254 Guillaume Hansali- Country Head Keywords Studios

• “Trust, for me, is the ability to predict someone’s behaviour—consistency builds that predictability.”
• “Excellence isn’t the outcome—it’s the rigour of the process, even when the result is uncertain.”
• “You can’t sell yourself forever; you have to build trust in the company, not just the founder.”
• “Being vulnerable as a leader unlocks trust—it gives others permission to be real too.”
• “Culture is just norms and heuristics—you shape it by consistently rewarding the right behaviours.”

Previously Guillaume was the Founder and Managing Director of Wizcorp; Web Development Consultant Helmut; System Engineer, Consultant Lapyx System.

He has a Master of Science in Computer Science from Francois Rabelais University

Guillaume approaches leadership as a dynamic journey shaped by intuition, experimentation, and personal growth. His early experience of founding a startup in Japan, with no funding and little knowledge of business basics, forged a deep resilience and humility. Over time, he transitioned from instinct-driven decisions to more intentional leadership, grounded in reflection and learning. He discovered that leadership at different company sizes requires entirely different approaches—whereas in a small team the leader is the culture, in larger organisations it’s about embedding values and structures that scale.

At the heart of his leadership philosophy is trust, which he defines as the ability to predict behaviour. He believes consistency—especially in mood and decisions—fosters trust. Vulnerability plays a critical role too. Initially reluctant to show weakness, he gradually realized that openly admitting what he didn’t know allowed his team to connect more deeply with him, and gave them permission to do the same. This emotional openness, he observed, significantly strengthens engagement and authenticity.

Guillaume emphasizes the importance of separating the self from the business. Early in his career, he equated client service with personal commitment, sometimes undermining internal cohesion. He later recognized the need to build institutional trust in the company, not just in himself. This meant creating repeatable processes, articulating core values, and ensuring every team member could represent the company with consistency and integrity.

He also champions a culture of structured creativity, particularly in high-risk industries like gaming. He views “fun” as an emergent property that can’t be predicted or engineered, but must be tested rigorously. Prototypes, constraints, and deliberate iteration are key to fostering innovation while managing risk. Organizational learning, in his view, should focus less on replicating past outcomes and more on documenting and improving the decision-making process.

Leading in Japan, Guillaume sees language and cultural fluency not as optional, but essential for trust and influence. He stresses the need to deeply understand local norms and communicate in ways that resonate. For multicultural teams, he believes the leader’s job is to define shared behavioural expectations clearly, without relying on implicit cultural assumptions. Ultimately, Guillaume sees leadership as a journey of self-awareness, consistent example, intentional culture-shaping, and the courage to learn publicly.