Executive Development Blog
（2025-2026）

※The issue at the top is the latest one.

34. Turn Your Employees into Influencers to Drive Store Sales

33. Are Your Stores Fully Prepared for the December Holiday Season?

32. Three Common Misconceptions About Store Management

31. Are More Customers Struggling to Make a Choice?

30. Transform Your Store Operations with MVV, AI, and a Winning Mindset

29. Are You Overlooking Your Employees’ Strengths?

28. What Japanese Entrepreneurs in Their 20s Have in Common

27. How to Overcome “Number Anxiety” in Store Management

26. For Those Managing Direct Reports for the First Time (Part 2)

25. For Those Managing Direct Reports for the First Time (Part 1)

24. A Must-Read for Store Managers: How to Run a Weekly PDCA Cycle

23. A Store Cannot Succeed on Leadership Alone: The True Value of an Assistant Store Manager

22. Boost Your Frontline Performance: Three Principles Behind a Store Customers Want to Return To

21. How Small Stores Can Stand Out and Survive in a Competitive Market

20. How to Increase Sales Through “Experiential Consumption”

19. The Gear Theory: A Career Development Model for Store Employees

18. How to Discover Your Next Business Opportunity

17. Three Questions That Reveal Who Has the Potential to Become a Great Leader

16. Employee Development Is More Than Training: 5 Key Points for Reviewing Your Training and Development System

15. How to Make Your Store, Products, and Services Stand Out

14. How to Communicate in Ways That Motivate People to Act

13. Before You Tell Your Team to ‘Get More Repeat Customers’

12. When “The Way We’ve Always Done It” Becomes a Waste of Time

11. Why Do Customers Choose That Store Even When Its Prices Are Higher?

10.  A Guide to Effective One-on-One Meetings for Store-Based Businesses 

9. Would You Expand Your Store Network or Reduce It?

8. When You Hear the Words, “I’m Just Doing What I’m Told…”

7. What Makes the Difference Between Stores Where Employees Leave and Stores Where They Stay?

6. When You Want Your Executives to Take More Initiative!

5. 10 Ways to Bridge the Gap Between Stores and Head Office

4. Word-of-Mouth Is a Highly Effective Customer Acquisition Strategy

3. What Kind of System Helps Executives Grow? 

2. What Makes a Strong, Growing Organization?

1. Making the Most of the 2:6:2 Rule

“I want to increase sales by working with influencers.”

“We use influencers as the face of our brand.”

Today, when using social media has become part of everyday life, influencer marketing has become one of the many options available to businesses.

Of course, the greater an influencer's reach and influence, the higher the cost is likely to be.

Another common concern is that although influencers can generate significant traffic and sales, the impact is often short-lived. Once the campaign ends, results may quickly return to their previous levels.

So, what if you could develop your own employees into influencers who help attract customers and increase sales?

Let's look at how to make this happen.

The year-end peak shopping season is almost here. Now is the time to make one final check to ensure your stores are fully prepared to handle this critical sales period.

“So that’s how we should approach the solution!”

“Now that you mention it, that makes perfect sense!”

These are reactions I often hear when I discuss a roadmap for solving problems with clients.

 In fact, many companies have misconceptions about how to approach problem-solving.

In this article, I would like to explain three common misconceptions to watch out for when addressing challenges in store management.

“There are so many color options that I get tired just comparing them!”

“The menu has too many choices, so it takes me forever to order.”

“There are so many pricing plans that I can’t decide which one to choose…”

Have you heard comments like these from customers?

Businesses often increase choices in the hope of giving customers more freedom and enjoyment. However, too many options can sometimes have the opposite effect and make decision-making more difficult.

In this article, we'll explore how an abundance of choices affects customer behavior and sales performance.

In today’s increasingly challenging business environment, managers and employees are busier than ever. As a result, it is easy to lose sight of some of the fundamental elements essential to running a successful business.

In this article, let’s look at three areas that deserve particular attention if your company is to achieve sustainable and healthy growth.

～ Three Steps to Make the Most of Their Strengths ～

For a company and its employees to grow, it is highly effective to create a workplace where each individual can make the most of their strengths.

In this article, let’s explore how to identify and leverage the strengths of your employees.

There are three essential steps: identifying strengths, building a shared understanding between managers and employees, and putting those strengths to work.

Let’s look at what both managers and employees can do at each stage.

Recently, I have had opportunities to speak with entrepreneurs in their twenties. Listening to their business ideas was an exciting experience.

Some of their ideas filled me with enthusiasm, while others made me think, “That makes perfect sense.”

Through these conversations, I noticed several common traits among these young entrepreneurs. I would like to share them with you.

When assessing the current state of a business or planning for the future, decisions must be supported by data.

For managers and executives in particular, the ability to discuss business performance using numbers is an essential skill.

However, many capable managers still struggle when it comes to speaking the language of numbers.

In this issue, we will look at practical ways to help managers overcome their discomfort with numbers and become more effective business leaders.

Continuing from our previous article, let's explore what is expected of individuals who are managing employees for the first time.

"I've been assigned direct reports, but I'm not sure what I should focus on. To be honest, I'm a little anxious..."

This is a concern often expressed by newly appointed managers. When you move into a management role, the perspectives, responsibilities, and behaviors expected of you change significantly. Feeling uncertain is completely natural.

In this article, we will organize and explain what companies typically expect from individuals who are managing employees for the first time.

Most companies do a good job of setting annual goals and developing action plans for each half-year and month to achieve those goals.

However, surprisingly few take the next step and translate those plans into specific weekly action plans.

In this article, we’ll look at how store managers—the people responsible for putting plans into practice—can run a Weekly PDCA cycle effectively, along with some important points to keep in mind.

(This article assumes that annual, half-year, and monthly plans are already in place.)

A store manager must demonstrate leadership, bring the team together, and deliver results.

However, a store cannot operate effectively with a leader alone. It also needs team members who support the leader and help turn decisions into action.

Today, let’s explore the concept of followership—how team members support and strengthen their leader. To make the discussion more concrete, we will focus on the followership of an assistant store manager.

Stores and facilities exist to provide products and services that delight their customers.

However, in order to strengthen and expand a business, it is essential that a customer-focused mindset becomes deeply embedded throughout the organization.

Strong frontline execution begins with a shared understanding of a few fundamental principles.

In this article, let's explore three important ways of thinking that can help build a store customers want to visit again and again.

Large stores typically have access to a wide range of business resources, including people, products, capital, and information.

Small stores, on the other hand, often have limited resources in one or more of these areas.

Even so, small stores must find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition if they are to survive in today’s challenging market.

Let’s look at five key strategies that small stores can use to stand out.

Have you ever held a highly successful event, only to find that sales did not increase as expected?

Today, consumers are surrounded by an abundance of products, which is why many experts say consumption is shifting from product-based consumption to experience-based consumption.

As a result, the role of physical stores is also changing. Customers no longer visit stores simply to purchase products or services.

Instead, they increasingly seek experiences that can only be provided in a brick-and-mortar environment.

At the same time, there are several important points to keep in mind when developing experiential consumption strategies. In this article, we will focus on those considerations.

In recent years, companies have increasingly recognized that their people are one of their most valuable assets.

Whether employees have been with the company since joining as new graduates or have joined mid-career, it is important for each person to fulfill their role effectively within the organization.

One way to think about these roles is to compare employees to gears in a machine. Each gear has a specific function, and the entire system works effectively when all the gears work together.

In this article, let's use a concept called the “Gear Theory” to explain how employees in store-based businesses grow and how their roles evolve over time.

We'll use customer service as our example, since it is a core activity shared by retail, restaurant, and other service businesses.

Once your core business has become stable, launching a new business venture can be an effective strategy for driving further company growth.

 In this article, we'll look at ways to identify potential opportunities during the early stages of new business development.

 There are two common approaches to generating ideas for new businesses.

A company's growth depends heavily on the development of its executives and future leaders. As a top executive, you want to identify employees with leadership potential as early as possible.

 But how can you tell who is likely to grow into a capable leader—and who may struggle to progress beyond their current role?

 One way is to pay attention to how employees respond to three simple questions. Their answers can reveal how they think, make decisions, and take responsibility.

 Let's take a closer look.

“We want to strengthen employee development, but where should we start?”

Is this a challenge your company is facing?

When companies look for solutions, they often focus on expanding their training programs. But is offering more training really the best way to develop your people?

Employee development is about more than training sessions. It requires a system that helps people learn, apply what they have learned, and continue to grow through their daily work.

Let's look at five key points to consider when reviewing your company's training and development system.