🌸Management Future Notebook - Wednesday (Issue 59) - Complete Preservation Edition: "Decide the Balancing of Interests in Binary Oppositions from the 'Future'" — The Decision-Making Structure of Organizations Chosen by the Future

🌸Management Future Notebook - Wednesday (Issue 59) - Complete Preservation Edition

“Decide the balancing of interests in binary oppositions from the 'future'”
— The decision-making structure of organizations chosen by the future

(Written by Akifumi Yasumura)

Wednesdays are dedicated to delivering "personal growth and insights."
We re-examine team and individual relationships, and deepen self-understanding and human understanding through Enneagram coaching and case studies.

■ Introduction

Binary oppositions always exist in management.
Short-term profit or human resource development?
Efficiency or challenge?
Psychological safety or accountability for results?
At first glance, these look like debates over "which is correct." But the essence is different.
The issue is
what future you are using as a premise for your judgment.
In the world of law, there is a concept called "balancing of interests." It is a way of thinking that compares multiple values and decides which to prioritize.
Management is the same.
The difference is whether you place the standard in the "present" or the "future."
From my experience, fewer than 30% of managers make decisions based on "deciding from the future" as a daily routine. Many are pulled by the "noise of the present," such as quarterly figures or pressure from those around them.
It is not that they are not envisioning a future.
It is that they are not using the future as their standard.

■ An example of an organization chosen by the future - Amazon

Jeff Bezos declared:
"All decisions are judged by whether the 'future customer' will be happy."
At the time, Amazon was consistently in the red. If they had prioritized short-term profit, they should have stopped investing.
However, based on the future e-commerce society, he built:
・The Prime membership program
・One-click purchasing
・AWS
This is not a choice between "short-term or long-term."
It is a balancing of interests with the future customer as the boss.
When you stand on a future standard, binary oppositions change from "conflicts" to "sequences."

■ Organizing binary oppositions from the future

① Short-term profit vs. Human resource development
Profit is the "result." People are the "cause."
If you clarify the organizational image three years from now, the priorities will naturally be decided.
② Standardization/Efficiency vs. Creation/Challenge
The foundation is standardization. Design challenges on top of that.
If you don't get the order wrong, conflict won't occur.
③ Psychological safety vs. Accountability for results
First, improve the quality of relationships.
Then, share high standards.
The order determines the quality.
If you decide the future first, hesitation decreases.

■ The structure of people chosen by the future

People chosen by the future have three characteristics:
① Decide the ideal future state first
② Determine current actions based on future standards
③ Accumulate choices that you won't be ashamed of to your future self
In a word,
a person who lives with their future self as their "boss."
Management is the same.
Are you making your future organization your boss?
Or are you making this term's figures your boss?
This difference creates the gap 10 years from now.

■ Editor's Note

Judgment based on future standards comes with loneliness.
In the short term, it is difficult to explain and invites criticism. However, only those who have defined the future can govern the present.
The future is not something to wait for,
it is something you decide in advance.

■ Today's Question

Are the important decisions in your company
decided by "current anxiety"?
Or are they decided by the "ideal future state"?

■ Cat's Mutterings

"If my future self is my boss, I can't slack off, meow."

■ Conclusion

The essence of binary opposition is not "which one to choose."
It is which future you use as a premise to balance interests.
Management is the act of continuously deciding the order based on the future.
Implementing a decision-making structure with a future perspective into your organization.
That is the first step toward becoming an organization chosen by the future.
If you need support, please feel free to consult with us at any time.

■ Next Issue Preview

'Four Signs of an Organization Not Based on Future Premises'

■ Appendix

[Future-Standard Interest Balancing Model]