Tomoko Nagai is the vice president of Monosus and moved to Suo-Oshima, Yamaguchi Prefecture this year to start satellite work. I am definitely the person who goes out drinking with her the most in the company, even when we were in Tokyo.
I don't remember when we started going out drinking frequently, but 5-6 years ago when Nagai was my direct supervisor, we definitely went out drinking once or twice a month. Nearly 90% of what we talked about was about work. In terms of our positions, we were "boss and subordinate," but it wasn't like the boss was answering the subordinate's concerns, but rather it felt like a place where we could share what we were thinking at the time and the situation that was happening.
For me, who has difficulty understanding myself objectively, Nagai was a valuable presence who could accurately convey to me how I see myself now.
At the same time, even if I consulted Nagai thinking of him as my boss, he didn't see me as a subordinate... To put it nicely, he treated me on an equal footing, so I often thought to myself, "You shouldn't say that, my boss," and we even got into a fight over a small difference in the way we said things or how we perceived things. There were times when we clashed and distanced ourselves from each other, but even now, we go out for drinks when we have time, which is probably because we get along well with each other.
To me, Nagai Tomoko is a "flat drinking buddy who doesn't care about status."
Today I would like to take another look at her personality.
Average is no fun
In preparation for writing this article, I went out drinking with Nagai for the first time in two months, and I was reminded of something new: Nagai likes people who "have a unique side, even if they're a little eccentric."
When I was interviewing with Nagai in the past, he didn't respond to average people, but tended to take people who seemed a little eccentric. I don't know how many times I've heard the line, "It's more fun to work with someone who's a little cocky." (Thanks to that, I often say cocky things myself.)
However, it's not enough just to have a unique flavor.
I like people who have their own opinions, even if they have slightly different opinions from those around them.
In an interview, it can be hard to see such aspects, but Nagai is good at finding people's quirks. And I think he has the ability to identify people who are thinking things through properly, even if they have their quirks.
The average person is not funny.
The wilder the animal, the more interesting it is.
I want to have friends who have different opinions.
I don't like people who are easy to treat as subordinates.
People in positions of authority sometimes tend to prefer people who are "easy to handle," but she is the complete opposite.
Writing like this makes her sound like a great person with a wide range of abilities, but I think the underlying reason is that she finds it troublesome to dye things in her own color. Rather than making a copy of herself, it's quicker to combine various personalities, and it's also true that her rationality, or rather, her kind of roughness, has resulted in the creation of an interesting team.
I myself am the type of person who thinks about how to utilize the individuality of each person when they join a team, so I feel that it is more interesting to have a person with a few more quirks than the average person. In that respect, I strongly agree with Nagai's way of thinking, but I still don't think I can handle wild animals as well as Nagai can (laughs).
Tomoko Nagai's "Ambition"
I have been watching Nagai's work for over eight years since she joined the company, but to talk about her career would require starting from the dawn of the Web, so I will skip that part here. (After graduating from university, she worked for a company, quit, started her own company, started Monosus with Hayashi, became vice president, moved to Suo-Oshima, and so on. It's quite a long journey.)
In the past, he also played an on-site role, but in recent years, he has mostly been in management roles, and unless some kind of trouble occurs, he leaves most of the work to the other members. (Nagai's way of dealing with this "when trouble occurs" is also impressive, but since this alone could be an article in itself, unfortunately I will not go into detail.)
As he moved from the field to management, Nagai's status as a "jobs man" had faded into obscurity, but it seems that there has been a slight change in his stance.
"When I went to Suo-Oshima, I felt like I wanted to try again as a professional."
"You know, I want to be the best."
He said that.
It is really difficult to "be the best" in a huge place like Tokyo. It is hard to become the head of a web production company in such a fierce competition, and it is even harder to become the best at something in your personal work by simply putting in effort.
However, after visiting Suo-Oshima, she realized how close people are to each other and how things move forward through face-to-face communication. As she experienced the market and success that only a rural area can offer, she began to think, "I want to take on more challenges in this town, and aim to be the best that only I can be."
I think that maybe I'm regaining the spirit of challenge I had when I was starting my own company. I also think that going to Suo-Oshima has allowed me to spend my time in a different way than I do in Tokyo, which is another reason.
Nagai, who previously said, "I want to take it easy just by receiving dividends from shareholders," will take on new challenges in Suo-Oshima and achieve what kind of "best" status he will achieve as a professional. I'm a little excited to see what he will achieve.
Words to be inherited
During my long relationship with her, there is one phrase that has stuck in my mind more than any other.
"It's your responsibility to treat the next generation."
Now that I have been transferred to the Coding Factory Department and become a leader, I adhere to these words faithfully. And now, it is my turn to pass these words on to my team members.
When I told Nagai this, he said, "I'm more happy about that than if my work went well." I was a little surprised that he cared so much about it, but now that I'm in the position of telling the members these words, I think I would be happy if they said the same thing to me.
Come to think of it, when I was a leader in another department, Nagai would often tell me, "You should stop getting your hands dirty on the ground and focus on management!" At the time, I wanted to be a playing manager, so I didn't agree at all, but now that I'm a leader again, I feel like I'm beginning to understand why Nagai told me that.
Well, I've written it like this, but to be honest, no matter how much time passes, I still don't understand anything about Nagai.
This is a completely trivial story, but when Nagai and I go out drinking together, the main focus is on alcohol, so if we don't consciously order food, we'll continue to have no rice no matter how much time passes. After we realized this, we became more conscious of each other. However, even when rice comes to the table, Nagai doesn't help himself, so it becomes my job to do so.
Furthermore, having had a fair amount of drinking experience, I've come to understand when, after a few beers, it's time to move on to a different drink.
I don't want to know, but after going out drinking so much, maybe I'm starting to understand Nagai a little better... lol
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