The world is changing fast, and “just be strong” is not a plan. I’m joined by my good friend, clinical psychologist and author Professor Daiki Kato to share the thinking behind his new book Beyond Myself 8 and the BM8 framework: eight practical psychological powers that help us stay steady, connect deeply, and move forward with purpose when life feels uncertain.

We dig into why non-cognitive skills like resilience, self-efficacy, empathy, and tolerance matter as much as any technical ability, especially in an era shaped by rapid change and emerging AI. Daiki reframes resilience as flexible strength, like bamboo that bends and returns, and explains how self-efficacy grows through small wins that prove to your brain that progress is possible. From there we explore rolefulness, the sense that our presence and actions matter, and how that feeling can expand into genuine empathy and real tolerance, the “mental margin” that lets us welcome difference without feeling threatened.

We also get concrete with the “navigate society” powers: identifying better questions when there are no clear answers, learning from experience without getting stuck in the past, and using imagination for risk management without spiraling into fear. Daiki shares two hands-on tools you can try right away: question journaling (discomfort to question to wider view) and a resilience map that helps you name what you have, who you are, what you can do, and where you can go for support.

If you want a clear, usable map for mental strength, relationships, and meaningful contribution, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs steadier footing, and leave a review with the one BM8 power you want to practice next.

A single ignored greeting can sound small until it becomes the daily signal that you do not belong. We talk with Dorothy Dalton, a global HR leader and inclusive workplace champion, about what gender balance looks like when you have lived through normalized sexism, and why so many organizations still fall short on psychological safety and fair treatment.

Dorothy shares how workplace harm has shifted from overt harassment to covert exclusion: being left out of emails, frozen out of meetings, measured against invisible standards, or kept in a constant state of anticipatory threat around redundancy. We dig into workplace trauma as an accumulation of repeated stressors, and we name the dynamic that makes recovery harder: corporate gaslighting that tells employees to “fix themselves” with confidence hacks, resilience talk, or burnout labels while the system stays the same. If you care about employee engagement, retention, and healthy performance, this is the uncomfortable side of workplace culture that cannot be ignored.

We also get practical about healing. Dorothy explains how she integrates trauma-informed coaching, cognitive behavioral coaching, and a culturally accurate view of Ikigai to help people rebuild after bullying, layoffs, and chronic anxiety. We challenge the popular Ikigai Venn diagram and make room for a more human truth: your job does not have to be your only source of meaning. Purpose, gratitude, relationships, and small daily joys can be real steps back to stability, identity, and hope.

If this conversation helps you name what you have been experiencing, share it with someone who needs it, subscribe for more on Ikigai and work culture, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

A grandmother stops farming and something quietly disappears: her energy, her rhythm, her reason to get up. That single story becomes the thread that ties everything together as we talk with Yuki Ohata, representative director of Sanchi No Mikata in Shizuoka, about Ikigai as a lived practice instead of a business buzzword. Yuki’s work sits right at the intersection of purpose, Japanese agriculture, and community building, and it offers a surprisingly practical model for rural revitalization.

We dig into the Irodori leaf-farming approach made famous in Kamikatsu, where elderly farmers collect and ship high-quality leaves used as tsumamono garnishes in Japanese fine dining. These are the details that make kaiseki feel like a season on a plate, and they create real income in places that need it. We also touch on Kamikatsu’s zero waste lifestyle and what it teaches about discipline, pride of place, and how local systems shape daily behavior.

From there, we move into what Yuki is building now: a Shizuoka-based leaf project designed to help older adults stay active, earn money, and most importantly, have an ibasho, a place to belong. Plus, we explore his branding work on a rare hanabiratake cauliflower mushroom nicknamed the phantom mushroom, sold under the warm, memorable name Hohohotake. Sydney Siegford joins us as interpreter and shares her perspective as a Tokyo-based food writer and inbound hospitality consultant working with Japan’s fine dining scene.

If you care about Ikigai, farm-to-table culture, aging with dignity, or the future of rural Japan, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.