Mitsubishi : 2017 President's New Year's Message

'New Year Message 2017' addressed to Mitsubishi Corporation's officers and employees by President & CEO Takehiko Kakiuchi

【Opening】

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope that you all enjoyed your holidays and are feeling refreshed and ready for 2017.

【A Look Back at 2016】

I took over as President & CEO last April, just as MC was posting a consolidated loss for the previous fiscal year. There were lessons to be learned from this, so I immediately set to work on a new midterm strategy, which I unveiled the following month. Subsequent meetings to explain the strategy in Japan and overseas helped everyone to better understand its objectives.

Although we'll be sticking with our three-year roadmap, during last December's Management Strategy Meetings we also agreed to follow a broader, ten-year growth trajectory that for now will focus on seven core business segments.

With the details still pending, top management may later decide to add other business segments that warrant consideration, but in the meantime all of us need to be thinking about our company's future. I encourage anyone with good ideas to come forward and share them.

【Operating Environment in 2017】

On January 20, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the next President of the United States. Future US policy will have a significant impact on global politics and the world economy, so we will need to pay very close attention to the decisions made in Washington.

In the meantime, MC shall continue with its current three-year strategy to generate more growth and address the challenges facing its businesses.

【Management Professionals】

Midterm Corporate Strategy 2018 seeks to further MC's business model evolution from investing to managing, and to develop management professionals. Many of our employees have questioned what it takes to become a management professional, so I'd like to touch on that now.

A management professional is an expert in developing and executing a business vision, one who possesses the conceptual skills to optimize business portfolios or determine how functions and services need to evolve.

The best way to sharpen your conceptual skills is to have a genuine interest in the industries you're involved in. You must stay on top of the latest trends and developments, and try to formulate your own opinions on how those industries should evolve. Each of you should aspire to become a future opinion leader, one whose ideas can help to generate new growth and development within your respective field. Whether or not you succeed will depend on your powers of perception. Will you be able to foresee change and anticipate which direction our company should go in?

As for sharpening your execution skills, that will depend on your mindset, preparation, and patience. In my opinion, if you possess the following three qualities then you are already on your way to becoming management professionals.

The first is a 'for-the-team' mentality. Without this you will never be able to demonstrate true leadership.

The second is a strong sense of ethics. The finest professionals are those who are not only fully compliant with laws and regulations, but also morally and ethically grounded.

The third is resilience. When faced with problems or failures, will you dwell on them, or will you seize them as opportunities? Remember, only the best can learn from their mistakes and grow stronger because of them.

But even with all three of these qualities, you must be kind hearted. Please have compassion and consideration for everyone you work with, for until you earn their trust and prove yourself a credible professional, your true ability to manage a business will go untested. Through our company's diverse businesses, each of its employees can grow into a more attractive and sought-after professional, and in turn, each of those professionals can contribute to the development of the company. It is my ongoing mission to create this virtuous cycle of growth, one that inextricably links our people and our organization.

【Challenge for 2017】

Finally, I'd like to address our biggest challenge for 2017.

At present, most of MC's earnings are being generated by its subsidiaries and affiliates. While the MC Group is gradually becoming more united, it has yet to become truly consolidated, so over the next two years we'll be working even harder to make that possible. We need to isolate inefficiencies in our management structure and figure out how best to deal with them. It will be a great challenge, but I'm confident we have a proactive workforce that will work together to find the solutions.

【Closing】

Please work with confidence in 2017. As long as we believe in ourselves and in one another, we can ensure a better and brighter future for the MC Group. I wish all employees and their families a very healthy, happy and productive New Year.