Power to make a turning point (2) Prologue

The first turning point that came to me was when my father died.

It was my bedridden mother with an incurable disease that I had to care for when my father died. My sister had already run out of the house. I have to support my family from now on. I also have to behave as a patriarch. I felt that I had to seal my vague dream and focus on what I could do. I had no time to be dazed.

As a maintenance man at a factory at the time, I started working furiously for a living. I worked extra hours on my days off to make money. However, it was not realistic for me to continue such a task since I had no physical strength. I came up with the idea of using a PC, which was still a rarity at the time. I studied under a programming teacher in my spare time, and succeeded in computerizing almost all routine work, such as maintenance work plans and performance reports. The department's maintenance work has become efficient enough to handle several times more work than before. I became a specialist in the maintenance department.

I understood that I had indeed seized upon a turning point, but it was not until 10 years after his father's death that I realized. I had been there, focused daily without looking back.

The next thing I knew, it started with a sense of incongruity during a consultant's training session that I had taken several times at the company and when I read a self-help book. I thought that if I could make a turning point on my own without relying on anyone, it might open up the next step. I practiced "the power to make a turning point" in my own way.

My motivation as a maintenance man was to gain more trust, more attention, and independence, which led me to the next turning point. By then, I had made numerous process improvements that had contributed to the plant's performance, and I was able to transfer the know-how I had gained not only to my colleagues in the maintenance group, but also to the plant's employees.

For the company, the maintenance department has gone from being just a "repair shop" to being recognized as a "profit creation department" that improves productivity efficiently and effortlessly. Unknowingly, I had more opportunities for plant managers and general managers to visit me for small talk, and indirectly to communicate the wishes of plant employees and improvement measures they wanted to take. Before I knew it, I was at a level where I could succeed in gaining an indirect grip on the manufacturing sector.

And at a young age, I was recommended to be factory manager and put in charge of a factory with hundreds of employees. In addition, I was recognized for expanding my business at that plant, and I became a plant manager with several thousand employees by doubling as another plant. 10 years after my second turning point, I approached my third turning point.

It was a completely different motive. I reached a third turning point based on my motivation to make a tangible contribution to society, something that only I could accomplish.

Aiming to provide new value to society, I approached board members from different industries, not limited to factories, and increased the number of supporters of my business model. And I became the company's first president at a time when the headquarters was starting a new business. My new business model took off, and I went on to serve as president of yet another affiliate. I eventually returned to headquarters, where I was in charge of a new division under the president that created new businesses, creating a business that everyone now finds convenient.

Looking back on my social life above, I think that I was able to live an unexpected social life as a maintenance man, but not particularly brilliant, because I took a few turning points and put out all of my abilities.

You don't get a chance to try. You don't take chances. You agonize over this every day.
I can only hope that you will get a hint of a turning point, taste happiness and fulfillment, and lead to a wider circle of life.