The last few weeks a lot of things related to Japan popped up in different places. Ever heard someone say ‘going to the Gemba’? While we were preparing and facilitating sessions about ‘learning on the job’ we (Anouk van Hees, Ank Dierckx, Ronald de Pijper, and Dick Krikke) often referred to the Gemba (explained in the learning notes).
At the Dutch NextLearning conference Nick van Dam, CLO of McKinsey, referred to Ikigai as an important concept for staying fit for the future.
A few days later Jane Bozarth announced that the twitter chat #lrnchat included Ikigai as a discussion topic.
The Japanese inspiration continued as Evert Pruis and I had the honour to work together with Koko Nakahara, CEO at Instruction Design Inc. The three of us are delivering a session on Artificial Intelligence at the ATD conference in Atlanta later this month. This episode of the learning notes is dedicated to Koko.
I trust these ‘Japanese’ learning notes are valuable to you as a professional. As an added benefit, imagine how cool it would be to talk about Ikigai, Gemba, PechaKucha and Nemawashi at your next party.
by Aly Juma
What’s it about?
Ikigai is the Japanese word for ‘reason for being’ or as mentioned in the title of this blog ‘the reason you get up in the morning’. It’s about finding the best combination of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for.
Why read it?
Where to find it?
by Deborah Adler
What’s it about?
Go to the Gemba means: go to the real place, go to where the work gets done. A good advice for many professionals.
Why read it?
Where to find it?
by PechaKucha.org
What’s it about?
PechaKucha, also known as 20×20, is a modern format and style to deliver a presentation. You have to tell your story via 20 slides, only pictures, no text and each slide will only be up on screen for 20 seconds (autocue).
Why read it?
Where to find it?
by The Original Blog of Toyota GB
What’s it about?
Nemawashi refers to creating commitment, bringing together and exploring the points of view of different stakeholders before taking a decision (I had to learn it the hard way).
Why watch it?
Where to find it?