The Truth Behind the “Top-Performing Salesman” Who Disappeared — A Workplace Breaking Down Behind Profit

Whoa… I could hear the project we thought we had won quietly falling apart.

■ Year 8 in My Career, A 200-Person Battlefield

Back then, I was in my 8th year as a professional, right in the middle of a large-scale project involving 200 people.
Complex, intertwined requirements, swelling expectations, and invisible pressure.
Even so, the team stayed united and somehow kept moving forward.

空いた時間でお小遣いを貯めよう！「アイリサーチ」   

■ The “Other Protagonist” Behind the Victory

The one who secured the project was a certain salesperson.
However—he was infamous internally as a “power-harassing salesman.”

I deliberately kept my distance.
I avoided receiving direct instructions from him and focused solely on development.
That was my way of protecting myself.

But as I got promoted and became more visible within the project,
our paths began to cross little by little.

■ The True Nature of “Winning” Revealed Later

I later learned that he had won deals through aggressive price negotiations.
He extracted pricing information from clients and then undercut it even further.

A strategy completely optimized for “winning.”
Sure, it secured projects. It boosted evaluations.

But what was happening behind the scenes?

■ A Project That Starts in the Red

Development began entirely in the red.
And the burden fell entirely on the frontlines.

The head of development reportedly struggled,
constantly asking, “How can we make this work under these conditions?”

Even when we subtly asked the client side,
we heard, “They pushed hard to get our pricing.”

In other words—the distortion existed from the very beginning.

■ A System Ruled by “Cheapness”

What was prioritized in this project was not the essence of the system.

How cheap can we make it?
How can we win through sales?

As a result, design was postponed.
Programs were forcefully layered on top of an incomplete structure.

Naturally, limits were reached.

The frontline became exhausted,
and no one spoke about “why this happened.”

■ The Reality That Operations Still Work

Ironically, once the project moved into the operational phase, profits began to appear.
The numbers balanced out.

That’s why this approach continues to survive as a “successful model.”

But what gets consumed behind it?
Trust on the ground and the sustainability of technology.

■ The “Human Intentions” Behind Financial Systems

This experience made me realize something.
Even the financial systems at the core of Japan
are not driven purely by logic.

They are influenced by human evaluations, intentions, and power dynamics.

In other words, systems are built on “human structures.”

■ And Then, He Disappeared

Perhaps he went too far.

One day, a personnel transfer was announced.
He moved to another company—as an executive.

At a young age, almost like a form of “descent from heaven.”

Honestly, I couldn’t process it.

■ The Question Left Behind

So what happens to the people in that company?
Will the same structure repeat itself?

This is not just an individual issue.

Organizations are not simply collections of individuals.
They are driven by “structures” and “evaluation systems.”

■ Business Implications

• Short-term wins can become long-term liabilities
• Price competition erodes design quality
• Organizations move by evaluation, not by correctness

That’s why the real question is:
Which side will you stand on?

The side that keeps winning?
The side that keeps supporting?
Or the side that changes the structure?

I choose the latter.

I can do it! I will take the first step starting tomorrow.

• Field experience conveyed: The real impact of price-driven deals on frontline teams
• DX perspective learning: Without changing structure and evaluation metrics, no real improvement happens
• Message to readers: Think beyond short-term wins and consider sustainability
• Next action: Reevaluate your organization’s performance and evaluation criteria