Sustainability event with Momoko Ueda～Potential Demonstration and Diversity～

 

In December 2021, we invited Momoko Ueda, a professional golfer who belongs to ZOZO that continues to be active both domestically and overseas, to hold an internal seminar on the topic of "Potential Demonstration and Diversity." We interviewed about how to control her mind so that she can continue to play an active role as a professional golfer, and about the diversity she felt as she fought on the world stage and came into contact with various cultures.

 

～Key to demonstrating potential / retaining motivation～

Since there are more than 30 professional golf tours per year, there are matches every week during the season, and it is necessary to control your physical condition and motivation. This time, we interviewed Momoko how she is continuing to play the game. Momoko says that the secret to maintaining her motivation is that he dares to "make fun" in her life. She sometimes gets hints that can be used in games during "play" time, so the off time is also indispensable for demonstrating performance. Golf is also a sport for which you have a long time to face yourself as it is an individual sport. She said that when facing herself, it is also important to find "something exciting for me" instead of focusing only on the results of the game. In the long competition life, some games produce good results and others do not swing very much, so she mentioned that having a thorough understanding of the excitement and advantages and disadvantages of the games would create good motivation and, in turn, lead to good play.

 

～Notice in a culture diversity～

Following this, we asked her about what she noticed and learned on the world stage where various races and generations gathered when he was playing after moving her base to the U.S.

First of all, what she felt was a great difference between her and athletes from overseas was the way she perceived golf in her life. Up until then, Momoko had decided that "all I need in my life is golf!" and was devoting herself to practice. She was often surprised by foreign athletes saying, "Why are you always practicing? Is playing golf a job? What is your hobby?"

Many overseas athletes perceive golf as "one of the important things in their lives." As it was a matter of course that they had hobbies that they could enjoy as much as golf, Momoko was apparently aware of the fixed concept that "golf players must be a single piece of golf" in the past. In particular, in the U.S., where many people have diverse cultures and values, not only does it not have the idea that "this must be done," but it is less likely than in Japan that they proceed in a disciplined manner as planned, so I was told that they felt the importance of playing golf with flexibility and flexibility, no matter what kind of accident occurs.

 

The story of Momoko was very helpful in terms of how to grasp and confront my own work (*) . Going forward, we will continue to work to create a society in which employees and stakeholders can demonstrate their potential in order to realize the "Promote diversity and inclusion among everyone involved in fashion," which is one of the Sustainability Key Actions in the Sustainability Statement.

 

(*) The word "work" is ordinarily spelled as 仕事 (shi-goto), using a character 仕 (shi) represents "serving" by its literal meaning. Instead, we use a character 自 (shi) which is pronounced in a same way but represents "self (natural)" by its literal meaning. This implies we are not serving to someone or forced to work, but are working naturally and spontaneously.