The idea of dignity runs throughout Japanese culture. The literal translation of dignity is “songen,” which means prestige, but there’s another expression, “jinkaku,” which means moral character. When a new constitution for Japan was drafted after World War II, it included an article declaring that each individual was entitled to respect, simply by virtue of being a human being.
This week, I watched a video clip of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers sprinting across a baseball field. They were running to meet Yu Darvish, the veteran pitcher for the San Diego Padres, who I saw play when he was with the Chicago Cubs.
Shohei took off his cap and bowed to Yu. Yoshi bowed as well. Then they all shook hands. The simple act demonstrated respect and dignity.
The recent movie, Perfect Days, by Wim Wenders, illustrates the concept of dignity in an ideal way. Its main character is Hirayama, a middle-aged man who cleans the eye-catching modern toilets in Shibuya, an upscale shopping and residential district. Played by actor Koji Yakusho, Hirayama goes about his days with humor, grace and, yes, dignity. He doesn’t find the work beneath him; it’s a conduit to his other life, which includes a love of American rock music and reading books that he picks up for a few hundred yen at a used book store.
I was introduced to the importance of dignity very early in life. On one day during each summer, my father took my brother and I individually to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. He walked us through the airport, introducing us to everyone from skycaps, to gate agents, pilots and the people who ran air freight. We saw that every job at American Airlines was focused on making sure passengers arrived safely, and that all the jobs had to be done well to accomplish that.
I thought of these things when I read a new pamphlet by Ari Weinzweig, the co-founder of Zingerman’s. It’s called A Revolution of Dignity In The Twenty-First Century Workplace. Ari has written numerous books and pamplets on aspects of the restaurant world and the workplace, but dignity is something of an unusual concept at food businesses.
If you watch The Bear and all those Gordon Ramsey cooking competitions, you might say that there’s no dignity in the restaurant world at all. But Ari thinks it’s an important idea to implement.
In his pamphlet, Ari shares some bullet points that might get people thinking about dignity.
Honor the essential humanity of the person we interact with.
Be authentic in all our interactions (without acting out).
Make sure that everyone has a meaningful say.
Begin every action with positive beliefs.
Commit to helping everyone get to greatness.
Create an effective application of equity.
I’m sure that you’ve been in plenty of situations where these things didn’t happen. Newsrooms have never been infused with dignity; the work comes first, especially on deadline. My generation was always told that we had to set aside any insults or microaggressions and make sure that the paper went to press.
It’s interesting to watch current newsrooms roil with accusations and resentment. Two of mine, the New York Times and NPR, have been in turmoil lately, in part because the news business is fundamentally changing. Restaurants have sometimes been that way, too. The stress is everywhere.
But Ari’s pamphlet might give people some inspiration to think differently. You can order it here.