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The ���򾺲��Ƽ� updated its corporate purpose statement in 2023, expanding it from “Our mission is to contribute to the world’s food and wellness, and to better lives for the future” to “Contributing to the well-being of all human beings, our society and our planet with ‘AminoScience.’”

Though pleased with the new slogan, the update inspired management to take things a step further. They wished to implement a series of activities in line with this new statement that would both communicate how the company’s management values their most important intangible asset: the people they work with.

To communicate, and further enhance, this value, the ���򾺲��Ƽ� established the Our Philosophy Promotion Group (OPG) in 2024. To learn more, we spoke with two members of the OPG team, who shared insights into some of their activities, how some of these activities are structured, the difficulties of conducting them across a global organization, and the impact OPG is having on employees.

The ���򾺲��Ƽ� headquarters in Japan established the Our Philosophy Promotion Group to spearhead global initiatives that would raise awareness of, and sympathy with, the group’s purpose statement—Contributing to the well-being of all human beings, our society and our planet with “AminoScience”—under the leadership of Mr. Masahiro Kakehi.

Put more concretely, the OPG team is currently responsible for designing and implementing workshops for all 35,000 employees of the ���򾺲��Ƽ�. These workshops encourage participants to articulate their personal motivations, strengths, and values, and to spread conscious awareness of how one’s purpose aligns with that of the ���򾺲��Ƽ�.

Mr. Kakehi: We are involved in more than just workshops. We also organize, promote, and hold the ASV Awards program for outstanding initiatives. We also work with related teams to engage in regular dialogue with management to get a sense of how they feel about various topics, compare those insights with how people on the ground understand the situation, and ensure there are no miscommunications between these various sectors of the company.

Ms. Anh: I would add that we also play a prominent role by cooperating with many other teams and departments. We work particularly closely with the Global Communication Department and encourage greater awareness and understanding of the various initiatives the company is engaged in.

They work alongside two other team members who are in charge of rolling out initiatives in Japan and providing support. As a team, they are designing and implementing a suite of initiatives to raise awareness of the new corporate philosophy, starting with the My Purpose initiative.

���򾺲��Ƽ�’s approach to corporate value creation is driven by the ASV (���򾺲��Ƽ� Creating Shared Value) Management Cycle, which is a process used by the ���򾺲��Ƽ� to create social and economic value by helping its employees relate to the company’s Purpose and internalize the company’s goals as their own initiatives. This cycle consists of several key steps:

1. 1. Understanding/Sense-making
2. 2. Empathy/Resonance
3. 3. Execution/Realization
4. 4. Monitoring/Improvement

The Our Philosophy Promotion Group’s initiatives, including My Purpose Workshops, fit into the early stages of this cycle, specifically, the “Understanding/Sense-making” steps of the process. The goal of these workshops is to help employees internalize the ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s philosophy and engage with ASV on a personal level by first reflecting on themselves, their own personal values and ambitions. When employees have an awareness of self that they can immediately articulate and describe how that aligns with the company’s Purpose, they are more likely to feel a sense of ownership over their work, take initiative, and contribute meaningfully to the company’s goals.

The My Purpose Workshops were designed as a structured yet deeply personal process to help employees recognize their own motivations and connect them with the ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s broader Purpose. The initiative follows a two-step action:

1. 1. Participants reflect on their core values, aspirations, and strengths.
2. 2. Participants develop action plans to integrate their personal purpose into their professional roles.

Each workshop consists of several stages:

• ●�Ķ�Preparing a Life Chart: Participants create a “life chart” based on a reflection of their life experiences.
• ●�Ķ�Identifying Strengths (Optional): Participants identify their top five strengths, then remember when and how those strengths were utilized in their professional and personal lives.
• ●�Ķ�Identifying Core Values: Participants define their top five values, which serve as guiding principles.
• ●�Ķ�Crafting a My Purpose Statement: Using their reflections, participants create a short, memorable statement that encapsulates their purpose.
• ●�Ķ�Sharing and Aligning with the ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s Purpose: Participants discuss how their individual purpose can connect with the company’s broader Purpose.

Crucially, the workshops strive to maintain psychological safety as a part of supporting an open environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with others.

One pivotal aspect of “My Purpose” is that it is not about what the company wants from employees, but about what employees themselves value and wish to actualize. This distinction enables participants to think beyond corporate goals and focus on their own motivations and aspirations.

When conducting the My Purpose Workshops, there are two key points that OPG and its collaborators pay special attention to.

The most important aspect of the workshop is not thinking about the “purpose” of the ���򾺲��Ƽ�, but rather focusing on one’s own personal purpose. This is a critical point that OPG repeatedly emphasizes to both workshop ambassadors and participants.

Ms. Anh: We want people to think about the motivations that drive their actions, and to verbalize their strengths and values. The My Purpose Statement that comes out of these workshops is meant to encapsulate the type of life the participant intends to live.

Another key principle of the workshop is to never reject or dismiss any participant’s response.

By respecting and affirming all contributions, OPG promotes diversity and inclusivity, ensuring that each person’s values and perspectives are acknowledged and accepted.

However, as mentioned earlier, some participants may struggle to articulate their strengths or aspirations, leading them to create generic statements or those that closely resemble the ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s corporate purpose.

Even in these cases, the ideal approach envisioned by OPG is to first recognize and validate a given participant’s response rather than instructing them to come up with a different statement. Instead of imposing a predefined direction, participants are gently guided through open-ended questions that encourage deeper self-reflection.

Mr. Kakehi: When confronting this sort of situation, I tend to ask people guiding questions, such as: “Is this truly your personal purpose, or does it sound more like the company’s?” and “Does this statement really reflect what is most important to you?” By encouraging this open and non-judgmental atmosphere, we ensure that every participant feels comfortable exploring their own values, ultimately leading to a more meaningful and authentic understanding of their purpose.

The ���򾺲��Ƽ� operates in more than 30 countries in addition to Japan, consists of over 100 major group companies, and employs approximately 35,000 individuals, making the rollout of the My Purpose initiative a complex undertaking. To ensure global engagement, the OPG team developed a multi-phase approach:

The team first presented the concept to top management in Japan and each regional headquarters (North America, Latin America, ASEAN, Europe and Africa, and East Asia). Once each region’s leadership recognized the value of the initiative, they attended a day-long My Purpose Workshop themselves to experience it firsthand. They then provided feedback to help tailor the workshops to fit the region’s various business models, cultural contexts, and individualized needs.

To reach tens of thousands of employees across different languages and cultures, the team decided to recruit “My Purpose Ambassadors”—employees trained to conduct the workshops within the company they are affiliated with.

Ambassadors undergo three stages of training:

• Step 1: Learning the basic structure of a My Purpose Workshop.
• Step 2: Conducting workshops under OPG supervision.
• Step 3: Running workshops independently while adapting them to local needs.

Ms. Anh: It goes without saying that communication styles differ around the world, and not just in terms of the language spoken, but also in terms of style and approach. One crucial advantage of having locally recruited ambassadors is that they can customize the workshops to better resonate with local employees. For example, in Thailand, sessions incorporate colorful materials and high-energy activities to match cultural preferences. The flexibility to adapt the core My Purpose Workshop structure as deemed appropriate by those most familiar with local culture ensures that the workshops remain engaging and effective across diverse work environments.

Ambassadors also maintain daily communications with the OPG team in Japan. These daily check-ins provide opportunities for giving progress updates to headquarters, as well as sharing information about which techniques proved to be effective or ineffective. Ms. Anh and her team in Japan are always available to help ambassadors with any challenges they face, and are always willing to accept feedback that helps improve the initiative overall.

The ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s leadership intended for the My Purpose Workshops to encourage employees to engage in self reflection and, as a result, demonstrate greater motivation, engagement, and alignment with the ASV Management Cycle, which is a human resource development framework that ultimately generates social and economic value for society.

Mr. Kakehi: So far, outcomes have been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve noticed that employees are taking greater initiative in their work and they report experiencing greater meaning in their careers. One of the more unexpected outcomes from this initiative has been deeper cross-departmental collaboration. Teams that previously had little interaction are exhibiting noticeably more communication and cooperation.

To measure success, the OPG team conducts a questionnaire to listen to the responses of participants after each workshop, and they will also monitor the impact of activities on employees’ empathy with the philosophy, and how that empathy turns into employees’ challenging spirit at work, in an annual engagement survey, looking for shifts in employee sentiment over time. They believe in future notable increases in motivation and alignment with ASV.

The My Purpose initiative has garnered praise and enthusiasm from practically everyone who has experienced it. The overwhelming majority of participants provided positive feedback, such as “I realized I have strongly held values,” “Thank you for helping me realize things about my own motivations,” and “I never really thought about these things before!” That said, other comments suggested that some participants are not quite as satisfied as they could be. The OPG team takes these comments seriously and strives to adapt the workshops to address any criticisms that arise.

Moreover, due to the dynamics of some regions, some group companies report feeling compelled to prioritize improving some of their more complex core operations before engaging in the My Purpose Workshops.

Another concern is reaching employees in roles that lack easy access to digital tools, such as factory operators and sales staff. Together with the Ambassadors and HR teams of Group companies, the OPG team is actively developing alternative formats to facilitate employees participating in and experiencing the personal benefits of the My Purpose Workshops.

• • ●�Ķ�Expanding Participation: The goal is to reach all 35,000 employees by the end of fiscal 2025, while also bringing new hires on board.
  • ●�Ķ�Launching Follow-Up Workshops: Employees will have opportunities to revisit and refine their My Purpose Statements as their careers evolve.
  • ●�Ķ�Incorporating My Purpose into Goal Setting: Beginning in fiscal 2025, sharing of My Purpose reflections and individual goals will be linked to Individual Targets Presentation (the annual session conducted for people to present their individual plans for the fiscal year, reinforcing their will by verbalizing their goals and, on the other hand, increase empathy from those who are listening).
  • ●�Ķ�Integrating Other Key Concepts: Future initiatives will focus on promoting understanding of the ASV Management Cycle, ���򾺲��Ƽ� Way, and “AminoScience.”
  • ●�Ķ�Global Ambassador Empowerment: The OPG team hopes to reinforce the important role the Ambassadors play in strengthening the program across the entire Group.

Mr. Kakehi: The My Purpose initiative has taken shape significantly since its launch. At this point, we would like employees to use the strengths, dreams, and vision they have clarified through the My Purpose workshops as a foundation to find connections with the ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s purpose. These connections are further supported annually through the ASV Management Cycle at the team and company-wide levels. This is ultimately what our team aims to achieve. In the long run, we hope to embed the My Purpose initiative into the company’s culture so deeply that it becomes a self-sustaining, permanent practice for all employees.

One thing is clear after speaking with Mr. Kakehi and Ms. Anh: The My Purpose initiative is not a corporate formality—it is a genuine effort to cultivate purpose-driven employees who feel empowered in their work.

Through the work of the Our Philosophy Promotion Group, the ���򾺲��Ƽ� is fostering a company culture where employees’ individual aspirations sync with the broader mission of “Eat Well, Live Well.”

As Ms. Anh put it:
“This is not just another HR initiative—it’s about helping people recognize their own potential and how they can contribute to something bigger.”

With thousands of employees already incorporating My Purpose statements into their work and plans for implementing additional initiatives underway, the ���򾺲��Ƽ�’s corporate philosophy is no longer just a statement—it is a lived experience, shaped by each individual in the organization.