An Ordinary Life in Rural Hiroshima

One of our executives grew up in rural Hiroshima — mountains, rivers, an utterly ordinary family. The future he pictured: "Grow up in Hiroshima, work in Hiroshima, become a grandfather there — a peaceful, ordinary life I took for granted." Today he leads a nationwide business as an executive officer of a Nasdaq- listed company in Tokyo.

Life moved beyond his imagination. My point is not "never picture an ordinary life" — the opposite: even a young man who pictured the ordinary can be carried anywhere. What moved his life was no grand ambition, but a small voice deep inside — "I love art" — and the honesty not to ignore it.

It is not the grandly ambitious who travel farthest, but those honest with their small inner voices. Is there a small voice inside you being ignored right now?

What do you work for?