Words are not born by chance. They emerge when an era needs to name something that is already sensed but has not yet been articulated. Henko (変更), in Japanese, means deliberate, conscious, decided change. Not a minor adjustment, but a deep transformation carried out with intention. And that is precisely what many of us have felt throughout 2025.
It has been a year that invites us to pause. To look inward. To ask ourselves whether the life we lead —and the economy we sustain— is truly aligned with the values we claim to defend. Because values are not what we proclaim when everything is going well, but what we practice when no one is watching and when acting on them comes at a cost.
On a personal level, 2025 has left us with an uncomfortable question: am I living according to what I consider fair, good, and truly important? When we answer honestly, we discover something essential: having values is not enough; they must be applied. In how we consume, how we work, how we lead, and how we relate to others.
This is where the Henko Effect (変更) takes on meaning. That intimate —and at the same time collective— moment when we understand that change begins within, but cannot remain there. Values that are not projected into society become a sterile private ethic. And values that do not enter the company end up as empty rhetoric with no real impact.
For too long, we have separated personal life from professional life, as if conscience could be suspended at the office door. 2025 has shown that this division is false. Companies shape the world as much as —or more than— governments do. They decide what is produced, how it is produced, at what price, and with what social and environmental consequences. Pretending neutrality is no longer an option.
Applying values in business requires courage. It means making decisions that do not always maximize short-term profit, but that build trust, legitimacy, and future resilience. It means understanding that profitability without ethics is bread for today and social fracture for tomorrow. And that a human-centered economy is not a “soft” economy, but a more demanding one, because it requires accountability in human terms as well.
The Henko Effect (変更) invites us to revisit the why behind everything we do: why we create companies, why we innovate, why we accumulate, why we lead. When those questions are answered from values, purpose ceases to be a slogan and becomes a true compass.
It will not be a comfortable path. Some will see it as naïve or unnecessary. But history teaches us that great changes are not born from comfort, but from consciousness. And that societies move forward when they are capable of aligning their values with their economic systems.
Perhaps true progress is not about growing more, but about growing better. And perhaps 2025 has not been a year of crisis, but the beginning of an essential Henko (変更): a step toward an economy that once again places human beings —not money— at the center.
This time, the change is not ideological.
It is deeply personal.
Happy Holidays.