Japan was decimated by the Pacific War and really struggled until they had the lucky break called the Korean War. Suddenly the war required a lot of supplies and more importantly Japan was no longer seen as a pariah, but as a bulwark against communism. America began to pour money into the country to bolster its economic defences and keep it capitalist. By 1960 things had improved to the point where Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda could make the doubling of the economy a realistic target. The engine room of this turn around was the hard work of the Japanese people but it came at costs. Fathers weren’t around because they were working all of the time and so the mothers had to take care of the kids in their absence.
Things have improved a lot since then. Schools no longer operate on Saturdays and the same for most firms. Fathers are more able to spend time with their children and more mothers are working too these days. Karoshi – death from overwork is still a thing in Japan and “black companies” who exploit their staff, are being named and shamed. The hollowing out of middle management has put additional pressure on leaders. The introduction of technology, means that bosses are basically doing their own typing and administration, as well as running their teams. Often they are player/managers, which means they also have their own clients and personal sales to achieve. The traditions of “total work” like “total war” continue for leaders.
Being busy is good and being too busy is not. There are many facets to life like the facets of a cut diamond and as leaders, we are well to remember that fact. The Wheel of Life is a good visual reminder of the need for better balance in our leader lives. It is basically a rotary shape with a score of zero at the center and the outer edge, has a score of ten. You score yourself against the eight key indicators to monitor how you are doing across the important segments of your life.
Obviously career is one of the indicators and in Japan that can often be not particularly under one’s control. The idea is you work like a dog like everyone else and you will rise through the ranks and get the same bonuses as everyone else, until you get to a certain advanced age when certain people will keep going and your will go sideways. The lifetime employment configuration is changing and for many people taking control of their career is an option today. The point about the Wheel of Life exercise is to make sure this isn’t the only thing in your leader life, which for a lot of men can easily become the reality. Unsurprisingly, divorce rates are rising in correlation to the financial independence of married woman. “Working for the family” and losing the family, doesn't make any sense.
Finance is a tricky thing in Japan. The vast majority of people keep their money in the bank in cash and do not invest it. During the deflationary economy of the past decades that made sense, but as we enter more inflationary times, the wealth will be eroded unless it is invested. Japan doesn’t let you miss your tax filing, so at least that forces us to get our act together on that front. The pension system will collapse at some point because there are just insufficient numbers of young people paying in to fund the oldies taking the money out as they retire. When I was at the Shinsei Bank, I was always keen to encourage customers to invest in personal annuities to avoid that collapse, but there is still a big gap in understanding of “winter is coming”. As leaders we cannot be too busy to manage our finances well and prepare for the future, but often we do just that, thinking we will get to that later.
Community is well developed in Japan as part of the rice growing culture mindset which continues into urban life still. People voluntarily wearing face masks during Covid was never even an issue for anyone here, no matter how irritating and uncomfortable. Everyone was doing their bit for everyone else. But leaders can often be isolated from their community because work is the only focus. Communities need leaders and we should make ourselves available. It helps others and it helps us to be more rounded in our lives and relationships.
Social life is often the first fatality of overtime. Working from home has meant the boundary between work and non-work has collapsed and leaders are now working much longer hours, trying to cope with running dispersed organisations. Catching up with friends has diminished because we stopped going out with Covid raging around us. However, even before that, bosses were often neglecting the chance to smell the flowers from the back of the galloping horse. Bosses dragging younger and often reluctant staff out for dinner and drinks was a type of fake social life. Having rich relationships is real wealth and leaders need to keep that idea in mind.
Family we have touched on already. For male leaders in particular, what are we working for? We say “family”, but we don’t spend as much time with our family as we need to. We need to “work” on having a wonderful, fulfilling family life because it won’t happen by itself.
Personal Life pursuits are not selfish. Leaders need hobbies, interests and pursuits outside of work. Often we are trading time away from these interests, toward working longer hours. I am a curious example. I write and record my articles every Saturday, so in one sense, the workaholic in me is on full tilt. On the other hand, I cannot play a musical instrument, draw or paint, so writing for me, is an artistic escape from the work world. We leaders need something other than work to focus on or life is pretty bare.
Health is not something we should ever compromise, but we do. We don’t do the exercise we should do, because we are “busy”. We eat and drink too much and often consume content which we should avoid altogether or which we should consume in microscopic quantities. I see obese people appear for a while at the gym, tethered to their personal trainers. I immediately check my watch, because the clock is ticking and in a few weeks they will be gone. Why? They got way too big, just have too much meat on them and losing the weight needs a complete lifestyle change, which they are unwilling to make.
I have been there, gaining weight due to eating and drinking too much at work related dinners and functions. When I was working in Nagoya, I attended a work related geisha party function and later some kind soul gave me a commemorative photo from the evening. I was sitting on the tatami and it was a profile shot. When I gazed on that expansive girth I had accumulated, I had an epiphany – I was massively obese. I know well the continuous effort it takes to get the weight back down, but it is vital we leaders make that effort.
Spirituality is such a personal element, I am hesitant to say much about it. The basic idea though is to reflect on who we are, why we are here and what we plan to do with our life. As busy leaders though, are we doing any of that or is all spreadsheets, revenues and reporting?
Leaders have many roles and responsibilities and work is one of them not the only one. The Wheel of Life exercise is always a good reminder that we are omnipresent creatures living in a multiverse. As a friend of mine says, “Time is life”. What are we leaders doing with it?
