No.0097：Self Corporation
December 31,2021
This year is almost over, and I'm wondering if I'm any better at dealing with new things than I was a year ago. Looking back, I can't help feeling a little nervous. The last year, for better or worse, has been a year of stability.
Stability doesn't create a new need, I need to do something about it! I need to tighten up.
Often, companies and nations seem to be like people. The U.S. is anxious and jealous of China's catching up, and is doing a lot of obstructing to reduce its momentum. Just as Japan used to be a target of this. Like the fairy tale of the hare and the tortoise, Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers once dominated the world, but have lacked innovation due to their subsequent hubris. In this way, companies and nations are very human.
Comparing myself to a company or a nation, I often wonder how I can survive in the fierce competition in the future. How can I differentiate myself? Even if I am able to do what many others can do, I will still have to struggle in the red ocean, getting beaten down. However, it is not easy to acquire and retain a rare ability. That's why I'd like to achieve scarcity by combining two or three abilities instead of focusing on just one. I want to be a system engineer who is familiar with the client's business, understands the system, and also has a sense of design.
In order to acquire these abilities, what and how much of our limited daily time should we allocate to them? This is a very important issue, just like the capital investment plan that determines the ups and downs of a company. By defining what you want to be and subtracting what you are from what you want to be, you can find out what you are missing. What will you continue to do to fill it? What should you stop doing? What should you start anew? It's a difficult issue. To start anew, you have to stop something or you will run out of time. If you find something more important than what you have been doing, you will have to discard it, even though it is a waste of time. Like a company that sells off a division that no longer fits into its growth strategy to revitalize it.
Recently, I have seen several articles reporting on Japan's stagnation. For example, the average wage in Japan in 2020 is below that of South Korea; between 2000 and 2020, South Korea's GDP increased 285% while Japan's remained flat at 2.9%, which allowed the wage to reverse. Mr. Yanai, President of Uniqlo, described the reason for Japan's stagnation as the Japanese people not being hungry. The current situation is moderate, so we should just keep doing what we are doing.
It's like a boiled frog.
In this sorry state of Japan, it would be a shame to limit our activities to Japan. However, there is a lack of information on how to find a place for myself in the world, and I believe that it is only a matter of time until IT makes matching and communication smoother, but I am not young enough to wait for that to change. I would like to actively gather and incorporate information not only about the businesses in the regions I am interested in, but also about the language and culture. I hope to eventually become a multinational company.
Often, companies and nations seem to be like people. The U.S. is anxious and jealous of China's catching up, and is doing a lot of obstructing to reduce its momentum. Just as Japan used to be a target of this. Like the fairy tale of the hare and the tortoise, Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers once dominated the world, but have lacked innovation due to their subsequent hubris. In this way, companies and nations are very human.
Comparing myself to a company or a nation, I often wonder how I can survive in the fierce competition in the future. How can I differentiate myself? Even if I am able to do what many others can do, I will still have to struggle in the red ocean, getting beaten down. However, it is not easy to acquire and retain a rare ability. That's why I'd like to achieve scarcity by combining two or three abilities instead of focusing on just one. I want to be a system engineer who is familiar with the client's business, understands the system, and also has a sense of design.
In order to acquire these abilities, what and how much of our limited daily time should we allocate to them? This is a very important issue, just like the capital investment plan that determines the ups and downs of a company. By defining what you want to be and subtracting what you are from what you want to be, you can find out what you are missing. What will you continue to do to fill it? What should you stop doing? What should you start anew? It's a difficult issue. To start anew, you have to stop something or you will run out of time. If you find something more important than what you have been doing, you will have to discard it, even though it is a waste of time. Like a company that sells off a division that no longer fits into its growth strategy to revitalize it.
In this sorry state of Japan, it would be a shame to limit our activities to Japan. However, there is a lack of information on how to find a place for myself in the world, and I believe that it is only a matter of time until IT makes matching and communication smoother, but I am not young enough to wait for that to change. I would like to actively gather and incorporate information not only about the businesses in the regions I am interested in, but also about the language and culture. I hope to eventually become a multinational company.