1. The Passion Behind “The Fun-Loving Corporation” | KAYAC

Companies have personalities, too

“A company is a person, and each has their own personality.” This is an idea we read about when we were setting up KAYAC and found ourselves wondering what a company really is. Well, if that’s true, exactly what kind of personality did we want our company to have?

We thought, “Okay! Let’s make it a fun person!”

That’s why, since our inauguration in 1998, we’ve called ourselves “The Fun-Loving Corporation.” It’s what makes KAYAC “KAYAC.” That’s where “The Fun-Loving Corporation” comes from.

The three levels of passion within The Fun-Loving Corporation

Nicknaming ourselves “The Fun-Loving Corporation” was simply an intuitive decision at first, but after thinking about it time and time again, we realized our passion could be divided into three distinct levels.

Firstly, we should have fun.
Secondly, we should make people say we’re fun.
Thirdly, we should make somebody else’s life more fun.

Let us explain with a little more detail about these three levels.

Level 1 - “Firstly, we should have fun.”

If we’re going to call ourselves “The Fun-Loving Corporation,” we decided we have to make our company a fun place to work at each day, and we’re always coming up with different ways to do so.

A prime example, is our evaluation system which encourages having fun while working. At a company which aims to be a place where people have fun while working, the people working in the most fun ways should be the ones acting as organization leaders, and if the members of a team are not having fun while working, then the leader of that team gets replaced. To achieve this, we visualize using an index which measures how much fun individuals and teams are having while working, and we have teams with low index scores try to come up with ways to have more fun while working.

An evaluation system with a passion helps create a culture within a company. A company’s style is defined by the kind of people that organization values highly.

However, each time we try something different, we are reminded that this first level ? to have fun ourselves ? is indeed the most difficult. Whether you’re in the middle of a crisis, or stuck in the monotony of everyday life, it truly is hard to have fun all of the time.

But unless you can clear Level 1 properly, and truly have fun, there’s no way you can make it to Level 2 or 3. It’s just like the saying “You can’t love others if you don’t love yourself.”

That’s why we believe the first step is not to be a fun person, but rather, to be a person who has fun.

Level 2 - “We should make people say we’re fun.”

We have as much fun as possible - that alone should be enough to make us happy. But if people from an objective point of view think we look like fun, and actually say so, that means we can become a presence with an influence on society.

Once we have that ability to influence, then we can then work towards our level 3 goal, which is to increase the number of people having fun in the world, even if its just one person at a time. One approach to realizing these objectives is to create projects that people will enjoy so much they talk about how fun the projects are and how fun our company is.

This "a company's very existence can be fun" concept is a new and unique concept being pioneered by KAYAC.

For example, we decide our salaries by the roll of a dice. We have an unconventional recruitment system. We’re free to choose how and where we work. We’re even trying to form an unprecedented relationship with our stockholders. In other words, we aim to make even the simple, everyday operations of the company something that looks like fun.

Level 3 - “Make somebody else’s life more fun.”

The final step is not for ourselves ? we believe we should try to increase the number of people in the world who have fun, by however many we can.

So, at the first level we become professionals at having fun. At the second level, we have enough fun that people say so. At the third level, we change society. This is our plan. This is also precisely why we put The Fun-Loving Corporation on the stock market.

After all that has been said above, it may sound strange now, but it takes a lot of courage to say you yourself are "a fun person", without being embarrassed. But backed by the three levels of passion expressed by our "The Fun-Loving Corporation" nickname, we are determined to continue living up to and earning that name.

Worlds are created by words. Since we are the "The Fun-Loving Corporation", we have worked to create a world based on those words. We truly believe that the words "The Fun-Loving Corporation" are the font and inspiration for our unique sense of values.

…more!