Mr. Inamori*, the honorly chairman of Kyocera, who is the main sponsor of Kyoto purple Sanga, the Kyoto based football team, conducted a leadership of Sanga team building. Okada, the director of Japan national football team, fought in several World cup matches. Okada joined Seiwajuku lead by Mr. Inamori to learn the tips of leadership for a good team building. Okada developed his team philosophy and shared it with Seiwajuku workshop members.
Okada’s team building motto is as follows.
1 Enjoy
2 Our team
3 Do your best
4 Concentration
5 Communication
6 Improve
4 Concentration
“I want each one of my team to focus on what he can do now. Animals are living as hard as they can to live NOW, at this moment. I feel only humans regret what they have done in the past and worry about the future because of the developed neocortex. Thus, some people look back or get worried for the future without doing their best on what they can do now. I hate that kind of attitude. I often say to players, “Do your best on what you can do now!” .. Luck or fortune flows to everyone and everywhere. Taking a chance or losing it totally depends on each one of the players. To be always ready to take a chance, keep doing what you can do right now. I meant CONCENTRATION under such context. ”
5 Communication
This is to know each other, namely, the communication. It is often said that teamwork is important, but unfortunately, I have never been involved in a team where everyone is a good friend of others. I have never seen a team where each player is really in good relation with others. But they don’t have to be good friends. All you have to do is to agree with each other and respect others. “I don’t like him, but if I pass him, he will definitely get a goal.” You can trust your team member in that way. If you’re good friends, it’s better, but it’s most important to acknowledge each other. Communication is also a message that you get ready to receive signs from others. The greeting is a form of sign that you are ready to communicate with your teammates. I have always been very careful about the communication with players. I intentionally keep distance from players but close to staff. As they are talking to the players, carrying their spikes, and playing video games together in their rooms. All the information from staff is very important for me to know well players.
6 Improvement
“Don’t try to protect your -status quo-. Push yourself harder to challenge. (To the player who hasn’t been in good shape) You look like you’re seeking your good old days, aren’t you? Why are you looking backwards? Have you ever thought about why you are in bad shape now? Is that something for you to go higher, isn’t that? You’ll crouch once when you make a jump. Some say that they are going to be back to the golden age. But I have never seen such a team unfortunately. This is simply because they are aiming lower and looking backwards. ”
→ Furthermore, there is something very interesting in the words of Director Okada.
He said the ultimate decision come from the “Intuition”
“In the early stage of my career as a director, for instance, I was thinking of appointing tall forward players because the opponent’s defense was tall. But later I started asking myself,’ Wait, this is not the right choice. Use that guy…no need for the tall ones.’ Something in my mind started talking to me. I have made decisions depending on my internal voices-intuition-. They have actually never failed. ‘ However, if you make a decision based on the concerns that the player may have been disappointed or this decision would be attacked by the media, that decision would lead to the worst result. I have to get rid of such concerns and purely concentrate on what to do for the team. I should abandon all those anxieties and insistences. Being free from all those noises would allow me to make a right decision.
→ The nature of Aikido teaches us the same as said Okada. As Mr. Inamori said, if you become an expert in one area, those principles you learned can be applied to other areas and help you to make the best choices.
Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com
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