Today, September 20, is the national holiday in Japan. It is the day of the Respect for the aged. I have NOT been categorized as the aged yet (officially) but sometimes get surprised and rather discouraged to receive some promotional mail sent out, specifically targeted at the elderly.
I came across with the encouraging news the other day on the podcast, though. Colonel Sanders who started Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise began selling his secret recipe to restaurants at the age of 65 with the social security check of $105 when his cafe attached? to the service station lost customer traffice due to the construction of Interstate highway.
It was reported in the context that many people in the U.S. today do not know that Colonel Sanders was a real person as they think it is simply the spokesperson of KFC. I read the story of him starting business with the special pressure fryer and his secret recipe. I did not know that he was 65 years old and started with the social security check.
This story shows that you can start venture no matter how old/young you are. All you need is the passion and strong will to continue working, I suppose. Isn’t it better to respect for what you have done and what you are willing to do, regardless of age…… rather than just the age?
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.
