Worklife

Ramblings about workplace culture, life in Japan, and then some.

Featuring

Mentoring

Recent post­ing by Sonic Rim’s Uday Dan­da­vate on Anthrode­sign group mail caused me to think about my own expe­ri­ence with search for men­tor. (Thank you, Uday!)

About 7 years ago, I felt a keen need for a men­tor of my own gen­der. Maybe it was because of “coach­ing” boom in Japan at that time, and the claims on “coaches” and “men­tors” mak­ing big dif­fer­ence in one’s life were all around me. At the time, plenty of great men I admired were around me. Bril­liant, intel­li­gent, and witty male war­riors who prac­ticed, fought and won in busi­ness world taught me much through their talk and action. But I did not feel whole by fol­low­ing only male men­tor. I real­ized then that I wanted a female men­tor who would show me how to live fully in work and life as a woman.

Look­ing back, I just did not real­ize what the num­bers meant. I rejected the choice to pur­sue more income and greater power within the global cor­po­rate com­mu­nity. It was my ten­dency to leap before look­ing that helped me make at that time an easy deci­sion. Many women choose their path I chose, but just as there are very few women who suc­ceeded within cor­po­rate world and migrate into happy old age, and even fewer women who tried to tell their stories.

I have doubts that my coun­sel may be right for some­one, but some women have occa­sion­ally men­tioned to me that talk­ing to me helped, and that see­ing me in per­son, liv­ing my choice gave them courage. Even though I know that my advice would have been one of the mil­lion things that helped them, see­ing them shine brightly in their world today makes me enor­mously happy.

Per­haps this blog, “Work­life”, has become, or actu­ally has already been a plat­form for me to tell my work life sto­ries that help busi­ness as well as pri­vate life of who­ever reads it.

It comes at the end, but lastly and impor­tantly, Anthrodesign’s founder is Natalie Han­son, a woman whom I admire and learn from. She reminds me that as women, we can teach and men­tor in many ways, one way being telling our story on the web. Thank you, Natalie!

Posted in Communication , Ethnography , Experience design , Learning from people, books , Purpose | 31 Jan, 2012 | Add a comment


Previously

Japanese SNS Activities by Market Sector »
Posted in Business in Japan, Communication, Culture Difference Japan Asia US Europe And All, Education in Japan, Ethnography, Experience design, Industrial Design, Insight, Learning from people, books, Reputation Economy, Work life
02 Feb, 2012 | Comments Off
Mentoring »
Posted in Communication, Ethnography, Experience design, Learning from people, books, Purpose
31 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
Update on affect of the great earthquake »
Posted in Japanese Behavior, Learning from people, books
31 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
Tipping in the US vs No tipping in Japan »
Posted in Culture Difference Japan Asia US Europe And All
29 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
Research conducted in Tokyo now »
Posted in Aging, Business in Japan, Communication, Ethnography, Experience design, Japanese Behavior, Learning from people, books
28 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
History is no longer created by limited few writers »
Posted in Aging, Communication, Learning from people, books, Reputation Economy
25 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
Recent Ethnography Research, Particularly of Recruitment Challanges in Japan »
Posted in Business in Japan, Communication, Education in Japan, Ethnography, Experience design, Industrial Design, Learning from people, books
22 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
Happy New Year »
Posted in Learning from people, books, Purpose, Work life
01 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
Identity integrity of adults and children in internet world, physical world »
Posted in Communication, Ethnography, Japanese Behavior, Learning from people, books
22 Dec, 2011 | Add a comment
Human evolution to live out in the space »
Posted in Learning from people, books, Robotic
15 Dec, 2011 | Add a comment


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