People sometimes ask me what matters most in business. Capital, connections and ideas all matter. But if I could choose only three things, I would choose these:
Courage to think and act. Wisdom to tell right from wrong. Persistence to keep going after failure.
I did not learn these from books. I learned them over more than 13 years of living and working in Japan: on night shifts, through rejection, and in the hard early days of GLOBALIZE.
Courage: starting on the night shift
Three months after I entered a Japanese language school, my first part-time job was the night shift at a bento factory. After that came a vegetable cutting and packing plant, a restaurant, and delivery work at Yamato.
I was a foreigner with nothing in my hands. To be recognized, I had only one option: accept every task I was given, including the ones Japanese staff tended to avoid.
Looking back, that was a kind of courage. Courage is not always a big decision on a big stage. Often it means being willing to start at the bottom, to take on the work others avoid, and to let your actions speak for you.
Business is the same. Courage means daring to think about what you have never done, and then starting before anything is certain. Even a brilliant idea stays just an idea without the courage to act on it.
Wisdom: lessons from rejection
I interviewed at many companies and was rejected again and again. Finally, a staffing and recruitment agency took me on for a trial period in sales.
Rejection taught me to look at myself honestly: what was I missing, and what did I need to change? Working in sales in the staffing industry taught me something bigger: every decision in this field touches a person’s life and a company’s future.
To me, wisdom is not knowing a lot. It is being able to tell right from wrong, even when the wrong way looks easier or faster. My test is simple:
If you would not be ashamed to tell people about it, it is something you should do.
That is why transparency comes first at GLOBALIZE: helping foreign workers find jobs and change their visa status correctly, and helping Japanese companies solve labor shortages the right way. The right road can feel a little longer, but it is a road you can be proud to talk about.
Persistence: the early days of GLOBALIZE
When I founded GLOBALIZE, I had no customers. I was young and a foreigner, and almost nobody trusted me. Some days I met person after person and came home with nothing.
I kept going. Not because I never got tired, but because I believed failure is a stop along the way, not the end of the road. Each rejection taught me something. Each day of persistence added a little more trust.
More than five years in business, more than 2,500 partner companies, more than 7,000 candidates supported: none of that happened overnight. It came from many ordinary days on which I chose not to give up.
The three belong together
Courage without wisdom becomes recklessness. Wisdom without courage becomes hesitation. And without persistence, both stop halfway.
Courage helps you start. Wisdom keeps you on the right path. Persistence carries you to the finish.
If you are standing at the starting line right now, whether that is a night shift, a rejection letter, or a business still waiting for its first customer, please don’t lose heart. I stood in exactly that place.
Take the first step with courage, choose your path with wisdom, and keep walking with persistence. Every journey begins with one small step. Keep moving forward.