Kaizen Event

So last week I was invited to a 4-day Kaizen event. It involved 17 of us from all different departments and areas. I was beyond excited to be involved in it and was even more amazed that my community manager had requested that I be a part of it when I have only been at this company for a few months. It was an exhausting 4-days and I now completely understand why people say Kaizen events are intense. I got off each day EXHAUSTED mentally. On Friday 30+ leaders of the company, including the COO came down to the conference room and we presented our findings. It was awesome, especially when the most senior person in the Kaizen event nominated me to do most of the talking. I have debated and recited tons of interps in front of all kinds of people and more people, but holy moly I was nervous standing before the COO and telling him all the things we found wrong with how things are run currently. It went great though and this monday my manager received praise for me attending. *air high five to me* I definitely feel like I have a great chance of making my way up the ladder here and that feels awesome. I get to help shape how the entire company will be moving forward in 2013 and 2014...fantastic. It definitely helped that i'm a little outspoken, there were a few people from branches that sat there and agreed with everyone on anything and that sure wasn't the case with me. Guess I've always had a "problem" making my opinion heard.