Tokyo Tech Visionary Project is a compulsory subject for the first-year students at Tokyo Tech. It encourages self-discovery and aims to motivate students to set individual goals so that they can envision their own path throughout the four years of engineering studies at the undergraduate level. The course alternates between lectures and group work. Throughout the course, students will listen to some talks about the non-engineering field that have not been encountered yet. It takes importance on the development of personality, sociability and creativity. It also allows students to identify, scrutinize, and convey problems, enhancing the interactive set of skills needed for efficient communication and presentation.
1. Lecture
Teamwork and Leadership was one of the topics in the lectures. It was given by an invited speaker, Mr. Robert Heldt, on April 14, 2016, who is the president of a multinational company. He has a solid working experience in a multinational environment until he finally established his own company in Japan specialized in multimedia. His company currently employs 25 people from 12 different nationalities.
Robert explained about teamwork and leadership through his own experience. Such issues as “What is necessary to build a good team”, “How to be a great leader”, and “Is leadership a talent or skill” were explained and discussed briefly but clearly in the class.
In the middle of the class, a teamwork game called Survival Game was performed. The students were divided into 2 groups and discuss about the problem given by the lecturer. Each group were asked to list up maximum 5 necessary items that they should bring when climbing a mountain. In the photograph below, the picture of Mount Fuji is seen.
After listing up the items, one of the group member was asked to present it in front of the class, and compared it with that of another group. Through this game, Robert explained the roles of each team members in accomplishing the task given. “Leadership is not position but action”, said Robert. Those who took the initiative to write a note during the discussion, or those who volunteered to present the result of their groups were actually demonstrated a leadership skill.
About 15 minutes before the class ended, question and answer session was held. Some students asked Robert to tell his story when his team members did not follow his order. What did Robert do to solve it. Other students also gave some further comments on “either leadership is a talent or skill”. The discussion was able to create warm communication between the speaker and students.
At last, students were asked to fill their reflection note sheet, in which they have to summarize the lecture contents as well as to express their reaction or opinion with regard to the issues explained in the lecture.
2. Group Work
Group work discussion was held on April 18, 2016 as the follow-up class. Students were divided into 3 groups containing 4-5 members and asked to share their reflection note to their own group members. The first 30 minutes was used for discussing the summary of the lecture, followed by another 30 minutes for discussing the response sheet. Each group member had 2-3 minutes to explain their own summary or opinion, while other members are listening. The entakun paper was used for making some notes during the discussion as shown in the pictures below. In the last 30 minutes, each group was asked to discuss about their thoughts, ideas, or common goals related to the topic. Then, each group did 5 minutes presentation in front of the class.
Group Discussion
The entakun paper
Speaker biography:
Robert Heldt is the founder and president of Custom Media, an award-winning bilingual content creation and communications agency in Tokyo. He started his career at the age of 21 in the hospitality industry working as a Guest Relations Officer at a luxury resort hotel in the Maldives where he had the opportunity to work with professionals from several countries; India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, the UK and Japan. In 2004 he moved to Tokyo changing industry’s working for a small publishing house as an advertising sales manager where he found his passion for the communications and creative industry. In 2008 he decided to quit his job and start Custom Media to provide bilingual creative solutions for his clients. In his current role he manages a diverse and talented team of creative individuals producing digital media, magazines, branding and communications. In 2013 Custom Media was awarded “The Company of The Year” by the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, recognizing the company’s values, diversity, growth and development in that year, and for BCCJ ACUMEN magazine, which it had been publishing since December 2009 in an era of bankruptcies, deflation, disinvestment and natural disaster. A big fan of Japan and its cutting-edge creative environment, Robert is passionate to help foreigners and foreign businesses succeed here.
Written by Farid Triawan