Masa
Manager, Toykyo Office
Education
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Johnson School of Management
M.B.A., 2005
Activities at Johnson: International Business Association President, Organized several international events, including World Smarts Dinner Series
Memories of Johnson: I greatly enjoyed the tight-knit community. I also found that you can never escape from your classmates. Since there are only seven bars in Ithaca, wherever and whenever you go out, one of your classmates will be there.
KEIO UNIVERSITY
B.A. in Business and Commerce, 1994
Hometown
Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
ZS Career Path
Summer Associate (Evanston), 2004
Consultant, 2005
-moved to Tokyo, 2006
Manager, 2008
On the work
“As a Summer Associate in Evanston, I quickly realized I was treated as an integral part of the ZS family from day one. I found myself participating in a discussion with a principal and client about project deliverables, based on the principal’s belief that I could come up with a new customer response rate formula within a few weeks. I utilized what I learned at business school fully: statistical methodologies, strategic frameworks and decision-making processes. Not only was I treated as part of the team, but I was also expected to lead the team, as a Summer Associate! As team leader, I managed client communications and held discussions with each of the analysts on their professional development goals. Throughout my summer at ZS, I never felt like I was just an intern, but rather a full-time employee with full-time responsibilities.”
On ZS values
Treat People Right: “I chose to work full-time at ZS because of the people I met and the culture I experienced over the summer. One of my colleagues, a statistics expert, though officially not a member of my project team, came down to my office more than once a day to help think and talk through how to develop the response formula. On another occasion, a principal found that my six-month-old daughter needed a crib to sleep in. To my surprise, he brought his own baby’s portable crib in the next morning to my office. Though people are very busy and we work hard, we are serious about having fun, too. We held an office-wide beach volleyball competition on a Friday afternoon on Lake Michigan. The business associate team played the principal team in the championship game—before the game they decided to make a wager. If the principals won, the BAs would have to shine their shoes the next week. If the BAs won, the principals would have to give up their plush offices for one day. As you can imagine, we came in the following week and found a lot of the principals making important client phone calls from the cubicles in the associate’s area!”
On life outside work
“I am learning how to fly airplanes! Every morning I check the weather. If the sky is clear and the wind is calm, I can not stop myself from jumping into a small 2-seat Cessna 152. I am now training to cope with 'stall' recovery. To create a 'stall' condition, you raise the airplane’s nose until you only see the blue sky and a few clouds. Suddenly, the airplane loses lift and begins to drop. And now you only see the ground! It is like you are controlling a rollercoaster. Landing is another challenge. My instructors require me to fly three inches above the runway and then smoothly touch down like a feather touches the ground. But sometimes the feather feels more like a brick!”