The Shinkansen Effect

The Shinkansen effect, whose name comes from the famous Japanese “bullet train”, is a method to manage and resolve any type of crisis, be it business, work, personal, romantic or spiritual.

The Japanese developed the first bullet train in history in the mid-20th century, after losing World War II and facing a time of crisis. The nation opted for a social and business transformation, which led them to a new mentality known as the “Japanese miracle. ” This situation led to incredible economic growth, especially between the 60s and 80s.

The Japanese revolution and the beginnings of the Shinkansen effect

Although Japan’s business revolution began to take shape after World War II, it was not until the early 1990s that the world really began to take notice of the phenomenon and dubbed it the “Shinkansen effect.”

Specifically, in 1993, Jack Welch, the former head of the North American company General Electric, became aware of this phenomenon. In these years, his company was going through a time of crisis in which his employees were limited to practicing the law of least effort. Therefore, and after meeting Eiji Mikawa, the head of the General Electric branch in Tokyo, he began to apply new methods.

The Japanese branch was doing much better than the parent company, and this was due to the mindset of sacrifice and the capacity for change maintained by Japanese employees across the country.

The Japanese manager explained to his North American colleague how the country went through important mentality changes in the 1960s, when the Japanese government wanted to improve its train network for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

In this sense, Mikawa explained how, if you want a train to increase its maximum speed by 10 km / h, it will be enough to add more horsepower to the engine. However, if you want it to go from 150 km / h to 300 km / h, you have to do a completely different layout. Beyond its application around the development of the Shinkansen effect, this change in mindset could be applied to numerous situations across the country.

Japanese revolution with the Shinkansen effect

As we have discussed, the Shinkansen effect has its origin in the business revolution that Japan experienced in the mid-20th century. Thanks to this new mentality, the nation managed to develop the first bullet train, this being one of the greatest advances in transportation throughout the 20th century.

Throughout our life, we go through numerous personal changes. Some of them represent small improvements or help us to get rid of bad habits. Others even allow us to undergo such a radical transformation that we practically start a new life.

Therefore, from the Shinkansen effect we can learn how, to achieve small improvements in our lives, we can limit ourselves to making small changes. However, if we want a more radical transformation, we will be forced to change everything, from start to finish. Something very easy to say, but not so easy to do since the resistances to change what already produces some performance, even if it is not enough, can be many.

As an example, we can apply the Shinkansen effect to a couple, who, after numerous problems and discussions, realizes that the two are not capable of understanding or understanding each other. Perhaps this is the time to move to a completely different stage in your relationship, make new plans, modify some projects and leave others.

It can also be applied at some point in a professional career or after a serious health problem. In these moments it may be necessary to reconsider our routines and try to apply changes from scratch  to start living in a radically different way.

How to apply the Shinkansen effect?

Applying this mindset shift can be difficult, but not complex. To begin with, the objective will be to locate the area of ​​our life that requires a change of mentality. After that, we have to tackle that problem and become aware of what habits need a revolution to test a novel solution.

Finally, it is always advisable to seek support from other people who have gone through a similar situation, as well as friends and family to support us in our decisions. This is how we can make a radical change in our life, leaving behind a serious problem and moving to a new stage, as in a kind of rebirth.