Giving shape to the voices of the field. A company built with colleagues where each individual plays a leading role -- A

[mdabuhasan]

The TYO Group is a creative agency that produces advertisements under the umbrella of AOI TYO Holdings, a company listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. TYO Digital Works , in particular , is the company's web division, which continues to grow. The company handles all aspects of the production work required for digital communication. It provides a one-stop service, from upstream processes such as planning and brand design to the final output process, as well as ongoing operation after the service is released.

In addition, the company has been working on work style reforms from an early stage, and one of its features is that it has a very fulfilling work environment. Through potential hiring and nurturing creators, communication between employees is lively, and the atmosphere is friendly and open. We spoke to CEO Bito about the background to the company's culture and the appeal of working at the company.

Profile Introduction


Hirofumi Bito,
CEO of TYO Digital Works, Inc.

After graduating from a design college, he worked as a designer at an editorial production company before joining omdr Inc. (formerly Misawa Osamu Design Office) in 1996, where he worked on branding-related designs. He then moved to COM Inc., where he worked on graphic design until then, but shifted to web design. He then became AD and head of the design department, and also became involved in administrative tasks. In 2016, the company was established through a merger with TYO's ID (Interactive Design) division, and he became its representative director.

Building our own company with a bottom-up management style

-- Mr. Bito, you were active as a true creator, but could you tell us how industry email list you ended up shifting to the management side?

Bito: Since graduating from a design school, I have built my career around design. I started with graphics, then shifted to the web during the time of COM, the predecessor of TYO Digital Works. Until then, I had been uncomfortable with the difference between the texture created on the monitor and the finished product, but with the web, you can create it as is. Of course, you can also create three-dimensional movement. I enjoyed the lack of blur and the wide range of things you can do, so I started working on web design.

I didn't volunteer to be the president of the company, but rather it was just a natural progression for me to take on the role. When the previous president retired, I initially accepted the role out of a sense of responsibility to support the remaining members. Eventually, this sense of responsibility turned to a parental feeling for the new members, and I began to want to make the company a better organization. However, I am not a "charismatic president," so I take a bottom-up management style, building the company together with my "comrades," the employees.

I remember how I felt when the voices of management and the field diverged during my time as a creator, so I always make sure to listen to the opinions coming from the field. In a bottom-up approach, the more colleagues with good ideas there are, the greater the company's capabilities and possibilities will be. I believe that this style, where employees can also speak up, will help the company grow even further.

-- Are there any specific policies or examples that represent a bottom-up management style?

Bito: One is the leaders' meeting that I attend every week. The leaders bring together the opinions of each department and actively consider them. For example, we want to introduce a business card management tool, or hold a study session aimed at standardizing web literacy. One of the events that came out of this space is the "snack meeting," where we exchange opinions on an equal footing while eating snacks. Even if something is difficult to penetrate if it is a top-down initiative, if it is a "plan that we ourselves have proposed," it naturally moves forward voluntarily. Everyone is always thinking about "how to make things better," so we are proactively turning ideas that "would be nice to have, are necess