Last Post

Soo, presentations ended yesterday. i surely couldve done mine better but im glad i got the message out.

anyways, this term went by so incredibly quick. whether we're each a follower or a leader, to some extent 'leadership' is always necessary. and i will cherish the things i have learned in class.

thank you ken and thank you to my beloved section mates:)

Presentation day;)

Sooo the presentations have started!

Overall I was extremely surprised to not only see how well my section mates did but to also see how much they've improved since last term. In the first term, Rab demanded presentations that were based on very high standards and it was great to see my friends actually live up to the same level or even go beyond what they'd done last time. 

Although I would like to go and write a review on everybody, some points overlapped one another so I'm just going to talk about the first presentation day as a whole. 

Firstly, visuals...I think most of the slides captured the audience's attention very well; especially by adding pictures and graphs and such. The contrast between the colors is definitely important.

Second, confidence...I could definitely see that most of the people who presented were nervous. I mean, they're talking infront of a group of people without looking through any notes...you can't really blame them. I mean, you 'll eventually see but I'd be all over the place with nerves caught on to me. Anyways, I guess it's how you show those nerves infront of the audience is what really matters. At my workplace,  my instructor always tells me to 'act' confident. It doesn't matter if you're confident or not. You just gotta act confident and show the audience that you know your stuff. That way, the people would definitely be more convinced and also find you as a more trustworthy source. 

Lastly, like Ken said, I think all of the presentations lacked a hook. Kristi succeeded in that I think tho.  It's weird though, because she didn't have a specific hook. This got me thinking...why do I feel so intrigued towards Kristi's presentations every time.There are probably multiple reasons but a lot of it probably has to do with the 'way' she talks. She talks in such a genuine matter, it is as if you are having a daily conversation with her. Also, her topic is always interesting because it's different;) with a hook, it probably  would've been even more intriguing than it already was!

Gah can't wait till my presentation:)!!

That's sarcasm by the way.haha

A Very Special Presentation

Monday, we had a very special guest speaker...Mr. Kitashiro. What a man he is.

Okay so I have to be honest. When I first saw him, I thought 'oh well he looks like another one of those narrow-minded business men.' In retrospect, I think this was partially for his tight up salary-man-like- outfit and also for the soft voice he had when he spoke. For Hibiya gakucho, she had much more energy and liveliness so those were huge differences for me. However, there is no denying that there was something about mr. Kitashiro that makes you sense his presence, a kind of aura only few people have. 

Anyways, as the presentation went on, I realized that this man was definitely not 'some guy in a suit.' I know IBM and I know that their business wasn't going as well as it once did. However, his innovative idea to change directions had turned the company around completely. Him becoming CEO of Asia after that actually gives me a sense of hope because in Japan, I always thought that age and experience mattered, not talent. However, for mr. Kitashiro he wasn't chosen because he had been there longest. It was because he had actually proved a point. 

Another point that was interesting was his positive vibe. It was something rare and I think if it weren't for that, mr. Kitashiro would not have had the space in himself to even be creative. 

I always thought in order to succeed, you had to give up your life completely and I do think Mr. Kitashiro had to sacrifice a lot of time with his family for his job. However, he had always kept a balance following ATM( Akaruku, Tanoshiku, Mae?forgot that one.lol) 

One thing that bothers me though is that this all isn't adaptable to women the same way. I mean, if we are going to have a family and have kids, we have no choice but to keep away from our jobs for a certain amount of time. That obviously gives us a late start for promotions. I mean look at Germany's Merkel or Australia's former prime minister Gillard. They are both woman leaders but don't have children....

Gah, it just makes me feel reallyREALLY pessimistic. 

The Most Relatable Leader Ever

  Today we had a presentation by a very special person, Professor Hibiya Junko. Her presentation was honestly one of the most motivating ones i've had since i came to icu.
this april, when i entered icu, i had so much determination. i had an idea of what i wanted to do with my life and knew what i had to do to get there...but in the past six months, I've taken so many classes from different studies. initially, i just took those classes because just like a lot of other icu students, i thought, 'if im in icu, mind as well take as many different classes as i can.' However, unexpectedly, taking those classes confused me of what i wanted to do with my life, and now, i constantly feel like i am stuck in a box made out of blank papers thinking about my future.

http://50-gs.blogspot.jp/2012/07/g-shock-33-basic-white-in-high-key.html

anyways, lately I've been panicking about what i want to do with my life and who i want to be. but today, listening to professor hibiya's presentation eased me off a bit. we don't have to make a decision right this moment. i mean we're young. we're still in college. we should be experimenting and we definitely should be confused about our future. professor hibiya has made me realize that no matter what we do with our lives today, we should just be ready for our callings that will hopefully come to us in the future. honestly the word 'calling' sounds a bit too religious for me but i get the gist. we need to be open for that moment we will be in someone's need or when we finally make use of ourselves.
till then, im gonna keep it YOLO. You seriously only live once. i dont want to live my once in a life time college life worrying about my future. rather, i would like to think about today and live in this moment. work hard, make mistakes and enjoy it.

even though we might feel restricted at times, i'm glad that i go to a university of tomorrow that lets me do that. well no, im glad that i go to a university that has such a leader who inspires me to look at tomorrow in such a positive and motivational way:D and also, her being a woman, widens up my possibilities as well. i hope i can tear down the walls of normality and tradition and someday become a leader like her.

this all reminds me of a song...
living in the moment by jason mraz

Shackleton: Lighten Up!

'Effective leaders find ways of building celebration into the culture of their organizations.'

 In my high school, there was one teacher in particular who was popular amongst every student. This was especially abnormal at my school because it was the norm for students to hate every single teacher, or even if some students liked one teacher, it didn't necessarily mean that everybody did. Anyways, aside from the fact that that teacher was actually pretty good at teaching, he always had parties after  midterms or for occasions such as Christmas. He would bring in cakes he bought at Costco with a stack of American snacks he knew we loved. After this became a somewhat culture for his classes, us students were actually motivated to work harder because we knew what awaited us in the end. Strangely enough, they showed in our test results as well. Out of six classes that took the same test, he taught two of them and alwaysalways, those two classes were the ones that had the highest average scores. The attitudes of the students were different as well. Another thing that was the norm in my high school was sleeping during class. During this teacher's classes, almost(lol) no one was sleeping. Instead, we would shout out answers, ask questions and actually participate in class. I don't know if it was in this teacher's intentions or not but it honestly did work. As much as motivating us to study harder, I personally also nurtured a sense of belonging in his class. I think it's usual for students to hang out only in their cliques but when you have parties, it makes it easier to mingle with people you usually don't talk to. Then ultimately there is a sense of unity in the whole class.

This isn't the end though...

I had this teacher for two years and towards the end, the students including myself started expecting him to have parties which made everything a bit tricky. Our high motivations started decaying and our spirits during class soon were no where to be found.

'Normality' is really a terrifying thing...I think it's a sense of balance that is needed in this case.

it's HOW you deal with it...

i have one friend who's always smiley and constantly remains happy. ask her yourself, 'do you have any worries at the moment?' and she'll give you the best answer ever. 'no. the thing is, i dont like worrying. its so tiring you know.' in case you havent guessed already, its megumi kii. haha but its not like she hasnt been through hardships in life. i mean i'm her friend and i know what she goes through but never have i seen her talk badly about a situation or a person. 

i think life depends not on the weight of the matter but HOW you deal with it. 

Say you have a conflict with someone. Whether you're a leader or not, you actually have the choice to choose whether to hate that someone and exclude him/her from the team or to actually accept that person for what he/she is without any hard feelings. some people might call this 'optimism' but i'd like to call this a way of life. 

i've never ever thought that it was possible for someone to live without any worries in life but megu showed me that it was. and when you've got someone like megu who's always positive about life, you find yourself starting to smile as well. it's extremely infectious. 

whoa, i think i just wrote a post dedicated to her.lolol

A World Without Any Leaders...(exploring my random thoughts)

With all of this talk on leadership and what not, I began to wonder whether if it were possible for the world to function without any leaders.

Okay so first of all, why do we even need leaders? Do we need them because we need somebody in charge, to lead the way, to make matters flow smoothly? or is it because we're all secretly insecure and we want somebody who will take the blame when matters go wrong?haha
Isn't it weird when you think about it...I mean when there's a group of people working towards something and they succeed, they talk about teamwork and such but when they fail, a huge amount of the blame is put on the one leader. i mean look at Obama. He carries all of America's failure. When there's a protest somewhere in the states, it is Obama's face that is put on the front cover.
it is as if the leader uses the members while the members use the leader as well. it is actually difficult to determine who really has the authority in this situation.

now, lets imagine a society without any leaders, something close to collectivism maybe. everybody has a voice, an equal amount of power...to me that all sounds absolutely chaotic. but in my theory, we live in a country that is close to that perhaps. of course, japan does have leaders but leaders here are considered to be more apart of the group instead of someone who's leading it. now what is all of that leading up to? ....excessively long meetings, indecisive workers and leaders who only have a name...

I still don't know what leadership is...I mean, we need it but still at the same time, the definition, the stereotype and the symbolic meanings of a leader are way too strong for it to function the ideal way. buttt, then again that just might be one of the down parts of being a leader...

Conflict

 When we think back on our high school years, I think we realize that especially for the people who've been in clubs, we have been in conflicts on quite a lot of occasions. I guess conflicts are inevitable when you're in a group of people with different opinions.
When I was in the tennis club, we had disputes almost every 2 weeks. It was always about how one of the members had different priorities against the tennis club or sometimes about having trust issues with another. Instead of going behind the member's back, we would always hold a meeting and tell that person what the problem was directly. This was definitely not a Japanese way to deal with a conflict but it was faster to get everything settled to where they were and also, even after the dispute, the trust would remain because we knew everything the others were thinking. The problem with the way Japanese people deal with conflict I think is that they always do it secretively. I mean they never confront the issue, they just make a tense environment and hope the person will get the message. I can recall the time my friends started ignoring this other friend. I mean, whenever she would go up to them and give a friendly hi, they would ignore her and continue on talking...this may sound so junior high but this actually happens in corporations as well. It's childish but to some people that's the only way they can deal with the issue. however, this is obviously not confronting the issue. it's escaping it, ignoring it. What I've learned from my eighteen years of life, is that that is never ever a clever way to deal with conflict. It just makes everything worse and also messes up the trust tie in the group for quite a long time.

Shackleton was clever enough to realize that all of his team members were needed and with the loss of one member's support, he would lose the whole trust in the group. It's like one of those situations where if you lose one of the pieces, the whole would go down with it.
Every member has a strength and a weakness. What kind of leader would you be if you couldnt accept a man for both qualities?

How to create 'normality'

What is normality? What is ordinary? 

During this different class I take, the other day we discussed how some daily life events that may seem 'normal' at first are actually questioning and odd. 

One of the girls in my group was from somewhere far from tokyo(i forgot which prefecture it was) and said it was weird to see people in the morning try to get on a crowded train, like literally squeeze themselves in there when another same train is going to arrive in 3 minutes. 

I actually had never given this any thought till she pointed it out but from a person who's lived around the Kanto-area for over 10 years, I guess one of the reasons is because we just see crowded trains so much and we know how wide the capacity is in these trains that we never even think to not get on THAT ONE TRAIN. it's like we can only think to get on that train, kind of like waiting 3 minutes for the next train isnt even an option. 

The one thing i thought was weird or 'against the norm' was whenever there is some kind of accident in tourist locations, the media alwaysalways says 'there are no signs of japanese tourists related to the incident.' I guess since it's a japanese news production, that is necessary information but still they make it seem like everything is okay just because japanese tourists were not involved when there actually are people who were injured. BUTTT, I guess i had never given this some thought before because we had always been living in a country where everything revolved around japanese citizens and a country where it is ' normal' for the government to do something when a citizen is in trouble.

This got me thinking. The way we were brought up, creates 'normality' in ourselves subconsciously. Our daily lives are our daily lives so they become so normal and ordinary to us that we never think to doubt them. So if there are 7 billion people in the world right now, that makes 7 billion different types of 'normality' which were created throughout their lives. Isn't that amazing and terrifying at the same time? I guess as long as there are people, we're all going to have to judge people based on the information we have. However, we all need to understand that 'our normal' isnt necessarily the same as 'his normal.' Acceptance is definitely the first step.

Leading at the Edge #3

 Have you ever had a friend come up to you crying and looking at you like it's the end of the world but when you actually listen to their stories, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal? Well to me, optimism is when I play both of those roles in my mind. One half of me is the person with the problem and the other half is the outsider who looks at the situation objectively. By looking at the situation through a different perspective,  it can really change the outlook you have on the matter. Honestly, if I weren't an optimistic person, I probably wouldn't have survived high school and its glorious madness. haha

This is probably one of the reasons i love Charlie Chaplin's films. He took on sensitive topics like racism, war, materialism and actually made fun of them. Personally, I think that was a very courageous thing to do since the majority of the people of the time thought it was a topic we should rather not take on. When you watch his films, you realize how simple life is and how the world doesnt have to be as complex as it seems. 

Of course, realistically speaking, life isnt that simple and you gotta confront the problems some time but still, optimism lets you look at the situation through a fresh pair of eyes that can ultimately change your stance 180°.

Besides, if the whole group is feeling doomed, who else is going to look at the bright side? 

You never know what solution you can find there.

Is a Win-Win Solution Really Necessary?

SO, for the last couple of classes we have been doing some role play to practice reaching a win-win solution. I have personally enjoyed negotiating and such but every time we do, a question pops into my head; is a win-win solution ever really necessary in real life?

In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko leaves a  memorable quote saying 'It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.' This line, I think is the reality of negotiations concerning money which is, well almost every negotiation. Everybody wants to win and I'm not sure if they consider a win-win solution itself even a win because some might say that a win-win is already a defeat for both parties. Even for the negotiation we had on Friday, we were careful to gather information so we could have a win-win but in reality, a WIN situation would be for Koji and I to have the best service at the lowest price say a 1000$ and a WIN situation for the other party Take and Robyn would be for them to give the lowest service at the highest price say 1600$. We finally settled on a pretty good service at 1200$(?) I think but my question is, how can that mean the same 'WIN' when there are other solutions that could be a bigger WIN. Is there a range of win like say it was a high-win or a low win...?

When ending wars, a win-win is definitely necessary because you NEED both parties to be happy in order to achieve peace. However, between corporations, you don't really need it that much because one wins and one sinks and that's all.

Gordon Gekko explains what greed really is in this video...

I don't mean to imply that skills to achieve win-win solutions are unnecessary. I'm just saying that from another perspective, always searching for a win-win solution may ultimately lead for your loss and that we gotta be careful.

Leading at the Edge #2

 When I tried to recall the leaders I had encountered throughout my high school years, i could only think of two types of leaders.

1. leaders who sacrifice their social lives and become hated but still do all of their work 

2. leaders who don' t do any of their work but are popular amongst their followers.

I guess this is just because i was in a relatively conventional high school where nothing new was accepted and leaders too, were perceived as the #1 categorized leaders. There, they always kept the subtle distance between the leader and the followers just like in Japanese companies. However, in such relationships, 'trust' is the most important element and obviously that isnt achievable with distance. Kristi raised an interesting point during the discussion. When you personally know that leader it's hard to hate him/her but when there's a distance it's easier because it makes you and your opinion more anonymous.

In my opinion, in order to become a good leader, you need not only the knowledge but the likability, the charisma and the trust. Being a leader doesnt mean you need to be able to get everything right nor does it mean you need to kiss your followers' butts for likability. This all needs to come in one package.

Anyways, in Leading at the Edge, it is said that Shackleton gave a speech that changed the attitudes of the followers completely.
 My favorite speech ever to exist is from a movie called The Great Dictator.
The way Charlie Chaplin expresses his emotions here is just...I can't even explain it. haha

Now THAT is a way to end war.


Aside from that here's my favorite speech ever to be given by a youngster. Even though he's a kid, we can't cut him short cause he got his intonations, stresses and postures just right!

Can I Have 10 Chocol- I Mean, Snake Eggs in Total Please?

Throughout this week, we practiced negotiating by trying to come up with win-win solutions within our assigned groups.

The Oranges

For the two oranges, my partner Joki and I decided that I keep 1.5 of the oranges and make one small cake whilst Joki had half of the orange to drink. We both agreed and I personally thought it was a win-win solution but after listening to the group talk about using the outerside of the orange for the cake and the inside for the drink, I realized that our solution was not a win-win but a rather compromise.

The chocol- cough* I Mean Snake Eggs

For the snake eggs, Masamune(buyer 1) and I(buyer 2) decided to divide the eggs so we would both get the parts we wanted. Maki(seller) agreed to this but later on we discussed if this were the real world, Maki would have totally dumped me and let Masamune have the 10 whole eggs because that way, she would have gotten more money.


I guess in both of these situations, we realize that in reality, there is always greed involving negotiations and that is the root for why companies, countries, people never reach a solution that is fair for both parties.

 This reminded me of my high school experience in being part of the Model United Nations club. It was basically just us participating in international youth conferences as ambassadors and such.
  Here's an image!

 Anyways, for my first conference, I was representing the PLO(Palestinian Liberal Organization.) We discussed food security for the Palestinian refugees and throughout the conference, we agreed to many plans that would help our country. However, problem was,,,nobody represented Israel. I still don't know why the faculty didn't let anyone represent Israel but still, I couldn't help but think it would probably have been close to impossible for us to make even one solution if Israel were there.

Negotiations are hard...especially if you want a win-win solution. However, it is possible to have a solution that is quite close to a win-win if we follow the sheet Ken handed out.
We need to gather as much information as we can and find out to what extent of a compromise would still count as a win-win for all...if that makes sense:)

I look forward to having more of these negotiation-classes!

Leading at the Edge #1

1. Have you ever been in a situation that tested you to your limits? 

 In Junior High, there was a period of time that I went through depression. I knew what the reason was and for a while, I tried everything I could to fix the situation, to try to make things back as they were before. However, it was when I realized that the situation was completely over my power that I started to live life again.

 In challenging times, I think the most important thing you need to know are your limits. ORRR if you're a leader, then you need to know your crew members' limits.
 It is one thing to try to stretch your limits but to know when to stop is another.


2. Have you ever had to set a new mark? How did you handle it?

 I came back from the states when I was 6 years old, in my second year of elementary school. Now because there were no other returnees in my new school in Japan, I was always praised for being able to speak and write in English. I guess that kind of environment led me to think that I was 'special' and I honestly flipping loved it. However, when I got into a private Junior High school, I was suddenly surrounded by 'real returnees' who came back in 5th or 6th grade. Anyways, the returnee english classes were divided into two; the advanced and regular. I know, the name of the classes are horrible. haha
 Initially, being the self-confident(I mean self-confident about my english)girl that I was, I expected to be put in the advanced class butttt of course much to my surprise, I was naturally put in the regular class. I was mortified, embarrassed and also lost my self-confidence completely. The recognition of how poor my english really was, was a major demotivation. It was a little after that, that i found out that the teachers actually move students from regular to advanced vice-versa,  every year if they feel like a student is not in the right class. That was when I changed my stance 360°. Originally my plan was to be in the advanced class but of course I did not get in so I set a new mark, to become the best in the regular class and to wait for the teachers to realize my abilities. After that, I worked extremely hard to catch up with my friends in the advanced class, to show everybody that I can too take the work in the advanced class. Every year, I would hope for the teachers to suddenly call me up and inform me of the news but for the next 2 years, I heard nothing. I honestly did start to give up but at the same time, I never let go of my goal to become the best in the regular class. Finally in my first year of high school, I was called up by a teacher and was told to move up a class. I was elated of the news.


 Nothing in life goes as planned; but you just can't stop there and think back on the things that you should've done or shouldn't have. You need to face the reality that is there in front of you fearlessly in order to reach your ultimate goal. ANDDDD when you reach your ultimate goal, I guess you have all the time in the world to nag and regret about the past.haha


I guess these are all a lot things that I went through individually but I hope someday I will be using these experiences as a leader as well;)

Sept 11th; Does a Happy Boss Create a Happy Workplace?

 So after Monday's little intro to what our class would be like during this term, today we've finally started to discuss,,,YES!haha
The paper Ken handed out was on Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership. More than the content of the matter, what intrigued me more was how different workplaces were perceived in America and in Japan. The content of the paper was probably a lot more relevant(obviously) to　workplaces in the US mainly for the workers' expectations towards their workplace and general ideology of what a workplace is. In the US, a workplace is considered a flexible environment that is able to bend in many ways in order to make work flow more efficient. However in Japan, a workplace is a more strict, rigid and restricted environment. You have your 'buchos' and 'kachos' who you would never dare to talk over.  There is a certain distance among the workers divided by their ranks. This is considered unchangeable because that's just the way it is and always will be. The workers themselves never even try to make a difference. It is almost as if they expect to suffer  at their workplace.
Going back to my point, the article is adaptable in the US because general workplaces are constantly moving. Whereas in Japan, we've been stuck in the same ways, conventions for as long as we can remember.
I just wonder if a Japanese Bucho tried the same experiment (smiling in his or her workplace), he or she would not get the same results the article suggested...
or maybe i'm just being a bit too pessimistic.