To be a valuable existence with "personal business card and vision". -Writer Yuiga Kitano x Euglena Mitsuru Izumo

What is required of a leader who sends out a new vision and actually changes the world?
Through a lecture by writer Yuiga Kitano, who has sent out bestsellers such as "Thinking about changing jobs" and "Mediocre who kills genius", Euglena President Mitsuru Izumo, "Technology to involve people at a young age and expand opportunities Think about it.
* This article is a report of an event held in Euglena on January 23, 2020.

What is the value of "personal title and name"?

Yuiga Kitano (hereafter, Kitano): Let me ask you a question first. How seriously do all of you who are gathering here today want to make an impact on the world?

I think that if you can't leave any "human assets" in your life, you will be defeated as a business person. So what are the assets that will remain in posterity? The easiest to understand is the "offspring" that will create the next generation. Next, like Toyota Motor Corporation, "communities and organizations" that continue to run on their own. And I think that it is an "idea" such as philosophy, religion, language, literature, and story that transcends generations and countries. I'm writing a book because I want to leave assets in the world.

I often talk to the members I work with, but they say, "Yuiga-san, I'm a little too conscious, so please lower your perspective" (laughs).

Then, what can you do even if you are young to become an existence that will leave an impact on the world? What do you need? I think there are three things: "ability," "business card," and "vision." I will explain step by step.
First of all, how to measure the ability value. I am observing the world, and I think that people who are said to be excellent and have "ability" in modern times and who produce results may have three vectors. The first is the "business mind" that seeks to make a profit in business. The second is the "public mind" that seeks to provide value to the world and make people happy. And it is "Academic / Technology Mind" that tries to demonstrate one's specialty.

Think about yourself for a moment. Looking at yourself now, what about "business mind", "public mind", and "academic / technology mind"? Can you achieve results in your business? Do you have your own cause? Do you have your own area of expertise?
However, even if you want to get a chance at a young age, you may end up with "knowing only those who know" just by having the ability. "Business cards" are important to prevent this from happening.

Now is the time to fight not only with company business cards but also with your own personal business cards. People who have an impact on the world, whether they belong to an organization or not, end up working under that person's name.
What if you make your own business card without using the name of the company you belong to? It is a business card that contains only your name. What title do you put in the upper left? Then, imagine what kind of work you would be asked to do with that title. If you can't imagine what kind of job you'll get, it's possible that the title has no market value.

Also, those who produce results are good at involving people with an "attractive vision." This is not easy. If you just talk about what you want to do, only your family and lover will follow you.
The points of the vision to involve people are "empathy," "margin," and "preparation."
If you can't sympathize, people won't move. Only those who misunderstand that "I am smart" think that many people will move only by rationality and logic.

Also, no matter how interesting people are, they only play "games with room for them to participate". The important thing is to make room for the vision you want to achieve and leave room for people to participate.
And I am prepared to be asked. Skills are addition, but preparedness is multiplication. For example, there was something like this. An employee who entered the company where I serve as an officer three years ago did not produce surprising results at first. However, at one point I made up my mind, and from that point on, I began to produce amazing results. "Be prepared" is 0 yen, but it is the strongest investment. And people gather to those who are prepared.

So what do you want to do? What do you need to empathize with that vision, leave a margin, and communicate your readiness? I hope you can use it as an opportunity to think about it.

You can also think of "one-of-a-kind items on Saturdays and Sundays, general-purpose items on weekdays".

Mitsuru Izumo (hereinafter referred to as Izumo):Thank you. From here, I would like to work with Mr. Kitano on "technology that involves people at a young age and expands opportunities."
The personal business cards and visions I mentioned earlier, is it important that they are rare?

Kitano: I think the point is whether it is rare and can move people's hearts. If there is such a point, it should be priced as a one-of-a-kind item like a picture drawn by Picasso instead of a general-purpose item. I think so when I make a book. The sentences that can be read by many people and the sentences that sell are similar and different. Many people can read what everyone experiences, such as family and love affairs, but on the other hand, there is a style in books that sell. Haruki Murakami is an easy-to-understand example. There are likes and dislikes, but there is originality that you can understand that "This was written by Haruki Murakami", and it moves the hearts of many people.

If we business people want to find something that only we can do, I think we have to go to that world at some stage. To do so, you may have to enjoy some lonely time in your life. I'm lonely when I'm digging a well, and it's hard for people to understand.

Izumo: No one wants to end up with a general-purpose business person, but if you want to be a one-of-a-kind thing, you need a lonely time to dig a well, and some people are fast and some are slow. Let's do it.
But wouldn't it be a problem if everyone became like Picasso? For example, it would be difficult if all the photos in the newspaper look like Picasso. In that sense, I don't think it's better for everyone to be one-of-a-kind.

Kitano: I think it's important to put both inside yourself. By publishing several books and having many people read them, I feel myself as a one-of-a-kind item. However, sometimes I can't sleep under pressure before the release date of the book, and I want to be a general-purpose product that is as convenient as possible during my normal work hours. Because it is highly reproducible. So, I think it's okay to think that "a few days in a week will be a general-purpose product."
In that sense, it's good to do a side job. If you do what you like on Saturdays and Sundays, you may be able to think, "I will improve my skills to do what I like" on weekdays. By hiring a "genius in me" only on Saturdays and Sundays and becoming a one-of-a-kind item, I think I can spend weekdays as a general-purpose product meaningfully.

How can we create megatrends on a global scale?

Kitano: I have something I would love to ask Mr. Izumo.
What does this world look like from the eyes of Mr. Izumo now? I used to read Mr. Izumo's book and thought, "Oh, I'm sure the scenery I saw from Mr. Izumo is unique." I think the resolution is higher than it was 15 years ago when it was founded.

Izumo: The resolution is higher ... I can't say anything. Fifteen years ago, what I was thinking about was the resolution of our efforts in Bangladesh and Japan, and the clearness of what we wanted to do, but what about the rest? For example, 15 years ago, I didn't think that the digital environment would change so quickly.

Kitano: Do you feel that the rules of the game have changed?

Izumo: That's true for digital.
When it comes to environmental issues, Sweden's Greta Thunberg has been attracting attention recently, but I think young people in Japan have been thinking about the same thing for some time. So why is Greta attracting attention?
I think the difference lies in the ability to create trends. In Japan, we have been doing business with the idea of "Sampo good" for a long time. From that point of view, some people say that "SDGs are a common concept in Japan, which is about a lap delay," but at international conferences, the concept of Mikata is difficult to convey. How can we create a megatrend on a global scale? I'm thinking about that these days.

Kitano: That's interesting. Euglena from the market different between Japan and overseas?

Izumo: I feel that many questions asked in Japan are in the near future. What about the budget and what the outcome will be? In Europe and elsewhere, I feel like I'm looking at a farther future. "Make it Paris where gasoline cars don't run" or "Send civilians to the moon". Can you really do that? I also seriously say things that seem to be. It's hard to say which method is right, but I think there is something to be learned from the method of "setting a big vision first and creating a trend where people gather."

I want to express my vision with something like Pixar's work

Kitano: By the way, I recently wondered, "How far can vision be conveyed in language?"
As a future goal, I would like to create something like the video production company Pixar. When I put my vision into language, I felt that I could only convey something with a coarse resolution. I think that is creating the division of people.

Izumo: Are you a Pixar?

Kitano: Yes. The reason why I thought so ... Do you like traveling, Mr. Izumo?

Izumo:I like it.

Kitano: I don't really like traveling. But there are many people who like traveling. People's thoughts are stretched at once when they see beautiful things, so everyone may want to go.
One foreign-affiliated super-famous company has a "brand book", which has no letters written on it, only photos. Looking at it, it seems that everyone, regardless of nationality, feels that "our company has such value." The amount of information that a language can explain is too small, so use images and videos to express more. That's why Pixar is.

Izumo:I see. I try to travel as consciously as possible. No matter how logically you think in your brain, you won't be able to create a story that will overwhelmingly sympathize with you. I think that the vision I got when I first went to Bangladesh and had an intense experience was never born even if I thought about it only in my head.
When you go on a trip, go to a place you don't know, see a scenery you didn't know, or eat something strange that you haven't eaten before, a physical shock triggers you to fall into your language. There is also.

I want to be a person who can always give encouragement to business people

Izumo: How does Mr. Kitano embody your current vision?

Kitano: Through writing books and talking in front of many people, I want to deliver cheering songs to the working people. It is impossible to protect everyone's lifetime employment, but if what I talked about today becomes a weapon for you, I hope it will be a lifelong thing for someone.
So, I'm really happy to hear that you read "Thinking about changing jobs" and changed your life, and "I was saved by reading" The ordinary man who kills geniuses "."

Izumo: Does it mean that you are shifting your interest in behavior change of each person from the stage where volume is an index?

Kitano: From the perspective of a book writer, that's completely true. I want to deliver something that will be a weapon for each person, rather than the size of the entire pie. However, of course, the volume is also important because the number of people who can change by reaching a large number of people will increase. I think that value will eventually cross.
By the way, there are various types of books, but it is autobiographical that I have decided not to write at this time. I don't think writing my own story will be a weapon for anyone.

Izumo: Why do you like to be so close?

Kitano: What does it mean to be alive for me?
I talked about Pixar earlier. Pixar's movies make the whole family happy, from about 5 years old to the elderly. What's more, it doesn't end there, and the characters created in the work have become visible and are always encouraging near someone. I wish I could create such value for business people. I wish there was something that would be close to me from my 20s when I started working to middle-aged seniors.

Izumo:It is wonderful. I feel altruistic.

Kitano: No, I think there is probably my own ego part. It's an ego that you want to keep what you have created. However, I think that human value is also the ability to cross that selfishness and altruism.

Izumo: Actually, I also wanted to thank Mr. Kitano as one of the people who delivered the value. In the postscript of "How to Think about Changing Jobs", you spell out why you wrote this book. "If you have a negotiation card that says'you can change jobs at any time', your workplace will improve, and this country will improve." I was impressed with the words.
Perhaps in the old days, it was common to think of people changing jobs as traitors. However, because the world is changing so rapidly, even if the friends who ate the same pot of rice happen to be away now, they may cross somewhere someday. So you shouldn't think of it as a traitor.

Euglena wants to be a place where each and every one of us can say what we want to say and show our thoughts without shrinking. That's why I've never used the word "employee" since its inception, except when using it as an example. Now, as a companion who will liven up the company together, and as a companion who can demonstrate and stimulate each other's personal value in the future, I want to continue to be a community that is connected even if someone changes jobs. I renewed that feeling.

Kitano: I'm really happy to hear that. I myself would like to be Our We look forward to working with you in the future.

* Honorific titles omitted in the text

Editing: Shinsuke Tada / Photo: Reiko Inada