December 14 was a memorable day for me, not only for the induction into the MOC Affiliate Network at Harvard Business School, but also for the show at the Carnegie Hall that night. I had a great opportunity to listen to Saito Kinen Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa conducting Symphony No. 1 in C Minor Op.68 by J. Brahms.
This program is the kick-off of the special series “Seiji Ozawa from Japan to NYC”. As I love Saito Kinen orchestra (I go to their annual festival in Matsumoto) and Seiji Ozawa is my hero, I bought the ticket in September, when I found out that they were performing at Carnegie Hall, one of my favorite concert halls in NYC.
As Seiji was still recovering from his back problem, Tatsuya Shimono conducted the first two pieces in his place. The first one was Decathexis, by Atsuhiko Gondai, American premier, and the second piece was piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 by Beethoven with Mitsuko Uchida on piano. The last one was Symphony No. 1 by Brahms, which is one of my favorite.
It was reported that Seiji would not be able to conduct all the pieces due to his back problem, and there was a concern whether he could conduct the long piece. (This is the first time since his surgey that he conducted the long piece.)
When he started, however, all of us were captivated. Saito Kinen was fabulous under Seiji. It was passionate, graceful, and so powerful! The audience was euphoric and so was I.
When it ended, we gave standing ovation (what else to expect?) immediately and Seiji (who always appeared with the members of the orchestra rather than at the end by himself) shook hands with every member of the orchestra. He also brought Tatsuya Shimono, Mitsuko Uchida and Atsuhiko Gondai when we kept applauding. I particulalry like his style of learning music together (under his mentor, Hideo Saito, for whom the orchestra is formed and named) and of sharing the joy of music together with his behavior. His style almost reminded me of Prof. Michael E. Porter who has similar philosophy of learning together and exploring. (In fact, he said earlier that day that case teachng is like conducting the orchestra!)
It was such an emotional and inspiring experience for me that I felt so fortunate being there then. I was so overwhelmed that I decided to do everyting possible to reciprocate this type of experience by giving the similar opportunity and experience to younger generation.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
