The School of Science and Graduate School of Science career seminar special event: “Teijin’s DNA: Taking on the Challenge of Creating New Values – Why Did a Mere Researcher Become a CEO?” was held on August 25, 2016, in the Grand Lecture Hall of the Hokkaido University School of Science. In this lecture, Teijin CEO Mr. Jun Suzuki introduced the following question: “What kind of strategy should we have?” He did so as we continue to meet challenges on our way to become (by way of creating new knowledge) a society that supports the future society. After the lecture, Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Toshihiro Kaminuma (Teijin Human Resources and General Affairs Department) were invited to a roundtable forum held in the School of Science’s reception room. Four Doctoral Program students participated.

Mr. Shota Sakaki eagerly questioning Mr. Jun Suzuki, CEO

In the roundtable forum, Mr. Suzuki said that a company is a “place” where you turn the things you want to do into reality. Until then, the image I had was that, in these jobs, the corporation requires that you, as one organizational member, achieve company goals. However, after this, I felt that in these jobs, the corporation creates an environment that involves your surroundings and enables you to do what you would like to do, and, in fact, the corporation requires you to realize that goal. This way of thinking about working in a corporation appealed to me. Further, words to the effect that “since competitors are not necessarily always in the same industry, you must broaden your outlook from industry to society” also impressed me. This quotation drives at the Leading Program’s principles, fostering comprehensive perspectives through experiencing research in different fields and mathematical perspectives. This event opened my mind to the importance of being proactive and participating in events such as this one so that I can learn from different fields, thus broadening my outlook.

Report: Shota Sakaki (1st-term Student)