Link Academy Co., Ltd. President and CEO, Joji Yokoyama

We believe in our customers' potential more than anyone else, without setting any limits.

President and CEO of Link Academy Co., Ltd.　Joji Yokoyama(Yokoyama Joji)

◾️Profile

Born in 1976 in Hiroshima Prefecture
1999: Joined Aviva Corporation (now Link Academy)
2011: Appointed director of Aviva Inc. (currently Link Academy)
2014: Appointed Director of Link Academy Co., Ltd.
2022: Appointed CEO of Link Academy Co., Ltd.

Link Academy Co., Ltd. provides one-stop support for acquiring PC skills and qualifications, helping individuals advance their careers. Using the technology owned by the Link and Motivation Group, they support the career development of approximately 15,000 people per year. President Yokoyama, who believes above all in the infinite potential of his customers, told us about the appeal of the company and the type of person he would like to work with.

I grew up in a poor family. My father's company went bankrupt, and my parents divorced because they couldn't take over the many remaining debts. My mother worked from morning till night to raise me. Seeing her like that, I wanted to help her somehow, and I had planned to get a job after graduating from high school. However, the high school I attended was a preparatory school, and seeing the students around me studying for entrance exams, I began to waver between continuing my education and getting a job. After much deliberation, I decided to go to university after my mother told me, "It's hard to make you give up on university because of your family environment."

However, my grades were the lowest in my grade as I was only thinking about getting a job. I started over from junior high school level and somehow managed to get into a local private university. However, I still had financial problems so I managed to pay for my tuition myself by borrowing a scholarship. I didn't want to forget how difficult it was at the time or how hard my mother had worked, so I paid back the scholarship a little at a time each month and paid it off when I was around 40 years old. After graduating from university, I joined Aviva, the predecessor to Link Academy. It was a company that had started a PC school earlier than other companies, and I was attracted by the fact that the average age was young and I could gain discretionary power at an early stage, so I decided to join.

◾️Enabling customers to proactively chart their own career paths

At Link Academy, we place great importance on the concept of "i-Company." "i-Company" is a way of thinking where you see yourself as a corporation and independently shape your career as its manager. We believe that our big difference from other companies is that we do not see the goal as simply obtaining qualifications, but rather approach students by helping them proactively plan their future careers.

The reason this way of thinking is so important is that we are living in an era where the focus is on individual qualities and major changes in companies. As times change, the source of value has shifted from "industry" to "company." Now, attention is being focused on the "individual" itself, on "what they do," rather than "where they belong." Furthermore, as product life cycles become shorter within companies, competition is becoming increasingly fierce, with sales rankings changing every year. The concept of the "i-Company" is becoming crucial to surviving in this rapidly changing era. In other words, it is becoming increasingly important for individuals to take the lead and continually update their skills while building their own careers.

◾️A thorough diagnosis clarifies your current situation

I don't think there are many educational service businesses that offer PC skills and qualification acquisition all in one place, and on this scale. Customers can acquire a variety of skills in one place, without having to go to multiple schools.

Link Academy also values ​​the value of human intervention. I believe that AI cannot fundamentally change people. While human intervention naturally requires time and money, efficiency alone cannot change people. Because we believe that only people can hone their skills, Link Academy thoroughly supports our clients' career development. Specifically, we focus on "diagnosis" and "transformation." Just as setting a goal on a map won't get you there if you don't know where you are, misjudging your current abilities and skills can prevent you from advancing in the direction you desire. To prevent this, we use Link and Motivation Group's proprietary "motivation engineering" technology to conduct thorough assessments and work with our clients to identify the steps they should take to transform. I'm confident that no other company devotes so much time and effort to each and every client.

◾️We believe in our customers' potential more than anyone else

In order to provide true value to our customers, our employees must continue to study. Compared to other schools, we have an overwhelmingly higher number of qualifications and input, but we also provide a solid training environment and education for growth. Currently, many of our employees acquire around 10 to 15 qualifications in about three years.

However, this is not a requirement. What is far more important is the ability to believe that "the other person can change." In other words, someone who can fully believe in the potential of their customers. The service provider should never decide what is possible. I would like to work with people who believe in the infinite potential of their customers and work unwaveringly.

The school also offers language instruction, making it an international workplace. We live in an age where companies cannot survive without adapting to diversity, so it's important to think about how we can achieve common goals as a group despite diverse values. I also think it's important to have the potential to expand into various areas at any time.

◾️Message

Today's university students are a generation born out of COVID-19. Some may see their limited experience at university as a negative, but if you look at it from a different perspective, I think there are many things that only people of that age could have experienced. This includes connections with people they would never have had if they had been able to attend university normally. I think they are at an age where they can naturally build relationships with a variety of people from a completely different perspective than before. University is not everything. I hope they will further explore and sharpen perspectives and relationship-building that were not available to university students of the past.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on May 5, 2023 by Koji Ishida, a third-year student at Nihon University

Rikkyo University third year student Ogata Narina / Sophia University Junior College second year student Ohno Shiori / Senshu University fourth year student Takemura Yui / Nihon University fourth year student Ishida Koji