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<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rakuten</span></p><p class="caption">CEO Hiroshi "Mickey" Mikitani</p></div><p></p></div></div>Like a lot of big companies, <a href="http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&amp;ai=CK5nfdXwAVqO8L5ei-gOTkbroBtWw17gD9Z7Ji9gBuu76bQgAEAFgyfb4hsijoBmgAb_i4fkDyAEBqgQiT9Dv_V_7KOQZcwI374kmPMXFbGZtzTq-sYxXUJTxb2KZYIAHqZ2eBpAHAagHpr4b2AcB&amp;sig=AOD64_2KYOelzgThx-9ZKmMb9R_wcFHfpg&amp;clui=0&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;ved=0CBwQ0QxqFQoTCK-37NiOicgCFcKaiAodIDkORQ&amp;adurl=http://clickserve.dartsearch.net/link/click%3Flid%3D43700005064570067%26ds_s_kwgid%3D58700000318183026%26ds_e_adid%3D58255207397%26ds_e_matchtype%3Dsearch%26ds_e_device%3Dc%26ds_e_network%3Dg%26ds_url_v%3D2%26ds_dest_url%3Dhttp://www.Rakuten.com/%3Fsclid%3Dsem_google_branded_terms%26adid%3D17260%26rmatt%3Dtsid:1012041%7Ccid:120446117%7Cagid:6235079837%7Ctid:kwd-230602554%7Ccrid:58255207397%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:15453007999364163339%7Cdvc:c%7Cadp:1t1">the Japanese internet giant Rakuten</a> used to host annual offsite retreats where all the executives would meet at a golf course to connect and talk strategy. </p><p>About seven years ago, that tradition changed radically. </p><p>CEO Hiroshi "Mickey" Mikitani tells Business Insider that he now has his leadership team doing something much more adventurous than gathering at a cushy resort.</p><p>Instead, execs now meet on Mount Tanigawa every year, a Japanese mountain that's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tanigawa">claimed the lives of more climbers than Mount Everest.  </a></p><p>Despite that jarring death toll, Mikitani decided to change the company offsite after hiking the mountain with his young son. (Although the climb is difficult, some trails, including the one that Rakuten employees take, are signficantly less dangerous than others.) </p><p>Mikitani sees the tradition as the perfect way for execs to get to know each other better through a non-conventional bonding experience. Even more importantly, the struggle to make it to the top all together symbolizes the idea of working through company difficulties as a team.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rakuten</span></p><p class="caption">Company executives climbing through the fog</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"Rakuten always goes to the peak," Mikitani grins. </p><p>One other exec who has climbed Mount Tanigawa several times gleefully told Business Insider that he almost died last year when he started sliding on the rocks under his feet. He almost careened off the side of a cliff before managing to grab onto a rock at the last minute. His teammates and their guide then threw him a rope he used to climb back onto the path. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rakuten</span></p><p class="caption">Rakuten employees on their way up</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Although the offsite is all about team building and pushing boundaries, another exec jokes that it also acts as a good way for employees to stay in reasonable good physical condition through the year.</p><p>"The fear keeps you fit," he laughs, saying that he would remind himself to go to the gym more often in the months leading up to the retreat.</p><p> Mikitani recalls one particularly memorable climb, where he invited a journalist who planned to profile the company to join the expedition. After a grueling acent and witnessing how execs continually pushed themselves and eachother to the limit to make it to the top, the journalist, between his own tired gasps, apparently said, "Now I finally feel like I understand Rakuten."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rakuten</span></p><p class="caption">The view from the top is worth the struggle to get there</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/south-koreans-tech-watching-people-eat-online-mukbang-2015-9">14-year-old makes up to $1,500 a night eating dinner in front of a webcam in South Korea</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="MwMDZkdzr7V54pSPAwMT1JU7p7MqmuY1" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Why this CEO makes his executive team climb a mountain that's claimed more lives than Everest

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Michael Seto</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Early this year, the giant Japanese ecommerce company <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rakuten-executive-offsite-2015-9">Rakuten led a $530 million round of funding in the ride hailing startup Lyft</a>.</p><p>Today on stage at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ignition-live-2015-12">Business Insider's Ignition conference</a>, CEO <span>Hiroshi "Mickey" Mikitani told the crowd why he chose Lyft instead of Uber. </span></p><p><span>The short answer: He passed up the chance to invest in Uber early, and regretted it.</span></p><p>"Travis [Kalanick] is one of my best friends, but I missed the early rounds," Mikitani said, laughing. "I should have invested in Uber, but I missed." </p><p>Mikitani then continued on to explain why he ended up investing in Lyft, Uber's <a href="http://graphics.wsj.com/billion-dollar-club/">$2.5 billion</a> rival.</p><p>"Lyft is more real social, more real-ride sharing," he said.  "The founders - they're real entrepreneurs."</p><p>And, he added: "Their attitude is much friendlier than their competition."</p><p>A few months ago, Lyft announced a partnership with Chinese Uber rival Didi Kuaidi. Starting early next year, you'll be able to pay in your native currency on each app to avoid having to pay for your Didi or Lyft ride in a foreign currency, depending on where you live.</p><p>So if you're an American visiting China, you can open the Lyft app to pay for and order a Didi, and then Lyft will give whatever money it made from your ride to Didi.</p><p>And last week, both companies jointly announced an expanded partnership with <span>India's Ola and Singapore's GrabTaxi, expanding the anti-Uber ride-hailing alliance to more countries.</span></p><p>"I felt like we're very comfortable with [Lyft's] corporate culture," <span>Mikitani</span> said onstage at Ignition Tuesday. "We need to be in that business to understand the last moment of delivery. It was a very natural judgment." </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/find-out-uber-passenger-rating-instantaneously-driver-2015-11">Here's how to find out your Uber rating</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="l0a2s4eTo4Zk6e0tey7l9C2gDBEbblAN" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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Why this CEO makes his executive team climb a mountain that's claimed more lives than Everest

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CEO reveals why the Japanese giant Rakuten invested in Lyft and not Uber

Jillian D'Onfro,Maya Kosoff

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