Week2: Summary & Impression of L@E Chapter 1

 Hi, everyone. In this post, I am going to summarize the ideas of Chapter 1, Leading at the Edge, and then show my reaction to the chapter as well.

In chapter 1, the book introduces one of the strategies for the leadership. That is…

“Strategy1: Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short term objectives.” (p.15 L@E)

This means that good leaders keep their eyes on their long-term goal, and at the same time, they keep their attention to relatively short-term tasks as well.

Then the book explains many tips for the good leaders. Such as…

“Be willing to find a “New Mark””

-meaning that leaders should change their final goal and short-term goal flexibly depending on the situation, and also try to work hard toward the new goals.

“Do something”

-showing that leaders need to look for every single opportunities to do something for reducing others’ anxiety, though those work does not seem to succeed. This is because these actions may gather momentum and lead future success.

“Look beyond your own needs for action”

-teaching that leaders keep making a balance between their own concern and that of others’ in their mind.

“Overcome uncertainty with structure”

-telling that leaders ought to maintain the sense of order by means of creating organizational structure, when they face uncertainty.

“Create engaging distractions”

-explaining that leaders are required to pay attention to others’ emotions and conditions. And if a group member is in trouble, leader should shift his/her negative energy to another activity which gives a responsibility for him/her.

Even this chapter is one of the ten strategies, it provides many, quite useful tips for good leadership. I learned a lot though reading and I get interested in the leadership more and more!!

Regarding to my reaction, I felt like “True that!!” when I read the last 2 paragraphs of “Do something” part (I mean on p.20, just before “Look Beyond…” part). This caveat reminded me of my sister’s company. “Culture” or “belief” of her company is similar to that of the company shown in p.20. That is, in her company, it is important to work late and on weekends rather than the efficiency. For example, she has to work till midnight or even later, she often used the last train, known as “Shu-den” in Japanese, what is worse she sometimes did not come back home because of the work, known as “Zangyo” in Japanese as well, and oftentimes she had to go to work on Saturday. Obviously, her company was “Black”. She almost to suffer from mental illness due to stress and now she is planning to quit. Of course I do not know much about other companies in Japan, but I was taught that some Japanese companies value activity over results in Gender and Social Structure class. I hope those Japanese companies realize an obstacle which disturbs their economic success and that the obstacle is actually created by their own…