Redefine the global paradigm of business and leadership education
Shizenkan is a business school. But our approach differs fundamentally from other business schools around the world.
Business schools were born in the United States in the early 20th century. At that time, humanity placed its hopes in continuous economic growth premised on mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. Companies leading this economic growth needed management administrators to support their hierarchical organizations and experts equipped with necessary functional expertise such as finance and marketing. Training these professionals was the original mission of business schools.
More than a century later, we face a different world. While growth continues in the Global South, humanity as a whole confronts planetary boundaries, with decarbonization, the transition to a circular economy, and planetary regeneration emerging as major challenges. The pace of scientific and technological innovation, exemplified by AI, is remarkable, bringing tremendous benefits to people and society while exponentially increasing associated risks.
At this major historical turning point, Shizenkan is pioneering a new paradigm for business and leadership education from here in Japan, together with partners across Asia and the world.
If we were to create a business school anew in the 21st century, what kind of school would it be? What educational paradigm is needed for the 22nd century? These are the fundamental questions that drives Shizenkan.
Develop whole-person management leaders who take responsibility for people, society, and the future.
Shizenkan is not a business school for everyone. Coordinative managers who excel at problem-solving and focus on keeping organizations running smoothly, or functional specialists whose domain is limited to specific areas such as finance or marketing, are not the type of individuals Shizenkan aims to develop.
What Shizenkan aspires to cultivate are “leaders” who possess professional skills to pursue new creation and transformation, and who act as catalysts to pioneer the future of business, organizations, and society. “Management” leaders who can maintain a holistic view of business, organizations, and management without being confined to particular functions or roles. “Whole-person” management leaders who embody both humanity and social awareness, and who can create ripples of change across people, organizations, and society through empathy and trust rather than relying on titles or authority.
In a world where the environment changes rapidly and uncertainty surrounds business, organizations, management, and society, it is whole-person management leaders who will pioneer the future. This is Shizenkan’s conviction and commitment.
An educational approach like no other
Shizenkan’s educational paradigm, which seeks to advance global business and leadership education toward the 22nd century, is genuinely distinctive.
Shizenkan fully leverages and inherits the traditions and strengths of Western-style business schools born in the 20th century. Building upon this foundation, we blend insights from design schools and innovation schools that have emerged in recent decades to cultivate excellent professional skills that enable students to envision the future and substantiate it with logic.
At the same time, Shizenkan asks the essential question of WHY—”For whom?” and “For what purpose?”—which is fundamentally indispensable in envisioning the future. Professional skills address HOW, but HOW only becomes effective when grounded in WHY. Using our distinctive liberal arts education rooted in philosophy as a catalyst, we prompt students to ask: “For what purpose and for whom do businesses and enterprises exist?” “What kind of organization, society, and future do I want to realize?” and “What constitutes a good organization, society, and future for me?”
Moreover, Shizenkan is a leadership school as much as—or perhaps even more than—it is a business school. Leadership means taking initiative from oneself and challenging the future through one’s actions. Confronting an uncertain future requires a compelling understanding of “who I am and what I value in life.” Through introspection and dialogue with others, Shizenkan provides the catalyst and environment for students to engage with their inner selves through introspection and dialogue with others, and to envision their own leadership journey.
At Shizenkan, we continue dialogue with educational institutions across five continents as we aim to refine and evolve this educational approach.
Shizenkan's name and logo
As we enter the 21st century, the world is undergoing a major transformation. The modern paradigm rooted in individual freedom has liberated people’s consciousness and desires while simultaneously giving rise to social fragmentation and anxieties about sustainability. The unprecedented pace of scientific and technological innovation has dramatically expanded possibilities for humanity’s future, and the rise of the Global South is fundamentally redrawing the world’s economic map. Shizenkan’s role and responsibility as an educational and research institution is to bridge and harmonize innovation with well-being, business with society (and planet), and the West with Asia, toward the realization of a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future.
The name Shizenkan derives from the Great Learning (大学), one of the Four Books and Five Classics that have served as foundational texts for leadership development in East Asia. Chapter One states: ‘What the Great Learning teaches, is – to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence (至善).’ (translation by James Legge).
Shizenkan’s name embodies our aspiration to “realize and disseminate from Asia the ideal form of leadership and management education for the 22nd century,” working hand in hand with China and the Greater China region, which are central to Asia.
Shizenkan’s logo also embodies the future we aim to create. The solid black square symbolizes Western rationality, while the ambiguous form created by ink represents Asia’s spiritual and cultural foundations, demonstrating our intention to bridge and integrate both toward the 22nd century. Furthermore, this fusion of both elements expresses Shizenkan’s conviction and vision: to harmonize business, society, and planet through whole-person leadership education, and to ensure the evolution of scientific and technological innovation for the well-being of humanity.
