What would you do if a man you’ve been seeing long-term and truly respect asked you to take over his company? I might get a boyfriend or even get married someday (although that seems impossible right now), and since no one knows what the future holds, should I turn him down when I consider the potential risks?

This is Mamiya from Universe. Those are more beautiful words than a proposal!! Congratulations!

I’m Tetsu, a male member. It’s amazing that you’ve been asked to take over the company. Ultimately, it’s up to how you feel, but running a business is mentally, physically, and financially tougher than you might expect. As the owner, you’ll be responsible not only for yourself, but also for your employees, business partners, and the livelihoods of their families. If you abandon the business partway through and the company goes under, your employees could lose their jobs, your business partners could lose work, and the families involved could suffer financially. Of course, if things go well, your own life may become more prosperous. But you also need to be prepared for the possibility of losing your own money if the business fails. If you’ve considered all the possibilities and feel you can accept everything that comes with it, I think it would be fine to take the offer.

I’m Maezawa from the CEO’s office, and I’ll answer as well. I’m not entirely sure what form this succession would take. Would it involve adoption and inheriting the business? If you would become his adopted child and take over, it sounds like you would inherit it after that man passed away. Is he asking you to be there for him until the end of his life? If so, while he’s still alive, things naturally won’t always go the way you want. It would probably be difficult, almost like an apprenticeship, and after watching you for about a year, he might decide that he still couldn’t entrust the business to you. Even so, you would have the opportunity to learn a great deal from him, so if you’re interested in management, I think it would be worth accepting. You would probably spend around five years training under him. Also, if that’s the arrangement, it seems you would still be able to get married if you met someone you truly liked—but that would depend on exactly what “taking over” entails. If you’re interested in management and there don’t seem to be any major downsides, such as issues with getting married, I think you could consider accepting.

I’m Date◎Yume, a male member. That sounds great! Running a company can be really interesting（笑） It might be worth considering. That said, you’d need to carefully check the company’s business, financial condition, employees, and so on. If you feel you could run the company while maintaining a good relationship with the man you’re seeing, it might be worth accepting. I can’t tell what kind of skills you have from your question alone, but if you’re not confident, it would probably be safer to decline.

I’m Kazu, a male member. It depends on the industry, the company’s financial situation, and your skills, but in most cases, I think it would be better to turn it down. Generally speaking, there’s probably a greater chance that he’ll have to shut down his company before he gets a girlfriend or gets married. Also, since the owners of small and medium-sized businesses usually personally guarantee the company’s debts, if the company goes bankrupt, those debts become the owner’s personal liabilities.

I’m male member Kamihikōki. That’s one option I hadn’t thought of. Very helpful—thank you. The question of succession is certainly something to think about. I’m not sure how closely the company is connected to you, how extensive its operations are, or what its scale is. However, my impression is that there must be some kind of connection—or perhaps, even if you don’t feel directly involved, the man in question sees the prosperity of that business or company as something made possible by you. From the man’s perspective, I imagine he has made arrangements to minimize risks for at least the next 10 to 20 years. So if you were to take over, I think he might feel deeply moved, seeing it as something truly meaningful—a reason to feel that his life in this world had been worthwhile. P.S. In my case, we started a new business together. If it goes well, it will make use of her area of expertise, so outsourcing the work to her as a separate company—or even handing everything over to her—could be an option. There would be no employees, no investment required, and no inventory to manage, so we could quit whenever we wanted. If it succeeds, the employees of the original company would benefit too. I talked to them about the new business countless times, but they never came up with any ideas. So I discussed it with her and was able to start it together with her. If it develops successfully, I’m sure the employees of the original company will be extremely grateful and unable to look us in the eye… Well, if I hadn’t met her, I probably never would have thought about starting it either. Life is all about chance encounters—you never know what might happen or where. It would be fantastic if things worked out, but even just imagining it as a fun dream has already made me feel a little happier…