Thursday, 3/18: Keizai Society - Three Scenarios for Japan’s Global Future – Where do we go from here?

Of course we hope you'll come to Joshikai on 3/18, but if you are in the South Bay, this Keizai Society event looks fascinating!

http://keizai.org/three-scenarios-for-japans-global-future-where-do-we-go-from-here/

PARTICIPATING PANELISTS:

Michi Kaifu, CEO of ENOTECH Consulting
Rochelle Kopp, Managing Principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting
Kimberly Wiefling, Founder and President of Wiefling Consulting

WHEN: Thursday, March 18, 2010 Registration and Networking: 5:30 – 6:00 p.m. Event: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.	WHERE: Fenwick & West LLP *New Location 801 California St. Mountain View, CA
FEES: $20: Registration by March 14 (midnight) $35: Late Registration by March 17 (5:00pm) $50: Walk-ins (Walk-ins welcome, but seats may be limited) DRESS: Business casual	ONLINE LIVE CAST Online live cast provided via Ustream FEES:FREE for those who rsvp before 3/16/2010 at 5:00p.m. (PDT) Log-in instructions for the live cast will be sent on 3/17/2010 to those who registered

EVENT OVERVIEW

Many Japanese have been captivated by Barack Obama’s mantra of “change.” But can Japan as a country, Japanese companies, and Japanese individuals really change? And do they even want to change? Japan’s future depends on its ability to change, and there’s more than one way things can go. Will Japan turn inward, lulled by affluence and averse to dealing with foreign languages and cultures? Will it remain engaged with the world, but take a slow slide into irrelevance? Or will Japan step up to the plate and take a leadership role to help solve the globe’s pressing problems? Join Michi Kaifu, Kimberly Wiefling, and Rochelle Kopp — three consultant/authors who work closely with Japan’s global companies — as they debate three different views of where Japan and Japanese firms are heading, and what that means for you.

This year the theme of Keizai Society is “Catch the Next Wave – New Opportunities for 2010”. Our first forum of 2010 promises to be an interesting look at if and how Japan will catch the next wave that will pull the world economy out of recession. Please bring many business cards in order to exchange with attendees and panelists, since it is important to network and help each other in these tough times. And please forward this message to your friends and colleagues to expand the power of the Next Wave.

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PANELISTS

MICHI KAIFU
Michi Kaifu is founder and CEO of ENOTECH Consulting, a management consulting firm specializing in global telecom, mobile and the internet industry, and the author of Paradaisu Sakoku (“Seclusion in Paradise”). Michi has provided strategic analysis and business development advice to a wide range of clients, from small start-ups to major multinational corporations, based on her unique experience in the crossroads of telecom, Japan and Silicon Valley. With a belief that mixing diverse elements from different markets and culture is an important driver, she is interested in driving innovation in the global telecom/mobile/Net industry. In her popular Japanese blog “Tech Mom from Silicon Valley”, in addition to the technology and cultural aspects, she is also advocating the same view to solve problems in the society, such as issues of children with special needs. Before founding ENOTECH, Michi worked in business development for a mobile start-up company and NTT America, and international sales at Honda Motor Co. Michi holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and a BA from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan.

ROCHELLE KOPP
Rochelle Kopp is founder and Managing Principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting, an international training and consulting firm focused on Japanese business. As a consultant specializing in cross-cultural communications and human resource management, she has extensive experience working with Japanese organizations and their non-Japanese suppliers and partners. She has worked with numerous Japanese multinationals to help them improve their global human resource management. She is currently focused on helping Japanese companies be more successful in Silicon Valley, offering assistance on effective human resource management practices, organization development, and cross-cultural training and teambuilding. Rochelle gained firsthand experience of Japanese corporate culture when she lived in Japan and worked at the Tokyo headquarters of a major Japanese financial institution. She speaks, reads, and writes Japanese fluently. Rochelle is the author of The Rice-Paper Ceiling: Breaking Through Japanese Corporate Culture and over twenty books in Japanese. Rochelle writes for various Japanese and American publications, including regular columns for The Nikkei Weekly, Nikkei Woman, and U.S. Frontline News. Prior to establishing Japan Intercultural Consulting, Rochelle worked at two U.S.-based international consulting firms. She holds a B.A. in History from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

KIMBERLY WIEFLING
Kimberly Wiefling, Executive Editor of the Scrappy About Series, is the author of one of the top project management books in the US, Scrappy Project Management – The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces, one of the top project management books in the US, a book growing in popularity around the world, and recently published in Japanese by Nikkei Business Press. She is the founder of Wiefling Consulting, LLC, a global leadership and business management consulting firm. Kimberly specializes in enabling her clients to achieve what seems impossible, but is merely difficult. A physicist by education, and a successful business leadership and project management consultant for the past 8 years, she began her professional career with 10 years at HP working in product development project management and engineering leadership. She spent 5 years in the wild and whacky world of Silicon Valley startups, including a Xerox Parc spinoff where she was the VP of Program Management. In 2001 she rose from the ashes of the dotcom bust, launched her consulting practice, and never looked back. In typical Silicon Valley style, Kimberly has helped to start, run and grow a dozen small businesses. Four of the startups that she co-founded are still in business and profitable. She currently spends about half of her time traveling in Japan facilitating leadership, innovation and execution excellence workshops to help Japanese companies solve global problems profitably.