The Man Who Realized All His Subordinates Were in His Own Faction: Aritomo Yamagata

What is the most important thing in an organization?

Is it money?

Is it the product?

Is it the technology?

Aritomo Yamagata thought otherwise.

"It is personnel."

He is the person who proved that with his entire life.

■ Low status, but high observational skills

Aritomo Yamagata was a low-ranking samurai of the Choshu Domain.

He was neither a thinker like Shoin Yoshida, nor a star like Shinsaku Takasugi.

However, while observing the chaos of the end of the Edo period, he realized:

"In the end, it is people who move an organization."

That is what he concluded.

■ Building an army

After the Meiji Restoration, Yamagata was entrusted with organizing the military.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have gone in the direction of:

Buying weapons.

Increasing training.

Demanding a budget.

That is the direction they would have taken.

However, Yamagata was different.

First,

he would thoroughly consider

"who to promote."

■ The Personnel Department Awakens

Find talented people.

Promote them.

Do them a favor.

Assign them.

Promote them again.

Assign them again.

Before you knew it,

the upper echelons of the military were Yamagata's people.

The bureaucracy was Yamagata's people.

The police were Yamagata's people.

Local administration was also Yamagata's people.

Wherever you looked, it was Yamagata's people.

In modern terms, it would be like
having been in charge of new employee training for 30 years,

resulting in a situation where the president, executives, and department heads
were all your former students.

However.

Even for Yamagata,
there was someone over whom his personnel authority had no effect.

That was Hirobumi Ito.

In corporate terms,
it was like the HR director and the CEO
constantly fighting.

And both of them were incredibly talented.

It was unbearable for those around them.

■ Something stronger than money

It is an interesting story when viewed through the lens of economics.

Funds run out.

Equipment becomes obsolete.

Product trends change.

However,
connections with people remain.

Yamagata understood this.

Therefore,
he invested in human resources before assets.

As a result,
he ended up building one of Japan's largest
human networks.

■ Factionalism or talent development?

In later generations,

he was also called

the boss of the Choshu clique.

On the other hand,
he is also recognized as the person who supported the organizational development of the modern state.

Opinions are divided.

However, there is one thing that is certain.

Aritomo Yamagata was
faster than anyone else

"Personnel authority is the most powerful management resource"

to understand that fact.

These were his disciples👇

Click here for a summary of fun history x economics👇

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