The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show

We create stress for ourselves don't we.  We often do this through being disorganized and time poor at the same time.  We get into a habit of how we work and it is usually not the most effective system.  There are some simple steps we can take which will really help us to get more efficiency out of our way of working.  Let's take a look at how we can be more productive. Welcome back to this weekly...

 How do we build trust at the start of a business relationship?  We are an unknown, we have no established track record and we have to get over that situation.  There is best practice about how to build the trust and once we know what we are doing then the problems fade away. Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story,...

Being able to get up in front of a crowd of strangers and speak with confidence and persuasive ability frustrates the vast majority of people, because they don't feel they can do that.  They are limiting themselves unnecessarily.  In any business being able to take people with you as a leader, colleague or salesperson is fundamental to moving forward in the your career and your business.  We are s...

Often we are not tapping into the full brain and experience power of our team.  This happens because of the way we go about sourcing ideas.  The extroverts take care if themselves.  They are boisterous and dominate the airwaves whenever ideas are called for.  It is the introverts we need to also pay attention to. They are often thinking deeply on a subject but never get their moment in the sun to...

Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan and we are bringing the show to you from our High Performance Center in Akasaka in Minato-ku, the business center of Tokyo. Well, where is this Cutting Edge?  For all of us, the quality of our people is the cutting edge for success in...

Your name is called, you are ushered up to the podium.  You are in the limelight, all eyes are on you, here is your chance to shine.  You blow it. The brand damage both personal and professional is writ large up on the public stage.  It didn't have to turn out like this. Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, Presi...

Mistakes happen.  How we deal with them becomes a crucial skill as the leader.  There is always the contradiction between asking people to do new things and then being upset when mistakes result.  We are all the product of our experience and that experience was built on a firm foundation of mistakes, where we learnt what not to do. We are quick to accept this learning process for ourselves, but so...

Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan and we are bringing the show to you from our High Performance Center in Akasaka in Minato-ku, the business center of Tokyo. Well, where is this Cutting Edge?  For all of us, the quality of our people is the cutting edge for success in...

Having the ability to influence decisions separates the leaders in business from the rest.  Getting others to accept our suggestions and recommendations is not easy.  Everyone is so much more opinionated and skeptical today. We need a smooth way in to their mindset which will allow us to persuade them to follow our advice.  The ancient art of storytelling is one powerful way to get others on board...

We need the leader to provide direction, hope, guidance, the way forward. That same leader needs to be able to communicate the vision for the team and to build the people power under their accountability. What do we get though?  Leaders who can't lead and can only manage the processes. We get poor commitment from the team because they don't know the "why" of what they are being asked to do.  It do...

Scrolling, thumb typing, constant checking on updates seem to be the new skill sets we need to make in this screen addicted modern business world.  In reality, the key missing skill is the art of really listening to others. What we want to say may be astonishingly interesting to us but that is the point – everyone wants to be listened to and we need to build relationships, trust and credibility th...

We like to buy, but few of us want to be sold.  We like to do business with people we like and trust.  We will do business with people we don't like and very, very rarely with people we don't trust.  Neither is our preference though. Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan a...

Booze and chat are the enemy of event programme speakers.  The level of audience rudeness, especially here in Japan, is gobsmacking.  Japan is such a polite society with a couple of exceptions and this is one of them. You may be the speaker or you may be the warm-up act.  When you are in the MC role, about to introduce the programme speaker, avoid the charisma by-pass problem of no presence in the...

The dealing with mistakes culture in Japan is definitely in the tough love category. This makes innovation and engendering creativity difficult here because, the penalties for failure far outweigh the rewards for success.   Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan and we are...

Talented staff are hard to keep.  They have options and are free agents, selling their services to the company that offers them the most attractive home.  Do you have that home for them now? Want to take a peak inside to see what that home looks like? Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegi...

I thought "Yes!" at last, I have found my perfect Japanese salesperson.  This guy is good, really good at sales.  Just what we need to get the results moving around here. Actually, he was a liar, a thief and a baddie.  He had zero True North orientation and his kokorogamae was plain wrong.   Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host...

Imagine the consequences when you combine dead data with a dead delivery?  You have a massive bromide of frightening winter surf Hawaiian North Shore proportions, thundering down to bludgeon unsuspecting audiences into stupefaction. I was one of the bludgeoned in that audience that day and it was dreadful.  Are these people really elite, I was left thinking? Welcome back to this weekly edition eve...

Never use "but" or "however." No matter how much you empathize with someone, if you follow up your positive sounding statement with words like "but" or "however," it will negate everything prior. Before you know it you are arguing with each other.  It doesn't have to be like that folks.   Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr....

The projections are that the total number of the youth population in Japan of those aged up to 34 years of age, will halve by 2060.  Put that in context. It has already halved in the last twenty year period, so the supply of young talent is only going to get worse. This means you will be in a rabid competition with every other employer, for a diminishing youth resource. This is going to be a night...

Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan Well, where is this Cutting Edge?  For all of us, the quality of our people is the cutting edge for success in Japan. In this show I will: Stimulate your thinking about ramping up your business Bring you insights from the best training...

Leadership is critical in business and the ability of companies to keep tapping their talent to make sure they always have the most competent leaders is a crucial task.  The system actually worked in Japan up until the late 1990s, but it is not working now. The education of leaders in Japan is now way behind compared to the West. Companies can't dither around any longer.  Japan has to really fix t...

Welcome back to this weekly edition every Monday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan Well, where is this Cutting Edge?  For all of us, the quality of our people is the cutting edge for success in Japan. In this show I will: Stimulate your thinking about ramping up your business Bring you insights from the best training...

Sales guru Zig Ziglar had a great saying, "If you can help enough people get what they want in this life, you can get what you want".  Pretty simple idea isn't it.  It is the same idea when we are the boss.  Don't focus on what we want, focus on what our people want.  If we do that then we will have great results being created by highly motivated people.   Welcome back to this weekly edition every...

As leaders, how well do we know the hopes, fears, dreams and situations of our team?  In the old model, the personal lives of the team members was thought to be an off limits area for bosses.  Not today.  The team want to know the boss is in their corner, actively working to help them further their careers. The times have changed and we have to move with it. Welcome back to this weekly edition eve...

How To Work Well With Difficult People   People skills are really one of the key basics of leadership.  Fortunately, leading is easy.  Getting others to follow us is the tricky bit.  I hope this isn't new information, but not everyone is like you, so how do you get the team to follow you?  Especially how to get others, who are so totally different from you, who are "difficult", to follow you or su...