The Future of a Company is Determined by the President's "Existential Rationality"

Existential Rationality #01
Title Illustration: How high is the sky of the "President's Reign"? m (The President's Existential Rationality and Anecdotes)

Hello.
I am Uchimoto, a producer at Secondo.

In my previous article, I talked about the origin of why I am involved with "Secondo." From here on, I will introduce what I practice in my role as a coach or second to presidents.

While receiving consultations on how to sell and market for many companies, our team noticed something.

That is,the future of a company is determined more by the president's "axis of decision-making" than by strategy or tactics.
To put it extremely, branding and marketing are meaningless.

Today, I will talk a little about that axis.

We use over 300 workshops to unearth the president's axis of decision-making. One of the yardsticks for this is "existential rationality."

This is a way of thinking born from the lineage ofexistentialism(Sartre, Heidegger, etc.).

The leading researcher ofexistential rationalityin Japan isYasuhiko Nomura (Representative of Slow Innovation / Professor at KIT Toranomon Graduate School). He is the teacher who inspired us to apply existential rationality to corporate management. Since our founding in 2010, Secondo's advisory has advocated for branding and marketing theories that utilizeexistentialism. Currently, Secondo has utilized its own empirical theory, which developedexistentialism andexistential rationality for business owners, in management. We have practiced this in over 1,000 projects* by 2025. (*As of the end of December 2025)

Currently, we are conducting various activities to spread existential rationality in corporate management to the world.

Did you know that there are two types of rationality in management decision-making?

There are broadly two types of rationality in the judgment axes used when making management decisions.

One ismarket rationality.
Decision-making in general society and business is mainly based on the following external rationalities.

Common sense, social evaluation, success patterns in the market or industry, past empirical rules, and organizational customs. These are often called social rationality or economic rationality.

・Is the market growing?
・How are competitors moving?
・Will it be profitable?
・Will it sell?
・Has it produced results in the past?

In other words, it is a
rationality judged by "whether you can win".
Of course, this is indispensable for management.

However, there is another type of rationality.

That isexistential rationality.

What is existential rationality?

On the other hand, existential rationality takes the following question as its starting point:
"What will I use this life for?".

In other words, it is a
rationality determined by "whether it has meaning"
rather than "whether it is a loss or a gain".

In other words,
・What value do I want to leave for society?
・Why does this business exist?
・What kind of future do I want to create?

This is a way of thinking that makes decisions based on these questions.

Existential rationality is about establishing decision-making criteria based on the reason for existence derived from these questions. It is said that when these criteria are clarified, the following changes occur in a person's decision-making.

1. Hesitation decreases.
2. Decision-making speed increases.
3. You are freed from surrounding noise.
4. Action energy is generated naturally.

Therefore, when we explain this to companies, we describe existential rationality not just as an improvement in mindset, but as the axis of decision-making (a code of conduct) =

a reconstruction of the corporate OS.

In fact, many CEOs are lost here.

When consulting with many people, I often hear these words:

"The product should be good, but for some reason, it doesn't sell."
"Even when I run ads, I get no response."
"I'm working hard on social media, but I don't know what to post."

At first glance, this looks like a marketing problem.

But in reality,the "meaning" of the company has not been verbalized,which is a very common case.

In other words,

If you manage only with market rationality,
short-term measures will increase.

However,

what the company isbecomes invisible.

As a result,
the ads, social media, and products all look disconnected.

The reason is that measures are taken based on the trends of the moment.
Competitors are doing it, so we do it too...
It's popular, so we do it too...
As a result, the ads, social media, products, and sales methods all look the same, and ultimately, the differences become indistinguishable.

Companies with existential rationality are strong.

Conversely, companies with clear existential rationality are strong.

This is becauseconsistency is created in all decision-making.

・What kind of products to create
・Who to deliver them to
・What kind of messaging to put out
・What kind of employees to work with

Everything connects through the axis of"Why do we exist?".

Then, strangely enough,
marketing,
branding,
and recruitment
all begin to "connect."

What isSecondo, which connects existential rationality and market rationality?

However, it is also a fact that "a company cannot run on the meaning of life alone."
That is why what is important isExistential Rationality <-> Market Rationality

Connecting these two.

In other words,
translating the CEO's life theme into market value.
This is the life work that we at Secondo are engaged in.

Articulating the desire within the CEO of "what I really want to do,"
and connecting it to

・Brand
・Products
・Price
・Marketing
・Messaging

By doing so,
not only do you pursue mere sales,
but a
"system where people gather and staff take initiative"is born within the company.The hint for that is
decision-making. (Click here for details)

Finally, let me ask you one question.
Is your companya company that sells things?or
a company that exists for a purpose?

I believe the answer to this question
is theyardstickof the current era.

Next Issue Preview

What kind of changes occur when you articulate a CEO's existential rationality?
I would like to touch upon the
workthat we actually perform.

Thank you for reading until the end.

Don't you want to know how to find your axis?
Click here for details