Ikigai as Pedagogy: Teaching Values-Based Leadership, Allyship, and Flourishing Through a Japanese Framework

As management education faces critique for reproducing colonial, individualist frameworks—and as authoritarian political movements dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education—educators need tools that enact pedagogical work in service to liberation and cultivate thriving through relational contexts and agentic engagement. In this session, I introduce Ikigai as a pedagogical exercise for teaching values-based leadership and relational allyship, grounded in a socially embedded view of flourishing. Through individual mapping, paired dialogue, and debrief, participants explore how intersectional awareness transforms Ikigai from career optimization into liberation-oriented leader development. I provide materials for leadership, organizational behavior, and DEI courses.