Yoshihisa AONO (President, Cybozu, Inc.)

In the space between "serious and not"

Yoshihisa AONO showed up to the interview with PC in hand, giving off an aura that was far younger than his 41 years and much different than to be expected from the head of the top groupware corporation in the country. He said things like “I’ve lacked perseverance and the ability to make plans since I was a kid” and “I never thought I’d be the president of a corporation,” but these words didn’t carry an air of humility to them, either.

When he was a child, homework used to be so painful that he would “take half of a page to write a single kanji. If I wrote it 3 times, I’d have it memorized, so I ended up just writing them 3 times each.” This got him into trouble with his teacher, of course.

“In the space between serious and not, I hammered out a technique in which I waited right up until the deadline to do things.” He didn’t attend cram school, and after counting the days until his college entrance examination in early spring, he hit the books from October of his last year in high school. “Taking the elite track goes against my values, so I went with OU over schools like The University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.”

A fateful encounter

Mr. Aono calls himself a “computer kid.” He first encountered computers when he became frustrated with building plastic models as a boy. He gave up in his pursuit of manufacturing and instead devoted himself to creating microcontrollers, the precursor to computers, a decision which has led him all the way to the present day.

In his university volunteer group, he created a prize-winning version of the daifugo card game for the blind that used sound. A woman 2 years his junior in the very same volunteer group would later become his wife, with the two of the now working together to raise their children. His enthusiasm for creating programs was also present in his studies, but he was instructed by Professor Norihisa KOMODA in his laboratory to make more practical, marketable programs, advice that served him later. Mr. Aono then had a fateful encounter with Mr. Shinya HATA, a student two years his senior. Mr. Aono became frustrated with how high-level Mr. Hata’s programs were, claiming he “just couldn’t compete.” “I abandoned the programming I had loved so much.”

The birth of Cybozu

After graduation, Mr. Aono entered Matsushita Electric (now: Panasonic). In the Marketing Division where he was assigned, he didn’t have a personal use computer. This was two years before the dawn of the internet in 1996. After getting the approval of his boss, he constructed a network consisting of one computer per person, as well as proposing an in-house venture for a system integration project. He started up the in-house venture, but it didn’t quite satisfy him. He left the company after 3 years to start his own company, “Cybozu,” with two other individuals, one of whom, Toru TAKASU, was his senior at Panasonic. And the other? None other than Mr. Hata, of course. But they didn’t choose to start the company in the city. Cybozu was started in a 2DK apartment in Matsuyama, Ehime on the island of Shikoku. “Companies like Apple started out in an unairconditioned garage. Success stories are cooler if the first chapter looks a bit underprivileged,” says Mr. Aono, completely in character. His mother saw right through him, saying, “I didn’t think you’d last long at a big corporation.” Cybozu grew rapidly, with the headquarters moving to Tokyo in 2000.

Balancing child-rearing and corporate endeavors

At Cybozu, Mr. Aono provides an environment that allows employees to grow more and work longer. As a part of this, the company recognizes child care leave of up to six years. Most employees come back to work after having and raising their children, with many men taking paternity leave. Even Mr. Aono took 2 weeks for paternity leave in 2010 when his first son was born, and one day every week for 6 months in 2011 for the birth of his second son.

“It’s hard work in the office and at home,” he said, which may lead one to believe that he takes a lot of work to do at home, but, “I’m busy with taking care of the kids, cleaning up, and doing laundry when I’m home. I give the kids a bath and even take them to nursery school sometimes,” he added. But the smiles of his three- and one-year-old keep him going at work.

What he learns as “daddy boss”

There are also secondary effects in child care leave. When he was on leave, the work he was able to leave to his employees was carried out beautifully. “The root of Japan’s long-term downturn is a decreased birthrate combined with an aging population. A big reason for this is that men aren’t taking on the tough but important responsibility of child-rearing. The future of mankind will be created through both men and women getting involved with raising their children.” Everything seems to have a hint of grandiose romanticism coming from Mr. Aono.

Mr. Aono wants fair and honest employees, as lies and bluffs will only cause problems in a profession that emphasizes teamwork. When interviewing potential employees, he asks questions that no one can answer off the top of their head, such as “How many mikan tangerine farmers are in Ehime prefecture?” It’s in these instances that he trusts young people who can admit that they don’t know moreso than those who try to smooth over their lack of knowledge.

One of the things that holds true as a father and as a president is “taking things seriously.” His kids and his employees all look up to him, so he doesn’t want to cut any corners.

His dream is to be number 1 in the world

When Mr. Aono works, he works hard. When inquired about his (previously mentioned) habit of slacking off and oversleeping when at Matsushita, Mr. Aono responded, “I turned into a workaholic after I started Cybozu. (laughs) Now that we’re the best in Japan, my new dream is to become the best software maker in the world. I’m ready to do anything if it means making products that are used by people all over the world. I’m deathly serious about my work,” said Mr. Aono with a look of youthful, refreshing expression on his face.

Mr. Aono gave a message of encouragement to his juniors, saying, “Keep working on improving what you’re good at and devote yourself to the things that are right for you. For those who are looking to start a company, that’s only one step in the process. I want you to start up a company to be able to do the things that you want to do.”

This is a reprint of the article posted in the Osaka University NewsLetter No. 59 (March 2013).