Dr. Ikujiro Nonaka on Dialectic Leadership

July 23, 2003

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HONOLULU—Creativity and efficiency, globalization and localization, autonomy and control. Businesses often face contradictory goals that seem to turn in upon themselves in a paradox of challenges. While not claiming to have the complete answer to such a problem, Dr. Ikujiro Nonaka, one of the world’s leading authority on knowledge management, certainly presented a thought-provoking hypothesis at a recent JAIMS open house.

A select group of local executives and business leaders attended the July 17 session and listened to Nonaka expound on “Dialectic Leadership.”

The dialectic approach requires a leader to recognize the multifaceted and contradictory nature of certain truths. There needs to be a synthesis, Nonaka says, to innovatively combine diverse contradictory knowledge and create higher states of knowledge and skills.

Nonaka cited Canon, IBM, and the U.S. Marines as examples of dialectic organizations who’s success is due in part to their synthesis of opposing traits: discipline and creativity, careful analysis and quick action, well-defined plans and improvisation.

Nonaka pointed to one man in particular who exemplifies the dialectic leader: Tetsuya Goto. Through his humble leadership, Goto was able to boost the success of his inn by following what seemed to be a contradictory line of action by aiding his fellow innkeepers in Kurokawa. In doing so, he has made the Kurokawa area renowned for its natural hot springs. He now travels throughout Japan sharing his knowledge on managing natural environments.

After the one-hour session, audience members were able to pose further questions and thoughts to Nonaka over an informal lunch.

Ikujiro Nonaka is a professor at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and former Xerox Professor of Knowledge at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. He is also the founding dean of the Graduate School of Knowledge Science at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Nonaka is the visiting dean and professor at the Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and has long been one of Japan’s foremost authorities on developing and using the intellectual capital of workers to create and expand business knowledge.