{"id":128,"date":"2021-03-12T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T01:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/?post_type=webzine&p=128"},"modified":"2023-09-04T11:14:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T02:14:23","slug":"danes-so-happy-4fb8841fa4d4","status":"publish","type":"webzine","link":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/webzine\/danes-so-happy-4fb8841fa4d4\/","title":{"rendered":"What is it that makes Danes so Happy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hiroshi Osonoi<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hiroshi Osonoi<\/strong>
Editor-in-Chief, <\/em>WORK MILL<\/a> (Sep. 2016\u2012Jun. 2018). Joined Canon in 1999. After working in printer business planning, he became responsible for in-house reforms in the Business Division IT Department. In 2012, he began working as a working style reform consultant at Microsoft Japan, then joined Okamura Corporation in 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Aya Omoto<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Aya Omoto<\/strong>
Born in 1985, Kyoto Prefecture. Spent two years studying in Canada and the United States during high school and university. Joined Grey Worldwide in 2008, and then was accepted into Kaospilot in 2012 as their first student from Japan. After graduating in 2015, she co-founded Laere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osonoi:<\/strong> I see your background is quite unique. After studying in Canada and the United States, what made you decide to study in Denmark?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omoto: <\/strong>When I was studying in the States, there was a class at my university on advertising where we spent about two weeks visiting advertising agencies in European countries to discuss how the people live and what their cultural values are based on their publicity materials. That class gave me the chance to learn about how America sees Europe. As we learned about the background of all these different ads, I realized the national cultures and characters in Europe, where people valued culture and tradition, were similar to Japan. That was how I began to grow an interest in Europe. After finishing my studies in the States, I worked at an advertising agency in Japan. Outside the company, I helped coordinate the \u201cTEDxTohoku\u201d event. That\u2019s where I met this Danish woman. As I talked with her, I realized she was proficient at incorporating multiple fields of study. She possessed business skills, artistic sense, creativity, and even marketing skills. What I didn\u2019t know then was that in Denmark, it\u2019s quite normal and expected of people to create results using the expertise of multiple fields. These people are called \u03a0 (pi) types. At the time, she was in Japan to get her master\u2019s at a Japanese university. She told me she had also graduated from Kaospilot<\/a> and said, \u201cit\u2019s the best education I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d So that made me want to go to Kaospilot<\/a> as well, which is why I decided to study in Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Denmark, you\u2019ll fi nd \u220f type people in every company<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Osonoi:<\/strong> Lately, Kaospilot<\/a> is gradually becoming better known even in Japan, but you were the first Japanese citizen to be educated there. Wasn\u2019t this a big leap for you without any predecessors to consult?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omoto: <\/strong>Back then, when I told people at work that I was quitting to go study at Kaospilot<\/a>, they said to me, \u201cyou\u2019ll have a hard time finding a job again, considering it\u2019s not Harvard or Stanford but a Danish school. Most people won\u2019t be able to grasp what you\u2019ve acquired.\u201d And they were right. Unlike an MBA, I didn\u2019t know what use it would be, and there was no guarantee it would give me a career. I was worried, but at the same time, I sensed that there was definitely something at Kaospilot<\/a>. I decided to trust my instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osonoi<\/strong>: When you actually got to Denmark, how was it different from Japan? And from the US and Canada?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omoto:<\/strong> It had some similarities with the United States and Canada, but one big difference I noticed was how people build a consensus. I think it comes from the size of these countries. The United States and Canada are huge, but Denmark is only about the size of Kyushu, with a population of five and a half million. But because it\u2019s a small country, it\u2019s possible to build a consensus through cooperating across sectors, fusing education and business, and by sharing a common understanding. Denmark is compatible with Japan in many ways- its humbleness, respect for craftsmanship, and love towards nature, but their approach to education is very different. In Denmark, children\u2019s views are respected, and they are given choices from a young age. This helps them develop their identity and sense of responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n

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