Saeko Goto: Appointed President of Hagoromo Foods

Thank you very much. I feel truly humbled by the weight of this responsibility.

Rather than just familiar, it felt inseparable from myself. For example, I have memories of being a young child wearing a happi coat, riding on a float made by the company at a local festival, carried by the employees. Also, songs I thought were nursery rhymes at home turned out to be the company song (laughs).

When I was young, the company tried to build a factory in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and some local residents were opposed to it. When I went to peek at the situation with my father in our private car on weekends, I saw a banner that said "We will not buy Sea Chicken" in red letters. Even as a child, it pained my heart deeply.

I felt so frustrated that I said, "We should just tell them 'We won't sell you Sea Chicken!'" but my father admonished me, saying, "That's out of the question. Someone from the company must never say words like 'we won't sell it' to anyone." Of course, we have a good relationship with the local community now.

I attended an affiliated school of another university and could have gone straight to that women's university, so my parents recommended it. However, because my father and uncle were Keio University alumni, I loved Keio and desperately wanted to go there. There was no guarantee I would pass, but I took the risk.

It would be cool if I could say that, but I applied to four different faculties at Keio and fortunately passed the entrance exam for the Faculty of Economics. Actually, since I spent six years of my adolescence at an all-girls junior high and high school, I had a kind of fear of men. I had never really spoken to a man before.

Once I actually entered, women were an overwhelming minority—about 10% of the class in the Faculty of Economics—but my pre-enrollment worries were unnecessary. It was fun, I didn't find it difficult to talk to boys, and we could study and eat together normally. I think the Faculty of Economics opened a door for me in the sense that I no longer felt out of place being a minority among men.

I was in the seminar of Professor Shuhei Shiozawa, who taught finance and microeconomics. I am truly grateful to Professor Shiozawa for reaching out and helping me at turning points in my life, such as studying abroad, even after graduation.

Not at all (laughs). I had a very enjoyable time. I attended classes reasonably often, but I mostly enjoyed practicing with the tennis and ski clubs and spending time with everyone. In the winter, I would stay in the snowy mountains for about 60 days, feeling like I was always in places like Nagano.

Also, during summer vacations, I fully enjoyed student life by going to language schools in the US, Belgium, and Italy.

Until then, I hadn't felt a difference between men and women, but for the first time in my life, I felt a gender wall during my job search. There were many instances where a company would call the boys in my seminar but not the girls.

In that environment, the reason I decided to start my career at Ajinomoto was a conversation with Mitsuko Watanabe, a senior from the Juku who was a TV producer at the time, introduced by my mother. She told me, "If you work at Hagoromo Foods in the future, the way employees accept you and your actual ability will be completely different if you say 'I spent several years building a career at Ajinomoto' versus 'I was doing bridal training before coming to Hagoromo Foods.'" I didn't understand the meaning of working in society or how people in society would view me, so I am grateful to Ms. Watanabe for her appropriate advice.

After training, I was immediately assigned to the Osaka branch and did sales for commercial-use food products. My colleagues were all wonderful people, and both the work environment and the content were enjoyable.

However, on the other hand, considering that I might get married or have children by around age 30, I thought the time I could use for myself would be until about age 27 or 28. I wanted to study abroad, so I thought I had to prepare for that as well.

Yes. At Stanford, I learned multifaceted ways of looking at companies. For example, I learned through case studies how Toyota or GM look from the perspectives of finance, operations, and human resource strategy.

I was also exposed to the rational way of thinking of Americans. In Japan, there is a sense of security in following precedents and continuing what has been done for many years, but America is very dynamic, and "morning orders being revised by evening" happens frequently. If they think they've failed, they easily revert. I was also able to see firsthand in Silicon Valley how capital is supplied to companies that can expect growth even if they are currently in the red, and how industries grow.

At McKinsey, I worked day and night, but after getting married and having two daughters, my life changed drastically.

Since I am naturally the type to go straight for a goal, I put my all into child-rearing. Due to my husband's work, we moved to Kobe, and since we lived without either set of parents nearby, I have nothing but funny stories of failures. Even after returning to work, it was truly difficult.

I don't know if it's okay to put it this way, but before I started working, Ms. Watanabe, whom I mentioned earlier, taught me, "Even if you struggle with balance as a woman, the important thing is not to quit your job." Also, an article I read somewhere said, "Don't aim for 100 points; 60 points for childcare and 60 points for work is fine. If you add them up, it's 120 points," and I began to think that way too. Even if I have many flaws as a mother and everyone at the company thinks I'm lacking, I've spent about 15 years trying not to let that beat me, telling myself, "I'm doing both, so I'm 120 points," and acknowledging myself so I wouldn't break down.

Now that I've become president and am in a position of even greater responsibility, I want to aim for 120 points in work alone, but since I'm not running the company by myself, I want to aim for 140 points through everyone's teamwork.

Recently, SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are being talked about a lot, but I want to view them not as a trendy keyword, but as something more essential.

From the perspective of business continuity, in our case, how to continuously procure limited marine resources is extremely important. Until now, Sea Chicken used only three types of marine resources—albacore tuna, yellowfin tuna, and skipjack tuna—as raw materials, but from now on, I believe we must work while also using livestock products such as chicken.

Also, soy protein is currently attracting a lot of attention, especially in the US. Since there are concerns that the supply of beef and pork may become difficult in various ways, I want to consider using soy protein to deliver high-quality protein to consumers at an affordable price.

Originally, canned food is an eco-friendly product. It is distributed at room temperature and doesn't require any refrigeration equipment when displayed in supermarkets. Furthermore, recycling for aluminum and steel containers is established at over 90%. Therefore, it is very environmentally friendly.

Also, canned food has an aspect where it can contribute greatly to society during disasters. As emergency food, I want to think about the role canned food can play in Japan, a disaster-prone country, beyond just profit.

Canned or pouched blue-skinned fish are very healthy as they contain plenty of unsaturated fatty acids such as DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). Our company also develops low-carb pasta.

Recently, oil-free Sea Chicken has been well-received. Its calories are kept to about one-fourth of regular Sea Chicken in oil. No matter which of our products you eat, they are all products I can recommend with confidence for your health.

It's not just because I am a woman; I believe diversity, regardless of gender, is very important. This is also something I learned in America: when people with various values, such as nationality, race, and ways of thinking, share their wisdom, it has great power and leads to better results.

Within that, the first thing I want to work on at our company is the active promotion of women. Of course, we are constantly thinking about creating an environment where it's as easy as possible to continue working after returning from maternity or childcare leave. Based on my own experience, I want to start a system for taking paid leave in hourly increments this year.

Also, as something to work on going forward, I want to hold "women's gatherings" within the company. This is by no means intended to neglect men, but rather because it is necessary to reach out to those who are in the minority.

For me, the biggest event that made me glad to be born a woman was studying abroad at business school. America has the concept of affirmative action, and from the perspective of ensuring diversity, I was able to study at Stanford because I was Japanese, female, and had the background of a family business.

Therefore, while women are still a minority, I believe that women being active will lead to good results for men as well, and I want to hold things like off-site meetings to discuss shared concerns among women.

I want to do things like factory tours for the children of our employees. The employees I work with are all family in a broad sense. If those children can see how Sea Chicken is made and know that their fathers' and mothers' company makes things so useful to society, I think it will make it easier for them to work, and they can take pride in front of their children and society.

I also want to hold cooking practice training for employees. Our sales staff sell Sea Chicken and propose pasta salad menus every day, but I think there are many employees who rarely have the opportunity to actually cook using our own products.

I'd like to go there too and talk directly with the employees while interacting through cooking together.

I believe I have come this far because I was blessed with mentors and friends and given various opportunities for growth. I finally want to give back to society for that.

At Keio, I was treated to meals by so many seniors (laughs). In my life so far, I feel like I've received more than I've given and that things aren't balanced, so I feel I must repay this debt somewhere. In my case, I believe that means giving back through activities at Hagoromo Foods.

There are various social issues surrounding food today, such as the declining birthrate and aging population, the environment, disaster response, "solitary eating" by children eating alone, and child poverty. I hope to help solve even one of those issues through the company's activities.

To be honest, for a woman to be active in society, I sometimes think that rather than career choice, what kind of values the man she marries has is the most important thing. In my case, thankfully, my husband understands and supports me the most. And he is happy for my success in society as if it were his own. Also, my husband's parents support us to the fullest when the children catch a cold, for which I am very grateful.

At the same time, since life is finite, I think it's better to think carefully about how and on what to spend your limited time. As a human being, when am I the happiest?

Is it when I'm working, when I'm with my children, when I'm with my husband, or when I'm enjoying a hobby? By doing so, you will see the things you can't compromise on and the things you absolutely must do now. And I think it's better to do the things you want to do without procrastinating.