Mastering Change with Passion and Agility: The Capacity for Business Resilience

Conventional business wisdom has always emphasized the importance of adaptability, grit, and other related values in a fundamentally uncertain environment. The global COVID-19 pandemic has further reinforced the urgency of developing resilience. This was certainly the case for FUJIFULM Business Innovation Asia Pacific, where the crisis challenged our ability to maintain business continuity, manage risk, and innovatively lead when ‘normal’ business operations were disrupted.

We recently sat down with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Asia Pacific President, Masatsugu Naito, to hear about his experiences of facing firsthand the leadership challenges of the pandemic. In the first installment of this two-part series, we discussed his thoughts on resilience, his tried-and-tested framework for navigating disruption, guidelines for setting business priorities, and his philosophy for embracing change.

How would you define a resilient business?

Masatsugu Naito: Resilience has become a buzzword. Everyone is talking about resilient societies, resilient organizations, and resilient infrastructure. That just reflects how our environment has been completely changed because of the pandemic. Now we’re in what’s called a new normal. I see resilience as a capacity, something that businesses should be able to do. How can we adapt quickly under such a new normal? Are we able to recover and generate new opportunities from change?

From your perspective, business resilience is more about how to come back or recover from a setback

Masatsugu Naito: That's correct. Especially in the current situation, "coming back" means knowing how to recover and adapt. Prior to the pandemic, the world was completely different. We’ve seen how everything’s crumbled since then. Adapting to the new normal is a challenging skill to learn.

Given that your definition of resilience is more about comeback and adaptation, how do you think leaders can lead and win in constant change? Especially since you have worked in so many different environments and worked with different kinds of leaders?

Masatsugu Naito: My simple answer goes back to my fundamental policy: passion and flexibility. Passion is always very important for business. The passion to persevere through problems gives us the mindset to overcome it. If we don't have that mindset, I don’t think we can find the answers to solve the issues in front of us.

And then there’s flexibility, which has a delicate balance. Being overly flexible can lead to a lack of direction: your path keeps shifting from A to B to C. On the other hand, if you’re overly rigid and sticking to one plan, that can also be harmful. That could potentially lead to mistakes and moving in the wrong direction. The key is to strike a balance between agility and while still having a direction.

We should embrace change, even enjoy it. That’s what passion can help us do: shift our view of change and see it as an opportunity for growth and improvement. And then we build the capacity for agility on an organizational level while keeping a measured approach.

In light of the challenges that disruptions pose to business planning, what guidance would you give to business leaders in terms of setting investment priorities during times of disruption?

Masatsugu Naito: In my opinion, it's important to ask ourselves :"What are our core competencies?" Knowing what we are good at will help us decide the best use of our skills and resources. We also need to consider the specific context of the industry and area we’re operating in. Third, we need to have a clear sense of whether the industry is growing or declining. Finally, we must also factor in the sense of time and determine whether our objectives can be achieved in the short-term or long-term.

We can view these factors as a four-point matrix: competency, business segment, growth status, and time. This helps us not just determine where and how to prioritize our investments, but also set clear goals for our metrics.

How do you think leaders can work on increasing their own resilience and innovation, especially in the Asia Pacific region?

Masatsugu Naito: While there may be regional differences between Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, and America, I believe there are universal approaches applicable to all. One approach is about confronting the realities of market conditions directly, rather than ignoring or forgetting the facts. Resilient leaders know how to be truthful in evaluating what the current situation is. After that, it’s about taking an action-oriented approach to manage and overcome the situation. Without a proactive mindset, you risk being passive and waiting for growth to come to you.

It’s also critical to be able to replay scenarios from multiple perspectives. We do this by listening to feedback. It is crucial to converse with others and see things through different perspectives i.e. team members, customers, potential investors etc. That way we can put into action our FUJIFILM motto to Never Stop. We will never stop improving and transforming to ensure we address our customer and employee pain points and growing the business in the right direction.

To summarise, leaders need to have a proactive mindset, take an action-oriented approach, and maintain a comprehensive understanding of all the facts and different perspectives to reframe the situation.

FUJIFILM Business Innovation is primarily a B2B business, so we understand our customer needs on an organisational level. Could you share more about your unique view of this?

Masatsugu Naito: It boils down to knowing how to anticipate the customer’s pain points in the current climate and responding with a proactive approach that takes account of all the facts and relevant perspectives so we can effectively help our customers bounce back—a skill that we ourselves have mastered. Business resilience is much more than a buzzword for FUJIFILM. It’s a mindset and attitude that makes it possible for us to ‘never stop’ and bounce back. We can embrace change and turn our difficulties into opportunities to thrive.

"Business leaders must exercise flexibility with the right balance, and keep a strong passion for what they do. With these values in place, challenges can be embraced and difficulties can be turned into opportunities."