What is Ikigai and ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi and how can it transform our leadership, management, and business for good in global?

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Necessity of ancient concepts for current leaders

In a world dominated by the pursuit of progress, many of ancient concepts can sometimes help leaders in global field take a more values-focused approach and own more resilient mentality and capability.

According to many analyzed data in our public, we already know that organizations that rightly and logically embrace the ancient concepts well can foster employee loyalty, team’s capability, investor confidence, and other relevant stakeholder’s trust and expectations.

These days, old leadership style, the authority-based leadership model with senior executives commanding the loyalty of their employees, has been superseded by a new, values-based model, where the focus is on building followership and belonging by listening (rather than just talking) applying learning, and sharing.

As you noticed, today’s employees, especially those at the younger end of the spectrum, have far higher expectations of their leaders: not only do they demand authenticity and accountability, but they believe that respect must be earned, rather than automatically accorded.

Leaders are under increasing pressure to identify compelling ways to activate their corporate purpose, know each different type of their employee’s working purpose and mission vision, and achieve the outcomes they want. At this corporate history in our earth, this must be surely the toughest and the most difficult era now for leaders to cope with many things in parallel.

many of ancient concepts can sometimes help leaders in global field take a more values-focused approach and own more resilient mentality and capability

Ikigai? Hatarakigai?

Ikigai is a Japanese word which roughly translates as "a reason for being".

Rooted in Japanese culture, ikigai is a very similar concept, first emerging during Japan’s Heian period (794—1185).

It seems that it has no direct equivalent in the Western world. Derived from iki – meaning “alive” or “life” – and gai – meaning “benefit” or “worth”, ikigai was conceived as a way to help individuals achieve fulfillment by finding their purpose and reason for being in life.

But I agree that leaders too can apply its principles on a much larger scale to benefit the organizations they run, by identifying the sweet spot at which their passions and talents converge with the things that the world needs and is prepared to pay for.

Now in this era, many of their employee’s purpose and reason for being in company have started changing, becoming more diverse and independent. And, that trend would be more accelerated.

So, the leaders and management must know and learn more about each one's "Hatarakigai", derived from Hataraki – meaning “work” – and gai – meaning “benefit” or “worth”, Hatarakigai can be conceived as a way to help individuals achieve fulfillment by finding their purpose and reason for being in company and working job.

It is fine that each one have each different Hatarakigai, so the company would be more just one of platforms in social and economical community of each one, not like the one place where they commit so much of their life for.

Hatarakigai can be generally understood about doing what we love doing, what you are good at doing, what world and society need, and what you can be paid for, etc.

The value, diversity, and extent of Hatarakigai would be increased and grown more and more especially in sense of younger generations in the world, so if the leaders don’t strive to understand and learn about each one’s Ikigai and Hatarakigai well, they will do wrong way to maximize their member’s potential and capability and greatest talents and partners would leave and be away from them.

Now in this era, many of their employee’s purpose and reason for being in company have started changing, becoming more diverse and independent. And, that trend would be more accelerated

Essence of Global Businesses

Kintsugi: The art of being broken

The ancient Japanese art of kintsugi, which repairs broken ceramics with gold to make them stronger and more beautiful, has become a powerful metaphor for self-development, and even that can be for leadership development in current world of global business fields.

Dating back to the 1400s, it was thought to be the invention of Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who charged his craftsmen with finding a more thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing way of fixing a broken tea bowl, rather than the traditional method of using ugly metal staples.

Using precious metals, including gold, Japanese craftsmen started to bond together pieces of pottery by drawing attention to, rather than away from, the breaks, which in turn had the effect of making the break the most important part of the piece itself.

Translating literally as “golden joinery”, this beautiful concept from Japanese history is now considered an important art form, but also one that teaches us to embrace the beauty in our imperfections, and also that teaches us in global business fields to embrace the value in our imperfections.

Kintsugi reminds us that something can break and yet still be beautiful and valuable, and that, once repaired, it is stronger and more valuable at the broken places and operations and management.

This is an incredible metaphor for healing and recovery from adversity, like finding strength in imperfection. I fully agree that the philosophy behind it goes much deeper than a simple artistic practice, depending on extent of each of our understanding to it.

It has to do with the symbolism of healing and resilience. First taken care of and then honored, the broken object accepts its past and paradoxically becomes more robust, more beautiful and more precious than before it was broken. It can be definitely essential part of way of thinking in business and management fields anywhere in the world.

Even for our authentic life style of each, kintsugi somehow encourages us to live a full, rich life because we are not afraid of the things that might break us. Just as a ceramic is fragile, beautiful and strong, so are we. And just as ceramics can break, so too can they be repaired.

Ceramics and life can break into a thousand pieces, but that should be no reason to stop living life intensely, working intensely and keeping alive all our hopes and dreams. Adversity is nothing more than a challenge, so do some training to overcome it.

If we can carefully and rightly learn and understand about the ancient Japanese art and culture, it can surely transform our leadership, management, and business for good in global. Of course, we can try to find and meet such valuable art and culture anywhere in the world, if we always try to carefully see and meet essence of our life.

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