applications are taught in all Japanese Universities and some of us even have MBA, the western style strategy and its system do not function in most Japanese organization.

This indicates that most of today's businessmen in Japan are  incompetent in both Japanese ways and the western ways. What we have is a strange "Nue" (鵺） organization in "Nue" society. Nue is a ancient Japanese monster having a monkey head, racoon body, tiger's feet, and snake tail. So, how does Nue organization function ? Certainly not by any strategy even though they would have some kind of strategy in place. They have it for the sake of having it.  In case of the organization with charismatic leaders, they go by the instinct of their leaders. Others go by the mood of the organization which is, in most case, not very stable.  The mood is dictated by the unspoken consensus within the organization and anyone attempting to spoil the mood will be silently executed. Either way, strategy is nothing more than an accessory for an organization to justify their behaviors.

Now, If I were right about this, what should the Japanese organizations do then ? Abandon the idea of having any strategy ?  Well, I guess they could if they have a courage to do so.  Suppose they abandoned their strategy from their management process, what could it be the guideline for managing the organization and its businesses ?  To simply put it, "Common sense" should do the job. As a matter of fact, it will do far better job than strategy that does not function anyways.

Managing organization / business with common sense instead of complicated strategy. I think it will relieve organization and its members from the confinement of strategy and empower them to be more creative and effective in many ways.  Are you courageous enough to abandon your strategy ?

In the next post, I am going to get into more details on how Common sense management works for the current organization 2.0 companies and how it could become the stepping stones to become the organization 3.0.

What's strategy got to do with it ? Part 1

If your business failed or performing poorly, would you blame it on your strategy or lack thereof ?
If your business is successful and performing well, is it because of your strategy being effective and well designed ?  I know it is not as simple as yes or no as there are so many variables and elements involved in this issue. Then, let me rephrase my questions.  Do you think the Strategy make such an impact on company's performance to the extent it determines its success or failure ?  Actually, there are numerous cases that have been said to have made the difference between life and death of the businesses such as Fuji Film and Eastman Kodak.  But the fact of the matter was that it was not so much the differences in strategy that made the fatal  difference, but it was the difference in people  who chose their strategy and stuck with it.

You can examine as many cases of success and failures of businesses in the past 100 years as you like, but I bet you a million $, which I do not have, that you will find the same.

So, what's the strategy got to do with the success and the failure of business as we know it ?
Not heck of a lot, particularly for Japanese organization. But why, then, all those consulting firms are so adamant about Strategy being the vital element of the success of any businesses ? Why are there so many books about strategy if it really is not that important ?  Well, as you would have guessed, because it is sellable concept especially to the gullible executives of the world, and all the top academia of the world, such as Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge and so on, sell it to all their students and even give them some prestigious degrees for the price they pay. As a result, everyone need to have strategy of some kind. A highly decorated Doctors and Phds like Robert Caplan who invented Balanced Score Card and the Strategy Map, would tell you just how important to have a sound strategy and even developed tools to design an effective strategy. I do not logically disagree with his theory of strategy as I have worked with him and his company in developing the strategy map and the balanced score card for various major Japanese corporations in the past. But, non of them have stuck with their strategy as we helped them design and implement them. They turned out to be nothing more than a typical make work projects.

To be fair (if it's any consolation to consultants out there), the reason why none of those Japanese companies have succeeded in integrating the beautifully designed and visualized Strategy, which they have paid some significant amount of money for, is due largely to the critical difference in our traditional mental model and the organizational dynamics as compared to that of American, which is based on the framework mentality. This is actually the biggest reason why western style strategy never work for most of Japanese organizations.

So Strategy, especially the western style strategy, works for any organizations other than Japanese organization, right ?  Well, at least, it seems to go far better with western organizations as their mentality and the organizational dynamics are more compatible to it.

I think it is fare to say that any western style strategies are more of a nuisance than a road map to success for typical Japanese organizations.  Does it mean that it is better off for Japanese organization not to have a clearly articulated strategy ? I will get into it in the next post.

Reinventing Japanese Takotsubo Organization - 2

The virus that we imported willfully from the western world in Meiji era and the resulting deformity that lead Japan into the War of the century have been inherited to the post war Takotsubo organizations  and the society of Japan. It was starting all over again like at the time of Meiji Restoration, but with now self initiatives or control this time around as United States  practically did all the restructuring of our society from the constitution to the education systems and literally shoved their ways and value to our life style. They tried to reengineer Japan and it has been proven to be successful. As a matter of fact, they were so successful that we went from the rock bottom  to the economic powerhouse in the world in a matter of 25 years or so.

What most of the world do not know how this miraculous turn around were possible is the same reason how Japan turned herself from being over 100 years behind the western world in technology and with huge debts to boot to be among the best in the world industrial nation in just 35 years.
The same dynamics of Japanese traditional Takotubo system have made the impossible happen not just once but twice even with its degradations and deformity.

As the effects of the virus empowered even further by  the American capitalism and the resulting deformity in our Takotsubo DNA has almost peaked, the time has come to transform the deformed Takotsubo 2.0 to the redesigned and renewed Takotsubo 3.0, which will take Japanology to the next stage of its evolution.

So what does it take for the degraded and deformed Takotsubo to transformed itself onto the next stage of its evolution ?  The very first thing we need to do is to understand the nature of the original Takotsubo and its DNA, and then deepen our self awareness to release its potentials.  But to do that, we must learn to communicate with the deeper part of ourselves. Only then, we can tap into the real potential of the Takotsubo.  And when our communication competence is refined to the point of Communication 3.0, then we will have the most advanced Takotsubo Organization in the history of Japan, which is Japan's original Organization 3.0.

Reinventing Japanese Takotsubo Organization -1

What is "Takotsubo" ? It is a Japanese term for a traditional octopus pod (trap) used to catch octopus in Japan. It is often used as analogy for the characteristic of the people who confine themselves in their own cozy little world, in which they are most comfortable and feel no needs to venture outside of their realm; their takotsubo. I am not talking about a typical introvert you see any parts of the world who prefer to be alone. 
Japanese "Takotsubo" is small but can be infinitely deep. As takotsubo represents their world of specialty or interest, had it be their profession or just a hobby, they have a strong tendency to go on their quest of endless refinement in their specialty or interest, which take them deeper and deeper into their takotsubo. This is one of the most defining characteristics of Japanese and this is how we have cultivated our culture of endless pursuit for refinement, which is reflected in the quality of everything made in Japan, from a nut and bolt to an automobile. If the source of the famous Japanese quality and innovation are in Takotsubo, why should we bother to reinvent it ? 

As we learned in school, Japan had somewhat isolated themselves from rest of the world for over 200 years in Edo era, during which the international trades were restricted ( not banned )to the limited number of nations such as, Portugal, Kore and China. Japan has literally confined herself in her Takotsubo for almost a quoter of century during which our culture and all of its contents were refined to their finest quality.  But then came the massive surge of the 2nd Wave world barging into the perfectly content Japanese Takotsubo spreading the western ideology and standards like a virus. 
Even though the Japanese people and their society adopted rather well considering the speed and its abruptness  of the changes they were forced to face, the virus left some lasting side effects and deformities in our traditional ways both in our thinking and our society as a whole causing the critical degradation of our own Takotsubo. One of the deadly consequences of this degradation of our Takotsubo, coupled with our communication incompetence, was the last war we failed to avoid. 

Post war Japanese organizations, regardless of their category, industry and sizes, have inherited the very virus and the resulting deformities.  I would like to get into more detail on how the virus and the resulting deformities have affected the modern Japanese takotsubo organizations in the next post. 

Would IT improve the quality of communication ?

"NO" is my answer.  I am sure the majority of you, especially if you are a IT solutions provider, will disagree with my answer and make enough cases to prove it otherwise.  But it is almost pointless to debate on this issue as the answer will all depend on how you define Communication.

The word "communication" means, based on its original context in Latin,  the process of sharing thoughts, ideas and feelings with each other in commonly understandable manner to form a trusting relationship or a community with a strong bond. In another words, communication is the process of bonding among people.

Now, with this in mind, let me ask you this, If you are a IT solution provider, how strongly can your IT solutions bond organization and its members, partners and stake holders ?  You will probably say, our IT solutions will improve operational efficiency and save tons of costs related to processing information as well as providing useful information to the management in a timely fashion. Well, I have no doubt about that. As a matter of fact, IT does improve the processes and the methods of  gathering, processing and storing information as well as managing ever increasing volume of data, thanks to the advancement of Information Technologies in all areas of businesses. And the corporations keep investing millions of dollar to their IT infrastructure to keep up with the rapidly changing market demands and environment. So, IT has significantly improved our communication channels and methods with the various IT products and services such as, smart phone , PC, and most of all, Internet  services.  As all the IT experts proclaim, we live in a connected world.

But, all that technology driven communications take place between devices, not between people. We, the people on the other hand, have been reduced to a mere attachment to all those communication devices. As a result, our own communication competence has been grossly degraded in spite of the fact that we are supposed to be connected 24/7 no matter where we are through those devises. Connected in a sense that we are reachable and available to communicate using those devices, not in a sense that we are emotionally and intellectually connected. It is up to us, human, to make the connection. Ironically, being connected ever so closely and readily via those wonderful and convenient devices have made our connection weaker than ever before. People get worried, confused and even angry if your device is disconnected more than 10 minutes. We get disconnected when devices are disconnected. What does that make us ? A Robot ?

As for the organization, they can no longer function without relying on the Information Technologies since all the dominating systems of the world, from the social systems to the business systems, have been rewired and re-programed digitally, connecting billions of devices of all kinds around the world. When the flow of information stop, not only the business but the whole world comes to a grinding halt, and that will kill more people than any weapons of mass destruction man has ever invented. Connected world sounds like a death trap for Humanity.

OK, let's be positive and assume that will not happen,( with all my fingers crossed).
Any organization's dream is to be an optimum organization where all its assets, capital, resources and competences are optimized. IT infrastructure is a part of the organization's assets as well as the competences, and in order for the IT infrastructure to be optimized, communication competence of the organization and its members must be optimized before optimizing anything else.  IT is as good as the the level of competence, particularly in communication, of people using it. I hereby conclude that IT dose improve the handling of information, but not the communication itself as it depends on the communication competence of the people using it.

Communication redefined

According to Alvin Toffler, the author of The 3rd Wave, we live in the last leg of the generation of  2nd Wave, which started at around so called industrial revolution in mid 1700. During the past 300 years, the series of surges from the 2nd Wave have hit our world in every aspects of our lives transforming the socio-economic system and living environment, effects of which has left some devastating damages to this planet as well as to ourselves. There have never been the time in entire history of Humanity that have produced the material wealth of this magnitude in global scale.  But we have viciously raped our precious environment and deprived ourselves of some fundamental values and spirituality of life in the process. What humanity has gained in the  generation of 2nd Wave is the material wealth and the convenient lifestyle made possible by the technology, and what we have lost in exchange is significantly more than what we have gained.  Our understanding and the ability of communication is among what we have lost in exchange of the technology.  We have been using the technology like a magic wand without giving any thought to its real cost to ourselves. 

During the generation of 2nd Wave, Communication has been reduced to a mere process of exchanging ideas and information, and even its processes have been taken over by various information technologies particularly the internet technology, which has made us a mere attachment to the communication devises such as, smartphone and computer. We are even trying to use the technology to simulate our emotions. I have defined the communication of this era to be the "Communication 2.0", reflecting the paradigm of the 2nd Wave.

21st century is a dawn of the 3rd Wave generation and our children are the first bearer of its fruit. And, there is one thing we must to do before they harvest the first crop of apples, that is to reclaim the meanings and the elements of communication we have abandoned, and redefine Communication as it ought to be.  Redefine Communication 2.0 to be the foundation of Communication 3.0.  This is the least of what we can do for the next generations to come.  

The pyramid diagram shown here represents the basic elements of the competences for  Communication 3.0. defined by MasterLingual Academy of Communication (MAC), of which I am one of the founders.  We are going to challenge all the systems built on the Communication 2.0 such as the obsolete educational institutions and corporations alike by forming the global community of Don Quixotes. One Don Quixote is no match against the fortress of the current system, but I believe a community of Don Quixotes singing the song of Communication 3.0 can bring down the walls,  just like the walls of Jericho.  As for the corporations, transformation of their communication competence is particularly vital as their own survival in the rapidly changing business environment is at stake. And most importantly, no IT systems or solutions, no matter how wonderful they may be, are sufficient to transform a organization of any kinds and scales to the Organization 3.0 unless the communication competence of organization and its members are transformed first.
MAC has developed perhaps the first programs and the learning system in the world that will make such transformation possible. We are looking for the singers to join our chorus. 

Boiling Frog 1: Diagnosing the problems at Nippon University -2

Continuing from the last post on the issues of Nippon University scandals, I stated that the heart of the problems is in the system of the organization and its communication competence.

Well, many so called experts such as consultants specialized in organizational issue will likely agree with that, at least on the surface of things. However, the next thing they are likely to insist is an organizational reform, staring from analyzing its structure, process and functions to death to cook up the so called "Solutions" to redesign them including some IT implementation. They will have workshops for the key employees including executives to educate them on the new system and may even do some How-to communication skill training. Well, this is all fine and dandy for making some alibis of their efforts to show their willingness to change. As for the consultants, bigger the problem they make it, the more they get paid.  Everyone is happy ! It is a Win-Win deal !  This is the typical "Solution looking for problems" scenario.

I should really rest my case on this, however, since I have made it my job to shake any suspicious trees in the forest of hypocrites so the monkeys may fall off to the ground, and better yet, they may just wake up some other residents of the forest.
Monkeys are the truth/the true reality that has been intentionally ignored by the residents of the forest for the sake of keeping the status quo of the forest.

In any case, if any of the quick fix solutions of the world based on the Organization 2.0 paradigm do not work except for putting off the imminent outcomes to come for a little while, what, then, can we do about it ? Or should we just leave it as it is and face the outcomes as they come ?

Or, would you dare to take the red pill ? or take the blue pill and stay in the forest ?

James

Boiling Frog 1: Diagnosing the problems at Nippon University

There has never been a day in the pas few weeks that we did not hear about all the commotions around Nippon University. It started as just another foul play at a rugby game, which could have ended as another unfortunate incidents happened in the crossfire of the game, or the unfair conduct by one player at worst, IF the player and the persons in charge of the team had expressed sincere apology and regrets to the opponent team and the injured player in timely fashion. But, the reality is that they, the leaders of Nippon University, completely lost control of the situation and the media drove the whole thing out of proportion, like they always do, involving not just the parties in concern, but the parents, Rugby Association, so called experts, lawyers, the entire school management in both side, general public and all the way to the Ministry of Education.  So, What are we trying to achieve here ? Who are we trying to satisfy by criminalizing the coach, GM, and even the Chairman of the Board and hanging their heads in public ? Do you think you can stop the similar things from happening again by doing so ? We all know that the answer is NO. So why are we doing it ?  There have been numerous cases like this in the past and more to come in the future.  Some of us are sick and tired of listening to the same old stories day in and day out. This is not to say that what they supposed to have done is not worthy of our attention. What irritates me is not so much the wrong conducts of those involved, but the fact that all those people, from the medias and the general public to the government, are barking at the wrong tree, so to speak, in that they are all too blinded to see the very heart of the problem, which is the organizational system and its dynamics. Pointing fingers at any individuals to blame will not lead anyone anywhere but the never ending circle of shooting at the ghosts with no points to gain. What we have to realize is that anyone belonging to any organization of any kinds are the prisoners of the system of Organization 2.0. But what is making things even worse is that the most of us are not even aware of its influence in our thinking, attitude and behavior in spite of all the painful outcomes of the system in which we have been imprisoned.

One thing I should add, though, about Organization 2.0 and its system is that, even though its paradigm and the basic principles are shared among all the 2nd Wave organizations (Organization 2.0), not all organizations are identical in the system and its characteristics. For example, typical Japanese Organizations share the same basic paradigm and its principles of Organization 2.0 while having its unique characteristics and behavioral patterns, one of such unique elements is "Kooki" among other things.  Kooki in Japanese organization is the invisible force behind its system that dictates the behavior of the organization and its system, which makes it extra difficult to transform Japanese organization to the Organization 3.0 as compared to the organizations in other cultural backgrounds.  However, there is one thing in common among all organizations regardless of the differences in cultural backgrounds that determines their performance outcomes is none other than "Communication", not in the sense of the mere exchange of information or discourse among the members of organization, but as the life sustaining energy that drives its organic system. Well, enough said for today, I shall continue my comments on the issue of Nippon University in my next post.