Uchikura & Co., LLC

In many Japanese companies, a single manager in a meeting doesn’t make important decisions unilaterally. Instead, they often rely on a process known as Ringi.

At first glance, it can look inefficient—drafting proposals, gathering approvals through signatures or stamps, and circulating documents across departments.

However, they didn’t design Ringi for speed but rather for alignment.

Another key aspect is that it doesn’t concentrate the responsibility and credit on any one individual. When things go well, no single person claims all the praise. Likewise, when things go wrong, no single person bears all the blame.

This stands in contrast to cultures like that of the United States, where they often emphasize individual leadership and decisive action.

When you involve everyone early on, you build consensus. By the time a project gets the green light, everyone is already on board, which expedites and optimizes the actual execution.

While it may take more time upfront, it reduces friction during execution. This is not a system that obscures accountability. Rather, it is a system that distributes responsibility across the organization.

To understand Japanese corporate culture, this way of thinking is essential.