Partner Thomas Ballan LEGAL, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT Soccer doing to me in an hour what fifteen years of rugby never could, my reluctant impersonation of Wim Hof, or why I once drove all night to Spain and back. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY Make way for Japan’s next superhero. Because, …
Partner Jeremy Clark CONSUMER & ADVERTISING, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT The taste of king cobra blood, hanging with The Raiders of the Nassau ghetto, or how to surprise corrupt military police when they rob you on your birthday. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY Most people can tell you an adversity story, …
Founder & CEO Robin Doenicke, PCC LEGAL, TOKYO ASK ME ABOUT Crawling on my hands and knees to the 6,476m summit of Mera Peak in the Himalayas, drinking Ayahuasca with Shamans deep in the Amazon jungle, and my daily early morning martial arts practice of standing still for an hour. AND FOR THE REST OF …
Partner Glen Hung TECHNOLOGY, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT My YouTube channel, biking to a faraway beach for an overnight with the elements, or how to talk your way onto a basketball team using only sign language. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY At Zensho Agency, we say there’s no such thing as …
Partner Josh Kenealey TECHNOLOGY, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT How I went from nihongo zero to hero in four months, won the silver medal for Karate at the Goodwill Games, or grew enough underage beard to get into a Pearl Jam concert. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY Does this man look like …
Partner Jen Laurence TECHNOLOGY, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT Bread-watching as meditation, how to buy your own island, or the time I survived a hold-up in Manila by pretending my pack of gum was a gun. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY If you think environment has nothing to do with character, think …
Partner Valentin Loirat LIFE SCIENCES, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT How to get hired by a British country club without speaking English, why I recycle rare plant seeds, and what to do when an angry wild boar charges you. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY When Voltaire said “we must cultivate our own …
Partner Takuto Matsushita TECHNOLOGY, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT The mysterious Frenchman in my family tree, Egyptian hieroglyphs, or treating myself with herbal medicine in the middle of the Sahara Desert. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY Sometimes you hear voices. Takuto grew up in Fuji City, Shizuoka, basking in the magic of …
Co-Founder | CPO | Headhunter Steve Olsen LEGAL (IN-HOUSE GROUP), TOKYO Independent Agent To me, recruiting is the art of promoting clients and careers — simultaneously. We founded Zensho in 2003 to recruit attorneys (for law firms and corporations). We’ve grown. Now Zensho covers six industries (Legal, Life Sciences, Technology, Consumer & Advertising, Industrial & …
Partner Willem Otsuji-Kra FINANCIAL & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, TOKYO Independent Agent ASK ME ABOUT Working for the welfare of impoverished children in the favelas of Sao Paolo, how a Dutchman falls in love with Japan in Ireland, or why honesty really is the best policy. AND FOR THE REST OF THE STORY Willem. Friso. Kraai (“crow”). …
Years from now, you may not remember the particulars of deals you closed at Zensho (or what the returns were). You will remember your colleagues and how it felt to work with them. The imprint you left on the world.
We invited you to join our tribe because you impressed us as someone who shares values intrinsic to our culture. But just to ensure we’re totally on the same page, here they are, spelled out in black and white and trimmed in our corporate colors.
Freedom is Zensho’s central pillar. Beyond the mere state of being free, for us the word carries with it a sense of obligation: “Freedom to…” What follows should define you as a person. Of course, to provide your business community with amazing service, but also to engage and give back to the world. And that’s where Autonomy comes in. Unlike the general implications of self-rule, ours leads not to detachment but to a broad and radical sense of interconnectivity. One that enables each of us to commune with others in infinite ways. Together, these two values empower you like nothing else on earth, and they’re here waiting for you.
So, what do we ask in return?
Transparency means not only having open books, but being one yourself. No secrets or ulterior agendas. It is to share personal and industry information without seeking to leverage it for profit or motivate others in any way. Its cousin, Clarity, is about including precision and context in the communication process. At Zensho, we always try to anticipate the details a fellow partner might need and supply them up front.
Which leads us to…
Collaboration. That is, to cooperate meaningfully. Because only through recognizing individual strengths can we thrive as a whole. For us, collaboration requires presence as we listen and respond, evolving toward a collective goal represented by the name of our charity initiative: Ayni (reciprocity). This can’t exist without Collegiality. How we care for each other and the tribe as a whole, share both opportunity and responsibility with open hearts – that’s what empowers us to excel as a firm.
With these six in place, our seventh value happens all by itself.
Harmony. When your environment manifests balance between all people and things – even forces that oppose each other – life just flows. Living completely becomes a state of being. After all, that’s the very meaning of Zensho.