Business-Do The Way to Successful Leadership

Business-Do is your personal handbook for achieving happiness by systematically turning your dreams into reality. Success looks different to everyone, but author Hiroshi Mikitani exemplifies its essential, universal qualities: as the founder and CEO of Rakuten, Mikitani is a self-made entrepreneur who became Japan's leader in the new global economy—a journey that made him a billionaire. In this book, he shows you how to achieve your own version of success in work and in life. Paying homage to Japan's ethos of quality and discipline, this book shares 89 principles Mikitani has gathered over the course of his remarkable career. These thought-provoking, action-oriented rules show you everything from how useful your dreams are, to the best way to harness the internet, to what management techniques work to the importance of self-improvement. The result: your own powerful, personal playbook straight from the mind of an inspirational trailblazer.

Mikitani guided Rakuten from its 1997 foundation to become one of the world's largest e-commerce platforms, with a still rapidly-expanding global footprint reaching industries including fintech, messaging, digital content, and even drones. This book describes the ideas, thoughts, actions, and philosophies that drove Mikitani to the top.

• Discover the myriad ways in which the internet is fundamentally transforming the world
• Learn from a blend of Japanese discipline and commitment to quality and the Silicon Valley approach to business, where collaboration and agility are essential and lucrative
• Adopt data-driven management techniques that constantly question, constantly improve, and empower people to exceptional performance
• Share in Mikitani's optimistic vision, and his industry-specific predictions

Happiness is something you live every day. It is both the result and the critical ingredient of success, and there is plenty to go around. Business-Do gives you the principles you need on your own journey to success.

Hiroshi Mikitani (Japan) is the co-founder and CEO of Rakuten. Rakuten is an electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo. Its B2B2C e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world's largest by sales. He is known worldwide as a self-made billionaire and Japan’s leader in the networked economy.

Introduction xiii

Chapter 0 Clean Your Space 1

Chapter 1 The 10 Core Principles 5

01 All concepts are relative 6

02 Believe in the power of the moonshot 7

03 Learn the difference between a group and a team 9

04 Think about your mindset, skills, and knowledge 11

05 Question yourself 14

06 A brand is a flag 16

07 The internet transformation continues 18

08 The internet will curate the world’s knowledge and data, but the human touch will still be key 20

09 Taking action leads to deeper thinking 22

10 Continuously improve by a fraction. It’s the key to what others call “good luck” 25

Chapter 2 Personal Development 29

11 Push yourself like a professional (athlete) does 29

12 Play catch between your left and right brain 31

13 Plan forward from birth or backward from death 33

14 Create an objective personality when you’re in the hot seat 35

15 Never stop learning. Ever 37

16 Build self-confidence through small successes 39

17 Always be curious and ambitious 40

18 Find a partner to play intellectual “catch” with 42

19 Set clear goals for your actions 44

20 Remember that great information can come from surprising places 46

21 Don’t rationalize your behavior as others do 48

22 Interrogate your intuition with hard numbers 49

23 Aim to understand the framework 51

24 Create solutions that break down barriers and reveal new challenges 53

25 Identify your weaknesses. Fix them or find workarounds 55

26 Never let your mental energy levels drop 57

Chapter 3 The Value of Relationships 59

27 Offer value-added services. Anything less is meaningless 60

28 Put yourself in their shoes 61

29 See the essence of things 63

30 Size up risk by quantifying it 65

31 Seek out best practices all around you 67

32 Listen especially closely to people you disagree with 69

33 Value the balance between cooperation and competition 72

34 Teaching others will help you grow 73

35 Develop win-win relationships 75

36 Start with good footwork 77

37 Report, contact, and consult 79

38 Analyze the situation from all angles 81

39 Know who and what works, even in tight spots 83

40 Be courageous 85

Chapter 4 Get Your Organization Moving 87

41 Numbers give clarity, so set KPIs 87

42 Pay close attention to resource allocation 89

43 Lead by teaching 91

44 Leverage the organization to move faster 93

45 Harness the power of competition 95

46 Share the sense of accomplishment 97

47 Find the bottlenecks 99

48 Create your own turning point 101

49 Meet and revive in the morning 102

50 Think like a manager 103

51 Create and share a template for success 105

52 Earn trust within your company 106

53 Establish symbolic rituals 107

54 Successful organizations combine pressure and excitement 109

55 Know that there are two types of speed: velocity and agility 110

56 Divide into small groups to improve transparency 112

Chapter 5 Win Every Battle 115

57 Analyze and execute with an eye on the future 115

58 Hypothesize, then create shikumi 118

59 Get things done 119

60 Examine the facts from every angle 121

61 Keep your eyes on what’s at your feet and what lies ahead 122

62 Factorize 124

63 Lean operations generate innovation and growth 126

64 Think about both vertical and horizontal competition 128

65 The Mikitani Curve: Quality depends on a 0.5 percent difference in effort 130

66 Identify what is core and what is missioncritical 132

67 Deciding not to do something can be the most important thing to do 134

68 Companies are sumo rings. They need wrestlers 135

69 Master the timeline 136

70 The devil is in the details 138

71 Success is born of failure. Never hesitate to improve 139

72 Find trends in the numbers 140

73 Think about value chains 142

74 To win, close the gaps and add originality 144

75 No business is special 145

76 Boost profits by using assets in multiple ways 146

77 Strategy, execution, and operation 148

78 No single path leads to success 150

79 Generate the largest cost advantage to win 151

80 Create shikumi that will keep generating value 153

Chapter 6 Nurture a Global Mindset 155

81 The essence of e-commerce is communication 155

82 Seek information beyond your borders 157

83 Your network is your best news source; media come second 159

84 The internet will eliminate national borders. Think global 161

85 Learn from the world’s best practices 162

86 Thinking globally will make you stronger locally 163

87 Thoroughly and humbly analyze past successes 165

88 It’s never too late 166

Acknowledgments 169

Index 171

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