A Presumptuous Word

2020.

The impact on society brought by an unforeseen plague has been great.

A state of emergency declared by the government—the first I have ever experienced in my life. Under its influence, the composition of society has changed, and many companies are pushing forward reforms in how we work. Telework, which lets you do your job from home; remote meetings; systems that remove job titles and let management and staff interact on equal footing; evaluation measures that value only track record and results—and so on. Companies that have begun to put forth rational, future-oriented management, stripped of waste, are on the move.

Will this system really function, over the long run, in our country with its village-culture way of thinking?

To begin with, for human beings—who cannot live alone and can never become perfect—wasted time is precious, and I feel it is what makes people grow. It is because we work our five senses richly, nurture our sensibilities, feel others’ feelings on our very skin, show consideration and tenderness, scold and encourage, share our emotions, and run the whole gamut of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, that we are human. Managers, please do not misjudge the value of humans, who can never become robots.

Just kidding.