meeting and x factor

We had a meeting about our project.
Our member is usually six, but yesterday was just four, so it wasn’t difficult as usual.
I’m not sure which is better, because conflictions in meetings would be one of learning processes, but honestly it wasn’t so stressful, so that’s all right.

Making logic for our argument itself might be not so difficult, but how to show the evidence should be really difficult. That is always the main problem of ours in my opinion. I should have had some clear image where we go to before our meeting, but I always failed. I should have prepared some suggestions and direction in order to make our meeting meaningful. For the next time, I should use more time for coming up with some idea for how to organize and lead our group.

Then, I moved to Top shop with a friend of mine, because his girlfriend waited there. In topshop, there were a lot of people and staying there was a little bit stressful. Girls really love shopping. His girlfriend and a friend of hers hadn’t finished shopping, so we went to a book shop to kill a bit time. I looked for a book for my research but I couldn’t find it. I might be ought to ask the staff, but I thought if I asked them I couldn’t refuse to buy it, so I didn’t. The shelf of some book stores are really mess and it’s very hard to find books I want. In Japan, some big book shop has sort of searching machine. I didn’t think it was special, but now I realised it was really useful.

I gave up finding the book I needed and started to read a book about leadership. Recently I’ve really realised how important leadership is. Maybe I’m not cut out for a man who has strong leadership skill, so that’s why I adore becoming such a kind of person. Anyway I have to have some confidence about myself, it should be really difficult, but I have to try until I succeed.

During walking around with a friend of mine, we bumped into other classmate. He had planned to have dinner in China town, so we joined it. I really love ho-fun, which is a kind of rice noodles, so I ordered it as usual. That restaurant was recommended by the friend, so taste was all right, but the behaviour of the waitress was not so good. I don’t mean to complain about it but I couldn’t help thinking if I own some restaurant, I have to really care about the behaviour of the staff, because it might have a big impact on customer experience and satisfaction.

When I arrived at home, X factor was just on air. I really like Alexandra and Diana. They must be finalists. Alexandra has the best singing skill, and Diana is really charismatic. I can’t choose which is better, because their types are slightly different to each other.

Apple community

Yesterday, I went to Apple store for our research.
I tried to feel the mood, feeling and emotion, to see how customers behave. Basically the space was really energetic. Many customers circulated in the store. The customers are very various, from kids to elderly people. Among them, there two ladies, who it seems to me that they were looking for new computer for the mother, maybe she was between 60 and 70 years old.
I thought it was one of the good aspects of consumption. The activity produces some opportunities for families to communicate.

They also have lectures for their products. It looks like sort of “Apple community”. People gather with people who are interested in the same thing. Apple becomes a kind of hub to connect people. There is a community. It is also another advantage of consumption. Mutual experiences to use some particular products make us feel connected, and I think some companies try to take advantage of it.

The experience in Apple store was really comfortable, then I moved to Nokia store. The feeling was totally different. Basically there were few customers, it was not fair to compare it with Apple store directly, but the approach to customers seemed to be different to Apple as well. Their approach looked more technological and more “cool”. They seemed to want to show how cool they are. In a way, the approach might be really good, but my feeling in the store was a bit isolated.

Maybe the positions of Apple and Nokia are different. Nokia would want to be a pioneer of mobile phone technologies, but Apple might not care about it. Instead of that, it seems to me that Apple takes care about customer experiences. Both would be advantages of consumption, but the types are a bit different.

After that, I moved to college and checked some commercials of international brand companies. As I had seen in the store, Nokia’s approach was also kind of based on “coolness”. When it comes to Apple, they used both way. The commercial of iPod was really experience-oriented, maybe because the technology was not so special, but that of iPhone looked more technological, but based on experience-oriented.

I thought I would stay college as long as possible, but I felt a bit tired, so I went home earlier than I thought, but it might’ve been better to stay more, because in my room usually I’m too relaxed to study. I’m really not sure which is better to study at college for a long time or to change the place to study. Concentration should be important for learning, so I must put myself in a place where I can keep my concentration anyway.

Finally I watched “Shameless” to get used to English conversation in natural speed. It was the final episode of the first season. Its characters are basically crazy, but in the end it became happy ending, so my feeling was really good after seeing it.

the research of major brands

I applied for a part-time job. I’m looking forward to receiving the reply.

Our project is about “consumption” so we’ve decided to research major brands, such as Coca Cola. According to Interbrand, Coca Cola is the number one global brand. I checked Wikipedia, and their annual review. It’s crystal clear that they want to exploit the message of the global community through the experience of drinking Coke. It’s really interesting, because usually kind of globalisation is a negative discourse. The image is a bit boring and “Americanisation” and losing characters, but in a way it connects the world and promotes to understand each other and feel empathy. I think it is a positive side of globalisation and global companies.

Then, I saw a girl, who worked in art sector in Japan. She said the work was really hard because the budget was really limited. What she had to first was to build the connections with the politicians to keep the budget for art. He kept the work one way or another, but the budget for art was gradually lower and lower, then finally nothing, so she decided to quit the job. Her opinion about art market in Japan was negative, but my opinion was not so negative, so I told her my opinion and sort of “passion” to change the market, but only to confirm that she didn’t agree with it and realise that I might be just naïve.
Actually, however, I felt some opportunities in the art market, because the basement is so weak and there might be chances for new comers. Anyway I have to research the art market in Japan if I really want to join the market, and try and find what I can do and what my opportunity is.

Finally, I moved to White chapel to join a party of my classmates. I was really tired, so I didn’t feel up to going the party, but the party was a kind of graduation party of BA course of my classmates, so I thought I could see someone really interesting, but there was no classmates anymore, because it might have been too late. I should’ve finished the meeting with the girl earlier, but her story was really interesting and I couldn’t stop it. It would be better if I can see her again and talk about art or something with other friends. Some other friends of mine also have working experience in art sector in Japan, so they might come up with something from their conversation. It must be exciting time. That’ll be sort of synergy. Connecting people is really exciting, because there’ll be something more than “1 + 1 = 2”. 1+1 might be 3, 4 or something very interesting.

I remember another thing she said. She said people who can control budget for art in Japan were too conservative to understand the value of art policies. I agree with it, but I think we shouldn’t wait for it to change.

Innovation Leaders

http://www.bcg.com/impact_expertise/publications/files/Innovation_Aug_2008.pdf

One of our lecturers recommended us to read the report about innovation issued by BCG (Boston Consulting Group). I couldn’t get around to reading it for a while, but our presentation just finished and I had a bit of time for reading, so I finally read it.

The first half of that was not so interesting, but the chapter named “Becoming more innovative Enterprise” was very meaningful.

The author shows five common characters of the best innovation leaders:

-The Ability to Tolerate Ambiguity
-The Ability to Assess and Be Comfortable with Risk
-The Ability to Balance Passion and Objectivity
-The Ability to Change
-The Ability to Command Respect, Even from Those Who Are Skeptical.

Maybe it means being innovation leaders is very tough and stressful. We should expect there ARE troubles and overcome them instead of avoid them.
These abilities are a little bit too abstract, but they could be some of the core abilities which I have to acquire.

Presentation

I had a presentation yesterday, but I didn't have time ehough to prepare it well, so the quality is not as good as usual.

Maybe the point to be better is:
1. a story that connects each slides.
2. panchline.

This presentation is just for a couple of minutes, so not so difficult, but for learning something from actvity I should do hardwork for it.
I think it's right for everything. When you do something, you should be always serious, otherwise it will be wasting time.

Stay foolish, stay hungry. It's good words.