Talking about the Current Status, Challenges, and Prospects for Diversity and Inclusion Promotion
Female Executive Symposium
With the appointment of two new female Outside Directors in April 2021, we hope to further strengthen our corporate governance system, while also accelerating our promotion of the active participation of women more than before. It is against that backdrop that four of our female executives came together and had a discussion of, among other things, the current state of diversity and women’s participation in Japan, the condition of the Sekisui House Group, and future challenges and prospects.
The participants, from right to left:
Yukiko Yoshimaru, Outside Director
Yoshimi Nakajima, Outside Director
Keiko Takegawa, Outside Director
(MC) Miwa Yamada, Executive Officer, Senior Manager of the Diversity and Inclusion Promotion Department
Yukiko Yoshimaru
Yukiko Yoshimaru has built her career through her work at various companies in Japan and overseas. She has also been widely involved in promoting diversity and inclusion. After serving as the General Manager of the Diversity Development Office at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and as Executive Officer at Nifco, Inc., she serves as an Outside Director on the boards of both Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. and Daiwabo Holdings Co., Ltd. She has been an Outside Director of Sekisui House since April 2018.
Yoshimi Nakajima
Yoshimi Nakajima has been involved in the management of many foreign corporations, including American Express International and Citibank, N.A. She serves as an Outside Director on the boards of AEON Financial Service Co., Ltd., Japan Freight Railway Company, and ULVAC. She is also active as a specially appointed Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Project Design. She has been an Outside Director of Sekisui House since April 2021.
Keiko Takegawa
Keiko Takegawa has worked in a key role in the Prime Minister’s Office (the predecessor to the current Cabinet Office). As Director-General of the Cabinet Office’s Gender Equality Bureau, she works hard to realize policies relating to gender equality. She serves as an Outside Director on the boards of both Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd. She is also active as the dean of the Faculty of Global Business at Showa Women’s University. She has been an Outside Director of Sekisui House since April 2021.
Miwa Yamada (MC)
Sekisui House Executive Officer, Senior Manager of the Diversity and Inclusion Promotion Department
A Strong Reputation as a Company That Actively Promotes the Advancement of Women
Yamada First, I’d like to ask the two newly appointed Outside Directors to briefly talk about your careers up to now.
Nakajima Primarily working in foreign companies, I built up experience mostly in marketing, and ultimately came to work in management. I was in my late 20s when I first took an interest in management. What really sparked my interest was hearing about the key roles being played by women at my company’s New York head office, and thinking “I’d really love to become a person like that myself!” I had really supportive supervisors and coworkers. They taught me the importance of speaking up by myself, which is what led me to where I am now.
Takegawa I joined the Prime Minister’s Office in 1981. This was right in the middle of the United Nations Decade for Women, and it was a time when the Japanese national government was working to recruit more women to government positions. For a little over 37 years thereafter, I coordinated with various government offices on gender equality and coexistence society policies, pursuing a wide range of policies.
Yamada What kind of impression did you have of the Sekisui House Group?
Takegawa I built my house with Sekisui House some 23 years ago. On that occasion, the one in charge of design was a woman, and later a woman also oversaw the remodeling. That connection gave me this image of Sekisui House as a company where women perform active roles. At work, too, initiatives such as the Cabinet Office Gender Equality Bureau’s awards for “Leading Companies Where Women Shine” really taught me that this was a company that actively promoted women’s participation.
Nakajima I was conducting research on themes like diversity and inclusion (hereinafter “D&I”) and women’s advancement, so my impression was that this was a company that was proactively engaging with these topics. Now that I’ve been made an Outside Director here, I really feel that there’s tremendous potential for more projects to work on, and more things to move forward with.
Takegawa Right, you’ve been taking on a number of progressive activities, so as the paternity leave system and LGBTQ initiatives. But there are still only very few women in management positions. I’m hoping that by continuing forward with such initiatives as proactively recruiting women to sales positions and training women for management, the total number of female employees will increase, and that we will also see a change in the percentage of women in management roles.
Nakajima I can really feel Sekisui House’s preparedness in the company’s having started the promotion of active participation of women by proactively recruiting women to sales positions. Sales administration produces clear results, but it also has a difficult side. With many companies increasing the number of female managers in other job types, Sekisui House’s unwavering commitment to continue promoting women’s participation in sales is truly wonderful.
Yamada Thank you. Director Yoshimaru, it’s been three and a half years since you took your post: in the time that you’ve been here, have you noticed any changes?
Yoshimaru At the time, I was the only woman on the Board, so I think that the very fact that we are able to hold a symposium like this is a big change from the perspective of reinforcing corporate governance. I think that the continuous promotion of diversity, while setting down to reforming the Board of Directors as early as possible, has become a major strength of this company.
Yamada You’ve also been involved in the “Sekisui House Women’s College” Training for Female Managerial Candidates (hereinafter “Sekisui House Women’s College”), haven’t you?
Yoshimaru Yes, I’ve been taking part for four years now, but it never ceases to impress. They’re all candidates for management positions, so they are extremely talented and forward-looking: they really have the makings of true leaders. One of the tasks facing us going forward is to figure out how we can increase the number of those potential leaders who become Senior Managers or officers of the company.
We Need to Clarify the Significance and Merits of Promoting Diversity
Yamada You all have an abundance of experience and prior achievements in the area of diversity. If you don’t mind, could you tell us a bit about what you think of Japan’s diversity promotion and ESG management?
Nakajima I’ve been working for foreign companies for most of my career. Compared to Japanese companies, these were environments that were relatively facilitating regarding the advancement of women, but even now there are continuing diversity problems in a range of areas, including gender, race, nationality, and so on. By using these various problems and concerns as a springboard while being involved in management and personnel training, I have been able to make D&I my life’s work. I’m glad to have been able to do this.
Takegawa The UN takes the lead in devising policies to address a variety of social issues, not just promoting the active participation of women, and Japan makes moves to catch up with it. ESG management, which has recently been garnering attention, is one such case. Starting around the turn of the millennium, a worldwide movement emerged to promote the idea of for-profit companies playing their part in tackling the problems that we face on a global scale, such as human rights and the environment. I really feel that in these past few years, Japanese companies have changed dramatically.
Nakajima My impression is that the majority of Japanese companies finally start moving toward numerical targets set by the national government. I think that we’ll see greater speed if, instead, efforts are made from a perspective that considers why D&I is necessary and what merits it has for companies. In this area it’s actually very important that the leader gives a clear statement and that this is put into effect, but not a few companies have failed to do this properly.
Yoshimaru Having served on the judging panel for the J-Win Diversity Awards for 13 years, I feel that while Japanese companies’ D&I has really set it, it has also become more polarized. The way things stand now is that powerful companies and companies with strong wills have been making progress, but the number of companies following in their footsteps has not been increasing substantially. I feel like the messages regarding why the government has set a target of 30% of managerial roles being filled by women, and just how necessary D&I is for companies, have been relatively weak in their presentation.
Takegawa Why the figure was set at 30% is actually based on the idea of critical mass. When trying to bring about some kind of change in a group of people, the critical proportion is considered to be roughly 30%. For that reason, it was deemed that there was a need to induce the ratio up to 30%, and so the government set this goal in 2003. At the UN, this number was set back in 1990 as a goal that needed to be reached by 1995.
Nakajima When women first enter into a workplace that had previously been dominated by men, it goes without saying that unless there is a certain number of them, such women will not be able to wield substantial influence. This doesn’t mean that we need women who “work as hard as men” but rather that the presence of multiple women will naturally result in them having influence. I think the major keyword here is “plural,” isn’t it?
Progressive Initiatives to Drive Diversity Promotion
Yamada One of the pillars of the group’s policy for promoting diversity is “promoting the active participation of female employees.” How are our current initiatives and level of advancement being viewed?
Takegawa I think that it is very progressive that we promote diversity by thinking about what leads to happiness based on our global vision of making home the happiest place in the world. For example, Sekisui House didn’t just introduce a system of paternity leave but carefully analyzed just how men doing housework and raising their children can improve a family’s level of satisfaction and how it leads to promoting the active participation of women. That’s why the message is so convincing, isn’t it?
Yoshimaru I think it’s really good that the “S” in “ESG management” is very clearly positioned and that it is designated as an initiative to be jointly promoted by the company and its employees.
Yamada You’re referring to how important it is to know how to make people understand the significance and goal of each and every initiative, aren’t you. I feel like the awareness that diversity promotion is a good thing for oneself, the company, and society has been gradually spreading.
Yoshimaru Since 2018, President Nakai has been presenting “Innovation & Communication,” as a key phrase for workplace creation. Diversity is really the wellspring for that, and for a company to achieve sustainable growth it is critical to have “Innovation & Communication.” For this reason, too, I wonder if it might be a good idea to further clarify the direction that pushes for promotion of the active participation of women.
Nakajima Seen from a management perspective, if a company does not have an inherent value in its continued existence, and it doesn’t provide goods or services that people need, that company will die. So: what kind of company will not die? The answer is a company that is ever-changing, creating needs before people decide they want something, and commercializing and providing for these needs. If you’re content with how things are now, nothing will change, and innovation will not be born. In order to put out good products, good marketing methods, and good services, diversity promotion, with the active participation of women at its core, is absolutely essential.
Takegawa There’s also the background that, in high-growth eras, improvement ideas were introduced in droves from a range of different workplaces, and while changing and growing amid those circumstances the Japanese manufacturing industry got stronger. By utilizing the high empathy of women to detect the true feelings and interests of customers from the slightest details such as facial expression and tone of voice, new ideas and proposals will surely come of that, I think.
Yoshimaru For that to happen, supervisors also need to have management skills. For a sales company, people with excellent sales skills, whose sales performance was evaluated highly became supervisors. Cases like these were common in the past. At the Sekisui House Group, I feel like particular emphasis has been placed on whether leaders can listen to their subordinates’ voices and whether they can manage and train them appropriately.
Nakajima There are a lot of companies in Japan that have been failing to do that, so this is really a point on which Sekisui House is ahead of the curve. That’s because those companies for which it has been made clear what kinds of skills a leader needs are the companies that will see D&I really set in going forward.
The Importance of Building Up Experience in the Field in Order to Promote Growth
Yamada In order to further promote diversity in the Sekisui House Group, what will be needed, and what kinds of challenges do we face?
Nakajima I think that there are a lot of things that people inside the company see as normal but when viewed from outside are really amazing. In order to establish a position as a leading company in ESG management, each and every employee should have more confidence, and the company should communicate its initiatives and way of thinking clearly. By increasing the company’s communication power, it can be anticipated that more and more excellent human resources will come knocking.
Yoshimaru There are many companies in Japan that hire people right out of college, all starting on the same day in the April after graduation, and provide lifetime employment thereafter. With this state of affairs, even promoting diversity internally does not necessarily mean that a company can have sufficient business competitiveness in the global market. In order for the Sekisui House Group to realize its global vision, one management strategy that could be employed is to deliberately, during the hiring phase, increase the number of personnel with different attributes.
Takegawa Creating workplaces that are even more comfortable and pleasant than now is also important. You should aim for a workplace that allows anyone, regardless of age, gender, level of experience, and so on, to actively present their ideas.
Nakajima Just how far can the company support each individual employee’s personal vision of what constitutes happiness, I wonder? Childcare, nursing care, and relocation are all serious issues in promoting women’s active participation in the workplace. It would be difficult to put in place each of these systems all at once, but I hope to have an environment where conversations are had in the workplace regarding what is necessary right now and what should be done.
Takegawa It’s also critical to increase overseas dispatch personnel. Even if it’s impossible now, some women say they will be able to go anywhere once their children go off to college. The peak where one can work hard differs from person to person. By thinking more flexibly, I think we can prevent instances of forcing people to accept difficult transfers or excessive long-term assignments for one person.
Yoshimaru With regard to raising up people to be candidates for senior management, if we can clarify what experience is necessary for what position, I think that more and more people, regardless of age or gender, will be active overseas.
Nakajima There’s also the impact of people’s unconscious biases that tell them “I can’t rely on someone this young to do a job like this.” If we can throw out that kind of thinking, the possibilities will surely expand further. Moreover, employees must also clearly convey their own wills to those above them. It is important not to think “Eh, I’m sure my supervisor can tell how I feel,” but rather to engage in clear and specific communication.
Takegawa Consideration for how the number of female executives can be increased, and measures toward that end, are also required.
Yoshimaru Women’s College and other such initiatives are currently laying the groundwork for that, but we also have to be thinking about the next step.
Nakajima In my experience, if one relies on systems without cultivating people in actual work conditions, they won’t truly take on board the viewpoints and ways of thinking needed for management.
Takegawa Yes, precisely! Asking those who have already become executives, they often say things like “I’ve been tasked with big jobs unlike anything I experienced before” and “I feel like I’ve been thrown out into the wilderness with no role model to follow.”
Yoshimaru Yes, it’s really important to experience things for oneself. What’s truly valuable in such a situation is keeping a safety net tightly laid out.
Nakajima Simply leaving someone to do a job will just leave them with a sense of isolation. You really have to clearly convey the messages of “I’m trusting you with this because I know I can rely on you” and “It’s okay if you fail, so please just try your best.” In such a situation, the people around the person must support her so that she can acquire the ability while thinking for herself.
Takegawa I hope our experiences will also be a useful point of reference for them.
Nakajima For me, being able to interact with Sekisui House as an Outside Director has a special significance for my own personal growth. Please make the most of our experience and know-how.
Yamada There are many people who want to talk directly with you and hear about your experiences and ideas. I really hope that we can create such opportunities going forward, so let’s all look forward to that.
