What if we ran this country like a company? — Hirobumi Ito, the first president of Japan Inc.

After the Meiji Restoration.

Japan was in total chaos.

The shogunate was gone.

The domains were gone.

Laws were inconsistent.

The monetary system was inconsistent.

In modern terms,

it was like a company that had been acquired, with 30 million employees and different rules for every department.

Normally, you would run away.

However.

Hirobumi Ito took on the job.

■ A company without a president

Although the Meiji government had been formed,

who would take responsibility?

Who would make the final decisions?

It was still ambiguous.

Meetings just kept increasing.

There was no one in charge.

Decision-making was slow.

I've heard that somewhere before.

■ Let's create a 'President'

Ito thought to himself.

The country won't function like this.

So, he traveled to Europe.

Germany.

Great Britain.

He studied the systems of each country, and after returning home, he created Japan's first cabinet system.

And he himself became the first Prime Minister.

In other words, he was the first president of Japan Inc.

■ A man whose job is meetings

Ito was not the type to excel on the battlefield.

If anything, he was a person who built systems.

Creating a constitution.

Creating a parliament.

Creating a cabinet.

Always meetings.

Always coordination.

From the perspective of those on the front lines,

they might have thought,

'Another meeting?'

However,
an organization cannot survive on momentum alone.

Someone is also needed to create the rules.

■ The President and the HR Director do not get along

This is where Aritomo Yamagata from the previous section comes in.

Yamagata, the master of personnel and organization.

Ito, the master of systems and politics.

Both were from Choshu.

Both were exceptionally talented.

However,
they did not get along.

When Ito would say,

"Let's create rules for the country,"

Yamagata would say,

Yamagata would say,

"First, develop the people."

he would say.

When Yamagata would say,

"Let's strengthen the military,"

Ito would say,

Ito would say,

"Think about diplomacy."

That is what he says.

In company terms, it is like the president and the head of human resources fighting every day.
And yet, both are essential to the company.

It is unbearable for those around them.

Even so, what is interesting is that it was precisely because these two were there that Meiji-era Japan was able to maintain its balance.

If it had been just one of them, they might have gone off the rails at some point.

■ The job of managing a nation

Hirobumi Ito was not a man who made massive inventions.

He was not a hero who was peerless in war either.

What he did was build systems.

He determined where responsibility lay.

He kept the organization running.

In other words,

he managed the nation.

■ They might be in your company too

The standout sales person.

The flashy project.

The strong front line.

The quiet, steady support staff.

The person who keeps the gears turning.

Ito was the ultimate version of that.

Of course, it is important.

However,
without the rules and systems to support them,
an organization will not last long.

Hirobumi Ito
may have understood that better than anyone else.

Rival(?)👇

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