Team Sunrise – Hitachi Employees' Network that Fosters Innovation
【Part 12】The "Bridge of Ambidexterity" Sustaining Hitachi's Culture of Challenge — Roundtable with Executive Chairman Higashihara and Team Sunrise members （Part 2）

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Click here for "【Part 1】 15 Years of Hitachi’s Internal Employee Network"
Click here for "【Part 2】 The Logic of Transforming an Organization"
Click here for "【Part 3】 Making a Fresh Start from Stagnation"
Click here for "【Part 4】 Challenging the Pandemic by DX of Innovation"
Click here for "【Part 5】 Secret behind the Longevity of Team Sunrise"
Click here for "【Part 6】 Drivers of Innovation"
Click here for "【Part 7】 The Man Who Brought the US Bestseller “The Human Element” to Japan"
Click here for "【Part 8】 Global Mindset and English"
Click here for "【Part 9】 Organization Where Innovation Occurs from the Bottom Up"
Click here for "【Part 10】The "Bridge of Ambidexterity" Sustaining Hitachi's Culture of Challenge — 20 Years of Activities Reported to Executive Chairman Higashihara
Click here for "【Part 11】Roundtable with Executive Chairman Higashihara and Team Sunrise members （Part 1）
Click here for "【Part 12】Roundtable with Executive Chairman Higashihara and Team Sunrise members （Part 2）

*This article was written as of July 29, 2025.

The "Bridge of Ambidexterity" from Informal to Formal Activities

Sato
Ms. Osawa applied to "Make a Difference!" and went through the experience of moving from the informal activity loop on the left, centered on dialogue with peers, to the formal activity loop on the right, aimed at commercialization. The very first initiative she took on her own was an idea called the "Childcare Leave Division."

Higashihara
Yes, I remember the Childcare Leave Division. I recall the idea was that, since a year of childcare leave could mean losing your current position, employees should be allowed to indicate their preferred assignment beforehand and prepare for it during their leave. That was the proposal I remember, although I may be mistaken.

Osawa
Thank you for remembering. When I talked at a Team Sunrise ideathon about wanting to apply what can be learned during childcare leave to my career, I found colleagues who shared the same vision. Applying to Make a Difference! was not something I had originally planned, but with the encouragement of my colleagues, I polished the idea and decided to go for it.

Back then, working from home was not common, and many employees had no choice but to opt for shortened working hours due to commuting and time constraints. To help employees balance childcare and work, I proposed a system where they could adjust their work style to fit their life stage.

Higashihara
What happened to this afterward?

Osawa
After receiving the SILVER TICKET, we conducted hearings across various departments to understand their needs, and proceeded to run a small-scale proof of concept（PoC） with engineers from one department.

Sato
Make a Difference! gave her the opportunity to engage in dialogue with a self-directed team that supported her idea and to experience the incubation process toward business development while pivoting along the way.

Higashihara
The key aspect of this activity is letting others see what you are working on. If this is not clear, HR cannot be aware, and even your managers could misjudge what you are doing.

Sato
Currently, this is how we make your activities visible on the website. You can also find out who is working on what activity through exchanges at networking gatherings and the support mechanisms provided by the Team Sunrise network. Looking ahead, we hope to grow this into a global initiative.

Higashihara
That said, expanding globally will require the top management to set the tone for the entire company.

Sato
I completely agree with you.

Reality of Working in Japan

Higashihara
In some overseas locations, people are sometimes replaced due to company reasons, which I find quite regrettable. For example, if someone who has worked at Hitachi for 10 years is asked to leave just for business reasons, all of their 10 years of experience would effectively be lost. I wonder if there could be a way to leverage that experience in another department. If that could be achieved globally, I believe it would change employees' sense of loyalty toward Hitachi. Given that 60% of our 280,000 employees are non-Japanese, I hope to establish a setting where open discussions on such matters are possible. However, this does not mean that we have to adopt exactly the same system. Since cultures and religions differ by region, what matters globally is fairness rather than strict equality.

Sato
Ms. Ono, from your experience working with colleagues overseas, have you noticed anything regarding work styles or work conditions?

Ono
There are still cases where highly skilled professionals, such as those holding doctorates earned abroad, find themselves in Japanese-only environments where they are not fully understood or recognized, cannot fully utilize their potential, and may perceive their pay as somewhat lower than that of former peers working at overseas companies.

Higashihara
Language barriers might be largely removed in the coming years thanks to AI, and this challenge should gradually disappear. The challenge I consider necessary to resolve is the visa issue. Many people struggle with unclear Japanese government regulations, such as how to obtain a visa when coming with a partner. Another concern is how to manage the education of children when relocating to Japan with family. I've also heard that, unlike in the U.S. where English as a Second Language （ESL） programs allow for a dedicated 30 minutes in the morning to study the language, Japan does not have such systems in place, which can become a barrier when working here. As part of my activities with the Keidanren （Japan Business Federation）, I've pointed out in their past sessions that attracting foreign talent requires reforming the existing systems.

Ono
There are also stories that many International employees from various organizations experience challenges with visas and have taken the initiative to run their own learning workshops. Japan's institutional framework still creates challenges, and even at Hitachi, the current provision of essential information for foreign staff seems to be insufficient.

Difficulty of Conveying the Spirit of Altruism

Sato
I'd now like to ask Ms. Tanaka about her very approachable presentation on the new business of Digital Systems & Services （DSS）, and what kind of response it received?

Tanaka
At first, we thought about taking a formal approach to creating new businesses within DSS. While engaging with colleagues across different experience levels, we discovered a common sentiment: there was no formal platform to showcase personal ideas, and people were unsure how to start participating in new business initiatives. So, we launched an initiative where employees could deliver three-minute pitches presenting social challenges and their proposed ideas. We invited several peer colleagues across Hitachi with deep experience in new business development would to mentor the presentes, providing guidance both before and after the pitch. In addition to introducing a relatively novel format of “pitch”, we held the event in an open space at lunchtime so that employees could naturally engage with and support colleagues pursuing new business initiatives while enjoying their lunch.

Initially, we aimed for 100 participants, but when the event actually took place, 566 people took part including those joining via livestream. Eight presenters took the stage, and so many supporters showed up that some had to stand. The mentors' experience-based guidance led to various positive outcomes, including presenters reigniting their drive for new business initiatives and confidently stepping into their first pitch. Moreover, the pitch sessions generated concrete follow-up actions from the audience, such as introducing relevant contacts to the presenters or suggesting potential sites for PoC trials. It became a strong demonstration of the power of altruism in action.

Higashihara
Since 2016, I have often talked about the concept of altruism, but recently I have begun to wonder whether this message is really conveyed within Hitachi globally. The concept of altruism can sometimes be interpreted as self-sacrifice, so I began to wonder how much of that really comes across when I explain it to people from other countries. Lately, I've been explaining it more in terms of a Win-Win relationship —"you win, I win"— to make it clearer.

Sato
Following the previous session, a small group of us discussed about altruism. If altruism is about respecting and understanding others, then empathy might be a concept that comes close. We discussed whether using the word empathy might convey the meaning, but indeed, communicating altruism accurately on a global scale is quite challenging.

Higashihara
The Japanese phrase I personally value most is the words of Dr. Kumeo Baba, who was the first director of Hitachi's Central Research Laboratory: "空己唯盡孚誠" （onore wo munashiku shite tada fusei wo tsukusu）. It means offering wholehearted, selfless care, giving all your compassion completely, just as a mother bird nurtures and protects her eggs. I consider this the essence of altruism, and it has become my guiding star.