Lessons from Japan

Japan

After time in Shanghai and Beijing, I moved on to Tokyo.

It has been 10 years since I have been to the land of the rising sun and much has changed.  Tokyo is still an energetic and vibrant city but there is a new mood and approach to business.

Japan boasted the big boom economy starting in the 1950’s and running through to the late 1980’s – a time that the Japanese refer to as the “bubble economy”.

I still remember in the 1970’ and 1980’s as Japan became the centre of excellence for motorcycle, car, camera and electronic manufacturing, not only did the whole world look on in awe but we all thought that this was the nation that would “take over the world”!

Everyone looked to Japan to learn about manufacturing techniques, quality control and innovation with the aim of re-invigorating their own industries and economies.

At the time, traditional Japanese businesses were not only very successful, integrated industrial giants but they were also quite closed to the Gaijin (foreigners) and exceptionally hierarchical in the way that they worked, reflecting traditional Japanese social structures.

In fairness of course, was that much different to British management structures in the 1960’s, ‘70’s and in some cases even ‘80’s and ‘90’s?

But Japan has seen an incredibly rapid economic cycle, reflecting in a little over 50 years what Europe experienced in a century or more.  That is not to say that they had no industry before the 1950’s of course we know very well that they did, but in terms of developing global trade, global businesses etc. it has been a massive change.

In the 1990’s much changed, the bubble burst and then the emerging “tiger economise of Asia” started to forge ahead.

So what has happened in the last 10 years – well quite a lot actually and it is only when you are there that you realise just how much! 

Whereas 10 years ago people wanted to join Japanese businesses because it was seen as almost “second class” to work for a non-Japanese business, the younger generations now have a totally different mindset.  They want to work for “interesting” companies, companies that have an exciting brand and better meet their lifestyle and needs they really are not too concerned if they are Japanese or not.

And that has caused traditional Japanese businesses to look anew at the way that they lead and manage people, they are now open, ready, willing and excited about learning from the outside world. They want new and leading edge thinking and don’t mind if it requires the Gaijin to teach it to them.

Now whether you consider that change to be inspired or reactive, to some extent it doesn’t matter because the way in which they are responding to the changes is to seek out inspiration and new ideas.

Obviously they have had a burning platform for change, the rapid changes in their own and local Asian economies meant that they could not continue as they had in the past, the younger talent was looking for something new, fresh and exciting and did not see it in the traditional methods of the past.

The real question however is “so just how different are we?”  If they can challenge what were frankly centuries old hierarchies and social norms in order to be successful, what discomfort are you prepared to endure to ensure the sustainability of your business?

How fresh and exciting is your business to Generation x and Y?  What do your Brand, Leadership, Reward and Recognition systems look like through their eyes and how will you be able to sustain success if you can’t excite new and young talent?

How far are you travelling to see for yourself what best practice really looks like?