The 31 Practices

All organizations are on a trajectory to a future: their default future. This is where they will end up if they take no action other than that currently planned. Leaders are accountable for confronting this default future and taking the actions needed to set a trajectory to an improved future. Sounds easy, but the challenge lies in understanding the forces both internal and external that determine the current trajectory. Only then can strategic opportunities be explored, a trajectory of strategic intent defined and the conditions for turning strategic intent into operational reality put in place. This book won t tell you what your strategy should be, nor does it present a multi-step approach to developing strategy. What it will do is help you understand why developing and executing strategy remains such a challenge. It will also help readers understand the role they need to play at a personal level if they are passionate about leading their organization beyond its default future.

Japan, the world's third largest economy and its largest creditor nation, has been in crisis for more than two decades. Its economy has been depressed or in recession in much of that period, its banking sector in a critical state, and its public sector burdened by recurring fiscal deficits and mounting debt. Today, the hegemonic role in global trade and financial markets has been assumed by the USA and China. Yet, this book argues that a possible future Pax Japonica - one in which Japan will overcome its paralyzing debt and once again play a leading role in global finance - can become a reality. Leading international strategist Takeo Harada provides new and astounding insight into Japan's hidden role as designated controller of large - often secret - funds kept for the purpose of rescuing humankind from ultimate disasters. For this reason, Japan's role in the global economy can never be under-estimated and remains critical to its progress.