When the home shopping salesman meets the Japanese Shakespeare

The camera was rolling. The home shopping TV show was being broadcasted live to over 4 million people in Japan.

In front of the camera, the legendary home shopping salesman and show host, Takada-san, forgot to turn off his cellphone. It started vibrating in the inner pocket of his trademark black suit.

Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. The phone continued making an audible rattling noise.

“Should I just ignore it and let it ring,” Takada-san considered quickly in his head. The next moment, he made a split decision. He calmly took out his phone from his suit pocket and answered it with his high-pitched voice.

"Hello! I'm in the middle of a show, but I'll call you back later."

He hung up, casually apologized, and soldiered on. Surprisingly, the feedback for the show was great. Partly because it was unexpected, but mainly because it portrayed a sense of reality. That we all make mistakes and that accidents happen in life.

Takada-san understood the power of relevance.

Takada-san, who is a household name and celebrity in Japan, not only captivated his viewers, but, most importantly, closed sales. In many cases, he markets, positions, and sells products better than the companies that make them.

For example, when camera makers emphasized their latest model had 6 million pixels in their pamphlets. Takada-san took a different approach.

"If your digital camera has 6 million pixels, it means you can stretch and zoom it out like this. It means you can print out a big photo like this every month. And if you did that, you will have 12 big photos every year. Imagine leaving these photos for your children, it's going to become a precious treasure for them!"

As you can see, Takada-san presents products without jargon. He presents it in a way that people can imagine themselves using it. That leads to sales. Some have even called this phenomenon "Takada magic."

Alas, like all magic tricks, there is a secret and it's one we can learn. Takada-san attributes his secret to the teachings of the Japanese Shakespeare.

The teachings of the Japanese Shakespeare

Let’s rewind four hundred years back. There were no TVs of course. Instead, people watched performances on a stage in Japan. At this point in history, Kabuki hasn't arrived. Instead, we have Noh, the precursor to Kabuki. (Note: A big visual difference is that Noh performers wear masks while Kabuki performers use face paint.)

Zeami (pronounced zeh-ah-me) was a prominent Noh playwright and producer. The tenets of this craftsman's philosophy has persevered through time and even today embraced by many business leaders in Japan including Takada-san.

A key principle from Zeami is the idea of Ri-Ken-No-Ken (離見の見). The four Japanese characters translates to "the view of the away-view." Essentially, it is the idea that the great performers posses a perspective from the audience. An objective view away from one's self. It is the ability to see and feel our own performance from all kinds of angles. It is this posture that draws out the best performance in us.

This wisdom is as relevant as today.

It means for us...

To deliver a good presentation, we must see through the audience's eyes.
To write a good book, we must see through the reader's eyes.
To create a good product, we must see through our users' eyes.

By no means is this an easy task, but the effort to achieve this mindset is important. To see what your audience see. To feel what they feel. To intensely understand their view of their world and your role and place in it.