The term “Kokorazashi” was introduced to me early in my career, in the late 80’s. It has taken over 30 years for me to begin to understand its meaning. In a business world of frighteningly fast change the concepts behind it have never been more important. For a business leader to feel in flow, to be confident of handling the challenges in front of them, they need to understand the elements of Kokorazashi.
A Visit to Japan
First, a story. As a young freshly minted Harvard Business School graduate, I was made responsible for a significant portfolio of research projects in advanced materials. In true innovative fashion, my company was bringing decades old technology to a completely new field of industry. We needed to work with partners who could add to our know-how and co-invest in the risky projects we were embarking on. One of our main partners was based in Japan with their main research location at Iwakuni in the South of Honshu Island. Through the early negotiations and during the execution phase of our joint research, I got to know my counterpart very well and it was on one of my visits he invited me to stay for a couple of days longer and go to Matsuyama, the largest city on Shikoku Island.
This visit was memorable for two reasons at least. The first was an experience of the ultimate fresh sashimi, where the restaurant presented a red snapper that only minutes before had been swimming in the tank at the entrance. Fresh? - well the tail was still flapping!
My second experience was the receipt of a gift. My colleague had invited a local calligrapher to join us for dinner and she presented me with a beautiful Ichiji-sho. (a piece some 30 cm x 30cm large). My colleague explained that the character was “Kokorazashi” which he translated as “the visionary”. Obviously touched, I thanked him profusely, framed it and put it on my wall, not really thinking about its deeper meaning until some 15 or more years later.
So, what did he see that motivated him to present so fine a gift?
What is the meaning - and so what?
When we research the term Kokorazashi further it provides a fascinating and nuanced interpretation. The symbol is “zhi” in Chinese and broad translations are “will”, “ambition”, “aspiration” or “determination”. So not really “visionary” - something more practical, more “gritty”, to use the term I recently heard from Angela Duckworth. It’s not really “elegant” there’s some real practicality in it.
It finally dawned on me. I had to break it down into the component characters. The simple one word English translations really do not do justice.
The lower component is “Kokoru” meaning Mother Earth, a symbol of grounding, of purpose, an authentic sense of being. A truly reflective and foundational character. And the upper component? “Susu” meaning the Virtuous Warrior, the Samurai. The opposite; the person of action, discipline, ritual. The two together broadly means “The heart of the Samurai”.
KOKORAzashi - THE HEart of the Samurai
With this understanding I have now reconciled Kokorazashi to the majority of the Joined-Up approaches - simple models, blending the “scanning” and reflecting phases with the pivot to action and swift execution.
See the main website link for a further breakdown of this.
We can apply this thinking in how we focus on goals in our personal lives, our professional careers and how we run our businesses. The secret to Kokorazashi is not being mindful of the need to be grounded and reflective. Most of us know that is a good approach. The secret to Kokorazashi is not being disciplined and focused in taking action. Most of us would agree with that. The secret is reconciling the two.
In particular its how we make our most important decisions in life and business. The hard choices and the lonely decisions, lonely because we can’t please everyone.
Making these hard choices and lonely decisions are helped by a mentor or a group of peers. Decisions at this level need conversation, exploration of the implications and clarity of the options. We always have a choice. About what we do and how we respond to our feelings.
As an established Peer Group Chair and with decades of providing organisations with strategy frameworks and operating models I now understand my gift.
Aoyama-san - how can I possibly thank you enough?
