Inspiring the troops!

As is custom in most corporate environments, in Japan and in other countries as well, I would believe, at the start of the new year it is customary for the management of the company to outline the strategy for the year ahead of us and highlight any challenges or changes that we will face. As was done in my little company.

Mr. Schachou had gathered the whole company and held a presentation about what we had to do in the year ahead of us, and it’s no doubt that we have some pretty big challenges in front of us for 2009. His presentations are at least not the dull boring type, usually very energetic and full of hyperbole that can at time be pretty exhausting and painful to be subjected to. But this time he actually managed to keep himself on the reasonable side and it was a comparatively inspiring presentation that at least did not worsen the morale in the company. Everything was going surprisingly well and he finished up his presentation and was probably satisfied with the look of the people’s faces as he finished.

Then he did it… Inspired, he added a “Don’t worry, we can do this because… I am your leader!”. A brief second of silence followed after which the whole room erupted in laughter and shaking of heads. For a second or two Mr. Schachou looked a bit fluttered but then quickly decided that it was best to laugh with everyone. The corporate lesson in here is that you should probably stop while you are ahead…