The New Normal interview series: Groups as agents of change

‘I co-founded Loftwork in 2000, hoping to build a platform that would allow creatives to make a positive impact on the world through their work. The platform now brings together some 25,000 creatives globally, and our company employs 150 people.

‘Loftwork is not structured like a pyramid with a CEO at the top; it’s an aggregate of individuals engaged in creative work. My role is also different from that of a typical executive, as I’m more of an administrator overseeing a number of autonomous groups. Decisions are made and action taken on a team-by-team basis – as has also been the case during the coronavirus crisis – rather than as the result of orders I give from above.

‘For example, one of our team leaders decided to hold 30-minute team meetings online every morning to encourage team members to start working from 10am while at home. Other teams followed suit, and the initiative has proven so effective that we’re considering keeping the morning meeting even after the coronavirus situation has been resolved. Having been able to address small things that were left unattended to in the past, we’ve also made new detailed rules for things like naming.

‘On May 19 and 26, we organised an online conference titled “Design Management 2020 – Creative survival in the with-/after-Covid age”. We had more than 2,700 people participate, which really surprised me. The conference had originally been planned for March but had to be postponed and moved online, so we were quite worried. But we got immediate questions and feedback for our panelists through the chat function, and I noticed how there are benefits to online conferences that can’t be obtained if you’re just livestreaming a real-world event.

‘Another successful initiative was Mask Design Challenge 2020, in which we asked creatives around the world to send in their ideas for “mask designs that change the future”. The challenge was started by a Taiwanese employee of ours and featured on the news around the world. We received 229 submissions in three weeks. The “global” used to be easy to talk about but hard to put into practice, but now that anyone can access the internet, physical distance is less important than ever before. I think the fact that people can work together wherever they are in the world is a really interesting development.’

‘My life outside of work has also changed a lot. In February this year, I visited a village in Denmark called Hertha. It has a population of about 150 people, 23 of whom have learning disabilities. Most of them live in the village independently, away from their families. The village is home to various workshops, including ones centred on agriculture, dairy farming, baking, food processing, metalworking and sewing. I attended the dairy farming workshop and milked cows together with the residents who have disabilities. The milk produced is bought by the other residents and consumed locally. I had long been interested in the kind of lifestyle where people value their family over work, coming home at 6pm to cook together. Being asked to stay home due to the coronavirus situation, perhaps people in Japan are now able to savour this type of lifestyle.

‘To be honest, I had a hard time adjusting for about a week [laughs], probably because I was so firmly bound by the idea that work is something you do at the office. But after a week or two I’d optimise my tasks online, and before I knew it I was working without having to commute, giving me much more time with my family. Maybe this is what a “Nordic lifestyle” is like, I thought.

‘I’ve taken a liking to going out around noon to get some exercise. I stop by my local bakery and chat with the staff, and we encourage each other. There’s also a great udon restaurant near my house, one I’ve been a regular at for a long time. That place had no choice but to close to prevent infections, so they’ve started offering takeaway to make it through this difficult time. I wanted to support them, so I got some of their noodles and talked with the staff to cheer them up.

‘I’ve also been spending every day together with my son, who’s a sophomore in college. It’s the first time we’ve been spending this much time together since he was a baby, but I was surprised to notice that I didn’t mind at all [laughs]. We cook together, I do the dishes and my son rinses them. I now realise that this is what everyday life is like for people in the Nordic countries.

‘I have a real desire to exercise, so I go for five-kilometre runs once or twice a week. The first kilometre is really tough because you have to run uphill at some points, but then you’re off: two, three kilometres, and then you’re done. You feel a sense of accomplishment different from the one you get from work. I didn’t like doing the same thing over and over when I was younger, but now that I’m in the latter half of my 40s I feel like I’m heading downhill – like I might not be able to do some things for much longer. That considered, “I ran five kilometres today too” takes on so much meaning; it confirms that I’m still hanging in there.’

‘The other day I read a pretty convincing newspaper article on how viruses can’t be eliminated. The author posited that when viewed from the perspective of life in general, viruses are altruistic – they exist on Earth in order to speed up evolution. Most lifeforms pass on genetic information vertically, i.e. from parent to child. But the existence of viruses allows this information to spread horizontally, occasionally across the boundaries of species. That has let us living beings evolve.

‘Viruses like the novel coronavirus sicken their hosts and may even kill them. But these negative effects are less consequential than the ways in which viruses facilitate the exchange and assimilation of genetic information, functioning as altruistic tools for horizontal spread across lifeforms. We tend to view the coronavirus as an enemy of humanity, but taking a broader view makes us realise that the virus is something we will have to coexist with. It’s not something you’re happy about as an individual, but I think this viewpoint can both help us understand the virus as part of the process of evolution and create opportunities for thinking seriously about the future.

‘How, then, will the world change after this crisis? I haven’t quite found the right word yet, but I think groups will take centre stage in society from here on. I think staying home to stop the spread of Covid-19 has made many people feel how difficult and lonely it is to live on your own.

‘Social changes such as the rise of the nuclear family have shrunk the unit of community in Japanese society. While this has freed us from the inconveniences of living together with others, I think some people have also felt how life as an individual can be highly fragile and vulnerable – an awareness that the current coronavirus crisis has helped amplify.

‘Individuals are powerless on their own. It’s also difficult to feel happy when you’re alone. Going forward, I feel that the need for people to connect with each other, to coexist, will certainly increase.

‘Until now, typical bonds of coexistence have formed around family, locality and company. But from here on, I think new bonds will form around groups. I think this will involve the bonding of people based not on age or place of birth, but shared values and aspirations. My current take on the post-coronavirus world is that such groups will come to play key roles in society and go on to build a new world.’