Japan's Top Business Interviews Podcast By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan

Previously Paul was Adjunct Industry Fellow In Mobile Software at Swinburne Uinversity of Technology, Founder of Long Weekend, IT Director enworld group, CTO and Founder Thomson Reuters cvMail. He has a BA in Business, Banking & Finance from Monash University.

Kevin played a number of roles at GPlus Media incuding Sales Director and General Manager. Previously he was a recruitment consultant at Optia Parrners, Training and Development Manager Human Resources at Model Language Studio.

Prior to his posting in Japan, Bob was working for Evernex in Hong Kong as a Senior Account Manager. Previously he working in Italy as a Sales Manager for Fwebcreative. He has a Masters Degree from the University of Rome Tor Vergata and a license, Administrative and Social Economics from the Universite Paris-Sorbonne and an Undergraduate degree from Assumption University in Thailand

Prior to heading Wipro in Japan, Dhruv was at Tata Consultancy Services in Japan in a variety of roles: Manufacturing Vertical Deputy Head, Head of Automotive Engineering, and Consultant. He originally came to Japan with Wipro as a Product Development Engineer. He has an MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies and an Undergraduate Degree in Electronics and Communication from the Pune Institute of Computer Technology.

Prior to this position Erwann was Trading Department Director at Saint-Gobain Japan, Vice-President Glass Japan at Saint-Gobain, Sales Planning Director at MAG-ISOVER Japan, North and South Asia Pacific Sales and Marketing Leader at Owens Corning, Sales and Marketing Director NSG Vetrotex Japan, and Commercial Attaché at the French Embassy in Tokyo. He has a Masters Degree in Applied Mechanics from Tokyo University and an MBA from the Skema Business School.

Previously Victor was Area Vice President, Japan and Guam for Marriott International, Managing Executive Officer, Chief Sales Officer & Chief Develomental Officer, Prince Hotels and Resorts, General Manager, Corporate Planning Department Seibu Holdings, Regional Vice President, Sales and Marketing, IHG Hotels Group Japan, Senior Vice President, Operations, Japan Cererbus, Vice President Development, Japan and Korea, InterContinental Hotels Group, Vice President, Global Sales, North Asia Marriott International, Regional Director, Japan, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Director of Sales, Regional Sales Office Japan, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and served in the US Air Force.

Prior to coming to Japan, Petra has had a number of roles for Ikea in Sweden as Global Business Area Manager Bedroom, Textiles and Rugs, and as Deputy Retail Manager in Poland.

Previously Vincent was Managing Director of Swarovski Japan, Japan Sales Director for Van Cleef &Arpels, Japan Deputy Senior Manager at Cartier, Product Manager at Pernod Ricard Japan. He has an EMBA from the Hult International Business School.

Jose has previously been O&M Senior Sales Manager at Trina Solar, Director of Fotovoltaica de la Mancha, O&M Sales Manager Eco Life Engineering, Country Head Spain and Portugal Scheuten

Multiple award winning filmmaker and CEO of a video production company based in Tokyo, Japan. A former professional wrestler (under the ring name Rionne Fujiwara) and martial artist -Aikido, kickboxing, catch wrestling. Bilingual English and Japanese audio and visual professional from the Gold Coast in Australia, with almost 20 years' experience living and working in Japan. He founded Japan Media Services in 2015.

Saxo Bank is a securities broker started thirty years ago in Denmark and they have been in Japan for 13 years. He started working in banking in Denmark and 14 years ago joined Saxo Bank. He came to Japan two years ago and had lived here before twenty years ago when he wa studying here. At that time he was studying mathematical infomatics at the University of Tokyo for one year and thereafter had visited Japan often over the years.

Matsuba san previously had been General Manager Japan Healthcare IT at GE. Before that she was Director of Business Planning at the Columbia Medical Center. She started her career in the Japanese Post Office bureaucracy. She graduated for Keio University in economics and has an MBA from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.

166 Dr. Andrijana Cvetkovikj, CEO & President BrioNexus. Andrijana is also a special Advisor for International Affairs to the Japanese government, and previously was Director, Economist Corporate Network North Asia and Ambassador to Japan for Macedonia. She studied film and received her Ph.D. from Nihon University.

Previously Michael was a co-founder of Neural Squared, CEO of Hypnotize, Technical Solutions Consultant on Android and Partner Technology Manager on YouTube at Google. He has a Master of Engineering Computer Science degree from The University of Electro-Communications

Previously Jonathan was Managing Director Japan for Cornerstone OnDemand, Country Manager Japan for Credorax, Country Manager Japan for Paypal and when Director of Strategy Softbank Group, he worked very closely with legendary Softbank founder Masayoshi Son.

Previously President, Faurecia Howa Interiors Japan. Masters in Management, Entrepreneurship and Global Leadership D.E.A. Engineering, Universidade de Vigo, M.S. Degree Water Engineering, Polytech Montipellier

Alex Zoboli, is the Managing Director of Cornerstone Recruitment, a company he founded with Matt Nicholls four years ago. Previously Alex was a senior leader at RGF in Japan, working together with Matt, part of the Recruit Group. Before that he was working in a recruitment company in the UK.

Matt Nicholls, is the President of Cornerstone Recruitment a company he founded with Alex Zoboli four years ago. Previously Matt was the President of RGF in Japan, part of the Recruit Group. Before that he was running his own small recruitment company in the UK.

Mr. Mizusawa started his career in HR for Sanyo, GE in the USA, GE Healthcare back in Japan and was Director, Compensation & Benefits at Abbott Japan Group. He joined Stryker as the Senior Director of Human Resources, before becoming the Vice-President of the MedSurg Business Unit, then Vice-President & General Manager Japan of Orthopaedics and Medsurg, becoming President and Representative Director of Stryker in 2021.

Previously he was the Director of Operations, Japan and South Korea and General Manager Oakwood Suites, Yokohama. He was area Vice-President for the Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSCI Abu Dhabi and General Manager of the Hilton Hotels in Tokyo, Nagoya, Odaiba, Fukuoka, Otaru and Zurich Airport.

Masayo Nagai is the Chairwoman of APCO Worldwide Asia. She started her career working on policy for the government as a legislative aide. After studying at Columbia University she moved across to the PR industry joining Inoue Public Relations. She later became the Senior Director at the Japan Public Relations Institute before becoming President at Propeller Communications.

Naosuke Goto is the fourth generation to run the Goto Florists company in Japan. Like his father, he went to the USA and Europe to study flower design and brought that knowledge back to Japan, making the business highly successful. The main store in Roppongi is a landmark in Tokyo and they have many shops in five star Hotels in Tokyo.

Morgan Laughlin, Managing Director, PGIM Real Estate, Japan. Morgan has had a stellar career as Managing Director Asia Pacific for the Grosvenor Group, Regional Managing Director for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Head of RREEF non-Japan Asia at Deutsche Bank and Managing Director Bankers Trust Company. He is a graduate of Columbia University in Latin American Studies.

Adam Hall, Country Manager, Joseph Joseph Japan Prior to becoming head of Japan for Joseph Joseph, Adam Hall was Japan Country Manager for Weber-Stephen Products. He is a graduate of Auckland University of Technology.

John Kirch, beqom Japan Head Vice President of Sales, Uppsala Security East Asia Regional Director, Darktrace Independent Consultant, Nominum Vice President-International & President Japan, Penta Security Systems Director - Asia Pacific & Japan Director, Aerohive Networks Director-Japan, Ubiquity Software Independent Consultant, CyberGuard Regional Vice President-Asia/Pacific & President-Japan, WatchGuard Technologies Regional Director-Far East & President-Japan Regional Director, Hyperion Solutions Director-Business Development, SoftBank Director-Far East, Comshare International

Kentaro Kiso, President Barclays Securities Japan previously worked in London for JP Morgan for six years followed by joining Barclays UK and working there for over 12 years. He is a graduate of Tokyo University.

Hiroaki Mori, President McCann Erikson Japan Previously, Mr. Mori was COO for TBWA/Hakuhodo China. He is a graduate of Waseda University.

Matthias Sutter is the General Manager Shangri-La Tokyo and Representative Director Shangri-La Hotels Japan. Previously he had been the General Manager for Marriott International Hotels in Seoul, Singapore, Phuket. He has a Master's degree from the GSBA Zurich International Business School

Hiroo Murota is the Vice President, General Manager, Representative Director of Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan. Previously he was Representative Director of Siemens Healthcare Japan. He is a law graduate of Tokyo University and has an MBA from Northwestern University-Kellogg School Of Management

Leo Keeley is the President and CEO of B2B Sales. He has held a number of posts here in Japan, inlcuding Vice-President Asian Pacific and Japan for Ariba, President of Japan InfoTech, President of Platinum Japan and President of Dunn and Bradstreet Software Japan. He has a BA from Bentley University and an MBA from Suffolk University.

Michael Bobrove is a founder and CEO of HealthyTOKYO, which has pioneered the introduction of CBD oil into the Japanese market. He previously was Managing Partner of Bucatani, a medical device marketing and distribution company in Tokyo and a Senior Parrtner in the Mikan Group, which provides advisory services for internationl expansion. He graduated from Antioch College and has an MBA from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Originally from the Bronx, Cairo was a VP and Account Director for Data Solutions in New York. He came to Japan in 2009, becoming the General Manager for RAPP, later becoming the Managing Director for DDB in Japan in 2012. In 2015 he started relativ*

Takeshi Fujiwara Ex-President BBruan Aesculap Japan. He started work as an industrial engineer, later joined a second Japanese company who sent him to Germany, where he worked for nine years. He moved back to Japan working for a Swedish company called Gambro Japan, later becoming President. After over ten years there he briefly became the President of Molnlycke Health Care Japan, before joining BBraun. Today he has his own company TR3.Inc.

Carl Eklund has been in Japan since 1979. He has had many high profile positions in Japan, including President Volvo Japan, President Hagglunds Japan, President Denison Japan, President Lafarge Svenska Hoganas, and has been President of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Currently he is President of Hoganas Japan.

David Macdonald was originally a JET in Japan in 1995. He joined NTT Docomo in 1999 and then joined Walt Disney Internet Group Asia Pacific in 2004. He moved to YouTube Japan in 2009 becoming Head of YouTube Spaces Asia Pacific in 2014. He became President of Discovery Japan in 2018 and President and Representative Officer, Discovery Japan GK in 2020. David mentioned the speaker who got him on the "complain, confront or conform" terminology can be found at www.juliensbourrelle.com. The definition of leadership he likes is: "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he/she wants to do it".

Established in 1892, Obayashi Corporation a $5 billion listed enterprise, is one of the top 5 construction companies in Japan. Obayashi has 86 subsidiaries and 26 affiliated companies in Japan, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and North America.

Mr. Hiraga initially worked in banking in Japan for ten years, in what has now become Mizuho, before he went to the US to study for his MBA. He then joined Marsh Broker and from 1991 worked in Germany. From there he covered a large number of European countries targeting Japanese companies active there. Five years later he was sent to the Headquarters in New York to cover Japanese companies active in the US, for another five years, before finally returning to Japan. From 2017, he became the Director and Chairman of Marsh Broker, Japan. He completed his undergraduate degree in Arts, Economics and Finance at Keio University and earned his MBA at the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

Tae Ho Kim was previously President of Nihon Inter Electronics Corporation from May 2013 -2017, before becoming President of ARRK Corporation in 2017. He joined en world Japan as President in 2022. He graduated from Pomona College in Economics.

Yuko Furuichi is the President and CEO of Comexposium Japan. In 2007 she was a media personality and talent for BonaPro Agency and in 2009 became the Emcee for Pokemon Programming. She joined CyberAgent in 2011 as an Account Leader. She joined Comexposium as an Event Manager in 2013 working her way up to the Presidency in 2019. She has a BA Law degree from Keio University.

Marco Breitfeld, Representative Director and Head of Shared Services Draeger Japan, started working in Japan in 2007 for NEC/Schott Components Corporation. He moved to Plansee Japan in 2010 as the CFO and in 2016, he joined Storopack Japan as CFO. In 2017 he joined Pitney Bowes as Senior Manager Business Operations before becoming Finance Director and Representative Director for Pieroth Japan. He took over as head of Draeger Japan in 2022. He has a Bachelor Degree in International Management from HSB Hochschule Bremen City University of Applied Sciences

In 1995 Joachim was working as a Manager in Tokyo for BASF, eventually becoming the President and Representative director of BASF Agro Japan KK in 2005. Thereafter he became President and Representative Director for Catalent Japan KK in 2010 and then in April 2015 the Country Director Japan for CPKelco. He has a degree in Chemistry from the University of York.

William Boesen is the President of the East Asiatic Company Japan. Originally from Denmark and like me, martial arts drew him to Japan to further his training and to advance his career. In 2001, with ISS he became General Manager in Japan reorganising the company here with their partner the famous Mitsui Trading company. In 2004 he became the President of Carl Hansen & son In Japan. In 2013 he became the President of the East Asiatic Company Japan. From 2006-2008 he was the Chairman of the Danish Chamber of Commerce in Japan. He has an Executive MBA from the Henley Business School and a BA from De Montfort University

Best of the Best Encore #39: Andrew Hankinson, President, Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan Originally released Feb 27, 2021 Andrew Hankinson is the President of Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan and host of the podcast Now and Zen. Originally from Seattle, Washington, Mr. Hankinson's passion for Japan grew at a young age, having been exposed to Japanese culture by family members living in the country, leading him to learn the language from high school. After briefly teaching English in Osaka, Mr. Hankinson returned to Japan with a degree in international business and Japanese language from the US. He shortly began working at a Japanese department store as a menswear buyer which he describes as an "eye-opening" experience and a "great foundation to be living and working in Japan." Mr. Hankinson's next move was in the travel industry, where he worked for a travel publishing company as a salesperson. He explains the company to be "very flexible and very open" as they originally hired Mr. Hankinson in hopes of increasing innovation. Mr. Hankinson was quickly able to gain the trust of the organization due to achieving success early on where his suggestions led to better results for the organization. Mr. Hankinson's first official leadership role was working as country manager for a European-based office product company where he managed seven employees. He describes his work there as hands-on, especially with client facing aspects of the organization. Currently, as head of a much larger organization, Mr. Hankinson leads about 250 employees. Mr. Hankinson says jumping into an organization that he had no previous knowledge of required lots of catching up, and building trust with the people had its challenges. To overcome this, Mr. Hankinson interviewed his staff in the Tokyo office to build rapport and connect with them at a more individual basis. In order to lead a much larger team, Mr. Hankinson is mindful of the Japanese way of thinking through group consensus. He explains: "if we do it all together…[and] if it fails, nobody's responsible." He is also conscious of fostering empowerment amongst his employees to give them a safe space to express their thoughts and encourage innovation. Mr. Hankinson also leads through other managers by delegating to ensure everybody is providing input to determine the direction of the organization. The Japanese office of the global kitchenware manufacturing company have introduced many innovative products such as Japanese kitchen knives and pots that have become popular on a global scale. Mr. Hankinson sums up his ideals of leadership as being able to "deliver results, have good people skills, being engaged and having market intelligence," To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Hankinson advises to enjoy travelling and exploring the culture and sharing that with one's team, which is a wonderful way to connect with others on a human level. Secondly, Mr. Hankinson advises to earn some "quick wins" as a fast-track way to earn credibility and trust amongst Japanese staff when trying to implement change. Thirdly, he recommends finding the perfect balance between adapting to local culture and retaining your personal management style in order to find the best of both worlds.

Tom Reich has been working in various roles for BAE systems in America and recently in Japan. Originally he worked in the US State Department including a stint as American Consul-General in Okinawa as well as working in the US Department of Trade. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from Georgetown University.

Ryan McGuire established Cutters Studios Tokyo in 2012. He graduated from Sophia University Tokyo in 2002 and set up the Los Angeles branch of his father's Cutters Studios business, before moving to Japan.

Ruth Jarman is the founder of Jarman International. She graduated from Tufts with a BA in International relations, studied Japanese at Nanzan University in Nagoya and joined recruit in 1988. While at Recruit she worked closely with the CEO Hiromasa Ezoe and credits him with teaching her about business. She launched Jarman International in 2012.

Robert Roche, Founder and Executive Chairman of Oak Lawn Marketing and Founder and President of Roche Enterprises originally trained as a lawyer and has become one of the most successful foreign business founders in Japan. His company, Oak Lawn Marketing found a niche opportunity to bring popular North American TV shopping products to Japan. In 1997 he took the same concept to China and established a business there. He and his partners later sold part of the TV Shopping business, rebranded to Shop Japan, to DoCoMo for one of the biggest exits ever achieved by a foreign start-up in Japan.

Mr. Amane Nakashima is the Chairman of Kewpie Corporation, the manufacture of Kewpie mayonnaise, one of the most famous food products in Japan. The firm started in Tokyo in 1919 after the founder Toichiro Nakashima returned from studying in America, where he had encountered mayonnaise for the first time. It has retained the number one spot for mayaonnaise sales in Japan since its launch in 1925, which is an amazing record. Kewpie Corporation had sales of USD$5b in 2020. Mr Nakashima graduated from Waseda University with a BA in Economics and later received an MBA from Cornell. He became Chairman in 2016.

Wolfgang Angyal, President of Riedel Japan, originally grew up in Austria and came to Japan in 1985 as an Austrian representative in restaurant service sector of the 28th WorldSkills Competition and won first place. He credits this win to the trust he had of his supporting team who were all Japanese. Mr. Angyal has also been practicing Judo from a young age where he developed a deep respect and fascination for Japanese culture. After working in the education sector as an instructor in Japan, Mr. Angyal became interested in working for Riedel as he was familiar with the brand due to his experience in the hospitality industry in Austria. Through persistency, Mr. Angyal met with Georg Riedel, the owner of Riedel, and secured a business development role for a subsidiary company. There, he was able to apply the skills he had gained working in hospitality and event management to promote Riedel products to Japanese restaurants and companies. Staying true to the Riedel family motto of "stoke the fire, don't save the ashes," Mr. Angyal persistently approached restaurants to promote Riedel. Fortunately, this was the 80s economic boom time in Japan, and Mr. Angyal used his networks to successfully schedule appointments to meet restaurant owners in person. "I think a lot of them actually bought their first [wine] glasses, more out of pity, [thinking] this guy's sweating with this case, coming to the restaurant and waiting for two hours. Or some of them maybe were admiring the effort." Mr. Angyal worked to establish the brand within companies to build relationships with large scale distributions. Mr. Angyal states the main challenge for him at the time was introducing wine culture to those who were not familiar with drinking wine on a daily basis. Therefore, Mr. Angyal actively promoted the product by holding tasting sessions where people got to experience drinking wine from Riedel glasses. "If you taste the difference, it's experiential. If you taste the difference between [a Riedel glass] and another glass of drinking the same beverage, you will never forget it." Mr. Angyal then moved his base to Australia where he worked from Riedel's Sydney office as the Vice President of Asia Pacific, Latin America and Southern Hemisphere. After a brief consideration of moving to China, Mr. Angyal was persuaded by an old friend to move back to Japan in 2000 where he has been since then, working as the President & CEO of Riedel Japan. By 2000, Riedel Japan had become an independent operation and Mr. Angyal started to build his team through referrals to recruit staff. As a leader, Mr. Angyal found challenges in driving the operation side of the organization and establishing a shared vision while going through an acquisition. In order to maintain employee engagement during the merger, Mr. Angyal organized workshops, off-site meetings and external coaching. Additionally, Mr. Angyal worked to get to know his staff through open communication and personality tests. By better understanding his staff, Mr. Angyal adjusted his communication style and worked to form a more trusting relationship. Mr. Angyal notes that as a foreign leader, he is mindful of being consistent with his decision-making and tries to be predictable with his actions. He claims that constantly asking the questions "How do they see us and what do they expect from us?" is key to leading in Japan as a foreigner. Additionally, Mr. Angyal values open communication and provides equal opportunities for his staff to be heard even if this means rejecting his own ideas in public. Mr. Angyal also seeks to bring different perspectives and ideas from his global networks and to his Japanese team in order to provide the "right fuel for their sparks." He also has his immediate reports give him a 360 degree performance review to continue developing his leadership abilities and maintain transparency. Riedel Japan has come up with innovation such as creating sake glasses, an idea that came out of a tasting workshop from a customer. Currently, the Japan office has independently come up with two different sake glasses - the Daiginjo glasses and Junmai glasses - by working with hundreds of brewers and testing in multiple workshops to come up with the perfect product. For newcomers in Japan, Mr. Angyal advises to be patient and mindful of one's actions as well as words. He recommends having small wins first and then building on that to quickly gain trust and credibility. Lastly, he advises to be authentic and to be yourself to be able to survive leading in Japan in the long term.