✨Stars — Indicate the difficulty level of the book content.
★☆☆ 1 Star: Easy to read and understand.
★★☆ 2 Stars: Moderate difficulty with some specialized terms.
★★★ 3 Stars: Advanced content with complex ideas and terminology.
About the Book
■Title: How to Build a Business Mind (ビジネス脳のつくりかた)
■Author: Den Fujita (藤田田)
■Publisher: BestSellers (ベストセラーズ)
Den Fujita, the founder of McDonald’s Japan, is a pioneer who revolutionized the country’s food service industry and remains a role model admired by many Japanese business leaders. More than just an entrepreneur, he was known for his exceptional ability to read consumer psychology and his strategic vision for opening up new markets.
How to Build a Business Mind is one of his many works, focusing on how professionals can develop and apply a “business brain” in their careers. Drawing from his real-life experiences, Fujita clearly and directly explains how to identify money-making opportunities, turn ideas into viable businesses, and cultivate the habits and mindset necessary for sustained success.
Summary
This book presents Den Fujita’s method for developing a “business brain,” distilled into 14 chapters based on his lifelong experience as the founder of McDonald’s Japan. He emphasizes the importance of turning time into money, mastering the use of numbers, and breaking conventional thinking to create new opportunities. Fujita also explains that only those who know how to play can balance creativity with performance to achieve greater results.
The book likens life to a marathon game, offering attitudes and strategies for long-term victory, methods for attracting luck, and Fujita’s own tactics for defeating competitors. It also covers strategies that leverage human psychology, the sense of truly understanding the value of money, secrets learned from masters of making money, and why generosity in management is crucial for sustaining a business.
Fujita stresses that making money is often easier than avoiding losses, and warns that present success will not last forever. He underscores that the key to sustained success lies in adapting flexibly to change, reading market trends, and consistently putting actionable strategies into practice.
Notable Quotes
■時間不足時代に突入している現在、あそこにいけば、時間を節約できるというものを開発すれば、客は殺到するのだ。3次元の発想でいきづまったら4次元の発想で突破せよ。それが成功の秘訣である。
In this era of time scarcity, if you develop something that saves time, customers will flock to it. When you get stuck with three-dimensional thinking, break through with four-dimensional thinking. That is the secret to success.
■楽しみは仕事から180度はなれたところにある遊びだけではない。そういった遊びでしか楽しみを得られないとしたら、その人は不幸である。
Enjoyment is not only found in play that is completely separate from work. If someone can only find pleasure in such play, that person is unfortunate.
■身近に、金儲けのネタはたくさんころがっている。要は、そうころがっている金儲けのネタが、見えるか見えないかである。
Opportunities to make money are all around us. The question is whether you can see them or not.
My Thoughts
I believe the key to success ultimately lies in solving other people’s problems. The extent to which your solution provides real value to a large number of people will determine the rewards and recognition you receive.
Solving a problem is not just about removing inconvenience; it is about making people’s lives more convenient, richer, and more fulfilling. This is why the most important abilities are the “power of observation” to identify the countless problems that exist in the world, and the “shift in perspective” that allows you to approach them in new and creative ways.
Until now, I used to think that work and play were completely opposite concepts. However, I have come to realize that if you can find enjoyment in your work and immerse yourself in the process, that is the most fulfilling way to live. True enjoyment does not only come from leisure or entertainment outside of work, but from discovering achievement and meaning in the work itself. I feel that this attitude becomes the driving force that allows you to keep growing without burning out over the long term.
I recommend this book to professionals who want to cultivate creative thinking and practical business sense, aspiring entrepreneurs preparing to start their own ventures, and anyone seeking continuous growth in an ever-changing market.
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