Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・ In Japan, still the gesture of humbleness is considered very important on most business occasions including presentations and performance evaluations.

・ The Japanese care about the team so much that they do not find it appropriate to take the credit for themselves as individuals. They think the achievement belongs to the team. This is one reason why Japanese are hesitating to talk about their achievements, because there is often teamwork behind.

・ Also, most Japanese believe in the sayings “the action speaks louder than the word” and do not advertise their success or skills or achievements.

・ Another important reason behind is that the Japanese think that self-promotion could trigger competition and conflict that potentially damages social harmony.

・ While this is a very nice virtue, this could cause disadvantages and troubles for the Japanese when they are dealing with non-Japanese stakeholders who do not share the same mentality.

・ Western people would like to know “where is the beef?” first. They want to be sold the idea and want to know “what is the point?” very clearly.

・ If the self-degenerating humbling comment comes first, the Western audience is immediately turned off. Also, while class-room audience might sit till the end of your presentation, today’s online audience will immediately turn off your content and move to something more interesting. You do not have the polite captive audience anymore and the full value of the presentation might not be recognized.

・ So the Japanese also need to develop the competency of self-advocacy and use it when the time and the occasion necessitate it.

・ Younger Japanese people who have grown up with Youtubers and Tiktokers tend to be more self-oriented and self-promotion comes more naturally for them. There is a widening gap between these young people and the older Japanese who still don’t know where to start in terms of self-promotion.

・ The most important thing is to have a “switch” to shift your Modes Operendi from the Japanese to the Global and vise versa based on the audience. It is essential that you can adapt the right MO based on who you are talking to.

・ Being able to develop this switch is the key success factor for anybody who wants to succeed both with the Japanese and non-Japanese audiences.