I left Tokyo in the evening of Thursday, March 10 to come to Hawaii for a brief get-away. I needed to get away (this is my spring break!) as I have been so busy wrapping up my work at ICS and getting ready for my new role at KMD, in addition to hosting the Open Forum on March 18 and arranging the publication of the book “Global Career” (in Japanese) in early April.
After a busy day in Tokyo with short sleep on the flight and a bit of trouble at the time of the check-in, I finally felt settled in the warm weather and started feeling relaxed after dinner. Then the news hit of the earthquake in Tohoku area and Tsunami threat in the Pacific area. As I saw the New York Times alert about the earthquake in Japan, I checked the Twitter to find that it seemed very bad.
I recall the incident almost two decades ago that we were at Guam when the big earthquake hit us. We drove up to the high areas as we were so scared of Tsunami. We stayed for several hours (being scared of the aftershocks) at the hotel lobby, packed in the dark and drove to the airport to catch the first flight out from Guam. The incident scared me so much that I found myself often in the subway to think about what would happen if the earthquake hits me when I am underground. When we find more information about the casualties and the damage in the Tohoku area, we should support them as much as can.
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.
