Plans, Execution, and the Other Side

 ■Plans, Execution, and the Other Side

●Plans

　I call myself a policymaker because all I do is draft policies. However, this is a concept I came up with, and “social entrepreneur” is the closest title among those that are commonly used in society. 20 years have passed since I left public office to go to university when I was almost 40 years old, and I have started over 20 social businesses, such as public service corporations and projects.　

Let’s promote entrepreneurship. Let’s lower the threshold. iU aims for everybody to start a business and produces entrepreneurs. In “A World of Three Zeros,” Muhammad Yunus states that over 80% of Ugandans start a business at some point in their lives. These involved opening a small store or buying a goat. These types of business are fine to begin with.

　What kind of abilities are necessary to accomplish this? Some examples are the ability to plan, come up with ideas, discover things, frame questions, find interest, and identify problems. Each time that a student asks me what should be done, I respond that I take drinking parties seriously. What is important is to jot down all of the ideas from these parties in a project book the next day.

●Execution

　The main issue is that “how” is more important than “what.” How should plans be carried out? How should problems be resolved? How should technology be introduced? This involves the abilities of execution, resolution, and implementation.

　I only spoke about this to students for 10 years at KMD. The idea is to prioritize “how” over “what.” This holds more importance in society than coming up with ideas, which big-headed students are good at, and planning skills that students want to learn. iU will also emphasize this. This involves the legs rather than the head, the ability not to get discouraged, and endurance.

　In reality, most of this involves persuasion and adjustments, pushing and pulling, listening and speaking, bowing and being assertive, crying and laughing, and sweating a lot.

　Is something so unrefined being taught at university? That’s right. The industrial world seeks these types of communication abilities from human resources, but universities have not responded to this. Instead of the ability to make plans, I believe that the ability to carry them out over a year without getting discouraged is on a much higher level. This requires strategizing, military logistics, organizational management, and schedule adjustment.

●The Other Side

　Actually, the main issue is what comes next.

　When I watch a program on Netflix about Michelin starred restaurants, a surprisingly high number of chefs do not create recipes. They say, “I make what flows out of me,” and “I take my morning inspiration and turn it into food,” as if this is the obvious thing to do.

　They have no project book. They don’t work on design. Their ideas and implementation are unified.

　They are like improvisational musicians who do not write songs or lyrics.

　With that said, they simply repeatedly make food for guests who are not enthusiasts day after day and get the reputation of being first-class. What is the true nature of these abilities? Is it God-given or the accumulation of training?

　Chefs then share this inspiration by mouth to staff members and turn it into food as a team. This ability to convey concepts and manage a team while maintaining a standard for the output is a mystery to me.

　Perhaps it is second-rate to include inspiration in designs, project books, or papers. Are these abilities a personality trait that can be attained? Maybe I should ask people at a culinary school.