Hello,
In my family, we have a custom that we call " burning books and magazines ".
It's usually an event where books and magazines I've bought are discarded. This includes not only publications, but also everything related to food, clothing and hobbies. In order to get through this event, you have to meet strict criteria, such as whether you plan to open it within the next year, whether it is worth passing on to your descendants, or whether you have worn it at least once in the past two years.
Only those items that pass through this gruelling "sorting" process can remain in our family.
Miraculously, however, there are some "unwanted items" that do not meet this criteria.
They are the trainers in the photo.
Size is 30cm. My shoe size is 26cm and as you can see they are a normal pair of used trainers.
In fact, when I left my old job, my ex-boss gave me these as an ad-libbing gift at a farewell party at his house, where he invited my family and colleagues who worked with him at the time.
Why shoes...
This is actually the background to an episode that became the basis for a section I wrote in my book "The only 1% of leadership tips that 99% of people don't do", titled "Putting on the leader's shoes" (p168).
When I worked with this former boss, my position was his "assistant". I was his "bag man", taking part in his decision making, information gathering and general administrative tasks.
We have the most communicative relationship in the company, so it is important that we are on the same page, but it was difficult at first to get to grips with each other.
He was born and raised in New Zealand, but spoke very good Japanese.
Whenever we had a miscommunication, he would always say to me in Japanese, "Put on my shoes! he would say to me in Japanese. Sometimes he would put his shoes in front of me, sometimes he would offer me his glasses...
His intention here was to
What would you do if you were in my position? I want you to think about it from that point of view.
In English, if you were in my position, what would you do?
I think this was an educational way of taking the load off him and at the same time improving my leadership skills by raising my perspective.
Of course, I still take on board his message and continue to apply it in my daily work.
I thought it would be of social significance to present this essence to the world, so I included it as part of my book.
He had heard about it somewhere, and people told me that he was surprisingly pleased.
At my farewell party, he suddenly disappeared in a drunken stupor and brought me these trainers hidden under his T-shirt.
My wife, who was also there, understood the significance of the huge dirty trainers and was unable to apply the criteria, and as a result the shoes have been exceptionally lucky to escape the burning of the book.
Regardless of whether I publish my work in book form or not, what shapes my personality today is what I have received from the people I have come into contact with and the messages they have intentionally or unintentionally sent me.
This is what I feel as we start a new year and as we welcome many new friends.
How do you feel about this?
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
