The executives training

One of the things I plan to do is a new executives training.

They are thrown into some offing of a deserted island from a helicopter, and are made to barely swim to the island. Only water is prepared on the island beforehand, but no food prepared.
And they are made to survive 5 days and 4 nights with a few people.
Regularly they are shot with a camera from a helicopter in the sky, and everyday the repot is on the air only in the company.
In case of emergency, rescue is made when SOS is sent out by the word written on the sand, but anyone who cannot complete the training successfully cannot be promoted to the executive post.
Those mentioned above are the rules.

This is an executives training which is actually adopted in a big company.

The consolidated settlement of accounts

A plan of mine is to give the monthly consolidated financial statements to all the employees of my companies.
There’s mostly no problem for the employees to read BS and PL statements, but it’s me who have a problem.
Because I am still studying consolidated settlement of accounts.
I will achieve it!

ヘッドハントで危機を乗り切ろう

English Follows the Japanese:

今年、景気はまだまだ悪くなると思っている。雇用情勢は益々悪化し、
これからリストラされる正社員の数が新聞紙上にいっせいに出てくるだろう。

新政府は早期に解散、官僚機構も混乱する。

未曾有の大不況がやってくる。

産業構造は斜めから崩れ始め、大半の企業は大縮小と共にあらゆる業界は大再編される。

企業を存続させるのは何か？

人材である。

ヘッドハンティングでしか採用できないスーパースターが必要なのは今だ。

Overcome a crisis by headhunting

I think the economy will get worse and worse this year.
The employment situation will go from bad to worse, and the number of the permanent employees getting downsized will be in all the headlines.
The new government will dissolve the diet early, and the bureaucracy also will get disordered.
An unprecedented major economic depression will come.
The industrial structure will start to collapse from an angle, and most companies will be super downsized and every industry will be largely reorganized.
Then, What can keep your companies in business?
That’s human resource.
Now is the time that the super stars are required for your companies, who can be acquired only by headhunting.

七夕

English follows the Japanese:

今日は七夕です。
中国から伝わった日本の伝統行事で、お祭りが日本各地で行われます。

毎年恒例の七夕ですが、今年の七夕は、ただごとではありません。
今日は満月なのです！皆さん月のパワーはご存知ですよね？

その月のパワーが爆発的に今増大しているのです。
なぜなら、皆既日食が起こるから。日食は、月が太陽の前を横切るために起こります。

21世紀中に、日食と七夕と満月が重なるのは・・・2009年7月だけ。

願い事をするなら今日を逃してはなりません。

Tanabata (The Star Festival)

Today it’s Tanabata (The Star Festival) in Japan.
This is a traditional event in Japan, which was introduced into Japan from China, and the festivals are held all over Japan.

Tanabata is the annual event, but this year’s Tanabata is out of the ordinary.
It’s a full moon today! I think you have already known the power of a full moon.
The power of the moon is explosively increased now because of a total solar eclipse occurring.
A total solar eclipse occurs by that the moon crosses in front of the sun.

It’s only July 2009 in the 21st century that a total solar eclipse and Tanabata and a full moon are on the same day.
If you will make a wish, you cannot miss today.

人間ドック

English follows the Japanese:

今日は朝から半年に一度やっている人間ドックの日だ。今回は聖路加病院である。
ここの名誉院長はあったことはないが尊敬している人の1人。

これまでたくさんの病院で検査したが、サービスやクオリティー（注射が痛くないとか）はナンバーワンではなかろうか。

ただし、時間帯を早めにした方がいい。午後近くなるとさすがに効率が悪くなるようで、だんだんと待ち時間が増える気がする。

検査だけして問診はキャンセル。僕のようにデータがほしいだけの人にもおすすめです。

Complete medical checkup

Today, it’s the day for my semiannual complete medical checkup, which it is starting from the morning.
This time, I’m having it at the St. Luke's International Hospital.
I have never met the honorary hospital director of this hospital, but the person is one of the people I respect.
I had had many medical checkups at many hospitals, but I think this hospital cannot be matched for good service and quality (less pain at injection site etc.).
However, it’s better to have it in the morning. As it gets to the afternoon, it seems to get less efficient, and the waiting time also seems to get longer.
I skip a diagnostic process with an interview, and just have checkups.
I recommend this hospital also for the patients like me who want only the medical data of their own.

告知

English follows the Japanese:

告知

この度、当社グループの全ての会社の社長職を辞することにしました。
また、同時に議決権所有割合が51％以上の会社はすべて代表取締役会長兼CEOに就任。
グループの純粋持株会社であるkoga Holdings㈱がグループ12社全体の経営戦略を担当することに致しました。

主な新社長は、

サーチファームジャパン㈱
代表取締役社長　武元康明

麹町パートナーズ㈱
代表取締役社長　山崎朝子

SFJソリューションズ㈱
代表取締役社長　川上暁生

Announcement

Please be advised of the following.
I decided to resign from the presidency of all companies in my company’s group.
And then, the chairperson and CEO is chosen by the company, which holds the voting rights that exceed 51% and more, and the person assumes the roles and the post.
Koga Holdings Co., Ltd., which is the pure holding company of the group, is in charge of the business strategy of all 12 companies in the group.

The main new presidents:

- Search Firm Japan Co., Ltd.
President: Yasuaki Takemoto

- Kojimachi Partners Co., Ltd.
President: Asako Yamazaki

- SFJ Solutions Co., Ltd.
President: Akio Kawakami

誕生日 My birthday

English follows the Japanese:

今日は誕生日だ。

麹町カフェというカフェに100人以上集まってくれました。

45歳になったが、人生はこれからだ。

My birthday

Today, It‘s my birthday.
More than 100 people attended for my birthday party held at the cafe called “the Kojimachi cafe”.
I turned 45 years old.
The real part of my life has only just begun.

1000Yen

English follows the Japanese:

昨晩は内部統制室の近藤氏と六本木のクラブみたいなところに行った。

1000円でウィスキー2杯とビールが飲めたことに驚いた。

ここまでデフレが進んでいるとは、、、

Last night I went to a place like a night club in Roppongi, with Mr. Kondoh from the Internal Control Room of my company.
I was surprised at such a low price – for 1000 yen, I could have 2 glasses of whiskey and a glass of beer.
I have never imagined that deflation worsened to such level …

Slam Dunk and 17 years old

I went to watch the last game in the final league of the all Kanagawa high schools Basketball tournament. It’s like the world of the manga “Slam Dunk”.
One of the officials is an acquaintance of mine, and actually I had something to say to the one, so I drove fast to the venue in the rain.

When I watched the all Japan basketball championships game on TV before, I had something unpleasant about the appearance and attitude of the old man like a coach called like the head coach or something like that.
I didn’t mind his trying to rock his best tailored suit because it’s just a personal fashion taste, but what I never could tolerate was that he walked in the court where the players play in his leather shoes.
Though he cannot enter the court during a game, he did that like nothing was wrong at the warm-up time before the game, which I could not tolerate.

Probably he copied the NBA, but I feel like he is an example of the Japanese who is degraded.
It would be waste of time to tell such those wrong old men about that for correcting that problem, so I was thinking that I would educate the high school basketball coaches.
Incidentally, I strongly feel uncomfortable about singing and dancing with roller-skating also on the volleyball court made by the idol kids from the Johhny’s entertainment, but I have no guts to complain about that because I owe the volleyball world many obligations.
But I have no personal interest in the basketball world, so why not tell them this time also for the volleyball world?
I am not interested in the mixture of sports and entertainment.

However, well, it didn't turn out the way I had expected.
The high school basketball coaches put on sports shoes properly, the parents and colleague doing some cheerleading wore the same T-shirts, and they had very good manners. The tournament was organized just about perfectly.

When I come to think of myself at 17 years old, I used to play the prefecture tournament finals many times like them, but my memory was brought back which our behaviors and language of the players and coach at that time were quite defiant, compared to the current ones.
An wrong old man, it must be me, the Sunday told me so…..

I am tremendously busy at this time of the year, and I have never been able to get back my home in Yokohama all week.
Tonight I have two appointments to have dinner with, and tomorrow I am going to play golf in Ibaragki pref., so it seems that I cannot come to my home also today.
Every night I take sleeping pills, and become unconscious from the pills till morning, then I come to my office never later than 9AM.
My physical strength has amazed even me in such hard days like that continuing, but I thought again that dependence on sleeping pills and such like that is not good when I watched news this morning telling that Michael Jackson was dead.

Shown in the photo is my breakfast this morning.
Udon (Japanese wheat noodle) with meat and egg.

On 30th of this month, it is my birthday.
Last night a restaurant I frequents gave an early small birthday party for me.
A bottle of vintage champagne and the Iwagaki Oysters (Crassostrea nippona) were especially very delicious.
And that’s not all. The restaurant offered me those for free as a birthday present for me.
I usually don’t make a reservation for a table in a restaurant, but it would be nice to go to a restaurant after making a reservation sometimes, since such a good thing was brought after I happened to make a reservation.

The reason why I live with being spontaneous and playing it by ear except for important things, that is because I have many moments I truly feel Thank you from the bottom of my heart, like the thing happened today.
I quit the way of living with many plots a long while ago.
No more scars.

“Why is the search firm made in Japan needed for today’s society?”
“Why has my company grown rapidly? ”
Those kinds of questions are often asked, so now I will explain and answer about those in here.

When we think about “how can we and society be happy?”, There is no suitable society at the present day excepted for the Japanese-style company organization which has a bond with the employees and NPO (Nonprofit-making Organization).
So this thought exists firmly as latent demand in people today.
Therefore, it is inevitable that the Japanese style is needed in the search firms’ world which had been in very Europe and the United States ways.

And if the profit by that is considered as a reward from society, my company’s growing is also inevitable.
Also, I think that is because we are a group which have fundamental thoughts “people manage the organization, not the organization manage people.”

The last night I could hardly sleep for some reason, but I don’t feel unwell.
For me, actually, sitting up all through the night has always made me much better in health.

I drew some pictures on my sketchbook till the early morning
I will upload them on my blog when a few works of mine were completed.

AgeHa on the Shinkiba STUDIO COAST, I went to there.
Since the business of there looked bad, I started to try to make the party in there go on my own will.
Then, I broke the glasses of my sunglasses, flopped into the swimming pool in there, and my companion left me alone there and went home etc…
In fact, I really had a very fun TGIF night…

Management Philosophy

As long as I can remember, I never have said “The management philosophy of my company is…”
Because I don’t understand the meaning of so-called Management Philosophy　at all.
I think I would be second to none in the number of the relevant books I had read, however, I still cannot figure out what it is at all.
Of course, those are not subjected to study by scholars, so those exist only for making money.

I know lots of the consultancy firms related to those such as DTP, Multimedia, IT, CI, strategy, philosophy etc., and also lots of the people who utilize their opportunities to publish books as their means to promote their companies’ business with taking advantage of those booms of the fields of such keywords mentioned above. Needless to say which country it is, those are targeted at Japan chasing after fads, and they often told me their real intentions and their true views of that.

I want all the executives to take the current depression as good opportunity to think over again.

It can be said with certainty that “freewheeling thinking” is what the executives never deny.
Then, the fixed ideas like “This is the way things should be… ”, Those have nothing to be advantage in your future.
Furthermore, don’t you think that will bring your defeat on yourself?
If you declare “freewheeling thinking”, I wonder if your staff cannot become free to speak out with being bound by it.
And also I wonder if that can cause raising the fresh-from-college employee turnover rate at a company because your young and inexperienced employees will suffer from the gap between reality and fixed idea, apart from the competent employees.

Philosophy is just the shackles.
Instead, “Nothing” feeds us.
However, “Something” lies there with dignity.

The basic of the oriental philosophy is “Shogyou Mujyou” in the term of Buddhism, which means “ No life is infinite.”
Businesses also would be so, but I want to believe something infinite.
Therefore, I never can do such folly as I bind people with my dogma and philosophy, with being swayed by prevailing the trend mentioned above.

My company is the one which the name itself cannot have the philosophy. Therefore, that shows the philosophy.

Search Firm Japan – it means that Japan supports the search firm and we from Japan to the world (since the name is in English).

Therefore, SFJ (Search Firm Japan) does not have the philosophy.
“SFJ” itself is the philosophy.

The goal is to make my company grow up to building the corporate group with annual profit of 100 billion yen!
I have no particular grounds why this figure was set.
But that simply comes from that probably we will achieve recognition as an industry if we can achieve this level, and also I often tell my company staff members that real men have got to do such level of business.

コンサート

English follows the Japanese:
昨晩は、近藤さんからもらった睡眠薬を飲んでみたが、午前３時に目が覚めてしまった。
本を読む気分でもなかったので、テレビをつけたが見たいと思える映画もやってない。さてどうしたものかとチャンネルをポンポン押していると、ある歌手グループのコンサートをやっていたので、ぼ～と眺めていた。

ずっと前から思っていたことだが、なぜ、コンサートの観客は同じ動きをするのか？ステージの歌手に会わせて、何万人がいっせいに同じ動作を行うのだ。僕には北朝鮮のマスゲームと同じ風景にしか見えない。

座って腕組みしてみちゃだめなのか？いったい何が楽しくてそんなことをお金払ってやるのか？到底理解できない。

狭い会場で、熱烈に支持する人を目の前にロックに興じるのは理解できないこともないが、米粒にしか見えない対象を相手に、何万人と同じ動作をする事に満足しているとしたら、これはもう宗教的といえると思うが、どうなんだろうか。

僕自身、これまで実は3回程コンサートに行ったことがある。1回はヘッドハントのキャンディデートの説得のため。高揚させといて口説いた。あとの2回は死んでも言えないが、背が高い僕が立つと、後ろの席の人が見にくいのではないかとそればかり気にしていた記憶がある。

でも、セリーヌディオンのラスベガス公演は見に行きたかったなぁ。

Title: Concert
Last night I took the sleeping pills given by Kondo-san, but I woke up at 3 am.
I didn’t feel like reading books, so I turned on my TV, but I couldn’t find any movies I felt like watching.
With having nothing particularly to do, I just kept changing the channel on my TV, and then a singer’s concert was on air, so I just watched absently at it.

Though I have wondered for a long time, I wonder why all of the crowd at a concert make the same moves?
Tens of thousands of people make the same moves along with the singer on the stage all at once.
For me, it looks just like the same sight as the mass calisthenics in North Korea.

Why can’t I see a concert with sitting on the seat with my arms crossed?
What on earth is the fun of doing such a thing?
How could they pay their money for such a thing?
I totally cannot understand that at all.

I think I can understand the people enjoying Rock music in front of the artist who is enthusiastic for in a small venue, but if all of the crowds are satisfied with making the same moves along with the act on the stage who looks the same size as a grain of rice in a huge venue, it can be said that it is just something religious.
What do you think of that?

I myself have ever been to some concerts 3 times.
The first one is for persuading the candidate to be headhunted.
I persuaded the candidate after enhanced the person’s mood.
The other two times, I cannot tell what those were even if it means death, but I have the memory that I worried all the way about the people behind me if it got harder for them to see the act on the stage if I stood up, because I am tall.

Even so, I wanted to go for the Celine Dion’s concert performed in Las Vegas.

リーダー論２

English follows the Japanese:

先日のリーダー論みたいなのが好評だったので、続きを簡単に書きます。

今は有事です。
有事のリーダーに必要なのは言うまでもなく決断力。
リーダーというのはもともと軍事用語で、「死を賭ける」という意味がある。
命を賭けろは言わないが、ちょっと都合が悪くなるともっともらしい理由を積み上げ現実から逃げ出そうとする癖のある人にリーダーの資質はない。

頭の良さなど必要ない。頭のいい人を使えればいい。
素晴らしい夢を掲げる必要はない。理念はしょっちゅう変えていい。
しかし、「こういうことをやろう」と目標を定めたら、紆余曲折し、妥協すべきは妥協しながらも、なんとしてでも目的を達成しようするのがリーダーだ。
後は、あとは部下にやらせることだ。部下や兵が諦めてもリーダーが諦めなければいいのだ。

但し、リーダーも人間なので感情がある。「あきらめない」ということは心理学的な定義では、感情の安定性が高い状態。人間の感情は常に揺れるものだ。高揚したり落ち込んだり、、しかし、感情の安定性が高いと、すぐノーマルポジションに戻ることが出来る。反対に感情の安定性が低いと、一回二回負けたくらいで投げやりになってしまったり、逆に一回勝ったくらいで慢心してしまう。

では感情の安定性はどうすれば得られるか？

はっきり言って自助努力では難しい。周囲のサポートが必要だ。
そのサポートを得るには、人間的魅力もしくは、根拠のない自信を持てば周囲は色眼鏡で見てくれるだろう。

また、絶対に冷徹でなければならない。義理人情は妬みしか生まない。改革が出来ない理由はここにある。

To become leaders - Part 2-

“To become leaders” I wrote on my blog the other day was appreciated, so I am writing a sequel to the story.

Now we are in a contingency.
What is required for a leader in a contingency is obviously being decisive.
“Leader“, it’s originally in military terms, and that means “doing at the risk of losing your life.”
I don’t mean to say that you should do it at the risk of losing your life.
But anyone who tend to try to escape from reality with an accumulation of their plausible excuses when something works against their interests, they are not qualified to be leaders.

Whether or not you have a clear head is not essential. If not, hire anyone who has a clear head.
No need to set a great dream for yourself. You may always change your vision.
However, once you set the goal “you will go for this thing (your goal)”, A “leader” must be the one who try to accomplish your aim at any cost, even though having some bumps and detours, and compromising when it has to.
Then let your staff take care of that.
Even if your staff or soldiers gave up, you must not give up.

However, leaders are also human-beings, so they certainly have their emotions.
“Never giving up” in the psychologically-based definition, that’s in a high equilibrium condition.
Human emotions are not always stable.
Getting into high spirits and getting depressed and so on….
But in a high equilibrium condition, you can get back to your normal position soon.
On the contrary, in a low equilibrium condition, you will drop the ball just because of once or twice of your lost, or in contrast, you will be conceited with your only once winning.

Then, how can we achieve equilibrium?

To be frank, it’s difficult to achieve it with your self-supporting efforts.
The support by others around you is necessary.
To get the support, you will have to have a personal magnetism or have unwarranted confidence in yourself, and then the people around you will perceive you as special.

And also you must be cool-headed whatever may happen.
Loyalty and compassion generate nothing but jealousy.
Why reform cannot be made lies this.

ドライブ

English follows the Japanese:
久しぶりの好天気しかも日曜日だというのに、部屋でビデオや読書というのもどうかと思い、独りでドライブに出かけた。
日曜だろうが月曜だろうが、頭の中で事業のことを何かしら考えている。寝ているときもそうだから、24H365日だ。逃げ場はどこにもなく、だから多くの経営者は特別なストレス解消方法を何かしら持っているのだろう。でも、僕は仕事のことは仕事でかたをつける主義なので、ストレスはあるだろうがそれを解消しようなんて、甘ったれた精神構造にはない。

楽しいことや興味あることは楽しいし、そうでなければ相手にしないだけ。経営はそうはいかないだろうが、個人的には完全なるいわゆるB型的わがまま人間である。

こんな人間の思いつきドライブに付き合ってくれる人間がいるわけもないのだが、意外と別に渋滞してもイライラしないし、安全運転なので、いけるのではないかと思っている。言って置くが車は好きな方ではない。運転ははっきり言って嫌いだ。ドライバーさんがいてくれて方が何倍もいい。移動中に仕事できれ迷わずそれを選ぶ性質でなので、運転は下手だと思う。危険なシーンもそういえばかなりあって、事故がないのは奇跡的かも。

Title: Driving a car

Finally we got fine weather after a long interval, and that was on Sunday - I thought that was not a good idea to watch videos and read books in my room in such a perfect day, so I went out for a drive alone.

7days a week, I am always full of thinking about my business in my head.
Exactly that is even in my sleep, so I cannot stop thinking, not one second can be stopped.
There is nowhere to escape from doing that, so the most of executives will have some special stress relievers.

But I don’t have the spoiled mental structure which requires to relieve my stress coming from my business, even though I don’t deny that I would have stress, because I am the one who have my principals that I always settle out any business problems with my business completely.

I can have a good time with fun or interesting things for me, otherwise, I don’t spend my time on.

I know we cannot do that in business management, but personally, I am a totally so-called B-type-blood-like selfish one in a way.
I know none would go out for a drive with me who is such a whimsical person, but I think I have no problem to go for a drive with someone unexpectedly, because I am not irritated by traffic jams particularly and I drive a car safely.
Just to tell you, I don’t prefer cars. Honestly, I hate to drive a car.
Having my chauffer is definitely better for me.
If I could work still in the car on the road, I am the one who choose to do that without question, so I think I am a bad driver.
Come to think of it, I have met much dangerous situations during my driving, so I guess I could say that is a miracle that I have not had any traffic accidents

The dog sitting on a sofa

Summer is the season of life-or-death situation for my dog Saint Bernard.
And in the coming rainy season, it looks also hard for him with high humidity, so I sheared him.
He looks somewhat feeling comfortable now.

As shown in the picture, he sits on a sofa and watches television normally, and he takes the best position always.

The sense of employees

In the severe economic situation these days, however, I believe “Where there is a will, there is always a way, no matter how hard the situation is.”
If we all the members of my company make all-out efforts with our crisis awareness at the end of the cliff, economic depression is nothing to be afraid of.

Shown in the photos are some members of my company who work around me.

All of them are excellent people who are far more brighter, stronger physically, and more attractive to women than me.
I can foresee their bright futures.

All of the photos are put on here with the permissions of this from all of them.