Even you find a good project or an interesting theme for research, not all your proposals will be accepted by your boss. Rather, many of your proposals will be rejected because of lack of budget or resources. I am used to be rejected of proposals, but sometimes I come to complain about it.
When I talked with my colleague at lunch time abut a criterion of accept/reject a project by our boss, he said that “You may don’t know because of a Japanese”, and continued “People say that Ask for forgiveness, not permission”. Indeed, I didn’t know the phrase.
I asked him the meaning of the phrase. According to him, I should do whatever I believe it is right thing to do. If I failed, then I may ask forgiveness of our boss. I don’t know if I succeed or fail until I try it. So I don’t need to ask for forgiveness before trying.
I thought he was really American. By the way, he grew up in Texas.
It sounds really good, but it sounds not in a Japanese way to do. Typical Japanese starts a project with asking a permission of boss. Then the budget and the resources are allocated if the boss accepts the project proposal. If the boss couldn’t understand the benefit of the project and rejects it, the project never starts.
I am not sure if the “Ask for forgiveness, not permission” is a typical American way to do, or it is just a way to do by my colleague – a Texas guy. But this spirit is the advantage of Americans. The venture companies in U.S. could come up with this spirit.
The Japanese way could be too slow and too ineffective to progress a project, but the American way could be too aggressive to keep morals in a organization. The best answer could reside between the two. What is the middle of them. It could be an aggressive Nemawashi? I am not sure.
The effectiveness of Nemawashi is praised in the typical Lean books written in English because a person doing Nemawashi can get a team consensus very quickly. Japan on the other hand the Nemawashi is explained as a bad habit because of slow process and irresponsibility. I know the evil side of Japanese Nemawashi because I grew up in Japan, but I interestingly feel the Nemawashi is a good way to do when I read the Lean books written in English.
I would need to ask my colleague who grew up in Texas about the Nemawashi in cowboy style. The Nemawashi in cowboy style could inform all team members a trial which I am going to do without any permission, and just do in. And if it failed, just say “Never mind”.