“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
After I published my first post on this blog, Play 01: What is Success, one reader noted a parallel with the Japanese concept of Ikigai. I promised him I would write a post about Ikigai. Here it is.
We live in an age obsessed with outcomes. Targets, milestones, and valuations abound. From early education to late careers, we frame success as something to reach, acquire, or accumulate. The question most often asked is not “How are you working?” but “What have you achieved?”
Ikigai offers a quieter counterpoint.
The Japanese word Ikigai is often translated as “a reason for being.” In everyday Japanese usage, however, it refers less to a grand life mission and more to what gives daily life meaning and continuity. It is what makes life feel worth engaging with — not once, but repeatedly.
Not a finish line, but a sustaining force.
Not an achievement, but a way of living.
Seen this way, Ikigai is not about finding the one thing you are “meant” to do. It is about how you relate to your work, your contribution, and your place in the world — especially over time.
Beyond the Popular Diagram
In the West, people usually represent Ikigai as four overlapping circles.
- what you love,
- what you are good at,
- what the world needs, and
- what you can be paid for.
The image is helpful, but it can also be misleading.
It suggests that Ikigai is a precise point of intersection — something to be discovered once, and then optimized forever. Real life rarely works that way. Skills evolve. Interests mature. What the world needs shifts. Even the meaning of “being paid for” changes across life stages.
In practice, Ikigai is dynamic. It moves as we move.
For leaders, especially, this distinction matters. Leadership roles rarely allow for perfect alignment. Trade-offs are constant. Constraints are real: organizational realities, market pressures, responsibility for others. Ikigai, then, is not about ideal conditions, but about conscious alignment within imperfect ones.
Ikigai as a Leadership Practice
In leadership, Ikigai shows up less in vision statements and more in daily behavior.
It shows up in the kinds of problems a leader engages with — and which ones they decline.
In the standards, they refuse to lower under pressure.
In how they allocate time, attention, and energy when everything feels urgent.
Leaders who operate close to their Ikigai display a particular quality: coherence. Over time, their decisions make sense. Their actions align with their words. Their authority feels earned rather than enforced.
This does not make leadership easier. If anything, it makes it more demanding. But it makes it clearer.
When leaders lack this alignment, work becomes fragmented. People spend energy managing appearances, chasing external validation, or sustaining roles that no longer fit. Over time, this erodes judgment, credibility, and motivation — often long before performance visibly declines.
Ikigai Is Not Static
One of the most important things to understand about Ikigai is that it is seasonal.
Early in a career, Ikigai may lean heavily toward learning, competence, and proving oneself. Mid-career, it may shift toward responsibility, scale, and influence. Later, it often moves toward stewardship, mentoring, and contribution beyond formal authority.
What once felt central may become peripheral, and that is not failure, but development.
Leaders who cling rigidly to an old version of their Ikigai often struggle with transition. They may feel disoriented, restless, or defensive without fully understanding why. Those who revisit it periodically — honestly and without nostalgia — adapt with more grace and less ego.
The question, then, is not “Have I found my Ikigai?”
The question is: “Does my current way of working still align with who I am and what is needed now?”
Ikigai and Sustainable Leadership
Another overlooked aspect of Ikigai is sustainability.
Leadership that is disconnected from meaning may deliver short-term results, but it rarely endures. Burnout, cynicism, and disengagement are not personal weaknesses; they are often signals of prolonged misalignment.
Ikigai introduces a longer horizon. It asks whether we can sustain the way we work — emotionally, intellectually, and ethically — not just financially. For leaders, this matters deeply because their way of working sets the tone for others.
A leader working far from their Ikigai may still succeed, but the cost is usually paid by culture, trust, or people over time.
Success and Ikigai: A Leadership Perspective
In my experience, leadership success is not a title or an outcome, but a way of working — a daily commitment to learning, sound judgment, and acting in line with one’s values. Much of this success is invisible. It shows up in the quality of decisions, in how people are treated, and in the standards a leader keeps when no one is watching.
Ikigai sits within this journey, but it brings a sharper focus. It connects personal fulfillment with contribution and responsibility. It asks a leader not only, “Am I growing and staying true? but also, “Does my work genuinely serve others, and can I sustain it over time?” In that sense, Ikigai narrows the field to roles where passion, competence, and usefulness intersect.
Not every successful leadership path is Ikigai. But Ikigai is where leadership work becomes both meaningful and enduring.
Questions for Reflection
- What aspects of my work consistently give me energy rather than drain it?
- Where do my skills genuinely make a difference to others?
- What responsibilities do people naturally trust me with?
- Which parts of my work feel sustainable over the long term — not just financially, but personally?
- If status and recognition disappeared, what work would still feel worth doing?
These questions do not produce instant clarity, but over time, they reveal patterns — and Ikigai lives in patterns, not epiphanies.
Download the Chairman’s Playbook Worksheet — Play 28: Ikigai
📚 Further Reading
- Ken Mogi — Awakening Your Ikigai
A thoughtful, culturally grounded explanation of Ikigai built around five pillars: starting small, releasing yourself, harmony and sustainability, joy in little things, and being in the here and now. - Héctor García & Francesc Miralles — Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
The book that popularized Ikigai globally. Blends philosophy, interviews with Okinawan centenarians, and reflections on longevity and purpose. - Ken Mogi — The Little Book of Ikigai
A concise and practical introduction, ideal for readers who prefer reflective essays over frameworks.
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