Managing for Creativity in Japan » Outward Looking-ness

Cultural Strength, Lose the Blinkers

Chris Berthelsen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:00:06 +0000

There is a real strength to Japanese culture, as opposed to Singapore which is very Western, understanding and open. This is a very closed society and that gives it strength – I see it as a real privilege to be able to be a part of it. Previously i might have found it complicated or irritating but now it is a privilege because I know that I am part of a very small group of people that live here. We are a real minority here and the people have opened their hearts and their country to us – that’s an honour. This cultural strength means that you can’t just get along with blinkers, and live in your own little Western world – in Singapore I could go to the supermarket and get whatever I wanted but when I go to the supermarket here I can’t even get basil half the time.

Mind Opening

Chris Berthelsen — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:00:27 +0000

Coming over here allowed me to open up my mind to different things and ways of thinking. I am becoming more and more fascinated with it because it is opening up a new way of thought for me. Cities like Kyoto and the creativity that went into that, it’s very unique thought and I think that is what is really starting to fascinate me about Japan – this unique thought. The fact that they do do things differently is really interesting. I am constantly falling in love with this city and I think it has made me a better person. I am still incredibility impatient but that gives me worth here, I can’t lose that aspect of being a Westerner, that’s what people pay me for. At the same time I’ve been able to examine other parts of my personality. In our industry I think that if I was living in West there would be so many things to take my attention away from what I am doing but here in Japan I can be very focused.

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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail

It’s a Respect (not talent or experience) Thing

Chris Berthelsen — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:00:44 +0000

Maybe I was arrogant in thinking that I could come in and get a top spot straight away even though my work and my background should be enough that I would be able to do that if I was in another country (like Singapore). But here, I guess you have to pay your dues. (C: So at least for foreigners it’s not a talent or even experience based system?) Yeah, it’s a respect thing and you have to show that you are in for the long haul.

****************************************************
This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail

Fuck Ups

Chris Berthelsen — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:00:06 +0000

The companies we deal with constantly, constantly, fuck up in their dealings with the West – you know all that ‘shou ga nai’ (‘it can’t be helped’) attitude. That kind of thinking just doesn’t cut it when you are dealing with international brands in the international stage. The Japanese way, you know, works in Japan but it doesn’t work anywhere else. You have to like it or lump it. Japanese companies that are smart are working out that it is very important to have a more Western way of thinking if you are going to be working internationally.

Broad Minded Employees

Chris Berthelsen — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:00:45 +0000

My staff are foreign educated. One went to the London School of Economics, has lived in Paris, speaks three languages and really loves our industry. Another was educated in America. So, we are dealing with people who are a little bit different, who have a different way of looking at things and have seen other systems in other parts of the world. They are young, and not necessarily steeped in the old ways. They haven’t worked underneath other Japanese companies in our industry so they don’t have this kind of robotic (or moronic) way of working instilled in them. They have a Western outlook towards work, but they are still respectful Japanese individuals…the Japanese companies we deal with on the other hand are just ridiculous.

Hard to Pinpoint

Chris Berthelsen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:00:43 +0000

Because I don’t speak Japanese I was treated pretty rough – everyone was fascinated with me but not fascinated enough to employ me. I think one reason for this was that they couldn’t pinpoint me. They couldn’t say “well you’re a computer engineer” or “OK you’re a this or a that”. What I do is very creative and therefore hard to summarize in a couple of words.

Advantages to being Non-Japanese

Chris Berthelsen — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:00:02 +0000

“There are advantages to not being Japanese though. You can start jumping up and down and yelling ‘come on!’ but you could not do that if you were a Japanese person. There would be too many rules and obligations. Being a foreigner means that I can break those rules. I’ve been in brainstorming sessions with Japanese people sitting there silently and me thinking that the whole thing is rubbish. In order to liven things up a bit I have been able to say ‘come on, we can do this’ and start getting excited and acting like a cheerleader. And you know what? You start to get results. Maybe they feel that they can talk because it’s not a formal Japanese room.
We’ve done workshops in Japanese with foreigners in the room who spoke fluent Japanese and it’s learning the devices that people need to use – the icebreakers etcetera to get things moving. It’s having that cultural knowledge that the ‘brainstorm’ in the classic sense of the word does not work in Japan. You need to understand what works and what doesn’t work, and how you get the same results but in a different format. I don’t think that a Japanese person would put themselves in the same positions that I do. Sometimes I have seen moderators here, when we have used them to facilitate conversations and I have wanted to go over and shake them and tell them that we’re not getting what we need…that’s a bit frustrating….”

On Choosing your Successor

Chris Berthelsen — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:00:19 +0000

“I would be looking for somebody who can embrace change. Embrace change not only for the changes they are going to have in their life but also to be able to cope as this society continues to roll forward. Too often people like to keep the status quo or fight hard to keep things the same. That’s one thing.
The other is to have a lot of self-confidence. That doesn’t mean to assume that you are always right because actually in Japan you are going to be wrong a lot of the time. But it does mean that you need to have the confidence to just keep going – to learn from your mistakes and just not give up. Tenacity is important. That is a very general statement but it is particularly important in Japan because the society and business environment is so well developed that it takes extra tenacity to have an impact, contribute, make a difference, or change things. I get beat up everyday but I’ve got to be able to come back the next day that much better because of it.

Further, when you are missing all the social cues that you are used to even the normal things like saying hello or greeting people is difficult. I remember when I first came here I practiced for a long time how to do that so that I could do it easily. It was hard to think about it and actually do it, you know, hold my business card right……I could feel the sweat start to break out on my forehead. You need to do it until, I guess, that cultural aspect becomes imprinted on you. Then it becomes natural.”

On Being Open

Chris Berthelsen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:00:26 +0000

“I think that compared to someone who is going to bully people into doing what they want them to do, being open to listening and exploring and really trying to understand is the key to success. How they embrace the culture is important. I know people that go from their home to their office to the Tokyo American Club to a few restaurants in Roppongi or Nishi-Azabu and then home again and they never really understand Japan. They complain about how not everybody speaks English and how not all signs are in English. Clearly they are here because their company made them come here, or they felt that it would be “curious” or a “good experience” for a couple of years. Compare these people to those that come here and either see the bigger picture of what they are trying to do for their business or are genuinely interested in Japan.

(CB: So with a given head office, those two type of people would go about their work differently of course and have different results…..)

I think so. Of course, sometimes consummate bullies who are the CEOs or top management of companies can still get good results because they just force people to do things. But when they leave there is a trail of damage that the next guy has to come in and clean up. So it’s not really success in the long term. It’s a selfish result and when I say selfish I don’t necessarily mean that they are trying to be mean on purpose. Maybe the pressure that is put on them by head office is forcing them the act in a certain way.

(CB: And is this something that is particular to Japan or something you have witnessed with ex-pats in other countries too?)

Good question. People that I know that have gone say, from America to the U.K. or the U.K. to America have also found a world of difference. So I do think that yeah, there are cultural risks wherever you go but at least in other cases the language is the same and there are a lot more cultural cues which can help people to adjust and relate and get by faster. When you come to Japan from the West there are no cultural signposts (or physical signposts) to help you. I remember the first time I moved here I was living in Daikanyama and I wanted to go see a movie. I tried and I couldn’t find a movie theater in Shibuya and I actually went home in defeat. The next weekend, I was so pissed off at myself that I went back and did it again and I found it and even though the movie was terrible I felt like Rocky at the top of the steps you know – “I did it! I found my way!” – So regardless of whatever ex-pat or academic safety net you have it is still like being on another planet for a while until you find your way. Much more so I think than moving from New York to London or Singapore to Auckland, for example.”

The Weirdo

Chris Berthelsen — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:00:59 +0000

“The creative person is the weirdo. The creative person is the one that talks a bit funny (not necessarily). He is the one that you’ve just got to give space. Let him do whatever he does. You can’t have him as one of the battery hens, how can you have creativity in that scenario? It’s impossible.

The whole ecology of the way offices in Japan are set up doesn’t support it. Creativity is rule breaking, it’s doing something that hasn’t been done before, so naturally a creative person is going to upset people. They are mavericks. They are people that will dare to say ‘we need to change this process’. I spoke to a Japanese girl a few weeks ago. She works in a call center and they have to do all these tallies using pencil and paper. She said to her supervisor “I could do this with Excel or something” and the supervisor who was in his late forties just came down on her for coming up with an idea. The whole ecology…it just doesn’t support questioning the system.”