Zennovation: An East-West Approach to Business Success [Hardcover]

Tomio Taki (Author), Adam Taki (Author), Mortimer R. Feinberg PhD (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2012

Combining the principles of Eastern and Western business practices for powerful success

As an entrepreneur, manager, and problem-solver, Tomio Taki has shared advice with businesspeople ranging from managers of mom-and-pops to high-powered executives from across the globe. The Innovation Instinct showcases the author's breadth of life experience and illustrates how the principles of Eastern and Western business practices can be meshed together as a powerful source for success. Lessons range from the benefits of asking the simple questions to the importance of establishing oneself and knowing when to go against the grain.

Tomio Taki has consulted for, financed, or directly managed both private and public companies on nearly every continent. He has been involved in ventures ranging from being the man behind Donna Karen New York to owning and operating private golf clubs around the world. In short, Taki's business and related successes are striking, having helped companies rise from the ashes of potential bankruptcy to streamlining and growing corporate giants. The wisdom he shares in The Innovation Instinct includes:

• Language is less of an obstacle across borders; instead, cultural differences are what propel and vitiate communication among businesspersons
• Certain fundamental aspects of business and life cross latitudinal and longitudinal lines

When businesspeople seek to understand the cultures of their counterparts, they will discover lasting success with their global business relationships.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

As an entrepreneur, manager, and problem solver, Tomio Taki has shared his advice with businesspeople ranging from managers of mom-and-pops to high-powered executives from across the globe. Zennovation showcases his breadth of life experience and illustrates how you can mesh the principles of Eastern and Western business practices as a powerful source for success.

Zennovation imparts insights won through a lifetime of growth as a leader. Taki's business and related successes are striking, having helped companies rise from the ashes of potential bankruptcy to streamlining and growing corporate giants. Learn the benefits of asking the simple questions, the importance of establishing one's credibility, and the wisdom of going against the grain. Discover the keys to getting others to see things your way, through a mixture of reason and hard negotiating tactics.

While language barriers will always exist, Taki's personal experiences illustrate how cultural differences affect communication among businesspersons most acutely. Yet, certain fundamental aspects of business and life are universal and cross latitudinal and longitudinal lines. When businesspeople seek to understand the cultures of their counterparts, they will discover lasting success with their global business relationships.

The breadth of Tomio Taki's understandings and exposure to a dazzling panoply of cultures and industries has produced a treasure trove of life lessons that anyone can apply to their own journey as an entrepreneur, manager, or simply an individual.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Zennovation

"This is a great book by an enterprising Japanese entrepreneur, Tomio Taki. It is written in such a way as to give the reader insight into the Japanese culture as well as experience the tough decisions that people go through starting a business, no matter what part of the world you're in. This book can apply to anyone in any country—its message will clearly translate to readers in any language."
—Karl Eller, Chairman and CEO, The Eller Company

"As the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Philadelphia University, with confidence I can say that reading this book underscores everything I believe about business and education."
—Bill Whitmore, Chairman, President, and CEO, AlliedBarton Security Services

"He is the exact opposite of a typical business man. He is the most trusting, and the most trustworthy, person I know. He was my teacher."
—The late Ricky Sasaki, President and CEO, Link Theory Holdings Co.

"He is a great follower, a team player, which enables him to be a great leader."
—Marin Alsop, Music Director, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

"He is a symbol, an example of how best to combine disparate cultures into one personality. I always learn from him."
—The late General Meir Amit, former head of Mossad and former chairman of Israel's Center for Special Studies

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118153391
• ISBN-13: 978-1118153390
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,366,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Front row seat to Japanese business culture and the creation of Donna Karan February 23, 2013

By Lewis I. Brown

Format:Hardcover

Tomio and Adam Taki's book provides the reader with a front row seat to the post War Japanese business climate and culture as well as the American fashion and design industries. I found Zennovation to be a thoroughly engaging and rewarding read whereby I learned significantly more than I anticipated both about the Japanese business culture & climate as well as the 1980s American fashion industry. Tomio Taki is a titan of Japanese business who, ever sensing opportunities, branched out from his Family's centuries old Japanese kimono and garment company into the American fashion and apparel industry. Tomio's timing and business acumen seem to have been prescient since not only did he orchestrate the successful expansion of the Anne Klein Company but in the process discovered and elevated Donna Karan and helped her found her own very successful fashion house. In addition to the first person insights and lessons from Tomio's lifetime of entrepreneurship and successful business creation and administration, the reader also comes away with more broad based lessons that are essential to any budding entrepreneur irrespective of what industry s/he has a passion for. This book should be required reading for not only anyone with any interest in Japanese business culture or interest in the American fashion industry but for any business owner or budding entrepreneur more broadly. Tomio and Adam Taki's passion for their subject as well as the frank and honest manner in which they deal with both business triumphs and set-backs make this book not just a must read but also a pleasurable one.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent backgrounder for those interested in Japanese business culture January 2, 2013

By RR

Format:Hardcover

This is a sensitively and engagingly written book, which gives the reader a first person account into how business is conducted in Japan historically. If you are doing business in either Ashton or Japan, this is worth reading - it offers good insights into how to lead and mange and grow businesses, from the point of view of someone who has founded several very large and successful companies.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Unique May 9, 2012

By M. Ganske

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great book! It's interesting no only for the information contained within, but also that this is co-written by Tomio Taki, and his son, Adam. The book is full of business advice but also fascinating history including the creation of Donna Karen as a brand. In the spirit of full-disclosure, I show at Adam Taki's art gallery in NYC which he discusses towards the end of the book. As an artist, I'm not necessarily business oriented, nor am I a part of the fashion industry, but this book still kept me thoroughly engrossed. It's a very rewarding read.