In my latest book, “Global Career” (unfortunately only in Japanese) targeting at the young generation about the career strategy today, I encourage young people to find their own “uniqueness” by thinking about their own profile and the job/area they want to pursue with their own uniqueness. It is because of my belief that every one of us has some uniqueness and strengths and if you can identify/explore them, you are likely to find the career you like, capitalizing your own strength in today’s positive sum game. I also believe that the uniqueness you find by combining both objective background (such as degree from certain university etc.) and subjective or softer side of yourself will be your own, which not too many people can match.
I heard from friends that “being unique” is quite difficult, in particular, at so many Japanese companies and/or the Japanese society. But I kept encouraging people to be unique and “different”. Very recently, I personally felt the challenge of being “unique” and how difficult it could be to be “different.”
I joined the member of the jury of the competition. Other members of the jury have extensive experience of being the jury and I was the first female and from Asia, I believe. Our role was to select the top three and the next two from the list of pre-screened essays. (10 out of more than five hundreds!) I reviewed, made my own criteria and selected the five. I was a bit concerned as it was the first time I did this and I did not know the criteria other members used. So I read them several times, and made a choice.
Several days later, I received the result of the jury (before the final conference call for the final decision). As I was uncertain and a bit uncomfortable, I checked the result with my own choice. My choice for the top essay was the one with the highest score. But my other choices were quite different (it seemed) from other members. When I found out the result, I felt slightly uncomfortable. I did not know why. Then it hit me that I was trying to conform and would have felt good if my choices were somewhat similar to the others. That was when I realized how difficult to be different and unique!
As I thought more about it, I convinced myself that it is OK to be different. I then started thinking that the fact that my choices were somewhat different from others could have been exactly the reason I was invited to be a member of the jury. They wanted somebody with different perspectives and different views, I thought. Whenever you have the chance, dare to be different and dare often.
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.
