Leadership development for Japanese women through education reform

MC: Submit a statement that discusses your career goals, as well as the factors that led you to select the Mid-Career MPA program as a means of furthering your personal and professional goals. Be as specific as possible in describing how your expected course of study will enable you to build on your prior professional experience and achieve these goals. (750-word limit)

\"One tall tree doesn\'t make a forest. Likewise, a large grove needs trees of the same height. A true leader must develop people to whom the future can be entrusted.\" This is my guiding philosophy. As a Japanese woman, I have seen women\'s difficulties in acquiring sound leadership skills. Hence, I have applied to HKS to aid Japanese women reach their leadership potential.

I have always supported the career woman. I participated in HND\'s Women\'s Career Strategies Initiative for preparing associate-level women for VP-level promotions. I engaged in extensive teamwork to gain career advancement skills. While I performed well in smaller groups, I was overwhelmed in large meetings, by non-Japanese peers\' aggressiveness. I couldn\'t present my ideas, and somebody else would ultimately express them. Consequently, I was passed over for promotion. I learned from that experience and worked harder towards honing and assertively applying leadership skills, thus being promoted to VP the following year.

I also helped launch HND\'s NPO All Learning, which I eventually joined full-time, traveling across the world to observe local schools and communities. I witnessed major cultural and teaching practice differences, and understood my homeland\'s challenges better. I realized education\'s power in helping students develop their potential and transcend boundaries, and decided to pursue leadership education.

My interest in helping people achieve new possibilities landed me a talent development and HR management job at the French multinational, CDG. Here, I launched Ellescdg for empowering CDG\'s Japanese women employees, focusing on self-promotion, self-awareness, leadership and diversity. I observed women\'s discomfort with promoting themselves, an issue aggravated by French and Japanese cultural differences. At casual company events with senior French managers, many Japanese employees only spoke among themselves, missing networking and self-promotion opportunities.

I realized that our cultural beliefs are partly rooted in our educational system, where we value modesty and follow strict rules regarding hairstyle and uniform skirt length. I still hesitate to voice doubts or opinions at work. Having witnessed this in many others, I strongly believe more must be done to educate young Japanese women.

My short-term goal is: joining a non-profit, promoting Japanese women\'s leadership development, and developing leadership competency measurement instruments. Ideally I would impart key 21st-century competitiveness and leadership skills (risk-taking, personal assertiveness, etc.) to high-school girls.

My long-term goal is: moving beyond working directly with youngsters and addressing their larger institutional issues. The existing, staid educational structures must be changed. The Japanese government\'s, school administrators\' and education experts\' support is needed to modify school curricula and help students develop broader mindsets and intangible skills. Additionally, we must work with private and public sector, and address students\' future. Employers desiring strong leaders must hire employees based on character and ability, and adopt performance-based promotion practices.

To this end, I must draw from my professional experiences. Altering the educational system will bring forth resistance from people who consider this an imposition of Western ideas. I can overcome this with a sound academic background, an understanding of various international education and leadership approaches, and adapting to Western leadership and educational strategy elements best suited to Japan. At HKS, I can develop a nuanced cross-cultural perspective.

I chose the MC/MPA program for its strong faculty and curriculum in areas vital to my research. I am very interested in Professor Barbara Kellerman\'s ideas of inclusive, integrative leadership, and \"The Leadership System: Leaders, Followers, Context\" course. I believe her approach can be productively applied to Japan. Despite changing gender roles and cultural values, Japanese culture still values collaboration and team-building. Professor Kellerman\'s approach may help me devise strategies building on Japan\'s strengths.