The Three Enemies within GLOBIS

At a GLOBIS Group board meeting the other day, we discussed our business results, our future direction, and many other issues. What became clear in the course of this meeting was that the biggest rival of GLOBIS is not any of our competitors. Rather, we reached the conclusion that our biggest challenge is in our own internal attitudes.

I have summed the three “enemies” within our hearts.

1) The Onset of Hubris
This means completely overestimating our own organization, losing a sense of humility, and neglecting learning. By unnecessarily pushing other companies, or by excessively increasing our media exposure and making reckless comments, we end up being called to account by society. We dash ahead without considering opinions from external quarters.

GLOBIS-ism
In regard to the heart of each individual, we continually do everything we can to satisfy all our stakeholders, including our customers. We want to always put our whole heart into maintaining harmony with society, try as hard as possible to not make any enemies, and devote ourselves to cultivating alliances and good relationships with many companies. Each one of us creates a connection as a representative of GLOBIS with each and every person we encounter. And whenever we provide services to our customers, we always receive feedback and work to systematically guarantee the quality of our service.

2) The Rise of the Spendthrift
As we start to make money, we begin to believe that money itself can solve everything. This leads to such tendencies as impulsive investing, excessive advertising costs, taking on new business with our heads in the clouds, and trying to headhunt talent by offering huge salaries. Employees start to become preoccupied with money, resulting in situations in which all they think about is getting rich.

GLOBIS-ism
Rather than pursuing profit and money, we essentially devote ourselves to building a solid foundation by cultivating human resources, constructing our organization and businesses, and establishing our competitive supremacy to satisfy customers and earn a favorable reputation. We believe profit will result from these efforts. Even if profit does follow, we will not spend it wildly, but will always take competitive bids, engage in appropriate negotiations, and strive to make wise and sound decisions regarding our ongoing expenses. We will take pride in this thrifty attitude, and profits from our enterprises that are not used for profit sharing and dividends will be reinvested. Whenever we distribute profits to individuals, we must never lose sight of maintaining reliability and wisdom.

3) Neglecting a Spirit of Challenge
Once we’ve succeeded in establishing such a foundation, we tend to feel satisfied and are tempted to rest on our laurels. Because of this, we neglect the spirit of challenge, we become bored, and talented human resources ultimately end up leaving GLOBIS. I think that this trend currently afflicts many major corporations.

GLOBIS-ism
GLOBIS sticks to its vision, builds a business infrastructure that encompasses human, capital, and knowledge resources, and continues to support change and creativity. In line with our mission, we wish to remain professional entrepreneurs who perpetually create new value in society, corporations, and individuals. As our name suggests, GLOBIS (a name derived from “global business”) wishes to continue pursuing business around the globe. As long as we continue to embrace this desire, we will never reach the point in which we abandon the spirit of challenge and begin losing interest. Each and every individual who is constantly striving for self-development, maintaining a vigorous appetite for learning, reveling in new challenges, and continuing to make a place for self-realization inside or outside the organization, is like GLOBIS as a whole.

I think there are other “enemies in our hearts” lurking within GLOBIS. One is the temptation to move toward sectionalism, rather than considering the profit of the entire organization. Another is placing individual gain above that of the team. Indeed, one thing that scares me is that people who are going down the path of individualism and sectionalism could cause the entire group to collapse. I would like all GLOBIS staff to be continually vigilant by every appropriate means in preventing the GLOBIS Group from collapsing from the inside out. I intend to closely monitor my own behavior on a daily basis to avoid falling victim to any of these three internal enemies (I also expect anyone who notices any of these internal adversaries in my behavior to tell me so).

GLOBIS is headed in a good direction, so now more than ever, let us watch for warning signs that might indicate even the slightest drifting at the center of our hearts. I want to always maintain this constant state of vigilance.

*Edited from an internal staff-wide e-mail.