Nature-Positive Leadership: What Can We Learn from Japan and Japanese Companies – Henning Ohlsson & Alastair Bourne
Summary: Two consultants — one based in Germany, one in Nagano, Japan — join forces to ask what Western business leaders can genuinely learn from Japanese companies about going „nature-positive,“ a step beyond merely minimizing environmental damage toward actively regenerating it. Drawing on Japan’s distinct relationship with nature — rooted in a worldview where, as the authors put it, people see themselves as part of nature rather than separate from or meant to conquer it — Ohlsson and Bourne trace how this cultural foundation shaped the sustainability practices of real Japanese corporations, including a detailed case study of how Epson’s humble small-town origins still echo in its policies as a global electronics company today. The book doesn’t romanticize Japan uncritically: it also traces how Japanese corporations rose to prominence and later declined, even as many kept their sustainability commitments intact. A recurring thread is a sharp cultural contrast the authors draw explicitly: where American business culture has often treated nature as something to conquer, the Japanese approach treats it as something to live alongside — a distinction with real consequences for long-term corporate strategy. The closing chapters turn practical, drawing concrete lessons for Western leaders willing to rethink how closely business and nature can genuinely coexist.
Why we like it: This book sits at a rare, genuinely useful intersection of three things we care deeply about at AKAYO — Japan, sustainable leadership, and honest cross-cultural comparison — making it a natural companion to our own writing on Kaizen and the Hashiwatashi philosophy of building real bridges rather than borrowing surface-level inspiration.