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The Meaning of 'Sisu'
Exploring the origin and significance of the Finnish word 'Sisu', its translation to grit and perseverance, and why the company chose to adopt it as its name.
Mike Martyn is the Founder and President of SISU Consulting Group, and international consultancy supporting more than 500 organizations in 22 countries. Over the past 20 years, Mike has also contributed hugely to the development of the Shingo Model and Assessment Framework, is Director Emeritus of the Shingo Institute, a 3x Shingo Prize winning author and Lifetime Member of the Shingo Academy.
One of Mike’s primary roles with SISU is the development of leaders at each level of the organization. In this role, Mike has trained and personally coached thousands of leaders through his live workshops, online development courses, executive coaching, and Coaching Camps.
Mike’s experience with the concepts of omotenashi, kaizen and ikigai come from his extensive travels to Japan. Beginning with a business trip in 2004, Mike has spent countless hours learning about Japanese culture and benchmarking world-class kaizen cultures. Beginning in 2011, Mike opened up these trips to other business leaders, and in 2013, he organized the first Japan Study Tour for the Shingo Institute.
Since 2013, Mike has traveled back and forth to Japan an average of twice a year, focusing his time on his own personal development as well as coaching others. During his visits, Mike has been asked to be a guest lecturer at numerous Japanese companies and share his approach for creating team-based daily kaizen cultures as described in his Shingo Award Winning book, Own the Gap. Over the years, Mike has also had the opportunity to gain “behind the scenes” access to some of Japan’s top companies; Honda, Denso, Nissan, Toyota, Ina Foods, and TESSEI, to name a few.
The visit to TESSEI in particular would help shape his understanding of what defines great leadership, and serve as a catalyst to bring his 20 years of experience together into a model for leaders. Over a period of two years, Mike met with, learned from, and collaborated with TESSEI’s Former Chairman, Teruo Yabe. These sessions, in addition to Mike’s work with other Shingo-winning clients led to the publishing of Management for Omotenashi.
Contact CEOD@bmhcc.org if you have any questions about claiming credit.
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