“Individuals Drive Companies, and Companies Change Society” (Part 1)

Game Changer Catapult x NOMLAB Talk Event Report

​Game Changer Catapult (hereinafter referred to as GCC), Panasonic's in-house accelerator, and Nomura Open Innovation LAB (hereinafter referred to as NOMLAB) are working to attract new customers under the theme of "digital innovation x place creation".
How do the two organizations working on the theme of innovation manage their teams, and how do the team members realize their intentions and thoughts?

We invited Mr. Masanori Fukada, CEO of GCC, and other developers to the office of NOMURA Co., Ltd., and held a talk event on the theme of "individuals drive companies, and companies change society."

Creating a team that realizes individual WILL

In the first half, Mr. Fukada and NOMLAB Director Jiro Takano (hereafter referred to as Takano) talked about how the organization is working to realize individual WILLs (intentions and thoughts) from their respective management standpoints.

NOMLAB was launched in September 2016. For about two and a half years, we have been presenting client work that hooks digital technology and prototypes that we have worked on in collaboration with external artists and technology companies.

Takano: One good thing about the establishment of the organization is that we have increased the number of human resources who are neither designers nor planners, who are in our company's occupation, and who will create new jobs for the future. I also think that it was good that job offers came to come in accordance with the personality and special skills of each individual.

The event was held at RESET SPACE (RE/SP), our internal communication space.

Communication with others is important

Takano: I think there are three points to "building a team to make the most of each individual's WILL."
The first is communication with the surroundings. Our team is not the only organization that can realize "individual WILL", and essentially all employees have what they want to create and what they want to achieve. So, while listening to individual WILLs and communicating with those around us, we try to create something together.

The second is consistency with the WILL of the organization. This is also an issue of communication, but since it is an organization, there is naturally a big organizational goal. It's difficult to resist and penetrate the will of an individual, so I'm going to find a match and take consistency.

The third is the basic, schedule and review. It's sometimes important to just give it a try, but it's also very important to be aware of the schedule and the PDCA cycle so that no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to complete it.

In-house accelerator to create the future Caden

Next, Mr. Masanori Fukada (hereafter referred to as Mr. Fukada), the representative of GCC, introduced GCC and talked about the points of "team building to make use of individual WILL".
As an accelerator for Panasonic, a giant company, GCC actively participates in domestic and international events such as SXSW (South by Southwest) and Slush Tokyo in order to accelerate the realization of ideas beyond the boundaries of companies and organizations. , and we are collaborating with various teams outside the company.

Mr. Fukada: What GCC wants to aim for is "creating the future Caden". For that reason, we are creating a place for co-creation with many people inside and outside the company and researching new ways of manufacturing. Ideas are solicited within the company, and when an idea is adopted, a team is formed to make a prototype and announce it to the world. We've been doing things like having society evaluate us, not within our company, and then creating new businesses out of that.

Starting a new business at a large company is effective in developing human resources, business, and corporate culture. By embarking on a new business, employees will come up with new ways of thinking and ideas. As a result, we will foster a corporate culture that takes on challenges in new fields.

GCC representative Masanori Fukada explaining about the team.

Align WILL through conversation

Mr. Fukada: Today's theme is "building a team that realizes individual WILL", but the ideal is to combine the WILL of society as a whole, the WILL of individuals, and the WILL of businesses. The WILL of an individual will gradually lead to the WILL of the business, which in turn will lead to the WILL of society as a whole and the solution of problems. We believe that if we can create a single big momentum by connecting WILL and WILL and have a big impact on society, customer needs will arise as a result.
To that end, we will focus on the question, "Why are you doing this?"

Our team also has a code of conduct called "Unlearn & Hack". Unlearn is about learning the skills you need now, rather than setting rules for existing ways of working and how to proceed with work, because the way you've been doing things up until now doesn't always work. Also, hacking does not mean breaking the rules, it is a guideline to realize ideas by creating rules yourself.

The role of large corporations is to help individuals realize what they want to do.

In the case of GCC, the members of the secretariat have full-time jobs, but all the team members who participate in the program and run are part-time workers. In recent years, working hours have been said to be strict due to work style reforms, but in order to realize individual WILL, it is good to work efficiently and take on new challenges in the free time. Designers try to do planning work, sales people try to commercialize it.

How do developers realize their own WILL in a team created with this kind of feeling?
In the second part, we will tell you about the talk session of the creative work of the developers.