FROM FOUNDER-DEPENDENT MANAGEMENT TO A TEAM THAT THINKS AND EXECUTES

Before working with Coach M, I had been running businesses in Vietnam for about ten years. During that time, I tried many different businesses, failed many times, and kept rebuilding.

Eventually, I began to see the core business more clearly, and sales started to grow. But the company was still different from the ideal state I had originally imagined.

I had a general sense of the next direction. However, I did not know how to turn that direction into reality — how to build the organization, how to lead the team, and how to create the systems needed for the next stage of growth.

As the business direction became clearer, new challenges appeared: systemization, organizational structure, and leadership development. These were areas I had not fully faced before.

The most difficult part was that I did not have anyone to talk to about these issues. I could not openly discuss my management concerns with my team, and it was not easy for people outside the business to understand the full context.

Although the business itself was moving forward, something still felt unclear. I needed time to stop and think deeply about what I truly wanted to create, where the business was now, and where we were heading in the future. That was my biggest challenge.

Why I chose Coach M

After many attempts and failures, I finally felt that I had found the right business direction. But I also knew that building an organization was not my strength.

What I was looking for was not a consultant who would simply give me answers.

I wanted someone who could look at me objectively, draw out my thoughts, and think together with me about what to do next. I wanted a professional thinking partner and a companion for the journey.

Mizuyo was exactly that kind of person.

She was not the kind of coach who simply asks, “What do you think?” and stops there. She worked with me on everything from organizational design and communication to actual implementation in the workplace.

She was able to go deeply into the inner side of the business owner, while also turning those insights into concrete organizational systems. That was the deciding factor.

What stood out during the coaching

Three things left a strong impression on me.

The first was the way she interviewed our managers and core team members to understand their honest views about the company.

As a business owner, even if I ask my employees, “What do you really think about the company?” it is difficult for them to answer honestly. I wanted to know how they saw the company and how they saw me, but I could not easily ask.

By stepping in as a third party, Mizuyo was able to draw out their honest voices naturally. That gave me many important insights.

At the time, there was one business I thought we should probably stop. But I hesitated because I worried that the staff working in that business would be disappointed. However, through the interviews, I realized that the team members also felt that the business should be stopped.

Without that process, I would not have noticed the gap between my assumptions as the owner and the actual feelings of the team.

The second was the deep exploration of myself.

Mizuyo helped me look back as far as my childhood and explore why I was doing this business, why I was in Vietnam, and what I truly wanted to create.

My childhood, student years, working life, and current business all started to connect. I realized that there was consistency in my life story. That moment was very powerful.

What I wanted to do changed from a vague idea into a deep conviction.

The third was the design of our All-Hands Meeting.

We worked together on how to communicate the vision of “five countries, 50 stores, and 10 billion yen in revenue by 2032” to a Vietnamese team of about 40 people.

Mizuyo helped design the slide structure, the order of the message, and how to communicate in a way that would resonate emotionally with Vietnamese team members.

For example, when talking about expansion into Thailand, she helped me frame it as a story of a Vietnamese-born brand expanding into Thailand. Since Thailand is often seen as an economic rival by Vietnamese people, this message connected with their national pride.

That kind of culturally sensitive communication design is something I could never have done alone.

As a result, the satisfaction level of the meeting was 100%. Seeing the team receive the vision as their own future made me feel that the organization had started to change.

Changes in myself, the organization, and the business

The biggest change was in myself.

My vision for who I want to become in five and ten years became very clear. Once my own uncertainty disappeared, my approach to the business and the organization also became clearer.

Ultimately, the kind of organization we need to build depends on where I, as the CEO, want to go. I was able to see that connection clearly.

As a result, our mission, vision, and values also became clearer.

In the past, I had not communicated them properly. Part of me felt embarrassed to talk about vision, and I was also worried that if I talked about overseas expansion, our Vietnamese team might feel that they were being left behind.

But when I actually communicated it, they felt proud that a Vietnamese-born brand would expand overseas.

I now truly understand the power of putting vision into words and communicating it clearly.

As an organization, we are beginning to build a culture where mission, vision, and values are clearly shared. We have also created a more transparent evaluation system that recognizes people who embody those values.

We have started to create activities that strengthen engagement and unity across the organization. I feel that employees are beginning to see that the company is changing and that we are seriously thinking about their future.

Changes in numbers and behavior

In the fiscal year when coaching started, our sales approximately doubled compared with the previous year.

This year, we are aiming to double again, and we are progressing according to plan. That means we are moving at a pace of four times sales growth over two years.

More importantly, the organization has begun to see the numbers as its own responsibility.

We are setting KPIs and connecting them to our actions and mission. The team is beginning to move toward the numbers together.

There is also a new kind of communication happening inside the company. Team members are starting to think about the company themselves and share their opinions with each other.

This kind of movement did not exist before, and seeing it emerge naturally may be the change that makes me happiest.

Message to other business owners

In any field, I believe people need someone who can accompany them and help them grow. In sports, education, and business, having a coach changes people.

In management, especially, a coach can help bring out your assumptions and beliefs, and allow you to think freely about how far you truly want to go.

That kind of opportunity is hard to create alone, and it is difficult to create inside the company.

Organizational development is also something that is hard to move forward alone, even if you understand it intellectually.

In every session with Mizuyo, we decided what to do next, and I carried it out as homework. The things we discussed together gradually took shape.

It felt like running PDCA at high speed.

It is similar to personal training at the gym. You can go to the gym by yourself, but with a coach, you build a rhythm, you take it more seriously, and you do not rely only on your own way of doing things.

The speed and effectiveness are completely different.

For business owners who continue to struggle with management and organizational development, I truly recommend this kind of support.

Clarifying where you want to go, your mission, and your values — and committing to them both as an individual and as a company — is a powerful process.

Having someone run alongside you through that process is an ideal environment for growth.