The last couple of weeks I have been away.

For one of those weeks, I had the delight of a journey across Japan. Japan is a country I have been to before, but only briefly for work many years ago, so it was an opportunity to get out of the office and find out a little more about what life is like there.

Now typically before you go anywhere you have preconceptions about what to expect.

For England it is probably cups of tea, biscuits and the Queen (to be fair the first two are pretty accurate) and for Japan my expectation was everything was going to be super expensive, super high tech and super different. It’s like living in the future!

Pre-conceptions of course can be quite dangerous. More often than not they turn out to be wrong, especially when confronted with details and reality of normal life on the ground. In most cases, things are more similar and relatable than you may expect and this was the case with Japan.

Expensive? Not particularly, both food and train travel were cheaper than the UK, and by quite a margin. Imagine my delight rushing through the Japanese countryside at 180mph having bought not one but two packs of Japanese sandwiches (and a fruit sandwich at that), with extra snacks.

High tech? In many ways, it did deserve this high-tech future moniker. This was especially true in terms of the transport and digital infrastructure (the latter a legacy of high labour cost or low labour availability I suspect).

Granted in some areas, it does remain old-fashioned and traditional mind you…some areas of Tokyo, at night in the rain, did remind me of Blade Runner, although this would make it less 2024 and more 1982 I suppose with is about right I suspect.

Bringing something back

Yet throughout the trip, there were a couple of things that really struck me and I wanted to bring home.

The first was the approach to kindness. Japan has a reputation for being polite and respectful. Undoubtedly acts of simple kindness, like offering to give up your seat for someone were warmly acknowledged and appreciated.

What surprised me was how this generated such a degree of reciprocal respect, to the extent that it made everyone feel better about themselves. It was just lovely and within a week we were racing to see who could be more generous… tidying up after ourselves, double check to ensure we had taken our trash with us and being extra quiet so as not to disturb others. I would say this is not behaviour I typically see on the 7:45 to London on a grimy November morning for sure (Yes, I am talking about you, Mr public, on speaker, video caller on the train).. Maybe it is something we need more of here.

The second area was the changing use of technology, in this case when travelling.

I have written before how easy access to cell phone data is changing travel, be it calling home, booking a taxi or navigating on maps. On this trip, however, it was the use of AI.

Using apps, such as Google Translate, to read signs, menus and labels is a game changer. All of a sudden the fog of a different language evaporates and you actually start to know what you are buying for lunch.

And then we have LLMs. For the first time, I saw the use of this really in the wild. Reach a new city, what is there to see…? Simply ask chatGPT and generate an itinerary, or be the guide, question and answer, style to find out all the weird and wonderful stuff that you are interested in…. ‘is there really such a thing as spam sushi….yes there is, it is called Spam Musubi’… I did not know that.

Then another use case.

Looking for a Manga book, as a gift in a random store, and needed to buy something vaguely suitable… given my Japanese reading ability is absolute zero, what to do?…. of course, these days you simply take a photo of the cover and ask chatGPT for a brief outline of the story in English… it really works, amazing

(btw … it also worked for deciphering food dishes for lunch – what is this – and also strangely extremely useful in deciphering the buttons on the Japanese toilet, thereby avoiding colonic irrigation and actually finding the flush… this was a use case I did not expect!).

All in all an interesting week. Certainly, the ideas around kindness and reciprocity will stay with me. It is something we used to have, and having seen it again may be something we need to get back to. Food for thought.

Have a good rest of the week all… more on the second week soon.

There was a big event in the UK last week, for those that didn’t notice.

No, I am not talking about the general election, Wimbledon, or even England (scraping through) at the Euros.

No, what I am talking about is the British F1 Grand Prix.

Getting ready

Now for the many who are not motor racing fans, I can hear you yawning already. But whether you like it or not, if you live near the circuit (and I do) for one weekend a year, it takes over our lives.

Normally it is a relatively calm place, with cows eating grass, a local store selling cakes and the usual moans about potholes or pavement parking. But for one week a year, madness begins.

Huge trucks roll into town, crowd control barriers go up, traffic restrictions start, grass verges get cut, and even some of those potholes get fixed, all to get ready for 150,000 fans heading to the track on each of the race days. It is a complete transformation.

And, being in the centre of all this, it kind of takes over your thinking. Residents need to plan ahead for food and any kind of trip out, be it work or school… we pretty much go into lockdown.

Of course, there is a little complaining… ‘what, no parking on the road in front of my house’, ‘blooming taxis’, ‘people driving too fast’, or for this year ‘exactly which roads are closed now’… but the reality is we have a world-class event on our doorstep. It is exhilarating and a real buzz for the whole week… a city moves to us and we all feel like we are at the centre of the world.

… but then

Last week I headed out… past all of this circus, to the nearby town of Buckingham. It is not far, maybe 8 miles/ 12 km.

With my excitement levels still buzzing I arrived in town to find, well just another weekday in the somewhat leafy, semi-rural town at the edge of the commuter belt to London… it was all quite quiet really.

In my frenzied state, this was all a little too normal and I felt a bit of a letdown. It was like that day after the Christmas holidays suddenly arrived early… humpf

Yet, all of this got me thinking about perspectives, my psychology and how this feeds into what we all feel from our experience of the world around us.

Outside the bubble

My frame of reference was one of excitement, yet for everyone outside of this bubble, it was just another regular day. They had no connection to the event, or the engagement I felt at all, in fact, they would probably be quite bemused had I mentioned it anymore.

Our worlds revolve around our own experiences. Sometimes this is all consuming and it can be difficult to perceive other people’s perspectives. This is true in our personal lives, but also true at work too.

How many times have you been part of a project, one you are living every day, fully owning the results… it is completely engaging and absorbing.

But, then you are forced to take a step back, normally by attending that meeting with another department or building… and you find everyone does just not seem that interested.

In fact your project was towards the bottom of the discussion and the investment list! It can be really quite de-moralising.

However, by taking a step out and into the other people’s shoes, you find they also have their projects and priorities. It is not that what you are doing is not important, it is just that it is not important for them… and of course, this also applies to customers too.

By not recognising these dynamics, it is a recipe for misunderstanding, poor support (in the case of customers), goal misalignment and disappointment.

But, recognising and understanding another person’s perspective it becomes an enabler, supercharging engagement, building relationships and providing better support… it may also support you in getting what you need too.

So, as this year’s F1 circus moves on to another town this week (Mogyoród, Hungary… good luck!) and things return to normal, my takeaway this year is to try to be more conscious of other people’s perspectives.

It is a good way to drive engagement and of course, also makes you realise to make the most of your own environment while you still can (and is fun).

Now I am off to not get a taxi… next year, Glastonbury :)…

Have a great week everyone

Every Saturday, I find myself playing the role of ‘taxi driver’, needing to take a trip into town to pick someone up and give them a lift.

As is the nature of these things, it can involve a bit of waiting and I have worked out that by arriving a little early I am provided the perfect opportunity to grab a coffee (of course a slice of cake) and watch the world go by.

This routine has been going on for a couple of years now and although I wouldn’t say I’m considered a regular just yet, the cafe staff do recognise me. [I am yet to achieve full regular status – one where your order is being prepared before you open the door – “Brrriing….Hi Chris, Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi?” – was great for my dinner, terrible for my waistline, but I digress].

Over the years, I’ve seen the cafe undergo several changes, both in ownership and style. Some of these have been good, some not so much and a recent experience got me thinking about the essence of quality.

What makes quality, and more pertinently what ruins it.

Quality is subtle and often evolves gradually. Fresh furnishings wear down over time, maybe to be replaced; menus adapt to local tastes, find new styles or just adjust to what sells best.

Yet there are also simpler things that can serve as talismans of quality no matter where you are. For gelaterias, it is undoubtedly chocolate ice cream, and for the humble British cafe, the ham and cheese toasted sandwich (for me at least).

Now I am not asking for artisanal sourdough bread, a mix of three cheeses, or home-baked oak ham, delicious as this may be. No this was a sneaky lunchtime snack, simple white sliced bread, cheddar cheese, and supermarket pork shoulder ham was just fine, and most of the time has been… however, it does need to be done right.

Toasted properly, crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle; Cheese properly melted, a little gooey or even better a little toasted; and importantly it needs to be served in a helpful (if not cheery) manner.

The difference between this ideal and the undercooked slabs of cheese, unceremoniously plonked in front of me the other week could not have been greater. To add to my misery the travelling plate spilt my coffee, which I had to find and then search for a napkin to clean up.

It struck me how much these small things greatly enhanced, or in my case degraded, my experience and perceived value of the time there.

It was not like this cost extra, in time or money, it just needed a little extra care.

A little extra makes all the difference

Excellence it seems doesn’t always require grand gestures or Herculean efforts. Often, it’s about consistently taking that little extra care, and spending a few additional minutes to add those extra touches.

This may be as simple as tidying up, fixing that broken chair in the coffee room, or spending a little extra time ensuring a deliverable is perfect. The good news is finding the idea or the task needed is really not difficult.

The real challenge, however, is doing whatever it is, consistently, every time, time and time again. It may feel old or routine to you, but for each customer, even an almost regular like me, it’s a new experience and it does matter.

Small, consistent efforts accumulate over time, leading to higher quality, a better reputation, and ultimately greater success. Not doing it starts to normalise poor quality and the same spiral, just in reverse.

So, whether you’re enjoying a ham and cheese toastie or delivering that board report, it seems that little bit of extra effort makes a huge difference.

It doesn’t have to cost the world but can mean a lot.

Have a good week, everyone.