Notes on Becoming a Business Leader

This article is excerpted from the book “Notes on Becoming a Business Leader”, written by Yanai Tadashi, the founder of UNIQLO. 

Fast Retailing is currently expanding the operations of UNIQLO and the other business in its group worldwide. We are aiming to become AN INNOVATIVE GLOBAL CORPORATION, and THE WORLS’S LEADING APPAREL MANUFACUTRER AND RETAIL GROUP.

This means each of our companies, and each region, will need a leader. And I’m talking about leaders, not just supervisors dispatched from Japan to make sure things are happening as they should. Each business, each region will need a leader capable of taking responsibility for the entire operation and acting on his or her own initiative.Unless we can create this sort of management structure for our group, we will have no hope of succeeding as an innovative global corporation, or of becoming the world’s leading apparel manufacturer and retail group. 

It goes without saying that anyone can be a leader as long as he or she has what it takes to excel at the job. Nationality isn’t an issue, and the positions will be open to everyone.

THE FIRST THING ANYONE STUDYING TO BE A LEADER HAS TO UNDERSTAND THAT BEING A LEADER ISN'T EASY, AND IT CAN BE GRUELING.

I wouldn't say an MBA doesn't have value, but just because you have one doesn't mean you can jump right in and succeed as a leader. I come. across people all the time who are hungry for authority because they have MBAs and they think they are talented, and they feel sure they can get results. People like that inevitably make mistakes almost immediately.

They don't take customers seriously, or they can't motivate the people working under them, or they underestimate how much money will be required to get something done. They come up with impressive plans, but when the time comes to put their plans into action, they make all kinds of mistakes.

Management is all about getting it done, so you need to get all kinds of experience, and think about how to make a business viable, how to keep people motivated and working together-you need to have things go terribly wrong, and endure, and through that process grow. That's the only way anyone ever becomes a true leader.

For a long time, UNIQLO was Fast Retailing’s only business. We were tremendously successful with this brand in Japan, and the company grew very large. We have expanded overseas and branched out into other business aside from UNIQLO. From my perspective, though, we’re still performing on a relatively small stage.

We may know casual wear better than anyone else, but how much insight do we have into the society around us, and into its future? A lot less than we should, it seems to me. Indeed, it’s possible we have been so focused on ourselves that we’ve lost sight of the big issues that really matter.

And we have another problem, too: As Fast Retailing has grown, as we have succeeded, we have had misfortune to become the strongest player in many situations. “But isn’t that good?” you may wonder. "Don't we want to be strong?" 

Actually, being stronger has its problems. For instance, when we become a company's best client, there is a danger that it will just go along with whatever we say. There are always some negotiations, of course, but more often than not we end up in the stronger position.

The same logic of strength applies to how leaders work with their subordinates and to how they spend the company's money. Leaders tend to start thinking that all they have to do is issue instructions and things will get done, or they stop thinking seriously about whether certain expenses are really necessary.

BECOMING A LARGE CORPORATION ISN'T A BAD THING, BUT IT INEVITABLY AFFECTS OUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER COMPANIES, OUR MANAGERS' DEALINGS WITH THEIR SUBORDINATES, AND THE WAY WE SPEND MONEY. IT MAKES IT EASY TO STOP THINKING.

Our two overarching goals are to become a pioneering global corporation and to become the world's leading apparel manufacturer and retail group. And as I explained earlier, we have to accomplish this, not by dispatching supervisors from Japan to make sure things are going well, but by putting capable leaders in charge of each business and at each location, letting them take the initiative, and letting them be responsible.

This means we need true leaders, individuals able to go out and take their place among the best in the world. We don't need so-called "leaders" of the sort you often encounter in big corporations, who essentially just keep an eye on things. We're looking for the real thing.

So what it is I want you to do? I want you to learn, as fast as possible, how true leaders get things done, and how they approach their job.

In my view, a business leader needs four abilities to give society the results it expects.

1. The Ability to Change – Innovator
2. The Ability to Earn a Profit – Merchant
3. The Ability to Build a Team – Leader
4. The Ability to Pursue an Ideal – Someone inspired by a mission

I don't want you to be an ordinary, acceptable leader.

I WANT YOU TO BE A LEADER CAPABLE OF CONTRIBUTING MEANINGFULLY TO SOCIETL, AND OF MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.