I had a dream about Sonora Technology #1 : Haruko MINAMI, Advisor

That’s the beginning of my beloved “Ten Nights of Dreams”, a series of pieces by NATSUME Soseki.

To be honest, I have had Sonora Technology in my dreams twice before.

The first one was shortly before I received an offer for an advisory position from Sonora.

In my dream, I was unexpectedly appointed to be a CEO of an unknown small factory, and I was worried about whether I would have a management capability. Then, a man who seemed to be my secretary, explained the entire schedule for the first day and took me on a company tour.

When I saw how the employees were feeling truly alive in working there, I realized that it’s not the size of the company that matters. If each person working there embraces a clear sense of purpose and all their vectors are aligned, a strong, select group of talented can be formed.

It reminded me of a book called “Everyone can be a leader/Everyone has leader qualities” written by HIRAO Seiji, a famous Japanese Rugby union footballer and coach, in my dream. According to him, in order to build a “strong organization”, it is essential to establish “strong individuals,” and every member should have the awareness that they are a leader.

The dream ended with my decision to grow the company together with employees, raise the salaries, and enrich our life together.

I am not sure whether the company in my dream was Sonora, but I have a feeling that it was some sort of déjà vu.

Although I became an advisor in reality, not a CEO, I have previously experienced that an advisor should also have a perspective as nearly as possible to that of the CEO. This was something I realized when I was an advisor at one of the SMEs in the Kansai region of Japan.

On the way back from regularly visiting the client company, one of the employees always drove me to the station. He was usually quiet, but one day he talked to me,

“My wife, who works part-time, studied English on her own and got a perfect score on the TOEIC. She is now looking for a job where she can use her English skills, and she would like to ask you for some advice, Minami-san.”

It was at this time that I first became aware of the responsibility of being an adviser, or rather, of having to keep my perspective high. Since I realized that I am being watched not only by the employees but also by their families.

And just as a company executive carries the heavy responsibility with the determination that they must never let the employees’ families lose their means of livelihood, I felt that the lesson I learned from these events was that an advisor, as the right-hand person, should also develop the sense of responsibility and mindset of a leader.

The fact that a non-scientific dream has expanded my thoughts this far makes me wonder how impactful the second dream will be… Well, that’s all for the first dream, and now the next one…

(to be continued)