Ability Alone Does Not Make People Follow You

Series: "The Essence That Changes Your Life."

― If this can become the catalyst that changes your life, that is enough.

Starting with this installment, I would like to write down my thoughts over five parts, centered on the theme of "The Essence That Changes Your Life."

*Originally, I had planned to place this text at the beginning of the series. Although the order has been swapped, these thoughts are where everything began.

Ability, choice, humanity, trust, responsibility.

These are all themes that I myself have encountered, struggled with, and continued to think about many times throughout my life.

I do not intend to teach you the answers.

If this article can become a small catalyst for you to re-examine your own way of living, that is enough.

I believed only in ability

I believed in ability.

No, to be precise, I believed in nothing but ability.

If you work hard, you will be evaluated.

If you produce results, you will be recognized.

If you have ability, people will follow you.

I truly believed that.

That is why I worked harder than others.

I thought more than others.

I took on more challenges than others.

If you polish your abilities, you can carve out your own life.

I believed that without a shadow of a doubt.

I do not think that way of thinking was entirely wrong.

It was precisely because I honed my abilities that I was given opportunities to take on challenges.

I was also entrusted with responsible work.

I was even able to see scenery I had never imagined for myself.

Ability is a power that carves out a path in life.

I still believe that even now.

The wall that cannot be overcome by ability alone

However.

In life, there were walls that could not be overcome by ability alone.

The name of that wall was,

"People."

No matter how correct the things you say are, people will not move.

No matter how much you achieve, people will not follow you.

No matter how high your ability is, people will not open their hearts.

At first, I could not understand it at all.

Why?

I am putting in the effort.

I am producing results.

Even so, why do people not move?

At the time, I could not accept that people I considered to have lower ability than me were being evaluated.

I was frustrated.

I could not accept it.

I am working harder.

I am producing better results.

I truly believed that.

I can say this now.

Back then, I only judged people by their ability.

Unforgettable words

There is a boss who gave me unforgettable words when I was like that.

"Your results are wonderful. But your emotional maturity is just average."

At that moment, I could not say anything back.

I was frustrated.

But what frustrated me the most was that I could not even deny those words myself.

I was only looking at results.

I was only looking at numbers.

I was only thinking about winning.

What the other person was thinking, what they were struggling with, and what feelings they had while working.

I could not see any of that.

All I could see was myself.

That day, my values collapsed.

Having high ability and being a mature person are two completely different things.

A failure in misjudging a person

After that, I was put in charge of a large organization.

There, I was once again made to realize my own immaturity.

I promoted a person with ability.

I thought, 'This person can deliver results.'

That is what I thought.

But I was wrong.

As a result, I ended up causing that person suffering.

In the end, I had to make the decision to demote them.

I still cannot forget it even now.

I misjudged a person.

I was looking at their ability.

But that was not the only thing I should have really been looking at.

Do they not run away from responsibility?

Do they have the strength to support others?

Do they have consideration for those around them?

Can they reach out a hand to colleagues in trouble?

Ultimately, do they live a life that earns them trust as a human being?

What was needed for a management position was not just ability.

That failure still remains within me even now.

My criteria for evaluating people have changed

That is precisely why my criteria for evaluating people have changed.

Now, the people I want to work with are not chosen based on ability alone.

People who can accept the values of others.

People who do not act solely based on profit and loss.

People who cannot leave someone in trouble alone.

People who can admit their own defeat.

People who do not hide their weaknesses.

And finally, people who take responsibility.

People gather around such individuals.

Trust gathers around them.

The organization becomes stronger.

Ability can be cultivated later.

Knowledge and experience can also be increased.

However, humanity can only be polished through interactions with others.

I am still immature

To be honest, I am still immature.

Even now, when I see someone who I think hasn't worked as hard as I have being praised, my heart feels unsettled.

Why is that?

There is a part of me that thinks so.

It is pathetic.

I am immature.

But there is one thing that is different from the past.

I no longer justify that feeling.

I still judge people by their ability.

I have become able to realize that.

Humanity is not something that is ever completed.

I believe it is something you continue to polish for your entire life.

People are changed by other people.

I have been raised by many people.

A boss who changed my values with harsh words.

Someone who trusted me and gave me responsibility.

Someone who gave me the opportunity to fail.

Colleagues who supported me during difficult times.

People are changed by other people.

I have experienced that many times in my own life.

So now, I want to be the one who gives back.

I want to be the catalyst that changes someone's life.

That is the reason why I continue to be committed to the growth of others.

The person I want to become

When I was young, I wanted to be a person of ability.

That has changed now.

What I want to be is,

someone who makes others think,

"I want to live my life like that person."

Ability can impress people.

However, ability alone cannot change a person's life.

What changes a person's life is what they value, what they choose in certain moments, and how they have lived.

It is only the accumulation of those things.

That is why I will never stop honing my abilities.

But even more than that,

how I am as a human being,

is a question I want to keep refining for the rest of my life.

At the end of my life, even if it is just one person,

"My life changed because of you."

If I can live a life where someone says that to me,

I know of no greater success than that.

── Flow Thinker R.