"Are you committed to making this work?" I was asked, and I had nothing to say.
In my mid-twenties, every time I showed my boss work I'd been given, something got corrected. Knowledge and experience were on his side. I thought that's how you learn to judge, bit by bit. The idea that I would decide "this is it" had never occurred to me.
The next year I was given a team of six. I explained the background and the goal. Still, the proposals that came back were slightly off. I tried more check-ins. Not much changed.
Once she said, "I thought you would judge whether it would produce results, Shohei." My boss's face from that day came back.
If she decided "this is it," a miss was fine. In the time we had, I would let her try many things. I had told her so—or so I believed.
Only the yardstick was still in my hand.