The Leadership Japan Series By Dale Carnegie Training Japan

 Some may believe that it is better to have staff who will argue back, than have a room full of yes-men and yes-women.  In Japan, in particular, it is hard to get anyone to dispute the boss’s opinion, so if we get counterpoints to what we think, we should be popping corks and celebrating.  This is a fine line for staff to tread.  How can they raise issues with the boss, without seeming to be in opposition with what the boss thinks or wants?  We hear a lot of talk about the importance of creating a psychologically safe environment and most of this is coming out of the West.  Japan certainly didn’t pioneer or promulgate this idea.  Are bosses really comfortable with a psychologically safe environment where their staff can challenge them on what they want done?  There is a lot of other rhetoric about becoming the “servant leader”.  The idea being that the boss’s job is to help the staff succeed, clearing obstacles and empowering people to go forth and prosper.    The problem with a lot of this is we are dealing