Chapter 8 Lighten Up!

Strategy: Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.

In this chapter, the author shows that celebration and laugh can make the difference. That means these behaviors work effectively to strengthen the bond within the team. 

In terms of celebration, we can see a lot of examples of the companies which build the custom into the organization. Recruit Career, a famous Japanese temp agency, give the expense of a trip during the holiday (up to 200,000 yen) if the brunch of the company achieves its goal. This system is called "GIB(=Goal in Bonus) system". The point is that the employees have to go to the trip with at least three other employees who also get the money. As the consequence, it will be more likely to be easy to cooperate with co workers during the work, because they are able to understand each other through the trip. I think this kind of celebration is effective, because it is "win-win" situation for both employees and the company.

Laughter. In this book, it is called as "vital mental medicine". Yes, it is very true!!!!
The effect of Laughter...

・Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.

・Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.


・Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.


・Laughter protects the heart. ・Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

・Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

・Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

・Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can't feel anxious, angry, or sad when you're laughing.

・Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.

・Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

・Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.


・Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget judgments, criticisms, and doubts.


・Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside.


・Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.

From:http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm

Video: "Humor and Health: How's Your Laugh Life?"

Free choice: Extended Outline of My Essay

Hi, everyone!
Since I revised my outline, I post it on this blog. If you have any suggestion, please let me know by adding a comment...

Disney

Ⅰ　Introduction

 A.How successful??

Seeking Alpha

“In general, Disney has achieved great success in growing their business and increasing  earnings in the last few years.”

Investopedia

“Walt Disney is one of the most powerful companies, in one of the most powerful sectors of any economy: entertainment.”

Disney Wiki

The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Studios, and today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 14 theme parks around the world. It also has a successful music division.

 B.Thesis

The success of The Walt Disney Company is the result of two things: the great leadership of its founder and the successors who have been keeping the mission statement of the company.

 

 C.Purpose

This paper will explore why the Walt Disney Company has become successful by two aspects. Firstly, this paper will explain what kind of key quality Walt Disney had. In addition to that aspect, it will explain how the successors of the company has been maintaining the mission statement of the company.

Ⅱ　Walt Disney’s key quality

 A. Always exceed the expectation (try to show new thing)

Animation… everybody did not think his plan would succeed at first

“The Steamboat Willie”...Animation with sound

“The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”... Full Color & Long Animation

Audio-Animatronics… “It’s a Small World”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Enchanted Tiki Room”

“He was the most critical person in the company”

  B. Stay true to your value

Walt Disney went bankrupt five times but never gave up his dream…

Einstein once said, “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” ...Walt Disney is a perfect example.

ex. Did not care what the critics said toward his vision.

Mickey Mouse “it was all started by a mouse.”

also a constant reminder that the company has strong roots and it embraces American values.

 C. Differentiate your offer

Creating “Uniqueness” within the system of the company

example...Visitor=guests, workers=associates

Everyone feel that they are doing something special=motivated

 D. Lead by examples and delegate

provided inspiration by creating many important characters in Disney’s history

example: Mickey and Friends

Communication with associates

Ultimately his employees were happy to work long hours without any pay because they believed in what they were doing.

  E. Roy Disney… The perfect brother I’ve ever known

More realistic because he was once a banker worked for Bank of America

Example:

Building a Company

・before they succeded, Walt was deceived by a man called Powers. But Roy noticed that the guy was a trickster.

・Found the source of funds(Bank of Italy(America), ABC), managing money problems(constructing business plan, in charge of trademark right), managing strikes

・Walt :“He is by nature a banker, so he is the brightest in terms of money. I totally rely on him in that issue, and do not have nothing to complain about.”

Disney Way

・Participation of worker and their families

...Roy invited all of the groups in the company for lunch or dinner, and played the role as a host.

...After the death of Walt, invited the families of the workers for meetings at the company and he explained the future of the company.

Ⅲ　Mission statement of the company

   A. Walt’s Core Concept… To Dream, To Dare, To Believe and To Do

   

   B. After the death of Walt Disney (How they keep the statement)

The Company’s 10 management principle… the easiest way to convey Walt’s belief

1.Make Everyone’s Dreams Come True

2.You Better Believe It

3.Never a Customer, Always a Guest

4.All for One and One for All

5.Share the Spotlight

6.Dare to Dare

7.Practice, Practice, Practice

8.Make Your Elephant Fly

9.Capture the Magic with Storyboards

10. Give Details Top Billing

Why they had to keep the mission statement??

  Because “Disney” became not only the founder’s name but brand.

 

C. Comparison to other companies (Apple…)

・Apple

NHK

After Steve Jobs died, stock price has gradually dropped, because many people worry that Cook(Jobs’ successor) will be able to keep on releasing innovative products like Jobs. Moreover, some of the executives of the company left the company.

The reason of these changes are simple. The successor of the company failed to find out what is important in the company.(In the case of Apple, it is “creative atmosphere”). Since Cook is just a pro of efficient management, he could not make the right decision for the company, and it related to dissatisfactory of the customers.

Iphone...many ppl say that IPhone 5 etc. is not “brand-new” smart phone. As the consequence, the share of the smartphone was smaller than Samsung.

Therefore, Apple did not prosper after the influential founder passed away.

・Disney

On the other hand, Disney have continued to succeed even after the death of its icon: Walt Disney. The reason is that Disney understood what is essential for the company to survive after the founder died. That means maintaining the brand of “Disney”. They share this principle with all of the workers in the company, so it became easier for the company to determine which way they had to go.

Ⅳ Conclusion

  A. Summary

  B. How we can apply to our lives

“Leadership is the ability which set the standard and manage the creative atmosphere within the group. Moreover, people are motivated to achieve a long-range but constructive goal  by the participatory environment that acknowledges the value of individuals.”

Leading at the Edge Chapter 6

Core Team Value
Strategy 6: Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

In this chapter, the author showed the importance of reinforcing the team message. The content of this chapter looked similar to that of Chapter 5 at first, but I found that the method appeared on this chapter is the foundation of the strategies 5. That is to say, it is important to achieve strategy 6 before strategy 5, because courtesy and mutual respect is the key factor to spread and make the crews believe this message: "We are the one, we live or die together."

...Minimize Status Differences and Special Privileges
The author compares Shackleton to Robert Scott, and emphasizes that Shackleton created fair environment during his journey. As the result, he succeeded in creating a sense of unity within the team. For example, Shackleton refused to get special privileges and he could admit he was wrong. This behavior created the environment that "each person experienced a basic sense of respect regardless of his or her role in the organization".

...Insist on Mutual Respect and Courtesy
Shackleton created an environment that crews helped other members by showing his attitude of self-sacrifice. Crews saw his behavior toward them, and influenced by the action. Also, crews never forgot the heart of courtesy even in a harsh environment. That means they always said "Thank you" or "excuse me" with their words. 


Comment:
What I learn from this chapter is that we have to follow the basic method of communication. The behavior of Shackleton is very simple. For instance, he just say "Thank you." or try to respect everyone on the ship. It reminds me of the education in elementary school... Since we cannot understand what is relationship or how to maintain the bond at that time, the teacher always stresses that "respect others" or "say Thank you", right? As we grow up, we may forget the fundamental principle of human relationship, because adults tend to focus on worthless things, such as a perception of "upper class". I think we should change our minds, and see other people as just human beings (it doesn't matter how they are rich/poor, their looks, their races, their beliefs, their academic backgrounds etc.)

free topic: Visiting Traditional & Modern Tokyo

Last Sunday, Sumire and I visited Asakusa and Tokyo SKYTREE. Though It was the first time for me to visit both of them, we could reach everywhere we wanted thanks to Sumire's experience (also it was lucky for me... she is an information collector lol)

Asakusa

well the first thing I thought when I arrived at Asakusa was "How crowded!!!!" What we did @ Asakusa was... visiting Senso-ji(浅草寺), shopping(no just eating) @ Nakamise(仲見世), which is a street located in front of Senso-ji. During the shopping, I was totally amazed by how much information Sumire had. For example, she told me which shop was the most famous for Ningyo-yaki or Agemanju. She also told me big Melonpan was one of the well-known products @ Asakusa. If you have a chance to visit there, please try Melonpan @ Asakusa Kagetsu Do(浅草　花月堂）. It tasted good, crispy surface but moist inside.(the second picture)

Anyway, thanks to her, I was able to find the new aspect of Asakusa;)

If you walk about 20 min from Asakusa(or you can take train or Jin Riki Sha), you can see the new symbol of Tokyo. It is called Tokyo SKYTREE!!!! YAY!


Tokyo SKYTREE(Soramachi)

As you know, it is the highest building in Japan and has 634 meters tall. Also, there is a large shopping center called Soramachi. The shopping center was really big...it has aquarium, planetarium, (I don't know why but it contains an university campus and a cram school... I can't study at that place lol) and too many shops...actually we got lost in the building many times(the situation like "where are we?" "I don't know..." "where's a map??")
Though the elevator stopped due to strong wind and could not go up, it was fun to visit many shops (some stores offer 70% discount!!) 



Thank you for inviting me to this wonderful journey, Sumire!! I really enjoyed this trip, let's go to somewhere again when we have a free time;)

Review for Chapter 4

Summary
Being healthy is one of the most important factors to lead at the Edge, because it is the foundation of the expedition. Sometimes, leaders pay attention to only the crews' health, and not to their own health. Surprisingly, the example is Shackleton. Since his body was not so strong, he always rejected taking the physical examinations. However, health is the essential factor for leaders, because they should be role models for crews by showing personal examples. The advices are the following: 1. Beware of "Summit Fever" (understanding the physical and psychological limits of you), 2. Find Outlets for Your Own Feelings(find someone/somewhat who/which can support you to manage your feelings), 3. Let Go of Guilt(sometimes leaders have to decide important things as soon as possible. In this situation, even if you make some mistakes, keep on moving forward and learn from the mistakes.)



Comment
I was surprised at the fact that Shackleton did not have strong body. At the same time, I was amazed that he overcame the expedition many times by managing his physical weakness, especially as a leader. Since I myself have a chronic disease(headache:p), I can partly understand how hard it is to even move when the symptom is really severe... Wow. It was also good to understand how to control our feelings, because I just thought like "Leaders should be always perfect... be a personal example for all of the fellows... then it is impossible for me to be that person." Leaders are still human beings, so maybe it is the best for them to try to show natural performance.

Optimism and Realism

The most impressive part of this chapter is "Cultivate Optimism in Yourself". I didn't know that it is important to "cultivate" optimism  to be a leader and we can do it by ourselves, because I thought optimism was one of the natural characteristic of individuals. The author says the key lies in inner dialogue(like "self-talk), but I'm not sure it is effective. that's because it seems to be like telling a lie to ourselves, and in somewhere of my mind I may feel like "actually I'm not thinking like that, it is impossible..." In that case, how can I be optimistic???? I like "ABCDE" model (adversity, beliefs, consequences, dispute, energy), but I like this method more. 
(http://greatist.com/happiness/how-be-optimistic-about-everything)

• Find the good. Even in less-than-great situations, there’s a way to find something positive. It may be hard to see at first, but try looking closer! (I may be completely lost, but the view from here sure is pretty.)

• Write it down. At the end of the day, write down a few good things that happened, like finishing a big report at work or getting an email from an old friend. The habit makes it easier to appreciate the positive parts of life.

• Speak with success. Sometimes it’s not the specific situation that determines a good or bad mood, but how we talk about it. (The exam may have been super hard, but telling friends we tried our best may cheer us up.)

• Forget the green-eyed monster. It’s easy to compare ourselves to others, becoming envious of what we don’t have. Instead, try to appreciate the good qualities and remember what we're grateful for.

• Take control: Science has shown people feel more optimistic about situations they can control. So take a seat behind the driver’s wheel and remember choices like working out more and eating healthfully are (almost always) yours!

• Smile! Grin at this: In one study, participants who held a pen in their mouth (causing them to use their smiling muscles) perceived cartoons to be funnier than those without the pen. So not only are smiles contagious, they may actually make situations seem better! 

• Stay balanced. Life isn't all good, all the time, so don't worry if those positive thoughts don’t flow freely. Staying realistic is also important to help manage anxiety and boost productivity.

On the other hand, the author also emphasizes the importance to see the reality. I was surprised that Shackleton was too optimistic and blind to the reality. I agree with the idea that leaders should have a person who tell the truth and stay in touch with reality. In some cases, like Shackleton, leaders work too hard to be optimistic to keep the good atmosphere within the team. As the quotation above mentions, "stay balanced" is important. But... how can we make the decision like "in this case we should be realistic" or "we should be optimistic" in real situation?? That will be tough question....

"Optimism and Realism" (I do not know why but I can't post this video as usual)

This video's explanation is really clear and may be the clue to answer my last question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95vsnNzz2_A 

Leading at the edge Chapter 2 & 3

Chapter 2 "Symbolism and Personal Example"
In this Chapter, the author emphasizes the importance of setting the personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.

...Give the Right Speech
In this section, the crews praised Shackleton's speech. For example, "The speech had an immediate effect: our spirits rose, and we were inclined to take a more cheerful view of a situation that had nothing in it to warrant the alternation." (Frank Wild) I really want to hear the speech, so I searched it on the web.

Shackleton's original voice
(http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/1000/1859/cusb-cyl1859d.mp3)

When I heard it, I felt like the tone of his voice or the style of his speech is similar to that of Martin Luther King.(this Shackleton's voice do not contain the message like him though)

I'm not sure what kind of thing Shackleton spoke in front of the crew during the adventure, but I would feel relieved if I were a part of the ship. That may be because Shackleton's voice seems to be calm and confident. What do you think about this??

Research Writing Proposal

 Hi guys!!!! I wrote my research writing proposal, so I'd like to share it on this page, too.
Though I really want to post what I feel about Chapter1,2, and 3, I have many things to do right now(cleaning my room... what I hate the most in the world). Anyway, I'll post it at least in a week. Sorry...

・Research Paper Proposal

It is difficult for companies which has a charismatic leader to survive after the death of the leader, because there is no successor who take over the same vision or the same ability to run the companies. However, one of the exception is the Walt Disney Company. In fact, Disney has achieved great success in growing their business and increasing earnings even in the recent years. This paper will explore the secret of Disney: why they can keep on expanding their business without the presence of the great icon of the company. It appears that Disney has been sustained by the strong leadership of its founder, and by preserving the mission statement of the company. The article of “Business Brief.com” written by Bob Hill and an essay by Victoria Hargan explore the characteristic of Walt Disney as a great leader(2010). Nancy McLendon’s essay for Disney(2013) and a book entitled “The Disney Way” (1999) reveal that the mission statement and vision set the tone for the success of Disney. These sources seem to validate the thesis of my paper at the stage in my research.

A Happy New Year!! (My Personal Vision Statement)

A Happy New Year, everyone!! I hope you enjoyed the winter vacation...
I know it is kind of too late to post my personal vision statement on this blog, but I 'll try to write it with my new year's resolution:)

At the end of every day I wish to feel that I've been...

Hardworking

Confident with myself

Visionary

Trustworthy

Someday I hope to have...

achieved my dream (contribute to my country as a public servant)

been a great debater

been to every kind of Disneyland(Cali, Florida, Paris, Hong Kong, maybe Shanghai, Disney Cruise line and Hotel in Hawaii)

When I die I wish to be remembered as a good...

daughter, friend, diplomat, colleague, and person

So... I want to make this year be the first step to achieve my vision in the future. It is important to "do something", right?

1. I will start to prepare for the examination of public servant.

I heard that the examination needs a lot of time to prepare, because it is extremely difficult.(I mean it requires high score to pass the exam) So I will start to study harder about law(especially the Constitution of Japan), and review subjects that I learned at high school or that I didn't take at high school. Although I am Bun-kei(it means I'm not good at mathematics or science lol), it is necessary to be good at all kinds of subjects, not only history and Japanese literature but also math, science, physics and biology. I will not run away from this situation, I will not betray myself, I will spend time as much as possible for my future.

2.Control my feeling.

Last year, sometimes I hate debating and do not feel like going to the club activity, then I skipped it. However, I always found that my ability did not improve well when I attend the practice next time. So I will always think long-term goal this year, and try to avoid acting shortsightedly. 

These are my resolutions.  

May this New Year brings lot of joy, happiness, love, good health, peace and prosperity in your life.

Song: "Happy New Year" by ABBA