Love, Go Around! The Honest Work That Changed the World of Kill Bill (Essay / #ThingsIGladIWasHonestAbout)

Being honest never leads to anything good.

When you say something for the sake of the other person, they usually attack you.

The only difference is whether the weapon they bring is a sword, a blowgun, or a machine gun.

It is the world of Kill Bill. You end up in a futile battle with someone burning with revenge, swinging a lethal sword.

A sword is still on the better side; there are those who quietly take your life with a blowgun. I think I have lost my life several times without even knowing it.

Honesty is a risk.

I am already living a life full of turmoil as it is.

I cannot afford to take unnecessary risks one after another.

Even knowing that, I still say something for the sake of the other person. It cannot be done without the resolve to take a blade to the body and a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Honesty is love.

Something that goes beyond calculation. You take on a disadvantage for the slight possibility that it might get through to them.

Unless it is for someone very close to you, you cannot use this technique.

And yet, I once used it on a junior colleague at a workplace.

◇ ◇ ◇

It was an advertising agency. Advertising agency work is based on clients and external partners who cooperate with you.

The junior colleague in question had transferred from the client side, and her words and actions were entirely condescending.

Naturally, it did not go well. I suspect she was being badmouthed by colleagues and was essentially being frozen out of work.

My supervisor asked me to add her to my project.

Her way of working was beyond imagination.

It's too rude.

She sends emails that sound condescending to the freelancers who help us. She writes rude messages to clients, too.

I even received a message from her that made me tremble.
“Ms. XX, you’re coming into the office today, right? If there are documents on my desk, please send them to △△.”
Are you my boss?!
I replied, “Understood.”

I cannot let this person... interact with people outside the company.

However, there is no work I can entrust to her other than simple exchanges with stakeholders.

The final resort.I decided to edit every single message.

I carefully explained why the original messages were not good.
Believing that one day she would understand...

However, at one point, she copied and pasted the sample message I had written and sent it to a client as is.
“Thank you for your continued support. This is XX (my name).”
Your name isn't XX!

It was shocking that even when I warned her, it didn't sink in.
Doesn't it bother you to get your own name wrong?

This person is hopeless...

No matter how many times I tell her, she doesn't understand, and above all, she has no motivation.

The project is almost over. I'll just have her observe and then say goodbye.

However, I felt uneasy at the end.

She will probably end up as someone who never gets honest feedback from anyone and is only talked about behind her back...

I spoke honestly, knowing it might be to my own disadvantage.
I told her that her current communication skills are very severe, and that if things continue this way, she will be disliked by stakeholders and won't be able to work.

She said, “I really don't know what is wrong with my words.”

I see. So that was it...

I told her honestly that there is no magic cure for that, and while it might take time, she has no choice but to put herself in the other person's shoes and think about it over and over again.

……………………

People can be broadly divided into two types.

Those who can change and grow. And those who can never change, who do not change.

To me, she was“someone who does not change.”

The reason I shared my true feelings at the end wasn't because I wanted her to change. It came from the responsibility of those involved and my own professional ethics.

I wonder what happened to her after that—?

Three months later... I was surprised.

She showed a level of proactivity I never imagined. It was as if she were a different person. No, she had changed.

It was a small-scale project, but I was able to entrust everything to her.

Something must have shifted within her. That change also changed my world.

She was supposed to be a person who doesn't change.

And yet, she changed.

In that moment, the boundaries of my world shifted.

The axis shifted from a "world where nothing you do matters and nothing changes" to, just a little bit, a "world full of the potential to grow and change."

That feeling was close to pure joy.
At first, I thought I was just happy for her growth.

I was wrong.
The world she showed me, the world she changed for me, was too dazzling.

I don't know exactly why she changed. I hope I had a little bit of influence on it.

—Extraordinary growth and a heart that has become a little richer.

If it is true that the love of honesty has come full circle, there is no story more beautiful than this.

▼Here is the kind of person who wrote this article▼

▼I sometimes talk about love▼