When I became the chief of the business department, some of my colleagues came up and ironically said that the business department staff should be able to go home without working overtime.
In general, the person in charge of the North American group was in the position that everyone wanted, and the person in charge of the business section was in the position that everyone did not want to do.
Speaking of the main work of the business section at that time, it was management such as totaling sales prospects, inventory check, and collection of payment.
However, the job was already dominated by an excellent woman and could not be dealt with.
From a standpoint, I was the chief and the woman was my subordinate. However, her father was in a high position in Toshiba, and the chief had to be in a position to protect her.
She was Miss. Yashiro.
One day Miss. Yashiro came to me and she said she wanted to talk with me.
When I entered the separate room and listened to Yatsushiro’s story, I was asked how to work in the future. For the time being, I was her boss, so she wanted to see what I was thinking.
When I said, “You can still work your way,” Yashiro reminded me, “Mr. Sato, what are you going to do?”
I told her that I was thinking about something else, and I didn’t explain what I was thinking at the time.
I had the consent of Senior Manager Okawa to study at Tokyo Women’s Medical University for a year.
I went to Tokyo Women’s Medical University on Thursday afternoon and Saturday.
Every Thursday at noon, I took a taxi from the office to Tokyo Women’s Medical University. I ate lunch in a taxi.
I had always thought that medical knowledge was absolutely necessary to handle medical equipment, and I thought that it was the best timing to study.
On the other hand, I started drawing flowcharts at my desk alone in our office.
I used to be a computer engineer, so I could easily draw flowcharts.
The people around me were curious about what I started.
In particular, Mokuren, the manager of the business, and Yashiro were wondering about me.
Yashiro urged Mokuren to ask me, “We are busy with sales prospects, but what on earth is Mr. Sato doing?”, And the manager seemed to ask me.
I just said to Mokuren’s question, “I’ll report later when I have a clear idea.”
I had told only Senior Manager Okawa in advance what I was thinking, so there was no problem.
He trusted me because he knew how to do it when he was in charge of Brazil.
One day, Mr. Haneda, who was instructed to work by Yashiro, came to me and asked me to help.
He was a smart guy and would have thought I was thinking of something interesting.
I explained my plan to Mr. Haneda.