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Gordon Jolley

Hi folks, Gordon here!!

What has Gordon been doing for more than 25 years in Japan?
From 1983 I worked in Japan as a trainer, and coach in Global Business communication. I designed training programs and trained the trainers. Clients I worked with included BMW, Canon, Dow, Dupont, Fuji Film, GE Plastics, IBM, IHI, Kanematsu Gosho, Korean Management Association at Seoul, KDD, Matsushita Denki, Mitsui Bussan, Nissan, Oki Denki, Shearson Leaman, etc.

In 1989 I started my own Training and HRD consulting business, now in our 25th year, called Executive Development International (EDI) specializing in end-to-end solutions for Global business HRD, issues management and skill building, management coaching, Team-Building, and training for global business relationship management with European, American, and Japanese clients in Japan and abroad, such as Reuters, Tandem Computers, Compaq Computers, Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, SunMicro, Lands’ End Direct Merchants, Silicon Graphics International, Ericcson, IBM, Canon, NTT, NTT Learning Systems, NTT Laboratories, DoCoMo, NHK, Sharp, ANA, SGS, Sanno Institute of Management, Jissen Women's University and others. I designed and managed the Summer Executive Program, International Management Skills Assessment, (IMAP) for a major Japanese global corporation at Stanford University for five years. Designed & delivered a highly rated two-year, Global Business Management training program, for Docomo Corporate Sales & Marketing Division 2005~ and Docomo International Division 2008~

In 2010 I began meeting with some highly experienced and professional business trainers, each an expert in his field. What do Japan Solutions Partners have in common? We want to change the way corporate "training" is planned, implemented and supported in Japan. We pay attention to process and we feel, that in partnership with our client, we can make a difference. We can show tangible results. Our aim is not only to pool our rich experience, clients and marketing strengths but to create end-to-end solutions and client-partnering that clearly sees to the real-time, real-world application of the results of our programs in the client workplace. We call ourselves Japan Solutions. And here we are.

- My field of interest is conflict management.
        “A problem is an opportunity in disguise”
- My focus is culture and communication. 
        “Every communication is 'cross-cultural'”
- I pay attention to communication processes & relationship management skills. - I study differences between cultures and people
        and how we manage those differences.
- I look for synergies by leveraging difference into opportunity

I facilitate the creation of strategic analysis frameworks
    (present and future alternatives)
and coach on decision-making for Global Business relationship      management.

From your point of view I am a facilitator, coach and trainer. (not "sensei"). From your company’s point of view I am a “Changineer”. Companies hire me when they want to change (improve) something.
But I don’t want so much to change what you "know",
    I want to change what you "understand", about what you know.
I believe people know a lot more than they realize.
        -Enough to solve the problem, usually.
The way we organize what we know (the frameworks we recognize) often prevents us from realizing alternative solutions.

I can help you move “from a point of view to a viewing point”.  (T. Crum)
I don't provide the "answers".
    I provide a methodology so you can find your own answers.
I apply "coaching” or “process facilitation" methods. I use “positive enquiry”         What I do is shorten the time to solution.
I ask questions that provide an ”enriched”, “accelerated” environment

I have been working and learning in this field almost all my life. 
I’m just the right resource-person that you need to move out of “apples to oranges” comparisons.
If you are looking for HRD solutions in the area of international business and you have some idea about what you want to be able to do or you know what kind of results you need
    -then call on me.
I move ideas, I move teams, I move people- in the direction you need to go.

Gordon Jolley Facilitating


My attitude to learning is that the learner must be active not passive.
I believe that the learner, is 100% responsible for her or his own education.
     I will take responsibility for the process.
But what you understand and don’t understand and
    -what you learn or don't learn is up to you. 


If you don't find out what you wanted then it's most likely that you just didn't ask the right question. Yet.
That’s where I come in. I sure ask a heck of a lot of questions!
    And I’m very good at it. I’ve been doing that for a long time!

You may notice I haven’t given you a list of my programs or training courses. This is because I prefer to work with companies and managers who have some idea of what they want to change, of what kind of results they want and how they will apply and support those changes in the real world. So trying to fit your problem into a list of program offerings is not going to bring the change you or your company need.


Most so-called “Business Training” today is feel-good and useless. If it’s “successful”, everyone feels good about it and the attendee-response questionnaires are great. The only thing that changes are people's feelings.
If I say I have training courses for negotiation, conflict management, team building, international professional-level presentations, global business management, etc…so what? So does everyone else. Rather than trying to make a decision to select something interesting or different from a list of off-the-shelf programs, look at me as a resource and together we can co-develop solutions that can produce the unique results your company needs to succeed. Now.
All you need to know is your vision, your problem and your context. 
    We can work together and partner successfully 
    to develop and implement End-to-End Solutions 
    that meet your needs because they are built to your satisfaction.