Terrible boss
After a few months working in the IR department, I realized how troubled Mr. Iwata’s personality was. He was arrogant and boastful about his achievements, but that wasn’t uncommon among men. He was extremely vitriolic about almost everyone and spoke with condescension. His delusional sense of superiority went so far as to try to bring down disagreeable colleagues by spreading an ill reputation. His subordinate, Mr. Kamoi, was gentle and slow, so Mr. Iwata used him as a metaphorical punch bag, but no one stopped him.
What disturbed me more was his behavior after work. When we went out for a drink as a team, he’d drink himself into oblivion. One night, Mr. Iwata and I had dinner with people from banks. After we parted and we were left alone in the street in Roppongi, he wouldn’t move from where he stood and stare into space. I couldn’t leave him there, so I called a taxi and pushed him into it. On another occasion, we were in a taxi together. He was silent with stupor for a while, but the next moment, he leaned into me with a smirk on his face. I pulled back as far as I could in the confinement of a car and asked him if he was ok. He slowly retreated and sank back into the seat.
In the beginning, he treated me like a rising star and gave me tasks that were way beyond my skills. As I didn’t get enough support or training, I was unable to deliver a satisfactory output. He then stopped paying attention to me, and I was left with few things to do. On top of that, the taxi incident made our relationship restrained and distant as we avoided each other.
Then, there rose a talk of the company’s plan to enlist in the NY Stock Exchange. Many responsibilities were going to fall on the IR team. Mr. Iwata alluded to the possibility of opening an IR office in NYC. He emailed me I needed to prove my worth if I wished to be considered for the opportunity. I was ecstatic about the prospect of achieving my goal so soon. I’d live in Manhattan!
A couple of weeks later, I was called into a meeting room by Mr. Iwata and Mr. Tada, the director of the Corporate Management Department. They told me I was going to move to Mr. Tada’s team from the following week and I would work as an “assistant.”