by Helen Iwata | Jun 13, 2023 | All, Announcements, Communication Skills, Conference Calls, Effective Facilitation, Expert Interviews, Personal Growth, Presentation Skills, Productive Meetings
I was amused when I read an article about how Japanese people were taking classes to learn how to smile after spending so long wearing masks during the pandemic. It makes sense though. Our facial expression has a huge impact on our communication to others as well as...
by Helen Iwata | Jun 6, 2023 | All, Communication Skills, Personal Growth
(Just for fun – the photo is with my friend, Sam, about 5 years ago on the stepping stones at a lovely village in Yorkshire where we used to go on family holidays as children.) The other day, Junko (not her real name) told me on a call that she’d recently been...
by Helen Iwata | Jun 5, 2023 | All, Communication Skills, Personal Growth
Oh, the difficulty of receiving! This photo is from 2014. I was speaking at a seminar organized by FEW (For Empowering Women) Japan and this was the panel discussion toward the end of the event. After this, there was a raffle. My name came up as a winner! In my mind,...
by Helen Iwata | May 9, 2023 | All, Communication Skills, Personal Growth
As we come out of Golden Week in Japan, I have a sort of “New Year” feeling. In March, many businesses went through the crazy busyness of the fiscal year end. In April, it was all about new hires and moving to new departments. And then the holidays. So now seems like...
by Helen Iwata | May 2, 2023 | All, Communication Skills, Managing Conflict, Personal Growth
Are you taking time off for Golden Week? If so, I hope you’re enjoying it ❤️ As you may know, I was on hols with family in Thailand last week. We had a wonderful time. But when we arrived at Bangkok airport all refreshed and ready for our flight back to Japan, we had...
by Helen Iwata | Mar 27, 2023 | All, Communication Skills, Personal Growth, Sasuga! Podcast
空手を始める前の１０代の頃、私は柔道を習っていました。 ある時、男性の対戦相手がマットの上で私に腕緘（うでがらみ）を仕掛けてきました。 普通はここで、降参の合図として指で２回床をたたきます。 でも私はそうしませんでした。屈服したり諦めたりしたくなかったのです。 その結果、私は腕を骨折。でも、当時はそのことがとても誇らしかったのです。 降参や諦めを拒むこのパターンは、私の人生とキャリアの中で何度も繰り返されました。 このような決意をポジティブに捉える人はたくさんいます。 そして実際にそれが助けになる時もあります。 ...
