[note Senryu] #54: The theme is "Sowing Seeds for the Future" (266-270)
My heart is Gen Z! My body is a Showa-era person past sixty! I am a grandpa who supports Gen Z!?
Toyota, the world's number one automaker, is being cornered by Tesla (USA) and BYD (China).
The "spirit of the hundred bags of rice" that I love, which Mr. Koizumi introduced in his policy speech during the first Koizumi administration, can be called investing in school construction in the Nagaoka Domain as 'sowing seeds for the future', but in today's Japan, both the public and private sectors lack the sowing of seeds for the future.
In the early Meiji period, the Nagaoka Domain, which was in dire poverty, was delivered a hundred bags of rice for relief. If the hundred bags of rice had been used to get by for the moment, they would have disappeared in a few days. However, the leaders at the time used the hundred bags as funds to establish a school for the sake of tomorrow's human resource development, in order to make them live on as a thousand or ten thousand bags in the future. As a result, the Kokkan School that was established went on to cultivate many talented people.
What is lacking in Japan today is demand creation.
Without new challenges, new demand will not be born. However, how many managers are there who hesitate to make capital investments, IT investments, and the human resource investments that are often talked about lately, focusing only on immediate profits (financial results), and without realizing that they are enjoying the flowers that bloomed from the seeds sown by past managers, mistakenly believe it is their own achievement...
Japan will not return to a growth trajectory if there are only managers who cannot invest in sowing seeds for the future. If we can invest in sowing seeds for the future,
a virtuous cycle will begin where new demand fosters new growth industry sectors, raising wages while also causing a labor shift. starts.
However, such sowing of seeds for the future does not lead to immediate profit improvement, so myopic managers hesitate to invest.
Labor shortages are a perfect opportunity to improve productivity, yet Japanese companies are slow to act. It is pathetic.
With BEV investments in mind, which Tesla has been able to do but Toyota has hesitated on, I am challenging myself to write 5 Senryu poems on the theme of "Sowing Seeds for the Future".
Profits now, the flowers of past seed sowing bloom
Toyota's current financial results are in great shape. In fiscal year 2022, they achieved wonderful business results with consolidated operating revenue of 37 trillion yen and pre-tax profit of 3.7 trillion yen.
Toyota, which created the market by mass-producing hybrid cars in 1997. The bold research and development investment and personnel allocation from a quarter-century ago, it can be said that these are good financial results where the seeds sown at that time have bloomed, and it might even be said that these are good results achieved by consuming past assets.
Since sales of HEVs (hybrid vehicles) in Japan will likely continue to be strong, good financial results will likely continue for a while.
Can they make a bold investment shift to BEVs as if discarding their popular cars? Let's watch Toyota's seriousness in sowing seeds for the future.
Be prepared, innovation comes without waiting
If you speak of the restorer of Fujifilm, it is Shigetaka Komori. Even while sales of mainstay products like "Utsurundesu" (QuickSnap) were still solid, he carried out bold sowing of seeds for the future (shifting to new businesses).
The 5-minute video above summarizes what Fujifilm has accomplished.
It is a video that shows that innovation can be created intentionally by oneself.It is a video that shows that innovation can be created intentionally by oneself.
I believe it was a transformation that was only possible because the management's insight was future-oriented and based on backcasting thinking.I believe it was a transformation that was only possible because the management's insight was future-oriented and based on backcasting thinking.
Current performance is the result of seeds sown by past management; if performance is good, it is the result of past seeds blooming, and if performance is deteriorating, it is the result of neglecting to sow seeds and ending up with myopic efforts to improve short-term profits.
I think the near future of a company changes depending on whether one thinks they must sow seeds for the future like Mr. Komori, or whether one falls into the myopic thinking of only improving short-term profits.I think the near future of a company changes depending on whether one thinks they must sow seeds for the future like Mr. Komori, or whether one falls into the myopic thinking of only improving short-term profits.
I believe great managers like Mr. Komori have challenged things that might even be negative for short-term profits, and have devoted themselves not only to technological innovation on the supply side, such as new business development, but also to demand creation (strengthening sales and marketing capabilities).
If innovation comes from the outside, one day your company's strengths will be destroyed. I believe that companies that foresee this and initiate innovation from within are the resilient companies that are strong against environmental changes.
I truly hope that Toyota will follow the path of Fujifilm.
Corporations decide the future by investing in people
For the past 30 years, Japanese companies have considered the cost of human resource development as an expense, and have thought about 'reducing it' every year compared to the previous year.
Of course, there are exceptions like Japanese general trading companies, Keyence, and Recruit. But many companies have neglected investment in human resource development.
I think the result of repeating foolish policies that mistook using employees cheaply for management and aimed to lower labor costs for the past 30 years has become the current gap in growth power with the rest of the world.
Managers are comfortable in high places
Regarding 'Why can't Japanese managers make decisions?', Toshiba President Shimada replied, 'Because they haven't been trained to walk in high places.'
Sowing seeds for the future is nothing less than top management deciding to shift management resources of people, goods, and money into new businesses, something that 90 out of 100 people would oppose.
Even in research and development investment, in some cases, one must invest in new business areas even if it means reducing investment in current star business areas.
Top management needs the courage and decisiveness to take a step on scaffolding 100 meters up on a rooftop. But usually, people are too scared to move their feet.
That is why large companies are easily destroyed by innovation from the outside.
This is called the innovator's dilemma.
Sowing seeds for the future is a decision
Speaking of 'decisions,' Akira Nishino, the manager who led the team to the round of 16 in the Russia World Cup, said something good.
I think judgment is a choice between a correct answer and an incorrect answer. If data is available and there is a precedent, you know that going right is the correct answer, so you won't make a mistake. That is judgment. On the other hand, I think a decision is deciding to go right when the correct answer is unknown.
This can only be done by a leader. There may be all-or-nothing decisions, but
once you have made a decision as a leader, you must absolutely win.That is why, in the Poland match, I did not give instructions like 'it's okay to attack depending on the flow' in a half-hearted way. Such instructions would confuse the players. I clearly instructed, 'Do not attack. Pass the ball in the back.'
I think that if you replace "athlete" with "employee" in Nishino's quotes, it explains the importance of "decision-making" by corporate leaders. I really do.
If a company only makes decisions that 99 out of 100 people agree with, it will surely decline.
Geezer calls this the "majority rule dilemma."I believe that the seeds of innovation and demand creation lie within minority opinions. I really do.
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(Gratitude)
▼ My self-introduction article was featured in Audrey 7's "One Read, Hundred Gains Note Article Collection," where they generously share the experience and knowledge they have gained from deriving many success formulas in the difficult industry of food and beverage through note. Thank you very much, Audrey 7. I am very honored and happy.
▼ My article was introduced in Kishakoku-sensei's "Real World Teacher" and "You are a Teacher." Thank you, Kishakoku-sensei.
The article introduced was about the number of children on waiting lists. While increasing the budget by 3.5 trillion yen for unprecedented measures against the declining birthrate is fine, if we don't foresee the future and think about overall optimization, it will be no joke if we just throw money at it, no children are born, and the number of children on waiting lists increases.
▼ I received two trophies on Monday. But I failed to take a screenshot of one of them. This is thanks to everyone's "likes" and support. Thank you very much.
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