We watched a big-name company blow a golden opportunity. The speaker was the President, and he had a dramatic story to tell—corporate crisis, media attacks, public apologies, and a redemption arc. Yet his presentation landed like a lead balloon. Why? Because he delivered it in a lifeless monotone, with no energy, emotion, or storytelling. It was a flat narrative built around a dull slide deck that never got lift off.

This wasn’t just a bad speech—it was a brand-damaging catastrophe of a speech. And it reminds of David Ogilvy’s tomato soup story: when asked why he didn’t promote Campbell’s tomato soup, he replied, “Because it’s orange and not very good. If we promote it, more people will try it and be disappointed.” The same applies to presentations. If your delivery is a joke, the more people see it, the more damage you do—to yourself and to your company.

Presenting isn’t just about dumping data. Data needs stories, and stories need data. When the audience doesn’t feel the highs and lows, they switch off. What could’ve been a high-impact brand moment became a forgettable, torturous monologue.

Imagine telling that company’s comeback like a Disney rollercoaster—diving into abject failure, hurtling through the black hole of public scrutiny, then soaring high into the heavens with recovery and growth. That’s how you win hearts, minds, and loyalty.

Treat every talk as a critical branding moment. Speak with conviction, inject passion, and embody your message with voice and body language. Be the story, not just the storyteller. Because audiences remember stories, not stats. They remember nothing other than how you made them feel.

Make sure your message—and its delivery—are irresistible, because you’re building your brand every time you speak.

Things go wrong. That’s life in business. Mistakes, delays, accidents — they’re inevitable. But the real difference is how we handle them when they occur. In Japan, people expect you to own the mistake, not hide from it. Silence, excuses, or blaming the customer won’t work. In fact, they can do invisible, long-term damage to your reputation — the kind you won’t see on a balance sheet, but it’s there, quietly draining future revenue.

We’ve seen projects nine months late, completely off the mark, and somehow the provider still tried to flip the blame onto the client. That’s not just bad service — that’s selfish. And selfish service providers don’t last long in Japan.

Make yourself easy to contact. So many online services are terrible for this. If you have a problem, trying to find what you can do about it on their website is a nightmare. Don’t be like that and hide behind generic emails or faceless websites. Put your name out there and be reachable. Your team will often try to shield you from problems — don’t let them. Get close to the issues.

And don’t be mealy-mouthed about it. If the customer says the service failed, admit it — because their perception is your reality. Trust is far more valuable than the money involved.

Every staff member, even part-time workers or foreign trainees, must be trained to handle mistakes. Not just what to do, but why we do it. Without that clarity, you’re relying on “common sense,” and we all know how “uncommon” and unreliable that can be.

We need to build systems, language, and culture around recovery. Let’s train our people, get them to buy in to our values, and keep repeating it until it sinks in. When things go wrong — and they will — let’s make sure we respond in a way that earns loyalty, not regret.

The Japanese saying "mikka bozu," or "three-day priest," perfectly captures the common experience of initial enthusiasm quickly fading. People sign up for the priesthood, find it tough and promptly give up. We often begin new endeavours with resolute resolve, but daily challenges diminish our commitment. If you feel yourself teetering on the brink, don't be discouraged. Instead, reassess your goals and focus on what's achievable to build momentum.

It's easy to fall into an all-or-nothing mindset with resolutions, leading to complete collapse and abandonment when reality sets in. We should adopt a more realistic approach by breaking down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps with clear milestones.

Prioritize achievable goals to create early wins, as success often fuels further success. Avoid being swayed by the ambitions of others and concentrate on your own pace and methods.

Focus on the fundamentals, the "blocking and tackling" of your field. Take ten minutes to identify and prioritize the basics of your work. This simple exercise can provide a practical roadmap for progress.

Don't give in to the "three-day priest" mentality. We can recover from setbacks by regrouping, recalibrating, and recommitting to our starting point. Remember, as Yogi Berra said, "it ain't over till it's over"