Founding Teach for Japan and developing educational leadership skills

¶ … professional and/or public service contribution in which you exercised a significant leadership role in furthering the public good. (750-word limit)

Launching Teach for Japan

TFJ (Teach for Japan) became part of the universal Teach Network in 2012; January. I am happy to declare that I was among the founders of this non-profit organization for education. What I experienced was rough, but to date, it has contributed to my personal and professional development. There was a time in 2009 when an alumnus of Harvard (who later became the TFJ CEO) and I fruitlessly tried to modify TFJ too look like the American Teach Network. From this, I gained some difficult real-time experiences as well as better leadership skills. The failure taught us not to do the same things till the right time came. Within a period of some months, there came a rising agreement to revive the Japanese education system. The process started with a program for summer. Furthermore, following a three-year preparation, the assurance and credibility acquired from the stakeholders assisted us in agreeing into an official partnership with the universal Teach group. At first, the main opinion was that executing reforms for education in Japan is almost impossible. The main reasons included strictly following teaching qualifications, lack of assurance for employment of graduates and fund-raising activities. However, the increased attention from the public helped TFJ grow to 100 voluntary employees within three months after the launch. The whole group felt overwhelmed by people\'s increasing faith and positive reactions. While it grew, the responsibilities increased; and I was now in charge of the interactions with private firms and local governments. I also had some internal duties to manage. This was when my lack of knowledge about the Japanese education structure started to show, while I interacted with experts in education. Patience, perseverance and modernity -- the values usually linked with the culture of the Japanese, were often emphasized to me. The little experience I had with Investment Banking in America was not helpful. However, I could conquer all my problems with my authentic and straight forward method, which I also used to steady my qualifications for leadership. I was able to engage with over 100 company volunteer and staff members. I learnt a lot and had better self-realization over time, which helped me create a collaborative and transparent environment which made the system more productive. This helped the TFJ recruit many other able people countrywide and raise more than USD 700K, hence proving the trustworthiness of the environment I had created.

Evolving in a Global Organization