In early June, we had a seminar entitled “How Foreign Media reported the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergencies.” as a part of Global Agenda Series at Roppongi Academy Hills. The speaker was Mr. Erick Johnston of the Japan Times and I moderated the Q & A session.
We had some 200 participants, aged from 20s to 70s, with a variety of background. The number of participants exceeded our expectations, which I thought, indicated the high interest in the topic.
As I wanted to know the reasons why 200 people signed up for the seminar, I asked the question at the beginning. It turned out that there was a three way split, among those who want to find out the reasons why foreign media (it was reported often) made rather “extreme” and “sensational” reports of the disaster, those who want to know how the condition of Japan is reported now in the world and those who want to know how information should be communicated to the world. (We had few who were interested in the role of social media.)
With that information, Mr. Johnston began his presentation in Japanese. Though we had a bit of technical difficulties (it usually happens at the worst time!), he managed to finish the presentation, which was very informative.
I then made a brief summary of his talk together with my impressions and reactions, as I thought his presentation had a lot of materials. I then opened the session to the floor.
Q & A session was quite lively as there were some media people, ex-government people, ex nuclear engineer (I believe) and others. The issue is quite complicated . Some examples of what we discussed include 1) how much and in what way should information be disclosed and reported, 2) what type of information people in different societies demand ,3) how they take the information, and 4) what we do when nobody knows what is actually happening, among others.
My take away from the seminar was as follows:
1) Prioritization is a “must” when resources (money and time) are limited. As many nations, organizations, people and events are fighting for the attention at the global level, fewer journalists were assigned to cover Japan than before, as the presence of the country has declined. We must be aware of this fact.
2) Timing is critical for communication as the media (and the world, for that matter) may pay attention to the news for a while, but will move on to cover something else soon. Many things are going on in the world.
3) Unless we become aware of the diversity of views, we may not develop sensitivity to information, so that we make effort to expose ourselves to different information sources
4) Freedom of speech is something that each individual acquires, (and not just simply given) and each one of us must exercise it ourselves.
In particular, 4) made a strong impression on me. It is because I have realized recently that we are losing the need to “get” (cannot think of better words for now) freedom, economic independence, knowledge, wisdom and the type of life we want, rather than wait some organization or institution to grant us . I have felt the keen need to restore the sense of “Go, Get it”.
A lot of lessons here. For example, how could I have saved the awkward time of technical difficulties (it does happen!) ? This is something I could work on for the next time. Many issues related to freedom and our right have stimulated my thinking and will continue to do so.
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.
