NEWS

Lecture by Kazuo Hirai, ICU alumnus, and Director, Chairman of Sony Corporation

Update: November 13, 2018

On Tuesday, October 23, Mr. Kazuo Hirai, ICU alumnus (class of 1984), and Director, Chairman of Sony Corporation, held a lecture for ICU students titled "Hints to Unlock Your Future" as part of the event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the completion of Diffendorfer Memorial Hall East Wing. The 450 seat-venue was filled with current students excited at the opportunity of listening to a lecture by Mr. Hirai even though the lecture started at 19:15 after the ICU's seventh period ended.

In his lecture, Mr. Hirai discussed three things that should be considered whatever path a student takes after graduation, as a hint for current students when they think of their future, which is the main theme of the lecture.

First, Mr. Hirai asked the students to "think what is important for your life." He told them that, just like one prioritizes things to do at a destination of one's trip, it is necessary to think what is important also for one's life, which is longer and more important, and he stressed that, when doing so, what is important is to prioritize things.

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The next hint for the future Mr. Hirai provided was "what is important in doing a job is not your title or position but your personality." He said that, unlike an election, in which a candidate win votes based on the evaluation and respect for the person, it is extremely important that you make lots of efforts in terms of dialogues, caring and sharing of goals so that people would think they would want to work in your team in an organization like a company where you are given a position.

As the final hint, using the saying "The boughs that bear most hang lowest," Mr. Hirai explained the humble attitude of a person of integrity. In particular, Mr. Hirai maintained that it is important for a member of society to understand that work is done as a team and not by an individual, to have discussions and respect different views, to know that the team takes the credit for the success, the boss is responsible for the failure, and to always keep a positive mindset.

In concluding his lecture, Mr. Hirai mentioned ICU's culture of respecting diversity and communicated what he expected from the ICU students, i.e. to respect diversity also in the society, agree to disagree, and think and put into practice how to make social contributions in addition to working at a company or organization. "Please change the world. The world you are going to change awaits you," said Mr. Hirai, encouraging the students.

In the question and answer session, the students asked questions one after another, and Mr. Hirai answered each of them attentively, greatly extending the time scheduled for the lecture.

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