No. 14: Leave human resources. This is the best. (January 13, 2012)

The current government is in the middle of cabinet reshuffle, even though it started several months ago claiming “right person for the right place.” Seeing the departure of several incompetent ministers, Japanese now realize that the ruling party is in short of excellent human resources. Absorbed too much in factionalism, current leaders seem to have missed the duty of developing human resources. Shigeru Yoshida, unquestionably Japan’s greatest postwar politician, left such excellent leaders as Nobusuke Kishi, Eisaku Sato, and Hayato Ikeda. Developing human resources is a toilsome and time-consuming job, but it is one of the most important duties that a leader has to perform. Several months ago, it was clarified that the president of a leading paper mill company had donated as much as 10 billion (not million) yen to gambling establishments in Macau in secret for nothing. He is a grandson of the founder of this company. Shinpei Goto, a great politician from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, gave an excellent lesson to his successors. He said, “Leaving money is the worst, leaving a company is in the middle, and leaving human resources is the best.”