On Thursday, July 27, MUSUBU welcomed Mr. Yoshikazu Ito, the Secretary General of Toronto Japanese Association of Commerce and Industry and Mr. Teruyuki Wakasa, the Founder of Japan Festival for the 2nd MUSUBU event, titled “Leaderships: Failure is your best teacher”.
Mr. Ito has established his business career in Toronto after working for a Japanese corporation in both Japan and Toronto. He has successfully re-structured a Toronto-based Japanese company, and he is now an indispensable ally for the Japanese business community in Toronto.
Mr. Wakasa is the one who led Japan Festival to an amazing success. His network extends not only to the business field, but also cultural and political areas. He is also a successful consultant for the Aviation business, using his extensive knowledge and experience acquired from working in the industry.
Mr. Ito told us the importance of understanding “what is acceptable, and what is not” in our everyday business life in Toronto. Something quite “normal” in Japan could be regarded “taboo”. He also talked about the necessity of deep communication to understand the needs and the intentions of the other person.
Mr. Wakasa, who has great respect towards Mr. Ito, enthusiastically told us that it is not the easiest thing to ask for an advice and cultivate new relationships; however, when you do so, you can develop your network, as well as yourself as a person.
The take-home message of this event is that if you truly wish to lean and grow, the experts and pioneers will welcome us with open arms. What we need to do is to open that door, grab those arms, and listen with an open mind. Then, we can go forward without doubt once you found your way.
At the Q&A session, a participant posted the idea of patience that may be missing among us. The heated discussion was held after the participant mentioned “It is often essential to wait to see what is really going on, even when you think it is going nowhere.”
After the talk and discussion, we had an amazing summer evening, enjoying great meal, drinks and live music in the party room. We were fortunate to listen to more of the “one of a kind” stories from Mr. Ito and Mr. Wakasa, as well as other senior participants.
Thank you very much your compliments, telling us “Great choice of speakers!” and “Extremely inspiring!” Your support and participation help keep us going.
The next event is scheduled for early November. See you there!
