Who can get God’s help? Part2

We are taking about the criteria of a leader, who can have God’s help.

Mr. Inamori talked about “Why did JAL’s miraculous regeneration succeed?” Inamori says he is confident that he certainly got God’s help.

In addition, I recently read a book by Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, who was involved in medical activities in Afghanistan. Dr. Nakamura created land for cultivation by drawing water through irrigation projects into the wild land of Afghanistan, which became almost deserts due to a severe drought. This is another interesting example of what led to the challenging business success, even though the locals said it was impossible. Dr. Nakamura also said they could achieve their goals simply as God had been with them.

The qualities of a leader whom the God wants to help are:

Let me explain 4 and 5

4 Relying on what he already has

When Mr. Inamori tried to rebuild JAL, he brought two things, philosophy and amoeba management.  These two are the key drivers of business administration that Mr. Inamori has built up through decades of experience as a top leader.

Dr. Nakamura dug wells to save people suffering from the drought in Afghanistan.  However, the doctor realized that wells could not sufficiently supply water for the local agriculture.  Therefore, he set out irrigation projects to draw water from the river.  At that time, Dr. Nakamura visited various rivers in Japan.  Among them, he thought that the river in Omuta, where he was born and raised, had been flooded in the past 17^th to 19 th century. The irrigation project was started there to control the streams of water supplied from the river.

Dr. Nakamura collected a lot of old documents and literature at libraries, and analyzed how the water had been controlled.  He introduced his obtained knowledge to Afghanistan. With the sufficient budget, he could have brought the most advanced Japanese technology. However, that would be too expensive for local farmers to install and maintain. He brought what local farmers in Afghanistan could do. The system was invented and implemented in his home-town well suited to the Afghanistan environment.

I think the heavens and Something Great have comprehensively arranged our lives, as we follow the path provided by those great powers, we would be able to complete our missions. In other words, when we confront some issues or problems, all the tools to solve that issue have already been given to us. All we do is look back on our possessions and get insights how we can make the best use of those tools. We don’t have to worry about missing something. Instead, we must carefully analyze our own possessions. Simply, looking at what we have, not at what we are missing.

5  Leave one’s destiny to the God

“At the end of 2009, I received several strong requests from the Government of Japan and the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan. As they asked me so eagerly, I have no choice but to accept the top management role of Japan Airlines.

However, although I decided to accept it, I was never confident or likely to pay back all the debt of Japan Airlines. People, including the media, said that reconstruction would never be successful due to various issues that the company had for many years and could not be solved. People also were concerned that the secondary bankruptcy would be inevitable. In February 2010, I went into the revitalization plan of a company that went bankrupt due to such a large number of management issues. Although I had no experience in the transportation business, I went into the revitalization plan with philosophy and amoeba system which I, together with two of Kyocera management, had developed.”

Listening to his words, I strongly feel that God wished Inamori to bring all of his expertise that he built his entire life into saving JAL, which can be interpreted as the revitalization of Japanese society itself.

Nakamura also succeeded in irrigation projects in Afghanistan, but he said in his book that everything in his life had been well programmed and eventually was connected to Afghanistan.

Dr. Nakamura went to Pakistan as a Christian doctor. He cured local leprosy patients. During the time, the area where Nakamura’s team covered had been expanded to Afghanistan. Afghanistan was caught up in the war and suffered from further drought. With safe water, people there could have survived. Nakamura thought that and started digging wells.

Dr. Nakamura started his analysis on what makes people commit themselves to life there in Afghanistan. Nakamura then eventually began to create irrigation canals and to develop land for cultivation.

Nakamura called this irrigation canal the largest handmade work in the world. I agree with him. Workers, including Nakamura, used heavy machinery to carry heavy stones. However, the retaining walls of the canals were mainly made of baskets woven with Afghan plants. It was the local people of Afghanistan who made a number of retaining chunks by putting small stones into the baskets. Doctor wrote that they are basically people who like this kind of stacking work. Until Nakamura said, ” That’s all for today.” they were concentrated on piling up the baskets for retaining. Their wish was simple. It was to be able to eat three times a day without starvation and to live with the family. If cultivated land had been created there in the desert, the local people would have had no need to become refugees, to go to other countries to commit crimes. That was what Nakamura thought.

Dr. Nakamura began to devote his life to the irrigation project as he was moved by local people who simply desire to live with families. His efforts should not end up just as the impressive volunteer story. If the politicians see how Nakamura’s team had achieved such a great goal, the government would be able to copy their projects. The government can learn how to develop industries such as agriculture without making any refugees. That was Dr. Nakamura’s intention.

Heaven needs to be on your side to make your project successful. I think if we wish to have great help, we should not be against the paths arranged by Heaven.

In other words, I think that each of us should do our best and make the best efforts to complete the assignment appearing in front of us, in our daily lives.

No one knows what’s ahead in our life.  For those who accomplish great business or projects, the paths for success had already been arranged. So, as Mr. Inamori and Dr. Nakamura did, what we need to do is to follow the paths. This simply implies to focus on completing assignments in front of us. This is just thinking about what we can do now, and fulfilling that role.

Inamori was the founder and owner of a manufacturing company. Heaven wanted Mr. Inamori to rebuild the air transportation business (service industry) with his entrepreneurship and management expertise.  In addition, Heaven wanted Dr. Nakamura to do an irrigation project (civil engineering work) so that the people of Afghanistan could live with peace. In this way, Heaven may make paths even though those created paths look completely different from the area where they developed their career. I think that Heaven can always arrange our lives in a good way as long as we follow those provided paths.

Now, in summary, the qualities of a leader whom Heaven wants to help are:

Moreover, I would like to highlight the purpose of the business. Two great Japanese leaders committed themselves to the projects whose purpose was concrete and realistic. What Mr. Inamori was to make JAL the world’s most profitable airline, and what Professor Nakamura did was to create agricultural land in the desert of Afghanistan.

I think that Heaven will give the utmost power to such a goal that can fulfill people, concretely and realistically. I think this is also something that leaders need to understand whether or not their goals are realist

Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com

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