Three Principles of Work in Japan

I was looking at an interview with Gary Moyer, President of Jaguar Canada. He spent the past 5 years working for Mazda, and spoke of his experience working in Japan and his love for the country. He also shared three principles that describe his view of the Japanese culture and their approach to work:

1. Consensus Building and Relationship building: To implement a major decision, Japanese Managers spend a lot of time "nema-washi", which essentially means behind the scenes negotiation with everyone involved. This is a universal principle, however, in North America, we don't seem to realize that this can take a significant amount of time and energy. Gary noticed that North Americans tend to be more impulsive.

2. Make decisions with patience: Japanese management tends to use eastern logic, while we work with western logic. The two styles don't seem to flow well together. Eastern logic tended to provide solutions to strategy or problem issues that were not what he expected.

3. Fix the basics of any problem first: Most problems have several layers of issues. Japanese managers spend a lot of time getting to the core of the problem. Gary discovered that once you dealt with this, the other elements to the problem were resolved fairly easily.

These three principles can be applied in your role, or in managing your
Career. For more information, please feel free to drop me a line.

Bowling Together After Hurricane Katrina

One of the most interesting stories to come out of New Orleans and the impact of Katrina is about a small group of 6 Canadians. One of those 3 couples - Jay and Karen Weir - spoke of their harrowing journey.

The three couples were visiting New Orleans for a vacation when the Hurricane struck. They ended up spending almost a week stranded in garbage and corpses outside a shopping mall.

One of the comments that Jay made was as follows; "If it wasn't for our neighbours and ourselves and the other people we met, we probably wouldn't be here. We were better off making decisions together than going it alone.”

They spoke about how their makeshift tribe established latrines and stockpiled ice water and food. One member of the community became the cook, and rationed food, making sure the children and elderly were fed. They even learned how to negotiate with looters, sharing supplies and offering them money.

Bowling together more than likely saved their lives. Consider the impact they had on the rest of their "tribe". Each member contributed in a meaningful way, giving and taking as required.

If, as Hillary Clinton says, it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to "raise a career". More than 70% of jobs are found in non traditional manners - even with the existence of job boards and electronic tools, the most effective way to find and manage your career remains receiving help from your "tribe".

A postscript to this story, the plane they came home in ended up with a fuel leak, and they had to vacate the plane on emergency slides: "we just laughed all the way out". An interesting perspective!

Is Consulting Right For You?

"I have been considering leaving my technology organization and joining an IT consulting firm - what are some of the career risks and benefits that you see with professionals jumping to the consulting industry?" J.K Calgary

According to the Kennedy Information and Industry Intelligence Company, the consulting industry has grown at a 20% rate since the 1980s. The sector is a $118-billion industry. It is six times larger than 10 years ago, employing between 350,000 and 400,000, and the top 25 global firms make up 60 percent of the industry. The consulting industry is broken up into four key areas:

50% IT Consulting
21% Operations Consulting
18% Strategy Consulting
11% Human Resources Consulting

The good news is that the "Wisdom Industry" is growing at a fast clip. Some sectors, such as the technology consulting area that we are looking at, have grown at a slower rate these past years, and instead you are seeing more consulting work occurring off shore.

Many professionals join a consulting firm and spend their whole careers there because they enjoy the variety. The complexity and the financial rewards are tremendous, especially if their goal is to become a partner. It exposes you to a number of different situations. The profile of a consultant is one who enjoys a wide range of problem solving, and thrives independently.

There are a few challenges with this role; firstly, you tend to follow the problems that are the hottest, and the ones that clients are willing to pay for, which may or may not fit your key skills. Secondly, there tends to be the expectation of longer hours and more travel.

If you have a profile that fits, you will thrive; otherwise it may be a short term engagement that opens the door to a new employer. Are you up for the challenge? Give us a call and we can help you decide if consulting is the right path for you.


Along the road with you,
Alan Kearns