[No. 167] Chiako Saito

Thank you very much for this opportunity to contribute to the Keio University alumni Relay Column.

After graduating from the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics in 2002 and working as a company employee for about ten years, I went independent in 2012 as the representative of Cheer Coach, a company that provides corporate training and coaching. Although I have chosen a path completely different from the studies I pursued at the Faculty of Science and Technology, I gained important beliefs and lessons from my student days that still guide me today.

The first thing that inspired me to aim for the Faculty of Science and Technology was a TV program I encountered in elementary school called "Einstein's Romance." Can we exceed the speed of light? What happens if we do? As an elementary school student, I held a vague admiration for the world of physics and for invisible things like the universe, light, and elementary particles. While spending my junior and senior high school years at Keio Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School, I participated in a program in my third year of high school where ten students from Japan and ten from overseas gathered to study at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). It was there that I discovered the joy of interacting and giving presentations in English. This experience led me to decide to enter the Faculty of Science and Technology, dreaming of one day mastering English and giving captivating presentations about the world of physics.

However, in my first year of university, I realized my choice had been naive. It was the first setback of my life. I failed four physics credits and was on the verge of repeating a year. Until high school, I was the diligent, hardworking type, an honor student who maintained "decent grades" by studying hard (though looking back, it was more "memorization" than "studying"). (I hesitate to say this about myself...). Having failed four credits, I was in a state of panic. I finally realized the fact that I couldn't get by on memorization alone; I had to understand the essence of the material and think for myself to continue on this path. At the same time, having entered the university without taking an entrance exam due to internal advancement, I witnessed the quick-wittedness of my classmates and their knack for understanding the core concepts and applying them to different phenomena. I vowed to myself, "I'll rely on these people to get through my university life!" That was the moment I casually gave up on my dream world (laughs). One person who helped me immensely at that time was Associate Professor Tomoko Shimizu of the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, who gave me the opportunity for this contribution. Thanks to her, I was able to complete my student life from my second year onward without failing any more credits.

In my fourth year, I had the opportunity to research plastic optical fibers in Professor Yasuhiro Koike's laboratory. The reason I chose his lab was that Professor Koike's class, which I took in my third year, was very impressive. His passionate and easy-to-understand explanation of how interesting this field is and how it could be useful to the world in the future struck a chord with me. During my time in the lab, I was also supported by kind senior students and classmates, and I was able to graduate safely.

Looking back, my university life, which began with a setback, was four years made possible by the help of those around me. This led to a shift in my values, realizing that striving alone isn't the only way and that it's also important to rely on others. The "skill of skillfully borrowing strength" that I acquired here is a lifelong treasure for surviving in the business world.

Now, reflecting on my naive thinking when choosing my faculty, I thoroughly confronted myself during my job search, thinking about "What are my strengths, how can I leverage them, and what do I want to do?" The discovery I made in that process was that "I want to move people's hearts by conveying seemingly complex or difficult things in an easy-to-understand and appealing way." I realized that I was fascinated by "Einstein's Romance" and moved by Professor Yasuhiro Koike's class because they "communicated a difficult world in an appealing and easy-to-understand manner."

This discovery still serves as the core principle of my work today.

After graduation, I joined Oracle Corporation Japan, a foreign-affiliated software company. After being in charge of proposing and consulting on business systems and launching business transformation projects, I worked in the Corporate Planning Office as an assistant to the president and as a leader of company-wide projects (work style reform, employee satisfaction improvement). I keenly felt that the secret to successfully implementing systems and structures is "changing people's thinking and behavior," and I decided to move into the human resource development industry. After that, I worked at Alue Co., Ltd., a human resource development consulting company, before going independent in July 2012 to launch Cheer Coach. The company name combines my first name, "Chiako," with my desire to "cheer on" working people so they can be more vibrant and achieve better results.

My current job is to help working adults in companies achieve better results at work by clearly explaining tips on skills like logical thinking, problem-solving, and time management. At the same time, I also conduct a lot of career training as a platform to convey the belief that life and work have their ups and downs, and that setbacks are perfect opportunities to learn and change oneself. It is my life's purpose.

In fact, separate from my own business, I am currently blessed with the opportunity to experience management as an executive at a certain small to medium-sized enterprise. However, my days are filled with struggles and failures. It is precisely when things are not going well that I return to the lesson I learned in my university days: "What can I learn from this, and how can I connect it to my own growth?"