Student Life

Self-introduction

I'm Toshiaki Hashimoto, a 52-year-old director of a listed oil company's subsidiary. Due to my lack of confidence in English, I ended up taking the easy route and worked in domestic sales for a long time, although I had always had a strong interest in international business. During the bubble economy in Japan, I was engaged mainly in plant and equipment investment. I thoroughly enjoyed the work itself, but in my late 30s I started to feel that my career path was falling away from my ultimate interests and at long last, I made up my mind to strive to join the world of international business. Nevertheless, when I was 36, my English was not sufficient for the crude oil industry, and I took up a position, which no other in my company had tried, requiring proficiency in Korean and Chinese. As a result, at 39 I was engaged in establishing an overseas affiliated company in Taiwan, and became the representative of that office. Unfortunately, due to the Asian Financial Crisis, the achievements of the branch were not as had been anticipated. I returned to the field of domestic sales but was anguished, unable to overcome my desire to return to working overseas.

When I turned 45, someone in my company said to me "We don't have enough managers to work in the Middle East, do you have a good command of English?" Being able to speak English was still a world away for me but not wanting to lose the opportunity and find myself stuck with still working in domestic business at 60, I replied with an air of confidence "Of course I can, that's obvious isn't it?" This guy seemed relieved by my response and put me forward as a necessary member of member for the Middle East. On the way home that day, I rushed into an English school to register for Saturday classes. Six months later I left for my new position in the Middle East, boasting that I was a proficient English speaker. To be honest though, learning English in one's late 40s is a thin veneer of education.

In my new office in the Middle East I was asked by an Indian staff member to give a speech in front of everyone. Upon arriving at the location, there were around 40 employees waiting. I didn't panic but suddenly my mind went blank and I was at a loss for words. Off the top of my head, I belched out something to the effect of "Ask not what your company can do for you, but ask what you can do for your company. Do your best!", something modified from the words of President Kennedy's inaugural address which I had once seen in a university entrance exam long ago. The assumption that this General Manager would not be able to speak much more English than that was clearly written on the local staff's facial expressions. I had to oversee around 130 foreign employees and the common language between us all was English, so when I needed to speak with anyone, I secretly prepared drafts to use for practice beforehand. I went through a lot of embarrassing experiences such as when, as a supplier dealing with a merchandising section of a world-famous supermarket, I struggled for 2 hours to understand English spoken with a French accent. Such experiences taught me the importance of communicating with confidence, even if it means doing it in broken English. However, a bad habit of mine is to follow the saying "When in Rome do as the Romans do," and I found myself extremely interested in Arabic. I started going to evening school to learn Arabic and completely neglected English.

One day in the Middle East, I happened to come across a service offering access to a seminar, held by Dr. Ohmae, accessible through the Internet for free. In this seminar, he was making an impassioned speech on how Japanese business men should be, how students at Korea University and Ewha Women's University were enthusiastic about study and how recently enrolled students of the Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business were working so diligently. His lecture had a great impact on me. I taped this seminar and listened to it again and again in my car until it finally broke 6 months later. Dr. Ohmae's lecture showed me a great example of a speech and helped to clarify in my mind that what I wanted to do was business overseas. Influenced by the seminar, for a year I spent a lot of time reading a variety of books to cultivate myself but going to extremes, I ended up damaging my health. I returned to Japan to rest for a few months and became depressed thinking my life was going to end soon. Apparently, I had spent so much time on reading that I had forgotten to exercise. Regretting that bad habit, while I was on sick leave in Japan, I began to train at the gym in the evenings. I lost up to 10 kg in 3 months and gradually my health recovered. Then for 6 months thereafter, I went back and forth between the Middle East and Japan, for 2 weeks at a time, and then eventually returned to Japan.

My sickness made me aware that life is transient. I thought to myself, while I am still alive I really want to take some lectures given by Dr. Ohmae, whom I admire so much, and so I made an application to the Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business, and made a resolution that, if accepted, I would begin to study English again. In January this year, I found out that a new program, the MBA in Globalization, was to be established and so I applied for a transfer from the course I had originally enrolled into to the newly opened MBA in globalization. The required English proficiency, equivalent to TOEIC 850, seemed far beyond my ability, but knowing that if I gave it up I would regret it for the rest of my life, I promised myself to complete the program with fortitude and so started studying with the Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business. The first year management courses have been so interesting that I put a lot of energy into these and tend to spend the minimum required time on PEGL subjects. Having said that, I intend to persevere with them and will not give up.

Through watching Dr. Ohmae's speech in Montreal and his debate on ABC, I learnt that if you hold back, you lose. Today (September 19th 2008) I had the opportunity to have a business meeting with people from the UAE, throughout which I kept talking in broken English, almost in machine-gun fashion! They seemed to sense my passion and agreed to have another meeting with me tomorrow. These days my English has for some reason or other improved. I have come to understand that, when dealing with non-Japanese, it's not a matter of whether what you are saying is right or wrong, what is important is to just keep on talking so as to make sure that you don't regret not having said what you wanted to. Starting to study English at the age of 52 might be too late, but I don't have time to worry about that. I just want to keep on studying English, along with the other coursework, until I am satisfied with myself.

What motivated you to study for an MBA and to join the Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business?

I wanted to listen to how Dr. Ohmae thinks.

How do you spend an average week?

I used to sleep 6 or 7 hours a night before, whilst recently I have been sleeping merely 3 or 4 hours a night. I reach the office before 8am and study for an hour on my laptop. I skip lunch and go for an one-hour swim during lunch. I have gotten into the habit of going home after work to view lectures from 9pm to 2am. In total I study for around 6 hours per day.

What has proved useful to you so far?

I really look forward to listening to Dr. Ohmae's speaking English on the PEGL course;having the chance to write my opinions in English is helpful, although I must say that I do write my assignments without deep deliberation.

What are your career aspirations further to obtaining the MBA?

Considering my age, I am not thinking of looking for a new job just because I will obtain an MBA. I really appreciate that my company did not fire me when I had to take sick leave from the Middle East. Because of this, though some companies overseas ask me to help them out with their business, I do not take up their offers. If by chance I should take up any of these opportunities, I would like to be on the management side, rather than the employee side.

A message for future students considering the MBA in Globalization.

I would like to quote a line from Dr. Ohmae: "Grit your teeth! Keep on going!" For the first year I intend to take all of the management courses as well as clear all of the PEGL classes. I would like to keep going without ever giving up, bearing in mind Dr. Ohmae's words "Can you really say you are busier than I am?" Life is limited in length, however, depending on how you use time, you can always make more of it.