実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (3/30,31)

こんにちは。NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。

Lesson 24のテーマは、‘Learnings from Work’（仕事からの学び）でした。Vignetteでは、入社後1年の社員と人事担当社員が1対1で行う面談の様子が描かれました。働き方・行き方の指針や優れた上司像などが話題になりました。

“Talk the Talk”ではHeatherさんが好きな言葉（格言）や、多忙なあまり苛立ってしまった経験について話されています。 

Learnings from Work

（S: 杉田敏先生　H: Heather Howardさん）

S: In our current vignette, Lidia Grace and Chuck Salmans have an informal conversation about his learnings about the company.

One of the things they talk about is the importance of living in the present.

H: There are so many sayings and stories about that particular truth, aren’t there?

One of my favorites is “we can’t see the finish line if we’re always looking behind us.”

So true. If we let the past hold us back, we’ll never accomplish anything, now or in the future.

I’m not sure where that one came from, but there’s a couple I like from movies too.

Not surprising, given my movie mania.

One is from an animated American film.

It was “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

I know it’s pretty hokey, but I still like it.

The other was from a live action period film.

At the very end, the narrator says, “Happy the man, and happy he alone. He who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.”

S: Of course, some looking back is helpful if you use the lessons of yesterday to do better today.

H: Absolutely. I remember reading years ago, in a Japanese magazine, that suggestion that we try to be angry over past disappointments or failures, rather than sad or embarrassed about them.

The author believed anger was more likely to motivate us to change and improve, whereas sadness and shame had the tendency to paralyze us.

That sounded reasonable to me.

Another good piece of advice I read was to learn more from success than failure.

This was a suggestion of a famous US movie producer.

He urged people to examine in detail their past successes, go over every element that contributed to the positive outcome.

If nothing else, that would certainly be more enjoyable than learning from our failures.

S: Lidia and Chuck go into talk about how overextending oneself can make a person stressed and irritable and how that can be a danger to their reputation at work.

H: Also very true. I’ve been there myself.

There was one point when I was so busy and tired that I got irritated just by other people approaching me at the office.

I was instantly on the defensive, probably because I was unconsciously thinking, “What additional burden are you going to put on me? Don’t give me any more work, just leave me alone!”

And, of course, that was completely unfair to my coworkers.

They were just performing their daily tasks, some of which involve consulting with a native speaker.

We need to take care of ourselves for other people’s sake as well as our own.

I was having a bad time, sure, but to paraphrase a famous U.S. musical, my coworkers would probably think, “So, you’re having a bad time? Why should I suffer?”

S: Toward the end, Lidia and Chuck discuss how a good leader is willing to admit one’s mistakes.

H: There are few things more harmful than refusing to admit error.

For one thing a person who can’t admit they’re wrong is never going to grow or improve.

Why should they when they’re so fabulous already?

お読みくださり、ありがとうございます♪