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.