Podcasts about nemawashi

Nemawashi, translates to “groundwork” and is rooted in the practice of moving large trees. This intricate process—preparing roots, wrapping them, and relocating the tree—serves as a metaphor for meticulous preparation before decisions in business. In Japan, decisions are typically made before meetings, with the gathering itself serving as a formality to approve prior agreements. The groundwork involves engaging stakeholders individually, securing their buy-in, and addressing potential concerns. In contrast, Western decision-making often occurs during meetings, with open discussions and debates leading to a consensus. This cultural difference means that to influence outcomes in Japan, preparation must begin early, before formal discussions occur. Whether dealing with internal teams or external clients, success depends on influencing decision-makers ahead of time. When working with a client, for example, your internal champion becomes pivotal. They must persuade decision-makers using data, testimonials, and evidence you provide, ensuring the groundwork is solid. Neglecting this preparation risks losing control of the decision-making process. Nemawashi also involves understanding the dynamics within the meeting. Others may push their agendas, so your champion needs a clear strategy. Identify meeting participants, anticipate their concerns, and craft tailored approaches to win them over. Preparation should include counterarguments for opposing perspectives, ensuring your champion can effectively advocate for your preferred outcome. While nemawashi doesn't guarantee success, it maximizes your chances. Poor preparation often leads to unfavourable decisions. By embracing nemawashi, you can position yourself strategically, influencing outcomes in alignment with Japanese decision-making norms. This approach not only enhances your chances of success but also helps you navigate complex organizational dynamics more effectively.

We explore the power of self-managing teams, innovation ecosystems, and the art of consensus-building with John Taylor McIntyre, the Founder and Chief Empowerment Officer of Mutual Prosperity. We discuss his unique upbringing in a multicultural home, his journey through theatre, and his experiences in Japan that shaped his leadership philosophy. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the challenge of breaking the ‘Curse of Babel' in organisations, the importance of Nemawashi for effective decision-making, and how businesses can scale leadership while fostering autonomy. SHOWNOTES are here: http://www.zoerouth.com/podcast/leadership-wisdom Planet Human: China creates world's first two-way brain-computer interface. https://interestingengineering.com/science/worlds-first-2-way-bci-china Join the Power Games advance notice here: https://www.zoerouth.com/power-games Key Quotes: "When we align our language, we unlock collaboration." – John Taylor McIntyre "Leadership is not about control; it's about empowering others to make great decisions." – Zoë Routh "True innovation happens when we create space for new ideas to take root." – John Taylor McIntyre   Questions Asked: 1. What does it take to build truly self-managing teams? 2. How can organisations break through communication barriers and align their language? 3. What is the Nemawashi principle, and how does it help organisations scale leadership? 4. How do we foster a culture of innovation while maintaining strong leadership? 5. What role does personal connection play in shaping high-performing teams?   Take Action: 1. Review your decision-making processes—are they inclusive and effective? 2. Reflect on the concept of Nemawashi: How can you better prepare your team for change? 3. Start a leadership journal to document key decisions and assess their long-term impact. 4. Encourage more open conversations about power, influence, and collaboration within your team.   Tip of the Week: Align your team's language to enhance collaboration. Conduct a ‘Language Audit' in your organisation to identify jargon, miscommunications, and gaps in understanding.   Join the community here: https://www.zoerouth.com/podcast-news   You'll receive 40 book summaries and recommendations on Leading Strategy and Performance, plus a special secret audio from my award-winning book, People Stuff.   Key Moments 00:00 – Introduction and Weekly Question 00:20 – Breakthrough in Brain-Computer Interfaces 01:34 – Training for the Australian Alpine Walking Track 02:09 – Upcoming Book: Power Games 03:21 – Exploring the Concept of Power 06:44 – Interview with John Taylor McIntyre 23:40 – Servant Leadership and Innovation Ecosystems 24:16 – Understanding Technology Transfer 28:06 – Breaking the Curse of Babel 30:11 – The Nemawashi Principle 36:11 – Scaling Leadership and Autonomous Teams 41:23 – The Fast Three: Future Tech, Leadership Tips, and Current Reads 47:36 – The Importance of Personal Relationships in Business 49:52 – Conclusion and Additional Resources   #leadershipskills #leadershipdevelopment #leadershiplessons #leadershiptraining #innovation #selfmanagingteams #futureofleadership

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the often-mystifying Japanese business practices that foreigners in Japan struggle to navigate. Intercultural facilitator Masafumi Otsuka sheds light on puzzling practices like "Why Japanese managers change jobs every three years" and "Why they always see the glass as half empty." Masa offers a logical breakdown of the periodic job rotation system and Japan's risk-averse decision-making process.We also explore key cultural concepts that are often misunderstood by Westerners—such as Nemawashi, Genten Shugi, and Kyochosei—all explained by Masa in a fun and enlightening way.Masa shares personal stories about his own struggles, including returning to Japan as a student, the politics behind leaving a high-profile job, and what it's like to feel "1/3 Japanese, 1/3 American, and 1/3 confused." This episode is packed with insights and humor, offering a unique perspective on the complexities of Japanese business culture. Other highlights from our conversation:Why there is no Japanese word for "procrastinate"The unspoken rule for Japanese overseas returnee studentsThe priority in Japan is harmonizeWhat does an Intercultural Facilitator do?Best ever explanation of Nemawashi & Genten ShugiThe subtle art of not having to tell everythingExpertise in Japan is 10ft. wide and 1inch deep while in the US its 1inch wide and 10ft. deepStrategies for getting a positive outcome from Japanese meetingsThe reason Japanese prefer the process vs the outcomeMasafumi Otsuka: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masafumiotsuka/More Now and Zen Japan episodes: http://nowandzen.jpGrow website traffic = Zo Digital: https://www.zodigital.jp/Japan Adventures via Camper Van = Dream Drive: https://www.dreamdrive.lifeUse the code word "ZEN" to receive discounts

“Nemawashi is generally something we do on a yearly basis. Is it tedious? Yes. Is it easy? No. Does it take a lot of time? Yes. Is it worth it? Hell yes!” - Réda Guiri, Head of Group Outsourcing & Procurement, Toyota Insurance Services Europe Everyone knows that getting stakeholder buy-in is critical for procurement, but it is not always straightforward – especially in large stakeholder networks paralyzed by red tape, over-thinking, and ‘decision-by-committee.' Even when procurement does get stakeholder sign-off at some level, expectations and goals can still remain unmet when the final product or service is delivered.  In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Réda Guiri, Head of Group Outsourcing and Procurement at Toyota Insurance Services Europe, about the nemawashi method of consensus building. He shares his view about how this approach is often better than the methods procurement has traditionally employed to gain buy-in.    Philip and Réda discuss: What the nemawashi method is, how to implement it, and the benefits it can bring to the procurement process and to the business in general How nemawashi can help procurement navigate the difference between ‘agreement' and ‘alignment' in a large, complex stakeholder network Why nemawashi is hard work for procurement, but completely worth the effort in the end Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Réda Guiri on LinkedIn  

David shares the Japanese concept of Nemawashi - having meetings before the meeting to build alignment and buy-in

Do you want to transform your business? These three principles will certainly help. In today's episode, I'm talking about three business principles from Japanese business philosophy: Kaizen, Nemawashi, and Hansei. Some years ago, a modeling contract took me to Japan; I fell immediately in love with their culture and care for traditions. Then, thanks to other businesses and my passion for that country, I've been visiting the Land of the Rising Sun for almost 20 years. Throughout the years, I accumulated beautiful experiences and friendships. I also picked up these three business principles I'm sharing today, which I use to run my business, guide my coaching practice, and walk through life. Throughout this episode, you'll hear about my experiences in Japan and how Kaizen, Nemawashi, and Hansei concepts transformed my life and business. You'll discover the benefits of embracing constant improvement, the power of having the whole team on board in every decision, and how collective self-reflection can utterly transform your decision-making process. Tune in to episode 103 of Unstoppable Female Entrepreneurs to learn these three principles that can transform how you run your business. In This Episode, You Will Learn:Why Kelsey ended up in Japan (1:30)Kaizen. Continuous improvement (4:00)Nemawashi. Nurture your resources (6:10)Hansei. The transformative power of collective self-reflection (9:20)Let's Connect!WebsiteFacebookInstagramYouTube5 Keys To Breaking the $10K Code Free TrainingWellness Entrepreneur Mastermind Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Tim talks with podcast guest George Trachilis about recognizing and cultivating leadership in their work as leadership coaches. Both Tim and George share their history of how they found themselves working with organizations to improve their processes and systems and the top takeaways each took regarding the power of leadership. As an expert in Lean Leadership, George provides insightful ideas on workplace culture. Drawing inspiration from leaders in mindset and workplace culture, such as James Clear, Normen Bodek, Shigeo Shingo, and Mike Rother, this episode is a treasure trove of resources for leaders who want to focus on self-improvement. If you consider yourself a leader or someone who has a vision and gets things done, this episode has tons of resources and ideas to help you grow.About George TrachilisAuthor and speaker, George Trachilis, is the Shingo Research Award winning contributor and publisher of the book, Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels. His insight as an entrepreneur and Lean Coach will astound. George is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people alive in the Lean world today, and his focus has changed from Lean, to operational excellence to leadership excellence. It has always been about leadership and leading by example. Connect with George today to address your leadership needs.Resources discussed in this episode:Kaizen LeadershipNormen Bodek - The Harada MethodTaiichi OhnoShigeo Shingo Atomic HabitsPaul AkersMike Rother - Toyota KataGemba Walk--Contact Tim Sweet | Team Work Excellence: WebsiteLinkedIn: Tim SweetInstagramLinkedin: Team Work ExcellenceContact George Trachilis | Leadership Excellence: WebsiteEmailLinkedinFind It George Website--George 00:00The more you focus on the laggards, the more attention everybody else will want from you, and you'll lose good people. Focus on your superstars. You know, that's the direction you're going people get caught up. Tim 00:12I'd like to ask you some questions. Do you consider yourself the kind of person that gets things done? Are you able to take a vision and transform that into action? Are you able to align others towards that vision and get them moving to create something truly remarkable. If any of these describe you, then you my friend, or a leader, and this show is all about and all for you. Welcome to the Sweet on Leadership Podcast, episode 16. Tim 00:46Thanks again for joining us on sweet on leadership. I'm really pleased today that I have person who I have followed for years joining me. And when I contemplated what we're going to talk about today was the obvious choice for who to reach out to and that's George Trachilis. George, thanks very much for taking the time. George 01:08Oh, thank you. Thank you, Tim. So Tim 01:10today, we spent a little bit of time here before we hit record talking about what we want to cover. And we don't really know where this is gonna go. But I believe it's all around how both of us, our careers have taken us into the area of strategy, leadership development, team development. And we share a common starting point. And that is really moving from operational excellence, and the tools that are involved there all the way into this, this era. So maybe as a start, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you're working on. And then we can get into how we found ourselves down this path. George 01:53So, my name is George Trachilis. For those of you that don't know me, I started off in Lean In 1994, working for a company called Motorcoach Industries, which was Greyhound Buses. And in those days, I was a young engineer, just coming out of school basically. And I was asked to be on an implementation team for an ERP implementation, which took me to Pembina, North Dakota in the US from Winnipeg, Canada. And we implemented an ERP system, which included total quality management, and what we knew as Lean back then, and Kanban, and all the tools. And we had consultants come in from all Oliver White Consulting. And what they did was they share the tools with us, the leaders of the group, and then they asked us to go train others. And I loved it. What I say is I caught the bug, that was it, I can no longer work in a regular job. It needed to be about change, and looking at the light go on in people's eyes. That's what it was all about. And it hasn't been for 30 years now. The first 10 years was me implementing with a team of people the second 10 years, was owning my own consulting business going to Edmonton Calgary throughout Canada. As a matter of fact, I had an online course that created maybe the first online course, on Lean 101 the Lego Simulation Airplane Game. And the Government of Alberta bought it, which means I was allowed to sell it for them. And they trained 300 companies in Alberta, Canada, which then expanded because in 2011, I just said let's give it away to the world. And I had like in December of that year, something like 300 students on average registered per day. So, it was pretty amazing that everybody in 2011 love this thing called Lean. Okay, Lean is great. But I found I was missing something because I would go into a company, somebody would show me the Toyota way and the 4P model. Okay. I didn't know what all that meant. And then in 2012, I was doing more online courses and I met Jeff Liker, and I met Norman Bodek. Actually in reverse Norman first, Jeff Liker, and met a lot of the Guru's and I went to Japan learned a lot about the Toyota way of doing things, met with a lot of Toyota coaches, especially on Toyota business practices, and learned that and now I coach and develop people using Toyota business practices. But throughout the last 30 years, even though the last 10 is all on leadership development, I still go in, I still do value stream mapping, I still do the tools. So that's not a problem. I love doing that. But I get the benefit there. Not everybody else necessarily. If I can teach that, well, somebody else is getting the benefit. Now I coach and develop companies. And I've got two big clients today where I'm coaching leaders to be leaders. And they're coaching others. So, the mental model I used to have in the first one years was the five principles of Lean. Okay? Define value from the customer's perspective, right? Define the value stream, first flow, then pull, and strive for perfection, great five values, great five principles of Lean. Now, ever since Jeff Liker and I put the book together, called Developing Lean leaders at all levels, the model we share there is, number one, live the core values of the company. Okay, that's number one. Number two, commit to self development, because everybody knows, if you don't develop yourself, you don't have that attitude, you're going nowhere, you're going nowhere, plus, you're causing everybody else, no end of pain, because you're in it for yourself, everybody's got to do something for you. And you're not enough for the customer or the company, or your teamwork, or your team players. Number two coach and develop others, we need everybody to be a coach, as a manager. If you're not coaching and developing somebody, you're just not doing your job as a manager. Number three, support daily Kaizen. And then number four, define your targets and align all of your processes towards those targets for that year. So create vision, and align targets. That's number four. So that mental model today is a model that I refer to as the Lean Leadership Development Model. Jeff, and I created a company called Lean Leadership Institute. And we have an online course that trains that to the masses. But really step one, I always say if you can't improve, if you can't say, I want to improve, there's something wrong. And it's not with a everybody else. It's with you. So, so just just making sure people know and then I usually get the question is like, what happens when you meet somebody like that? Well, don't worry about them, don't focus on them as a leader, the more you focus on the laggards, the more attention everybody else will want from you. And you'll lose good people focus on your superstars, you know, that's the direction you're going people get caught up. So what I'm working on today is remote coaching for several companies, and helping them understand how they should be thinking so that they can teach that mindset to others. Tim 07:33It's a real basis and thought, when we think of just the pure efficiency of playing to your strengths, or supporting, I liked what you said there about focusing on the superstars. Because we're going to improve our reach, we're going to make sure that we have all the right thought going on in the organization, rather than focusing on constraints, it it's a good place to be but with teams, we need to be marshaling everybody into a common goal. And what was that old saying that they used to say? You know, do you want to be the hero with 1000 Helpers? Or do you want to be the leader with 1000? Heroes? You know, really, can we bring that out in people? I'm still floored by just how similar the evolution is between yourself and myself and where we've landed. George 08:26I'm not. I think it's funny, because when we're a Lean thinker, what is it we're looking for? We're looking to help people, okay. And when we see the gap, we kind of say, hey, let's close the gap. And this is the gap for a long time. We just never saw it. And we've been distracted by others, like, let's call them thought leaders that have driven us in a certain thinking process. We've been distracted for about 10 to 20 years. But today, I think we're on top of the real issue, which is our leaders are not leaders, at times, they're not behaving that way. They're thinking about short term results and behaving in a way similar to get those versus the long term game that they could get by staying on course, you know, making sure people understand they're valued at the company. They're the only appreciating asset. You're growing the people that's your job. When I was in Japan, it was funny because Matt Amezaga he was the Vice President of Operations at all of Toyota. He said that Fujio Cho, asked him to go back to Kentucky and get the culture back because they had a leader there. This particular leader didn't do a good job. And in a matter of one year, he destroyed the culture. And it took four years to get it back. But he did it in three, he was very impressed with himself. So, this is the kind of culture that you need. And you, you got to think of the culture as the behaviors. And the behaviors, behaviors of the leadership go furthest. When you see somebody in front of you, and they're the CEO of the company, and they bend down, they pick up a piece of garbage, and they throw it in the garbage can. That's not like for show. That's because they live it. That's because they, they understand that if they don't demonstrate what they want from others, they're not going to get it. Tim 10:30Yeah, I think tied on to that is, if the leaders are behaving in a way, or if the managers or the executives in those that should be in leadership roles are behaving in a way that demonstrates the worst possible things, then that also becomes how we define the culture because you know, that culture is defined by the worst behaviors we're willing to accept. And it can be so debilitating for an organization to have the wrong people getting the attention. It really takes away from the enjoyment and from the fulfillment, that everybody who's fighting the good fight is able to derive from it. And when I think back to some of the experiences that I had, I remember what my first major regional management role was with was with a large commercial bakery, and I had Thunderbay to Vancouver Island. Spent a lot of time in Winnipeg, incidentally. You know, working in that area, I spent two years creating, I was deploying TQM back in the day. So we were doing quality circles and having a bunch of unionized employees wrangling waste, and getting it down and, and really working with the union to help them understand why we were having people work off page and not necessarily working to their their job description, but getting excited for their role. And one organizational shift where they decided to take our regional office out of Calgary and send it back east, and that we were no longer going to play nicey nice with the unions, it dismantled culture overnight, it dismantled all of that positive work we had done, and really made improvement. Not impossible, but a fight again, that didn't have to be. And throughout my career, I think as I evolved, I could design great, elegant processes. I could go in and do the work, I could come up with the answer I could, I could define and measure and analyze and improve till the cows came home and loved doing it, it was a lot of fun. You could get the right answers. And if the leaders weren't on side, you were done. You were dead in the water. And if you manage to get it over the line, the leaders decided that that wasn't what they were interested in anymore. They could dismantle it overnight. I started out as a junior team-building consultant, and then I and then I went in school, I found operations management, and loved it. And then I came full circle. And I realized that really, I could enable other people to do the improvement, teach them the skills and let them go out and, and reengineer the processes. But I needed to focus on hoeing the row for those improvement projects to take place. And getting leadership excited. Yeah, so I mean, that's very similar in terms of where I've ended up because it yes, the other work is very, very important. But it needs to have fertile ground. Otherwise you're, you're throwing good money out. George 13:49Yea, it's interesting, you say fertile ground. And I think immediately about the leader. If the leader doesn't have fertile ground in their brain, we've got a problem. And Gallup, for example, just came out with a statement that 70% of all hiring decisions are wrong, based on you know what a good leader is. And you think, well, what's the characteristics of a good leader? They only have other than the skills, the hard skills, the soft skill, one of the main ones is that they're willing, and they believe in improvement. They believe in Kaizen, it's almost like Kaizen resides in their heart. I believe I can be better tomorrow than I am today. And the day after can be better than tomorrow. And ultimately, if they have that belief system, and they're willing to do the work on themselves, that's like a beacon. It'll just generate light for the rest of the organization. Nobody tests for it. So the fertile ground in my mind is in their brain. And today, I've actually avoided working at mid-level in a company. Avoid 90% failure rate is guaranteed when you're not dealing with the executives, and you're not dealing with the people who actually can, in some ways, demonstrate and expand and proliferate Kaizen and improvement and call it Lean, call it excellence. If they don't do it, nobody else is gonna do it. Tim 15:21That lesson was hard one for me, because often, I'd be entering into the wrong level of an organization. And, you know, it took me losing. Well, we did great work, but the work was… George 15:36It's not sustainable. Okay. Tim 15:41Well, there's priority changes, and the work was just the work was just taken out from under us. And, and it was, it was awful. That, because we knew we knew where we were in the answers we were bringing in, but it was a fickle leader made a snap judgment. And so yeah, I have since for several years now, I only work if I'm starting from the top, because you need to have that conviction. And that willingness, and that space, that space to improve. It's really interesting. Sometimes when you're talking about, you'll run into teams that have capacity challenges and want to improve. And one of the first things that I say is a great reason to go and chase some waste is we have to create enough capacity that we have capacity to improve. And then that is that, I think back to that Covey model, where they talk about the Covey's quadrants, and how that quadrant one is urgent and important. And Quadrant Two is really important but not urgent. If we can get operating in quadrant two, that would where Lean resides in my mind, it's the only quadrant that pays dividends. It's the only one that creates more space to create more space, more efficiency to create more efficiency. Capacity building on top of capacity. If we don't have the support of the leaders to start that process, it's really tough. You have that support lined up top to bottom cascading down through the organization. And it's really easy. That's not only easy, it's fun. And I mean, the work is tough enough, trying to convince leadership trying to work and overcome turbulence in teams. That's tough. Like it's, let's let the work be tough. Let's not let's not make working with people tough. So you'd said something earlier again, before we had hit record here. I want you to share that thought around starting in the students mind. You take care of that a little bit. You're talking about Gemba. And I thought that was fascinating. George 17:54Like a progression for me over the years. But I brought Ritsuo Shingo, bless his heart, he's the late Shingo now. Shingo San, I brought him to Santorini, Greece, along with others, who were leaders in their industry, you know, there's business owners, there's, you know, others like Paul Akers, as an example, I brought him to Santorini, Greece. And we did training there. And we went through a Gemba Walk of Santo Wines, one of the biggest, the biggest winery in Santorini. And we're watching somebody work, we're watching somebody work. And what they're doing is they got a big light facing them, and they got, you know, like three bottles on each end. And they're looking, their eyes are focused on the bottle, and the light is behind it. So, you might be able to see something, you know, in the bottle. And so they're looking for spiders, because the bottle sometimes just, just over. So they do wash the bottles, but sometimes, you know, if there's like a big nest in there, you put that bottle aside and needs extra washing, but this is what this person's job function was. And ritual wouldn't leave. And he's just observing. And I'm thinking, what's he, what could he possibly observe? Like the flow is such that there's such a queue in front of them, and the line is running, and there's no way he's gonna be out of work. Like, he's got a lot of work and the lines running, maybe he's not, maybe they're slack. I don't know if he's trying to calculate how much time he's actually working, versus how many bottles are moved. I don't know what he's doing. And it was so shocking. I said, what do you what are you doing? He says George San, watch his eyes. And I'm watching the workers eyes. And as he lifts the bottles, his eyes are down. I'm going oh, Shingo San I never thought to watch the workers eyes. Like pretend you're in the worker shoes, and think you're the worker, and your job is to do this function. And he says also, there's no standard. I sai, what do you mean no standard. Sometimes he lifts up three bottles, and two, and sometimes two and two, sometimes three and three, there's no standard. And I'm going, Wow, he got all that from what I would just say that's just not important. Okay. So from that, I thought, How does somebody look at improvement? And so for example, I'm coaching somebody now he's a, he's a great coach. His name is Raj Pathak, I'm sure he's he's okay with me using his name. He just went through PDCA excellence training with myself and Dr. Jake Abraham, who is my Toyota coach. And we just finished training. And he did a great A3, now it's time for him to train others. And they've got a big project to do. He's leading the project. And I said, So Raj, tell me what you're thinking, what's the first meeting look like? And why? He says, Well, I want to go right into step one, okay. And I'm trying to understand why he would want to just go right into step one, for everybody of problem-solving, when we got a whole team here, and they're different areas, and he might not have a challenge for each one. So I said, what's your challenge for each individual, and he doesn't have that thought through. So I'm thinking, we need to do some visualization, what this might look like. So that's kind of the biggest thing for me, is if you can't visualize the end, to some degree, getting into it right away, that's the gap. There's a gap between being able to visualize the results, and get everybody else signing up into a charter saying, Here's what we want to do great. That charter, I've seen so many places, I've seen it work, it never works without everybody signing. So that's part of the Nemawashi though the consensus building that you need in Lean today, in order to make it work. So that's why I say you got to think about like, what's in their head? For two reasons. Number one, you want to know if there's any gaps. But number two, what are the gaps between them, and you. You could be the one in the learning seat. And so that's where the teacher sometimes learns more than the student. You know, show me more, tell me how you get that. I did that a couple of times, with students that I'm going, okay, I better pick up that book and read it. Jim 22:37Yeah, in my parlance, over the last few years, fluency has been the big word. And it's, you know, are you fluent in your own beliefs and your own thoughts around what we're about to do? Are you fluent in that and how you conceptualize work and what you value? And how you align to the corporate goals? Or what are your own goals? What's your workstyle? What's your genius? George 23:03We call that a little different. We call that the line of sight. But let me ask you this. What's your long term goal? Tim 23:10Myself? George 23:11Yeah, 10 years. Tim 23:1310 years out? I mean, I think it will be that I've managed to train enough leaders in this, in this practice, that they are self-sufficient, that my own company has a body of work behind it, that allows what can be would you say automated or that can be approached individually is happening and that we are focused in that space where other people can can begin to do some of the heavy lifting, I guess. Whereas for myself, I focus primarily on the teaching, and, and really getting the senior most leaders lined up for the work. The challenge becomes, can you carry that work all the way down to the coalface can it cascade through the organization effectively? And so, I mean, from my own practices, I think that's really important that the company has my clients have the ability to carry this thinking all the way down, internally. And so I'd say for the next 10 years on this, it's really about Systemizing. And in getting that, that together, and I'm on track for that. Whether or not it will materialize in that way. I'm not sure. But I don't exactly know “the how” yet to be frank. George 24:41Yeah. So one of the most amazing things I've come across is some guy on the internet. Norman Bodek, by the way, who's dead again, you know, like he he's gone. Mike, another coach is gone. Norman Bodek said, You need to learn about the people-side of Lean. And I'm going I don't know what that means. So he was talking about the Harada Method, with Kakashi Harada in Japan, teaching people how to be self-reliant. And they come up with their goal. They come up with their tasks, they go and execute and and one of the famous, the famous baseball player in the world today Shohei Ohtani did the 64th chart with Takashi Harada, in Japan. So it's pretty amazing that there is a process for almost every problem. But when you want to be successful, you need a system. You can't just have a process, we can go in with Lean. And we can say, here's a problem describing the problem, which is obviously half solved if you can do that. And we put together some tools and we say let's go through this. And we got a solution. For every problem, there's a solution. But for really successful people, they need a system. And that's why the Harada Method came into into play for me as well. 10 years ago, yeah, Tim 26:09that'll help me answer that, that question. More retrospectively, but yeah, the biggest leaps that I've taken in my business and my coaching practice and, and working with leaders, and again, I specialize in academics, and STEM leaders, people that are they're fairly linear in their thinking or at least linear in their, in the practice. And it really has been. It's funny, because as we talk about where that catastrophic derailment happened due to a that's actually what was the impetus for me taking a step back and looking at everything that I practiced over several decades of doing this work two decades doing this work. And deciding that I wanted to just really box what was working the best and I ended up starting to put my practices into some structures and into some processes. And I'd shied away from that. As the Lean guy, I'd shied away from that instead, you know, opting for more of a artisan approach or job shop approach, because I wanted, I wanted to make sure that I gave everybody a unique path through and I had to get my own mind around the fact that you know what, once I had systemized my approach my first conversation, say with with new coaching clients, suddenly I had a bunch of things going for me one, I didn't have to imagine where I was going next I had a place that I could start. And I knew they were reliable tools I used the most. They're things that I believe in, and that they've always worked. So there, I had linear thinkers I was dealing with, I could show them the path. I remember one point in my career, I had an engineer come up to me and say, Man, that was amazing. You did it was a piece of collaborative contract we're doing. But boy, you sure you sneak up on people. He said to me, I said, What do you mean, he says, We I didn't know what this was all about. And then towards the end of it, I was just like, amazed at how far we come out sure would have been calmer. If I had known where you were gonna take us well, now I can put a roadmap in front of this is what we're about to do, I'm not going to wait and deliver a punch line and, and make a guess at what we're going to do. And then the ability to just really test those theories, as blueprints for people doing well, and prove them out until they can be now I can isolate if I'm going to improve something about them, I can see the whole path. And, you know, it's so funny because I try not to be too hard on myself. But you know, you know these tools, and just the ability to step back and apply them to your own business, something that could seem rather chaotic, has made a big difference. George 29:01The entrepreneur does that. The entrepreneur thinks they must recreate everything for our client for every customer. So look, that's not a bad thing. You just got to recognize that if you want to stay a one person company, you'd better start thinking differently. Entrepreneur not. Because yeah, because there are people out there that like a system. And nowadays two companies are growing. Their reference of the past is not as relevant as it was. So what they're doing is they're experimenting their way towards the future. And understanding how to experiment is critical. So you know, of course Mike Rother is, you know, that Toyota Kata guy, and he used to be a student of Jeff Likers. So, you know, it's coming kind of from the same place. What did we miss with Toyota? What we missed was the soft stuff. We got the hard stuff. You know, 4S, they have at Toyota not 5S, we kind of know how to do that. But we don't have the discipline. And we're always thinking, look at all these tools, what are they there for? They're there to develop the people. And we never thought like that. We were, you know, great people, great products, they kind of bound it in between you got all your tools and systems and results. But it starts with great people. And it ends with a great product. You know, they kind of bound the problem there. And I don't know too many industries that wouldn't start like that, you know, we need great people. And what are those great people? Well, they're the ones that want to improve. And because they're doing it, they can demonstrate to others, in several ways coach and develop them to do it. And what are they striving for? Well, we need to get short term and long term results, you got to do both. So it's kind of like a big challenge in industry, especially everywhere, it doesn't matter. But we got the quarter crunch, the year end, you know, we got to make our numbers all the time, I just remember that the nightmare I was in, when I worked at New Flyer Industries, which ultimately ended up going bankrupt or taken over whatever. But it was a nightmare. We owed all our suppliers, like a lot of our suppliers, tons of money 120 million past 90 days. So it was like crazy, that's the way to run a business is to try to start a bus so you can get a progress payment, and then pay for parts on the buses that are in the yard. So you can actually get them shipped to the customer. So the challenge is applying lean is like an exercise in futility. What we got is great people, and we got to get those results. So we kind of nailed it. And Toyota went bankrupt way back in the 50s. So that's where, you know, they kind of learned their lesson. That's why they have a big bank account. Tim 31:57The big question that's left is you think about your journey through and how your thinking and your and your application. And your focus has evolved. When you think about that leadership experience that you're now focused on the other part of that Gallup poll that I thought was really interesting, or sorry, not Gallup poll, but their their recent publication was, they had said, They figure 10% of the population has the DNA of a leader, the ability to actually, you know, operate in them. And I my hypothesis is, it's actually smaller, because although they may start with 10%, only a fraction of that, I like to say 6% have the opportunity to lead or have not incurred other baggage, or something that will take them out of the mix, or don't have a personal situation that wouldn't allow them to do that, or haven't suffered trauma that wouldn't allow them to do that. So when you look at the leadership experience, and as you watch the leaders that you're working with, really grasp these concepts and then apply them and become higher and higher performing. What do you think the key, in your experience, what are the key mindsets? As I say, you know, you've talked about the five principles, what are some of the watershed moments that you see with leaders where they, you know, a light bulb goes on? And, and it clicks and they really get something? Could you share some thoughts on that? In terms of what are some of those big pivot points? George 33:32Yeah. Okay, I'm not sure they're big pivot points. This is part of the problem. Tim 33:34Sure. George 33:45The problem is we have a lot of little pivot points, which end up making a lot of big change at the end of the day. Tim 33:48Great, perhaps, what are some of the common little pivot points? George 33:50Yeah, so, number one, when I look at leaders getting excited, I think about why are they getting excited? It's because you've pointed out something, whether it's through your book or what have you. It's something that they did not expect. Okay, here's what they expected. And they got something else, there's a gap between what they expected and what they got. That gap is called learning. And as soon as you can increase the learning for that leader, they get hooked. It is the adrenaline, it's the dopamine that you know, gets released in your head. As soon as they do that, they get hooked. So one of one of my students in Germany, she was, I can't remember how we got to this. We were talking about a book called The Power of Habit or something. And I said, Look, a company is made up of habits. So tell me the behavior you would like to see. Tell me what the trigger is and how do you make sure that trigger happens? Because you got to have a trigger. You know, and then you can do the routine was the behavior and you need to kind of reinforce for yourself that that was a good thing to do. And you reinforce it in many ways. So she was, I want to make my bed every morning. I don't know why maybe she heard it and you know, they do it in the army and stuff. Okay, I want to make my bed every morning. So I said, Great. Let's talk a little bit about the trigger. So the trigger is, okay, I'm not gonna have my coffee. I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna put my clothes on, I'm gonna put my slippers on or whatever she's doing. There's a trigger somewhere for her to make her bed. Good. Then she makes the bed. And I said, what's the reward? And she struggled. We have a hard time programming our own thinking to say this is successful. And I said, Okay, I think in the book, they talked a little bit about somebody going on the sheets, just straightening out the sheets. And that felt good. I think it was a  Febreeze thing. I mean, they did that as a reward. And I thought, Okay, why don't you try that. And she says, George, it worked the next day. It worked. I can't believe it. Specifically thinking about the reward. I did this on the bed, and it smoothed out. And I felt good. I smiled. Well, okay, good. The smile is the reward too. So we have a hard time building in new habits that we know we need to have. Because we don't understand that we need a trigger. We need to do the routine because you know, it's important. And we need to create that little reward. And after that becomes a habit, you're done. You're done. Because every time today, when I go into a meeting, I always ask, what's the purpose? And what's the desired outcome of that meeting? I always ask it's a habit for me. And at the end, I always say it's time for Hansha, which is Japanese for reflection. Okay, what went well, during this meeting? What can we do better? How do we build that in for next time, and we improve our meetings each time. So that's just my meeting routines. But the habits make the difference. And so when I start with somebody, what, what we're doing is we're learning. And when we're learning, I'm saying, Are you satisfied with everything? You know, the way life is? Or would you like to improve something? And of course, we bring up the Taiichi Ohno no problem is the biggest problem of all? Yeah, okay, if you're, if you don't have a problem you want to fix then then I'm really no good to you. But let's, let's fix something, let's break it up, let's make sure we have little habits that we put together, maybe that'll create a routine, maybe that falls into a system that we built for you. Okay, so this is excellent when they can see how all this comes together. And they're excited about it, and then they transfer it to others. So I just think it's those little learning bits that make all the sense in the world. Tim 38:00Well, there's one other thing that you said there that I think I like to just stop on. And that's for your students that you talked to make the bed and then smooth out the sheets. And take a moment to reflect that you did this and that you're enjoying it and that the smile is the reward. You had said earlier that it's really important to, you know, go to the Gemba. And that being get into the students mind and understand what they're starting with. Right, this kind of thing. And I think it's a really interesting concept to say, maybe that going to the Gemba is getting into our own mind for a minute. And just stop for a second. And appreciate why you appreciated the reflection again, but saying, hey, you know, understand what you're out for here and understand what you just created for yourself. And take a moment, I used to be a chef. I was so I was a I was a classically trained chef, before I went back to business school. And what's the most important thing that a chef can do throughout that, that experiences if you're not tasting, you're not in control of the process? You have to stop and enjoy. Your own soup for a minute, if you're going to truly understand is it ready to go out? You have to look at it and say is this beautiful? What I just created here? You have to take a moment. And I think that's also part of sort of empathy when we're dealing with other people see it from their perspective. Appreciate it for a moment for what it is take a moment to be there with the person but you know, and this is where I'm like be there for a moment with yourself because I'm I was always really bad at that. I would do something meaningful. And I would steamroll right past it. Right. I wouldn't take praise for it. I wouldn't. Very bad at saying You're welcome. These kinds of things. You have to take a moment and say we just did something for a minute here, let's just put pause and realize, we got to the milestone we thought we were gonna get it because that gives us fuel for the next time we make the push. And the next time we do the next piece of effort, George 40:09That's called celebration, but we have to celebrate. Yeah. And being grateful. Look, that's all preparing your mind. And that's preparing yourself to be a better person, which you can then translate to others. So all of this is all teachings that you can apply to work. The customer, really, we got to turn this into value-added, we've run a business, we can't go home and say, Hey, I did this, I smoothed my bed. And now I want you to pay more for that product. No. So all of this is part of the little steps that it takes for them to say, Hey, I did this at home. Why can I do this at work? What's wrong with doing five paths? In a way, where there's a trigger? Five minutes before the end of the shift? Everybody does a five-minute 5S and we give each other a high five before we leave nothing wrong? Unless you're in COVID times, then maybe it's an elbow bump, you know? Tim 41:16Yeah. Well, it's been really enlightening to hear your perspectives on this stuff. And I hope we can do it again, because I'm having a lot of fun. And I'm learning through this conversation. So thank you very much for that. I want to make sure that people know how they can get involved with your thinking, how you'd like to be contacted, if somebody is inspired to reach out. George 41:38So my name is George Trachilis, they can go to georgetrachilis.com, they can contact me if they want to talk to me, or, you know, book me for a meeting and my calendars right there. That's the best way. Also, there's resources like the Harada Method I mentioned, you can go to finditgeorge.com, which is a great place that I'm building up now. And anybody can type something like A3, and they will have examples of A3s there. But if you type Harada, you'll get the five, five worksheets to use in the Harada Method. If you buy the book, I don't have anything to do with the book. But I promote the book. And those five worksheets are in there. So type Harada and download them for free. Tim 42:32Great, we'll make sure to put those links in the show notes so that everybody has quick access to them. One piece of advice from George Trachilis. George 42:40Yeah, and you know what I put it as a quote on my website, too. I've been where you are Tim, and I thought I've got so much to offer. You know, these executives, they just, sometimes they just don't see what I see. The key is to have an open enough relationship with these people where you can ask a question, and you ask a question to learn. And you can ask a question to teach. And in those situations, you're going to have to ask a question to teach, you're gonna have to figure out what that question is, that will allow you to not be offensive. Because Lord knows we can be offensive in what we're asking, and come across in a way that's very respectful, but gets your point across. But it's a question. They don't have to answer it. So many times. They're thinking short-term. And the question can simply be, are we thinking about the long term and the ramifications of doing this? Six months from now, versus what we get today? So, you know, I my quote was always just ask questions. Sooner or later, you'll become a teacher. Tim 43:56Once again, hey, thank you for for doing this. It was fantastic to spend some time with you. And we'll do it again. I'll talk to you real soon. Thank you so much for listening to Sweet on Leadership. If you found today's podcast valuable, consider visiting our website and signing up for the companion newsletter. You can find the link in the show notes. If like us, you think it's important to bring new ideas and skills into the practice of leadership. Please give us a positive rating and review on Apple podcasts. This helps us spread the word to other committed leaders. And you can spread the word to by sharing this with your friends, teams and colleagues. Thanks again for listening. And be sure to tune in in two weeks time for another episode of Sweet on Leadership. In the meantime, I'm your host, Tim sweet, encouraging you to keep on leading

Subscribe for free to our show on Substack to receive episodes a week early, bonus content like post-show discussions, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/ Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ole-lutjens-evidence-based-design What was it like to lead product design at Disney through the creation of Disney+, one of its biggest launches in the digital age? And how did a designer from Germany become a design leader for Major League Baseball, when he knew almost nothing about the sport?  We talk to Ole Lütjens, former VP of Product Design at Disney, about the arc of his career, from his early days in the electronic music scene through his roles at MLB Advanced Media, Hulu and Disney. We also talk about evidence-based design, the Nemawashi method, and why designer storytelling can be too fast. Bio Ole Lütjens is a design executive with over 25 years of experience building and leading product design teams. He was formerly the Vice President of Product Design at Disney Streaming where he oversaw UX for Disney+, Hulu and Star+. Throughout his career, he's been generating and implementing new ideas about the design and technology of content interaction. He's interested in new models of experience and storytelling and has been fortunate to work with thought leaders in diverse industries on the cutting edge of technology since the 90s.  This episode is brought to you by: Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds

In this episode of the ⁠Scaling Japan Podcast⁠, we are joined by Ruth Jarman, the founder and CEO of Jarman International KK. She also sits on the board of Directors as outside Director for KADOKAWA and Fujibo Holdings. Ruth will be sharing her experience with selling to large entities and the government. She provides great advice on how foreign business owners can build a strong network and form new B2B relationships. Links from Guest Appearance LinkedIn Jarman International Charity Golf Cup Links to Additional Resources Mirai no Mori Visit Kochi Japan Show Notes (1:09) Ruth Jarman's self introduction (4:47) Leading the way in Japan (7:57) What is an effective proposal (10:32) How to write an effective proposal (16:02) Nemawashi explained (20:53) Litmus test - money (23:18) Litmus test - people (26:33) Litmus test - certifications (29:04) Importance of company address (35:24) Joining a chamber of commerce (37:47) Experience with sub-contractor relationships (42:41) Conducting due diligence Coaching with Tyson Looking to take your business to the next level? Let our host Tyson Batino help you scale your business from $100,000 to $10,000,000 dollars with his coaching and advisory services. ⁠Visit here to learn how he can help⁠⁠. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scalingjapanpodcast/message

What is Noble Purpose?An organization's Noble Purpose explains why it exists.It is a clear and concise statement of what the organization does to improve the lives of its customers.Noble Purpose is at the foundation of every strategy and is the prime consideration of every decision made at work.Why is having a Noble Purpose for your organization important?Having a Noble Purpose is just the right thing to do.A well-animated Noble Purpose enables people in the organization to answer “Yes or No” in an aligned way.Having a Noble Purpose attracts and retains talent, especially from the younger generations.Organizations with a well-animated Noble Purpose are more successful and more profitable. They outperform organizations that lack Noble Purpose by 400%.How do you establish and animate a Noble Purpose?Senior Leaders Develop a working draft of the organization's Noble Purpose, and if needed, the organization's Vision and Principles, to complete the PVV – the Purpose, Vision, and Values.Senior Leaders socialize the working draft of the Noble Purpose by sharing it with small groups across the company, getting feedback, modifying as appropriate, and ultimately publishing the organization's official Noble Purpose. In Lean terms this is known as Nemawashi.Under the direction of Senior Leaders, the organization fully animates the PVV, by including it in the new hire orientation, in leadership training, in decision-making processes, in performance management systems, in communication campaigns, and in many other ways.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to establish and animate a Noble Purpose in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How for Noble Purpose."Leading with Noble Purpose", by Lisa Earle McLeod.Jim Stengel partners with Milward Brown on a 10 year study of organizational success and learns that "ideals" have a significant and positive impact on positive results.If you like our show, please give us five stars, write a review, and share our show with a friend. We are really interested in your feedback. Thanks so much for listening.The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

This is a deep-dive into those mystifying Japanese business practices foreigners in Japan often struggle with. Intercultural Facilitator Masafumi Otsuka explains the frustrating Japanese business practice of "Why Japanese mangers change jobs every 3 years", and "Why they always see the glass as half empty". The periodic job rotation system and the risk adverse decision process  is logically explained by Masa.  This episode is filled with many cultural  Japanese business concepts often misunderstood by Westerners such as Nemawashi, Genten Shugi, and Kyochosei and Masa explains these in an entertaining and enlightening way. He gets personal with his struggles of returning to Japan as a student, the politics of quitting a high profile job, and  his being 1/3 Japanese, 1/3 American and 1/3 "Confused".  Other highlights from our conversation:Why there is no Japanese word for "procrastinate"The unspoken rule for Japanese overseas returnee studentsThe priority in Japan is harmonizeWhat does an Intercultural Facilitator do?Best ever explanation of NemawashiThe subtle art of not having to tell everythingExpertise in Japan is 10ft. wide and 1inch deep while in the US its 1inch wide and 10ft. deepBest ever explanation of Genten Shugi Strategies for getting a positive outcome from Japanese meetingsThe reason Japanese prefer the process vs the outcomeMasafumi Otsuka: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masafumiotsuka/More Now and Zen Japan episodes: http://nowandzen.jpGrow website traffic = Zo Digital: https://www.zodigital.jp/Great Sleep Starts Here = gugu Sleep Company: https://gugu.jpJapan Adventures via Camper Van = Dream Drive: https://www.dreamdrive.lifeUse the code word "ZEN" to receive discounts

Internal meetings are held for worthy purposes such as reporting, planning and innovating.  Not everyone views these meetings the same way though and this is where we can face problems when we run meetings in Japan.   Let's examine 8 sets of typical meeting issues we will be familiar with:   Expressions of desire. The range here runs from one group, who express their desires as a wish, all the way to the other end of the scale, where actual demands are being made.  We may prefer that those who are wishing for outcomes were more assertive and just come out and ask for what they want.  On the other hand, we may feel confronted by aggressive team members who start making demands on us during the meeting.    Winning at all costs or cooperating. Hard driving people get things done, they brook no interference and apply their energy, guile to bulldoze their way through the barriers.  They have tunnel vision, only see their interests and are oblivious to their impact on those around them.  Those at the opposite end of the scale are sensitive to the others in the meeting and are busily kuki wo yomu – reading the air in the room, in order not to offend anyone.  The middle group stand up to the bulldozers and put forward their own views, willing to engage in open debate.   Stress under fire. Business is highly stressful in this modern age, as technology and speed of change keeps the challenges coming thick and fast.  Some of the team will be stressed, but will be aggressive and add to the stress of others in the meeting.  Another group will also be stressed, but hide it, so as the leader, we may not be picking up on it.  Others will acknowledge they are stressed, deal with it internally and keep moving forward.   Varying communication styles. Confrontational, direct communication can cross the red line and become inappropriate very quickly.  As the leader we would prefer an honest conversation on the issues, so that we can gauge the array of views on the subject.  Quieter team members can have good points to make, but they self-censor and prefer to either say nothing or are very indirect in what they say. They often get run over by the more aggressive individuals in the room.   Deflaters and elevators. To get to the number one position, strong individuals will jockey for position.  They elevate their power by depressing the power of others.  I remember being in meeting where one of the sales guys was telling one of the administration staff, that she was a cost center and he was a profit center, implying his value to the organisation was greater than hers.  There are others though, who are building others up and even some who do so at their own sacrifice.   Degrees of accountability. We want everyone be accountable and to hold everyone else to be accountable too.  Some dominant people though want to control everything and hold others to account, but grant themselves a free pass, because they are so awesome or hardworking or a major producer.    Confront or acquiesce. Being confrontational in business is a given for some people, yet for others, it is the last thing they would ever dream of doing.  They may even bend over backwards to avoid confrontation, because it is too much pressure for them to endure.  We would prefer people to be passionate, but considerate and to make their point, without trying to intimidate everyone else to get agreement.   Thrusting or hiding. Being direct is fine, as long as it is done in a polite and considerate, collegiate manner.  The problems arise when the communication of their position is done in a direct, even abrasive way, because they don't care what others think. The other problem is when feelings are being hidden and valid concerns and views not being expressed, robbing the meeting of different perspectives.     For Western leaders all of these types of meeting issues would be very familiar and we grow up in business trying to find ways of dealing with them.  We accumulate a tool box to deal with them. We go to leadership courses which give us ideas on solutions. What happens though, when we start running meetings in Japan in the same way?   The Japanese approach to meetings is to use them as one stage in moving the business forward.  There is a lot of wisdom in this idea, because what happens before and after the meeting play important roles.  In the West, we tend to get in the meeting room and duke it out, until we make some decisions and then everyone gets back to their job.  In Japan, the meeting room itself is not the gladiatorial venue it is in the West and almost all of the issues considered so far, are subsumed by a different take on how to use meetings to get results.  So where is the toolbox for these occasions?   Nemawashi or groundwork files down the rough edges of disagreement before the meeting starts.  Loud people, quiet people - everyone is consulted prior to the meeting and the lobbying is started, so that the meeting itself is a rubber stamp on decisions already agreed to prior to the meeting proper.  Any disagreements are worked on privately, so that the meetings can be run with efficiency and decorum.   If we come to meetings with a purely Western view, we will be expecting these flagged eight issues in full flight, which all work perfectly well in our home environments, but we may not find what we are looking for.  If we use the nemawashi methodology, we can circumvent many of these problems. 

Understanding the basics of Japanese business requires we have to know about nemawashi and what it means for us.     Nemawashi is a very important word in Japanese.  It is made up of two words “ne” which means root and “mawashi” which means to wrap around.  Or wrapping up the root. A good translation however is “groundwork”, usually associated with a decision or a meeting.  In Japan they can move 15-20 meters trees from one location to another.  They dig down, cut the tap root, bind up the root ball, get a big crane, put the whole tree on a truck and transplant it to another place.  Quite amazing.   That nemawashi represents preparation before the tree gets moved.  In business the same things apply.  We want a certain decision to be taken so we prepare to influence the direction that decision will take.  We might be dealing with a client or within our company.  Japan doesn't leave anything to chance.  Prior to the meeting, you meet with the other people who are going to attend the meeting and you try to get their agreement with what you propose.  In this way, the decision is taken before anyone gets in the room.  The meeting itself is just there to formally approve what has been decided beforehand.   In a Western context, we would make the decision in the room.  Everyone would turn up expecting that there will a discussion, some debate and final decision will be reached during that meeting.  In the Japanese case, they will already have made the decision, so if you want to influence the decision you have to start early. It is no good leaving it until the meeting itself, because that will be too late and the decision will have already been taken.   If it is a client company, you need to work with your internal champion to get the decision makers to agree with what you want to happen.  Usually the decision you want is that the client uses your product or service.  As an outsider you won't be in the meeting, but you have to help your champion to be persuasive with everyone when doing the groundwork or nemawashi.   Give them the data, the evidence, the testimonials, whatever it takes to make the case solid when presenting it to the people who will be in the meeting. Don't leave it too late, because it takes time to get around everyone and have those discussions before the meeting is held.     Yes, absolutely they are. This is why you have to prepare your champion to be effective making the argument in your favour.  They can get the meetings, but they need your help to be persuasive.  The quality of the preparation has a big impact on the final result of course.  You need to get them to nominate who is in the meeting and get an idea of what will encourage them to be in agreement with the decision you want. Your champion should have a game plan for each person and that should be put together with your help.   If you understand nemawashi represents the idea of preparation, then be well prepared.  As pointed out, don't leave this process to the last moment.  You need to give yourself time to allow the nemawashi system to work in your favour.  You also need to anticipate the arguments of the other side and head those arguments off at the pass.  You are working through your champion, so the preparation becomes even more important in these cases.  Does it mean you will always prevail.  No, you will win some and lose some, but you will place yourself in the best possible situation to get a win.  If you had no idea about nemawashi you can probably begin to understand why the decision you wanted went against you.  From now on though become part of the Japanese decision-making process and exert influence from within.

Hanko, sometimes called insho, are the carved stamp seals that people in Japan often use in place of signatures. Hanko seals are made from materials ranging from plastic to jade and are about the size of a tube of lipstick. The end of each hanko is etched with its owner's name, usually in the kanji pictorial characters used in Japanese writing. This carved end is then dipped in red cinnabar paste and impressed on a document as a form of identification. Hanko seals work like signatures, only Instead of signing on a dotted line, you impress your hanko in a small circle to prove your identity. But unlike a signature, which you can make with any old pen or touch screen, in Japan you need to have your own personal hanko with you whenever you stamp something, and you have to stamp it in person.

Hanko, sometimes called insho, are the carved stamp seals that people in Japan often use in place of signatures. Hanko seals are made from materials ranging from plastic to jade and are about the size of a tube of lipstick. The end of each hanko is etched with its owner's name, usually in the kanji pictorial characters used in Japanese writing. This carved end is then dipped in red cinnabar paste and impressed on a document as a form of identification. Hanko seals work like signatures, only instead of signing on a dotted line, you impress your hanko in a small circle to prove your identity. But unlike a signature, which you can make with any old pen or touch screen, in Japan you need to have your own personal hanko with you whenever you stamp something, and you have to stamp it in person.

I hear some people say translating terms like “nemawashi” into English is difficult.  Really?  I always thought it was one of the easier ones.  Let's just call it “groundwork”.  In fact, that is a very accurate description ,from a number of different angles.  Japanese gardeners are superstars.  There is limited flat space in this country, so over centuries gardeners have worked out you need to move the trees you want, to where you want them.  They prefer this approach to just waiting thirty years for them to turn out the preferred way.  It is not unusual today to see a huge tree on the back of a big truck ,being moved from one location to another and presto instant garden.  The roots of that massive tree will be wrapped up in cloth to protect them.  That wrapping process is called “nemawashi”.  In business, it means being well prepared for the business meeting – doing the ground work beforehand.   In a Western context being well prepared for the meeting will mean assembling all the data and analysis in order to make an impassioned plea for your idea or suggestion, to be accepted by the big bosses.  We all get to the meeting, listen to the different approaches and we make a decision in that meeting.  What could be more time efficient and logical?  They never do it that way in Japan.   Concepts of time efficiency differ for a start and throwing massive amounts of overtime at a problem is not problem in Japan.  The meeting is also a ceremony, because the decision has already been arrived at beforehand and the gathering is just to formalise the outcome.  This happens in the West too.  Whenever you see global leaders delivering their joint statements or signing agreements,  they didn't arrive at the wording during the meeting. That was all worked out by their minions beforehand, over many hours of debate, negotiation and discussion.  The TV cameras just capture the big guys and gals inking the document, after all the “groundwork” has been completed.   I was talking with a Western businessman recently and he was relating how hard it was to get the team behind his ideas.  The issue was, he was trying to get it all agreed to, at the key meeting and hadn't invested the time to do the groundwork.  What he needed to do was go to see all the key people, the influencers, the stakeholders with a vested interest and explain the idea. Get their input and agreement and then rinse and repeat with the rest of them.  By the time the meeting happens, everyone will recognise parts of their preferences and ideas in the submission.  Agreement flows easily in these cases.   In sales, we will probably not have direct access to all of the decision makers, influencers and stakeholders.  Our primary contact has to become our champion for sheparding the agreement through the internal nemawashi process.  Asking them directly who are these hidden decision makers is insulting.  It says, you are a nobody, but I still need your help.  We need to be more considerate of their “face” and ask in a way that enhances their face.   Once we have established the trust, have uncovered their needs, shown we can help and have dealt with any hesitations they may have, we are ready to marshal our forces for the final push through to a “yes” to the sale.  We explain, we understand that many people will be interested to know about this change in the delivery of product or services.  We also know that they will be tasked to explain it to others who cannot join our meetings.  We ask how can we help them?  This is a rhetorical question because we want to get into the detail of who are the players.  So we go straight into asking who do they think would have the most concern about the change and why they would be concerned?  We keep repeating this process until we have fleshed out the people who will have the most interest in saying “no”.  The next stage is to arm our champion with the tools to deal with the pushback.  We try to understand the concerns and then arrive at creative ways of overcoming those concerns.    This is what we mean by nemawashi or ground work.  Is it time consuming – yes!  Do we have to invest the extra time – yes!  There is an internal  logic to the way decisions are made in Japan.  There is no point railing about how the Japanese business decision making process should be Westernised, so it is more familiar for us.  That is never going to happen, so we need to be better and more flexible to understand the system and then become a master of influence within it.  We need to become the nemawashi maestro!

Andy Brown and Thomas Patchett, investment specialists for Japanese equities and product specialists on the Elite Rated Baillie Gifford Japan Trust, discuss whether the pandemic has encouraged change in a country with a reputation for being slow to adapt. They talk about the increase in young entrepreneurs, the long-term trends exciting investors and the three elements to Sumitomo Metal Mining company that makes it an attractive investment in their eyes.

Joe Krebs speaks with Adam Braus about Nemawashi and innovation. Adam is a polymath professional and breakout expert in the fields of leadership, technology, and education. Adam Braus is the author of the book “Leading Change” where he introduces an organic, grass-roots, bottom-up change management that uses the power of a social network.

In today's episode, I chat with Anthony Griffin of Saga Consulting about his experiences helping Japanese professionals gain the skills needed to be successful in an increasingly globalized world. Be sure to listen in to learn more about what skills are essential for finding professional success in Japan, as well as to hear more about the role of LinkedIn and other social media in Japanese networking. Today's Phrase: がんばってください ga-n-ba-tte-ku-da-sa-i Meaning: "Please do your best." (typically used in instances where "good luck" would be used) Anthony's Links: LinkedIn website company page Book Recommendation: "Never Split the Difference" Related Episodes: Faye-Sensei on Culture Shock and the Importance of Open-Mindedness Meetings in Japan: Honne, Tatemae, and Nemawashi... Oh My! With Ken Okamoto Managing Professional Relationships and Gaijin-Cards with Mac Salman Be sure to subscribe for more Japanese language and cultural insights. And if you enjoy the podcast, please leave a review so that other people can find it as well. And of course, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, please email me at businesssuccessjapan@gmail.com. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/businesssuccessjapan/message

In this episode, Simon shares: Why leadership decree is no longer working and what we need now instead How emotions are the key to getting people to engage and commit Why leaders need to let go of control to gain control Tips on working with mood and language to create engagement What we need to do in order to deal with change that is imposed upon us, and still have engagement What the heck Nemawashi is, and how it matters to bring your idea to life

In this week's interview, I chat with Ken Okamoto of Ken One World Consulting. We chat about the importance of a healthy work-life balance, why that can be so difficult to achieve in Japan, and we delve into the topic of Japanese business meetings. Be sure to listen in to some insight into what you will likely encounter, and how to put in the work ahead of time to set yourself for success in Japanese meetings. Today's Word: たてまえ ta-te-ma-e Meaning: one's official opinion or stance (though not necessary their personal opinion) Ken's Links: LinkedIn Website feel free to email Ken at: keepchallenging25@gmail.com Related Episodes: Business Meeting Basics How to Behave in a Business Meeting Managing Professional Relationships and Gaijin-Cards with Mac Salman Be sure to subscribe for more Japanese language and cultural insights. And if you enjoy the podcast, please leave a review so that other people can find it as well. And of course, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, please email me at businesssuccessjapan@gmail.com. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/businesssuccessjapan/message

Nemawashi - Japanese consensus building

32. Bölümde IT Manager & CIO Young Talent 2020 sahibi Porsche Almanya'da IT Manager olarak görev yapan Cihan Süğür konuğum oldu. Porsche'nin çalışma alanları, kültürün önemi, harika BT projeleri ve arkasındaki Porsche çalışanları hakkında konuştuk. (00:00) - Açılış ve girizgah CIO Genç Yetenek Ödülü - https://www.cio.de/a/cihan-sueguer-gewinnt-den-cio-young-talent-award,3638188 (01:50) - Cihan Süğür'ü tanıyoruz. Nemawashi tekniği - https://www.freeleansixsigma.com/post/43-nemawashi-tekni%C4%9Fi (07:07) - Porsche'de ilk 100 gününde ne öğrendi? (10:06) - Son dönemin değerlendirmesi ve otomotiv sektörüne yansımaları. (15:42) - Porsche'nin dijital stratejisi. https://www.porsche.digital/ (30:22) - Otonom sürüş konusuna ve multimedya sistemlerine Porsche'nin ve Cihan bakış açısı. https://www.porsche.com/germany/models/panamera/panamera-models/panamera-4-sport-turismo/assistance-systems/porsche-innodrive/ (34:23) -Yakıt verimliliği ve Porsche'nin Türkçe isimli modeli Taycan. (37:30) - Dijitalleşme de yaşamaya değer sürdürülebilir bir gelecek için ne gibi fırsatlar görüyorsunuz - ve hangi riskler? (40:20) - Uçan arabalarla ilgili ne gibi gelişmeler var? (40:46) - Porsche'nin startup projesi ve yapay zeka buluşmaları. https://startup-autobahn.com/ (44:30) - Kitap önerisi ve son sözler. Etkili İnsanların 7 Alışkanlığı - https://www.kitapyurdu.com/kitap/etkili-insanlarin-7-aliskanligi/1138.html&manufacturer_id=6201 Geleceği İnşa Eden Adam - https://www.idefix.com/Kitap/Gelecegi-Insa-Eden-Adam/Edebiyat/Biyografi-Oto-Biyografi/urunno=0001713639001 Yenile - https://www.dr.com.tr/Kitap/Yenile-Bill-Gatesin-Onsozuyle/Egitim-Basvuru/Is-Ekonomi-Hukuk/Yonetim-Is-Gelistirme-Kalite/urunno=0001749568001 (47:00) - Kapanış Cihan Süğür - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cihansugur/ https://twitter.com/cihansugur Dünya Trendlerini sosyal medyada takip edebilirsiniz Twitter - https://twitter.com/dunyatrendleri Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dunya.trendleri/ aykut@dunyatrendleri.com infodunyatrendleri@gmail.com http://www.dunyatrendleri.com/

Scharren im Vorfeld. Wie? Die strategische Sitzung im «Ponyhof Üsserschwiz» zeigt, dass ein Apéro allein nicht genügt. Was ich denke, was Du meinst, was sie glaubt, was er möchte? Eben. So bricht jede Verhandlung zusammen. «Nemawashi» gilt nicht nur für japanische Firmenchefs: Im Voraus klären, woran die anderen sind. Nein, Deine PDFs wurden nicht alle gelesen und verstanden. Werde persönlich. Dein Wissen, wo jemand steht, verschlankt aufwändige Entscheidungsprozesse. Freundliches Geplauder ist zielführend. Scheust Du Auseinandersetzungen? Stresst Dich eine Bewerbung? Es ist exakt wie in Deinem Privatleben: «Wenn Du scharf bist, musst Du rangehn!», singt Nina Hagen. Scharren. Gründlich.

Japanese decision making - how is it different?  What can we learn?  This is a short little presentation at the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce on doing business in Japan.  I lived in Tokyo and Osaka for 5 years and worked two of those years within a very large Japanese trading house so this episode contains some of the key things I learned.  In particular, I talk about the concepts of Nemawashi and the Ringi system of decision making.   Video of the talk is here: http://theseeds.nz/meanwhile/ Other resources at www.theseeds.nz 

Unfortunately, many businesses in the world today are focused only on making a profit and will engage in any kind of behavior and activity, ethical or not, legal or not, to gain their desired goal of more financial profit. As a Sales Chalk Talk listener, it’s more unlikely that you run that kind of business. On this episode, the special guest is ethics expert Don Sheppard, who shares some awesome ideas about the profitability of ethics and decency in business. What you’ll hear on this show: • How to sell in a way that’s truly ethical • The role of Nemawashi in the selling process • The connection between principles and profitability • How to establish values-based leadership • And MUCH, MUCH more Listen to Don’s brilliant take on ethics in business with my awesome co-host, Murphy Alafoginis and me. As always, we have some fun along the way too! Don’s website is http://donsheppard.com

Nemawashi Or Groundwork In Business In Japan   Nemawashi is a very important word in Japanese.  It is made up of two words “ne” which means root and “mawashi” which means to wrap around. Or wrapping up the root. A good translation however is “groundwork”, usually associated with a decision or a meeting.  In Japan they can move 15-20 meters trees from one location to another.  They dig down, cut the tap root, bind up the root ball, get a big crane, put the whole tree on a truck and transplant it to another place.  Quite amazing.   That nemawashi represents preparation before the tree gets moved.  In business the same things apply.  We want a certain decision to be taken so we prepare to influence the direction that decision will take.  We might be dealing with a client or within our company.  Japan doesn't leave anything to chance.  Prior to the meeting, you meet with the other people who are going to attend the meeting and you try to get their agreement with what you propose.  In this way, the decision is taken before anyone gets in the room.  The meeting itself is just there to formally approve what has been decided beforehand.   In a Western context, we would make the decision in the room.  Everyone would turn up expecting that there will a discussion, some debate and final decision will be reached during that meeting.  In the Japanese case, they will already have made the decision, so if you want to influence the decision you have to start early. It is no good leaving it until the meeting itself, because that will be too late and the decision will have already been taken.   If it is a client company, you need to work with your internal champion to get the decision makers to agree with what you want to happen.  Usually the decision you want is that the client uses your product or service. As an outsider you won't be in the meeting, but you have to help your champion to be persuasive with everyone when doing the groundwork or nemawashi.   Give them the data, the evidence, the testimonials, whatever it takes to make the case solid when presenting it to the people who will be in the meeting. Don't leave it too late, because it takes time to get around everyone and have those discussions before the meeting is held.   Are the other people in the meeting who want a different decision or outcome doing their own nemawashi? Yes, absolutely they are. This is why you have to prepare your champion to be effective making the argument in your favour.  They can get the meetings, but they need your help to be persuasive.  The quality of the preparation has a big impact on the final result of course.  You need to get them to nominate who is in the meeting and get an idea of what will encourage them to be in agreement with the decision you want. Your champion should have a game plan for each person and that should be put together with your help.   If you understand nemawashi represents the idea of preparation, then be well prepared.  As pointed out, don't leave this process to the last moment. You need to give yourself time to allow the nemawashi system to work in your favour.  You also need to anticipate the arguments of the other side and head those arguments off at the pass.  You are working through your champion, so the preparation becomes even more important in these cases.  Does it mean you will always prevail.  No, you will win some and lose some, but you will place yourself in the best possible situation to get a win.  If you had no idea about nemawashi you can probably begin to understand why the decision you wanted went against you.  From now on though become part of the Japanese decision-making process and exert influence from within.   Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com   If you enjoy these articles, then head over to dalecarnegie.comand check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.   About The Author Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years. In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.   A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.   Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.            

Simon Dowling is a collaboration specialist who works with senior teams to create environments where their people really thrive. It starts by building what he calls supercharged teams. He is the author of Work With Me - how to get people to buy into your ideas. Simon had a wondrous start to his professional career: commercial lawyer in a big city firm and improv comedy, and even appeared on Thank God You’re Here. Simon shares: • Why leadership decree is no longer working and what we need now instead • How emotions are the key to getting people to engage and commit • Why leaders need to let go of control to gain control • Tips on working with mood and language to create engagement • What we need to do in order to deal with change that is imposed upon us, and still have engagement • What the heck Nemawashi is, and how it matters to bring your idea to life