Things become great when one cares.... But then what is human history but a blip in this universe? I was thinking of great in terms of human history, Alexander the Great, Buddah, Jesus Christ. Taj Mahal, Pyramid in Egypt built by humans. What are left of these great people? What will their deeds be after another billion years? What will these works of humans mean then? As India's Presiden Kalam puts it, "Earth rotates on its own axis, what happens, day and night happen. Earth rotate around the Sun, what happens, a year passes. Sun also rotates around the galaxy in 250 billion years. Our galaxy is called Milky Way and there are thousands of galaxies like ours. All planets are in harmony and move in natural way." And what does it mean, to become great?
I am reminded of my insignificance in terms of such vast space and time. But then taking courage in the fact however insignificant, we are still a part of this fantastic world, and thoughts that we have, these words we utter here in this virtual world, wish to live true through love and work, these all have meaning at least to us, and I find happiness here and now. I think it has much to do with western culture. That regardless of how insignificant a deed might seem, even if Hindu teachings lead one towards not caring about things of this world, I wish to live and care here and now, precisely because this moment is eternity.
I have landed in Bangkok about three hours ago, and the contrasts between this place, Bangalore, and Tokyo are just so pronounced. (Albeit I should be comparing against Delhi and not Bangalore.) People's beliefs, attitudes are what changes the outcome of the appearance, content, outcome of cities, countries.
India is said to be 70% Hindu. And it's teachings are not to be tied to things of this world, this life, because afterall, we live on forever in different forms, whether it be ashes, molecules, energy. But with such attitude, one would not take care of here and now as much as those who would have deep attachments and care to things of this life, world.
The Hindu religeous message is not saying, don't take care of your relations and surroundings now, in this life. It teaches about reincarnation that would bring about things that was not worked out in the past. But I think to many people, this becomes an excuse of not doing one's very best, to take it easy, because hey, I will have another chance to redeem myself next time around. Perhaps this kind of attitude is making people so succeptible to bribes, to not take care of one's living environment, to now spend money on things that lasts, like good buildings, good interiors.
ここバンガロールに来る前に、的場さんに脅されたり、冨江さんに教えてもらったり、ネットで色々読んだり、数冊インドについての本をざざざっと読んだりして期待と不安いっぱいで着たわけですが、着いてから4日目で楽しくて、楽しくてまだ最初の日と同じくらいドキドキしています。
仕事が超面白い。現在のグローバル経済状況の中での欧米系企業の新しい市場への進出の醍醐味を中から見ながら、ローカルの人間の頑張り姿を見ることができ、本当に光栄です。ただ見ているだけではなく、そのすりあわせの一部として参加させてもらっている所がとてつもなく嬉しい。子供を思う親であり、生活のために働き、仕事を通じて社会に貢献している異なる文化の人達と出会えるのは、心を開いて好きな事を一生懸命やっていると自然と起こる現象ですね。
こうやってローカルの方たちと色々と話をするきっかけや、その方たちの反応、対応に一番役立ったのは、築地正登氏のマカ不思議インド人。首をフニョフニョ横に振る事が「はい」だとか、「有難う」を言わないとか、カーストの影響とか、この本で入手して役にたった情報は山ほどある。読まないで行っちゃったら、首を横にふられて？？？と思っただろうし、お土産をあげても、ごく簡単な「有難う」で、アレ、失礼だったのかな？なんて心配しただろうし。冨江さんの、ノースリーブや足を出すのは良くないというのもちゃんと聞いておいて良かったし。
外国だと気合入れてこうやって勉強してから行くけれど、国内だと案外そういった事をしていない。客にしたい相手に対しても、勉強が足りていないかもしれない。
場創りにも、ビジネスを成功させるにも、まずは文化を理解して友達になってからではないとできないなぁ、と思いながら、バンガロールでは明後日までなので、Rajeshさんと更に交流を深めてから帰ろうと考えています。
方向音痴や豪快なしくじりで知人をハラハラさせますが、海外出張でメジャーなミスをしたことは一度肺炎にかかってしまったことだけ。何が言いたいかというと、無事に、問題なくインド、バンガロールに到着してやってますよ、という事です。一日めは時間があったので、半日ドライバーを雇って社会見学してきました。サイババのアシュラムは、近いほうの小さい方に行ったから、おぉ〜！とまでは行きませんでしたが、良い体験でした。この文化、環境での西洋企業のための場創り。面白いプロジェクトに携われたものです。
インド料理めっちゃ美味しいです。ハマった！で、場創りのコンサルティングは明日から。だからホントに仕事しますって。ホント。
某大企業の研究所の主任研究員で、未だにインターネットの掲示板でディスカッションをさせれば、場作りのアイデアがまとまって行くと思っている人に出会った。
「ワークショップしてる時間がないんですよ。掲示板でまとめた話に基づいて作ってもらいたいんですけど・・・。」
「社会的要素、心理的要素にかけていると思います。人は集まって目標を共用して話を進めていかないと、スピードがでませんよ。貴社での問題は、末端の研究員こそコミュニケーションを活発に行い知のレベルアップをさせなくてはならないという事だと伺っていますが、そんなやりかただと、いつまでも働き方は変わらない。場創りを通して働き方を変えていくというのが大切なんじゃないですか？」
あたしって・・・また熱くなってしまった。
よく、今の私があるのはあの人のおかげだ、と思う。
良い、悪いは別として、私の場合実際お付き合いしたことのある方と同じぐらい本の中で出会った方達の影響力が強い。今日読み始めたComing of Age in Samoaの著者であるマーガレット・ミード（Margaret Mead)は、その大きな影響を与える一人の人間になりうると思った。彼女の1920年代の社会心理学の内容は、今の日本でもそっくりそのまま使える。すごい！すごい！
過去15年間で一度もお会いした事のない方達からずいぶん影響を受けました：Margaret Mead, Tom Peters, Paulo Coelho,Peter Drucker, Masako Shirasu, Tsunekazu Nishioka, Kevin Kelley, Richard Faynmen, Margaret Thatcher, Konosuke Matsushita, Colin Powell, Stephen Covey, Yasunari Kawabata, Soseki Natsume, Jean Auel, Dale Carnegie, Lin Yutang, Melody Beatty, Waris Derie, Maya Angelou
論争の渦の中にいらっしゃる方々も少なくない。でも私はこの方々の本から、真直ぐ前を向いて生き続ける勇気を与えてもらいました。こうやって一人一人についてのネット上の情報をチェックしてみて良かった！また更に影響を受けることができそうです。
マーガレット・ミードのComing of Age in Samoa照会文より：
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world"
「思いやりのある、献身的な人達の小さなグループが世界を変えられることを決して疑ってはならない。」
Her difinition of an ideal culture was one that found a place for every human gift.
彼女の理想的な文化とは、全ての人の天性を生かせる場所だった。
But Mead didn't go to Samoa just to study Samoans. Rather she wanted to understand the whole human race. She used her work in Samoa to examine big questions: How does culture shape individuals? What is the role of biology in human behavior?
ミードはただサモア人を研究するためにサモアに行ったのではなかった。それより、彼女は人類全てを理解したかった。サモアでの勉強を、大きな問題に取り組むために使った：文化はどうやって個人を形にするのだろう？人の行動の中での生物的要素はどういうものだろう？
・・・・・
当初は複雑系と呼ばれていなかったと思うが、まさしくその総合的観点から研究をされ、実践されていたようだ。タイムスリップしてミードと握手することはできなくても、本という、インターネット情報というタイムマシンで彼女と逢うことができる。
I could understand how it takes a genius to discover the obvious things happening around us. Discovery is for the humans to see the truth. Truth is all around us, all the time. How blind we are. It takes so much living, paying close attention to the nature of the matter to see the truth.
The truth about difference between cultures, and how each culture has different value system. I was reading about it, but it didn't have deep meaning to me, until I lived it in many ways, then with a single incidence, it clicked. It's like Archimedes discovering mass when he was taking a bath. Like Newton discovering gravity when he saw an apple fall.
My discovery isn't so grandeous, and it's something that has been discussed many times before, as in Tobe and Nonaka's Essence of Failure, and Yamagishi's From Safety Based Society to Trust Based Society.
It is about the basic difference between Japanese and western culture in:
1. Value placed on work process
2. Value placed on result of the work done
3. Value of accumulated knowledge, how it is used.
I spent my first 12 years of life in Japan, and with Japanese blood and bases learned, values of work process, values of result was that of Japan. Then with those bases, I lived and learned in USA for the next 18 years work process and result value the north American way. After coming back to Japan, I joined US national company, working closely with western nationals, in their system which stressed making each process explicit using lots of words. (Except in IT, which I couldn't figure out why.) Then when I joined my current company, I came in charge of Japanese accounts.
My English isn't the best, but my Japanese is worse. I thought in the beginning it was the language thing. I kept on trying to produce explicit evidence of progress in work process, using report as means. But no, unless there were big problems, Japanese were not interested in how I was proceeding with my work. They were satisfied with my daily communications, for me to just show up, be there. I was sincere, acted with respect, and made recommendations according to what seemed best for the clients. And when I showed up consistently, it created results. But I was never asked to produce materials that backed up how my results were created. So I got used to doing business that way, using very few written sentences, just lots of face-to-face communication. What mattered most was the mood we had together as we worked together. This lasted for four years.
Well, the four years ended with my current international project, north Americans, British, French, Asian all involved, but no Japanese. It took me two weeks or missing the points of direction that was given to me, not understanding very well what I was being asked to do. I was processing work in Japanese way with these non-Japanese.
After being asked to "add some meat on the proposal", "show me everything" for the 10th time, each time being asked to add some more, it hit me!! Right, they want me to be explicit about my work! These people want what they are doing to be clear, understandable process for anybody to see, not just us who do the work!! I was being amnesic. Forgotten about what western culture expects as part of the work, which is to make it all explicit so that anybody can take any part of the work process, re-create it.
I was thunderstruck. This is why the western world has been making progress at such speed, because the knowledge is not all lost when someone leaves, because at least there are bits and pieces in explicit writing that one can follow any time later.
Okay, there are various degrees of demanding explicitness in Western culture. Irish historical writing has nothing about Grace O'Malley, whereas British historian made a careful record when she visited Queen Elizabeth I. But compared to Japanese culture which is so engaged in the moment, taking so much things into consideration fearing much of total effect will be lost if one tried to logically describe each aspects, western culture is extremely explicit in recordings.
The Japanese lack of interest in making work explicit in writing is apparent from numbers of patents that are submitted by researchers. Representative of that situation is recent Nobel prize laureate Koichi Tanaka. Number of papers he has produced are very few compared to that of scientists and researchers in the west. Maybe we as Japanese will never change this cultural characteristic. Even scientists and researchers carry the artisan mentality.
Maybe this is why Japanese are and will continue to be the masters in technological incremental improvements. With incremental improvements, the team memory will carry on the progress, whereas with innovation, one person would have to accept living in explicit mode.
My little project do not need such worry, but having my full memory back in working explicitly, I think I will very much enjoy working on this project. And I think it has been a true blessing for me. See? I was able to express profound discovery, even though it is a discovery just for myself, in written words.
コラムの紺野昇さんから、David Maisterの話を聞いた。紺野さんは現在David Maisterの研究をしていらっしゃるという。David Maisterは、社員満足度が、仕事の質と直接的に関係があるという研究結果を出しているというお話だった。だから、ワークプレイスを変えることにより、ユーザー満足度が上がるということは、仕事の質に直接影響を与えるということ。
！！！
早速David Maisterの本を注文した。ワークプレイス測定の味方現る！紺野さん、有難うございます。
先日以前コンサルティングを行った日本企業を訪問し、ワークプレイス創りを行った成果と評価についてトップの方にお話しを伺った。正直言って、あまり期待はしていなかった。しばらくどこからも数値化した成果が欲しいと言われていたので、多分その辺のオチで終わるのだろうと覚悟していた。
ところが結果は意外だった。ご一緒した方の「質問力」で、トップの方の答えが引き出せたのだと思う。
測定に関しては、ワークプレイスの効果かは見極めることができないが、望んでいた効果である、商品開発の遅れは回復してきていると数値的に出ている。また個人的な観点からいうと、実際のユーザーからは、集中して仕事ができるようになった、コラボレーションが行いやすい場になったという意見を直接聞いている。望んでいたビジビリティ（仕事の可視化）も高まっており、デザイン性の良いインテリアもワーカーの意識を高めているようだ。
これが答えだった。
すり合わせの多いプロジェクトだった。あちこちでぶつかったプロジェクトだった。今までは、ベストを尽くしたけれど成果として認められなかったプロジェクトというイメージで残っていたのが、トップの言葉のおかげで「セクシープロジェクト」としてのイメージに即変身した。これがリーダーの力なんだ、と再度認識した。
プロジェクトを一緒にした方々、特に内部で大奮闘された方々と一緒に喜んでいる。
In my last entry, I have focused on existance of both extreme good and extreme bad on "globilization". But as mentioned briefly in my last entry, there are "others", general mass of people who are just trying to make good, honest living by working. These people needs jobs, and both Dr. Livingston and slave hunters paid them for their work.
So good and evil both exist, and it creates opportunity for more people to work. Another factor of globilization.
Maybe it was 15 years ago. I have distinct memory of the images of thick, moist African jungle, man grimy from long and hard travel on pathless way, blue hopeful but fearful eyes on lean face, all on the television screen. The man said:
"Dr. Livingston, I presume?"
It was a documentary about pius life of Dr. Livingston who wanted to save and offer eternal life to the savage Africans by converting them into Christians, and about slave hunters following Dr. Livinston's path in pursuit of prosperous business.
The contrast shocked me, good, kind, determined man versus greedy, self serving men. And there are those who served these men for living. Their paths followed one another, each fixed in his own mission.
I was distressed that a mere television show had such profound effect on me, but the effect was so powerful, the images and the lesson stayed with me all these years. Good and evil are two sides of a coin. One does not exist without the other. Nothing new about this thought, it is so prevalent in Asian religion, Buddhaism, Taoism. But only after having experienced irony in daily life often enough, then to have that one revealing lesson that hit the right place at the right time, will one learn.
Perhaps that is what globalization is. Good will be followed with greed, local people just trying to make a living. In trying to pursue environment to somehow improve the quality of people working in call centers, I am distressed with all the political factors, each with fixed mission.
This is the lesson I have been trying hard to learn for years and years. Who am I to force my views onto these people? Each person has his own lessons to learn. I hate political factors where people are so determined to gain an upper hand. When all is said and done, what does my work mean? What difference am I really making? Am I spending my time wisely, on this kind of work and not more time with kids, family? Am I making difference in anybody's life with my work?
Globalization seems like another Dr. Livingston, except this time, it is not in the name of God.
Sato-san recommended James Allen's As A Man Thinketh, so I read it. I think James Allen was one of the writer that inspired Margaret Thatcher when she was growing up. ( I looked for her biography, Path to Power on my bookshelf, and was annoyed I couldn't locate the book...)
It's a very short book, but full of inspiration. The philosophy of it, especially the way the sentenses felt, struck me that it sounded very similar to the book of Buddhaism. Particular line I thought of was the following:
"Rouse thyself by thyself, examine thyself by thyself; thus self-protected and attentive wilt though live happily..... For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a noble horse. By one's self the evil is done, by one's self one suffers; by one's self evil is left undone, by one's self one is purified. The pure and the impure stand and fall by themselves, no one can purify another."
The entire book of As A Man Thinketh specifically explains this concept, your life is result of what you think.More l live, more I try to learn from my life, it is becoming truer and truer. Work, love, family, it's all about what you think and the action taken.