Mihoko Nishii × Yuichiro Kojima × Shusaku Hirota: Work Techniques for Turning Complexes into Strength

This project commemorates the release of Shusaku Hirota's book SHARED VISION, featuring interviews with individuals who have pioneered various "half-step forward" approaches to work.

As a special edition, a talk show featuring three individuals was held at the B&B bookstore in Shimokitazawa. Joining us were Yuichiro Kojima and Mihoko Nishii from Dentsu Inc. Youth Research Department, who are scheduled to publish 'Why Do You All Start Talking About the Same Things When It Comes to Job Hunting?' by Senden Kaigi in December. The three, who share the common theme of "complexes," engage in a candid conversation.

The True Nature of Complexes

Nishii: Our theme this time is "inferiority" and "complexes." I wonder if complexes might actually be key when finding your own way of working.

Hirota: The advertising industry itself is constantly competitive, symbolized by the competitive pitches. Plus, the creative world has "awards." That's probably why it's an industry where complexes are easily born.

Kojima: The reason I wrote the book 'Trying Job Hunting Using Advertising Methods' in 2012 was because I had complexes. There were peers who were incredibly successful, and one of them was the first among our cohort to publish a book. That sparked feelings of envy. But at the time, I was in sales and didn't have the kind of name recognition that would get me noticed by publishers. So, I sent my proposal to several publishers, and one of the companies that responded was Sendenkaigi.

Hirota: Mr. Nishii, you published a book in your second year at the company and were probably the envy of those around you. Yet, even someone like you has insecurities, right?

Nishii: My insecurities don't stem so much from envy of others or feelings of inferiority when comparing myself to people. I think they come more from the frustration of the gap between how I want to be and the reality that I can't bridge.

Kojima: Ms. Nishii, yours is the only one that's a different kind of complex.

Turning Point: Turning Insecurities into Strength

Nishii: Each of us has our own complexes. In your work experiences involving complexes, was there an event that made you think, "This is what changed my mindset"?

Hirota: I joined the company wanting to be a CM planner, but ended up doing big data analysis work. I was feeling frustrated when I encountered Twitter, and that became the catalyst for my mindset shift. Around 2010, I started thinking Twitter could be used for marketing. I went around explaining to various people in the company, "The era of social media is coming!"... but I couldn't get them to understand. In the end, my nickname became "Tweet." Ultimately, social media did become utilized in marketing, leading to my work as a communication designer. I think the frustration I felt back then was the catalyst.

Kojima: In my case, I worked on the sales promotion frontlines as a promotions manager for a distribution company. Mass advertising strategies, starting with TV commercials, were set upstream, and in-store promotions were executed in coordination with those strategies. Working within a framework where the broad plan was already decided became a source of insecurity for me. However, in reality, it's quite difficult to move people solely through strategy and mass advertising. I believe the work at the very front of sales, dealing with "how to ultimately move people," is incredibly important. This connects to my current proposal within the company for a new role called "Activation Planner."

A unit capable of violating airspace

Hirota: It's somewhat inevitable, not just at ad agencies but at large corporations in general, due to the high degree of specialization. I struggle with this daily too. I've changed my job title hoping to create a way of working where I can move freely across departments, from planning to execution. I just want to be involved in various things.

Nishii: Cultivating someone like Hirota-san who can oversee everything is one direction. But I think what suits the times ahead is a group—a small unit—of people who understand the whole picture while also being able to encroach on other specialized fields. Not just a group of planners, but people who can oversee and direct projects, art directors, creative directors, etc., working together as professionals. I believe this also benefits the client. I feel it's crucial to have a system where you can commission a "unit" rather than just "people."

Hirota: It's like team building in a role-playing game. Gathering diverse characters from the start seems like it would create an interesting unit. If you only gather "heroes," it's hard to form a functional team.

Kojima: So for you, Hirota-san, is the "Hero" the Creative Director?

Hirota: This is just my personal image, but the hero is sales. While there are various roles, ultimately it's someone with courage—the courage to make decisions and dive into tough situations. If anything, the creative director is more like a wizard. When brute force just won't cut it, sometimes a bit of magic can solve things instantly.

Nishii: I don't think marketers should only do marketing, or promoters only do promotion. While specialization exists, it's necessary to encroach on each other's territory in a positive way. I feel like we're doing that, rooted in our own insecurities.

Kojima: Conversely, if that drive disappears, so does the willingness to cross boundaries. Worse still, people start saying, "Don't invade my territory."

The Moment It Transforms into Positive Momentum

Nishii: Have you ever experienced a moment when something you previously felt insecure about shifted into a positive feeling?

Hirota: For me, it was when someone finally recognized that my data was incredibly useful, even though I'd always been seen as just the guy who could do data analysis.

I divided my work into "compulsory routines" and "free routines." After thoroughly completing the compulsory routines expected of me as a researcher, I filled the free routine part with my own ideas and proactively made proposals. I also read 2-3 marketing books a week and compiled a 100-page "Hirota Method Collection" summarizing key points. Creating that made me capable of answering almost any question. When clients started calling me "Hirota-san" instead of "Dentsu Inc.-san," I felt my efforts had paid off.

Kojima: In my case, it goes way back before I even entered the workforce. I lived in Malaysia from fourth grade through eighth grade, and when I returned to Japan, I struggled to fit in as the "new kid from abroad." I tried so hard to blend in, consciously striving to be "normal." Then, six months after returning, during a parent-teacher conference, my teacher said, "Kojima-kun is such a normal kid, it's almost commendable." That was exactly the strategy I'd aimed for, but it also felt like he was saying, "Kojima is a super boring person." It became a lifelong complex. So I tried joining a band, or saying I wanted to go to art school, aiming to be different, to step outside the ordinary. But ultimately, that part just wasn't in me, so it didn't work out. During job hunting, someone told me, "In advertising, being ordinary is actually valuable." That was the turning point – I thought, "It's okay, this is fine."

Now, I work in a job that requires generating lots of ideas. I understand what "normal" is, or rather, where the "center" lies. Starting from that point, I gradually build out ideas to mass-produce them. I don't come up with wildly out-there ideas right away, but because I know the center, I can generate many ideas. Then, I combine the ideas I've exhausted with others' ideas to create a creative leap. That's how I've positively transformed my work. How about you, Nishii-san?

Nishii: I transferred schools a lot—five times in elementary school. Each time meant presenting myself, and after failing in second grade, I became uncomfortable in front of people. Even now, I often hear I make a bad first impression.

In high school, I was a gal, but when people saw me as a gal, they looked down on me. In my third year, I decided to aim for university entrance exams. I dyed my hair black, studied intensely, and when my test scores improved, the teachers' attitudes toward me changed completely. That's when I realized that changing my appearance could change people's attitudes—that the effort I put in, the changes I made, directly influenced the reactions I got.

Kojima: So your gal phase was when you realized you could use a bad impression to create a good one.

As for a turning point, maybe it's reaching a point where you can say, "I have this complex." Recently, in a conversation with Yamada Zooni, she also emphasized how important it is to speak up. She said that once you admit, "I have this complex," you feel compelled to take action to overcome it. That made me think putting it into words is definitely one approach.

Hirota: Since no one is completely free of insecurities, speaking up can also build connections through shared understanding.

How to Find Your Insecurities

Nishii: Do you think there's a way to find the complexes within yourself, or a sense for discovering them?

Kojima: A creator named Sotaro Hoshii, who co-authored my upcoming book 'Why Do You All Start Talking About the Same Things When It Comes to Job Hunting?', said, "Insecurities are a bundle of talent." Feeling insecure is what drives us to grow. I think identifying the parts of yourself you dislike or the things you can't do leads to discovering your insecurities and, ultimately, your talents.

In that sense, Hirota-san, what are some things you feel you're not good at?

Hirota: It's not quite the same as "can't do," but lately I've been thinking about the "35-year-old problem." It's an idea I picked up from the philosopher Higashino Hiroki: 35 is life's midpoint, where the amount of regret about not becoming what you hoped you would be overtakes the amount of hope for the future.

Many protagonists in Haruki Murakami's novels are around this age. They face something like a "midlife crisis" – traveling to parallel worlds, weeping by the poolside – and that drives the story forward. I've published books and my work opportunities have expanded, but I can't formulate a plan for the next decade. I'm struggling a bit, unable to find a way to motivate myself for the more immediate future, say the next five years.

It feels like the model of fueling myself solely with my insecurities has reached its limit. Even when I stoke the fire with that fuel, it doesn't burn as fiercely as before. Of course, I still need to keep pushing myself.

Kojima: So you're saying the approach of turning your insecurities into strength only works until around age 35?

Hirota: That's the theory, right?

Nishii: If that's the case, then for now, I guess I just have to burn through whatever complexes I have left as fuel.

How to deal with envy toward peers in different industries

Nishii: Since we're here, shall we take questions from the audience? We'll answer them while weaving in our future ambitions.

Questioner A: I feel inferior to peers working at other companies. Do you all experience that kind of awareness?

Kojima: That's exactly why I started an internal venture. I went to a drinking party with peers running startups, got bombarded with web jargon and knowledge, and thought, "Oh crap." It felt like they were way ahead. I faced a choice: switch jobs or start an internal venture. I chose the latter. Now, in my eighth year at the company, I realize that debates about startup culture versus corporate culture can also be angles that trigger that inferiority complex.

Hirota: There are plenty of people within the company who have a venture spirit. The problem might be that the organization is large and hasn't fully shaped that potential. However, the pace of change has accelerated recently, and many interesting projects are starting to emerge.

Nishii: Large corporations might face the issue of having fewer people with an entrepreneurial spirit. When you're part of a big company, it's hard to muster the desire to take personal risks and start something new.

Hirota: From my perspective as someone who changed jobs, I see that company cultures are completely different. You can see the differences in where each place takes pride. In that sense, I'm glad I changed jobs because it made me realize these things.

As for my ambitions or hopes for the future, when I wanted to make documentaries during my NHK days, my mentor at the time told me, along with a quote from philosopher Simone Weil, that "expression exists to encourage people." Honestly, that sentiment still resonates with me today. At Dentsu Inc. now, I want to work on projects that encourage people who are struggling or troubled, even just a little.

Kojima: I mentioned feeling insecure about my creativity, but at the same time, I deeply respect creative people. When I see someone who excels in a field I admire, I work with the hope that they receive proper recognition for their talent. I don't want a world where everyone smooths their edges to become round. Instead, I want a world where people with different, sharp points come together to form a whole. I believe that overcoming insecurities early and pursuing what each person truly wants to do and finds joy in is absolutely valuable. I want to help create a society where people can strive in that direction.

Nishii: I believe the current education system has problems. The turning point where you realize your path should come as early as possible, but I feel that age is getting later and later. This leads to actions like "just go to university" or "just join a club," driving up university enrollment rates. Club membership rates, which were below 60% ten years ago, are now around 70%. I question the creation of this "just do it" environment.

This mindset arises because two types of "creative power" – creativity and imagination – are declining. I want to challenge myself in private education that can enhance these abilities, and I'm actively working to reduce jobs that don't connect to that goal. In the "Future Creation Group," the department I belong to outside of Gal Lab and Wakamon, we evaluate results based on whether they "connect to the future." Work is judged not just on profitability, but on whether it helped create the future. I believe the future is shaped by young people, so I work hoping that through the departments and projects I'm involved in now, I can lay the groundwork for the creativity and imagination of the younger generation.

Kojima: I've been lecturing on these ideas at Toyo University in a class called "Connecting Yourself and Society." I've compiled that content into a book titled Why Do You All Start Talking About the Same Things When It Comes to Job Hunting? It's coming out soon, so please consider buying it. I ended up doing a bit of a forced plug there (laughs). Thank you very much for today.

For the full interview, head over to AdTie!