Dylan Okihiro, Featured Community Member, December 2024
The Lenovo Pro Community is pleased to spotlight Dylan Okihiro, the kind and tech savvy foodie as December 2024's featured member. In addition to being a highly engaged member in the LPC, Dylan asks extremely thoughtful, curious and insightful questions that better the lives and conversations of both members and staff. The exchange of viewpoints, valuable advice shared and fun discussions had because of Dylan's contributions can be seen in the dozens of threads and replies he has made. Keep reading to see why we are so lucky to have such a wonderful pro as Dylan in the Lenovo Pro Community.
About Dylan
Hey Lenovo Community! My name is Dylan Okihiro and I am currently a Front End Supervisor at the world's busiest Costco in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi and a very small business owner of Okihiro Family, a mainly family, friends, and neighborhood tech support business. I enjoy learning, teaching, and helping others, especially when it comes to technology, budgeting, and cooking. On my free time, I'm often sleeping 8+ hours, watching Netflix or Japanese/Korean shows, or pumping myself up with K-Pop especially if I'm about to cook, exercise, or get other necessary but unsatisfying work done.
Day-to-day Operations
My main line of work is currently helping to lead the Front End department at the Iwilei Costco Wholesale. This encompasses managing a department with about a hundred employees and making sure our members are served properly and promptly. Completing paperwork, assisting on the floor, managing how many lines to open/close, and determining when employees should go on break/lunch are just some of the many tasks that we as Front End supervisors are responsible for. My side/part-time job as a tech support specialist is to mainly help family, friends, or neighbors with their tech issues and questions. Whether it's something as simple as restarting the router or upgrading components in a tower PC, I'm generally able to resolve most issues and refer people to trusted sources or specialists for additional help.
Q & A
How long have you been a part of Lenovo Pro and what is your favorite Lenovo product?
I've officially been a part of the Lenovo Pro community since 2019 but didn't really become an active user until the end of 2023. So far, my favorite Lenovo product that I've purchased is the ThinkPad X12 Gen 2. I love this computer to the point that it has become my daily driver over my 2017 MacBook Pro and am currently typing this response on my ThinkPad!
How has using your Lenovo equipment helped you accomplish things in your personal or professional life?
Using the equipment that I've purchased from Lenovo has helped me to increase productivity and solve other miscellaneous needs (e.g. need for dongles, web cameras, etc.). Whether it be my most recent purchase of an access point to upgrade and decommission outdated network equipment or a simple Velcro cable strap to organize a cable neatly, Lenovo has provided me with excellent products at attractive prices to solve my problems.
What do you enjoy most about the Lenovo Pro Community?
I enjoy the fact that the Lenovo Pro Community offers an opportunity for every member to earn points towards products for their contributions. This helps to entice members to participate so that they may be rewarded for their valuable content and contributions. In addition, the platform also seems to improve user engagement and has helped to create a genuine sense of community and purpose. I personally value the content found and do my best to contribute to make the platform a better place.
What was one of your greatest successes in your professional life?
One of the greatest successes in my professional life so far has been the opportunity to learn, serve, teach, and make a positive impact in a leadership role as a supervisor for our Front End department at Costco. The Front End is the biggest department in our warehouse which consists of almost 140 employees who are either cashiers, Front End assistants, or Member Service assistants. Working in this position for almost 5 months now has allowed me to learn the retail management perspective and knowledge of helping to run a store that serves an average between 300 to 500 members every 30 minutes.
I am fortunate and thankful to work with amazing coworkers and superiors in our department's leadership team that support each other, especially during this time of busyness in the holiday season. Additionally, I am blessed and honored to work with a team of almost 140 employees who make the magic happen on the floor. Their continuous diligence, care, and efforts of going the extra mile to support over 7,000 members daily is what makes Costco Iwilei uniquely special.
What was one of your greatest challenges in your professional life?
One of the greatest challenges in my professional life so far has also been as a Front End supervisor. As Front End supervisors, we are tasked with and expected to complete a range of different assignments and operations depending on our shift schedule for the day. For example, one supervisor may be assigned the board runner (manages employee breaks and lunches, manages where people go, manages how many registers to open, lends people to other departments that need help, calls for additional help, etc.). Another may be assigned the cart supervisor shift for the day (oversees Front End assistants pushing carts outside, manages and delegates what area employees should pull carts from, helps members load bulky items into their vehicles, sweeps the outside patio, etc.). The other 3 or 4 supervisors may be the supporting floor supervisor (completes audits of returned merchandise at Returns, assists cashiers, guides members to open registers, resolves transaction issues, answer member questions, cashiers when need, assists at Membership/Refunds, etc.). The next is in charge of paperwork (creating/editing/issuing reviews or counseling notices, conducting interviews, etc.).
In addition to all of these daily tasks and operations, each supervisor is assigned a group of people to manage (between 10 - 12, also in charge of writing their reviews and having meetings with if necessary) and a personal project, area, or task to oversee and manage (e.g. scheduling, marketing, safety, etc.).
Finding the time to get my "to-do list" done (cashier training, writing reviews, checking and writing emails, editing cashier reference material, etc.) in addition to the daily assignments and operations to work on while working on the clock inside the world's busiest Costco can become frustrating at times, especially when I am required to be diverted from the task at hand for an extended period of time due to a surge of members entering the store or a lack of staffing. Although I try to be as flexible as possible, there are days that I will clock out without getting anything on my to-do list done or having a task 99% but not 100% completed. Additionally, because my warehouse has a strict overtime and working off-the-clock policy, my options for having dedicated, uninterrupted time are limited depending on the business' needs.
What is one piece of advice you've received along your journey that has helped you?
One piece of encouragement that I received along my professional journey that has helped me so far has been continuing to be myself. This for me means to stay true to myself and values, push myself to become a better person, and strive to develop stronger work ethics and professionalism. I find it easier to sleep at night if I can be honest as much as possible while also treating everyone with respect, decency, and cordialness. This also helps me to become more approachable, friendly, and have less issues dealing with people.
What advice would you give to others?
One piece of advice that I would give to other IT professionals would be to challenge yourself to daily drive a competing or unfamiliar platform. As a long time Mac user (since OS X Tiger 10.4), it was curiosity that helped me to rediscover the joy of using Windows (11 in particular) and understand the flavors of Linux (tried less than a handful so far). This helped me to better understand people as well as their workflows, reasonings, and work that they do when troubleshooting.
As an iPhone user, my next challenge would be to daily drive an Android for at least a few weeks and try to understand and feel the green bubble experience.
Connect with Dylan in the Community
Thank you for being such a valued part of the community, Dylan and congratulations on being December 2024's Featured Community Member!
Do you have any questions for Dylan about his journey, interests or advice?
Leave your questions and comments below!