Chapter 131 A country with many leaders is not a good country

During the Cold War, Japan was the top student in the West, and Ukraine and Romania were the top students in the East.However, at the moment when the antithesis of the Cold War disappeared, the three countries were left far behind by the times.In a sense, Ukraine and Romania are actually the "shadows" of Japan. So why did Ukraine and Romania decline?Why has Japan stagnated for a long time?I think the biggest reason is that there is no outstanding leader, no leader who can lead everyone forward.As a central theme of this book, I have said this many times, but I want to go on. No matter how high an individual's IQ is (high IQ in the past), if a new economy such as the global economy is established that is completely different from the success of the previous economy, the previous IQ will not work.

It is the most fatal that there is no leader who can recognize this situation in time and lead the entire nation to reposition itself. Therefore, leaders who can guide new directions, politicians who can clearly point out specific directions and have foresight are very necessary.What is the role of a leader?Not to motivate everyone to work harder than they are now, but to point the way for all people to work hard.Talents who can point out the direction of development for the whole people are called leaders. As I said in Chapter 8, there is no such leader in Japan.Because no one has the necessary conditions to become a leader - the "three artifacts" of "English", "IT", and "Finance".

Now the leading figures in the world, some are in Russia, some are in Europe.The United States is the concentration of talents in the world, and there are always many top-level talents emerging.South Korea also has an international talent like UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.We must have a deep understanding of this point, and now international conferences also say that South Korea has produced better talents than Japan.To put it more clearly, in international conferences, the quality of Korean talents is better than that of Japan.There is a big difference in the level of college students alone, not to mention the comparison with Taiwan, China.

Citizens in Taiwan, China often have a sense of crisis, and the level of college students is also very high.The leader of Taiwan, China, not only Chinese, but also English and Japanese. Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in March 2008, is a graduate of Harvard. I had an in-depth conversation with him recently. His IQ level is very high; Zhu Rongji, who became Premier of the State Council of China in 1998, is also outstanding. A once-in-a-lifetime statesman”, without him, China would probably be defeated during the Asian crisis. So, what kind of qualifications and abilities should leaders of this era possess?I have summarized the following four points:

Clear direction, this is the most important point. With the right direction, when moving in this direction, you can set a specific goal of "what level to achieve".A true leader is one who can set a clear direction. As a leader, you must have the ability to see the current situation and foresee the future.Taking the previous golf example as an example, it is necessary to have the ability to clarify the direction of the shot, such as "the flag is there and the wind direction is like this, so we should play like this". After the direction is determined, it is to determine the degree and method.

Continuing with golf, it should be suggested that "this is a par 4 hole, so you should choose this club and play this way". In the case of a marathon, it is necessary to give a suggestion of "until the end of the 42.195 kilometers, run the first 10 kilometers like this, the next 10 kilometers like this, and after 35 kilometers..." Suggestions. Clarity to this extent, and can master the correct method, can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Even if the direction and method are clear, it is not so simple to implement.There are bound to be people who feel "Tell me so much, but I still don't know what to do".

At this time, the leader who cannot say "Well, let me show you" is remiss.If you try it yourself first, your subordinates will follow you. But the problem is that leaders sometimes can't do it.So how should this be done? The above three conditions have been met, and the only step is to implement this step, but sometimes the leader cannot do this, what should be done at this time?Quite simply, find people who can do it.This is also an important ability that a leader should possess—discovering talents.The reason why the company's president, politicians and other senior executives have the power of personnel is because they have such ability.

Among these four "leadership theories", what I want to emphasize is this point - "find someone who can do it".Because with the continuous development of globalization, it is common sense for the winners to find talents from all over the world, and only countries and companies that can find talents will succeed. For Japan, which is short of talents, this has very profound significance. The reason why many countries and companies fail is often because everything is limited to the country and the company.Taken to the extreme, even national leaders can be found all over the world.No one is surprised that the business leaders of EU member states are now non-nationals.The largest company in Europe is Royal Shell of the Netherlands, and its chairman is Jorma Ollila of Finland, who is also the CEO of Nokia.

Japan during the Meiji period gathered talents from all over the world, and the Japanese at that time were always very humble to learn from these talents.