Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・ Globally, there is a gap between what is taught at schools and what is required in today’s business world.

・ Especially, the following qualities which are essential in the business world are not taught and developed enough at schools. Leadership, initiative, ownership, resilience, critical thinking skills, survival skills and the ability to handle messy challenges etc. And on top of that, these qualities need to be demonstrated in a sustainable manner.

・ Schools are providing knowledge to students but the above-mentioned qualities are hard to be taught. It is also questionable if there are many professors and teachers who can teach these qualities.

・ Also the skills like leadership, initiative, and in particular critical thinking are often suppressed during the Japanese education. There is no safe environment and support for challenging teachers or superiors during the education process over time. Consequently, even if people think critical or different about some topics in business life, based on their education, they will not express their different opinions.

・ When it comes to Japan, there has been a strong relation between the employment system and the education system. As Japanese companies were traditionally hiring loyal generalists instead of highly skilled professionals, the Japanese schools have produced generalist type people so far. Due to this employment/education culture, many Japanese people have regarded universities more as a social status and a social networking place rather than real place for education.

・ As a result, the entrance exam for well-known universities became the focal point of the Japanese education. As students study hard for the entrance exam throughout their school years, their knowledge is the same type of knowledge as for cross words, sudoku, memory quiz and complicated arithmetic games rather than real life education. What the Japanese students get really good at during the entrance exam study is the ability to memorize correctly and answer the questions as expected by the examiners.

・ Also the one-sided teaching style has made Japanese really bad at exchanging idea by discussing and debating. Thus most Japanese students automatically become obedient order-taking salarymen/salarywomen.

・ In a way, the Japanese as individuals are already diminished during the school period to become a conforming mass ready to be recruited as company generalists.

・ Needless to say, this education system is no longer supporting any company as companies are struggling to recover from their massive challenges by recruiting high quality leadership talent.

・ One way to fix this problem in Japan is that companies should give universities a totally new set of specifications as to what kind of talent they are hiring. In this way, schools will be forced to change the content of their curriculum.

・ However, we need to be careful as education is not only for business and companies. It is for students’ entire life and the future of the society. Schools should not be dictated by companies. Liberal arts, for instance, is still very important and getting highlighted lately as a good basis for leadership education.

・ Having said that, however, some kind of expectation re-alignment has to happen between schools and companies in Japan.

・ So how can today’s business leaders get real leadership education in Japan? Well, leadership qualities are something that has to be acquired though experiential education. So it is questionable how much of it can be taught at schools. Maybe it should be more like a special force military training that normally teaches leadership, resilience, handling challenges, survival skills, quick effective communications etc in a non-BS environment. Real leadership skill is something that can be demonstrated anytime and never be taken away from you. It is not just knowledge. As it is said, real leaders don’t just have the “know-how” but also the “show-how”.

・ It is very difficult to find a silver bullet solution in Japan to provide real leadership education. But as a start, Japanese children should be exposed to global culture much more frequently and acquire a healthier balance between the Japanese way and the global way, i.e. the Third Way!