gaishikei no ryugi. 

Sunday, September 30, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 6:22 PM

 I remember reading her previous book, zero Kara no MBA, which was written when she was graduated from Columbia...

And now she turns her 40s and wrote another book on gaishikei firms... I've not read this yet but listening to her introduction of the book at kinokuniya, it seems interesting and thus I wanted to put this link here...

 http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/store/Otemachi-Building-Store/20120918153005.html

for the people who are interested in gaishikei firms, it would be resourceful to understand their nature...
regards,

kenji

0 comments

gmat rc, still tough... 

Posted by Knz  at 5:11 PM
since i bought jeff sackman's book, called "total gmat math", and learned his skills to grasp the ideas of solving math problems of gmat, i'm his big fan. it's true that his book is priced higher than other contemporary gmat text books, the quality is indisputable.



as practicing gmat rc parts with practice questions of gmat prep software, i thought that my weakest point is still in rc... i'm not convinced with the techniques described in mgmat text, as for me, it's a bit difficult to put them into practice...

 and then i go back to his web-page and read through his explanations on gmat rc part, and it seemed that his methods will be fit for my way of thinking.... his approach is very clear and usable in actual exam situation....

 http://www.gmathacks.com/reading-comprehension/the-important-parts-of-gmat-rc-passages.html


it will take some time to get this book, due to the need to import it form overseas, as i want to highlight important passages with colored pens and write down my memos
to make it easier to read them later, especially when i review the mistaken questions after running through practice questions of gmat prep software...
my wife told me that given time will run out if i can't raise my gmat score soon, so my priority is not money for buying worthy books or courses but time itself...
regards,
kenji.

0 comments

Entrepreneurship Class. 

Saturday, September 29, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 11:02 PM

 Today, I didn't feel good and begin studying, not only because I was quite tired but also I've been annoyed by the information that hasn't motivated me a lot...

 Some business schools welcome students who have only a few years of work experience, however, as many people mention, I don't think that I'll be inspired by the people who don't have enough work experience, since I think work experience of 3 years and that of 6 years are quite different, even if he/she has achieved remarkable results.... I believe that without being mature enough as a person, it seems very difficult to involve the people from different generations... thus achieved results don't fully contribute to make a certain impact in the organization...

 Anyway, though I thought that interacting with the younger people at business school isn't so attractive, then I'll carefully choose the schools that welcome the student who are in at least 30's.... so that the similar business situation and experiences will be shared and more realistic discussion I'll join in...

 Referring to the below video, I found that people studying at IMD look mature and I felt a kind of relief to see them... not so rigorous discussion was made in the below one, I don't care, but rather, I'd like to put myself into more mature and calm environment to listen carefully to the voices from classmates and speak without rush feeling...

 The below video was quite actual, and very easy to understand what classes at business school is like..


 regards,

kenji.

0 comments

コードブック。 

Friday, September 28, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 11:03 PM
奥さんが、勤務先の楽器店でコードブックを買ってきてくれた。といっても、音楽理論を教えて欲しい、という生徒が来たから即席で初心者に分かるような本を買ったのだという。

日頃からコード進行がネタ切れしており、新しい素敵なコード進行で曲を作りたい、と言っていたのを覚えていてくれたらしい。

夫婦になってもこういうのは嬉しい。

なお、最近我が家では飯を食う時はコミュニケーションを大事にするために全くテレビは見ない。息子も見ない。とにかく話す。お互いの最近について、楽しかった、悩んだ、大変だ、ということをざっくばらんに話す。

どんなに忙しくてもそういう家族でありたいと思う。


regards,


kenji

0 comments

interview for a finance manager position... 

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 11:01 PM
as i mentioned at my previous blog, i was invited to the interview with a current finance manager at the fast growing company, to be verified if i meet the required skills and experience...

 the level of the people working there look better than expected,
especially the person i firstly met. he seems very smart and aggressive, and i felt the atmosphere that the people from sf... casual but quite smart...no bureaucratic mood...

 though i expected that the interview would be composed of mainly about myself, like being asked many questions regarding the past achievements, skills, and strengths... however, actually, those seem his prerequisite and what he wanted to make sure how smart my brain is and how ready for the job, a finance manager...

 i had to improvise forecasting method based upon my assumptions
of revenue model of each product the company has... and i assumed
some circumstances and answered as clearly as possible... his reaction was "not bad", "close"... so not being perfect, but i did nice try...

 the result is just unknown, but i felt that the position seems quite exciting as this role will have not only finance related jobs but also strategic role to expand business in japan, and also be required to establish apac operation... moreover, the person will have some opportunities to go to hq and also the countries within asia... in addition, this position will be very close to a country's general manager and hq's ceo...

 so though this company is still quite small, but in a global level, this company will get much larger than current one within a few years, as this company's platform is very strong on a global standard....
if i have another chance to meet other people in the near future, i will be so excited...
look forward to hearing a good news soon.....
regards,
kenji.

0 comments

gmat prep software... 

Monday, September 24, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 12:47 AM
today, too, i studied materials built into a gmat prep software.

 i incidentally found that there is a function that allows a test taker to build his/her own test by difficulty, by category(rc, cr, sc), and by mistaken/all.

 i think that shooting only mistaken ones will make the weaker points understandable more smoothly... so from time to time, i will review those mistaken questions and see whether i could correctly solve each questions with more concrete reasoning...

 as mentioned before, according to a mgmat instructor, the below
product by gmac is worthy of purchasing and practicing... since 404 questions will be available with a very affordable price, only 25$ or something.

 http://www.mba.com/store/store-catalog/gmat-preparation/gmatprep-question-pack-1.aspx?CID=AD944F0D-1C2E-4BC1-88C7-7171499403E7&WT.mc_ID=50.0157


as commented by the famous mgamt instructor, new version of gmat prep software is much more improved, and i think that it's very helpful to acquire the timing skill along with high-quality, reliable, never encountered questions...

 my math score has been steady, while verbal parts, especially, rc is still my weakest point...
and thus, i read the below text book again, expecting that i can understand the contents of this book more clearly now than before, as i 've been accustomed to reading gmat rc problems and what kind of characteristics gmat's rc has....

anyway, i will take gmat prep exam mode again next weekend, and make sure how i'm ready for the next genuine exam..

 regards,
kenji.

0 comments

improving gmat cr&rc.... 

Saturday, September 22, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 10:25 PM
thanks to gmat cr bible, published by powerscore, i could put methods i learned from this book into practice, which makes my score much improved, based on the numerous prep problems built into gmat prep software...





the key to utilize this book is that not only reading through the pages but also practicing the techniques when i made mistakes on the software...

 this learning cycle, from solving problems on the software with limited time(at maximum, 3 minutes per question) , checking correct answers, going back to the book and finding the techniques on each question, to learning why i made mistakes even if i take lots of time to go through....

 according to the past test takers and gmat instructors, it's not important to just put plenty of time for studying, instead, put more efforts onto quality of learning, which means i need to learn what i don't know from the mistakes and take those takeaways next time i try gmat prep software...
I also recommend that buying the below i phone application and try "exam mode" of the "review" section and solve problems with time constraints(18 minutes per 10 questions) everyday, in any part you're not good at... for me, rc and cr are the weakest sections in terms of timing... so every morning while i commute to the company, under the unfavorable condition( lots of noise coming to my ears...), i try rc and cr sections with given time, which practice turned to be very efficient to improve my score on the software, as i can solve problems in much better situation( very silent, sitting on the chair)... Of course, the content of the below app(i have 12th version though...) is the same as the paper version, which is less convenient if we get accustomed to using the app on i phone!, ,meaning that quality of the problems appearing in the app is satisfactory, rather, the most reliable....

 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/official-guide-for-gmat-review/id549122927?mt=8


as i have about a month until the next exam date comes, i will keep on practicing solving problems and learning what i'm not good at....


regards,

kenji.

0 comments

Away from social media... 

Posted by Knz  at 4:44 PM
Social関連企業に勤務しながらにして、また、tech系の話が好きな割りに
個人的にSocial系のservice(twitter, facebook, mixi etc)を
使うと、どうも結構本気で使ってしまうことが多く、結果、いわゆるsocial
疲れなるもになる・・・。

 ということで、私はtwitterもfacebookもmixi(遠い昔だが・・・）も
止めてしまった。おいおい、どんだけ孤立すんねん、と思われるかもしれ
ないが、どうにも、使っていると、ふとした隙間時間に見てしまっては
なんとなく無為な時間を過ごした気になり、後で自省の念に駆られるので、
MBAのこともあるし、さっくり止めてしまったのだ。

 なんというか、落ち着いて、自分のペースで、自分の好きなものを思った
時間だけ「読む」というスタンスでいたい。ただでさえ膨大な量のコミュ
ニケーションを仕事上はさばかなければならないので、「受ける」情報
量はプライベートでは減らしたい、というのもあるかもしれない。そもそも
TVがあまり好きでない（好きな番組は録画して、見たいときに、見たいだけ
みている）のは、そうした受動的な姿勢にあるのではないか、と思っている。

 他方で、blogはなぜ継続しているか、というと、前にも書いたかもしれないが、
時折、普段考えていることをまとまったかたちでアウトプットすると、結構、
人生においてかなり効力を発する、という体験に基づく。こうしたいな、こういう
ことしてきたな、とか書いておくと、なぜかいきなりそうしたことを語らなければ
いけない局面（転職面接とか上司との面談とか）ですらすら出てくるのだ。

 なんというか、blogのレベルで文章をoutputすることに慣れている、好んでいる
とsocial上は完璧に浮く。その違和感が虚無感を感じるにいたるというか、
やっぱblogのほうが個人的にはfitするな、と思うにいたる。

色んな情報に対してアンテナを立てていくのは変わらないけど、ある程度、
ちゃんとしたメディア、著者のまとまったかたちのoutputに触れていくほうが
情報の精度、質については高いものを得られるのではないか、と思っている。
たとえば、ちゃんとした本とかちゃんとした新聞（日経、は日本のメディアでは
消極的ながらベストだろうし、The Economistはやはり他の経済メディアや
一般紙の追随を許さない、質の高い文章、統計データに触れられる、と思う）、
自分の好きなbloggerのblogなどに触れているほうが、social mediaに
費やす時間よりは断然に満足度が高い。

 ただ、twitterの震災時の効力のような、いわゆる危機的状況における
速報性については、social mediaに軍配があがるだろう、とも思う。
何かのpartyが企画されて、それをliveでtweetしたり、というときにも
facebook, twitterはやっぱすげーな、と思う。気軽にjoinしやすい
casualさはsocial mediaはやっぱbetterかもしれないですね。

 現在の私は、そうしたcasualなものをあまり求めない、というか、時間が
希少なので、ある程度計画された予定でなければ突発的にはjoinなどしない
ということもあり、とすると腰を据えて読むメディアのほうが適している
のではないか、と思います。

 なるほど、こうして書き出してみると、なぜに今の私にsocialがfitしない
のか、理解できる。
settle downな人:blog、新聞、本
active lifeな人：social media
という図式だろうか（笑）。
regards,
kenji.

0 comments

取締役会。 

Posted by Knz  at 11:42 AM
取締役会への報告資料はいつも作っていたが、今回は出席の上、一つ上の階層の上司をサポートするよう、指示があった。

私の上司は今の部の担当が長いので、そろそろ異動されるのかもしれない。周りに次期部長、とか冗談で言われるが、マジでそういう日が来るんだろうか…

それにしても取締役会での会話はハイレベルなものだけでなく、最近の時事ネタを絡ませたような話も飛び交い、経営者とは幅広く色んなトピックを議論できないといかんのだなあ、と敬服した。

経営企画、二年生として引き続き精進したいと思う。



regards,

0 comments

henkaku… 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - Posted by Knz  at 1:02 AM

while surfing on the net, abruptly I found this person and this video…
The people used to work at McKinsey seem very attractive and quite interesting… so I think the reason why I seek an MBA is one thing is that I want to work there… leaning lots of knowledge existing there and acquire skills through the toughest consulting matters, so that my perspective would be much more diversified…. and thus be beneficial to manage a company from the executive position…
regards,

kenji

0 comments