Yasuaki Nakamichi, President and CEO of Family Funeral Famille Co., Ltd.

President and CEO of Family Funeral Famille Co., Ltd.　Yasuaki Nakamichi(Yasuaki Nakamichi)

■ Profile

Graduated from Kyoto Sangyo University. Joined Recruit Co., Ltd. (now Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.) as a new graduate in 1990. After serving as Representative Director and President of Recruit Communications Co., Ltd., in 2016 he participated in the management of Epoch Japan Co., Ltd. (now Famille Family Funerals Co., Ltd.). In 2017, he became Representative Director and President. In 2018, he was appointed Representative Director, President and Group CEO of Kizuna Holdings Co., Ltd.

Famille Family Funerals operates family funeral halls across the country, where you can spend your final moments with your loved ones in a relaxed atmosphere, with only one group per day available for private use. In today's world where diversity is required, we want funerals to be held in accordance with the wishes and values ​​of the family. We spoke to President Nakamichi, who shares this sentiment, about his thoughts on family funerals and the journey that led him to this point.

When I was a student, I worked part-time jobs to pay for my tuition. I had a number of part-time jobs, including working as a bartender after class, at a cafe attached to a bowling alley, and as a day laborer on a construction site on my days off. I was able to do any job with ease, but there was one part-time job that I couldn't stick with. It was packing products that were delivered on a conveyor belt into cardboard boxes. It wasn't that the night shift was physically demanding; what I found difficult was not being able to talk to anyone and come up with my own ideas. It was during this time that I realized that some people are better suited to certain jobs than others.
Through this part-time experience, I realized that I liked working with people, so after graduating from university, I wanted to work in sales, and if I was going to do that, I wanted to aim to become the best salesperson in Japan. Unfortunately, I was rejected by my first choice, the securities company, but I decided to join Recruit, which I had been fortunate enough to work for. At the time, the environment was such that sales rankings were announced every day. I was in a position to aim for the top in the new employee division, but with just one day left, I was overtaken by a rival who had secured a large contract, which made me feel frustrated, but I worked hard every day, knowing that in order to acquire the skills to survive in the future, I needed to train in a more difficult environment.
I first became strongly aware of the path to becoming a "manager" in my early 30s. I learned about management professionals, such as Nissan Motors, which was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time, but was able to turn it around in just one year, and IBM was saved from bankruptcy thanks to a manager named Louis Gerstner, and I became attracted to the profession of "manager." I decided to use my experience at Recruit to take the next stage of my career and become a professional manager.
I ended up working for Recruit for 25 years. I owed them a lot, so after I retired, I avoided industries that would put me in competition with them, and ended up moving into the funeral industry, which Recruit had not yet entered.

■ Think from the perspective of the people living in the city

While many companies set sales goals, Famille Family Funerals values ​​an indicator called "Net Promoter Score (NPS®)," which measures whether or not customers would recommend our company to others. This is different from so-called customer satisfaction, which measures how satisfied customers were with our services. Since funerals are almost always held in the town where the deceased lived, local reputation is of utmost importance. Therefore, receiving evaluations from the perspective of residents in that town, in other words, NPS®, is directly linked to the company's reputation. Not forgetting this, all employees thoroughly review our services from the perspective of residents and work to improve our NPS® index.

■Family funerals are becoming the mainstream funeral style in the Reiwa era

While the average life expectancy of Japanese people continues to increase in the Reiwa era, the longer we live, the fewer acquaintances we have, and the weaker our ties to our communities. Nuclear families are also on the rise, and more people are requesting private funerals attended only by family and close friends. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become difficult to hold public funerals attended by many people, and the demand for private funerals has skyrocketed. When I became president, private funerals accounted for only around 30% of all funerals, but now they account for over 60%, and can be said to have become the standard for modern funeral styles.

■ An era in which diversity is required even in funerals

We live in an age where diversity is being called for in everything we do. We are being asked not only to respect traditional customs, but also to value the individual's thoughts.
The family funerals offered by Famille Family Funerals allow you to take the time to say goodbye to your family and loved ones to your heart's content, so that you don't end up being so busy with meetings and preparations that the funeral is over before you know it.
We want to make it possible for everyone to have different memories of the deceased and different values ​​regarding funerals. We do not want to provide services that fit into a mold set by funeral companies, as has been the case up until now, but rather to provide services that are based on the thoughts and wishes of the family.
I think it's important to always think from the perspective of the people living in the area so that we can provide a funeral that is considerate to the deceased.
By bringing about a change in values ​​regarding funerals through family funerals, we hope to work towards creating a society where family and interpersonal bonds are strengthened and the importance of life is deeply felt.

＊message＊

Keep your feet on the ground and work hard at what's in front of you. It's simple, but it's the first step to finding out what you can do. I understand the frustration of not being able to find what you want to do, but I'm sure not many people have found it while they're still in university. You'll definitely find what you want to do without forcing yourself to search for yourself, and without rushing. I mentioned the part-time jobs I had in university, but conversely, I think it's important to know what you don't think is right for you. I hope you don't overthink the future and just steadily accomplish what's in front of you now.

*Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS, and the emoticons used in connection with NPS are registered trademarks or service marks of Bain & Company, Fred Reichheld, and NICE Systems, Inc.

Student Newspaper April 1, 2023 Issue Sophia University 10nd Year Student Shirasaka Himari