This week’s WhatComesNextLive guest was my dear friend Sam Duong. Sam drinks deeply from the tree of knowledge with a focus on leading self so he can lead others. When we spoke he talked about a current passion for studying the essence of Wu Chi, the Tao in stillness, the nothingness that comes before Tai Chi, then Yin and Yang. He also talked about his second current passion, the idea of “Just Enough”. Do listen to our half-hour conversation, I was deeply fascinated and have been processing and musing ever since.
I’m also working with multiple clients and having several ongoing conversations on the power of Culture in Business and other Organisations. Always critical, often overlooked, it is more valuable than ever to focus on Culture as a stable foundation for behaviour and decision-making in the highly VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) times we live in.
Linking Sam Duong’s thoughts to my own current focus on Culture, a concept I bring forth here is the Japanese term Wa.
Wa is both the oldest name for Japan and brings a sense of “Japaneseness” in language and other ways to the country and people.
However, the core meaning of it, as I understand it (and I am now studying this more) is about Harmony: “Group values and the welfare of the community are seen as more important than individual ambitions or desires. A good citizen is one who contributes to the overall “wa”“
Wa is also a key philosophy underpinning the martial art Aikido. Another past guest on WhatComesNextLive was Przemek Gawroński, who, in addition to working with international corporations around culture and leadership, also leads an Aikido dojo. Time for me to talk to him once again and discuss Wa.
For decades I worked in management and leadership within businesses and organisations, increasingly focussed on culture as core to leadership. For the last decade I have focussed in helping others in these areas. There aren’t too many of the core books in these fields I am yet to read, nor many core concepts from the West that I have yet to study. However, the more I continue to bring my insatiable curiosity to learning how to grow and improve in how I can support others, the more I am drawn to wisdom, knowledge and learnings from outside of our Western world.
I am seeking to learn more about Wa, and yes, also seeking to bring more and more Wa to my own life.