Add Tokyo post

_posts/2024-06-05-tokyo.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Tokyo
+date: 2024-06-05 00:00:00
+description: >
+  I would be remiss if I wrote my next blog post without reflecting on a recent amazing and profound experience I had in
+  Tokyo, as part of Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program.
+
+tags:
+ - tokyo
+ - leadership
+---
+
+I would be remiss if I wrote my next blog post without reflecting on a recent amazing and profound experience I had in
+Tokyo, as part of Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program.
+
+While wandering around the neon lights of Kabukichō one evening (in the pouring rain mind you, making it feel like a
+scene out of _Blade Runner_), I stumbled upon a small establishment in the Golden Gai area named BAR COO, and seeing as
+how it shared the name of my parent division, I found it prudent of me to at least check it out.
+
+![BAR COO](/assets/images/bar-coo.jpeg)
+
+I walked in to a scene of a small bar with five seats in it and one bartender, a kind middle-aged Japanese woman, and
+three other patrons, one of them local and the others a couple visiting from India.
+
+What was interesting about this place is due to its small, intimate setting, it was very conducive to conversation --
+the woman tending bar was very interested in hearing everyone's stories about where they were from and their reasons for
+visiting Japan, and you could tell this was one of the main reasons she does what she does, as the stories from visitors
+is what she thoroughly enjoyed.
+
+That experience at BAR COO primed me for another set of intimate conversations I was going to have over the following
+three days, as part of the COO Leadership Development Program.
+
+For three days, we didn't talk about technology.
+
+For three days, we didn't talk about business. (Well, maybe a little.)
+
+For three days, we talked about _leadership_.
+
+I know some hardened technologists at this point likely instinctively reflexed at that last sentence, instantly putting
+up mental guardrails around the type of value they would derive from such an experience. I would be lying if I said I
+didn't have my own doubts, and while I was open to this experience, I also had no idea what to expect going into it.
+
+And that is why I was all the more delighted with unique opportunity of learning and growth that was to follow.
+
+During the program we learned about what it means to be a leader in the year 2024. Organizations and the people that
+work for them are yearning for a new type of leadership, for leaders that are high on the emotional intelligence scale,
+who are curious, courageous, have conviction, and can connect with people, amongst many other aspects. We had
+opportunities throughout those three days to self-reflect and see what areas we have for our own personal growth and
+learning -- and grow and learn we did.
+
+On top of this, I was introduced to my wonderful LDP team, whom I'm going to be working alongside on a business case
+study challenge over the next few months, and with whom I'll be able to share and enjoy a journey of learning and growth
+together.
+
+Being a leader is not that much unlike being a bartender at BAR COO -- as a leader, you need to understand where people
+have come from, and actively listen to them, in order to help them figure out where the want to go on their own
+journeys. To that end, you also need to understand yourself and where you have come from, in order to know where you are
+going, and what type of journey you want to have in your career, and in life.