When it came to talking people into things, you started by sounding the alarm, then made it frightening. If you could quote some famous figure so people found it profound without understanding it, then mix in a rhetoric of nine truths and one lie, you were basically set:
"Ms. Hiratsuka, Napoleon once said that a soldier who does not want to become a general is not a good soldier. However, how could a soldier who had spent his entire life as a soldier suddenly become a general? Forget becoming a general—even becoming a squad leader required a soldier to have extensive knowledge and experience. Perhaps during wartime, soldiers could climb from the bottom to high positions through military achievements...
"But if they weren't fortunate enough to be in such times, then in peacetime, where would ordinary soldiers find so many military achievements to turn themselves into generals? And this country's market has long been far removed from war. Calling it stagnant water would not be an exaggeration. Such an environment is like peacetime for corporate workers...
"A corporate worker who doesn't want to become a CEO isn't a good corporate worker. But in today's stagnant workplace, the only way to rise was to grind out seniority. Besides, how many people could master the job the moment they got promoted? Going from an ordinary employee to a team leader required time to get accustomed to things, let alone going from an ordinary employee to CEO.
"Taihei said he didn't want to rely on his family and wanted to make his own living, but he hadn't considered what would happen even if he became a manager. If his old man had some accident and needed him to step up, could someone who had only muddled along at one company really support the