[Wakufuri Co., Ltd.] Wakufuri, which provides business improvement and DX human resource development support, appoints Tatsuharu Hanawa as an outside director.
*View in browser* *Wakufuri Co., Ltd.*
Press release: June 10, 2024
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Wakufuri, a business improvement and DX human resource development support company, appoints Tatsuharu Hanawa as an outside director. *I want to support the management of local companies from a practical level* Tatsuharu Hanawa appointed as outside director of Wakufuri Co., Ltd. * In February 2024, Mr. Hanawa was appointed as an outside director of Wakufuri Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wakufuri).
Mr. Tatsuharu. Mr. Hanawa has built his career so far with the desire to become someone who can help people and organizations around him. We spoke with Wakufuri Representative Director Takuya Takashima about the background and thoughts behind his appointment as an outside director. *
* profile *
*Tatsuharu Hanawa*
MIMIGURI Co., Ltd. Consulting Division Unit Lead
Wakufuri Co., Ltd. Outside Director
Representative Director, Ito Keizai Gakusha General Incorporated Association
Born in Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture. After graduating from university, he engaged in consulting work for the Toyota Group to improve the profits and financial standing of automobile dealers. After that, he joined GLOBIS Co., Ltd., which runs a business graduate school. After engaging in consulting work for corporate management human resources development, gained experience in management and lecturer work.
Currently, he is supporting corporate management in various industries as a unit lead of the consulting division at MIMIGURI Co., Ltd. *Takuya Takashima*
Wakufuri Co., Ltd. Representative Director
Kakunaru Co., Ltd. Director
Deputy Director, IT Advisory Association, Fukuoka Prefecture IT x Women’s Activities Council Member
Born in Hasami Town, Nagasaki Prefecture in 1983. Our mission is to “bridge the gaps in society and transform the world.”
After working for a major tax accountant corporation in Kyushu and a business restructuring consulting company, he became independent in 2014 and established Wakufuri Co., Ltd. in 2017. As an expert in business transformation and DX, he is involved in the transformation of many companies. In 2021, we will start an educational project to develop DX human resources.
She is also expanding her career opportunities by becoming an outside director at Kakunaru Co., Ltd., which handles corporate personnel organization DX, and serving as a member of the Fukuoka Prefecture IT x Women’s Activities Council.
In addition to speaking at many DX-related events and seminars, he has also appeared in numerous media outlets, including Biz Hint, NHK’s “Good Morning Japan,” and Diamond Online.
* – What kind of work do you actually do as an outside director? * Hanawa: Broadly speaking, I work hand-in-hand with Mr. Takashima to formulate Wakufuri’s management policy and support business
management. We also talk about the company’s business status, confirming business results, what we want to achieve in the future, how we can help everyone in the organization reach their potential, and how we should hire. I also own a business promotion meeting, and I create a place where I can share the management agenda with all the managers and think together about how to proceed next.
* – Mr. Hanawa, what kind of work have you been involved in so far? * Originally, I was in the field of finance and finance, but I started to have an interest in the field of “people” before it is reflected in finance, and I gained experience in consulting work on training for corporate companies. On the other hand, as I faced management issues, I realized that in most cases it was not just a matter of
“development” but also a structural issue, such as a structure in which the setting of KPIs and the design of evaluation items were competitive. did. The point is that there are situations in which the organization cannot be changed even if only the people are trained. Therefore, I am currently working at MIMIGURI Co., Ltd. as a management/organizational consultant and as a unit lead. While dealing with themes related to management in a cross-sectional manner, we seek to create an organization that makes it easy for each individual to live and creates social value.
* – How do you feel about working at Wakufuri since becoming an outside director? *
Actually, I was originally involved with Wakufuri for about two years, so nothing special has changed.
The reason why I was able to join without feeling any discomfort may be related to the fact that Wakufuri’s worldview and my personal goals are close to each other. We renewed our corporate site in April of this year, and during the process of creating the site, I organized Wakufuri’s mission with Mr. Takashima. Currently, Wakufuri has a corporate mission of “bridging the gap with society,” but this also aligns with my personal feelings.
If you have to create an organization, there is a need to create a division of labor, and with this comes the dynamics of symbolizing roles and titles. As a result, inferences are made based on the symbol rather than the person’s personality, such as “because that person has an xxx job…”, which creates division and makes it impossible to empathize with each other. I felt that it was lonely, so as I was sorting out Wakufuri’s mission with Mr. Takashima, I felt that we were aiming for something closer.
Also, even though I am an “outside” director, I feel like I am close to the members of Wakufuri and are recognized as a friend, and that simply makes me happy. I usually keep in touch with other members of the company through chat work, and I meet with everyone in weekly meetings with managers and monthly management meetings.
* – Mr. Hanawa, please tell us what you value in your work. * Hanawa: Corporations have the aspect of pursuing economic efficiency. However, if we only pursue that, it will become difficult for humans to live. I want to value intangible things, such as the richness of human relationships, which are difficult to evaluate from an economic standpoint. Therefore, at the business promotion meeting where I am mainly in charge, Mr. Takashima and all the managers can talk about their current thoughts and how they see themselves without feeling like, “If I say this, people will think I’m no good.” I would be happy if we could build a relationship where we can express our ideas simply.
* -From now on, I would like Mr. Takashima, the representative director, to join us. Mr. Hanawa, please tell us how you became an outside director of Wakufuri. *
Takashima: When working on DX and business transformation for small and medium-sized enterprises, I was acutely aware that even if Wakufuri only prepared the environment, if the people were not trained, subsequent operations would not proceed smoothly. I felt the need to develop human resources and tried to create a business for that purpose, but I didn’t have the know-how in product design. So, when I was looking for someone to think with me as a partner, I learned about Mr. Hanawa. Mr. Hanawa already had experience at GLOBIS, which runs a business graduate school, and experience in in-house training, so we started by consulting with him.
What does Wakufuri propose, how will it be transformed into a service, and what kind of scheme will it create? Why did Wakufuri take on the challenge of training in the first place? With Mr. Hanawa joining us, we began organizing Wakufuri’s mission and also organized the concept regarding the training business. As we worked together, I felt that Mr. Hanawa really understood Wakufuri. After that, I began to consult not only on business matters but also on general management matters, and because I had gained a lot of trust from other members of the company, I decided to ask him to join me as an outside director. * – Please tell us about the respect you two have for each other. * Takashima: Mr. Hanawa is younger than me, but I’m very grateful that he doesn’t worry about my age and treats me more as a human being than as a manager. I can talk to Mr. Hanawa about anything, and I respect that he treats everything as his own problem and works with me in a sympathetic manner.
Hanawa: I feel that Mr. Takashima is extremely flexible as a manager. What’s impressive is that they keep their goals in mind and flexibly change the path to get there. I think it’s great that they have the flexibility to not only think about how to increase immediate profits, but also reconsider and pivot as appropriate to achieve their goals. Recently, there has been a term called agile, and I feel that Mr. Takashima himself has an affinity with that word.
Also, I think it’s wonderful to see leadership that doesn’t just say, “I’m going to follow you,” but instead acknowledges one’s own weaknesses and opens up to the other person, accepts the other person’s weaknesses, and tries to move forward together. . Sometimes I have time to reflect on my own leadership, and I believe that my human side is what makes me so attractive.
* -Please tell us what you both want to achieve with Wakufuri in the future*. Takashima: I like the term regional revitalization, and the ideal is to eliminate the economic disparity between cities and rural areas and increase the national power of Japan as a whole. Currently, even if the actual situation is not that different, there is a fixed idea that “because it is a rural area…” and this is causing a rift. A clear example of this is that today, IT and digital are keywords, and companies that have advanced in digitalization and individuals who are able to respond are often seen as amazing, but we want to fill that gap. is. Sometimes I see a tone that shows no respect for veteran people who are not good at computers, but personally I don’t really like that tone. It would be great if we could reach a compromise by respecting the support they have given us within the company and the time they have spent with us, and working together to explore new ways of doing business in line with the current times.
This may require programs that connect new and veteran talent to change the mindset of workers. I would like to take on various challenges while keeping these things in mind.
Hanawa: I agree with Mr. Takashima, but what we are currently doing is supporting business operations, especially with a focus on digital, and we would like to continue doing that. In addition, business succession is often talked about, and I would like to support local companies in building management systems that will support them in the next era. Businesses support the lives of their towns and regions, and there are many companies that we want to remain in history.
On the other hand, although the number of places to find business successors is increasing, succession is not easy, and I think there are still issues such as how to pass on intangible assets. Wakufuri’s strength is in unraveling and redesigning the black box operations of individual companies. This makes it possible, for example, to inherit intellectual assets such as know-how that only exists in the minds of specific employees, and to inherit relationships with customers when building business infrastructure such as CRM. Personally, I am interested in the possibility that I can make a contribution. * – What do you look for in people who will be working with you from now on? * Takashima: While being able to advocate for yourself is important, I also want to value being able to think from the other person’s perspective as a Wakufuri. I want to create a culture where people can reflect on themselves when something doesn’t go well at work, look at things from a bird’s-eye view as much as possible, and understand the other person’s situation. Furthermore, I think it is very important to be aware that the work you are doing is part of the organization. I believe that the company’s mission can be achieved and the “gap in society” can be bridged by respecting the members we work with and our customers.
Hanawa: As a basic premise, I think it’s important that people understand the meaning of Wakufuri. Wakufuri is a small to
medium-sized company and cannot be said to be stable yet. Therefore, we need to keep doing new things to achieve our mission, and it is only natural for us to make changes. I think it would be a better fit for the environment if you could feel the joy of moving forward as new developments occur every day towards the mission.
In addition, many of Wakufuri’s customers are companies that have not progressed in digitalization or are uncomfortable with it. As Wakufuri, what has been important to me so far is how to listen to the other person’s situation and voice, and how to be approachable. Therefore, it would be reassuring to have someone who can work with the client company’s people and organization as the main players, without forgetting respect, rather than focusing on digital means.
*Wakufuri Co., Ltd. Company Profile*
Location: 2-1-1 Hakata Ekimae, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, 2nd floor of Fukuoka Asahi Building, inside fabbitGG Hakata Ekimae
Representative: Representative Director Takuya Takashima
Established: December 2017
URL: https://wakufuri.com/
Business content: Business improvement support, DX human resource development support, etc.
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