Today, July 1, is the Canada Day. It is the first time for me to be in Canada on Canada Day. I usually spend British Columbia Day in BC, but never Canada Day.
It was such a beautiful day and many people were out enjoying the sun, beer etc. etc. I saw many flags and many people in red T shirt. As the Fourth of July is coming this weekend, many people seem to be on vacation, relaxing and enjoying BBQ outdoor.
As Winter Olympics is coming soon to British Columbia, there seem to be more events scheduled. Nice to join the celebration, no matter where you are.
Shogi Meijin-sen finished with Yoshiharu Habu defending his title in the seventh and the last game on June 23. Though I do not know how to play (yet), it seems that the top pros are so close in their ability that each game is quite overwhelming. (All I do is to read how things are going, but I can almost feel the tension.)
Yoshiharu Habu continued to play another title match Kisei a few days after Meijin sen. He lost the game and is 1-2, going into the game in early July. As each game seems so close and so intense, I am amazed how he can continue such high level title matches with such short interval in between.
I am also amazed how they give interviews right after the game. They seem exhausted, and yet, try so hard to answer questions. Once Habu said in response to the question, “What makes professionals?” “Professionals must be pro 24/7 365 days a year.” I am so overwhelmed and at the same time, so inspired.
I managed to leave hot and humid Tokyo(so I hear) just in time for beautiful British Columbia. Last 10 days has been very busy as I was traveling for seminars and forum, AND reviewing the galley of my overdue book in Japanese, while planning my summer trips. (I had to make and cancel air travel and rental car reservation several times.)
Now I am in British Columbia where the air is clear and it is SO quiet. (On the second day, it was so cold that I even had to turn on the heater–unfortunately it did not work and it was freezing!) It has been just two days since I got here, but I feel like a different person. (The only problem this time is that my cell does not seem to work!)
I received a very positive feedback from students regarding the Competitiveness course. It was such great encouragement for me that I want to make it better and more relevant. (It made my day!)
I myself had a great time teaching the course, as I learned a lot from students about various countries and intiatives. I felt that the discussion we had in class was very insightful and exciting. I was very excited about each and every session, and feel very happy that the students shared my enthusiasm and impression.(Sometimes, you feel that it went well and get shocked when you find that the impression of the participants is completely different!)
It was such a contrast from the very negative feedback from the student regarding the Field Study I received early April. (It incidentally triggered my depressive cycle.) The negative feedback prompted me (and us) to move on to the new plan for the Field Study next year, and thus had much value.
Though feedback is a good way to reflect, whether negative or positive, I think getting the positive feedback is one of the best motivational means.
I had a full day today, starting with the annual shareholders’ meeting of the Mitsui OSK Lines where I serve as non-executive director. It was the third time I attended as non-executive director at the company. We had rehearsal yesterday and all of us were expecting a larger number of shareholders today.
Every year at the shareholders meeting, I am impressed with the type of questions the shareholders ask. It covers wide variety of topics and often gives very insightful perspective. Today was no exception. We had 13 questions coming from old and young, men and women.
I missed the shareholders meeting of Watami this last Saturday. As I own some stocks of Watami AND have been very interested in the company, I was looking forward to attending the one held at Kokugikan in Ryogoku. They had various events and I wished they webcast the meeting.
There will be many more shareholders meetings this week. It may be interesting to attend one if you hold shares.
Three days in Seoul for the East Asia Forum were very interesting and stimulating experience. I moderated three sessions–one private meeting on Competitiveness, one interactive panel on The Asian Consumer under Sustainability sub-theme, and private breakfast for Global Growth Companies. I enjoyed all of them, as I got to know panelists, discussion leaders and participants, learned many new things, and found it quite challenging but very rewarding to facilitate the discussion on complex topics now we are faced with. I also attended two private meetings where I did not say much, but heard many different views and new perspectives.
Two lunch meetings–one Korea and the other Vietnam–were also good sessions (which reminded me of the Japan lunch I moderated last year in Kuala Lumpur). Two receptions outside–one hosted by the Mayor of Seoul and the other at the Blue House hosted by the President of the Republic of Korea were very impressive. The weather cooperated and both evenings were lovely.
The days were full and sometimes quite exhausting, but worthwhile. I feel much closer to Korea as I have had more opportunities to visit recently and have more friends.
The only incident which was rather unfortunate was that the cab driver from the hotel this morning did not know how to get to Gimpo Airport and got lost. As we could not communicate, I was getting very worried and then frustrated. He ended up turning me over to another cab and I managed to make my flight. What was even more dramatic was this whole thing took place in pouring rain!
So now I learned a lesson. I have to make sure that the cab driver knows where Gimpo airport is and how to get there. AND more importantly, I need to leave hotel with enough time to make it to the airport and catch the flight. (I was rushing and that was part of the reason, I was getting so worried.)
I came to Seoul on Wednesday to attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia. (You can see photos etc. on their website.) This is a two-day forum with some 400 participants. I attended the last one in Kuala Lumpur last June and have been very much looking forward to the one in Seoul.
Four sub-themes for this Form are 1) Leadership in Turbulent Times 2) Global Risks 3 )Sustainable and Green Growth and 4) Future Competitiveness. The morning plenary sessions on the first day covered two major and inter-related topics of Asia/Global Redesign and East Asia@Risk. We had a series of parallel sessions in the afternoon. I moderated one of the sessions entitled “The Asian Consumer: A Sustainability Champion in the Making?”
This morning, I will moderate the breakfast session for the Global Growth Companies with two co-chairs of the Form on East Asia.
The sessions have been informative, interesting and sometimes, quite overwhelming. It feels that the conference has been going on for a week, rather than 1.5 day! More to come.
I gave a talk at two different seminars in the past two days AND attended three different seminars given by three people in different field in the past several days. The ones I gave in Tokyo and in Osaka were on Strategic Shift, the topic of my recent interest and of upcoming book (unfortunately in Japanese only). The audience consisted of young people (mainly in 30s ) who are interested in business, career, etc. etc. In total, I addressed over 400 people. I had fun interacting with many people, some of whom I met for the first time, but had known through my blog. It is always pleasure to meet with people.
The three I attended as audience were all very interesting and stimulating. One was given by Yukihiro Matsumoto of Ruby, discussing the open source (which is another topic I have been very interested), another by Takeshi Sasaki on political science–specifically, power and institutions, etc. and the other by Daisuke Iwase, who started life insurance company as young entrepreneur.
I found all three extremely interesting, because they gave me very different ways of looking at things, insights that I can apply to my field and many suggestions for the action. It is one thing to read about them, but another to see them in person.
Recently, I have had several experiences of realizing the gap between my self perception and the perception others have of me. The first occasion was when I gave a speech at alumni meetings. I was very surprised to hear that the organizers had not contacted me as they had thought I was such a VIP! with busy schedule and would not come to talk at the alumni meeting. (In fact, I would do whatever I can do for the school I graduated from or am involved in and the scheduling is the only issue.)
I also heard from one of my students at ICS that she had been so scared of me and could not talk with me. (This is what I found during the one-on-one meeting with her for the Competitiveness course.) I was so glad that she told me that as I had never realized how scary I had been!
Then I was described as such a “frightening” person by the student teams during the ICS cabaret. (This is what I had heard, as I happened not be there when they did it!)
I felt that I really have not changed since the college (or even highschool) days; maybe this is stretching a bit too much!) in my spirit, but obviously people perceive me as a “professor” at ICS with some experience in consulting/government work, etc. etc. I am partially responsible for the scary/frightening image, as I came across as such during the early encounters with the students at ICS. I also realize how much of age difference there is between my students at business school and myself! (I am getting one year younger every year, but that is what I think, and others think that I get older every year!)
This was such a good lesson that I realize that I have to be more careful not to come across as too scary, too frightening, and too busy. In fact, I feel quite embarassed when I am treated like VIP except when they upgrade me to the first class when I fly to far away places like New York or London! (I do not visualize myself in hired black sedan when I think of my own image. I see myself more like running up stairs, trying to catch a subway!)
It is sometimes amazing how different self- perception (sometimes wishful thinking) and others’ perception could be!
June 13th,2009
Gap |
No Comments
I started Twitter several days ago. I had vague idea of what it is, but not quite sure. (I am always tempted to try something new. It is difficult to resist!)
Then, my IT expert who has helped me with my blog, e-mailed me, encouraging me to start Twitter. It was perfect timing and I was SOLD!
So here I am experimenting. Still not quite sure what it does and how it goes. Will see. Here it is.
