Post #14: Last Blog

This is the last blog for RW 2013 LILTDY.

Yesterday I finished my presentation and so is everyone else.

I learned a lot about leadership skills, interpersonal relationship, communication, and so on.

I will utilize everything I learned in Ken's class from now on.

And since this is my last ELA class, I will make sure to maintain my English skill .

Thank you very much!!

Post #13: My Role as a Leader

My Role as a Leader

Last Wednesday and Thursday, I participated in UNBRAND's autumn live "Se-no!" All members had been practicing to perform well on these two days. This autumn live was very special in two ways; first, it was UNBRAND's first live at the auditorium in "Kyu-D Kan" (DMH West Wing) since the club's establishment 6 years ago, and second, it was the last live for juniors before their retirements. We've practiced 15 songs in total and each band spent a lot of time and energy on practicing. As I've mentioned in some previous posts, I became the band leader for the song that I did composition. I actually utilized some of Shackleton's strategies for good leadership, such as Optimism, Lighten Up!, or Core Team Values. I tried to encourage other members right before the rehearsals and sent messages to everybody through LINE. However, there was a gap between ideal and reality. I became a little tense when certain parts of the song did not go right for several times. I regret for not being able to act calm and serene.

The actual performance went fantastically! As soon as the song finished, we received big applause from the audience and some responses on the survey said they liked our performance very much, I honestly do not know if I was a sufficient leader. I immediately sent a message through LINE to show my gratitude toward members, and they did the same to me. I was very glad to hear that one of them thought I was a reliable leader. I would like to improve my leadership skill and do even better in the next opportunity. 

Post #12: Guest Speakers

Guest Speakers

We had guest speakers talk in front of us on Monday and Wednesday. On Monday, we invited Mr. Kakutaro Kitashiro, Chair of the Board of Trustees at ICU and Executive Advisor, IBM Japan, Ltd. He spoke to us about lessons in leadership. His lecture was in different style from that of President Hibiya. He first talked about his biography; his life experience was more profound than expected. He belonged to numerous economic organizations and constituency. He also told us about recollections as a middle manager and president. Due to difference in the position, he followed different guidelines as well. I was shocked to see a graph that looks like a ravine and to know that Mr. Kitashiro was appointed as president in the year when the company profit was at the bottom of ravine. However, by several techniques, programs, innovatice actions, he became the savior. 

Floyd Takeuchi and Joe Daisy visited our class on Wednesday. Through their stories, we learned how College of Micronesia went through time of crisis and Joe Daisy saved it from closing down. According to Joe, he emphasized the importance of teamwork and working together rather than doing something innovatice by himself. I had never heard of Micronesia before, but I got an impression that Micronesia is too dependent on the others. 

It was a priceless opportunity to learn about leadership from their life experiences.

Post #11: President Hibiya

President Hibiya

As I think of now, it was a great pleasure to have our president talk in front of a class of 22 students. Ms. Hibiya gave us a presentation on leadership. I have some reflections for this lesson.
First of all, I cannot believe that it was her first slides made by herself, because her presentation was very detailed and profound even with only 5-6 slides. I had been thinking that she is an ICU graduate,  so it made me even more surprised that she got to become the president of ICU. From her presentation, I learned that she experienced several turning points: spending time at Sophia, U Penn, Keio, Dartmouth and finally at ICU. I had never thought that Dartmouth and ICU share similarity in terms of college environment (a lot of nature). She also talked about her difficulty about being a female leader in the first few years. Nowadays we consider normal for females to lead the group, but it was irregular those days. Typical "old-men" were the leaders.

Although it was a great presentation, I think I could not learn much about leadership qualities, as Ken mentioned in class today.  I wanted more time to ask questions. Since Ms. Hibiya gave us her email address, I would like to send her an email to ask some important questions.

Post # 10: Final Research Paper & Hong Kong Speech Contest

Final Research Paper & Hong Kong Speech Contest

Having brought in extended outlines, we got to share our ideas for final research paper among group members. I am in the group of Iconic Leaders and the same group as Joki and Kristi. It is coincidental that Moe and I are doing the same topic; although we are required to write separate papers, we might combine our slides into one presentation to talk about Soichiro Honda in details at once. So I explained the structure of my essay to Joki and Kristi. I basically focused on three major leadership qualities possessed by Soichiro Honda: dexterity, determination and persistence. Joki has an interesting structure; instead of focusing on leadership qualities of one particular figure, he focuses on a successful hockey team and the famous coach, and so on. Kristi chose Tsuda Umeko; I knew that she is the founder of Tsudajyuku University, but did not know so much about her biography until I heard from Kristi. Everyone has intriguing topics.

For the second half of the class, we got to hear the details about Hong Kong Speech Contest. I honestly do not know if I would like to join, but got an impression that this is such a wonderful experience. I was shocked to see the presentation by the winner of the contest from ICU three years ago; although she was born and raised in Japan, not only her English skill is excellent but also the presentation was fabulous. I was persuaded that she was very qualified as the winner. The deadline is ahead, so I have to make a decision quickly. But so far, I am inclined not to participate in this contest.

Post #9: Ch8 Lighten Up!

Ch8 Lighten Up!

I thought it is interesting how this chapter came right after the last chapter "Conflict". I thought Perkins tried to make a contrast. The title says it all; in a gloomy situation, it is sometimes important to lighten up the group by finding something to celebrate or laugh about. I cannot imagine how hard it was for Shackleton to perform this task. As Perkins states, "in stressful circumstances...celebration is usually the farthest thing from anyone's mind." This chapter can be considered as a further explanation of Strategy 3: Optimism. How could Shackleton be this impeccable? He was optimistic, determined, extremely good at problem-solving and was even humorous? At least his crew were fully entertained by his leadership qualities and characteristics. I think this strategy is very effective because the idea from Harvard article that we read earlier states we all have mirror neurons. If the leader, Shackleton in this case, becomes the first to laugh in any stressful situations, crew obviously starts to feel optimistic and no longer suffers from that stressful situation. My task as a leader from my a cappella group is going quite well, but I am not sully satisfied with my performance. We are getting hasty because Fall concert is ahead, but in this tense situation, the solution would be lighten up the group.

Post #8: Ch.7 Conflict

Ch.7 Conflict

Today I came back from taking Eiken 1st-grade level, which was my major conflict of the day. It does not mean I did poorly on it, but it was stressful and nerve-wracking. I really hope I passed this time since it is my second time taking it; I was 4 points away from the passing line last time. I really abhor the "interview section" of listening comprehension.

Anyway, Ch.7 is about conflict. Up to this chapter, the relationship among Shackleton and his crew was fairly amicable while confronting several difficulties. However, there were actually internal struggles in Endurance that led the party to a danger of devastation. I was surprised to know that Shackleton was known to have a quick temper in the first place, since he has been acting in the completely opposite way: calm, serene and peaceful. During the conflict, he not only managed to calm himself down but also worked to help his crew to find the solution. In any particular organizations or groups, conflict is inevitable; therefore, even if it is impossible to eliminate, it is still possible to turn that incident into an opportunity that helps strengthen bonds among members even more. Thinking optimistically is the key. There is a proverb that states, "After a storm comes a calm."

Another interesting point elucidated by Perkins is "Engage Dissidents". We tend to ignore the opinions of those who disagree with the idea in any types of meetings, conversations or arguments, but in fact, voices from dissidents are actually much more important than those from supporters. Dissidents are ones who point out flaws, mistakes or problems in the idea. By taking in advices, improvements are made and it gets brushed up. As Ken brought up in his entry, I really liked the idea of Shackleton inviting dissidents into the tent. In this way, at least they would not feel neglected and the best consequence would be reconciliation. True leaders give members equal opportunities to have a contact with their leaders. 

This chapter reminded me of Oda Nobunaga, one of the great shonguns in Edo period. Although he was a strong leader and was about to unify the country, he got betrayed by his subordinate, Akechi Mitsuhide. There has been a number of theories why he betrayed, but one assumption is that Oda did not treat Akechi well and that made him desire to unify the country in place of Oda. If Oda Nobunaga used the same strategy as that of Shackleton, history might have been different.