It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to spend two months in Japan, all expenses paid, to learn things. So when I heard about the sweet deal that was the IATSS Forum, it was hard to ignore.
What is IATSS Forum?
From September to November 2019, I spent an unforgettable 55 days in Japan attending the 62nd instalment of the IATSS Forum. IATSS (International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences) is a leadership training programme designed for young Asian professionals who are budding leaders in their careers. The forum was started in 1985 by the founder of Honda, Mr. Soichiro Honda, as a way to impart Japanese know-how to developing Asian counterparts.
And so, for 55 days, I spent nearly every waking moment with 20 other participants. There were two of us from each country in Southeast Asia (except Brunei) and India, and one participant from Japan. While for the most part we had our own rooms, we sometimes shared rooms, and even onsen-ed together.
For those who thought that I was on a cushy holiday for two months — I’m sorry to disappoint. The IATSS Forum was one of the most intense and rigorous programs I have ever participated in. I believe this was in part to allow us to fully understand the Japanese work ethic and culture. Our days were habitually from 9am to 7pm. Some days were more intense, starting as early as 6:30am; others ended close to midnight.
I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of what the program covered, but it was intended to nurture leaders not just through imparting knowledge but also by creating opportunities to put these new skills to the test. There were lectures on sustainable development, field trips to watch and learn from Japanese companies, cultural exchanges, excursions to other cities such as Kyoto and Tokyo, and so on.
A big component of the program was teamwork. From the get-go, we were always shuffled into groups for various activities. This culminated in a group study towards the end of the program, in which we had to present a solutions-based report to an identified challenge. My team, Friends with Food, worked on a garden-community-based solution to Jakarta’s waste challenges. You can check our report out here (we put together this 50-page brainchild in less than four days).
What were my main takeaways?
Being open
Being open-minded must be one of the most misunderstood things in the world. Before I attended the forum, I happily noted it down as one of the things I’d like to achieve in my personal growth. I’d thought I was already pretty open-minded but recognised that I could perhaps do better. Little did I realise how far off the mark I had been.
Many of us think of open-mindedness as being receptive to new ideas, which involves being comfortable with and willing to listen to the ideas of others. But how many of us really process these new ideas and admit, perhaps, that they are better than our own, or that we could be wrong? How many of us take this a step further by being willing to change our opinions and judgements of situations and persons?
At work, especially as managers or leaders, we are often forced to make ‘judgement calls’ and to trust our instincts. This has definitely been the case for me in my career so far. I’ve learned to listen to my gut over the years, but the IATSS forum taught me (the hard way) that my judgements of others and my decisions should be questioned. How many of us are willing to allow ourselves to be vulnerable to feedback and criticism?
Diversity matters
One of the bigger lessons I took home was the importance of diversity in every aspect of your life, not just the workplace.
The IATSS forum itself, was, of course, meant to be incredibly diverse, with participants of every imaginable social background from all across Southeast Asia. We shared food, explained social norms and taboos, taught one another our languages, and so on. It taught me to reflect on my personal life and environment, understand where I have it better, and grow greater respect and appreciation for the challenges others go through.
But we also learned that it’s important to build inclusiveness and diversity into our systems, especially at the workplace. In a visit to a company called Regulus, run by a man with a physical disability, he taught us not to presume what we think people with disabilities are capable of achieving and create separate jobs for them. Instead, we need to learn how to integrate them fully into our work environments and have them work alongside everyone else as equals. We learned this same principle in a visit to Kirakuen, one of Japan’s leading nursing homes, where the entire facility is designed to keep the elderly in a familiar environment and to treat them with dignity and respect. Both of these places were allowing the marginalised to lead fuller and more meaningful lives.
Leadership is more than strength and firmness
I think most of us think of leaders as individuals who are strong, firm, visionary, and have all the answers. But it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes leaders play a supporting role, pushing their teams and communities to greater heights. Sometimes they stand in rank with everyone else and brainstorm solutions together. Sometimes it’s totally alright to admit, “I don’t know any better”.
The IATSS Forum defines leaders to be “individuals who can draw out the full potential of a team towards achieving a common objective”. I found this incredibly inspiring, and it changed the way I look at my contributions at work and my role as a volunteer. Leadership growth is not just an introspective task—simply thinking how to improve yourself—but also bringing out the best in those around you.
Unforgettable memories, friendships for a lifetime
What I can’t put into words here are the priceless friendships and memories I made on this program. All 21 of us started out as strangers, but we parted as brothers and sisters. We sobbed at the airport, giving each other warm hugs because we didn’t know when we would meet again. It’s crazy to think that even in adulthood, we were able to build such deep bonds and ties with people incredibly different from ourselves.
These friendships alone were worth all the trouble that went into preparing for this 55-day journey in Japan. In the beginning, we were taught the phrase, ichi go ichi e — ‘one lifetime, one opportunity’, which we shouted with gusto at the end. Carpe diem, indeed.
