円卓会議201Education for Future Leaders

  • Naoshi Takatsu
    Naoshi Takatsu

    Managing Partner, North East Asia, IMD business school

  • Etsuko Okajima
    Etsuko Okajima

    President & CEO, ProNova Inc.
    Professor, Graduate School of Management,
    Globis University


Women leaders can make a huge impact by mentoring young male managers

Education for Future Leaders photo

Etsuko Okajima, President and CEO of ProNova Inc., facilitated this session, introducing the three panelists who shared their words of wisdom on how to be a leader, and how to raise leaders.

Education for Future Leaders photo

Kumi Fujisawa, the Co-founder of Think Tank SophiaBank and a woman who challenges herself by seeing how many jobs she could possess in one lifetime, began the session with her list of the 5 important qualities leaders must have. Next up was Patricia Jaquet, a psychologist and Director of Admissions & Marketing at College du Leman Sarl, who shared her ideas how to educate children to prepare them for the future. Naoshi Takatsu, a representative of IMD business school in Switzerland, stressed the need for business leaders to be able to cross all sorts of boundaries in this increasingly globalized and digitized world.

Education for Future Leaders photo

Ms. Okajima asked the panelists to speak about their philosophy of leadership. Ms. Jaquet mentioned the importance of critical thinking, and spoke extensively about measures taken at her school to help students develop leadership skills, including teaching them to receive feedback. Mr. Takatsu encouraged the participants to broaden their sense of their own identities, and explained the value of diversity in ourselves and as well as the workplace.

Ms. Okajima asked the panelists about the importance of technological literacy today. Mr. Takatsu’s insight was that with technology evolving so rapidly, it was more important to grasp the trends and figure out how to navigate through it to accomplish your goals rather than to believe you can know everything. Ms. Fujisawa added statistics about the impact of AI on the labor market. Ms. Jaquet talked about the need to learn to manage change and to understand the added value of technology. Mr. Takatsu revealed the most important leadership trait in a world where we cannot possibly know all the answers.

Education for Future Leaders photo

Mr. Takatsu shared some of his school’s research on women leaders; most of today’s leadership qualities are, in fact, attributes associated with men in today’s society. Aware of the burdens that women face in the male-dominated corporate world and other societal stereotypes that sometimes hold them back, Mr. Takatsu offered advice on how to step up and take full advantage of the qualities they possess to rise to the top. He explained the differences between transactional and transformational leadership and why this is such good news for women in management roles.

In the Q&A portion, the panelists shared more advice: Mr. Takatsu explained one of the most important attributes a female leader must have and gave examples that clearly illustrated his point.

Education for Future Leaders photo

Ms. Okajima brought up an essential aspect of leadership in today’s world: the need for role models. The moral of the personal story that Ms. Jaquet shared about her daughter was “We must trust our kids and give them the opportunity to flourish in their strengths.” Ms. Fujisawa shared her belief, inspired by her father’s advice: “Education is the best heritage we can leave our children.”

Following up on his remark that it’s great for women to mentor other women, Mr. Takatsu said “Women leaders can make a huge impact by mentoring young male managers.”

After a lively Q&A, the appreciative audience applauded the panelists closing remarks.

イー・ウーマンピアからのレポート

リーダーになろう!と決意


小学生の2人の娘を育てているのと、自分が今年会社を設立したこともあり、こちらの円卓会議を選択しました。
リーダーに必要な要素は何なのか、登壇者皆さん自らの経験を合わせて語られ説得力のあることを教えていただきました。中でも高津さんのお話の中で「being flexible and being flexibility of yourself are difference. 」と語られたことがとても印象的でした。
藤沢さんのエピソードの中で、エリートチームと仕事をした時に「自分が何がしたいのか」を考え発表するということをしたときに、あるエリートの方が「今まで生きてきて自分が何をしたいかなんて考えたことがなかった」と。自分に問いかけながら進むことは私も続けたいし、子供達にも聞いていきたいと思います。
最後の質疑応答では、子供の教育についての相談があり、パトリシアさんが自分の娘さんが学校を転校した際のお話をし、「Believe your child」と力強い言葉をいただいたことに私も自分のことを重ね合わせてしまって胸を強く打たれました。
高津さんのお話は、学校で受ける授業のような内容ばかりで、とても濃密でした。自分の弱味になっている理由と向き合って、その理由となっているところに打ち勝って行く、ということを話されていたのですが、それを詳しく自分もやってみたいと興味がありました。表参道カレッジで実施してもらえたら、参加したいです。

もはよしえ