Akio Nitori, Chairman of Nitori HD, talks about “The dollar will eventually reach 110 yen – how will we work then?

Nitori’s Successor

So what is required of companies and individuals in these difficult economic times?

What is required of companies and managers is romance and vision. You might say ambition. I want them to formulate a long-term vision with the primary goal of being useful to people, and to push forward with that vision. In fact, when our company was founded, we too were thinking about sales and profits, but our performance improved after we changed our mindset to ‘for the sake of others. Sales and profits are just rewards. It is the same for individuals. I want people to think about how they can benefit society when they do their work. If you do that, you will rise in the ranks and increase your income, even if you don’t want to.

We have our employees create a long-term vision for the next 20 years. For those employees who say they can’t come up with one, I tell them that for now they should just write down “president of a subsidiary at age 50. In terms of successors, we now have about 10 subsidiary presidents who are around 50 years old. It is too late to suddenly become president at the age of 60. I want to entrust the next leader to someone who has gone through the same hardships as the founding president.

At the end of the interview, Chairman Nitori wrote on a piece of colored paper, “Senkaku kouri,” which means, “The customer comes first. This means, “The customer comes first. This is a phrase that Chairman Nitotori himself coined, meaning, “The customer comes first; if you satisfy the customer, profit will follow.

He also said, “If I tell you not to think only about money, you might say, ‘What about you? I have also donated the shares I own to a scholarship foundation. The best thing is for someone to be happy. It would be great if I could die completely empty in the end.

Mr. Nitori laughed off the situation in a hearty manner. Nitori, with its grand vision, has no hesitation. Nitori, with its grand vision, has no doubts that it will overcome these turbulent times with great strength.

Akio Nitori was born in Sakhalin in 1944. After graduating from Hokkai-Gakuen University with a degree in economics, he worked for an advertising company before founding Nitori Furniture Store in Sapporo in 1967. Changed the company name to Nitori Corporation in 1986.’ In 2004, he was appointed Chairman and Representative Director of Nitori Holdings, Inc.” In February 2012, he returned to the position of president of Nitori, an operating company, for the first time in 10 years.

From the October 11, 2024 issue of FRIDAY