Machines for all

Yup. It's a hanko vending machine. What's a hanko? A hanko is a stamp used as a signature here in Japan. Once a fine, artful thing, kept in families through generations, now available for a few bucks from a machine next to the checkout at a discount store. Ah well. Progress. Part of me thinks it's pretty nifty. Yup. Nifty.

From Heaven to Earth

Well he may not be an angel but Felix Baumgartner will fall to Earth from roughly that height or higher. In an attempt to break records and not himself, he will jump out of a low-orbit craft and free fall literally from the edge of space. Who, you ask would ever sponsor such an insane, such an "extreme" idea? Red Bull, of course.

You can check the live video feed from the crazy daredevil himself at www.redbullstratos.com

Good luck, Felix!

Happy Canucksgiving, everyone!

Sayonara, Tokyo.

Back to Osaka for me! Day 2 of training was very interesting. All about cultural dialogue and style switching, among lots of other interesting stuff. It's going to take a lot of practice before i'm comfortable debriefing clients on their cultural preferences at work. Fortunately, this is right in my wheel house as an habitual navel-gazer. =)

I am very much looking forward to seeing my wife and son, and sleeping in my own bed again.

Training Day 1

By the way, I'm in Tokyo to do my certification for COA (Cultural Orientations Approach).  This employs the COM (Culture Orientations Model).  See graphic below.

By this approach, culture is characterized by 10 dimensions and each dimension has two (or three) orientations along a continuum within that dimension. For example within the dimension of Structure there is a continuum between the two orientations of Order and Flexibility.  There are actually 17 continua by this system.  They aren't listed here and I wouldn't want to give away all our trade secrets anyway. 

The goal of this model and its application is to raise awareness within people and organizations about their preferences for work.  It is not a personality test and it is not a guide of how to do business.  It is a comprehensive and non-judgemental model of culture that can be used to better understand the differences between individuals and groups and lead to better cultural dialogue and more successful collaboration. The training has been fascinating and I look forward to leading workshops using these models and skills. 

Two nights in Tokyo

Off to Tokyo to do some training and visit HQ. i will hate being away from Ulala and Shinryu. I will, however, love sleeping the whole night through, provided my neck and shoulder pain let me. Actually, that's been feeling a bit better lately. Knock on wood.

Nanko at night

Had to head out to Nanko to deliver a session. Hadn't been there in a few weeks and wasn't much looking forward to it. It's far and it's a Monday session. My days off are usually Sunday and Monday. Meh. The session was fine, i got to sit and catch up on some stuff at Mister Donuts and, on the way back to the station, i got to see this: