Know MC's People

In my second and third years with the company, I was overseeing a business divestment in Europe, but the circumstances were very complex and I was having a difficult time keeping up. There were negotiations with our fellow investors with whom we were selling off our interest in the business, meetings with the business's upper-management team, arrangements with local lawyers and all of MC's different stakeholders, and so on. I kept messing things up and it seemed that every day someone was getting angry with me.
Although it was rough at the time, I learned many lessons that have helped get me to where I am today. On days when it seemed like my work would never end and I felt like I was just an inconvenience to everyone, I remembered something a senior colleague who had previously worked point on the business had said to me: "People will always recognize and appreciate those who work hard."
Those words made me realize that even if I lacked skill, as long as I gave my best, my efforts would not be in vain, and succeed or fail, the experience alone might lead to opportunities in the future.

I've gained a lot of valuable experience from secondments both in and outside Japan, but businesswise my career thus far has been exclusively in automobile sales. I currently work in the Mobility Group's Strategic Planning Unit, where I'm involved in drawing up the group's strategies. This job has helped me to learn a lot about the diverse businesses and projects that are being undertaken by not only the Mobility Group, but MC's other business groups as well.
I feel like the work has really broadened my perspectives. On some projects, I get to collaborate with employees from other groups, and I'm experiencing first-hand how extensive the reach of a sogo shosha can be and how dynamic its operations are. It truly is a rewarding job.

The mobility industry is experiencing once-in-a-century innovations like electrification, and auto-pilot technology, innovations that continue to blur the lines between other industries. Planning strategies lets me view those trends from a wide vantage point and feel a more intimate connection to them, and because I'm able to do this work is precisely why I can envision the Mobility industry's next steps and feel willing to take on any challenge to create new value.