Yuzo Ishikawa, Special Advisor, JCOM Inc.

"Digital x Physical = Perfect"

■ Profile

In 1985, he joined Daini Denden Co., Ltd. (now KDDI Corporation).
After serving as Representative Director and Executive Vice President of KDDI Corporation, he became Representative Director and Chairman of Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Ltd. (now JCOM Corporation) in June 2019.
Special advisor from April 2022.

JCOM Inc. (J:COM) is Japan's largest cable television company and has been a leader in the broadcasting and communications industry since its founding in 1995. Advisor Ishikawa says that in business it is important to delve deeper into existing fields and develop new fields. We asked him about the mindset we students should have when we enter society and what we should do now.

■ Student days filled with a variety of knowledge

I went on to study business at university. During my student days, I was very active in a band, but I was never a dedicated student. When it came to job hunting, even though everyone around me was working hard, I didn't take it too seriously and instead went on a month-long trip abroad. Also, at the time I wasn't good at speaking in front of people, so I struggled with interviews.

Even in such circumstances, I continued to read books. I especially enjoyed reading books about great people and people who had made great contributions to society. I felt that "knowledge" would help me, so I continued to read books even after I entered the workforce.

The topic of my graduation thesis was the dissolution of zaibatsu (common conglomerates), and I also gained a deeper understanding of zaibatsu and corporate finance. Through this study, I had a map of corporate groups in my head, such as "This company is under the umbrella of the X zaibatsu" or "This company and this company are connected because they belong to the same conglomerate," which was extremely useful when I was working in corporate sales for the telecommunications industry.

■ Always aim for a better environment and grow

When I joined a new graduate, I worked for a real estate and building materials trading company in Yokohama. I had a strong desire to "do business" rather than to manufacture things. Also, when I thought about "what I can do better than others," I had an unfounded confidence that I could do better in sales. I also dreamed of spreading a service myself. After that, I wanted to try a job other than sales, so I changed jobs to a clothing materials manufacturer. I was fortunate to achieve results here as well, and from now on, I want to work in a dream job that will allow me to grow both as a company and as an individual.
So I joined DDI (now KDDI), a telecommunications company that was created as a result of the liberalization of telecommunications, and that led to my current job.

■ Always try new things

The most rewarding thing about work is seeing business performance improve. However, business performance does not improve overnight. Sometimes, you need to break out of traditional frameworks and try new things, or change the way you work. "Deepening into existing areas and exploring new areas," or what's known as "ambidextrous management," is extremely important when running a company.

Some people may be afraid of change, but the world itself is constantly changing, so staying with the status quo is itself a risk. When I find the next opportunity for growth, work with my employees, and gradually see results, I feel the fulfillment and enjoyment of my work.
What's more, evolution itself may be fun.

I have failed many times up to now, but I believe that failure teaches me a lot and helps me to shape my future. So, no matter how many times I fail, I keep trying and fortunately, I have been able to succeed in several projects.

To give an example of a challenge, telecommunications companies possess vast amounts of data, but transforming that data into something valuable for customers is extremely difficult, and we initially failed many times. For example, deriving what customers want from their information is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. This information analysis itself took an enormous amount of time. We also struggled to get our employees and partners to understand the objective customer needs we had derived from the data. To achieve this, we repeatedly shared our goals and philosophy and demonstrated the actual results with numbers. As a result, we were able to efficiently change our business model using the power of digital technology, and it was a great joy to see that we were able to gain the support of our employees and partners.

■ Combining the power of both physical and digital

The appeal of J:COM is that it can provide great value to customers by combining its physical and digital strengths, which form the foundation of various businesses.
Companies like Amazon and Alibaba have enormous digital power, but they do not have much physical power, and they are beginning to strengthen that power.
Meanwhile, J:COM has always had a support system that was closely tied to the local community, and has a strong physical presence with over 1 employees active in the community. In recent years, the company has also strengthened its digital capabilities, and is working to solve local issues through the power of digital technology, such as recommendation functions that utilize customer and viewing data, the development of devices that seamlessly connect broadcasting and communications, online medical consultations, and MaaS.
Our company also operates a community channel that reaches approximately 1,400 million households, and acts as a media outlet disseminating information. Furthermore, we are engaged in a variety of businesses, including film production and distribution and TV shopping. By combining these various fields, centered on the power of digital and physical media, we are able to provide greater value to our customers. I believe this is a major differentiator from our rivals.

■ I want to work with altruistic people

The people I want to work with are those who are honest and have high aspirations, even before they have the ability. I also want to work with people who have an altruistic spirit and who consider the interests of their business partners. Furthermore, I think it's important to have a broad perspective. I would like to see people who are interested in many things and have the motivation and courage to take on these challenges join our company.

■Message

The time you spend in society is far longer than when you were a student. Academic studies are of course important, but I think how you spend your time after joining the company is far more important. No matter how specialized you may be in university, it won't be immediately applicable in society, so you need to hone that expertise and communication skills. Conversely, even if you don't feel confident about something now, it will come to fruition if you have a true desire to do it. By having dreams and continuing to work hard, you can become the person you want to be. I have seen this for myself and by observing the people around me. I believe that having the desire to take on challenges and continuing to do so will make life a fruitful one.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on February 10, 2022 by Meiji University third-year student Yaku Sakai