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Tokyo, Japan
Ron McFarland has been working in Japan for over 40 years, and he's spent more than 30 of them in international sales, sales management training, and expanding sales worldwide. He's worked in or been to more than 80 countries. Over the most recent 17 years, Ron had established distributors in the United States and throughout Europe for a Tokyo-headquartered, Japanese hardware cutting tool manufacturer. More recently, he's begun giving seminars in English and Japanese to people interested in his overseas travels and expanding business overseas. You can find him on LinkedIn.
Authored Comments
I think the concern of chaotic is that there is an assumption that open organizations are not managed, but they are. I'm starting to use the expression "front-line, peer-to-peer managed organizations. This structure follows the guidelines of having a balance between 1-Freedom to speak, 2-Courage to offer something different, 3-Commitment to goal and progress, and 4-Accountable for results, as explained in Jim Whitehurst's book, THE OPEN ORGANIZATION. We must remember, that a management system is in place. It is not all #1 and #2 of the above four guidelines.
Here in Japan, front-line peer-to-peer management groupings have been around for a long time. Some have been badly managed and some good. Japanese should also learn about that balance Jim Whitehurst wrote about.