Saturday, November 11, 2017

Signature Strengths Undermined

According the StrengthFinder, my signature strengths are:

Strategic
Activator
Communication
Positivity
Competition

I care about these strengths.  I believe that when one is exercising their strengths, they feel more content and in harmony with their true self, leaving breathers for more inner growth by providing a self knowledge.

All these strengths were at work since I joined this new position.
Strategic business planning in all aspects of the enterprise and execution
Project management and driving my team to annually determined goals and constantly evaluated progress
Business Development and Customer Relationship Management
Remaining upbeat despite the cultural hurdles
Wanting to win over competition in innovation, in market traction, and in time to market

These all were true until recently.  Not anymore.

When I read the Business Insider article of signs of success, I felt I was on to something:
"research suggests that "the more often you use those skills, the more you're happier, you're respected, you feel good about your job." What's more, "if you're using those skills in your job, you're going to achieve more.""
http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-youre-more-successful-than-you-think-2017-11/#you-have-a-vision-for-the-kind-of-life-you-want-2


I feel deprived of exercising my strengths anymore.
I am a visionary.  I have a clear vision of my life an where I want to be.  Most importantly, I want my daily activities to allow me to fly, not to burden me down with heavy weights of political (read egoistic) calculations of the actions.  Time for a change!?

The Problem - Quick Facts

Japan cares about quality above all else.  The bigger the company, or the more rooted the culture of a company, the more risk avert they will be to the determent of innovation.  Think about Japanese innovations.  How many can you count?  Did you count Walkman by Sony?  How about the Bullet Trains?  What else?

"After all Sony's Walkman, which revolutionized how people listened to music, was introduced back in 1979. The bullet train entered service in 1964, which was around the same time that Toto introduced its first high-tech toilet.  Since then, though, "game-changing" products have been difficult to come by. So is Japan's innovation dead?"

Japanese government recently has started investing in innovation again.  Prime Minister Abe came to Stanford and transported Biodesign to Japan for example.  He has been trying to boost innovation.

"the Government of Japan is doing everything it can to encourage various players, including start-ups and “hidden gems” among small- and medium-sized enterprises, to come up with brand-new and innovative ideas, to provide the world with solutions."

Japan still values age and gender above efficacy and productivity.  Japan is ranked 114th country with gender equality in 2017. 

Japan's belief in harmony, in obedience, and in acceptance of their situation, has borderline made them a nation with fixated vision of life.

"The Japanese people are very strong believers of the fact that one should never attempt to do anything beyond or below their status and they have implemented this belief in their corporate culture also by drawing strict lines by defining functionalities & scope of each and every designation or position in the organizations."  https://www.hierarchystructure.com/japanese-business-hierarchy/



The Problem - Part 4

Then something happened. The line of communication seemed to be broken and defective.  I would send an email and never receive a response.  Sometime I did but the response was in Japanese and cc-ed other people.  Sometimes the response was only sent to others and not directly to me or anyone in my office except for the one Japanese member.
When communications failed more than before I paused and observed to discover a newly introduced issue: office politics.
We were small and nimble.  Now we had grown a few folds and some newer members from different functions were added. There were hardly any job description associated with the roles.
When territories fade to exist, people tend to make their own marks.  And not always in a harmonious or productive way.
The result, detachment and stagnation despite several churning that was in motion.

About Me

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An emigrant from an ancient civilization to North America, an engineer in marketing and management, a mom of working kind, who thinks when she talks, and who likes to write. I, L.B., own the copyright to the content.