Leading the Lingua Franca Mandate

This chapter follows Mikitani's thinking and leadership development with regard to the Englishnization mandate. Initially, Mikitani believed the English language mandate would succeed if employees were independent and entrepreneurial, taking full responsibility—financially and otherwise—for learning English. However, after nearly a year and a half, upon discovering that progress was dismal, he led a major shift. The chapter introduces and discusses Mikitani's promotion of the mandate during the second phase of “English only”—learning English while retaining one's native culture. It assesses how Mikitani's leadership influenced employee attitudes and English language proficiency scores. Mikitani believed that given the right conditions, such as the deliberate immersion that he was cultivating, the Japanese employees could acquire English as well.