Connecting Different Ways of Knowing - Leadership Bridging Cultures

Hiroaki Kawabe (President and CEO, Nippon Computer Systems Co., Ltd.), Class of 2004

Culture is not defined only by nationality or language.

It also exists in the assumptions people bring to work: the assumptions of a Japanese headquarters and an overseas subsidiary; of the acquiring company and the company being acquired; of a Japanese organization that plans in three- and five-year horizons and an overseas business focused on annual results; of eldercare professionals and IT companies; and of moral commitment and economic sustainability.

Hiro’s career has unfolded across these different assumptions, values, and ways of knowing. Again and again, he has stood between them, connected them, and helped create new value.

After graduating from Hitotsubashi ICS in 2005, Hiro returned to Sompo Japan, where he first worked in human resources before becoming involved in the company’s overseas business development. In 2008, he was posted to Singapore, where he helped drive the expansion of Sompo Japan’s business in Asia. He later worked on project management and post-merger integration for a major domestic merger in Japan, and from 2015 was stationed in Brazil, where he led post-merger integration on behalf of the Japanese headquarters. Today, as President and CEO of Nippon Computer Systems Co., Ltd., a member of the SOMPO Holdings Group, he leads the company’s eldercare software business and works to address one of Japan’s most pressing social challenges.

We spoke with Hiro about how his experience at ICS has shaped his work in global business, post-merger integration, eldercare, and leadership as a company president. 

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Learning to Work Across Cultures 

Satoko
After graduating from ICS, what kind of career path did you take?

Hiro
After ICS, I returned to Sompo Japan’s human resources department. Then, in 2008, I became involved in launching and expanding the company’s overseas business.

At the time, Sompo Japan was still largely focused on the domestic market. To accelerate overseas growth, the company set up a holding company in Singapore and expanded its Asian business through M&A.

I supported that initiative in Singapore from October 2008 to March 2012.

Satoko
Did your experience at ICS become useful right away in that overseas business setting?

Hiro
Yes. At ICS, about one-third of our class was Japanese, and the rest came from overseas. Every day, we discussed issues with classmates who had different ways of thinking and different values.

So when I moved into overseas business, working across differences felt natural. The multicultural experience at ICS became useful almost immediately. 

Bridging Cultures in Post-Merger Integration

Satoko
You were later posted to Brazil as well.

Hiro
Yes. I was stationed in Brazil from January 2015 to March 2018. I worked closely with the Brazilian CEO on PMI (post-merger integration), representing the Japanese headquarters side.

In Brazil, I strongly felt the differences between Japanese and Brazilian ways of thinking. But we could not seek consultation to the headquarters every time. We had to make decisions locally and solve problems as a team.

Satoko
So it was a real setting for practicing management across cultures.

Hiro
Exactly. We had to move the business forward with people who had different cultures and values. The East and West perspective I learned at ICS gave me an important foundation for doing that.

In Brazil, we also had to communicate what it meant to be a Japanese company. There was respect for Japan and Japanese companies, but it was still not easy to help local colleagues understand how Japanese companies make decisions and conduct business.

Satoko
What kinds of differences did you see?

Hiro
Japanese companies tend to work backward from three- or five-year plans. Overseas, the focus is often more immediate: this year’s goals and the returns expected from achieving them.

Decision-making was also different. In Japan, stakeholders often gather, decide together, and then execute. Overseas, roles and responsibilities tend to be clearer, and people move forward within their own areas before bringing issues to management.

Those process differences were significant.

Satoko
So connecting those differences became one of the major themes of PMI.

Hiro
Yes. In manufacturing, it is easier to show a Japanese company’s strengths through visible things: products, factories, production technology, or continuous improvement on the shop floor.

Financial services are different. The strengths are harder to see. That is why words and actions mattered so much. We had to communicate what kind of company we were. Just as importantly, we had to bring out the strengths of local colleagues who understood our approach and were willing to move forward with us.

Creating New Knowledge from Different Ways of Knowing

Satoko
Among the things you learned at ICS, what was especially useful?

Hiro
Organizational Behavior was useful right away. It helped me understand why people act the way they do in organizations: what motivates them, how they make decisions, and how they respond to others.

That perspective became very practical when I was managing teams across cultures.

By contrast, some of what I learned from Professor Hirotaka Takeuchi and Professor Ikujiro Nonaka began to make sense only later. In particular, Professor Nonaka’s ideas of ba and the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge became real to me in Brazil.

PMI was not about imposing the Japanese way of doing things. It was about bringing together the local knowledge of the Brazilian team and the experience of the Japanese side. By combining those different forms of knowledge, we began to create new processes.

Satoko
So you came to experience knowledge creation theory in the actual field of PMI.

Hiro
Yes. I did not fully understand it right after graduation. But as my responsibilities grew over the years, I began to realize what we had been learning.

You cannot fully understand knowledge creation just by studying it as a concept. Its meaning becomes real when you work with people who think differently, bring their knowledge together, and create something new.

The Weight of a President's Words and Actions 

Satoko
You are now President and CEO. What do you see differently in your role as president?

Hiro
The first thing is the weight of the president’s words.

If I say, “Let’s go right,” everyone turns right. Even if I only say, “Maybe left,” the organization reacts. The president’s words carry that much weight.

But people are not only listening to your words. They are also watching your behavior. If the president hesitates or wavers, the organization senses it. That is why what the president sees, thinks, and asks becomes so important.

Satoko
As president, how do you approach decision-making?

Hiro
In internal decision-making, the people in the room usually know the company very well. That is a strength. But it also means that everyone may share the same assumptions. What feels obvious inside the company may not look obvious to customers or to society.

That is why I think the president has to bring in a different perspective. I try to ask questions such as, “Is that really true?” “How would our customers see this?” and “How would this look from outside the company?”

Bringing that outside perspective into the discussion is an important role of the president.

Satoko
How do you maintain that outside perspective?

Hiro
I try to spend more time talking with people outside the company.

As president, you are surrounded by people who understand your position and your company’s situation. That is something to be grateful for, but it can also make your perspective turn inward.

Outside the company, I am simply one person. If I want to learn from people with far more experience, I also need to make the dialogue meaningful for them. Those conversations help me step back from my own thinking and see my company’s assumptions more clearly.

Satoko
Did your experience at ICS help you develop the ability to work with people who see the world differently?

Hiro
Yes. ICS brought together people with very different backgrounds, expertise, positions, and ways of seeing the world. Discussing issues with people like that is an experience that is hard to find elsewhere.

It was an intense year. We worked through classes and cases every day, and I probably spent more time with my classmates than with my own family.

Learning to work with people who saw the world differently, while still building something together, became an important foundation for my later work overseas and in management. 

Balancing Purpose and Sustainability in Eldercare

Satoko
Today, you are involved in IT solutions for eldercare providers. What makes this field challenging from a management perspective?

Hiro
What I have strongly felt since entering the eldercare field is that it is built on both purpose and economics.

Care workers want to support older adults. That moral commitment is at the heart of the work. At the same time, eldercare is also a business. Without profit, the service cannot be sustained.

For example, giving very attentive care to one specific person may be wonderful for that individual. But if too much time and staffing are concentrated on one person, others may receive less care, and the overall service may become unsustainable.

The question is how to value each person while continuing to serve everyone who needs care. In eldercare, that balance is extremely important.

Satoko
So this is a field where the balance between morality and economics is directly tested.

Hiro
Yes. Profit alone is not enough. But good intentions alone cannot sustain a business either.

That is why we need to respect the purpose at the heart of care while also making the business sustainable. Our role is to help eldercare providers achieve both through technology.

The Meaning of an MBA in the Age of AI

Satoko
In the age of AI, do you think an MBA will continue to have value?

Hiro
Yes, I believe it will.

Even in the IT world, it is no longer enough to understand technology itself. We need to understand the client’s business strategy, processes, and operations, and then identify the IT solution that is truly needed.

AI may help with implementation. But deciding what should be implemented requires the ability to see management as a whole.

That is why an MBA still has value. It gives you the opportunity to study management from multiple perspectives.

Satoko
If knowledge can now be learned online, where do you see the real value of an MBA?

Hiro
I think the value lies in the ba, the shared space for learning.

An MBA is not just about absorbing knowledge. Even when people discuss the same case and the same question, they notice different things. Each person brings different experiences and values into the discussion.

Through that process, you become aware of assumptions you could not see on your own. Your thinking is challenged, and your perspective begins to change.

You can certainly have a dialogue with AI. But a real-time discussion with people whose experiences differ from your own is something else. That is where I see the value of the MBA.

Build Your Foundation Through Different Perspectives

Satoko
Finally, could you share a message for current and prospective ICS students?

Hiro
ICS is a learning opportunity unlike any other.

An MBA can be extremely busy. In our time, we were constantly working through classes and assignments. It was demanding, but that intensity is part of what makes the experience meaningful.

At ICS, you bring your own experience into the classroom and discuss real issues with people from many different backgrounds. Through those discussions, you encounter new ways of thinking and build a foundation for your next stage of growth.

Looking back, I can say that this experience becomes extremely valuable for the next ten or twenty years of your career.

Satoko
Thank you very much for your time today. It was inspiring to hear how your ICS learning has continued to live in your work: in global business, in PMI, and now in the field of eldercare.

I was especially struck by the way you have kept connecting different people, values, and forms of knowledge across each stage of your career. I look forward to seeing how you continue to create new value in this important field.

From launching an overseas business in Singapore to leading PMI in Brazil and managing a business in eldercare, Hiro’s career may seem to move across very different fields.

Yet a consistent theme runs through it: standing between different cultures and values, bringing out knowledge that is not always visible, and creating new understanding within the organization.

His story shows how learning at ICS continues to live in practice. It is not only about acquiring knowledge. It is also about facing different perspectives, challenging one’s own assumptions, and creating new knowledge together.

ICS seeks to develop leaders who can enter situations without easy answers, connect different forms of knowledge, shape the ba, and create new value.