Know MC's People

No matter what the situation, appreciation and aspiration are the keys to building trust. I learned that during my secondment in New York at One Rock Capital Partners. As the only Japanese employee at such a professional firm, I was determined to make a positive contribution to the team, but in the beginning I wasn't sure how to do that. My early days there were just a repeated process of trial and error, trying to endear myself and grow as a professional. I thought hard about where I could be of benefit, and I was proactive about helping my colleagues. I also repeatedly mentioned the kind of work I wanted to do, and little by little I was able to build trust with my colleagues, superiors and others around me. Eventually I started being assigned some big projects.
My work at One Rock was one of the greatest challenges of my life, but it resulted in relationships that have outlasted that secondment. It was a successful experience that made me appreciate the value of relationships built in difficult circumstances, and it gave me confidence as well.
Looking back now, I've received a lot of support in my career thus far, not just from my colleagues at One Rock, but also my multi-generational and cross-group associates at MC. I've always demonstrated my appreciation to those people, but as I've done so, I've also shown them that I have strong aspirations, and I think that's the very reason I've been able to earn their trust. When we set high goals, we're bound to run into difficulties achieving them, but I'm convinced that those tough times are when we achieve self-growth. Being ambitious and willing to step out of our comfort zones is one way to gain the trust of those around us.

I currently oversee business successions, carve-outs and other buyout investments at Marunouchi Capital Co., Ltd., which is a private-equity fund manager based here in Japan. There's a lot of decision making involved, with respect to selling off or acquiring businesses, so one thing that I find rewarding is the fact that I have so many opportunities to meet different people and hear their thoughts on those businesses.
On succession projects, we function as a new-stage-of-growth pacesetter for businesses whose founders dedicated a lifetime nurturing. While I'm conscious of the need to respect all of those businesses' stakeholders, including their founders, upper-management teams, and employees, I'm also keenly aware of our own great responsibilities to take those businesses to the next stage. Most of the work I do is behind the scenes and fairly unglamorous, but when I'm reminded I have the trust of our partners and that the relationships I've built allow me to speak my mind freely, I feel really happy in my job.
In terms of our new investments, I'm sometimes put in charge of projects that are in industries I know nothing about, so I have no choice but to start from square one and learn everything I can. Thanks to MC's broad industry access and connections, I've been able to learn a great deal, and that knowledge has proven invaluable. MC's collective capabilities help us to raise the value of these businesses after we've invested in them, and they are a tremendous strength for MC's private-equity-fund operations. This work has been truly valuable experience because it has exposed me to MC's diverse businesses, and that's another reason I find it rewarding.

One challenge I'm excited about is leveraging Marunouchi Capital's buyout investments to support Japanese industry. Particularly in its regional communities, Japan is still home to a lot of companies that don't know how to maximize their potential, whether due to a lack of successors or being engaged in non-core businesses. Plus there still seems to be business proprietors here who are very resistant to the word "fund." I'd like to help those companies grow in ways that will make their stakeholders feel more familiar with and comfortable about collaborations with fund managers, and I'm looking forward to working with my teammates to make that happen.
Another challenge I'd like to take on is using financial services to better communicate MC's strengths to the world. MC is home to diversely talented professionals from many industries who have been engaged in businesses all across the planet. They gravitated to MC because they share a sense of belonging with the company, and I think there's a lot of hidden potential there. I'd be delighted if finance could serve as the facilitator that demonstrates the full value of MC's myriad businesses, know-how and talent, and I'm confident that MC's financial operations themselves can grow by doing more to engage and tap into the strengths of the company's other businesses. To shore up my own foundations so that I can better help to achieve that aim, I'm committed to doing my very best every single day.