Weekly Review (2019-11-24)

What I have done during the week

The plan was to stay in Karuizawa from Sun until Wednesday such that I can focus on drafting the company’s corporate strategy. The schedules were blocked, but mercilessly some appointments came in. I felt that to really concentrate on something, I need to be somewhere without stable Internet connection. I think I should go to Ladakh. My dear town.

That said, I had much free time during the week, allowing me to think through what Gojo should do for the next 24 months. Good progress.

Thanks to the big picture in my mind, I could make the better presentation during the week. Now the number of potential investors who can invest in us will be fairly limited (given the ticket size), so the success ratio of each presentation should be much higher.

I attended an event as a panelist. It’s been a while since I last talk in front of many people. Immediately I noticed that the people came to see Yuji, so I felt relaxed — no need to worry too much about messing up things.

During the event, I shared the way I see people. I have a very long questions list cast to the interviewee during the session. The only purpose is to measure the culture/value-fit. We are looking for people who have great skill, intense personality, honest and straight-forward, and aligned on vision, mission and values.

The entire weekend, except for the event, was spent for the work.

Companies are algorithms in a sense. For a company to do the perfect job, it should be designed properly, following the proper philosophy. CEO is an architect of the organization. COO is an engineer.

Now I am redesigning the company. It consumes huge mental space. The entire design can be successful only when the architect understands the details of the specifics. It is as if I am writing a thick book. Exhausting. Thanks to the great colleagues, now I do not need to spend much time for day to day things. Really appreciate all of them.

“Principles” of Ray Dalio was one of the best books I read during the last few years. Now that we define the organization and its guiding principles, I think I will have to rewrite my personal guiding principles.

What is the purpose of my life? How I can possibly achieve that? Then what kind of principles should be in place?