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眞鍋かをりのBUSINESS FRONTIERS【2026年3月2日】　ゲスト：株式会社Hite&Co. 代表取締役社長・ビジネス書「戦略総務」の著者　金英範さん

March 2, 2026·29 min·2 clips

A zainichi Korean soumu expert argues Japan's 150 million general affairs workers hold the key to national revitalization.

Manabe Kaori opens by noting she has never worked in a company and finds the concept of 'soumu' (general affairs) opaque. Kim Hidenori, CEO of Hite & Co., begins by contrasting soumu with more legible departments: HR, accounting, legal, and PR are all easier to define. He explains that in a startup, the founder is effectively the soumu department, handling registration, hiring, and office setup, and that as companies grow, other functions split off while soumu absorbs what remains. Kim uses the metaphor of a theatrical stage: the actors perform, but the lighting crew, prop masters, and costume designers make the performance possible — soumu is the producer who coordinates all of them. He describes his own career path across roughly seven major corporations, including Goldman Sachs and Nissan, noting that in global companies this kind of specialist soumu career is normal under titles like 'facility management' or 'corporate services.' The hardest aspect of the job, he says, is that success is invisible — clean air conditioning and smooth operations go unnoticed — while any failure draws immediate complaints. This dynamic pushes soumu practitioners toward risk-aversion, but Kim argues that taking calculated risks is precisely where the greatest returns lie, citing a cafeteria overhaul that earned rare public praise from employees. He holds a first-class architect's license, which he explains is essential for negotiating with contractors and design firms as a peer rather than being misled by them. Equally important, he says, is a hotel-service mindset: the office is a hotel, employees are guests, and the soumu team are hosts responsible for their comfort from arrival to departure. Kim frames this as 'hospitality' in its original sense — the relationship between host and guest — distinct from the Japanese concept of 'omotenashi.' He introduces the emerging role of Chief Happiness Officer and Employee Engagement Officer as evidence that companies are beginning to formalize what soumu has always done informally. His stated belief is that energizing soumu professionals energizes employees, which energizes companies, and ultimately energizes Japan. He cites approximately 150 soumu professionals in Japan responsible for the working environment of roughly 60 million workers. As a zainichi Korean, he says he can see Japan's strengths — particularly its capacity for harmony and teamwork — more clearly than those inside the culture. His future plans include education programs targeting new graduates, career-changers, and parents returning from childcare leave, whom he considers natural soumu candidates because parenting shares soumu's core challenge: thankless coordination work aimed at others' happiness. Manabe reflects that the conversation has completely changed her image of soumu and that she intends to read Kim's book.

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