On March 27th, from 12:10 AM on NHK BS, my journey over the past year will be broadcasted on "The Human." It's a 50-minute program, and surprisingly, its title is "Asahi Shuzo Sake Brewery President Hiroshi Sakurai - Don't Worry. It's Bound to Go Well!"
Well... NHK certainly knows how to choose a good title. I often use this phrase within the company, but to have it as the title! To give you the full context of this statement, it goes something like this: "Don't worry. It's bound to not go well at first."
I often say this to the staff who worry about failure, fearing that if they fear too much, they'll end up minimizing their efforts, and simultaneously feeling disheartened when things don't go well. It's about accepting that things might not go well initially. What's important is to keep trying, adjusting, and launching subsequent attempts. From personal experience, I've found that this approach prevents premature closure and eventually leads to significant accomplishments.
Especially when trying to establish a sake brewery in an unknown territory like America, I was concerned that our competent staff, who had experienced success, might fear failure and thereby limit their efforts. In such situations, I found myself reassuring the staff of the American brewery, who were taken aback by the phrase "It's bound to not go well!" with a simple "It'll be okay."
By the way, there's a term called PDCA - Plan, Do, Check, Act. It's often hailed as a golden rule in business and various operational processes. In China, they apparently use a term called TECA instead. Try, Error, Check, Action!! It seems to signify a more dynamic and flexible approach compared to the meticulous planning often associated with PDCA.
We Japanese tend to wait until we have meticulously crafted plans before taking action, and even when we do, we may be reluctant to deviate from those plans despite discrepancies with reality. Furthermore, if we fail, the criticism can be severe. This might be our weakness as Japanese. On the other hand, this seems to be the approach in China. No wonder we can't compete with them. It's only natural that in recent years, the Japanese economy, which was once far ahead, has been surpassed by the Chinese economy, with no end in sight.
It's a late-night program, so it's not easy to casually say "please watch it," but if you happen to suffer from insomnia or just need something to pass the time, why not tune in? Of course, NHK won't tell us what exactly will be shown, but they've been closely following me for over a year. Moreover, they tend to focus more on candid moments, capturing those risky or challenging moments, so I think it'll be interesting.