In a prior post “Physician: Know Thy ikigai? Then Know Thy Twitter” I discuss ikigai: The confluence of passion and ability with something the world needs and for which something the world will pay you for.
Well, mix ikigai in a little innovation and what you may find is the personification of this combination: Mister Rogers.
The documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”, which describes the journey of Fred Rogers from ministry student to cultural icon, is a story about ikigai and innovation.
His passion is to help children navigate their childhood in a compassionate way. He believes childrens’ struggles should be approached seriously and thoughtfully, in a manner to help them to develop their own mental and emotional tools in an age-appropriate way.
Fred Roger’s ability was initially based in his musically skill, but he also had a natural ability to listen carefully.
But did the world really need a Mister Rogers? You bet! This becomes evident as you watch the movie, as we see how he approached such subjects as the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the Challenger explosion, or 9/11.
Let’ s face it, like it or not, American children, partly because of TV, were well aware of all of these events. Using TV to also help alleviate some of their distress from these events was both necessary and reasonable.
Finally there is the question of want. Did the world want a Mister Rogers? Were they willing to pay for it? What was his his “value proposition”?
In this documentary we see a side of Mister Rogers many people don’t see. We get a glimpse of Mister Rogers ability to navigate and lobby for the financial backing of his and other PBS shows as we see his interview during an aggressive 1969 Senate hearing intent on cutting PBS funds. We see him – in one fell swoop – successfully close a financing deal that had been all but lost.
Fred Rogers was no fool, he was a thoughtful marketing expert – who both knew the value of his product and knew the best way to sell it. A Steve Jobs before Steve Jobs.
So, we have passion, ability, need, and want. All of the components of ikigai are covered. But what about innovation?
Innovation – the process of moving from idea to impact – is at the heart of the entire Rogers journey.
From his use of puppetry, to his creation of an imaginary land, to the minimal viable product approach of his entire studio set, we see the concepts of innovation being employed as well (if not better) than those taught at a Stanford Business School program about innovation.
So, bottom line: if you want a case study on the confluence of ikigai and innovation, watch this documentary.
It’s fabulous!