Five Essential Business Lessons from 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'

Certainly there are days or times when you might not love what you are doing, but if you love the path that you are on, it is easy to wade through troubled waters. But don't expect love at first sight. Jiro loves making sushi, but he says that it is the job of the individual to fall in love with their work. This takes time and commitment, but it is essential to performance.

All great businessmen and leaders, like Jiro, have a passion for performance and outcomes. Passion is the fuel that drives people to tirelessly dedicate themselves to tasks, improvements, and progress. Ultimately, passion is the keystone to tenacity and achievement. If you are not passionate about your work, you have two choices: Become passionate, or find new work.

From employees to suppliers, having the best partners is essential. Jiro shares how sushi is 95% done by the time he makes it in front of his customers. Therefore it is essential that all his partners play a vital role in delivering the best sushi in the world. Everything starts with getting the top quality ingredients from top-quality partners. He get's tuna from one partner that specializes in tune, rice from one person that specializes in rice, shrimp from one person that specializes in shrimp, and so on. If it's not quality to start with, his partners won't give it to him, which in turn benefits them all by ensuring that only the best of the best is served. Jiro also has the best employees. Or rather, he makes them the best. He trains them tirelessly and motivates them to always be better. And more importantly, teaches them how to always seek to innovate and improve on their own.

Jiro, at 85 years old, is the best sushi chef in the world. And yet, he proudly states that he is not perfect and there is always room for improvement. Jiro was nine years old when he left his home, and he has only done one thing since then: keep improving. Even after he received an award from Japan declaring him as a national treasure, he returned to work the same day to further improve his skills.

Jiro serves sushi one by one to every customer that sits in his tiny, 11 seat restaurant. Jiro has made it his responsibility to ensure that all patrons finish eating at the same time, so he makes bigger sushi for bigger people and smaller sushi for smaller people, adjusting on the fly. He also noticed which hand people use to eat their sushi, and then places each piece on the plate accordingly to make it easier to pick up. Everything from seating arrangement to portion size is handled in the background by Jiro and his staff so that customers can focus on the one thing they came to do: eat the best sushi in the world.