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Preface
A note to readers:
I am deeply honored and humbled to have had the opportunity to interview Dr Nonaka. He is truly my intellectual, philosophical, and inspirational hero. From the first time I studied his work during my PhD program at the Drucker School (Claremont Graduate University) to my preparation for this interview, Dr Nonaka’s writing has always transported me into a different world – a space of profound knowledge, care, and insight, a place where rational thought and creativity coexist. For this interview, Dr Nonaka graciously took time out from his extensive writing and research commitments to answer a lengthy list of questions with respect, care, and honesty, weaving together philosophies with well-grounded research, stories with brilliant scholarship, the tacit with the explicit. Dr Nonaka is truly an inspiration to all scholars, practitioners, and human beings, as his life and work motivate us to find our purpose – our “way of life” or path of knowledge – and then rigorously and passionately implement this in our lives and work.
I also want to offer my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to Dr Fangqi Xu, the Founder and Director of the Institute for Creative Management and Innovation (Kinki University, Higashi-Osaka, Osaka, Japan) and Editor of the Kindai Management Review. Without him, this interview would not have been possible.
Background
Dr Ikujiro Nonaka is Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University and was the first Distinguished Drucker Scholar in Residence at the Drucker-Ito Graduate School of Management and Drucker Institute, Claremont Graduate University (2007-2013). A world-renowned scholar, Dr Nonaka is widely known as the “guru” of knowledge-based management.
Dr Nonaka’s main research interest has been to build a new theory of organizational knowledge creation, which has included the development of the SECI model of the knowledge-creating process; the phronesis (p1ractical wisdom) model of distributed, collective, idealistic, and pragmatic leadership; and a model of pragmatic strategy based on enduring wisdom, among other pioneering accomplishments. During his career, he has conducted comparative research on knowledge-creating processes in companies around the world and research on the characteristics of strategic and innovative activities in Japanese companies.
In 2008, the Wall Street Journal ranked Dr Nonaka among the top 20 most influential business thinkers. In spring 2002, he received double honors: he...