TRILOGY THE TURNING POINT OF MY COMPANY: BUSINESS IKIGAI

Years ago, I embarked on a journey to find elements that could help me restructure my company, which was on the brink of bankruptcy at the time, to solidify it to the point of transcending generations in its longevity, following Japanese traditions.

I went through that situation where when we are looking for something, we cannot find it, but when we take a moment to relax, we find the unexpected. I was talking to a friend of mine from Scotland, Victor Spencer, creator of the World Peace Tartan, and he recommended a book called Ikigai.

At the time, I was also experiencing health problems, and he recommended the techniques from the book used by the residents of Okinawa, an island in southern Japan, which has the highest number of centenarians, lucid and active. I was fascinated by that.

The Okinawans have several habits that favor longevity. They maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly, form small social support groups, and, above all, have a well-defined purpose in life. They wake up knowing what they are living for, and this generates the driving force for their lives, reflecting in all activities, helping to overcome adversities and crises.

The question I asked myself as I reaped the excellent results of Ikigai for my life was: what if I adapted this philosophy to my company?

One by one, I took each element of the philosophy and adapted it to the organizational scenario. First, I likened my company, a corporation, to a person, and each venture to an organ of that person. Then I started asking myself about the company’s purpose, the Business Ikigai. I realized that the crisis my company was going through at that moment was nothing more than a reflection of my personal crisis of values, which in turn manifested itself as illness. I no longer believed in the way of working and in the axiological results of the corporation’s central product.

This process led me to a deeper understanding of the company’s purpose, going beyond the superficial layers, but no less important, such as the product (what we did) and how it was done, to then get to the core: why do we do this? What value do we generate for society? To what extent was the company’s purpose linked to my ikigai? I had good and strong values, and the company had an excellent product, but there was a lack of value congruence between me and the company.

It may sound very philosophical and very Zen, but the reality is that this not only helped me restructure my company and save it from bankruptcy but also led us to the competitive international market and to consolidate a business ecosystem, a living business organism. In addition to Business Ikigai, I chose two more elements of this philosophy to share in this trilogy of articles.

And as for your Business, do you know precisely how to define your ikigai?

This post is also available in: Japanese Portuguese (Brazil)