Washington Before the Workplace Strategy

“Kaiser, however, offered his listeners a different lesson than they may have expected to hear: "Every time I take anybody to a shipyard, they want to see the ways and they think that is the shipyard. Well, that isn't the shipyard at all, and when you go to an aircraft plant, you want to see the garage they keep the planes in or build them in. That isn't the aircraft plant. I will tell you where the aircraft plant is and where the shipyard is: it starts in Washington."”

“Kaiser went on to describe a road to entrepreneurial success in terms that diverged from America's well-worn, self-made path, instead passing through the nation's capital along the way: "That is the first place you build it, and you keep steadily there all the time while you are making aircraft and while you are making ships, because you have got any number of people to see people who control the things that you need. . . . You have got to help them get the things. Anybody can come in and say, `Goodness, I need this. Don't you see how badly I need it?' Anybody can do that, but you have got to come to Washington and say, `Here is a way. Now I know this is right, see if I am right,' and if he thinks you are right he is tickled to death you came." 2”

“Learning from “Momotaro” how to establish <Aspiration, Vision, Strategy> “There are three important things that the top management must have in place to exercise leadership. They are <aspiration, vision, strategy>. Moreover, there is an order of importance to these. It is in the order of <aspiration, vision, strategy>.” This is the words of Masayoshi Son in response to my question, “What is absolutely necessary for a manager?” He continued to explain <aspiration, vision, strategy> with the following analogy. “The first to be mentioned is <aspiration>. What will our group gather to accomplish? Why do we do it, and how does it serve people? Having a high aspiration. This is the most important thing.”

““The second most important is <vision>. If it’s Momotaro, then where is the demon? It’s said to be in the eastern mountains. The demon is rumored to hold a club and store a lot of treasures and silver taken from the villagers. Where is it, what does it look like, and how is it acting? You have to draw a vision that when you defeat it, you can bring back loads of rewards.””