It’s been almost three months since I started my part-time job at McDonald’s since this past May. In addition, last month I decided to join the Nagoya chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global network of entrepreneurs and founders. I started these new initiatives with various objectives, but one common objective is to incorporate diverse perspectives.

For example, as a part-time worker at McDonald’s, I do a small portion of the work (kitchen work in the morning) as a part-timer, and I sometimes receive attitudes and words at work that I would not internally receive as a CEO at a startup company By putting myself in that position and experiencing it firsthand, I had the opportunity to recognize that motivation can be lowered (or raised) by using a certain language and attitude. As a byproduct, I was also reminded of my own slowness in making instantaneous judgments and my poor multitasking ability, and I realized once again that I was the type of person who would take my time to think deeply and focus on one thing at a time.:)

On the other hand, EO is an organization where many entrepreneurs and CEOs from various industries, stages of business, scale, and sense of purpose gather. I feel that I have the opportunity to get in touch with and learn deeply from diverse perspectives based not only on my own experience, but also on various life and business experiences. I hope to communicate with many people and incorporate diverse perspectives.

The question that may come next is, “What good does it do to incorporate diverse perspectives?”. I believe that by incorporating diverse perspectives, we will be able to take more appropriate actions from the standpoint of others. For example, I think it is relatively easy for me to put myself in the shoes of a customer at a ramen shop, because I have often been a customer at a ramen shop myself. Inevitably, you can imagine that if you take a certain action X as a ramen shop staff,  the customer will be happy or sad because you’ve experienced things in reality as a ramen shop customer. This would make it easier for me to think of and provide services that will make my ramen shop customers happy. When I thought about this, I realized that I wanted to be able to put myself in other people’s shoes, and that is why I am working part-time and working with other entrepreneurs and CEOs.

I hope to continue to ask myself if my own perspective is becoming fixed, and to listen to the voices of those around me, while working diligently to become a person who can take in diverse perspectives and respond more appropriately from the standpoint of others. Thank you for your continued support!

Masaki “Mark” Iino
Founder & CEO
SOPHOLA, Inc