Self‐awareness of unlimited individual potential and its development : The underlying philosophy of the management/staff development programme in Yaohan International Group

For Yaohan International Group, the most important aspects of management development are not the acquisition of knowledge and the training of skills per se, but the cultivation of the right mind and spirit. The group thrives on the corporate culture which believes in the unlimited potential of each employee, and its philosophy, based on the Truth of Life’s philosophy, embraces all its employees scattered around the world as members of the single family, removing the walls of prejudice which separate them by religion and race. Only when the hearts and the minds have been won, can the real education and training begin. This was embodied in the group’s declaration, based on the vision of its present chairman, Kazuo Wada, which has guided the growth of the group from a humble provincial store into a global retail conglomerate.