What is “Global Talent”?

(Session: Creating the right global talent pool)

Kunihiko Sawa

Topics
 How should people live?
 What motivates people to work?
 Why do corporations exist?
 What is valuable global talent?
 How can we cultivate and train global talent?

Full script of the speech

Good morning, I am Kunihiko Sawa of Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Ltd.
It’s a great honor for me to make this speech at the opening session of the forum today.
The overall theme of this forum is “Global Talent, Global Prosperity!” As one of the forum’s representatives from the corporate world, the theme I was given for my speech is “Creating a Global Talent Pool.” Specifically, I’ve been asked to talk about effective ways to cultivate and train domestic personnel who can adapt well to overseas workplaces.

But what does “global talent” really mean? I’m sure many of you would answer along these lines: people that can communicate well in foreign languages, or who know or are interested in the geography, history, culture or customs of foreign countries. Other attributes might be specialist skills that can be applied worldwide, a friendly disposition and the ability to enjoy life in any country, or even a healthy sense of curiosity and a desire and motivation to realize one’s dream. All of these qualities could be used to describe global talent. Naturally, these attributes are important, and I’m sure many of this forum’s participants will raise and discuss issues in these areas. However, I believe that there is another crucial quality more important than those I’ve just mentioned. In my opening session speech today, I’d like to focus on this point as I try to define what global talent really means, and what we should do to cultivate it.

To examine this issue, we really need to ask some very fundamental questions: “Why do people live?” and “How should people live?” As soon as we emerge into the world, we rely on others for support. From the moment we are born we are members of society, receiving affection and support from parents, siblings and others around us to assist our development. Likewise, we return this affection and develop by striving to present our own existence by making those around us happy.

Another view of mankind is that we share the earth—its air, water and other resources—with living organisms, including the plants and animals around us that we rely on for our own existence. Consequently, we owe a debt to these living organisms to minimize our impact on them and protect the planet.

The key to cultivating a person with this outlook on life is education and training during the period between birth and starting work. For a person to be valuable to society they have to be just as capable of giving affection and happiness as they receive themselves. Their outlook on life must reflect an appreciation for both the affection they receive from others and for living organisms, water, air and the other bounties of the earth. I believe that when people feel that they are living in this way, they feel happiness and fulfillment. It is important that we provide guidance so that people experience these feelings as early as possible in their lives.

To summarize then, we should live for others and life should be about making others happy. We should also show appreciation for the bounties of the planet that make our own lives possible, and work to minimize our impact on them.

Corporations are places where a person with this mindset can play an active role as a member of society. The fundamental reason why corporations exist is to contribute to society through their activities and help protect the global environment. Every corporation is expected to help develop contented and prosperous lifestyle by delivering security, safety, convenience and comfort to society through their activities. They must also contribute to the preservation of natural environments to ensure all living organisms continue to exist in the future.

Most companies today conduct their business worldwide regardless of national borders. This means that they are now members of global society, requiring them to play a beneficial and valuable role for people and environmental protection the world over. In one sense, corporations make a “profit” when the value of their contributions to society and the environment exceeds the cost of their business activities. Consequently, the objective of companies should not be about only making monetary profit. Instead, we should think about “profit” as the value of their contributions to society and the environment as seen by society itself. Therefore, management should seek talented personnel that will help their organizations contribute to society, while always considering how much their corporate activities have benefited society and what they can do to further increase these benefits.

Based on this perspective, people who work for corporations need to have a strong desire to make others happy, contribute to society, and in turn mankind, through their work. I believe that by attracting people with this kind of mindset, companies can secure a pool of global talent that will demonstrate their value both in a domestic and international context. As one of the participants in this forum from the corporate world, I am making these points in the context of people working at private-sector firms. But I believe what I am saying also holds true for government agencies, academic institutions, international organizations and other bodies.

As I mentioned earlier, we tend to think that global talent means employees who are skilled in foreign languages, or are knowledgeable or interested in the geography, history, culture or customs of other countries, or even have specialist skills that can be applied worldwide. To a certain extent, these capabilities can be acquired at a later stage. However, there are more essential characteristics that qualify an employee as a member of the global talent pool, and these attributes can only be nurtured from an early age—by parents in the home, through education, or by adult role models in wider society. These attributes, as I touched on before, are a friendly disposition and the ability to enjoy life in any country, a healthy sense of curiosity and a desire and motivation to realize one’s dream. They must also have a clear set of values with respect to life and work, illustrated by a curiosity about questions such as, “How should people live?” or “What motivates people to work?”

Today, in Japan and other advanced economies, learning about the inner self—the most important element of education—is lacking both at home and at school. As result, there are major problems related to the way adults live their lives today. I am not in a position to comment about South Korea’s present situation, but if this country is facing the same problems as we are in Japan, concrete measures have to be implemented as quickly as possible.

The basic approach to cultivating and training global talent is nothing more than developing human resources with values about life and work that empower them to answer questions like, “How should I live my life?” and “What is the purpose of work?” They must also be able to build friendships with many people, live life to the full wherever they are, have a healthy sense of curiosity and the motivation to realize their dream. In other words, “global talent” also means people who have a positive impact on society. To develop this kind of individual, parents, schools and society as a whole must play a committed role while government provides clear guidance and puts specific measures into practice.
I hope the points I have raised today will contribute to discussion in this forum.
Thank you very much for your attention.　


Summary of Speech (300~400 words)

What is “Global Talent”?

Summary of Speech (300~400 words)

In seeking for effective ways to cultivate and train domestic human resources that adapt well to global society, I would like to reflect on some fundamental issues; “How should people live? ” Developing and training global talent is developing human resources with an outlook on life and/or values about work such as, “I would like to contribute to human society, and in turn, to humankind.” and “I would like to work to make other people happy through my work.” To cultivate such human resources, parents, educational institutions such as kindergartens, schools and universities, and society as a whole must play a committed role. At the same time, the government needs to enlighten people and put specific measures into practice.