“Real stability is achieved through continuously challenging oneself” Yuuya Takada

【Born and raised in Iwate Prefecture, he moved to Tokyo to pursue work for the UN】

—It seems that you felt that you wanted to change the world since you were in middle school, what was the reason you felt this way?

Takada: Around the time when I was in 8th grade, tree planting as a form of community service for climate change prevention was turning into a movement, and my school participated by collecting 500 yen donations from each student to send to a local organization in inner Mongolia. At that time, I learned that the low cost of labor and cost of seeds in the country receiving the donations meant that the 500 yen could fund about 100 times the amount of tree planting that would be possible in Japan. I was from the countryside of Japan, so until that moment, I had always thought that I was not well off. However, after hearing that fact, I realized that I was simply part of a less fortunate group relative to the immediate environment around me, and I was actually very blessed compared to the entire world. And while we were eating until our stomachs were full, I felt uncomfortable knowing that there were poor people who did not have enough food on the table, so I felt that I had to do something about it. 

— So that is why you decided to work at the UN. 

Takada: I was only a middle schooler, and I did not have much knowledge, so I felt that I would pursue the UN in the meantime. I heard that the UN requires you to be able to speak another language besides English, so I attended a high school where I could learn languages other than English, and I thought I would go to Tokyo because becoming a government employee was the best way to enter the UN from Japan. 

— I see that you were very diligent about your dream of working at the UN. What did you major in College? 

Takada: I thought that if I were to join the UN I should study international relations theory and I joined the third division of the College of Arts and Sciences, but when you study international relations theory you might gain an “education as an international person”, but you don’t specialize in anything beyond that. So when I thought about other fields of study, I was very interested in economics. But I didn’t think I was smart enough to work as a so-called pure economist at the UN, so I chose agricultural economics. In many countries, the primary industry makes up a large part of the GDP, so agricultural economics has a large presence in international relations. 

— While chasing your dream, was there ever a time when you lost your motivation? 

Takada: I did before I entered college. I grew up on the coast of Iwate prefecture in a village of about 4000 people, and half of the class would attend technical high schools, so when I was in middle school and high school I was a bit of an alien, and people felt like they didn’t know what I was talking about. 

— In that situation, how did you develop the strength of your will? 

Takada: Due to this background, I did not meet anybody more successful than me until college. So it was like being the king of a small country, and that worked to my benefit and I grew up feeling like I was special. This feeling was strengthened further when my father was laid off from his job. At that moment, I became enlightened to the fact that stability that is entrusted to others is a false image, and stability is only attainable through challenging oneself continuously. Also, my town experienced a catastrophe during the winter of my freshman year. Some of my friends and peers passed away, and the idea of death became close for the first time. I realized that you don't know when you will die, so I strongly felt that I should pursue what I wanted to pursue.  

 【Internship at OECD: My life’s turning point】

—I understand that you interned at OECD in your fourth year of college.

Takada: Normally, you have to be a masters student to be an intern in the field of international relations, but, after hearing that France’s educational institution grande e’cole considers Japanese fourth-year students to be first-year masters students,  I decided to study abroad at a French university, and I used the student certification from that school to apply for the OECD internship. 

—What was your path like after returning to Japan? 

Takada: After interning at OECD, for the first time in my life did not go according to plan. I returned to Japan at the end of December of my fourth year, and I no longer wanted to work for the UN after my internship. I had only planned on attending Tokyo University's graduate school because I needed my masters, so I was troubled and talked to a friend who had a job offer from Boston Consulting. Through that friend, I was introduced and my job offer was decided. After staying at BCG for four years, I started a business, and that brings me to the present. 

—After your internship with OECD, how did you feel when the dream that you spent your entire life chasing fell apart? 

Takada: Because only the “how” changed and the mountain I was climbing didn’t necessarily change, I realized that the hypothesis I had for my “how” was wrong. So I didn’t lose belief in myself, but I did contemplate very hard on the fact that the thing I had been aiming for so long was not really what I wanted. 

—So that’s where you became interested in business. 

Takada: No matter what, there are always things that better society but do not provide income. For example, while one can say that you are better off going to war when you get down to economic efficiency, from the perspective of peace and people’s happiness, war should be avoided. Or take a medium to long term problem like global warming. Problems like this that cannot be solved with economic rationale or problems that become medium to long term discussions as a result of economic rationale are well suited for the UN. But I personally did not have much of a passion for that, so I thought I would do business. 

【Facing many obstacles at BCG】

—After graduation, you entered BCG and gained experience working at offices in Japan, Shanghai, and LA. How did you overcome differences in treatment and language barriers?

Takada: Shanghai and Los Angeles were pretty difficult. The Japanese branch was an environment where an associate could easily tell their partner “I have no idea what you are talking about”, but in Shanghai, the senior-subordinate relations were very tough. When I first asked the project leader “Regarding the task you asked me to complete, I could not understand the purpose of doing it, so I gave it some thought, what do you think?”, the leader was furious and I was kicked out of that project. I went to other parts of the company to see if they would let me in another project. 

Takada: After that, I worked in Japan for about a year, and I then went to Los Angeles for about 8 to 9 months. In Los Angeles, the barriers of competence and language were hard to overcome. Consulting is a job where you sell words to the client, and it is a business where there is a back and forth of words within the team. If you’re even a little bit too late, you lose your chance. Nobody wants to do it, but someone has to do it. By proactively doing that job I gradually gained the trust of my team members, and they began to listen to me. 

—Have you experienced cultural and language barriers since starting your own business as you did when you were in Shanghai and LA? 

Takada: I think it's good that from middle school to college, and at BCG Japan, I never felt that I was not valuable or that I wanted to run away. Starting a business is a lot of pressure, and it is good to be able to say that I am better off compared to those days when I would wet my pillow every day. 

【We think we would definitely succeed with this person, but no regrets even if we fail】

—How did you meet Mr. Hashimoto, your co-founder? 

Takada: I joined the same circle as Hashimoto in college, but we didn’t really have a strong connection in college. But when we entered the workforce, there were few people who were thinking of starting a business so we naturally ended up talking about that. And we were working in America at the same time, so we quickly became close in America. 

Takada: At the time, Hashimoto and I had this feeling that we were at the end. Only about one Japanese person every few years is able to enter a Japanese branch and get a ticket to the US. To go beyond that and try to stay in the US requires one to get a green card and commit to that company for a few years. Either that or decide on a new career even though I had just arrived. We had to make our decision around the same time period, and both Hashimoto and I did not want to settle with what was safe. 

—So that's when you and Mr. Hashimoto started a business. Tell me about the reasons behind you becoming the CEO and Mr. Hashimoto becoming the COO, if there were any. 

Takada: I think it’s based on what we were good at. I am more of a goal-oriented person and Hashimoto is more of a people-oriented person. And since the purpose of a company is not to survive as a company, but to do something, the decision-making at the management level should be based on a goal. If you don’t do that, you can’t make the difficult decisions. On the other hand, I am not good at the maximization of team performance, so I leave the operational parts to Hashimoto. 

 —What qualities do you possess that are sought for in a CEO? 

Takada: First is choosing the mountain to climb, and second is to roughly choose how we climb. If you do that much, everyone else will do the rest. The third is making the right decisions, even if they are not always rational, including the painful ones. There’s no reason for me to be there if the same conclusion is going to be reached by anyone who thinks about the issue. So, for example, in cases where the opinions are split, or where a large group of people are against my idea, I have to be able to make the right decision. 

—Are there qualities that you look for when choosing who to hire? 

 Takada: We are divided into three levels: the so-called management members, the manager/director level below them, and the member level. For the management members, I think it is very important to be able to feel that the candidate would definitely be a success, while there would be no regrets for choosing him or her even if it failed. If only the former is met, you end up choosing people that only have skills or people who do not share the same values but agree only in timing. If only the latter is met, it is likely that you might get along but their strengths may not be so different from your own. I felt that I could not go wrong with Hashimoto regardless of success or failure because Hashimoto and I are completely different types, our roles are entirely separate, and we attended college together. 

Takada: At the management and director levels, we value culture-fit, but there are also two additional things we look for. One is whether or not they have the ability to fill our management positions, and the other one is whether they can maximize the team’s performance. It sounds obvious, but it’s actually not common in this world for someone to be able to make the members’ performance go from 100 to 120. 

Takada: At the member level, I think the degree to which the candidate aligns with the company’s values is very important. We don't look at things like skill very much. This is because, at the member level you are not talking every day, so from the management’s perspective it is necessary for them to be self-sufficient to some extent. 

【Doing what you want to do by continuing to challenge yourself】

—How do you feel about the recent growth in the number of students who are interested in entrepreneurship? 

Takada: I think it is wonderful. When you start a business after working for a company, there are a lot of things that have to be given up. Also, things like marriage, raising children and caring for parents all come up as you get older, and it quickly becomes a hassle. So people who have the motivation should get started now. 

—Entrepreneurship is not a goal, but rather a tool. Should entrepreneurship still be pursued? 

Takada: It would be good if entrepreneurship is only a tool because it would be a tool for a variety of things. Whether it is for changing the world, or for experiencing society, I think there are a lot of reasons and interests, and I think it should definitely be pursued for those reasons. You learn a lot, and I don’t think there is a single negative thing about starting a business as a student. 

—Do you have a message for the young people in Japan today? 

Takada: I think this is also for my younger self, but I think you should challenge yourself more. There are two reasons for this. One is that, through my own experience, I was able to do what I wanted as a result of continuously choosing the path that was not easy for me. If you’re considering choosing a safe option or a stable job at this point in time, I think you are better off doing what you want to do. The second reason is that the proportion of Japan’s working-age population is extremely small. That basically means that young people are very valuable. From a social scene perspective, young people have a significant advantage. 

—Finally, please tell us how you are imagining your life from here on out. 

Takada: At my company, at the moment I feel that there is no “if we do this we are done”, so I will continue to work quietly on the business side. However, in terms of life, back then I had an attitude that I was going to change the world, but now that I’ve reached a decent age, I think it is important to know how to raise the next generation. In terms of the workplace, I think it would be great if the communal dedication of members leads to strength and opens doors to the next career. 

Thank you very much!