For my business English seminars, I’m often asked by my clients (internal or external) to cover vast topics in relatively short amounts of time. When this situation arises, I always make sure to inform the audience at the beginning of the seminar exactly how far we’re going into a particular topic. I bookend this at the end of the presentation by either sharing methods or resources to further study the topic or by promising future seminars within the same field. Continue reading
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One of the things I loved about graduate school was the opportunity to apply what I was learning to real-world situations. There’s no better way to learn how to make a marketing plan than to do a real one for a real business. Continue reading
In the midst of my recent seminar about reading and discussing financial statements, I made a rare, spontaneous decision. Instead of simply explaining how accrual accounting works, I picked up a piece of paper, created a 100-yen IOU note, and handed it to one of the attendees. Continue reading
Photo Credit: Toyota/Subaru
In separate posts, I’ve shared words of wisdom from Rakuten’s Hiroshi Mikitani and my own thoughts on “kaizen.” Well, as fate would have it, one of Mr. Mikitani’s recent LinkedIn posts also covers kaizen. Continue reading
I recently stumbled upon this excellent article from Business Insider:
Amazing Career Advice for College Grads from LinkedIn’s Billionaire Founder
Sharing advice for new graduates is not the main purpose for writing this post. The article’s advice, however, happens to be superb. So, if you know some new grads, by all means share away! Continue reading
Source: Nintendo
For one of my recent seminars, I decided to challenge myself. As an admitted follower of Presentation Zen, over the past few months I have been reducing the amount of bullet points in my presentations. For my seminar on effective meetings, I thought to myself, “What if I could make this PowerPoint slide show without a single bullet point?” Continue reading
If you live in Japan, at some point in life, you are going to have to acquire a “hanko” (name stamp). Like a signature in western countries, a hanko is how you represent yourself in correspondence and business transactions.
The other day, I was staring at my own hanko (pictured above) and wondering how I could get more use out of it. The only place that requires me to use it is my bank—I can simply sign for everything else. Then it hit me: “This would make a great blog post!” Continue reading
Many of my American friends and family members often wonder how I can take on such a seemingly overwhelming language as Japanese. Well the answer to that, as well as an excellent example of audience involvement, can be found in today’s case study. Continue reading
Kaizen, Japanese for “good improvement,” became a popular word in Japanese business as the country developed after World War II. As the phrase spread throughout the international business scene, it grew into a business philosophy, loosely translated as “continuous improvement.” Perhaps its most famous application is in the Toyota Production System. Continue reading
Through my regular perusing of LinkedIn’s news feed, I stumbled upon this eye-catching summary of what it takes to make extraordinary presentations. Continue reading
