How Katsutoshi Leads Change by Balancing Career, Family, and Learning

One of the things that attracted Katsutoshi to the Digital Management Master’s program at Hyper Island was the fact that the average participant age was around 40, which suggested that he’d be learning alongside experienced professionals.

At the time, generative AI tools like ChatGPT were gaining momentum, which also made it feel like the perfect moment for him to step back and learn through hands-on experience while the wave was still forming. 

Hoping to work abroad in the future, Katstoshi wanted to immerse himself in a truly diverse, global environment, a stark contrast to the relatively homogeneous consulting world he currently operated in.

It’s a balancing act: late-night lectures across time zones, client deliverables, and family routines. But this is the journey Katsutoshi chose – to stretch himself, expand his toolkit, and see how far a global, hands-on program could take him.

Balancing work, study, and parenting isn’t easy. With two young children at home and demanding consulting projects, every hour counts. On weeks with live client projects as part of the Hyper Island program – where teams collaborated directly with real-world companies and presented solutions to them – he’d have one or two meetings with classmates, attend one lecture, and fit everything else around family life.

Joining from Japan meant classes sometimes ran from midnight to 3 a.m. “Friday and Saturday sessions started right during our kids’ bath and dinner time,” he says. “I sometimes joined class while holding one of my children.”

Despite the challenges, Katsutoshi found ways to make it work – leaning on structure, communication, and flexibility. When his second child was born mid-program, he used parental leave to lighten his work responsibilities, creating just enough breathing room to continue learning.

Balancing consulting projects, studies, and parenting meant Katsutoshi had to approach each week with intention. Over time, he learned that communication and flexibility were essential.

At first, he was hesitant to mention his time constraints to classmates. But as the course progressed, he became more open about his situation – and in return, he stayed flexible when others needed to prioritise travel or take time off. It became a mutual rhythm of support and understanding.

His guiding principle throughout the program has been simple: always leave room for flexibility.

That same mindset guided his choice of program. 

“I wouldn’t have applied if the program hadn’t been part-time,” he explains. Having previously completed a fully online university course, he found it lacked the human connection that makes learning come alive. Hyper Island’s blended format, combining online collaboration with immersive on-site weeks in Stockholm, offered the best of both worlds: real flexibility and real connection.

And as he progressed through the program, Katsutoshi realised that the lessons he was learning reached far beyond productivity and planning.

For Katsutoshi, the program wasn’t just about learning new frameworks or mastering tools – it was about understanding what learning really means in a changing world.

He became especially interested in how AI can enhance our work, but also where its limits are. “There’s plenty of information and hype around AI, but how many people have actually tested these tools themselves? Using them hands-on gives you insights you can’t get from reading or watching others talk about it,” he says.

What stood out the most to Katsutoshi was the human side of learning. Working with classmates from all over the world – people with completely different backgrounds, cultures, and ways of thinking – challenged him in unexpected ways.

The lectures themselves often reinforced ideas he’d already encountered during his consulting career, but that wasn’t the point. What made Hyper Island different was the depth of interaction, the diversity of thought, the discussions, and the creative process that unfolded between people.

“Content can be self-taught,” he says. “What Hyper Island offers is the depth of learning that comes through diverse human interaction, and that has been the richest part of the experience.”

When asked what advice he’d give to others thinking about studying while working and raising a family, Katsutoshi’s answer is reassuring: it’s possible, if you plan with care and set realistic expectations.

“You won’t do everything perfectly, but you can make it work within the time you have,” he says. Before applying, he simulated the schedule carefully to see if it would fit his life, only committing once he was sure it was physically manageable.

He believes that managers, freelancers, and others who have some control over their time will find the balance easier, but for anyone, it’s about mindset. “If I can make decisions I won’t regret later, then I know I’m on the right path,” he adds.

That philosophy of choosing growth, even when it’s inconvenient, has carried him through long nights, family responsibilities, and a demanding job. Along the way, between consulting projects, parenting routines, and global collaboration, Katsutoshi has learned to approach both life and work with a new kind of awareness.

It’s a reminder that personal growth doesn’t always mean stepping away from what you’re doing. Sometimes, it’s simply about learning to see it differently.

If you’re curious how Hyper Island’s part-time, online Master’s in Digital Management can fit into your life, explore the program and see how learning can move you forward.

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