I went to the ideaslab session entitled “Design for the New Reality” on the first day of Davos, the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Ideaslab is the interactive brainstorming session engaging all participants. At first, four discussion leaders presents ideas in 5 minutes each with several visual slides one after another.
After each presentation, the moderator asks for keywords from the participants and after all the presentations, participants pick the one of the four to join the in-depth group discussion for 25 minutes of so.
I debated the choice between the Urban renewal and Gaining understanding through data visualization, as both are the subjects I have been very interested in. I ended up joining the group on data visualization with Adam Bly of SEED.
It turned out to be a very exciting and inspiring discussion and I had a great time. The session ended with report out from each of the group and the data visualization was so exciting and inspiring that I am tempted to explore the possibility of trying something like that in Japan.
I also joined the session entitled “Music for Social Change.” This is another interesting session in which five panelists presented their projects involving music, technology and transformation of the society. I found it fascinating how combining music and technology (and design) can make so much of an impact on people.
It was very informative as each panelists shared their experience of implementing various projects involving music. Majority of the panelists are young, representing different countries and with diverse background. I saw Mrs. Schwab right before the session and said Hello. (She has been very instrumental in bringing music to the WEF, I hear.)
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.
