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2. Decluttering doyenne Decluttering doyenne is poised build to MARIE KONDO the next lifestyle lifestyle next the will it spark but joy? empire,

photographs by CARA ROBBINS 1. 3. She’s wearing a white bathrobe and standing next to a bouquet of tures any seriousness, making funny faces, constellation of stardom, alongside other goddesses of wellness and pink cherry blossoms. She has asked for soft instrumental music telling jokes, and putting everyone at ease. TWOFER domesticity such as Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Gwyneth to be piped into the room. It appears to calm her on this February It’s partly his personality, but it’s also a stra- “We’re two people, Paltrow. By the end of 2019, she had established an e-commerce site, morning in as a dozen production workers mill about, tegic effort to relax his wife. Kondo has been but working as one,” a blog, and a newsletter. She had also increased the size of her con- capturing footage that will show Kondo’s 2.5 million Instagram fol- in the public eye since 2011, when she pub- Kawahara says of sultant network—people whom Kondo personally instructs in her lowers how to dry brush their faces. Kondo closes her eyes, takes a lished The Life-Changing, Pulsing Magic of himself and Kondo. decluttering method—to 40 countries. deep breath, and starts making small circular motions on her fore- Tidying Up in Japan, but she’s still happiest Now, Kondo is bringing her method to the workplace, backed by head. When she opens her eyes, she has conjured up a euphoric ex- at home, with her daughters, ages 3 and 4. the $12 billion Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten, which pression for the camera. “The time that I spend with my family acquired a majority stake in KonMari Media in August. In April Kawahara isn’t buying it. He taps me on the shoulder to show me sparks joy for me,” she says, in a voice so 2020, Kondo released a new book, coauthored with Rice University his phone, on which he has pulled up the word ticklish in large let- quiet that only her interpreter seems able to business school professor Scott Sonenshein, called Joy at Work: Or- ters on Google Translate. “Doesn’t that brush look ticklish to you?” hear it. (She speaks English but is less com- ganizing Your Professional Life, which opens the door to selling or- he whispers to me, saying the word in English for the first time. He fortable doing so than Kawahara.) “I have to ganizing products and services to business types. “Tidying your proceeds to wiggle as if someone is tickling him, giggling so much be a public figure so I can spread this mes- workplace gives you an opportunity to reflect on how you that his dapper gray fedora threatens to tip over onto his glasses. sage. But it’s much harder for me than for are working and what you like about the job,” she says. “There’s no way I would put that thing on my face.” people who naturally excel at being in front of As she goes after the corporate world, Kondo appears Kawahara, CEO of KonMari Media, which he cofounded with a lot of people. Takumi has really helped me.” to be wrestling with the question of what kind of work his wife in 2015 and which is headquartered in Hollywood, Cali- Over the past year, Kondo has been forced makes her happy. For several years, it seemed like she Takumi Kawahara fornia, is a fixture at Kondo’s photo and video shoots, like the one to negotiate the tension between her intro- was following the playbook of other celebrity entre- today showcasing products sold on the KonMari website. The pro- verted personality and her desire to intro- preneurs. But now she has clearly decided to throw is watching his wife, duction crew often turns to him expectantly, waiting for him to ex- duce her philosophy to larger audiences. that strategy out the window. Apparently, it no longer claim, “Beautiful!” or “Excellent!,” a signal that they have nailed the Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, her se- sparked joy. Perhaps it never did. shot and can move on to the next one. ries that launched in January 2019, went Marie Kondo, massage He’s also the life of the set. His goofiness is a foil for Kondo’s quiet on to become the global streaming service’s ONDO WAS A 21-YEAR-OLD COLLEGE spirituality, which is central to her mission, something she describes most-watched nonfiction show of the year. student when she first met Kawahara, who was also 21. her face with a brush. to me as “helping others to choose what sparks joy.” Kawahara punc- Suddenly, Kondo was vaulted into a new They were in , waiting for an elevator. Kondo re-

44 FASTCOMPANY.COM Prop stylist: Meghan Czerwinski; hair and makeup: Megumi Asai Greyl Leonor and Glossier using MAY/JUNE 2020 members that Kawahara was wearing a suit From then on, their relationship and with a little badge on it featuring the Japa- careers were intertwined. “We both love nese symbol for the word dream. “When I to work,” Kawahara says. “We’re always saw that, I thought, What a passionate per- talking about work, even in our private son!” she says. “Even though Takumi’s more moments. The division of labor in their rela- extroverted and I’m much more introspec- tionship was clear. “She was an author who tive, we’re the same on the inside.” was very good at transmitting a message The life-changing influence of a humble Japanese tidying consultant and her personal philosophy Kondo had dreams of her own. She had to the world,” Kawahara says. “I was good already decided to turn her lifelong passion at creating businesses and establishing for tidying into a career. At the elevator, she networks.” They married in 2014, the year gave Kawahara a newly minted business of her book’s U.S. debut, and in 2016 they card with a small butterfly on it. (Kawahara moved to the Bay Area. “I’ve didn’t need her help: “Fortunately, I’m al- 3. 2. 10. 8. always responded to a call to action,” says ready an organized person,” he says.) They Kondo. “I came to the United States because decided to stay in touch. it had the strongest reaction to my book.” Kondo had become fascinated with home organization as a 5-year-old, flipping through her mother’s home decor maga- 1. 4. 9. 7. THAT KONDO’S PHILOSOPHY zines. As she got older, she began to see caught on anywhere outside of Japan still tidying as a manifestation of something baffles Kondo and Kawahara. “In Japan, ev- deeper. She felt a spiritual connection to cer- erybody lives in small houses, so you can tain objects that spurred tokimeku, a Japa- understand that people were having diffi- nese word that refers to the flutter you feel 5. 6. 12. 11. culties tidying,” says Kawahara. “But our im- in your body when something delights you. age of the U.S. is that everybody lives in such This idea became the foundation of her tidy- big houses.” Within a year of its U.S. release, ing approach, now known as the KonMari The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up sold method: keeping belongings that inspire 2 million copies. (The word pulsing was that feeling and shedding ones that do not. dropped in the English translation.) “The At 18, Kondo felt drawn to the Shinto tra- sheer volume of readers was just shocking,” 1. San Jose 7. Tokyo 8. Stockholm dition, and she applied to become a shrine In 2015, Kondo The Life-Changing, Margareta Magnus- Kawahara says. maiden, performing sacred rituals at Shinto partners with Pulsing Magic of son is dubbed “the There was also an inevitable backlash. altars. “I think the shrine was a natural eBay on a back- Tidying Up is pub- next Kondo” with her Some critics lumped her philosophy into a to-school lished in January 2018 book, The Gen- match for me because the foundation of decluttering 2011, selling 1.25 mil- tle Art of Swedish broader critique of minimalism, deeming Shinto expresses gratitude toward inani- guide—including lion copies in just Death Cleaning, de- her approach classist because poor people mate objects,” she says. In college, Kondo downloadable over a year. signed to “spark joy” don’t have the luxury of only owning things flash cards—for in recipients of studied sociology and then went to work for parents and kids. 3. Menlo Park, passed-down items. that “spark joy.” Others accused her of push- a Tokyo staffing agency, but she hustled ev- California ing an anti-capitalist agenda that could ery night and weekend to build a business On December 31, cripple the economy. Then there were the 2018, 710 people fol- 9. Berlin helping people clean their homes of accu- 2. Brooklyn low Kondo on Insta- In 2013, Germany is one of the bibliophiles who were downright livid that mulated goods. As demand for her services Lindsay Knaak-Stuart, a veteran gram. Her Netflix first Western countries to trans- she seemed to encourage people to get rid of grew, one client suggested that she write a cosmetics executive, launches show debuts the next late Kondo’s book. Magic Clean- books. “When it comes to the criticism that Meant in 2017, a bath-goods line day, and by January ing becomes a best seller and book so that people could do it on their own. explicitly designed to be “the 14, 2019, she has fuels the rise of secondhand on- I’ve received, I think, I haven’t expressed It was during a six-month writing course Marie Kondo of your shower.” 1.3 million followers. line marketplaces such as Shpock. myself well enough,” Kondo says. that she wrote a draft of The Life-Changing, Along with the attention came a spate Pulsing Magic of Tidying Up. At the end of of new business opportunities. The couple 4. Chicago 5. Dallas 10. London the program, she pitched it to publishers, A DePaul University The Container Store sees an al- After “pulsing” is dropped from launched a premium mobile experience in and when it hit shelves in 2011, Kondo’s psychology professor most 9% increase in quarterly the title of Kondo’s book in its U.K. Japan in 2015 allowing subscribers (paying book was an immediate hit in Japan. She publishes a study, sales ending in March 2019 in the translation, a minor kerfuffle en- about $3 a month) to ask Kondo tidying ques- The Dark Side of the wake of the release of Tidying Up sues, leading one waggish writer was bombarded with even more requests Home, concluding With Marie Kondo on Netflix. to lament: “I’m now forced to ac- tions. The following year, they released a free for her consulting services. that the messier the knowledge there’s a tremulous, iPhone app, and in Australia KonMari trade- As Kondo adapted to fame, she recon- home, the lower the near-orgasmic pleasure in clear- 12. Gurugram , marked the term “spark joy” for computer nected with Kawahara, who was working as family’s satisfaction. ing up decades of mess.” India software related to organizing and guidance a human resources strategist in . He 6. Buenos Aires, Argentina Gayatri Gandhi, about personal lifestyle—a TurboTax for tidy- Renová Tu Vestidor, a social plat- India’s first certified didn’t fully grasp how famous she had be- form for women to recirculate old 11. Shanghai KonMari consultant ing, if you will. “It was an explosion,” Kawa- come. “I had organized my home so much clothes, reports that sales grew Inspired by Kondo, Han Yi’en (and the only one hara recalls, his hands bursting open like that I didn’t own a TV set, so I had no idea,” he 200% in the first quarter of 2019 starts decluttering people’s when Kondo’s Netflix little fireworks. “Neither of us spoke or un- says. He remembers Kondo sharing her plans compared with 2018, and it re- homes for free in 2013, before go- show premieres), sees derstood English,­ so Google Translate was ceived 150,000 products versus ing pro two years later and build- a 40% increase in in- with him over dinner. “The first vision was 80,000 a year earlier, thanks to ing a large home-organization quiries for her services my best friend. We were trying to figure out simply to finish tidying all of Japan,” he says. the popularity of Tidying Up. company with 300+ tidiers. after Tidying Up airs. what was even being offered.”

46 FASTCOMPANY.COM ILLUSTRATIONS BY NICO189 MAY/JUNE 2020 the deal by doing a straight-to-series order. The key difference in this project was Tidy Your Tasks casting Kondo herself, not just her concept. In Kondo’s new book, Joy at Work, she applies “She is the real thing. She is delicate and her method to your job description. beautiful and committed,” Berman says. “Showing that was very, very important for one of these three magazine’s 100 Most succeeding with the show.” conditions. Influential People, When the eight-episode series Tidying Up Now, what if and I was inundated With Marie Kondo debuted on Netflix on New you’ve got too many with offers from all required tasks that over the world. I also Year’s Day in 2019, the response was stagger- don’t spark joy? happened to be ing. Google searches for “Marie Kondo” were Here’s a quick rule pregnant with my 100 times what they were when the book I follow. Apply the first child, and the beneficiary test: pressure took a toll went on sale in the U.S. The Container Store, Does the work on my mind and which had been struggling (and is unaffili- change anyone’s body. Sometimes I ated with the show), saw a nearly 9% sales decision-making? couldn’t control my If you’re still con- emotions and would increase. Circular-economy apparel company vinced the task isn’t burst into tears at ThredUp saw an 80% year-over-year increase YOUR TASK PILE IS worth keeping, talk the end of the day. I in people ordering “closet clean-out kits” in like a mirror—it re- with your boss. It’s realized that I simply flects what you’re the show’s first three weeks. Netflix ordered another way to learn couldn’t go on like currently doing. How if there’s a hidden this. That’s when I a second season immediately, as it had done do you feel when impact to your work. began changing the with the reality hits Nailed It! and Queer Eye. you look in the mir- After applying the way I worked. Then, Kondo did something unusual for ror? Don’t underesti- beneficiary test, I can’t possibly mate the power have an open con- teach others how to someone with aspirations to expand her that small changes versation over the spark joy in their lives business: She sat on the offer. In fact, she could have on your value of the tasks if I’m not experienc- has still not signed day-to-day enjoy- and the trade-offs ing it in my own. ment of work. on for a second sea- involved in doing Since I had that Separate your them. If all of this epiphany, I deliber- PULSATING STAR son of her Netflix tasks into piles, then fails, maybe your ately schedule time go through each boss is just unrea- for things I enjoy or “People say, show. When asked about the status of one, starting with the sonable. As much as want to do, such as: ‘Wow, you became easiest to tidy (typi- we’d all like to some- famous all of a season 2, Brandon cally your core tasks), times, we can’t toss Being with family sudden,’ but that’s Riegg, Netflix’s VP followed by project the boss out! not how I see it.” of unscripted orig- work, and conclud- —Scott Sonenshein Brightening up my ing with develop- home with flowers inals, who was in- mental tasks. volved with the acquisition and creation of Enjoying a relaxing the show, says, “We’re excited to continue Is this task required cup of tea for me to keep—and working with Marie, and we’re still discuss- excel—at my job? Getting a massage ing what the next steps would be.” when I’m tired By all accounts, the rigors of TV-making Will this task help took their toll on Kondo. “This opportunity create a more joyful In our busy contem- future, for example, porary world, many became a source of enormous stress to her,” by helping earn MY WORK SPARKS of us give priority says Kawahara. “We struggled to maintain a raise, get a joy, but there was a to our work at the a balance between our private life and busi- promotion, or learn time when my expense of our lives, a new skill? ness.” Netflix was aware of this, Riegg says, schedule was so just as I once did. packed, I was physi- If that is true for and worked to accommodate her needs. Does this task con- cally and mentally you, my message is “What she does takes a ton of focus and en- tribute to more satis- exhausted. It was in this: Make your By far, the most effective conduit for spreading the KonMari ergy, and when you add a layer of TV pro- faction at work? 2015, just after I was own physical and named one of Time emotional well- method has been TV. Kondo’s book was made into a Japanese drama duction, it becomes a different demand on Stop doing anything being top priority. in 2013. (NBC commissioned an American sitcom based on it in 2015, her,” he says. Multiple sources indicate that that doesn’t meet —Marie Kondo but the show wasn’t picked up.) In 2016, Kondo starred in a two-part the production schedule was modified to English-language documentary special called Tidy Up With Kon- give Kondo more time off set. Mari, for the Japanese network NHK, in which she helped New York- “I wasn’t used to the process at all, so I be- ers tidy up their homes. came really physically exhausted,” Kondo In some ways, that was a dry run. Gail Berman, the veteran TV says. “But I think at those points in life, and movie producer who had acquired rights to the book and sold it’s very important to take a moment to sit the sitcom idea to NBC, and even fielded offers for aTidying Up down and ask yourself, ‘What do I need movie, put together a presentation for “how this unscripted reality to change here? How can I prioritize bet- What’s at the heart of KonMari show might work with her at the center of it dealing with families ter?’ ” When I ask Berman about the show’s is that there are no in the U.S. We pitched that, and ultimately there was an interest plans for a second season, she says, “No, Ma- wrong answers,” says Kawahara. from Amazon and from Net­flix,” she says, with Netflix winning rie is not ready for (Continued on page 84)

48 FASTCOMPANY.COM Excerpted from Joy at Work © 2020 by KonMari Media Inc. and Scott Sonenshein. Used with permission of Little, Brown and Company, New York. All rights reserved ILLUSTRATIONS BY NICO189 MAY/JUNE 2020 with Netflix. It has its own streaming service, KonMari store sells a $75 cube for storing pa- Marie Kondo Rakuten TV, which is currently available in per clips and a $175 leather-wrapped phone- many countries, although not in the United charging station. And KonMari is poised to (Continued from page 49) States. When I ask Kawahara if Rakuten TV expand into the lucrative field of profes- is Kondo’s next stop, he says, “We’re still in sional coaching. “KonMari consultants just discussions with Rakuten about how we will work in homes right now,” Kondo says. “In- that yet.” Berman also reveals that she has partner on entertainment content.” (Rakuten troducing them into the workplace is some- moved on to focus on other projects. declined interview requests for this story.) thing we’re thinking about.” Hundreds of Although there is some speculation that In the months after the Rakuten invest- KonMari consultants could joyfully descend Kondo could do specials that would be less ment, KonMari began unveiling new di- upon companies to teach workers how to demanding than a season of shows, her de- mensions to its business that aligned with better manage their emails and meetings. cision not to pursue a second season has had its parent company’s strengths. In Novem- Home decluttering tends to be a onetime ripple effects throughout the KonMari ecosys- ber 2019, KonMari launched an e-commerce opportunity for consultants, but business tem. When Tidying Up debuted, KonMari had store, where Kondo curates products that consulting can be ongoing—and each con- approximately 250 certified consultants. By “spark joy” in her own life. The website in- sultant can potentially serve thousands. the end of 2019, her network had swelled to cludes a $75 tuning fork that you’re sup- 400 people. Interest in the Netflix show “cat- posed to strike against a crystal to create a DURING MY TIME WITH KONDO apulted me into this business,” says Phoebe sound meant to restore balance. There’s a in February, when I mention that my 4-year- Cusack, a consultant in Boston. Cusack ex- $180 earthenware steamer called a Donabe. old struggles to keep her room tidy, she lit pected a second season to launch at the start And there’s that $22 dry brush. up. She had noticed that I’d stepped off the of 2020, leading to a stream of new clients, Then came the new book, Joy at Work, set for a few minutes to FaceTime with my but when it didn’t, business began to dry up. which Kondo sold in an auction in the spring daughter earlier in the day, and she can re- “I was counting on it,” Cusack says. “I feel of 2018 to a division of Little Brown, but as it late to moments like these, as a mother who like she wasn’t thinking of her consultants.” happens, the initiative to bring her methods also finds it hard to be away from her girls to the office melded with values cherished when she’s working. As much as Kondo loves WHEN THE BUZZ AROUND by her new benefactor, according to Kawa- helping couples and workers, she’s most pas- Kondo’s Netflix show was at its peak, Kawa- hara. “We had already been working on the sionate about children embracing her ide- hara weighed his options for how to grow book, but when Mickey [Mikitani, Rakuten’s als. By introducing decluttering techniques KonMari. In March 2019, The Information re- CEO] heard about it, he said, ‘This is what early in life, Kondo hopes that children will ported that KonMari had been shopping for I’ve been telling my employees for years!’ avoid the problem in the first place. investment capital, perhaps seeking up to Maybe, if they won’t listen to me, they’ll lis- Five years ago, just as Kondo was becom- $40 million. (At the time, a KonMari spokes- ten to Marie.” After the deal became public, ing popular in the United States, she part- person would only confirm that it was meet- Mikitani wrote on LinkedIn, “Everyone in nered with eBay to offer flash cards to help ing with investors.) the Rakuten family cleans his or her work kids declutter before returning to school, and Then, in August, KonMari announced space, each week. You will find all of us— last fall, Kondo published Kiki and Jax: The that Rakuten had taken a majority stake in myself included—one morning a week, ti- Life-Changing Magic of Friendship. The picture the company for an undisclosed sum, bury- dying up our work areas.” book for preschoolers tells the story of a squir- ing it in a press release that sounded like Unlike The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying rel and an owl whose friendship is put to the an endorsement deal between Kondo and Up, Joy at Work features two voices. Kondo test because of the squirrel’s hoarding ten- the e-commerce giant. For a woman at the writes the first part, in which she provides dencies. The story is designed to show kids height of her celebrity and whose moves tips on how to organize your desk and declut- how to sort through their toys and organize are intensely followed, this development— ter your digital work space. “In the workplace, them. Kawahara says that KonMari is also on par with Amazon acquiring Goop, for ex- there are things we just need to do in the pres- working on a game that will teach kids how ample—somehow eluded public attention. ent moment or that might be beneficial for our to tidy that could be ready as early as this year. Kawahara explains that Rakuten under- career in the future,” she says. Sonenshein, After a long day of filming, Kondo and stands the Japanese philosophy that un- the organizational behavior professor at Rice Kawahara walk to their car, which is parked dergirds the KonMari method and also has University’s business school, writes the other in a residential neighborhood in Los Ange- global scale. “Rakuten is even bigger than half, about how the KonMari method applies les. They stumble across a mother and her Amazon in Japan,” Kawahara says, pointing to decision-making, time management, and 3-year-old daughter heading to the play- out that it owns banks and mortgage bro- professional relationships. (See “Tidy Your ground, and the toddler instantly recog- kerage services. “It touches every person’s Tasks,” page 49.) “There’s a lot of clutter, not nizes Kondo from her TV show. “I like to life there. I actually wish it had made bigger just on the desk, but in our minds, in the con- KonMari my toys,” the child tells her. news, but I think the Japanese media doesn’t ference room, and on our computers,” he says. Kondo beams and gives the child a little pay that much attention to us anymore since “All these distractions get in the way of doing hug, and then resumes walking, eager to get we haven’t lived there for [many] years.” And the job that we might otherwise love.” back to her two children, who have spent most of the U.S. media doesn’t know what This expansion into the workplace means the day with their nanny. “She likes being at Rakuten is. KonMari Media can ramp up content and home,” Kawahara says, before they depart. The Rakuten acquisition might also ex- products related to work life. Now, in ad- “That’s why she likes to tidy.” plain why KonMari has not yet re-signed dition to $119 aromatherapy diffusers, the [email protected]

84 FASTCOMPANY.COM MAY/JUNE 2020