Jiro Dreams of Sushi View More In Documentary JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is the story of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious three-star Michelin Guide rating, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar. Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews Fresh: It's torture to watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi -- if you are on an empty stomach. Fresh: I really wish Tokyo were closer. Fresh: Would you be willing to massage an octopus for 45 minutes, until its flesh possesses just the right amount of chewability? Fresh: As exhausting as Jiro may be, he's also inspiring. Read More About This Movie On Rotten Tomatoes

My wife and I drove 150 miles round trip to see this movie. An absolute joy and feast for the eyes. Only problem was that we could not eat sushi for several weeks thereafter. Jiro's sushi was just too strong in our memory to violate with any run of the mill variant. This is a great film! This movie isn't really about sushi and people that make it. It is about what one can achieve with a certain mindset. From extreme poverty to the world's most renown sushi chef, Jiro dedicates his life to perfection. The food looks great, and what we learn about Jiro and his family is interesting -- but not interesting enough to fill an hour and 22 minutes. The filmmakers, it seems, wanted desperately to have a feature-length film but didn't manage to find enough material of interest; as a result, the film starts getting repetitive after about 50 minutes or so. At the same time, the film leaves you with unanswered questions: It begins to explore the biography of Jiro and his two sons, but women are entirely absent from the story -- we hear about Jiro's father, but nothing about his mother or his wife, or if the sons have families of their own who might lead the restaurants for a third generation.

The film talks about the long history of sushi, but there, too, it could've provided more information. Instead, we get a great deal of testimony about Jiro's dedication and high standards, again and again and again. When embarking on a project like this, foremost in the director's mind should be the question of how he's going to avoid making a film that comes off as one long advertisement for Jiro's restaurant. But David Gelb, the director, has not come up with an adequate answer. Sushi Nakazawa is a raw delight Never Miss a Story Get The Post delivered directly to your inbox By clicking above you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.This post is part of the ‘What Product Managers can learn from …’ series.It is also published in the Startup Edition.Just recently I re-watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a wonderful documentary about Jiro Ono, an 85 year old sushi chef from Japan who leads a tiny 8 seat sushi bar located in a Tokyo subway station. It repeatedly got awarded with 3 out of 3 Michelin stars and is known as the best place in the world to get sushi.

I first stumbled upon the documentary a few months back when Jason Evanish published his own recommendation. Since then I’ve seen it a couple of times on various occasions and it always is a true joy to watch.where to buy sushi grade fish clevelandI believe as Product Managers we all can learn a lot from Jiro, especially when it comes to hard nuts to crack like hiring, quality assurance and leadership …jiro dreams of sushi commentaryWe live in a world of ‘good enough’. sushi tei menu penangPeople talk about diminishing returns, finding the sweet spot and 80/20.We easily forget that in order to create something that truly stands out and delights customers it takes vision, passion and standards that are way beyond ‘standard’.sushi yoshi menu columbia

Often you will have to set your own standards since ‘industry standard’ or being ‘better than the competition’ will cause you to aim way lower than you could.sushi conveyor belt bostonI feel this is the reason why sometimes whole industries get disrupted by people who are ‘outsiders’ that naively expected way more than anyone of the incumbents was used to deliver.sushi grade tuna phoenixSet your own standards and live by them. sushi rolling mat wikiI’m not surprised that everyone I know is drawn to the companies that produce the best products. Who cares about companies that do mediocre work? I don’t even want to imagine how hard it must be for these companies to attract talent.If you carefully watch the interactions and incredibly tight feedback loops of his team you will find that every time someone points out what could have been done better it is acknowledged and immediately executed.

No arguing, no rationalization attempts, no excuses.His team is as motivated to strive for perfection as Jiro himself. If a shortcoming is discovered you will hear a short hai (yes, I understand) and people are back in the flow, striving to do better.I believe it is an art to separate your own ego from the work you are doing. This is related to something I found in the Heroku values …On the one hand you want to be passionate about what you are doing but on the other hand you don’t want to let your ego get in the way of a better solution. You don’t win by being right all the time, you win by identifying things that are great wherever they came from.If you apply for a job at Jiro’s sushi bar you know what you are getting yourself into. It will take about 10 years of dedicated work until you’ll be allowed to cook tamagoyaki (egg sushi). It takes a long time of training and personal growth until Jiro considers you a shokunin (master craftsman).It seems like Jeff Bezos of Amazon also isn’t shy about communicating his expectations …

This is what he told potential recruits back in 1997. In the middle of the dot-com bubble where hiring top talent was extremely difficult and in a climate where other companies were offering ridiculous employee perks.Jiro and his staff are constantly preparing and tasting their ingredients and final products. Every day, many times a day.Eating your own dog food is a great way to get into the shoes of your customers. Many software companies test-drive preview versions of their products internally and or with a tiny fraction of their customer base before they release the changes to everyone.It is hard to assure quality if you don’t care about how your own food tastes like. Caring more than others is a real competitive advantage. Ingrained in the company culture and incredibly hard to copy.Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo even refused to get broadband installed at home until the majority of US households got it in order to get an authentic experience of the products she was responsible for (back then at Google).

It makes a lot of sense to regard your suppliers as part of your team. panies like Apple take this to the extreme. They tightly work together with their suppliers to help them succeed. Tim Cook ,who led Apple’s operations for many years has built one of the most impressive supply chains of the IT world. Whether it is gorilla glass, CPUs, memory or other essential parts, Apple’s focus on healthy supply chain relationships is one of the reasons they are able to create the products people fall in love with.Jiro’s infinite passion about creating the perfect sushi is what drives all of the observations I made. Whether it is tightly controlling the supply chain, choosing to only work with the best people (whether that means his staff or his suppliers) or his obsession about helping people grow and enabling them to do their best — Passion is his fuel.If you find something you really care about, other things tend to fall into place. In the end everyone cares about great products & passion — customers, partners, investors, potential hires and employees.