Today's topic is about movie I have recently watched. The movie is 'Departures' that got Best Foreign Language Film of Academy Award in 2008.
He loses his job in Tokyo and goes back to his hometown, Yamagata. He looks for a new job and happen to find a job of encoffineer. Encoffineer is a job people hate, and his old friend and even his wife try to get him quit it. But he is getting attracted by the job and continues it.
I felt that by facing reality of death, his life was totally changed. He must have become to thank all foods and everyday life. He sincerely devoted into the job. Finally he changed his friend's mind and his wife's mind and they turned to become favorable to the job.
He was internally directed for being the job, and by changing himself, he could change his wife and friend's mind.
At Angell hall, today I attended a film screening of a movie about the earthquake happened in Japan exactly one year ago. In the movie, what impacted on me was a comment of a victim, 'the earthquake was unavoidable, but the disaster of nuclear power plant was avoidable. It was a man-made disaster.'
I can say that TEPCO, the electric company responsible for the nuclear power plant disaster, failed to be transformational organization. When experts warned that the provision for Tsunami is not enough, they just reject that, which was internally closed. They invited (still are inviting) people who are in favor of nuclear power for their executives for the company and subsidiary companies. They turned out to realize that their provision was not enough from external pressure after the earthquake happened.
If they had been in FSL, the nuclear power plant disaster would have been avoided.
I can say that TEPCO, the electric company responsible for the nuclear power plant disaster, failed to be transformational organization. When experts warned that the provision for Tsunami is not enough, they just reject that, which was internally closed. They invited (still are inviting) people who are in favor of nuclear power for their executives for the company and subsidiary companies. They turned out to realize that their provision was not enough from external pressure after the earthquake happened.
If they had been in FSL, the nuclear power plant disaster would have been avoided.
What surprised me in the movie, Dead Poets Society, was Neil's death, because the atmosphere of the movie wasn't like that's going to happen. And the Neil's death and the concept 'seize the day' reminded me of Steve Jobs' speech at Stanford in 2005.
In the speech, Jobs said three things. At the beginning of the third part, he quoted what made him impressed when he was 17, saying 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday, you'll most certainly be right.'
Facing Neil's death, the students must have felt the idea 'seize the day' more vividly. I could learn about other-centered from Keating's way to conduct the class but at the same time, I could learn about internally directed from the idea of 'seize the day' and Neil's death as Steve Jobs said.
In the speech, Jobs said three things. At the beginning of the third part, he quoted what made him impressed when he was 17, saying 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday, you'll most certainly be right.'
Facing Neil's death, the students must have felt the idea 'seize the day' more vividly. I could learn about other-centered from Keating's way to conduct the class but at the same time, I could learn about internally directed from the idea of 'seize the day' and Neil's death as Steve Jobs said.
Today I read the other-focused part of 'Lift'. The biggest takeaway is other-focused can create a positive cycle.
I would say that other-focused is to try to feel what others are feeling. In other words, it's empathy. Empathy leads mutual rapport, mutual rapport makes others feel secure, a sense of secure creates trusts and trusts allow us to learn and innovate things.
When I wan in the last office, I would say that I was an internally directed, externally open and result-centered person. However, I definitely wasn't other-focused person. I pushed what I believe right to others. I tried to change many things and they looked changed superficially. But after I left the office, office members gave up continuing them and what had been changed ended up going backas they were before. I succeeded to change things, but failed to transform them.
I think that other-focused is not only one of factors for fundamental state of leadership but also it intrinsically has a strong power for transformational leadership.
I would say that other-focused is to try to feel what others are feeling. In other words, it's empathy. Empathy leads mutual rapport, mutual rapport makes others feel secure, a sense of secure creates trusts and trusts allow us to learn and innovate things.
When I wan in the last office, I would say that I was an internally directed, externally open and result-centered person. However, I definitely wasn't other-focused person. I pushed what I believe right to others. I tried to change many things and they looked changed superficially. But after I left the office, office members gave up continuing them and what had been changed ended up going backas they were before. I succeeded to change things, but failed to transform them.
I think that other-focused is not only one of factors for fundamental state of leadership but also it intrinsically has a strong power for transformational leadership.
From today, University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies hosts photo exhibition about earthquake in Japan one year ago. I went there to watch photos.
The photo that most impacted on me was one that shows real estate leasing shop having a banner saying 'thanks for the full occupancy." It was weird for me because it sounds like they are thankful for earthquake that created tens of thousands of casualty and hundreds of thousands of people losing their house. They would be successful now but I would say that it is definitely not sustainable. That is partly because they just rely on a special demand caused by the earthquake but mainly because they don't have perspective of other-focused. They have only self-focused point of view. They will never transform their business and will end up losing their customers if they do this kind of thing.
The photo that most impacted on me was one that shows real estate leasing shop having a banner saying 'thanks for the full occupancy." It was weird for me because it sounds like they are thankful for earthquake that created tens of thousands of casualty and hundreds of thousands of people losing their house. They would be successful now but I would say that it is definitely not sustainable. That is partly because they just rely on a special demand caused by the earthquake but mainly because they don't have perspective of other-focused. They have only self-focused point of view. They will never transform their business and will end up losing their customers if they do this kind of thing.
In Japan, the English education industry is highly fragmented. There are two traditional business models in the industry. The one is English school. They offer group lesson or one on one lesson by native speakers It's expensive but they put emphasis much on effectiveness. The other one is to sell materials of English education for self usage. There are several types: periodical magazines, study aids like vocabulary books or teaching materials used special methods.
English study is really tough especially Asian people who have totally different types of mother tongues. We cannot improve our English skills in a short time. Therefore we need to stay hard for a long time. Currently, many people doubt the effectiveness of English schools although it's efficient because we need to spend much time but we don't have enough money to meet the time. Still periodical magazines and study aids are useful but effectiveness depends on people's motivation. I think teaching materials are worst because they always use doubtful sales talk like 'if you use this, you can improve your English skills only in one month.'
Now, the third business model emerged. It employs university students in Philippine and uses Skype as a communication tools. Since labor cost and fixed cost are so low that they could achieve to create a business model with effectiveness and efficiency to some extent. But I am not satisfied with this business model yet because it is still expensive. We have to pay $60 a month for everyday 25-minute lesson. Only 25 minutes a day of exposure to English is not enough. I wish this industry would really be other-focused and see from a point of view of people who cannot speak English. If this kind of company appears, the industry will be transformed.
English study is really tough especially Asian people who have totally different types of mother tongues. We cannot improve our English skills in a short time. Therefore we need to stay hard for a long time. Currently, many people doubt the effectiveness of English schools although it's efficient because we need to spend much time but we don't have enough money to meet the time. Still periodical magazines and study aids are useful but effectiveness depends on people's motivation. I think teaching materials are worst because they always use doubtful sales talk like 'if you use this, you can improve your English skills only in one month.'
Now, the third business model emerged. It employs university students in Philippine and uses Skype as a communication tools. Since labor cost and fixed cost are so low that they could achieve to create a business model with effectiveness and efficiency to some extent. But I am not satisfied with this business model yet because it is still expensive. We have to pay $60 a month for everyday 25-minute lesson. Only 25 minutes a day of exposure to English is not enough. I wish this industry would really be other-focused and see from a point of view of people who cannot speak English. If this kind of company appears, the industry will be transformed.
Today, I borrowed a book named 'Power Pricing' at Kresgi library because I had got bothered when I worked at a plant as a production control. People in the plant liked to set price along cost structure they had, and salespeople liked to set price along customers' opinions and competitors' price. Some worried about brand image erosion with discount and some worried about low utilization of machines without discount. I found out that the difficulties of pricing would be coming from its complexity.
We should be result-centered by setting price, which means we have to generate profit. On the other hand, we should be other-centered by listening to customers' opinions and compromising profit to some extent. We shouldn't be externally directed on pricing since pricing is expression of will of the company. On the other hand, we should be externally open on pricing by analyzing competitors' price. Only when we find balance among these conditions, we would have satisfactory price setting. In this sense, I might be able to call this state 'fundamental state of leader company'.
We should be result-centered by setting price, which means we have to generate profit. On the other hand, we should be other-centered by listening to customers' opinions and compromising profit to some extent. We shouldn't be externally directed on pricing since pricing is expression of will of the company. On the other hand, we should be externally open on pricing by analyzing competitors' price. Only when we find balance among these conditions, we would have satisfactory price setting. In this sense, I might be able to call this state 'fundamental state of leader company'.
These days I got several e-mails about collaboration of University of Michigan and Google. I evaluate that this is a good activity for students because many Google's services are user friendly. I think this is because Google is a company with other-focused state. Google didn't stick only internet searching, rather they expanded their service line-ups by broadening entrance of Google for customers. Since there are many kinds of good services, many people become willing to use Google. They would be internally directed, externally open and result-centered, but I feel that thanks to their tendency to pursuit other-centered service line-ups, Google attracts many users. My most favorite isGoogle Docs. This is exactly what students need especially ones who have many group assignments. As long as they have other-focused state, their position in the industry would keep stable.
Yesterday, I watched Monster Truck Jam at Detroit with my family. It was so exciting and overwhelming that my three-year-old daughter and four-year-son looked really enjoyed.
I searched basic information through the internet especially about who started this crazy event. Wikipedia says that there were several crazy guys who garnered most national attention, and there isa debate over who did the first crash. But it is often believed that when Bob Chandler drove over cars in April 1981, the first monster truck crush happened. Whoever the first truck crush caused, it would have been unintentional one because at that time they just were enjoying the size of trucks. They were internally motivated to make their trucks bigger, but internally closed, comfort centered and self focused. But since the size of trucks driven by owners' motivation was extraordinary, Monster Truck Jam was created and people have been fascinated by that. This is a good example that shows internal motivation has a strong power that could change people by only itself.
I searched basic information through the internet especially about who started this crazy event. Wikipedia says that there were several crazy guys who garnered most national attention, and there isa debate over who did the first crash. But it is often believed that when Bob Chandler drove over cars in April 1981, the first monster truck crush happened. Whoever the first truck crush caused, it would have been unintentional one because at that time they just were enjoying the size of trucks. They were internally motivated to make their trucks bigger, but internally closed, comfort centered and self focused. But since the size of trucks driven by owners' motivation was extraordinary, Monster Truck Jam was created and people have been fascinated by that. This is a good example that shows internal motivation has a strong power that could change people by only itself.
Today, I worked on creating a business plan for my future business. I analyzed the business plan by using the FSL framework because I though we can use the framework for analyzing the company by FSL, and for analyzing customers by the opposite of FSL. Then I realized that Apple is one of examples of Externally open.
Apple introduced disruptive innovation on business model by integrating hardware and software. Hardware devices had been becoming commoditized gradually. In the irreversible trend, Apple invented a new business model rather than tried to evolve the current business model. Many companies chose the latter one and slow death happened causing severe price competition. If Apple has chosen the latter, Apple would have also been caught up in severe price competition and would have never been successful like current Apple. Of course, Apple's technology itself is very sophisticated,but the new business model definitely allowed Apple to shift its position in the industry to a very different position from others. Incorporating hardware and software sounds not hard to come up with but this was actually hard. I would say that externally open mind of Apple, especially Jobs, enabled them to do that.
Apple introduced disruptive innovation on business model by integrating hardware and software. Hardware devices had been becoming commoditized gradually. In the irreversible trend, Apple invented a new business model rather than tried to evolve the current business model. Many companies chose the latter one and slow death happened causing severe price competition. If Apple has chosen the latter, Apple would have also been caught up in severe price competition and would have never been successful like current Apple. Of course, Apple's technology itself is very sophisticated,but the new business model definitely allowed Apple to shift its position in the industry to a very different position from others. Incorporating hardware and software sounds not hard to come up with but this was actually hard. I would say that externally open mind of Apple, especially Jobs, enabled them to do that.