One of my big challenges is to be a strong leader in such a dynamically changing work environment with ethnic and cultural diversity.
My colleagues are based in all over the world, and accepting different cultures and values is a key essence in order to be successful.
When I met Masae I felt a strong sense of affinity to her and that I believe comes mainly from her similar but extensive business experiences of working with diverse cultures. Since she knows both Asian and Western cultures, I really can sense that she understands my struggles, and she leads me to tackle with specific challenges in a very proper manner.
We use Japanese language most time in our coaching sessions but we sometimes pick English vocabulary to express certain things. Sometimes English words sound easier to understand or
more suitable to explain certain situations or feelings. It is one of her strong values that she is able to deliver words both in English and Japanese depending on contexts or levels of understanding.
She is always a good listener and her affirmative reactions make me confident and also motivate me a lot. Her words make me aware of my unrealized strengths and her follow-ups through email help me a lot to radicate my thoughts and knowledge. We always keep a very comfortable distance with each other, not too close but not too far. Thus real trust and intimacy established very soon. I am most grateful that I can meet Masae at a very suitable point of time in my career.
Irene Uehara
Manager of Global HRM, NTT Corp.