Institute for Strategic Leadership
Shizenkan was established with the Institute for Strategic Leadership (ISL) as its parent organization. ISL is a non-profit organization (authorized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government) established in 2001 as a challenge from absolute zero by Tomoyoshi Noda, who was teaching at INSEAD at the time, together with peers of his generation who shared a sense of crisis about the state of Japan and the world.
ISL is a social movement organization where volunteers who agree with its mission collaborate, with the philosophy and vision of realizing a peaceful and prosperous future through its unique whole-person leadership education, social advocacy, and social implementation activities.
Since its founding, hundreds of top business leaders, management professionals, and social leaders have endorsed these activities. The chairmanship of ISL has been served entirely pro bono by successive leaders including Yotaro Kobayashi (former Chairman of Fuji Xerox, deceased), Kakutaro Kitashiro (former Chairman of IBM Japan), Yasuchika Hasegawa (former President of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company), and Tsuyoshi Nagano (former Chairman of Tokio Marine Holdings).
More than 2,000 graduates have completed its core activity, the ISL Whole-Person Management Leadership Education Programs. These include top executives of companies such as Shiseido, Recruit Holdings, JT, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsui & Co., Misumi Group, Kokuyo, and ST Holdings (formerly Adastria), Fujitsu, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Komatsu, Hitachi, and TOPPAN, as well as top executives of mid-sized regional companies, leading social entrepreneurs, and heads of international organizations.
ISL continues to operate today in close collaboration with Shizenkan, working toward the realization of new visions for the economy, society, corporations, and organizations where freedom and public order, as well as private and public interests, coexist—through providing world-class whole-person leadership education programs, spaces (ba) filled with spirit, and initiatives to contributing to people and society.
The name ISL was given by the late Dr. Sumantra Ghoshal, a world-renowned management scholar and former professor at London Business School. Its logo, based on Japanese blue, symbolizes the actions and challenges of leaders who take the initiative to open up the future.
Whole-person Management Leadership Education
ISL offers multiple flagship programs, including the Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) and the Strategic Leadership Program (ILP), primarily targeting corporate executive talent in their late 30s to 50s from large companies and business successors from mid-sized enterprises.
These programs are completely unique, not only in Japan but globally. They consist of the first module on “whole person” centered on liberal arts, the second module on “management” centered on business policy, which originates in the Harvard Business School tradition, and the third module focused on “human capabilities” centered on experiential learning and Eastern introspection. An executive seminar led by senior partners from Japan’s leading consulting firms serves as a thread connecting these three modules. These programs are comprehensive, spanning 10 months and 300 hours, and upon completion, participants are awarded ISL’s original Certificate in Strategic Leadership.
Creation of Inspiring Communities
ISL is completely different from training companies or vocational training centers—it is a social movement organization filled with spirit, collaboratively operated by volunteers committed to realizing a prosperous and peaceful future. This essential nature is what fundamentally distinguishes ISL’s whole-person management leadership education from other training and educational programs, and what makes it Japan’s finest.
As a social movement organization, ISL regularly brings together members who share its spirit—including corporate members, program graduates, fellows, faculty, and related parties—to support individuals’ continued action and human growth in their pursuit of becoming whole-person leaders through mutual inspiration and friendly competition, while creating spaces for collaboration and co-creation among members across generations, sectors, and regions.
Social Innovation Center for Catalyzing Cross-Sector Collaboration
Social Innovation Center was established within ISL in 2008 to sustainably solve economic and social challenges facing the world, Japan, and local communities through collaboration across the boundaries of business, government, and civil society sectors.
Its core activities center on discovering, developing, and supporting social innovator talent (social entrepreneurs, community entrepreneurs, and impact entrepreneurs). Past initiatives include operating the SEOY (Social Entrepreneur of the Year) Japan program with the Swiss Schwab Foundation (sister organization of the World Economic Forum), running the Social Innovator Koshien program in collaboration with 80 intermediary support organizations across Japan, and operating human resource development dojos in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures through the Tohoku Future Creation Initiative in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.
All these initiatives are based on the recognition that cross-sector collaboration is essential for solving social challenges. The Center continues its work today through acceleration programs providing mentoring support from business executives and management professionals to social innovators.