(F) Presentation

Seeing everyone's presenting, I thought that they (including me) were using different styles of presentation.

Some people, such as Atsuko, Risako and Mari, used presentation slides which contain relatively many words (compared to others), and pictures to help understanding of the important points written in the slides. One of the advantages of this style is that people can "see" the important points of the presentation so it'll be easy for the audience to remember the content.

On the other hand, some people, such as Miku, Kengo and Yusuke, used pictures as the main and only a few words. A good point of these types of presentations is that the audience can pay attention to what the presenter's saying rather than the screen.

Also, I found an interesting article about different presentation styles↓Please have a look at if you are interested in:)

10 Different PowerPoint Styles – Tips and Clips on Using the Right Style for Your Presentation

http://www.24point0.com/top-PowerPoint/10-presentation-styles.php

Last term in the R&P class, the teacher of my section told us that we could use as many as slides we want but we should use words as less as possible. I know that it's one of the effective ways of presentation, but I do not think that's "the only" effective way. So, I personally do not want to decide which types of presentations are better than the others because different presentation styles have different advantages! (and probably disadvantages as well though...). Anyway, It was interesting to see different people presenting what they researched in many different ways:)

Regarding my presentation, I challenged to do what I've never done before, which is to do a presentation by using slides containing lots of pictures with no words (except the title of the presentation). When I was a high school student (in the English presentation class), I saw a video in which a man presenting in that way. I unfortunately forgot who was presenting about what, but definitely, it was really impressive for me. I remember that he was like spending only 3-5 seconds per slide. And I was curious to do the same thing.

However, my attempt this time ended up with a failure simply because I couldn't practice enough before actually presenting in the class. After the class, I really regretted that...I was busy enough doing other assignments as an excuse...orz

On the next day, (I did presentation in this class on Wednesday, so on Thursday,) I needed to do another presentation in different class. Because I regretted on the day before, this time I practiced many times at home (although it was in Japanese) in order to speak slowly, fluently and confidently. As a result, I didn't feel so nervous and I was able to do better presentation! This experience made me realise keenly how important practicing was...

(F) The Lecture from Hibiya Sensei

On last Monday, we had again a great lecture, this time from Ms. Hibiya, the president of ICU! It was really impressive for me, well, probably for all of my class mates. (Needless to say, the lecture from Mr. Kitashiro was also very interesting!) I'm really proud of myself in last November, who chose LITDY for my RW:))) And of course, thank you Ken for giving us a number of wonderful opportunities to learn from great leaders!

Just like many of my class mates already did in their blog, I'll also briefly write down some of the important points given in the lecture from Hibiya Sensei, in order not to forget about.

1.    Study another language

If you learn another language, you'll be able to communicate with more people, so you'll be able to know more various ways of thinking = It broadens your perspectives.

2.    Study abroad

Even though it is very hard to live in a different country, never give up, tough experiences make you develop. Don't be afraid to put yourself in a hard environment.

3.    Find your passion

You major at this university may not directly connect to your job in the future. Find and Do what you really want.

4.    Money is not such a big concern

Don't give up trying something because of lack of money. Money is always in somewhere, so seek it.

5.    Keep doing something regularly

in order to keep both your body and mind healthy.

Finally and most importantly...

6.  Anything is possible!（you can do it!）

"できる！"

Speaking of learning another language, I'm now wondering which world language class to take in next term, French or German... maybe I'm more interested in French "culture", but only for the "language" itself, I'm probably more interested in German.

However, I have two Swiss friends who speak several foreign languages (including French and German) and both of them says "German is definitely more difficult than French". In addition, when I was a high school student, I studied both French and German a bit in the lessons provided by the school during summer vacation, and I noticed that I'm better at pronouncing French than German......

The Course Sign up starts on 18 Feb but I can't decide!!!><

(R) LE10: Tenacious Creativity

"Strategy 10　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

  Never give up - there's always another move"

                                                                                              Leading at the Edge p139

In the negotiation activities (such as Snake Eggs and Two Oranges), we actually could compromise, but we needed to keep an attitude to never give up to find a way in which both sides can get maximum benefit without any loss. Also, in order to end up with win-win, we needed to find a different point of view from the usual way of thinking = new perspective to see all of the information given. I thought this could be connected to what is written in this chapter.

"When a strategy fails, acknowledge it and find another one. When the obvious moves are exhausted, keep looking for new ones." (p.149)

Also, in Mr. Kitashiro's lecture, we learnt the similar thing.

"Never give up, but withdraw if necessary." after this, he also said "if you failed, just try something new."

In my opinion, this means that…

Never give up the goal, but when you thought your current strategy was not working well, withdraw it, and try new strategy to achieve the ultimate goal.

"Tenacious creativity [...] demands flexibility, and it requires recognizing what works and what doesn't." (p.149)

Furthermore, I noticed that many of the chapters we read by now could be connected to this chapter. In order to keep an attitude of Never Give Up, for example,  we need to be optimistic&realistic (chapter 3) to recognise "what works well and what doesn't", we need to have enough stamina (chapter 4) to practice many different strategies, and we need to take a risk (chapter 9) sometimes to try new one. 

(F) The Lecture from Mr. Kitashiro

A: 明るく = Cheerfully
T: 楽しく = Enjoyably
M: 前向きに = Positively

Last Monday, we had a great lecture from Mr. Kitashiro, who is now the executive advisor of IBM Japan.

During the lecture, I strongly felt the importance of trying difficult tasks (rather than easy ones) and being always positive (even if the situation was really hard).

in his word, "Difficult jobs develop people." = 修羅場が人を育てる

This means, when you deal with a difficult task, you learn a lot, so your skills will be improved. At the same time, however, a person needs to have positive thinking and positive attitude toward the task, in order to achieve it.

I was deeply impressed by the following words which he said as an answer to someone's question.

"Be positive, and talk to yourself. [...] If you tell yourself that you're fine, you'll be fine. So, just smile. Then, you'll be successful."

This is a screen shot of the search result I got when I put Mr.Kitashiro's name on the Google search engine. Please look at the photos on the right hand, (if it's too small, click the picture, then it'll be enlarged.) in almost every photo appeared here, he looks smiling!!:)

Moreover, it was also interesting for me that he said the following kind of thing when someone asked him a question about leadership models.

"We can learn a lot from other person, but don't just imitate them. Try to develop your own management style."

I think this is one of the most important thing when we learn something about leadership. Although we are now reading the Leading at the Edge for example, obviously we cannot be Shackleton. What we can do is to learn what&how he act, and we need to think how we can apply them into our real-life situation, and then practice them in our own way.

(R) LE9: Risk

"Strategy 9　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

  Be willing to take the Big Risk."

                                                                                              Leading at the Edge p125

A leader is sometimes required to make a bold decision i.e. take a big risk. At the same time, it is important to measure the risk properly and to consider whether it's really needed to take it.

"Understand the risks you face and evaluate them carefully. Then balance risk and return, and have the courage to step up to those calculated risks that are worth taking."(p.137)

I guess that making a decision to study abroad is a risk for many people.

In my case however, it was already decided in the course curriculum of my high school that every student in my course, International Course, experience studying abroad. (And we could graduate our school with 3 years just like the same as normal students who studied in Japan) Thus, I actually didn't wonder if I should go or not. Nevertheless, it was very hard for me to decide which college to go as my high school had ties with several different colleges in England.

I had two options:

A) go to a college in which roughly 20 students from my high school study every year, and take the vocational art class with many other foreign students there.

B) go to a college which only 3 students at maximum are sent from my high school, and take 3 AS classes with British students there.

At the moment, I was so much interested in the field of art. On the other hand, I wasn't sure whether I really wanted to be a professional artist. I actually didn't want to narrow the range of my job in the future by taking A, but taking B meant that I would miss a way to be an artist.
Also, I wanted to try to put myself in a harder environment, where only a small number of foreign students study together, and to test my potential.

Finally, I decided to study in the latter, which was described as B above, and took 3 AS classes including Sociology, Psychology and World Development.

The first 3 months were especially tough for me, but through the experiences, I could improve not only my English language skills but also my mental strength.

I've never regret that I made this decision. Well, I don't think taking B was "the right answer" and A was "incorrect", but if I took A at that time, I won't be here, at ICU today. I'm so glad that I could meet with all of my new friends at this university, and I thank for all people who supported me to be here:) ...I think that a person can take a risk only when he/she is sure that there are other people who support him/her.