How <i>Intellectual Athletes</i> Can Humanize Strategic Management Education: An Interview With Professor Emeritus Nonaka Ikujiro

In this interview with Professor Emeritus Nonaka Ikujiro, we explore how strategic management education and practice could be humanized by embracing purpose for the common good. The interview highlights the importance of humanizing strategic management, particularly given the contemporary challenges posed by novel technologies and the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. By showcasing the pivotal role of knowledge creation theories in humanizing strategic management, we make three critical contributions to strategic management education and practice. First, we elucidate how contemporary knowledge creation theories can emphasize the importance of shared understanding and intuitive action in humanizing strategic management. Second, we discuss the role of narratives in shaping values, positioning knowledge creation theories as a moral foundation for firms and business schools. Third, we posit that knowledge creation theories’ emphasis on practical wisdom can provide a philosophical underpinning for ethical strategizing and decentralized leadership. Through this, the interview contributes to discussions on humanizing business schools by drawing attention to the Japanese concept of chiteki taiikukai-kei (知的体育会系, intellectual athlete) that gives primacy to co-existence over competition, thus highlighting the importance of humans’ interconnectedness and purpose for the common good in strategic management and decentralizing leadership.