Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are at the forefront of workplace culture, assisting companies in creating environments in which employees from various social, cultural, racial, and economic backgrounds, with diverse opinions, perspectives, and experiences, can work collaboratively. DEI initiatives are now more important than ever for many businesses. Creating a safe, positive work environment that is welcoming to every employee can benefit the industry now and in the future.

“I consider myself a management author and influencer rather than merely an HR consultant or researcher," says Tsukiko Tsukahara, Founder and President of Kaleidist K.K., which offers D&I advice services and workshops to multinational corporations, Japanese corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions. Tsukiko Tsukahara offers a strategic perspective on how company leaders, including CEOs, CHOs, and CDOs, can im­prove their businesses through D&I. She can help those company leaders to break through not only their HR space but also their entire business through the DEI perspective.

Tsukiko Tsukahara also serves as the advisor to Catalyst Inc, a global non-profit organization accelerating women's careers through workplace inclusion for its various activities in Japan. She is one of Japan's Co-Representatives of EMPOWER (Empow­erment and Progression of Women's Economic Representation) that was launched at the 2019 G20 Osaka Summit. Tsukiko Tsukahara is also a part of the 30 percent Club Japan since its launch, a member of the Advisory Board and an Expert Panelist at the Center for Global Inclusion.

Tsukiko Tsukahara engages in an exclusive interview with Women Entrepreneur magazine, wherein she enlightens us more about her professional traits and Kaleidist K.K.

Take us through your early educational journey and the prior industry experience that you bring to the table.

I have a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Tokyo in Japan, and a master's in business administration from the Tuck School of Business in the United States. I began working for the Japanese government at the Ministry of Land, Infrastruc­ture, and Transportation. I honed my management consultingskills at the consulting firm of Boston Consulting Group in Japan, where I spent 12 years, and tried to explore my business potential in the Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) area in Japan.

Thereafter, I moved to the global nonprofit organiza­tion, Catalyst which is based in New York. Having said that, I’m currently working in Japan and exploring the DEI field. I founded my company in 2018 to broaden the potential areas in which I could work with D&I in Japan and AIPAC, as well as participate in various global pro bono projects, such as G20 EMPOWER, which is a global business leaders alliance with the G20 government, and I also assisted 30 percent Club Japan in getting started, and I'm now an advisor to 30 percent Club in Japan, especially in the University working group.

What are your current focus areas as the Founder & President of Kaleidist?

We have highly talented consultants and researchers. Therefore, my distinctive function should be a thought­ful partner of business executives as well as a social influencer, not just within corporate responsibility, but also with some responsibility and influence on social issues.

Throw some light on your most critical challenges while facilitating D&I initiatives.

D&I is sometimes difficult for many Japanese or other international firms because people prefer to add on the D&I without visualizing the clear, strategic future in a larger management space. Thus, seeing the company's future outside the D&I space is a little tough. Further, many Japanese companies have rather unique employ­ment practices, that are not aligned or harmonized with the D&I. So, we must oppose the old good tradition of Japanese employment practices while retaining certain positive qualities. I believe our steps should be suffi­cient to establish the organization and total dedication, as well as increase management capability to connect business strategy and the D&I to boost internal and ex­ternal communication to create a more inclusive culture within businesses, and enhance some HR principles to support individual companies as well as network busi­ness leaders and corporations.

“My distinctive function should be a thought-partner of business executives as well as a social influencer, not just within corporate responsibility, but also with some responsibility and influence on social issues”

In your opinion, what are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What is your success mantra?

When I tell my career story, nothing is wasted in ma­terial life; I just integrate all my experience from my government officer experience to business consultants, to global nonprofit experience to create the current value in this space. And especially, I feel my global experience is important. I cannot tell my story without my experi­ence, especially pro bono work back in 2018 -19 which up-raised my knowledge and experience to develop a global network and look at Japanese, and Asian corpo­rations and organizations objectively. The concepts and practices are rapidly progressing in the global business world with business priority on sustainability so I always thought that I need to be on the front line as a front runner.

When it comes to my success mantra, I think it is important that you learn from everyone and everything and I always try to perform with sincere integrity to­ward clients or employees towards society.

What is your vision for Kaleidist’s next growth phase?

We are still pretty much labor intensive, which is not sustainable for us. So our next business plan is to leverage digital by sharing knowledge, and developing digital materials and tools so that we can enhance and enlarge our service scope and clients beyond the current market.

Tsukiko Tsukahara, Founder And President,  Kaleidist

Work experience at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Boston Consulting Group, Catalyst Japan and founded Kaleidist K.K. in February 2018. As an expert in Diversity & Inclusion, she develops D&I strategies which coincide with the company strategy, identifies issues within the organization, and develops action plans to overcome these issues through her advisory and consulting work.