Ambitious, far-reaching New Year’s resolutions often end in disappointment. So instead of setting unrealistic goals in 2022, leaders should consider making smaller, simpler changes—and they just might see better results, says Harvard Business School Professor Hirotaka Takeuchi.
Here, Takeuchi explains how business leaders can use the following seven practices to guide their own self-improvement efforts in the new year:
1. Develop routines, or kata
As we gain the ability to collect and analyze more data more quickly, decision-making and problem-solving have become increasingly complex. Many people look to technology to solve modern problems, but the more technology advances, the more human reasoning and creativity is often needed to shape and apply it, Takeuchi says.
To exercise those human strengths and remain centered amid mounting complexity, Takeuchi recommends developing and using kata, a Japanese word that means specific routines, as a means to keep your thoughts and actions in sync with your mission, whether on a personal level or within the business context. For example, at Toyota, “ask why five times,” is a kata that helps employees determine the root causes of problems.
“In this very turbulent world, we really need something like kata to make our lives a little better every day,” Takeuchi says.
2. Ask the right questions
When navigating uncertain waters, an ingrained sense of purpose serves as a rudder. To maintain the necessary balance between agility and stability, leaders and successful companies must develop practical ways of staying true to their mission.
Most businesses have spent time establishing their mission, vision, and values, but few people can succinctly verbalize them on a personal level. When conducting interviews with graduate students, Takeuchi takes a three-question approach. To become more adaptable, consider resolving to answer these questions for yourself:
Why were you born? (mission)
What kind of future do you want to create? (vision)
What do you hold dear? (values)
3. Read and empathize more
Empathy is an essential ingredient for maintaining healthy relationships, whether with clients, customers, or a significant other. It might seem like people are either empathetic or not, but it has been proven that you can increase your ability to empathize.
4. Become A Better Storyteller
"Storytelling is the most effective way to communicate ideas and promote understanding, and stories become a prism through which humans live." says Takeuchi.
Being able to effectively use metaphors and analogies translates to the ability to persuade and affect change. “The power of rhetoric is something we can learn,” says Takeuchi.
To improve your narration abilities in the year ahead, Takeuchi recommends listening to the top 10 speeches ever delivered, or the 10 most popular TED Talks of all time.
5. Try a high-energy outdoor activity
By connecting with nature, we increase our appreciation of the need to live in harmony with it. Living with nature can mean a quiet walk in the woods, but it can also involve experiencing the essence of your immediate surroundings in other ways. For example, when Takeuchi travels outside Japan and the United States, he always makes a point of first visiting an open-air market.
“To me, seeing is believing, so for every country that we go to, we always visit the open market, because that’s where you see real living,” he says. “You see it out in the open.”
6. 'Shedding old skin' to create space for growth and movement
What baggage are we carrying around that we do not need anymore? What obstacles are in our way that we need to take steps to remove? And finally, "How can we best focus our thought life to better reflect our true passions and mission?"
7. Love more.
At the end of our days, everything else that we have accomplished will fade except for the love and time that we have poured into others. Give everyone you encounter your full attention, deeply listen, and not without a focus on what you are going to say after they have finished. Ask probing questions, scan their body language for clues to help you better understand what they are trying to communicate. Remember, the most important things that we can do always involve loving others.
