I saw this post on Slashdot about the inventor of the Walkman, Nobutoshi Kihara, leaving Sony. Kihara-san biefly explains the process behind the Walkman’s creation and that Sony still has the genes to innovate.
I don’t know why I thought of this, but reading Kihara’s story made me think of the book, Shoshaman. (After reading the book I realized that I wanted to be an entrepreneur). In Japanese, “Shosha” means trade and of course, “man” means man. Together it more or less means corporate (yes) man. It’s been a decade since I read the book, but I could not help thinking about Kihara-san and his remaining years at Sony after the Walkman. What were those last days like? Was he innovating? One may never know.
In corporate japan, people were/are more or less provided a job for life. While it is changing, there still remains an obligation by coporations to keep people employed at just about all cost. This is especially true for those grandfathered in before the mid 1990s. While coporations feel obligated to keep people employed, they do have there tricks in getting them to quit – “the window job (mado giwa zoko).” Instead of firing someone, corporations will sometimes give them a mado giwa zoku with absolutely nothing to do. People in these positions come to work and gaze out the window thinking of what life would have been like if they just listened and did not fail (take a risk). Man, I would be writing a business plan, calling potential investors, getting a prototype made, etc! But that is not how employees in corporate japan think as they honor obligation with unwavering duty.
Anyway, Shoshaman is about a corporate “yes man” who has great ideas of his own, but would never take the risk himself to realize them. He is married with kids, and has a mistress. He shares his vision with the mistress during bed talk bolstering his bravado (talk is cheap of course). One thing leads to another and he ends up in a “window job,” and more or less at a dead end. The mistress goes away and Shoshaman grapples with his family life and social deterioration. Years go by, and he reconnects with his mistress. Ironically, she has become a multi-millionaire by executing his ideas! In the end, Shoshaman takes a risky opportunity to expand his company’s business in the US and in the end does well. His family life returns back to normal (less the mistress) and he is alive.
I read the book on a flight to Narita (Tokyo) when I was 27, and promised myself that I would never become a Shoshaman with a mado giwa zoku. I began searching for a business to start, which eventually lead to the creation of the BlackCoat. It’s interesting how things turn out and I know I would have gone nuts had I stayed in my corporate job.
“Take a chance. Life is a chance. The man (person) who goes the furthest generally is the one who is willing to do and dare.” Andrew Carnegie