This audio is generated by AI, so pronunciation and expressions may not be fully accurate. The narration is only in English.
Delivering the event's keynote speech was Dr. Sheena Iyengar, a professor at the Columbia Business School in New York City who is a leading global expert on the intersection of choice and innovation.
A primary message that Dr. Iyengar brought to the day's event was her advice toward those in attendance—young women in particular—to remain persistent when seeking to build their careers, even in the face of obstacles.
Acknowledging the barriers facing women in the workplace with respect to matters such as income level and networking, Dr. Iyengar emphasized that one key to helping pave an easier road forward is to secure a mentor—and to keep persisting until you find one.
"Assume that for every ten doors you knock on, at least nine will say no." she notes. "And so, your job is to keep knocking."
Suggesting concrete methods for achieving more egalitarian career fields, Dr. Iyengar also noted that companies could set up boxes for their employees to contribute ideas, wherein the identity of contributors would remain unknown. This would ensure that the ideas are judged solely on their merit, she observed, which would serve to prevent biases in areas including gender.
"Every company benefits from innovation, and women bring important new perspectives in this regard," she emphasized.
"It is difficult to be the only person in the room of a certain type, but let this work in your favor rather than against you," she continued. "Rather than thinking of this as awkward, what about thinking of it as a privilege?"
Dr. Iyengar is certainly not unfamiliar with navigating the matter of difference herself. The daughter of Indian immigrants to Canada, who was raised in the United States within a Sikh community, she is completely blind—having lost her sight as a teenager due to illness. "I grew up in a time period when people did not even think that blind people would be able to tie their own shoes," she recalls.
Today, Dr. Iyengar is the author of 2 award-winning books, who has earned numerous accolades including a 2023 ranking by the Thinkers50 as a Top 10 Management Thinker, and a 2022 designation by the Asian American Business Development Center as one of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business. Clearly, she herself is a living example of the power that comes from continuing to try instead of giving up—even when challenges and difficulties loom large.
Dr. Iyengar's university enterpreneurial program includes a generative AI app—the Choice Mapper, featuring her Think Bigger method—that assists with solving problems both big and small. Among the program's 40 members, she says, 10 are now on their way toward becoming entrepreneurs themselves—at least 5 of whom are women.
"I teach my students to think bigger," she observes.
Dr. Iyengar's research focuses upon the three distinctive prisms or stories through which our lives as human beings may be recounted: that of fate, chance or choice. "And while all of these stories are true, only the last one—choice—gives us the power to create change," she emphasizes.
"In order to achieve what we want, we may need to push past what we do not," she notes. "We cannot be afraid of choice."
"Here in Japan, people are often told shikata ga nai ("it can't be helped"), which is a phrase I really do not like," she commented with a smile during an interview prior to the Women in Action event.
"Of course, some things may not be possible; but this should not be the baseline," she added. "Instead, we should ask: What can we create?"
Dr. Iyengar's resarch into the matter of choice was closely shaped by factors including experiences that she had while living in Japan in 1995. She touches upon this in one of her immensely popular TED talks, "The Art of Choosing", where she endearingly recounts an episode in Kyoto of trying to order green tea with sugar, only to be refused due to this contravening Japanese tradition—something she was unused to as an American, where personal choice in a similar context would have taken precedent.
The day's events also featured a panel discussion that addressed the main theme of Women in Action: Choosing Your Career. Moderated by Kaleidist K.K. CEO Tsukahara Tsukiko, the panel also featured Governor of Tokyo Koike Yuriko and Asahi Group Holdings Chairman Akiyoshi Koji in addition to Dr. Iyengar.
During the discussion, Governor Koike noted the existence of an unconscious gender related bias—and the need to become liberated from it. Pointing toward the 1986 creation of Japan's Equal Employment Opportunity Act as a step in this direction, the governor observed how challenges can be turned into opportunities along the road to achieving gender equality. She explained the policy success that her administration experienced, for example, after creatively adjusting the terminology for parental leave by removing the character for "rest" and instead phrasing this as ikugyou ("parental duty"). This change prompted a tenfold paternity leave rate increase within the Tokyo metropolis, she explained—thereby helping to propel more women into the workforce.
Dr. Iyengar echoed this success, motioning toward the governor and noting, "A decade ago, nobody would have thought that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government would be headed by a woman. In fact, this is something that we have yet to do in New York."
In addition, Dr. Iyengar noted that Tokyo has been admirably successful under Governor Koike's leadership in areas such as employment policies involving childcare, which have included the metropolitan government's spring 2025 introduction of a 4-day workweek and flexible working hours for government officials. Dr. Iyengar suggested that similar initiatives could also be modeled by Japan's companies, which would thereby further encourage gender equality.
Asked about how similar successes might occur in Japan, Dr. Iyengar is optimistic.
"People in Japan are phenomenal at creating rules and rituals, and then following them down to the letter, which is brilliant," she observes. "So the TMG could create new entrepreneurial or mentorship programs for young people. The youth are the ones who can make new futures possible."
