Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) were the great warlords whose successive victories, culminating at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, brought about the unification of Japan. Each was known for a unique strategy that served as a theme for his military and civil leadership. Even today, captains of Japanese industry are compared to these three heroic figures, whose differing ways have been encapsulated in the brief Japanese poetic form called haiku. Ieyasu, the last of the three, always waited patiently for the best moment to act. The haiku of prudent Tokugawa Ieyasu goes:
The silent bush warbler, Let us wait Until it sings.
Ieyasu fought to maintain unity in a nation that had begun to splinter in the wake of Hideyoshi’s death in 1598. Hideyoshi met challenges promptly and forcefully. The haiku of bold Toyotomi Hideyoshi is:
The silent bush warbler, I’ll try To make her sing.
But the power of Hideyoshi and, later, that of Ieyasu, were built on a foundation established by Oda Nobunaga, whose brilliant military tactics forced rival lords, called daimyos, to accept his power rather than that of the last shogun of the Ashikaga line. Nobunaga was known to go after his enemies suddenly, before they were prepared for the challenge. The haiku of daring Oda Nobunaga says:
The silent bush warbler, Let us shoot it down Before it can sing.
The idealisations of Japan’s three most famous warlords may be also used to characterise American corporate daimyos. But the delicacy of Japanese verse seems out of place in the American context. The words and ideas make sense, but the style is as inappropriate as a tea ceremony would be at the Super Bowl. Fortunately, we have obtained interpretive translations of Japan’s three great strategic philosophies:The Bodiddley Of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Hambone, Hambone, Have you heard? Papa’s gonna buy you A mockingbird. If that mockingbird Don’t sing, Papa’s gonna wait Until the spring.
The Bodiddley Of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Hambone, Hambone, Have you heard? Papa’s gonna buy you A mockingbird. If that mockingbird Don’t sing, Papa’s gonna make it Do its thing.
The Bodiddley Of Oda Nobunaga
Hambone, Hambone, Have you heard? Papa’s gonna buy you A mockingbird. If that mockingbird Don’t sing, Papa knows why: His neck’s been wringed.
The three great warlords knew each other. Hideyoshi served as an officer under Nobunaga. Later, when Nobunaga was assassinated, it was Hideyoshi who ultimately exacted retribution. Ieyasu, a strong local power early on, formed an alliance with Nobunaga, competed with Hideyoshi for leadership after Nobunaga’s death and ultimately supported Hideyoshi. He became Japan’s leader only after Hideyoshi’s death. The Tokugawa shogunate that began in 1603 survived until 1867, when the last of the Tokugawas abdicated. The end of the line was a consequence of American gunboat imperialism. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry forced the Japanese to open their ports in 1853, initially to protect shipwrecked American seamen and later to establish commerce. Perry was followed by armed delegations from Europe. They further broached the barriers that had isolated Japan. This fostered fatal resentment of the regime in Tokyo because it had tolerated these embarrassing events. The Japanese have long since discovered that their culture is selective in its absorption, much the way Gore-Tex fabric permits the passage of air but resists water. Japan’s modern leaders – their roles in many ways corresponding to those of the old daimyos – have been Westernized but have not become Western. So they are unlikely to be surprised by events originating in Washington, London, Paris or Beijing that could have a shattering impact on their way of life the way Commodore Perry’s armada did 150 years ago. Japanese governments and companies insist that their leaders come from within, not from outside. While this may appear unduly restrictive to a Westerner, the rule has generally produced good results, probably because the Japanese know it must. In addition to the
ir appreciation of history, the Japanese also show great perseverence. They have maintained respect for the role that circumstance or fortune may play in the exercise of power. And they have understood that at times the greatest progress can be made by reverting to a strategy tested by time. Like Japan at the end of the Ashikaga shogunate and again at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, IBM is weak. Beset by inner turmoil, surrounded by hostile competitors, treated with unprecedented disdain by formerly respectful customers, the company has been in a decline so serious that it could – improbable as it might seem – end in IBM’s extinction. The corporation is in dire need of a strategy. IBM’s new leader, Louis V Gerstner, does not yet have a business strategy or even a style that is apparent to the outside world. At IBM, he may not be a strategist at all, but merely a tactician. His most visible accomplishment to date is embodied in his personal compensation contract, which looks to be about as good a deal for IBM as the arrangements his predecessors made with Microsoft regarding systems software for personal computers. But presuming for a moment that Gerstner’s single most visible act is indicative of his ultimate strategy, we then owe IBM’s chairman a tribute in verse:
The Bodiddley Of Louis V Gerstner
Hambone, Hambone, Have you heard? Papa’s gonna buy you A mockingbird. If that mockingbird Don’t sing, The widows and orphans Gonna get zinged.
– Hesh Wiener (C) Copyright 1993
