everyone else. What is needed in the global stage is the equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome, and we should celebrate those who work hard, even if they are behind others; this is the idea of people who are educated in the United States. However, since there was no need to impose such a majority idea and dare to make some employees feel uncomfortable to celebrate, we stopped this celebration system. People's feelings are difficult to deal with. Factory workers are especially diverse. Even though they are Americans, not all of them are born and educated in the United States. People from all over the world—Mexico, China, India, Russia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and so forth—were working together. Therefore, basically, a-un no kokyu (communicating and agreeing with each other without exchanging words) does not work as it does in Japan. In Japan, from the time children are in elementary school, their teachers keep telling them to “think from the other person's point of view, and imagine how you would feel if you were in the other person's position”, but this method would not be effective if we were born and raised in a different environment or with a different way of thinking. It is rather dangerous to think that because you feel this way, the other person will feel the same way. The issue of age discrimination was something that we needed to be aware of, especially as Japanese managers. At that time, I wanted to learn the American way of management while going through a lot of trials and errors at the manufacturing site in the U.S. I therefore studied for Executive MBA at Northwestern University (Kellogg) on the weekends while working for two years from 1994 to 1996. As an engineer, it was a refreshing and eye-opening experience for me, especially in the areas of strategy, finance, and marketing. The admission interview was held in the building specifically designated for Executive MBA, which was like a first-class hotel. I took the elevator and was ushered into an office labeled Assistant Dean, where I was greeted by a woman named Erica. At first, I thought she was a secretary, but she was the assistant dean. I imagined that there would be several interviewers and I would be seated in front of them and asked difficult questions. Yet, in the luxurious reception room, I was told, "Would you like coffee or tea?” and "I'll be listening to you for the next hour." Then the one-on-one interview began on the spot. The interview was completely different from what I had expected, and I had never sat in an interview like this before. Yet, I think you can see many different sides of a person by suddenly giving them a certain amount of time and letting them talk completely freely, whatever and however they talk. Erica didn't ask any questions, just took notes on what I was saying, except for the occasional confirmation of what I meant. I think it is extremely important, especially when working on the global stage, to make sure that what you want to say, your thoughts, and enthusiasm are conveyed to the right person in an hour if you are given an hour, or 90 seconds if you are given 90 seconds. It is also very difficult to talk about one's work without using any jargon and in a way that everyone can understand. Yet, a professional must be able to explain complicated things in a way that is easy to understand, and if you can't do that, it means you don't know your job. At the end, Erica said, “Officially, the faculty committee will go through document reviews and decide whether you will be admitted or not, but you will probably be admitted.” Erica was a dashing, tall woman, a little older than me. I named my first daughter, who was born just before I entered the Executive MBA program, Erica after her. My first daughter is now a working adult, so my interview with Erica was a long time ago, but it still left a strong impression on me. After graduating from Northwestern and returning to Japan in 1996, I worked for 15 years until my second assignment in the U.S. in 2011 in the Corporate Planning Department at the head office, where I formulated medium-term management plans and worked intensively on global alliances and cross-border M&A. I have experienced many negotiations by comparing wits with the other side, bargaining, probing each other's true intentions, and looking at things