An age that truly asks
what a person is worth
Now that AI handles every kind of intellectual work, simply being clever is no longer worth much. What is asked for is the ability to understand people, move them and create happiness, with logic taken as a given. In other words, a more human kind of intelligence.
With strategy consulting at its core, Catalys has also stepped into business succession, taking on the work of carrying a company’s knowledge and intent through to the next era. We believe the real value lies in people and culture, which data and logic alone cannot move.
Our values are Brandmanship, Learn and Evolve Fast, EQ × Logic, Giver, and Cortisol Management.
Catalys is probably the only company in the world where every employee knows the word cortisol (the stress hormone).
We are still a young company, but we seriously intend to be one of Japan’s leading firms ten years from now. If the times change, consulting has to change with them.
There are no limits on how we get there.
At Catalys you can try things without being bound by convention.
As a catalyst for change, we will create value at a more fundamental level.
Come and build that future with us.
Updating consulting,
for the individual and the firm
Catalys is a management consultancy, and a startup taking on new things.
Consulting remains our core, but we are removing the ceiling that a conventional P&L consulting business runs into. In a P&L business, the profit you generate goes into hiring, and headcount becomes almost the only lever for growth. Structurally, that forces you to take on work with limited added value or limited room to grow.
At Catalys we also run a balance-sheet business that invests the profit we generate. That produces step-change growth which does not depend on headcount, and creates chances for people to grow alongside new businesses.
At the centre of that balance-sheet business is succession-driven M&A. Conventional consulting could never reach the three million-plus small and mid-sized companies in Japan, simply because of what it costs. Through succession we protect a company’s business, its name and its people, and create new value by delivering lasting growth. Doing that again and again is what produces step-change growth for Catalys itself.
Of course, we will keep doing whatever else a balance-sheet business makes possible, beyond succession.
Much of what management consulting has traditionally covered will be taken over by AI before long. That means consultants have to keep updating themselves, as a firm and as individuals.
Catalys offers projects worth doing, where you face the real question and sharpen your hypotheses. That is the skill that will remain valuable in this work. At the same time we do not want people who are all logic and no more than that: we value EQ, bringing people with us and actually moving the client. Clients are asking for that more and more.
To make that happen we gather good people and build a culture and a set of systems that raise mutual support, trust and psychological safety, so that each person performs at their best.
We also offer a free and demanding environment for growth, colleagues who are both capable and decent, and pay that reflects what you deliver.
Beyond all that, remaining an organisation where everyone can be happy is the key success factor for Catalys. If what we are trying to do resonates with you, come and make it real with us. We look forward to hearing from you.
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