Leading Mark

About Leading Mark

Leading Mark is a human resources technology company that operates the HR platform "Mikiwame" to improve employee well-being and performance. The company's core services revolve around its proprietary personality analysis technology, which is utilized in products like "Mikiwame Aptitude Test," "Mikiwame Wellbeing Survey," and "Mikiwame Management." The firm serves a wide range of clients, from startups to large corporations such as Mitsubishi Corporation and L'Oreal, with over 2,000 companies using its services.

Founded in January 2008 by Yuji Iida while he was a student at the University of Tokyo, the company was initially named ist Inc. and later rebranded to Leading Mark in September 2011. Iida was motivated to start the company after conducting a survey and discovering that only 18-21% of Japanese professionals felt engaged in their work. The company's mission is to help people achieve self-actualization through their work. A significant turning point came in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when the company's main business of in-person recruitment events collapsed, causing a 70% drop in sales and a high employee turnover rate of over 30%. This crisis spurred the development of the online "Mikiwame" product suite, which has since become the company's flagship offering.

The "Mikiwame Aptitude Test" helps prevent hiring mismatches by analyzing a company's culture based on existing employees' personality data and then assessing the compatibility of candidates. The "Mikiwame Wellbeing Survey" is a pulse survey designed to prevent employee turnover and leaves of absence by visualizing the mental state of individuals and the organization, providing personality-based advice for improvement. The platform also includes "Mikiwame AI," a ChatGPT-powered function that offers unbiased recommendations for management actions. Additionally, Leading Mark operates "Mikiwame Career," a platform for students, and "NEXVEL," a members-only career support service for students from top universities. The business model is primarily subscription-based (SaaS).