Influencer Marketing
Expand your reach and engage with your target audience using this trending technique that blends celebrity endorsements with social media marketing.
Leading High Performing Remote Teams
How can leaders ensure that performance remains high in remote or hybrid-work environments?
Design Thinking
Learn the 5 phases of this problem-solving methodology and switch from technology-centered to user-centered thinking.
Gantt Chart
Invented in the early 20th century, the Gantt Chart is one of the building blocks of modern project management. In this online course, you'll learn how this tool can be used effectively to monitor progress and achieve your team's goals.
Navigating Change Successfully
The working landscape is continually shifting and being disrupted, so how to employees maintain a sense of stability? Listen to CEO and president of Carl ZEISS Japan Stefan Sacre share his expertise on dealing with change in organizations and entire industries.
Halo Effect
The halo effect is often leveraged for marketing and promotion. But as a type of cognitive bias, it can also have a subconscious impact on decision-making in the workplace. Learn why and (how to overcome it) in this online course.
Anchoring and Framing
Want to increase your confidence during negotiations? Master the principles of anchoring and framing to take your negotiation skills to the next level.
ZOPA and BATNA
Understanding ZOPA and BATNA will help you become a better negotiator, create more value, and feel more confident at the table.
Content Marketing
In this course, you’ll learn how compelling blogs, videos, podcasts, and other media can reach customers and drive sales. You’ll also learn steps for creating an effective content marketing plan, and some important ways to measure its impact and success.
Content marketing is a essential digital marketing strategy for companies looking to provide relevant and useful information to support your community and attract new customers.
Get started on your content marketing journey today.
Sustainable Innovation in Times of Disruption: Choices for a Better Society
There are opportunities for progress all around us. The key is to innovate on these opportunities sustainably.
To help identify most effective path forward, you'll need to gain a global perspective to these challenges in an open discussion. How can Japan and the world take action to create a more sustainable, innovative world? Where do you fit in?
It's time to find out.
Social Media & Digital Communications: Impact on Global Public Opinion
Social and digital media have dominated the communications industry for decades. But it's no secret that social media has the power to sway public opinion, and the way in which many companies use these platforms could be seen as manipulative.
What do companies need to be aware of when utilizing social and digital media? How can these mediums be used to better communicate strategically with the world?
Discover what top media and communications experts have to say.
Blockchain
Blockchain is one of the most captivating technologies out there. Learn what it is and how to make use of its opportunities in this short online course.
Mehrabian’s Rule
The 7-38-55 Rule, developed by Albert Mehrabian, suggests that effective communication relies less on the words we choose than on our tone of our voice, appearance, and body language. Learn how to put this theory to use for better communication in business.
Pareto Principle
Your time and resources are limited. Efficiency means learning to prioritize. The Pareto principle (also called the 80-20 rule) can help you identify the best way to use your time for maximum results.
Country Analysis Framework
Overseas expansion requires careful planning. The Country Analysis Framework can help you look beyond an industry-level analysis and reframe your view based on performance, strategy, and context. Try this short course to learn how it works.
SECI Model
The SECI model illustrates how knowledge is created and shared. Learn how to put it to use for best practices, and how the Japanese concept of “ba” fits in to broaden your perspective.
Johari Window Model
The Johari Window Model is a self-awareness framework that helps you better understand . . . you. Learn how its four quadrants can help you identify gaps between how you see yourself, and how others see you.
Sunk Costs
Wondering if you should continue an investment or look for something new? Sunk costs can have a powerful psychological impact on decision-making. Learn how to recognize them to ensure rational decisions.
CAGE Distance Framework
Want to expand overseas? The CAGE distance framework can help ensure you're constructing a solid global strategy in four areas: cultural, administrative, economic, and geographic. Learn how to leverage useful differences between countries, identify potential obstacles, and achieve global business success.
Groupthink
Groupthink refers to group pressure and the perception of consensus which together lead to ill-formed decisions—or even unnecessary risks. Learn to identify the warning signs of groupthink and apply countermeasures in this online course.
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Solving problems with the best results means using two types of thinking: deductive and inductive reasoning. In this online course, learn to form a broad premise, make observations, and form conclusions from different perspectives.
Critical Thinking: Hypothesis-Driven Thinking
Anyone can come up with a good idea. The real challenge is putting that idea into action. In this online course, explore how to form compelling, testable hypotheses and bring ideas to life in your own organization.
Critical Thinking: Structured Reasoning
Even a few simple techniques for logical decision making and persuasion can vastly improve your skills as a leader. Explore how critical thinking can help you evaluate complex business problems, reduce bias, and devise effective solutions.
Critical Thinking: Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is a central business skill, and yet it's the one many people struggle with most. This course will show you how to apply critical thinking techniques to common business examples, avoid misunderstandings, and get at the root of any problem.
How to Dream
Join globally renowned author and Columbia Business School professor Dr. Sheena Iyengar as she explains how to approach your dreams with a new perspective. Learn to reflect on what you long to accomplish and what stands in your way.
Logical Thinking
Logical thinking is at the heart of confident, persuasive decisions. This course will equip you with a five-point approach to more becoming a more logical thinker. Learn to classify ideas and distinguish fact from opinion.
Investing & Diversity: The Changing Faces of Venture Capitalists
Is the venture capital industry embracing diversity in investors? Watch global venture capitalists from around the world discuss the state of things and what needs to be done for a more inclusive future.
Servant Leadership
There's more to leadership than driving a team to profit. In fact, there's a word for looking beyond self-interest to prioritize individual growth: servant leadership. Try this course for a quick breakdown of what that is, how it works, and how it can lead to organizational success.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership
Ever wonder what makes a great leader? Whether your role requires leadership or not, understanding organizational behavior is useful for your career. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can set you on your way.
Leadership vs. Management
Leadership and management are different skills, but today’s leaders must have both. Try out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to understand the difference, as well as when and why each skill is necessary for motivation, communication, and value.
Strategy: Creating Value Inside Your Company
Have you ever wondered why certain companies are more successful than others? The answer is strategy: internal processes that control costs, allocate resources, and create value. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can give you the tools you need for that strategic edge.
Strategy: Understanding the External Environment
To plan strategy on any level, you need to understand your company's external environment. In fact, your level of understanding can impact hiring, budgeting, marketing, or nearly any other part of the business world. Want to learn how to do all that? This course from GLOBIS Unlimited is the perfect first step!
Using Japanese Values to Thrive in Global Business
Japanese companies have unique cultural, communication, and operational challenges. But they also have values that have led to remarkable longevity. Check out this seminar to hear how these values help earn trust from overseas head offices and develop employees.
Turnaround Leadership: The Differences Between Japan and the West
What's the best way for leaders to communicate a shift in corporate strategy? How do you even know when it's time for such a change? This course explains how Japan might have one answer, Western companies another.
Conflict Management
Conflicts in the workplace are inevitable. But they can lead to positive outcomes if they’re managed well. Check out this online course for a two-step process that can help you manage conflict successfully.
Evernote Founder: How Tech Startups Can Break through in Japan
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Women Empowerment: Lessons from Cartier
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Marketing: Reaching Your Target
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Marketing Mix
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The Principles of Negotiation
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Negotiation: Creating Value
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Finding Your Life Purpose with Ikigai
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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Managerial Accounting
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Finance Basics: 1
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Basic Accounting: Financial Analysis
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Career Anchors
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Digital Marketing Psychology to Transform Your Business
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Pyramid Structure
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Logic Tree
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MECE Principle
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Many business leaders come to me asking for the best strategies to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. My first response back is always one of these three questions:
- How does DEI relate to your business strategy?
- What exact pain point are you trying to solve?
- What do you hope to strengthen in terms of your company’s performance?
These are hard questions without easy answers.
While some corporate leaders have a general idea of what they want (DEI training, education, inspiration, etc.), not all do. Many actually do not even have a very clear sense of what their foundational pain points are to begin with, what kinds of systemic biases they ought to be solving, or how either of these relate overall to their business strategy.
Next Article
How to Solve the Problem of Gender Inequality in Japan
3 Questions for an Authentic DEI Culture Assessment
Business Strategy or HR Problem?
Too often, DEI is siloed in the Human Resources Department as a “must do,” but without much guidance from the CEO as to why it matters to the company—often because the CEO doesn’t really know. In fact, The Economist Intelligence Unit study “Global firms in 2020” suggests that only 38% of CEOs in Japan and 65% of C-suite executives globally think they have a responsibility for talent management strategy.
But talent management is only one part of DEI business strategy, meaning all of the weight cannot fall on HR’s shoulders. Corporate leaders are being called upon to show they are authentic leaders with vision and a track record on diversity and equity, just as much as a strong track record on sales and scaling.
Most leaders know there are diversity and equity blindspots in their companies, but beyond that, they are not sure what they want to accomplish. Without a clear, measurable goal, it’s impossible to determine the best approach to move the dial for their specific context.
Building an ecosystem in which diversity, collective projects, and social innovation can thrive is no small feat. Within the world of political philosophy, we have been exploring how to advance democratic innovation for social progress since the beginning of time. And corporations are just small-scale societies.
Thinking Holistically about DEI
Over the last twenty years, gender inequality, racial inequity, homophobia, and hate speech have been the mainstay of politics and public policy. These issues have gradually percolated into conversations about wellbeing, equality, diversity, meritocracy, and innovation within corporations and corporate societies.
Most corporate leaders in Japan struggle with the increasing competition caused by population decline, the gender gap, low rates of “migration” into Japan, and the raging global talent war across APAC. To complicate matters, all of these may lead to employees being poached by more progressive companies.
Because of #MeToo, SOGI harassment, and BLM reverberations, companies often feel immense pressure to be doing something about women’s empowerment, about LGBTQ+ inclusion, and about the “race” question, as informed by global conversations. They are often unaware of the full extent of these issues within Japan, and naturally, they are not sure how best to move forward on all fronts at once.
This often leads to a piecemeal approach. They tinker around the edges of one issue and often wind up with a very narrow, partial, and even stereotype-reinforcing event, policy, or initiative. This is a regrettable missed opportunity…or as they say in Japan, mottainai!
At enjoi Japan K.K., we work with leaders who are curious, thoughtful, and serious about moving the dial. DEI that is holistic and impactful in small and big ways makes waves across the mindsets of leaders and managers—and indeed across the ecosystem itself. This requires that we enlist the wise practice of Intersectional Thinking© to ensure we are analyzing and solving root causes, not simply putting flimsy Band-Aids over pain points.
We believe that this starts with DEI education about the relationship between diversity, equity, and innovation (enjoi’s interpretation of the “I” in DEI), beginning with the senior leadership team.
Go Big or Go Home?
A holistic approach to DEI does not mean that it must be big or costly. But it must be part of a rational, long-term strategy with clear KPIs that help the business side in at least two ways:
- Improving employee wellbeing to secure talent retention and promotion
- Improving the workplace environment to make teams more internally trusting
Both of these help build a competitive edge through more innovative, collective problem-solving.
Rewriting DEI with Innovation in Mind
We start by helping leaders unlearn the past, stereotypical approaches to diversity that act like toxins in their minds and in their corporate cultures. Thereafter, they begin to really see and understand the mechanics across diversity, equity/equality, and innovation. That innovation could be social, cultural, economic, democratic, and/or corporate.
Rather than some esoteric concept of “inclusion,” we focus on the very clear pursuit of innovation in the service of people, prosperity, and the planet.
Then, with business strategy in mind, the questions become much more focused, nuanced, and evidence based:
- How and why does thought diversity (and social diversity) lead to more innovation?
- When and why does diversity lead to more conflict and microaggressions, rather than inclusive innovation?
- Why and how might diversity be a driver of innovation for our company?
- Under what conditions can we leverage diversity to be a driver of innovation for our teams?
- What are the foundational practices and rational steps that our company must invest in for sustainable innovation?
In our view, equity is NOT optional. The enjoi logic and framework of DEI as diversity-equity-innovation centralizes our goals as follows:
a) Guiding companies in re-framing diversity as the source of individuality and innovation
b) Leveraging change management towards the intentional design of equitable relationships across the corporate ecosystem
c) Driving teamwork and psychological safety through horizontal co-leadership grounded upon the co-equal values of diversity and equity
d) Leverage equity to drive innovation and competitive edge for the benefit of all stakeholders in the company.
Only this kind of DEI will generate purposeful, evidence-based, sustainable innovation and competitive edge.
DEI Business Strategy Means Knowing Your Start Line
Once we have cleared that first mindset shift to link up diversity with equity, the possibilities for growth and the incredible opportunities for innovation are endless. As a business strategy, diversity paired with equity for innovation will improve both lives and competitive edge over the long term.
Our work with leaders is a process of co-creation. Again, C-suites need to clarify their DEI business strategies in ways that are impactful for the company’s overall performance. But their approach also must take seriously the specific diversity in the company now, as well as in the future. Only that will ensure it is realistic, evidence-based, and successful in enhancing employee trust, happiness and performance in meaningful ways.
Checklist: From Mindset Shift to Evidence-based Actions
For leaders who are ready to invest in an impactful corporate DEI business strategy, here is a guiding checklist:
Does your DEI business strategy…
1. …mobilize power across the corporate ecosystem?
Impactful DEI initiatives resonate with those who have decision-making power, authority, and influence across the whole ecosystem. Once they’re on board, they can invite all stakeholders to co-create change.
2. …invest in coherent, short- to long-term business planning?
Impactful DEI initiatives engage with, strengthen, and leverage broader, year-on-year, five-year, and ten-year business and growth strategies.
3. …leverage evidence-based, context-specific solutions?
Impactful DEI initiatives are tailored to the specific strengths, weaknesses, context, and complexities of each and every corporate society, as well as the diversity of its internal stakeholders.
4. …prioritize data-driven progress and collective consequences?
Impactful DEI initiatives have a clear start-line, start-date, and variety of measurable KPIs. These not only track progress, but also result in clear consequences (rewards and sanctions) for performance top to bottom, from the CEO and senior executives all the way down to line managers.
5. …celebrate successes with an equitable share in prosperity?
DEI strategies must be intentionally curated and then implemented in ways that build psychological safety, team spirit, and a sense of common purpose. Therefore, they thrive on collective self-interest, delivering inclusive innovation and sustainable change that leads to greater prosperity for all stakeholders in the company and also for society (SDG and ESG impact).
Get Skin in the Game for All Stakeholders!
Globally competitive CEOs and executives play the long game when investing in diversity, equity, and innovation. If done with genuine intention, the return on investment is immediate: improved wellbeing at work and greater employee retention rates.
As we anticipate the Great Resignation caused by the global pandemic, talent retention alone is a significant win that will protect companies from major financial loss. Achieving a trusting collegiality raises team performance to new heights on the one hand, while progressive corporate culture consolidates employer branding on the other.
Let’s be honest: You cannot fake healthy organizational habits that show authentic respect for diverse individuals. These habits must be curated over time, nurtured into corporate-wide practices of integrity, and tracked by evidence-based performance indicators. They build a collective identity and brand pride that the rest of the world can see and feel. More than just selling amazing products and services, this results in a legacy of “good corporate citizenship” that reverberates across generations.
Without C-suite skin in the game, most DEI remains skin-deep and aims at helping HR tick a box. What really matters is not the show and tell, but the daily showing up. It is a simple matter of accountability and good corporate governance, rolled out with consistency one day at a time.
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