Inferiority complex is the driving force behind growth ── We asked a consultant with an unusual background about the mindset for three times faster growth
XICA's new solution, "XICA COMPASS(hereinafter referred to as "COMPASS"). Yusuke Nishikawa, deputy general manager of the business division, has been working hard to launch the solution.XICA MAGELLANCOMPASS has already been adopted by nearly 10 major clients as a new pillar on par with "Compass."
Nishikawa joined XICA in January 2024. Shortly after joining the company, he began to be involved in the launch of COMPASS and was also responsible for restructuring the organization to adapt to changes in the business.
Nishikawa had been working at Accenture to launch new businesses and provide strategic support to major companies, but after joining XICA, he has been diligently facing the mundane and tedious tasks that come his way. Where are his roots? And why did he decide to join XICA at this time? We asked Nishikawa about his career so far and his plans for the future.
Yusuke Nishikawa
Deputy General Manager of Business Division, XICA Corporation
After working at advertising and business companies, he joined IMJ Co., Ltd. in 2012. He served as a senior consultant and business manager in data-driven marketing support. He then transferred to Accenture Japan and worked as a senior manager. He has 11 years of consulting experience and 20 years of marketing experience, with his core areas being strategy planning and PDCA execution in the marketing/digital/CX fields. While providing hands-on support for new business development, business strategy, organizational change, etc. at multiple companies, he came to feel strongly that "businesses cannot grow without poor management and decision-making" and "I want to provide consulting that will help businesses grow beyond the surface." He then joined XICA in January 2024 with the aim of both growing his own business and updating his consulting. In July of the same year, he was appointed Deputy General Manager of the Business Division.
table of contents
Feelings of inferiority are a source of motivation
── When you were a student, was there anything you studied very diligently?
Nishikawa: I studied normally until I had to take the high school entrance exam, but as soon as I entered high school I thought, "Studying is pointless" (laughs). I stopped studying and became passionate about music. While studying music theory, I practiced the guitar for 10 hours every day, and even worked as a big band jazz concertmaster in college.
I was immersed in music until I was about 25 years old. Even after graduating from university, I worked at a music store and performed with a professional jazz guitarist. But when he told me, "You have to become a professional from tomorrow," I panicked and came to my senses (laughs).
── With music as your roots, you started your career selling musical instruments.
I did a lot of things, from purchasing products, planning events, to telephone sales. When I put POP advertisements on products as part of sales promotion, they sold even though they were unknown brands. I felt that "sales promotion is interesting!" and this may have been one of the triggers that led to my current work.
And then you went into advertising?
Yes. I worked in sales at a small advertising agency. I sold advertising space through cold calling and telemarketing, and was also involved in directing the production of printed materials.
Gradually, I became interested in the production side of advertising, and changed jobs to become a planner at an advertising production company with a staff of 100. I was in charge of a wide range of work, including design production, communication planning, and web design, and gained experience in client work, PM work, print media, and digital.
-- Your field is expanding little by little.
It wasn't something I did intentionally, like the so-called "connecting the dots" idea, but rather it's something that I've come to realize in retrospect that the dots connected.
I only played the guitar from the age of 14 to about 25, soA strong sense of urgency at being 10 years behind othershad.You can't keep up unless you grow three times as much and three times as fast as other people.But when I was at a loss as to what to do, I discovered a framework for my own growth.
I realized that I could grasp both music and work in the following structure: "break down into elements" → "understand the structure" → "reconstruct and reproduce" → "accumulate as material" → "output". I thought that if I could use this framework, which I am good at, to repeat the process from breaking down into elements to output, I could aim for rapid growth.
Turning feelings of inferiority into a source of motivationAfter gaining experience in sales promotion, advertising production, and planning, I wanted to be able to put together the entire marketing team.
No output for seven months - my first experience learning about the difficulties of starting a business
── From there you moved to IMJ.
I joined the company as a planner, but I was assigned to launch a new business immediately after joining. I was doing customer research, competitive research, and planning, and I was working hard every day.Seven months have passed and no real output has been produced. Is launching a new business really that difficult?I realized.
However, the moment someone from the parent company joined, the project suddenly started to move forward. After that experience, I wanted to learn about business properly. I was involved in that business for about two years, during which I learned how to set up and operate marketing, how to design KPIs, and how to run the PDCA cycle, and then I got an MBA.
At that time, smartphones appeared and the term digital marketing was born, which was a time of rapid expansion of marketing. There was a certain demand for digital marketing consulting, but marketing is essentially one of the means within a business or strategy. Digital marketing is just a part of that.
With an understanding of the structure,They are being divided into "people who can provide consulting based on business impact" and "people who can provide functional consulting for digital marketing."I felt.
── At that time, IMJ will become a subsidiary of Accenture.
Yes. Accenture's work was much broader than that of IMJ, and there were plenty of business and management level support jobs that I wanted to do at the time, and I was blessed with the opportunity to be involved in business strategy and organizational transformation work for major companies.
At the time, Accenture was good at drawing up strategies, but they had no choice but to outsource execution to other companies, and that was the background to their acquisition of IMJ. This was because IMJ had strengths in marketing and digital execution. In terms of human resources, there were few people who could handle both strategy and execution,I am in a position to connect the two and fill in the gaps.I thought.
── What specifically did you do to fill in the gaps?
I was setting a theme for the project.
For example, I was involved for about two and a half years in the launch of a DtoC business for a food company. The goal was to launch a new business. However, the client itself, as well as the original Accenture members, did not know how to execute and operate the business after formulating a strategy.
Therefore, the projects linked to the mid-term management plan were not limited to new business strategies and organizational design, but also involved the brand strategy, marketing design, post-launch operational design, PDCA cycle construction and growth-oriented operations, and external vendor direction, where I acted as the business lead throughout the project.Linking strategy and the field, and keeping operations running was incorporated into the projectHm.
── You are also involved in launching new solutions at XICA, and the launch of COMPASS seemed to be smooth as well.
Learned from past experiencesEliminating "points of failure"I think it's because I was conscious of that.
What are the “points of failure”?
The process leading up to the launch of a service is a series of small decisions.Make sure you make the right decisions regarding team structure, member involvement, and leadership.I was very conscious of that.
It's hard to move a big ship, but it's easier to move a small one, so start with a ship that's as small as possible. Place people who can take ownership of the project and get things done on their own as crew members, dividing up the tasks, and ask the president, who no one will object to, to be the final head. Then, while tolerating failure and making repeated improvements, gradually expand the circle of sharing and involvement, and gradually make the waves bigger. Once you've mapped out this course, decided on the necessary steps and timeline, all you have to do is follow it doggedly.
XICA: A small organization with a wealth of capabilities
── What made you decide to move from Accenture to XICA?
During the 11 years I spent at IMJ and Accenture, I provided various types of support, including new business launches, business strategies, organizational reforms, and marketing PDCA.Ultimately, I am not the person in charge of the business.Decision-making and management have to be left to the discretion of the client.If management is poor, the company will not be able to fully implement the strategy, and the company will not be able to commit to the strategy. Motivation will also be low, and the company will not be able to execute the strategy properly. As a result, the business will not grow..I witnessed such a situation.
Furthermore, as a consulting firm, regardless of the business or management, we must continue to present our clients with agendas that consciously develop into SI (System Integration) or BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) in order to increase the unit price of projects.
I wanted a place where I could properly focus on business, so I began to think about changing jobs to a business company.
── There are business companies of various sizes and in various phases, so why did you choose XICA?
Through my experience in launching new businesses,Phases 1 to 3 are when you can perform bestAlthough the vision and domain that XICA is aiming for are attractive, I felt that the company was in a business phase where there was still a lot of room for updates.
Furthermore, in large companies, strategy, operations, organizational building, and marketing are often divided into separate roles, but at a company of XICA's scale,I can comprehensively depict these elements to the extent that I can get a sense of them.That was also a key point.
── What is your impression since joining the company?
Until now, XICA has been a SaaS company focused on "visualizing advertising effectiveness," but this inevitably means that we are limited to providing parts.
So recently, we’ve been talking about ourselves."A company that supports data-driven decision-making"We are working to upgrade our solutions and organization to become a company that can update itself as a company that can improve its business. We use our data science assets to determine the next action. By going through this cycle, we encourage correct decision-making. We believe that we are a company that can ultimately improve the results of our clients and bring them joy.
The fact that they are trying to connect data science to business and provide value, and that they are doing this as a small organization.is also a strength.
── What are the advantages of being a small organization?
The speed at which the team starts driving is fastThat's right. At major consulting firms, each area has hundreds or thousands of members, so it takes time for the team to become one. On the other hand, at XICA, we already know each other's strengths, so we can get to work on projects right away.
-- On the other hand, are there any areas where you feel there are challenges?
To make better marketing decisions,It is necessary to understand the dynamics and business situation of the client organization and lead them in an appropriate manner.I think so.Combining data science and consulting to create business impactIt's a reinforcement of the part.
for that reason,Our ultimate goal is not to implement the marketing strategies of our clients, but to update the marketing organization itself, grow the business, and grow the members of XICA.That's right. I think that order amounts and retention rates are the result of achieving these goals.
"We want to update our marketing."We share the same sentiment, so we would like to use this sentiment to create a more integrated organization.
Career development for future marketers
── What do you think about developing your career as a marketer?
In the world of marketing, tactics and methods are constantly changing, but the basic logic of marketing itself remains largely unchanged.Understand what changes and what doesn't, and be able to solve problems on your ownI think it is necessary.
さ ら に,Can you explain the business impact based on an understanding of the surrounding businesses?This is also the deciding factor in whether or not you can become a marketer that is in demand.Excellent marketers will present strategies and implementation plans that take into account their client's business, organization, operations, and culture.
Simply understanding marketing communications, digital marketing, and analysis will only provide limited support and will not go far enough to solve the problems faced by brand managers, business managers, and CMOs who are in charge of the 4Ps of marketing.
This is not a matter of sense,The problem of mindset: "What am I solving right now?".Mindset x Experiential LearningIf you keep going through the PDCA cycle of growth, you should be able to reach that goal.
Growth means change
-- XICA is in the midst of development, but what kind of person do you think can thrive here?
People who can enjoy changeI think it 's.Growth means change.
I have my own thoughts about this, but as we get older, we tend to start to protect ourselves. We don't want to do useless things, or it's not something I should do... Rather than being on the defensive, we should think outside the box.Someone who can bridge the various "distortions" that arise during business growth and change with a high level of perspectiveshould be able to function.
Consulting is a people business, so it's important not to be disliked.Controlling the balance of communicationI think those who can do this will be more likely to gain the trust of their clients. Specifically, they need to be able to listen, empathize, and read the situation (the ability to grasp the situation). Logical thinking is of course necessary, but that alone won't work, so I think people who are flexible and can flexibly change the way they speak and what they say depending on the person and the situation will be able to thrive.
XICA is currently in its second founding period. In addition to the new solution "COMPASS," we are also revitalizing existing solutions, and this is the starting point for organizational change. With the increase in the number of employees over the past few years, for better or worse, we have been standardizing and optimizing parts of the company in order to win efficiently. However, recently,Working in a cross-departmental team to find the best solution from the customer's perspectiveis becoming more active.
Because we are currently undergoing major updates aimed at regrowing our business,"I want to start my own business" "I want to expand my organization"Of course it can be tough, but being a later-stage startup company means you can take on big challenges in a well-established work environment and work style.
I came to XICA because I thought that even though the career choice from general consulting to a startup may seem unstable at first glance, it would give me more valuable experience. I am doing exactly what I wanted to do, so I would be happy to work with people who feel the same excitement.
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