In global organizations, teams may be looking at the same numbers or events, yet still come away with very different understandings of what is actually happening and what should take priority.

This is a challenge Recruit Holdings Representative Director, President and CEO Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba has experienced firsthand, including during his time as President and CEO of Indeed.

To bridge this gap, he has refined a simple approach: communicate in words that paint a vivid picture. In this article, Deko sheds light on why creating “a vivid picture” matters, and how it ultimately helps accelerate execution.

Paint a Vivid Picture to Align Situational Awareness

“I’ve never been exceptionally smart. I’m not the gritty type, and I don’t have exceptional stamina either,” Deko says. “That’s why I see my role as bringing out the best performance in the people I work with.”

One of the biggest challenges, he adds, is that as organizations grow, it becomes harder for everyone to maintain a shared understanding of what is really happening.

“When you have tens of thousands of employees, not everyone is facing clients every day, and not everyone hears the voice of users every day,” he says. “So it becomes harder to see what’s going on. Are we winning or losing?”

When that basic understanding isn’t shared, even highly capable people can begin making decisions in different directions.

To explain the problem, Deko turns to sports.

“In baseball, if you hear ‘bottom of the ninth, down by one,’ everyone immediately understands the situation and what matters most,” he says. “But in an organization where people work together across different countries, roles, and backgrounds, that kind of shared ‘obvious’ context doesn’t exist.”

That’s why he focuses on communication that creates a clear picture for everyone.

For example, when discussing goals, he doesn’t start with a number. Instead, he describes what the world looks like when that goal has been achieved.

“If one billion people used Indeed, you could be traveling anywhere in the world and someone might say, ‘I know that T-shirt: Indeed helped me get a job.’ That would be incredible, so let’s aim for it.”

For Deko, the difference between this style and the more traditional way of communicating is significant.
“Painting a vivid picture like that lands very differently from simply saying, ‘Our target is one billion users.’”

This emphasis on “pictures” is not just a leadership style. In a global organization, it is also a practical necessity.

“My messages get translated into multiple languages,” he says. “If I use phrasing that depends on a specific culture or custom, it may not come across. That’s why it’s so important to communicate in a way that paints a clear picture.”

Add Emotion to Create Ownership

Another element Deko values is emotion.
“Emotions, joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, are a powerful source of energy,” he says.
“If sales come in 10% below target, saying ‘That’s unfortunate’ isn’t the same as saying honestly, ‘No, this makes me sad.’ I think the second says more.”

For Deko, expressing emotion is not about dramatizing a situation. It is about sharing how much it matters so that others begin to feel it as well.
“When that sense of urgency or importance comes through, people begin to take it on as their own,” he says.
“What I care about is creating an environment where everyone genuinely feels ‘Let’s do this.’ I don’t want to give top-down orders.”

A System That Channels Passion Into Action

Ultimately, what Deko wants to build is an environment where people take action because they find the work genuinely interesting.

“It’s more exciting than saying, ‘This was decided in an executive meeting, so everyone needs to do it,’” he says.
“It’s more like, ‘If you’re interested, come join: want to do it together?’”

He tries to lead from the front with genuine excitement.

“Even now, I’ll say something like: ‘I believe AI can change job search around the world in ways like this, and that would be meaningful. Honestly, it sounds fascinating.’ And I’m the one out front, having the most fun doing it.”

To turn “that sounds interesting” into real momentum, the first thing Deko checks is whether the work itself is meaningful.

“I want meetings to be as short as possible,” he says. “Two minutes in, I’ll ask, ‘Do we really need this?’”

For years, he has also run meetings as “open attendance”.
“Just because the CEO called a meeting doesn’t mean everyone needs to show up,” he says.

His standard is simple: are we wasting people’s best years?

“My criterion is whether it’s becoming a waste of people’s time and passion,” he says.
That mindset also shapes how he approaches experimentation. He keeps initiatives small, for example, trying something for just two weeks at first, so learning happens quickly and execution never slows down.

“Failure is fine. Any amount of it,” he says.
“But in the end, we have to win. I believe that’s the leader’s responsibility. We win by making use of everyone’s failures. That’s management.”

Shortening Time to Hire and Making Job Search Easier

Today, as CEO of Recruit Holdings and President and CEO of Indeed, Deko is focused on a major challenge: reducing the time it takes to get hired.

Because work has such a profound impact on people’s lives, he believes that the faster organizations can move, from decision-making to execution, the better.

“If you go three months with no income, around 40% of people worldwide would fall into poverty,” he says^*1.
“That’s why reducing the time it takes for someone to land their next job is a challenge worth tackling with technology.”

Every day, he continues to share vivid pictures with teammates around the world,— describing how exciting it will be when that mission becomes reality.

What ultimately accelerates the mission, he believes, is whether each person carries the energy of “this sounds interesting” and “I want to try.”
That belief continues to guide him.

“Job search still takes this much time,” he says.
“I believe we can shorten it, even a little, with technology. And if that change can help protect people’s lives, then it’s worth dedicating our lives, mine and our employees’, to making it happen.”

Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba

Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.

Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba is a seasoned leader with a proven track record of driving innovation and growth across two-sided marketplaces. Currently, he serves as Representative Director, President and CEO of Recruit Holdings, and President and CEO of Indeed.
Previously, Deko led Recruit’s acquisition of Indeed and later became its CEO. He also led the acquisition of Glassdoor in 2018 and was appointed Head of Recruit’s HR Technology Business in 2021. Under his leadership, Recruit’s HR technology brands – including Indeed and Glassdoor – have evolved into the world’s leading HR matching services.
Earlier in his career, Deko was instrumental in leading the digital transformation of several Recruit Group businesses, including Jalan, a travel service, and Hot Pepper Beauty, a salon reservation platform. He successfully transitioned these services from print to digital, helping to normalize online booking in Japan.