In this interview with President Hamaguchi, we take a closer look at work-style reform in Japan, the intricacies of what has happened insofar, and our role moving forward to change the future of our working culture.
Jennifer: Now that 2017 has ended, could you tell us what you accomplished in the last year?
Hamaguchi: At the close of 2017, in December, I published a book for the first time in my life, titled Bigbeat LIVE BOOTLEG. It’s a reedited compilation of what was discussed at “Bigbeat LIVE,” i our company-sponsored marketing symposium that was held in August of the same year.
J: Why the name “BOOTLEG”?
H: “BOOTLEG” is a word that means pirated or contraband, something prohibited. The reason why I chose this title will get lengthy, so I’ll save it for another time. In short, it’s an inside pun we have (it’s probably not all that interesting).
J: What was the catalyst for the symposium and your book?
H: In 2017, “work-style reform” was the buzzword in the business scene. The cause being the tragic Dentsu case, where a young woman committed suicide due to overwork. Dentsu is the leading advertising company in Japan, which all the more affected all of us in the advertising industry. In the one year that passed, many people from of course the government, companies, and even at the individual level have felt the problems of our work style, and a big movement took place. Specifically, the implementation of many policies and measures. However, we also felt that there was something important that was missing in all of these reform movements. ii
J: What was missing in the work-style reform movement?
H: This is true for management also, but each working person must think and act in order to not repeat the mistakes of education reform decades ago. For education reform, the goal was to move from an education that focused on rote memorization to an education style that focused on each child’s talent and individuality to create a better future for everyone. What we do in order open up a better future for ourselves is education, then work. We realized that if we continue as we do now, there won’t be a better future. So, we took a stand to change our working style to create a better future with 2017 as a catalyst.
Yet, it won’t go well if we simply leave reform to companies and the government and just do as we are told. In order to change the way we work, to be direct, the goal isn’t to stop overtime. It’s to reform – in unity – the way of education, the way we choose our work, the way we work, and the relationship between the companies and the working people.
It’s to reform – in unity – the way of education, the way we choose our work, the way we work, and the relationship between the companies and the working people.
J: What are the particular characteristics of the Japanese employment system?
H: Employees are carefully protected under the new graduate recruitment system and lifetime employment system, and if they are obedient, they will not be fired even if they do not produce results. It’s approved on both the management side and by those working, however, on the other hand, they are "corporate slaves" doing unpaid overtime or transferring to locations far from home and separated from family. It is an extremely rare style globally, but it was a great success as a socialist-like capitalist state unrivaled in the world as the "100 million middle-class society.” This form was a great success, and then it ended.
Due to the diligent education, work, and efforts of our predecessors, we became an advanced nation. Now, looking towards the future as a mature nation, I feel that we need to change education and the way we work to lead to a better future for our children.
What we need is societal tolerance and a safety net for people who challenge themselves.
As far as I know about Japanese history, this era is the first of its kind where we can choose our work. If you can put all your might into the job you like, depending on those results, you can open up your future. Essentially, living in an era where you won’t starve even if you don’t put up with working a job you hate just to eat is a great fortune.
What we need is societal tolerance and a safety net for people who challenge themselves.
J: What can you do to make the future of Japan brighter?
H: If I think about it very hard, the hint to that question is very close to my own business. Namely, “marketing.” There are numerous definitions for marketing, but for business marketing I think it is “the strategy of envisioning who your company’s prime customers are and creating an impressionable scene that moves them when they come into contact with your company’s service or products.” Management’s greatest function.
I think that a marketer’s main job is to “create the future in one picture.” It doesn’t matter whether it’s a visual like a poster, the top page of a website, or even a 30 second video. Concretely, it’s putting into words this scene of why we are running our business.
It is management’s job is to make that scene a reality. A lot of managers have imaged it and are operating in that way, but, unfortunately, marketing is not functioning in a lot of companies in Japan. A client’s impressionable scene is, for a B2B company, the success of the client company’s management. If you think about how to make a client company succeed, if you can make a choice about what’s useless, what’s good to postpone, what you can outsource...management will change and the way we work will change.
A client’s impressionable scene is, for a B2B company, the success of the
client company’s management.
J: Can you tell us more about Bigbeat LIVE and Bigbeat BOOTLEG?
H: We invited 4 amazing guests to our “Bigbeat LIVE” event that was held on August 1st. The theme was “Change management with marketing and make our future bright!” The contents from our guests at that time, and the feedback from the social gathering after the sessions and from emails have been edited into a story as told in my voice into this book (Bigbeat LIVE BOOTLEG). It is a collaboration between the 4 guests and me.
From the hundreds of people who came to the event, to those who have read and supported the book, I have really felt that, as I have mentioned in the beginning, “the tide has changed in 2017.” All the people that I have met from the activities of Bigbeat LIVE, BOOTLEG, and the Bigbeat blog are already changing the way they work.
There is a woman blogger whom I have not yet met but who had written an outstandingly interesting article follow. She’s a web director and experienced in PR, and is now doing it all by herself. The other day she got married and had announced, “My husband and I are moving our base to New York!” It wasn’t a job relocation, but seemed that the two had talked and said, “Let’s go to NY!” Of course, there may be many difficulties, but “many difficulties,” whether it’s employed at a company or in Japan, is the same. By taking a step forward towards making your dream a reality to do the things you want to do, you can make the future interesting and worthwhile. So, I applaud her and am cheering her on.
J: Does this mean we should all become freelancers and contractors?
H: I don’t want to assert that you should become a freelancer. Whether freelancer or entrepreneur, whether it is a large corporation or a government worker, it is thinking about what you are achieving from your work, where your values are and how you can further improve them and acting in accordance to that. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, making a strong living with your abilities and individuality and becoming the person that can create a better future for oneself is the true meaning of work-style reform.
No overtime, multiple work, second businesses...those are the choices from that outcome.
Those that had read the brief introductions of the 4 guest speakers would know, but, so to speak, these are not the typical work styles of Japanese employees.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, making a strong living with your abilities and individuality and becoming the person that can create a better future for oneself is the true meaning of work-style reform.
If you work a job you hate for 8 hours a day, even 3 days off a week isn’t worth it.
The things you want to do you will pursue them thoroughly, and those fruits of labor are what’s necessary from society. You will become someone essential. Even if you fail, you can try again.
We started work reform in 2017 so that we would could create a future where we would be able to think “how great it is that I was born in this country, how fun life is,” and I believe that in the distant future we will be able to talk about this. It’s a bright light that Premium Fridayiii had not been established.
The most important thing is not thinking “someone else will do it.”
i Bigbeat LIVE.
https://www.bigbeat.live/
ii Dentsu was fined a mere 500,000 JPY (about $4,400) in final court ruling for the death of its employee due to overwork.
https://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20171012/Business/Japan-s-Dentsu-gets-token-4-400-fine-for-excessive-overtime
iii Premium Friday, a government-backed campaign and term coined by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) aimed to encourage companies to let workers off early on the last Friday of every month.
Linkedin
Facebook
Twitter