In a recent conversation with a Japanese executive, he told me that “the Japanese are not resilient.”  Since I think the Japanese have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the last 70 years, I was really taken aback by his assertion.  After recovering from my surprise, I questioned him more closely, and it turns out that his remark was made in reference to the Japanese workplace.

In Japan, lifetime employment is still common, so once someone has secured a job, it is quite possible to stay in it for the entire arc of one’s career.  In this executive’s view, lifetime employment has fostered a sort of complacency in the workforce.  Many Japanese workplaces are not meritocracies and do not rest on “performance appraisals” for advancement, favoring instead longevity as the key driver for promotion or success.  Consistently showing up and putting in one’s hours (and they are long hours in Japan) is what is expected, NOT coming up with some game-changing product or service.  Because of this, there is less expectation for an individual to drive toward that type of excellence.  And as a result, this executive felt extremely frustrated that a sort of “low bar” mediocrity had become the norm, permeating his workforce.  He wondered how to encourage employees to be more creative, more daring, more proactive with generating and championing new ideas.

I suggested to him that it is not just about encouraging individuals to be courageous and to take risks, but also about creating an organizational culture that incentivizes (or at least doesn’t block) people in taking risks. And, since I believe that risk taking and resilience go hand in hand, I suggested that if you encourage risk-taking, you must also cultivate individual, team and organizational resilience.

Unlike the Japanese–and yes, I am generalizing about both nations here–we as Americans have a “go for it” mentality.  We tend to champion people who want to try something, and we have the belief that things can be done “against all odds.” Our country was built on this belief and it is imbedded in the fabric of our lives.

Although we love it (and even expect it) when the underdog wins, what doesn’t get talked about so much is HOW to endure, and how to bounce back when “the win” isn’t immediately forthcoming. Unlike the Japanese, who take “the long view” and value perseverance, we tend toward impatience and immediate gratification.  These are not necessarily elements of resilience:)

As we all know, there are impersonal forces in our workplaces–the economy, for example–which can deflate or flatten individuals, teams, and organizations. There are also more personal factors like workplace politics, interpersonal conflicts, and some people’s sense of entitlement or victimhood, for example, that can seriously challenge one’s ability to take risks and to bounce back over time.

It seems to me that we are in an unprecedented time in human history, with difficult problems that threaten our planetary survival.  This calls for unprecedented innovation, collaboration, bravery, vision, and resilience. I’m wondering how we can wed the American penchant for pioneering boldness with the Japanese approach of patient perseverance?  How can we create organizations that are both mindful and “mind blowing”?

How have YOU taken risks and cultivated resilience?