Harajuku Man 1, originally uploaded by Two Dragons.Based on a recent survey conducted from 2002-2006 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research firm spin-off from the Economist magazine, Japan took the honors as the most innovative country ahead of the US, Switzerland and Sweden. The study defined innovation as “the application of knowledge in a novel way, primarily for economic benefit. One of the main factors affecting the ranking is the number of patents per 1 million people in a country.” The ratio of patents per million in Japan vs. the US was 3.5 times higher than the US. The study concluded that China will likely see the quickest progress for innovation in China (no surprise there) and the US still is the “most suitable place for innovation.”
What does this mean? It means that Japan is filing a lot of patents; who knows if they will really see the light of day, or if they are of value. Also, there are a lot of companies who do not file patents and prefer trade secrets, so there is plenty of room for argument as to which nation is truly the most “innovative.” Seriously though, I have always been impressed with Japan’s ability to create great (innovative) products/services and, as importantly, commercialize them. Having studied, lived, worked and played in Japan over the years, I continue to be amazed with their ability to unify and work as groups to accomplish things (at light speed pace I must say). This is in spite of considerable cultural/societal barriers that continue to exist and fly in the face of current thought leadership on why innovation happens (i.e. Rise of the Creative Class). Japan likes to be homogeneous in looks, thought and way of life. For example, 3rd, 4th and 5th generation Koreans, whose ancestors where brought over as slaves in the early 1900s, are second class citizens and have a very difficult time fully naturalizing into the mainstream unless they marry right (a Japanese person) and give up their Korean name. All students from elementary school to high school have to wear uniforms and abide by strict appearance dress codes (eg. black hair), and there is a saying about people who think different (“The nail that sticks up gets hammered down”). How can creativity and innovation exist at all in such a rigid society?
Well, there are opportunities for people to “be different” and think up new stuff, even under so much societal conformity. Japan has a weird side (i.e. Harajuku) where people that don’t fit in can feel comfortable. Everything from Elvis impersonators to cutting edge punk rock bands congregate to become one of Japan’s greatest tourist spectacles. While Japanese education from pre-school to high school is an absolute grind, if you make it to college its time to sow your oats. 10 years ago, it was rumored that one could not fail from university as the school would loose face for accepting you in the first place. Probably true to some extent today. While perfection permeates all that is Japan, there is a Zen approach to outcome where effort is just as, if not more important than than the end result. While failure is taboo (anywhere), in Japan it can be seen as an accepted part of the process as long as it is a means to an end and defined as “training.” As much as harmony can create one way thinking and ways of looking and doing things, without it nothing ultimately gets done (well).
Is Japan really more innovative than the US, Switzerland or Sweden? Depends on how one looks at it, obviously. Suffice it to say, Japan is innovative (or they would not be the 2nd largest economy) because they make it a part of their national psyche (Public and Private investment and initiatives in Engineering, Science, R&D). Really, ideas are only good if they are available for public consumption; the faster ideas get to market the faster a company can fail (figure out why they fall short of expectation) and ultimately succeed. Aside from having crazy, breakthrough ideas, and the “know how” to bring things to market, what else can be learned from Japan about innovating?
Obviously, in Japan innovation has a lot to do with the “Wah” factor. “Wah” (harmony) in Japan is king and people give up their personal interests for the group; in the context of innovating, Wah can be a powerful principal to effectively and efficiently get stuff done. Certainly, I will be the first to say that Wah can breed complacency, a lack of new ideas and stagnation. Case in point, I was completely dumbfounded when I could not get Eggs Benedict WITHOUT hollandaise sauce when staying at the Westin Tokyo. “What? Come on.” That’s right. They could not think of breaking the Wah in kitchen for some individual customer. It was so delightfully ironic. That said, Wah is imperative for execution. That’s what I admire about the way things get done in Japan. They have respect for it, demand it and have it in their collective conscience. It’s built into the fabric of what it means to be Japanese. How does Wah happen? There are many cultural and societal aspects of Wah (far more than one has time to blog about in one entry). For simplicity sake, it’s the wisdom they have around “groups” (Han). It is well known that in Japan they value the Han over the individual. So when it comes to making decisions, executing and getting things done, everyone respects each other’s position towards a collective goal. People give up their self interests and stay in the flow of getting things done. Once a decision has been made, things move with speed and perfection. It’s amazing to observe how things get done.
Respect for the Han
When I lived in Japan during college there were two group dynamics I observed at the ground level that always provide insight into Wah. The first is that the schools had relatively light janitorial services compared to the US. At the end of each day, every student participated in cleaning up their respective classroom. It was great to watch and be a part of. Nothing had to be said, and 20 minutes before school ended, kids would scramble to their classroom and fastidiously get the room and their respective part of the hallway clean. They all shared a sense of awareness that if they individually did their part to keep their classroom clean, and everybody else shared the same interest, then the entire school would be clean (for everyone’s benefit). When implementing innovation (eg. Hondo Asimo, Toyota Scion) everyone does their part for what is best for the company. When there is respect for the Han (at the highest level – company), priorities and budgets can more easily be shifted from legacy departments to subsidize risky endeavors with far less infighting and politics. Everyone shares in the future success of a new innovation even if they are not directly involved with the project. This is Wah and it allows innovation to happen.
Everybody as Hancho
Another interesting thing I observed while living in Japan was the concept that everyone got to be Hancho (Group Leader) for a day. When doing reforestation work with Waseda students in Northern Japan, we broke into Hans to do everything from the reforestation work itself to preparing food and keeping the quarters clean. What I loved is that the Hancho changed everyday so everyone had the opportunity to lead AND serve. This was not a formal organization where the Hancho is more firmly established, but the practice of revolving the group leader seems to be common practice in learning or training environments in Japan. This is a very interesting dynamic that many companies (in the US, Japan and beyond) could learn from – the idea that everyone is a leader. The Wah factor can only be heightened when everyone has a chance to lead and everyone supports each other’s leadership. What does this have to do with innovation? In my experience, innovation can be tricky if there is infighting and people are more concerned with being in the lime light, rather than getting the innovation to market. While not every team member will have the opportunity to be the project manager for a new innovation, they still have to lead in their respective area (i.e. engineering, marketing, production, etc.) to ultimately get the innovation to market. Team members have to negotiate with vendors, rally departments to meet critical path time lines, and persuade customers to wait while a major internal fubar is worked out. Too often companies do not view non-managers as leaders, which can result in internal and individual conflict, drawing attention away from what is important (getting an innovation to work and to market). This would be disharmony, so everyone being seen as a leader and working towards the collective good of everyone else only helps to establish collective Wah.
Seeing the Forest (Wisdom)
Some say that Asians see the world more holistically than Westerners, who tend to focus on the “trees versus the forest.” One can argue whether this is indeed true or not, but there certainly is a big difference in the way leaders are trained in Japan that might suggest there is some truth in the matter. From the perspective of creating and maintaining Wah, it is easy to argue that a holistic view of the world (and the way things work) certainly provides a richer path to Wisdom than being a strict expert or hand picked “Golden Boy.” Even Miyamoto Musashi, Japan’s most prolific Samurai, disciplined himself in “cultivating a wide range of interests in the arts, and being knowledgeable in a variety of occupations.” In other words, he had to be able to “see the forest” in order to win. In Japan, corporations have something called the “Horizontal Fast Track,” where the next generation of leaders spend the first five years of their corporate life going from one job to the next in every department. This is the opposite of what happens in the US, as promising protoges are moved straight up the ladder. In Corporate Japan, they think it’s important that the next generation of leaders not only find what they are “good at,” but also become familiar with all the inner workings of an organization. Of course, a holistic understanding of a corporation can only help a leader create and maintain Wah. There can be fewer strifes between engineering, manufacturing and marketing when getting a new innovation to market if each team member has some appreciation for the other’s area of responsibility.
Okay, there are major impediments to creativity and innovation in Japan (authoritarianism, less meritocracy, homogeneity, discrimination, etc.). That said, there is no question that Wah has its advantages in terms of getting ideas that add value to market. Japan Inc. is unequivocally one of the best at commercializing innovations globally and I am not surprised they were voted #1 by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Certainly, Wah plays a big role in Japan’s rankings and there are many ways to redefine what Wah can mean in the fluid, Free Agent, Flat World we find ourselves in.
As the current regime in the US tries to copy the academic mechanics (Science, Engineering and rote memorization of facts) that helped Japan get to where it is today, I hope a little more time and effort is paid toward the “Wah factor.” This is especially true now that creativity is an afterthought in our schools and corporations. I mean, a Meiji like Restoration (by any country) focused on creativity, individualism and entrepreneurship might put the US in a very precarious situation for the future.
Noboru Makino should be so proud.
via International Business Times