Employee Spotlight : Eika Sawatari

"You are encouraged to realize your full potential"

What is your current role?

I am a Legal Specialist in Legal/Compliance department, Corporate division. I’m taking care of contact screening, contract negotiation, legal review of new business, license management etc., as a legal expert.

How do you look back on your first year at Paidy?

I worked at a general trading company as a legal professional, prior to joining Paidy. During my time at the trading company I strived to contribute in a way that drove positive change, rather than simply working on routine tasks. But it was an established organization, so there were not many chances to drive concrete change. Therefore, when the opportunity came up to join an organization such as Paidy, with its freehearted and entrepreneurial culture, I jumped on it.

However, in my first 2-3 months I struggled a bit, and was simply focused on following my superior’s directives. On one occasion, a colleague pointed out that I seemed to be wasting my potential by just sticking to my assigned duties. After that I shifted my mindset completely, and began proactively looking for opportunities to have dialogue with people in other teams, in order to gain more knowledge of our company’s business and products. I also tried to be more assertive in terms of speaking up when I had my own ideas on what direction should be taken, and began proposing my own solutions. I gradually was able to gain more trust from my colleagues based on my work, and had an opportunity to work for a project directly managed by our CEO. In that sense, I’ve reached a point where I am enjoying the environment that I expected one year ago, before joining.

What kind of experience did you have through the project?

The project was to obtain a license that was directly related to the launch of one of our new products. It required tough negotiations with the regulators and internal stakeholders, as well as many discussions with our CEO and members of other teams -- all needless to say on extremely tight timelines. What I was impressed with throughout the project was that none of my team members ever uttered anything negative. We focused only on how to clear the various hurdles facing us, instead of talking about how dauntingly high the hurdles were. The team members understood well that it is a waste to get bogged down in negativity. And ultimately, it was an exciting experience to come together under a shared objective with colleagues from all kinds of backgrounds/expertise, to deliver a positive outcome.

What have you learned from your experience at Paidy so far?

I’ve learned the importance of defining the contours of my own role. No one is blamed for over-delivering, here; and in fact, valuable feedback can be obtained based on your output, and even new challenges can come your way. Also, it is essential to take ownership in solving issues for the success of our business, rather than waiting for someone else to solve them. In the future, I hope to acquire more technical knowledge on top of my legal knowledge, in order to have a better and more holistic perspective on project managing the development of attractive products for our customers.

What kind of talent do you think is a good fit for Paidy’s culture?

I think people with a positive attitude toward challenges and change, and those who enjoy working together to build a better company, are a good fit. If you are someone for whom individual growth is as much a priority as the growth of the company, I can guarantee that this is definitely an environment that fosters such growth. Come and join the fun!

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