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

Scott Smalley is presently the Managing Director of DSV in Japan. Mr. Smalley is originally from Michigan in the United States and his first introduction to Japan was through an exchange he did with Japan during his schooling at Michigan State University. He returned to the US to finish his degree in Economics and Anthropology before starting to explore more opportunities in Japan. Mr. Smalley worked in Sales for a few years before pivoting into Logistics starting with Herbalife in Japan. After this role, he held various mid-level and senior leadership positions in Logistics in the US and Japan. Mr. Smalley defines leadership as leading by example. One of his biggest leading examples is taking a vacation. In Japan, Mr. Smalley finds that many people have not taken a vacation in 5, sometimes even 10 years. He emphasizes that without ample work life balance, people are not at their creative best. He emphasizes that taking vacation will encourage people to be more innovative and to work smarter not harder. Working long hours does not necessarily mean that someone is more productive, and he tries to show his staff this by leading by example. Mr. Smalley explains that they try and reward innovation by giving out $100 Amazon gift cards as they are a big motivator. He explains that in Japan, the culture is so unique that you really must try as a non-Japanese leader to make that connection, which starts with understanding the language and culture. He emphasizes that to make people drop their defenses, you must show them that you value their culture, be honest and straightforward, and try to share your own experience of being in Japan. Additionally, Mr. Smalley connects with his staff over drinks after work, holding meetings in the mountains and connecting with people at Onsen, the Japanese hot springs. Mr. Smalley would advise newcomers to Japan to really listen and get to know people outside of work, perhaps through a drink after work. He says that learning Japanese has become easier now with more technological options. He recommends trying to learn Japanese, which will help with communication, getting people to let their guard down and in ensuring good teamwork in Japan.

Per Rasmussen is currently the President and Representative Director for Millet Mountain Group, Japan. Mr. Rasmussen is originally from Denmark, and he studied Business at University of Southern Denmark. His first introduction to Japan was through his Japanese wife who was based in Denmark when they first met and his first job after graduating was with the Lego Group in the marketing side of strategic product development. After working in Denmark for 4 years, Mr. Rasmussen transferred to the Tokyo office and in Tokyo he worked in progressive marketing roles over the years with various companies. This led him to working in senior leadership roles such as Managing Director and President in recent years. Mr. Rasmussen talks about bringing change through his work with the Danish Toy Company, The Lego Group. He says that in parents' minds education is one of the most conservative things and specifically in the Japanese market, as they do not want to take risks with their children's future. At the time in Japan, education was more closely associated with knowledge and not so much with creativity. They worked to change the product slightly and the commercials to try and market Lego to the Japanese market. He says that trying to increase sales of the products and increased revenue to the company brought about some resistance from employees. Many employees said they had joined for the stability of the organization and were not in favour of change. One of their most popular products was a large bucket full of Lego Bricks which some people thought was boring. After some tough negotiations with headquarters, they introduced The Elephant Bucket to the Japanese market. While most toys last only 3-6 months, the Elephant Bucket was so popular that it lasted on the market for 20 years. In terms of getting engagement in Japan, making the distinction between success and failure is important in understanding success. Success is spoken of as non-failure. Mr. Rasumussen emphasizes not singling people out if a mistake is made and trying new ways, or new things in the workplace works differently in Japan. In Japanese workplaces, it is okay not to try. But if someone tries to do something, they must succeed. Thus, if someone doesn't try, that is alright with everyone, but they would prefer not trying rather than trying and failing. Japanese work culture can be seen as risk-averse in this regard. Being mindful of this when trying to bring about change can be important. Mr. Rasmussen would advise newcomers to Japan to come with an open mind, understand that Japan works differently, and do not try to tell Japan how Japan works. He gives an example of his early years, where he would become frustrated because Japan worked at a slower pace. This pace of innovation and change was slower than he was used to. He would also advise investing the time and energy in learning Japanese only if the intention is to stay 15 or more years in Japan as it is a significant time commitment.

Doug Hymas was the previous Japan Country Executive for the Bank of New York Mellon Group. Many years ago, during his college days, Mr. Hymas served in Japan as a Mormon missionary based in Tokyo. He returned after this stint and finished up college at the Brigham Young University (BYU) back in the US. He developed an interest for Japan, while he was at college in the 1980's and Japan was at the frontier in business and culture. Mr. Hymas was glad he was given the chance to develop his Japanese at the university and through his missionary work in Tokyo. During his time with the Mormon Church doing missionary work in Japan, he focused mostly on verbal Japanese and not on the Kanji Japanese script as most of their work was verbal. After about 6 months in Japan, he was very confident in his conversational Japanese abilities. He later did get a chance to develop his written Japanese through BYU, which had a strong focus on Japanese and other languages. The retuned missionaries often teach courses to current students at the university, and this gives students a fresh perspective of people who have experienced Japan. Mr. Hymas later returned to BYU to do a Law degree and graduated as a lawyer. He started working with KPMG and was later transferred to Japan. He then worked by advising Japanese clients on International Law. Afterwards, Mr. Hymas was headhunted by a Japanese firm called Minebea Company Limited, where he worked as an in-house counsel advising on legal matters outside of Japan, primarily in the US. Mr. Hymas loved this job, but the pay was very low. At this point one of his friends was building a team of lawyers within the Lehman Brothers and invited Mr. Hymas to join his team at Lehman. At this role, his salary tripled but he says his lifestyle went down. He stayed with Lehman brothers for 3 years, which led him to his role at BGI, who were the world's largest indexing investment manager at the time. He liked the business model at BGI as he felt that the company's interests aligned with the clients−if they did well, their fees increased. If they didn't do well, they received a reduced fee. This business model was one of the reasons he stayed within Investment Management for 10 years thereafter. Afterwards, Mr. Hymas was headhunted by Citigroup, which allowed him to step away from the legal world and into business. Soon after, he started leading the organization. To foster creativity in the workplace, Mr. Hymas reminds his staff that they are not government workers, and their success is dependent on working hard with engagement. Mr. Hymas says there are many ways to be creative in his work. For example, it can be a creative solution in sales, the actual product design, or innovative ways to provide customer service by understanding client needs. Mr. Hymas emphasizes that some people are motivated by financial incentives, but many are not, and acknowledgment through public recognition is also important. Mr. Hymas advises those new to leading in Japan to be open to cultural differences and try and understand the strong team culture. He observes that Japanese people work well if the team is working well. Thus, trying to understand what you may see in a meeting may not be the real picture. For example if the staff are nodding and agreeing to something in the meeting, that may not necessarily be the case, and there may be something they are holding back. Being mindful of this and trying to understand what is happening in between meetings is important. Mr. Hymas also recommends the person coming in getting a confidant. By building a relationship with people you trust on the team who act as your eyes and ears, Mr. Hymas says you can get a better understanding of Japanese people and workplaces.

Mitch Kristofferson is currently the Director of Customer Service Japan for UpClear. Mr. Kristofferson was a Pre-Med student during his bachelor's degree at Stanford University. His first experience of Japan was when he came on exchange, and was place in a teaching hospital at Yamaguchi prefecture. He graduated from his undergraduate degree and worked in the oil exploration space for 5 years before doing his MBA at Stanford. The MBA led to a pivot for Mr. Kristofferson, and he moved into marketing, working in various companies in Japan and the US. Mr. Kristofferson explains how leadership and bringing about change in the workplace can take multiple steps. He admits the challenge of stepping into a new role and making changes. Mr. Kristofferson starts out by explaining the direction he wants to take the company but in many cases, he initially gets resistance from people who want things done the old way. He explains that when something like this comes to light, people are divided into 3 groups - those who are keen to innovate and bring about change, those who are hesitant and in the middle, and the third group who are not willing to listen at all. Mr. Kristofferson says that he must deal with each group differently. Mr. Kristofferson explains that not everybody is ideal for every job in every company, and in some situations, it is a matter of finding the right fit within the firm. For those in the middle group, Mr. Kristofferson has attempted to encourage them to try new innovative ideas. For example, Mr. Kristofferson has brought the middle group of marketing professionals with the sales team. He says that the sales department typically has good innovative ideas as they are on the ground and meeting customers and talking to clients everyday. Hence, trying to engage the middle group with such groups seem to work well. On the contrary, he explains that the early adopters are usually the people that have the best ideas and sometimes they reach out to Mr. Kristofferson and try and fast track the innovation for the company. Mr. Kristofferson has many advice for someone coming into Japan. He explains different cultures in terms of their approach to conflict and expressiveness based on a Harvard business review article. He cites the example of the Philippines where people are expressive but don't like conflict. In Germany, people are not too expressive but are alright with direct communication and conflict. Japanese don't like conflict and they aren't very expressive either. Someone coming into Japan needs to be mindful of the more reserved nature of the Japanese. People may have some great ideas, but they won't necessarily be direct in sharing them. Becoming comfortable with silence in meetings is something that newcomers can be mindful of. Mr. Kristofferson explains that things are slower paced in Japan, but great ideas come out of people and solutions are more methodical and sometimes end up with more fruitful results in the long term.

Peter Cammaerts is currently the Managing Director, AB InBev in Japan. Mr. Cammaerts is originally from Belgium. He studied in Leuven in Belgium, which is still where AB's headquarters are located. He started working at AB as a student and worked in different positions first as a sales rep where he was visiting stores and ensuring good store execution and then moved up into different positions in Belgium. After 9 years in Belgium, he moved to France before relocating to Japan in 2020 for his current role with AB InBev. Mr. Cammaerts says he builds trust with his team by showing his effort to learn Japanese and the culture to ensure that he is invested in the team in Japan. He tries to run the company as if it is his own business, which shows ownership to the firm. He also tries to connect with the team by holding 30 minute one on one conversations with all 70 of the staff members. During COVID, these conversations were held on Zoom, and he believes that they helped in building a trusting relationship. Additionally, delivering results was another big factor in establishing credibility. Mr. Cammaerts explains that if people can see the results, they are more passionate and more likely to work hard on those projects. Similarly, they will not be as passionate if they don't see the results materializing. Mr. Cammaerts would advise a new person coming into Japan to try and learn Japanese if they are willing and able to invest the time. Mr. Cammaerts also light-heartedly suggests learning golf before coming to Japan. He explains that many people in Japan have asked him whether he plays golf, and many customers would like to play golf so that is a good way to connect with people. Mr. Cammaerts would also recommend that if anyone is considering relocation to ensure they are happy in their personal life as well. He gives his example of ensuring that his family was happy, and he was able to deliver well in his professional life because his personal life was sorted.

Jan Babatz currently is the President and CEO of Gurhing in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Babatz was born and brought up in Berlin, Germany, on the East side of the Berlin Wall. In High School, Mr. Babatz learned Japanese which was quite unusual at the time. After graduating from a Business Engineering background, Mr. Babatz started working as a Sales Engineer, before stepping into a leadership role as General Manager at Waldrich Siegen GmbH Japan. In 2017, he took on his current role as CEO of Gurhing Japan. In terms of getting the team to come up creative ideas and solutions, Mr. Babatz is not a fan of big meetings as they aren't efficient to get creative ideas, he feels meetings are good for making announcements. Creativity is fueled in smaller working groups of 2-3 people. In the beginning, he tried getting down at the team level and tried to work as a salesperson with the others, but this didn't go well as people were nervous working closely with the CEO and President and clients weren't comfortable either. In each department, he figured out which people had which strengths and weaknesses by getting to know people outside of work through lunches and non-work activities such as karaoke. Mr. Babatz says that coming down to their level by talking about his personal life and bonding with them instead of acting like their boss works well in improving efficiency. Mr. Babatz further explains that most of the time when he talks to people one by one, he always asks them what their aim is in the next 5 years. In many cases, after these conversations, Mr. Babatz will try to fulfill his employees' goals. By improving work culture, Mr. Babatz claims that it leads to retention of good employees. Thus, he takes culture building seriously. Mr. Babatz admits that creating culture within Japan that is outside the head office can be different, and that he can only talk about his own office of about 30 people, but there, they hold social activities such as barbeques and play softball. Additionally, at his office, employees are free to to take vacations whenever they like and everyone who wants to try something new or different always get that chance. If the staff feel that they can share their opinion freely and are able to take vacation flexibly, their motivation and engagement within the company increases. Mr. Babatz emphasizes open communication, and this also leads to high staff retention. Since hierarchy is more defined in Japan than the west, Mr. Babatz is also mindful of calling each other by name instead of job positions, in order to break down the barrier between himself and the other employees. Mr. Babatz would advise new foreign leaders working in Japan to learn Japanese. He has seen people who learn Japanese quickly by practicing every day are much better off than those who use a translator or interpreter. He emphasizes that speaking even a little bit of Japanese builds a bond with clients and other locals. Mr. Babatz also says to keep close contact and find support within one's team by inviting them to events and being open about oneself. For example, Mr. Babatz brought in German beer which he shared with his colleagues. By doing something unique like sharing his own culture, Mr. Babatz says he was able to build a more trusting relationship with his team.

Nikolaus Boltze is currently the country representative for Thyssenkrupp in Japan. Mr. Boltze first came to Japan in 1972 as a child, while his father was working with the German embassy and was posted to Japan. He attended the German school which was at that time in Ōmori and since that time he has a certain soft spot for Japan. They returned to Japan in the early 80's and he finished his graduation from high school at the German School in Japan. He returned to Germany for his University in Engineering and military service. When Mr. Boltze was applying for jobs after university, he came across a Japanese company starting its operations in Europe called Daifuku. The job description listed a variety of initatives, from setting up an office, finding additional staff, reaching out first to new customers in Germany, transferring the products, which had an excellent Japanese design, but make them fit for the European market and so on. This role got him excited as a young engineer without any previous experience as it was much more than just designing the rear back wheel for a Mercedes Benz, which would be the typical start position for a young engineer. He stayed in this role for 5 years and then later took a position at an automotive supplier called Bayer based out Stuttgart and they were looking for a Project Manager. He took this role and spent a year developing a strategy for entering the Japanese market based in Stuttgart. He presented this to the board, and they came back to him and asked him if he was willing to implement his own strategy and go work from Japan. So, he returned to Japan and started looking for an office and a secretary to start Bayer's work in Japan. He was in this role for about 6 years until 2005. Mr. Boltze says they have not been too successful in hiring new graduates in Japan. Typically, new graduates in Japan are focused on working for Japanese firms and they also may have some family pressure to work for well-known Japanese companies. They feel they have better success with mid-career employees who have returned to Japan after working in the US, Europe, or Southeast Asia and they don't feel well suited to the Japanese environment. Mr. Boltze says that female engineers are another of their hiring strengths. Hiring female engineers has been good for the company because a lot of the time women feel more comfortable and less restricted at a global company rather than a Japanese one, Mr. Boltze also says they don't discriminate based on gender so women may feel more at ease at Thyssenkrupp. Another segment of people they hire are people from other Asian countries such as Korea, Taiwan or Malaysia who have a degree from Japan and are rather well versed with the culture but for work, they may prefer to work for an international firm. Advice that Mr. Boltze would give to someone new to Japan who is not familiar with the culture would be to understand that Japan is a G7 nation and if you are bringing a novel idea or a new way of doing something, chances are there may already be a Japanese way or a local firm doing this, and it is harder to penetrate that. Ensuring that firms understand that Japan is a unique island nation and there is likely a local way of doing the thing that you are wanting to do in Japan is beneficial. Learning Japanese isn't going to hurt but on the other side communication is very important. Japanese as a language is vague and not very precise and sometimes communicating in German or English can be more direct, setting clear goals and giving directions to staff may be more beneficial in German or English.

Joe Latteri is currently the Managing Director for Customer Success with Meltwater Japan. Meltwater is a global company and originally started in Oslo, Norway. Meltwater was founded by a tech entrepreneur named Jorn Lyseggen, who currently oversees the global board. They are a global leader in media intelligence and social media analytics. They work with close to 30,000 companies around the world including 800 clients and about 50 employees in Japan. Mr. Latteri's history was quite unique and with Japan started when he was 6 years old, his parents encouraged him to pick a language and he opted to do a Japanese immersion program in elementary school. Mr. Latteri went to an English-speaking Middle School, but he tried to keep up his Japanese and although he was a business major, he took a minor in Japanese at University to keep up with some of his language skills. His plan was to work in the US and was hired in Sales at Meltwater in the US, but he started working in London and then later moved to Singapore and he had more success in Singapore and that was when he started to research Japan and he spoke Japanese. Mr. Latteri launched the team in Japan in 2008 with 3 other team members. Initially he thought he would be in Japan for a year or two but there was a lot of potential in Japan, so he kept getting drawn back to Japan. Mr. Latteri says that something that drives engagement is finding the best fit and that would mean finding someone who has the same core values that the company has. Fun is the first core value of Meltwater Japan. He says that he believes that is a very important core value, fun can mean going to Karaoke after work or it can mean having a pleasant customer meeting and he emphasizes that since the employees spend so much time at work, they need to be having fun while they are doing it. Enjoying the personal development that comes from work, the thrill of doing the job or trying to be the very best also provides enjoyment and satisfaction for some people. Advice for someone that is new to Japan from overseas is to try and understand the team and be patient. Mr. Latteri says to try and understand the staff and the influencers within the team. Mr. Latteri says that usual way of doing things is engrained into people's way of doing things and the staff really needs to understand that you are here for a long time with them. He also suggests being humble and be open. He suggests being humble and open to new ideas, hear their staff out and try and implement their ideas. Approaching the staff as people is always a good approach and embrace Japanese culture. People pay close attention to little things, if you are open to learning about Japan, if you attempt to speak and learn the language, if you attempt to eat using chopsticks, these things are noticed and will go a long way. Embracing Japan will get you a more positive response as the people think you are open to learning about Japan and you like Japan and people are more willing to trust and like you. If you are coming to Japan, it is important to be genuine and work to build that trust. If you really want to have long-term success, being genuine and consistent builds a lot more integrity and trust and builds stronger relationship. Owning your mistakes and being humble are core tenants of leadership, especially in Japan.

Meghan Barstow currently is the President at Edelman Japan. Ms. Barstow is originally from Alaska and Japan and Alaska were strongly connected through the fishing industry and the airline industry, as many international flights land in Anchorage. The Japanese economy was booming when she was in high school, so she decided Japan was a good place to be. Ms. Barstow first came to Japan exactly 30 years ago which was the obvious step as she majored in English Literature with a minor in Japan. She first came to Japan as a third-year university student, she studied at Osaka from Kansai Gaidai for her year abroad. Prior to university, she studied at a school in Middlebury with an immersive Japanese program prior to coming to Japan in her third year of university. She completed her degree back in the US before returning to Japan through the JET program. She was in Japan in a very rural area in Japan for 3 years for the JET program, she was an ALT teaching English for 2 years and the last year as a CIR working for the local government. She was the only ALT in that region, so it was a wondering immersive experience for her. After completing the JET program, she returned to Seattle in the US, and she again wanted to use her Japanese skills and she worked for Kyoga prefecture in the Business and Culture centre and later she also taught Japanese at a local public high school filling in for someone on maternity leave. After this she retuned to Japan again for her third round in Japan working as an editor creating business textbooks and English textbooks at Time Life. At this time, she had many friends that were expats, and they were doing communications for automobile companies such as Mercedes and Reno and it sounded like many of the skills Ms. Barstow had such as meeting people, writing, editing, communicating but also strategizing. This led her to apply for a job in an English Language newspaper and that's where her journey in PR started. It can be hard to earn the trust of colleagues and especially as a foreigner coming in during COVID Ms. Barstow found this to be quite difficult in Japan. Ms. Barstow feels that Edelman is doing very well with regards to having female leadership and equity in the firm. Traditionally, you'll find that more women are present at the junior levels and as you go higher up, there are less and less women. At Edelman, Ms. Barstow says that there are a lot of strong female leaders, and she has felt very supported by the female leadership at Edelman. Ms. Barstow has found that Edelman is very creative in many ways, the team often call themselves entrepreneurial, by constantly thinking of new products, new evolved techniques, and new and creative ways to do things. She feels the staff is constantly learning and innovating. For creativity and one of their passions is to be constantly curious as every day is new, and she finds herself learning every single day. She feels to be creative; employees need to given freedom and time to become creative. At work, they have various working groups in various topics, such as an ESG group and an Olympic working group. Staff join these working groups based on their area of interest, for example someone interested in the environment, might join the ESG working group. Advice that Ms. Barstow would give to someone coming into Japan would be that listening is very important and asking for feedback and spending time 1-on-1 with the staff. Building trust and understanding that change takes more time in Japan. She says that Japan seems contradictory to her that though Japan tends to seem a hierarchical country but in other ways it can be a country that is very bottom-up, so striking that balance is hard and navigating that as a foreign leader can be challenging as well. She ends on the powerful note that leadership is not about the leader but is the power of those who report to you because the organization is not about one person.

James Yamanaka is currently the President of BAT Japan. Mr. Yamanaka has had a truly global career, he started out at Deloitte in Consulting, then moved on to work in the Telecom industry and then started at BAT and his career has mostly been at BAT. Mr. Yamanaka is a 4th generation Japanese American; he grew up in California, started his education in the US but ended up going to Business school in London. 22 years ago, Mr. Yamanaka was working with BAT as a client in the Middle East and transitioned to working at BAT 18 years ago. His time at BAT has taken him across the world and he has worked in London, Germany, Sri Lanka, back to London and then to Denmark and now Japan. Mr. Yamanaka grew up in a heavily Japanese area called Torrance in the state of California in the U.S. When Mr. Yamanaka found out about his posting to Japan, he felt both worried and excited. He was excited to be closer to his Japanese roots and to find out where his ancestors came from. Although, Mr. Yamanaka is ethnically Japanese he hadn't lived or worked in Japan prior to his posting with BAT. Mr. Yamanaka talks about improving engagement with his staff. He tries to achieve good engagement by trying to talk to his employees across the organization and goes 2 or 3 tiers below in rank and asks for feedback maybe about 4 times a week from his staff members. He follows a list and makes sure the organization is on the right track and doing the right thing, and secondly, he tries to ensure through these meetings that they are not missing anything vital. Sometimes, he also sits in into other teams' meetings and listens in. Mr. Yamanaka emphasizes that they treat BAT as an outlier company and as a company that has over 20 nationalities in their staff, BAT prides itself in being in a unique position compared to other multinational companies. Many other companies tend to be very heavily Japanese with a few expatriate staff at the higher levels. BAT has a large foreigner population, not all are expats and has a lot of foreign staff at the junior levels as well. He says that due to this outlier position, their recruitment strategy differs from other organizations, and they have accepted that they are an outlier company and thus recruit differently. He says that if you come to BAT, you can experience leaving Japan without actually leaving Japan. Advice to someone coming to Japan for the first time, someone who doesn't speak Japanese and has not been to Japan would be to do the typical things, such as reading some books about the formalities in Japan, listen to the cultural things, try to read a real "yes" versus a yes that's said to you just to be agreeable. Someone who has been brought to Japan is usually in Japan to make some change, Mr. Yamanaka says that identifying a team that is willing to work with you to make that change will make a large difference. Learning Japanese would certainly help to work in Japan. Mr. Yamanaka says that he understands the cultural nuances as he is ethnically Japanese and recognizes the culture from his family back home. Mr. Yamanaka also says that as an ethnically Japanese person, the expectations of him with regards to learning the language are higher, yet this wouldn't be the case for most people, and they should learn Japanese if they are able.

Will Shaffer is currently the President of Boeing, Japan. Mr. Shaffer is originally from the US and started out as a pilot in the Navy, stationed out of Whidbey Island. After working as a pilot, Mr. Shaffer went to Business school and then worked in Consulting in the Seattle area. It was in this role within the consulting space, that Mr. Shaffer got accustomed to Boeing. Before coming to Japan with Boeing, Mr. Shaffer worked for many years in the Puget Sound area working across multiple roles within the supply chain organization. Prior to his posting to Japan over 2 years ago, Mr. Shaffer had some prior exposure to Japanese culture. When he was in the military, he was deployed to Japan several times. He later visited Japan many times when working in Boeing's Japanese suppliers. He says that an advantage of working at a global organization like Boeing is that though it is in Japan, there are Japanese hires but there are also international staff on the team that were hired locally. He says he has noticed that many of the employees in Japan are a bit shyer when sharing ideas than perhaps other countries. Mr. Shaffer says that sometimes it takes a bit more effort to draw those ideas out from these people. He says the advantage that Boeing Japan has is probably staff that are more outspoken than an entirely Japanese firm. Sometimes drawing out these ideas can take a bit longer in Japan. Boeing is a highly regulated company, on both the commercial and defense sides so it can be easy to get caught up in the process and rules. He says that encouraging and rewarding managers that encourage innovation on their team while meeting safety and quality requirement is a way to encourage innovation. He uses a variety of techniques to engage teams and garner ideas outside of them. Before COVID, he says he walked around to talk to people personally for the staff in Tokyo. Boeing has employees dispersed throughout Japan, so he would periodically go visit those regions to engage with those staff in-person. During the COVID period, this has shifted to the virtual world, Mr. Shaffer says that he has noticed that the virtual environment through chat and Webex has enabled some people to speak up and ask questions that they may not have asked that question in an in-person meeting. Mr. Shaffer's advice to someone coming into Japan who doesn't know Japanese, or the culture would be to be humble. This advice could be different from US based or multi-national companies where you are supposed to be louder and advocate for yourself to succeed in the workplace. Another piece of advice would be to have patience, Japan does move at a slower pace and just being positive and celebrating the smaller wins will be helpful. He also suggests exploring the country and culture as that can bring you closer to colleagues and clients as well. Getting to know your team and people is a good step to bring you closer to your team, after-work culture and having drinks with your colleagues. Mr. Shaffer gives his personal advice on respecting privacy but also getting to know his team and workplace and asking about their weekends, sharing more about his own personal life on the weekend and hobbies brings him closer to his team.

Noriko Silvester is the President and Founder of Candlewick. Candlewick is a Public Relations consulting firm that works with clients in the Food, Beauty, Travel and Education space with a strong focus on products that influence people's wellbeing. They support overseas clients with their transition into the Japanese market, developing a strategy that considers differences in consciousness, customs and business in their home market and Japan. Mrs. Silvester started her career working as a secretary working at an American Financial Institution in Japan. She later realized that she wanted to get more involved in the business side of things and moved her way into sales and then got into Japanese cosmetics. She did marketing and sales for 8 years before moving briefly to a pharmaceutical company that had moved into Japan at the time, the company pulled out of Japan. She later started working at a Swiss company as a Brand Manager and they also pulled out of Japan. At this point, she started to feel that someone else was dictating her life, so she decided to start her own business. She founded Candlewick in 2004. She wanted her company's name to have some meaning. Candlewick was the name of her husband's grandmother's home which was also close to Candlewick Lake. She also added that the wick is the string at the core of the candle that is necessary to light it, so it is like the message that is core to a business functioning well. Mrs. Silvester says that she finds that sharing knowledge and sharing experience makes people more open and likely to share. She also notes that the default Japanese tendency is to be less proactive. She is currently trying to get people on her team to be more proactive. She says providing people with experiential learning automatically forces them to be more proactive. For example, there is a foreign staff member on her team and most of their clients are overseas clients, so her staff automatically must be more proactive to work properly. The handling of mistakes depends on the staff's attitude, if the staff consult with upper management and do everything within their power to do things correctly and there is still a mistake, she says that upper management takes responsibility of that, however, is someone is very casual about making mistakes and not taking responsibility, she can be very severe about that. Mrs. Silvester's advice to someone coming to Japan for a posting to Japan who doesn't speak Japanese and doesn't know Japan she would say to cover 4 areas: Staying in the box is the default option. Staying comfortable with the familiar is ingrained into Japanese culture It is good to have a mentor, a leader who is heading an organization would be helpful. A foreign mentor running a company in Japan would be helpful to speak with and learn from. Reading books about leadership in Japan to allow them to gain some insights before coming to Japan. Mrs. Silvester says she recently read a book with the title is "Making Rules, Breaking Rules that she found insightful. Experience and join the community. She says Japan has a long history and things are ingrained in the culture and people have a way of working. Learning and trying to understand this would be very helpful. Learning Japanese would be helpful in the workplace as well.

Darren Morrish is the General Manager of the Tokyo American Club and a numerous-time five-star hotel general manager throughout Asia, including Japan. Mr. Morrish is a Chef by trade and has been in the hospitality and hotel industry for many years. Mr. Morrish has a long history with the hotel industry as his parents were into the business of buying and selling hotels in Australia, so Mr. Morrish grew up moving a lot and exposed to the world of hospitality from an early age. Mr. Morrish wanted to start working as early as possible, so he started out by becoming a chef and then slowly moved out to the floor and worked his way through different levels of management with different hotel groups, both in Australia as well as stints in Malaysia, Singapore, China before moving to Japan permanently in the early 2000s. Mr. Morrish also worked in Korea and says that his experience there was very different from Japan. Mr. Morrish says that to get people to be more creative is to have meetings in smaller groups. He says that in Japan, the smaller the group, the braver people feel to speak up and ask questions, whereas in a large group of 300 people, people typically would not ask questions. He says that Japan has changed over the years, the change is slower than what might be expected but compared to years ago, Japan has changed. In Japan, there are some very incredibly creative people, and they tend to stand out as there are fewer of them that go against the norm. He says that when he wants staff to be creative or have open discussions, he refers to Japanese success stories when talking with his colleagues, as these are examples that his staff can relate to. Mr. Morrish talks about Toyota or a local café as success stories when speaking with his colleagues as they will be able to relate to these examples more than they can relate to an example from Australia. Mr. Morrishs' advice to someone coming for a posting to Japan would be to have a lot of patience. He says Japan may not be exactly what people think it is coming from outside and it is a very old culture, so things do not change quickly and just being mindful of that and being patient would go a long way. The second piece of advice would be to get involved in the culture, immerse yourself in the culture and build trust and enjoy your time in the country. Japan can be lonely if you are coming alone, so immerse yourself in the culture and meet other people. Another piece of advice would be not to make a quick judgement to say that Japan is different from anywhere else. He advises people to be flexible and try and learn from Japan. He says Tokyo is quite different from elsewhere in Japan and even Asia, it is perhaps the only Asian city that operates globally in the region. The diversity and the things you can experience in Japan is unique. China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are all quite different in terms of experience and work culture and one should take this time in Japan as an opportunity to learn and grow with the culture.

Klaus Meder is the President of Bosch in Japan. Mr. Meder has been in Japan for almost 10 years in total, he worked in Japan from 1996 to 2000 and then shifted base to Japan again in mid 2017. During his initial visit to Japan, Mr. Meder was a part of a joint venture between the German company Bosch and the Japanese company Zaxel. The joint venture had about 100 people including the production team. There were 4 German staff members, and the rest were all Japanese. Mr. Meder said that at the time it was quite challenging as he didn't speak Japanese and although he had a full-time translator with him, he still found the language barrier to be a problem, he says have expert knowledge of ABAC control systems helped him a lot. Mr. Meder also said that as he was a specialist in the field and knew the current and next generations of modules this helped him a lot in his early days in Japan. When Mr. Meder returned to Germany after his first stint in Japan, he said he learned to communicate really well with his small team in the countryside in Japan and he tried to emulate that back home in Germany. Another benefit he felt was that in the countryside in Japan, there were very few distractions and people were able to better focus on their work, in Germany he feels there is a lot to do outside of work so it can be a bit distracting. Upon returning to Japan the second time, Mr. Meder felt that a lot of things had changed. When he left the first time Bosch had less than 500 employees and now, they are over 7000 employees. Another interesting distinction Mr. Meder noticed in Japanese employees was the answer to the typical survey question, "Would you recommend Bosch to your family and friends?". He says that globally, over 90% staff say yes to that question, however, in Japan the number is lower. This could be due to the cultural factor, where Japanese staff feel more of an obligation towards making sure their friend/family member is a good fit for the employer and also, they feel more obligated about giving Bosch a good employee. Mr. Meder's advice to someone coming into Japan would be to be respectful and don't say no right away. He says that being respectful usually doesn't hurt in Japan and small actions, words can go a long way. In Japan, where customer satisfaction and harmony are of most importance, if something doesn't seem like a good fit, don't reject it right away but consider it. Another piece of advice to foreigners would be to try to learn the language in Japan. Though, the language can be complicated to learn, effort is also rewarded, and locals really appreciate it even if you know a few words. Learning gestures and body language in Japan would be beneficial for someone coming to work in Japan, and body language is also very important. A point that Mr. Meder makes that is useful as well is that he thinks that the ideal time for a role in the workplace is 3-5 years as he feels that you can learn and master the role in that time. He has noticed that Japanese associates typically take longer in one role partly because it is discouraged to make too many changes and that employers might retain employees longer than they'd like because it is so difficult to fill vacancies. He feels though to learn and grow and be beneficial to the individual and the team, 3-5 years is an optimal duration in a role.

Hiroki Ishida is the Representative Director and President of BASF Japan Ltd, a German multinational chemical company. Mr. Ishida originally joined BASF in the early 90s as a new graduate and worked his way into leadership roles. He has also worked in the company's headquarter in Germany as a research chemist which he recalls as a challenging experience due to the language barrier and environment. Mr. Ishida then switched into sales and marketing as he realized he could add more value there. In addition to Japan and Germany, Mr. Ishida has developed global leadership experience working in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The first thing Mr. Ishida noticed about working in Germany was the need to ask questions and show initiative. He recalls not getting his laptop because he did not ask for one on his first day at the office. In total, Mr. Ishida worked in Germany for 3 years before returning to Japan. During this time, Mr. Ishida focused on new business development which he started in Germany to introduce some new products to the Japanese market. Back in Japan, Mr. Ishida found the need to adopt a "hybrid" business mindset working for a Japanese market with a Japanese team, but in a global environment. When working in Malaysia as a senior manager of sales covering multiple Asian countries, Mr. Ishida experienced further cultural differences. In the beginning, Mr. Ishida tried to implement changes that were successful in Japan, but completely failed. Overtime, Mr. Ishida realized unlike his Japanese employees who would follow the boss's instructions, he needed to his Southeast Asian employees to buy in to his initiatives. Mr. Ishida learned to understand his team's background and their source of motivation, and properly explain why he needed things to be done a certain way. In the end, Mr. Ishida recalls his experience in Malaysia as "fantastic" as he was able to further develop leadership while valuing diversity and inclusion and learning from his colleagues. To this day, Mr. Ishida says he has a team-oriented approach to leadership. He explains: "my motto is [to] get together…sometimes my ideas are better, but sometimes my colleagues' ideas are better…so I don't care about organizational hierarchies." In adopting this respectful and enthusiastic approach to leadership, Mr. Ishida thinks his team enjoys working together. When encouraging others to have high engagement, Mr. Ishida is careful not to simply give out instructions when delegating but also explain the objective, reasoning, and benefits people will receive by completing them. By giving a clear framework of the task but leaving the detailed process to the workers, Mr. Ishida gives both accountability and flexibility to his team. He is also understanding of mistakes and failures, and emphasizes the importance of analyzing the mistake and learning from them. Mr. Ishida adds: "In the VUCA era, we need to be more passionate, encouraging mistakes [and] bolder ideas…particularly in Japan, under these uncertain situations, we definitely need such a leader in the future." On innovation, Mr. Ishida recognizes the challenge of fostering creativity as BASF is a very task-oriented company with structured targets. He explains that top and mid-level leaders need to encourage bolder ideas instead of just focusing on achieving the already set goals. Mr. Ishida observes that BASF is beginning to focus on long-term success based on customer needs, understanding of industry trends, and encouraging newer ideas. To newcomers of Japan who want to succeed as leaders, Mr. Ishida advises to understand and respect the deep-rooted Japanese culture. In Japan, harmonization is highly valued, so people may not be as comfortable speaking up compared to the west. Usually when foreign leaders enter a Japanese company, Mr. Ishida points out that it is because the organization wants to implement some sort of change. By being aware of the background and culture of a Japanese organization and clearly communicating your mission to the team and customers, Mr. Ishida thinks newcomers will establish more trust. Mr. Ishida thinks learning Japanese in an international company is not necessary, but in smaller organizations, it is beneficial to learn a few words to develop good relationships. Mr. Ishida defines leadership as someone that inspires others and make speedy decisions particularly in uncertain situations. Additionally, it is someone who communicates with positivity, is approachable, trustworthy, and encourages open communication.

Tim Schlanghecke is the Country Director for Flavour of Symrise in Japan. Mr. Schlanghecke has been in Japan ever since he graduated University from his home country, Germany. He says that he is not able to compare Japanese workplace and management to Germany since he did not work much in Germany. Mr. Schlanghecke says that his first venture was a small brewery that he started in the Japanese countryside, where people did not speak much English. He moved around Japan quite a lot in his early years in Japan, he spent some time in Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Mishima, Shizuoka, Yamagata and the spent some time in the Kansai area before coming to Tokyo. As someone who was passionate about breweries, the natural inclination for Mr. Schlanghecke was to go to the Japanese countryside to work there. The businesses plateaued at one point and then Mr. Schlanghecke decided to move to Tokyo to start his own consulting business, in his expertise niche which was consulting breweries. Since Mr. Schlanghecke is in a unique industry, Mr. Story asked Mr. Schlanghecke if it was challenging to convince Japanese board members and junior staff that they should come work for his smaller organization and not a larger, more stable, typical Japanese firm. Mr. Schlanghecke says he is passionate about his work and that translates outward and a lot of the time he hopes people see it and join him because of that passion. Japan works differently than other countries, resistance to change is one example of one thing that is different in Japan. Mr. Schlanghecke says that this is almost a philosophical topic as the resistance to change is deeply embedded in Japanese culture and it goes back hundreds of years. Japan's work culture has achieved astronomical things, the amount of total wealth that Japan has generated and the distribution of wealth in Japan has improved phenomenally over the years. Though Mr. Schlanghecke suspects that what worked in the past will not be the same way to be successful in the future. He believes though that we are at a turning point in society and industrialization and modern capitalism as we know it is likely not the way forward. He believes that for the world to be sustainable for future generations, we need to think about climate change, change our way of thinking about society and change the ways of working due to a changing demographic of an aging population. Though Japan has resisted change in the past, it may need to start slowly accepting it given the circumstances. Mr. Schlanghecke's advice to someone coming into Japan would be to listen first and don't complain. He says a lot of the time people come in and make assumptions on the little knowledge of Japan they may have; he also encourages them to go into details and be more Japanese. Learning about Japan and the Japanese way takes time and patience and an in depth understanding of Japanese. Having been in Japan, Mr. Schlanghecke says that for a foreign company to work in Japan, they need to have 100% backing and support from their head office, all the successes he has seen have worked in this way. Though Mr. Schlanghecke speaks Japanese and he used to work in the Japanese language, he has recently shifted back to communicating in English. He states that the reason for this is that Japanese tends to have nuances and be misunderstood by the other party because of the subtleties, he feels English is a more direct language and people are better able to understand instructions if he speaks in English.

John Flanagan is a General Manager Japan and Regional Head of Programming and Marketing Asia at A+E Networks Japan G.K. Mr. Flanagan has been in Japan for 30 years. Originally, he is from Denver, Colorado in the United States. He studied Political Economy for his undergraduate degree and was at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He has been based in Media and Marketing for his career in Japan. Mr. Flanagan has a long history with Japan, as he was born in Tokyo because his father was a Professor of Japanese Political Science, but they returned to the US when Mr. Flanagan was 2 years old. In 1985, he returned to Japan as his college had an exchange opportunity with Waseda University and he did an exchange in the third year of his college. He went back to the US to graduate college and looked for ways to come back to Japan, he says one of the easiest ways to come back was through the well-known JET Programme. Mr. Flanagan applied to the JET programme in the first year it started, and he was placed to the sister state of Colorado which is Yamagata. The JET programme was his first exposure to Japanese work life which led to a career in Japan. One thing Mr. Flanagan remarked was that the office location is very important in Japan, which is different from the US. In the US, people are more used to driving to work so location is not so important and it's alright to have an office in the suburbs. In Japan, people rely on the trains so location needs to be central so people can get into the office. Mr. Flanagan also remarks that the Japanese style of working is much more risk averse than the Western style. He emphasizes its important to understand why the people are so risk-averse, he cites an example of a colleague who revealed to him that he had made a mistake in the past and it is like a black X in his career. Traditionally, Japanese people are employed for life, so it is easier to be very risk-averse, not make many mistakes and have a nice stable paycheque for the rest of your working life. Mr. Flanagan talks about the Japanese old-school system is typically to hide mistakes from upper management because it can be common to be publicly scolded for smaller mistakes. He tries to keep a positive, open culture so people come to him when there is a mistake that has been made and he asks them what they learned and how the mistake can be rectified. Mr. Flanagan would give someone coming into Japan from headquarters for 3-5 years a lot of advice. He says that what helped him the most was understanding the Japanese culture and language. Being patient is another thing that he felt was important and he overcame this by asking questions. Sometimes due to the cultural aspect, people do not want to seem too critical or point out faults, yet they may be trying to say something indirectly. It can take some time to grasp this and try and understand the point or hint someone is trying to make. In Japan, harmony is more important than truth which can be seen as all aspects of business and culture. Sometimes people coming from headquarters are told to do things in the same manner as they are done in that country and that won't necessarily work in Japan. Trying to learn the language, the culture and enjoying the food can bring you closer to your staff. Trying to pick up the nuances of Japanese culture can be difficult to grasp for some people so being patient with that is helpful. A challenge that Mr. Flanagan found that the time to take a decision is longer in Japan and trying to understand that there is more convincing and more nuanc

Professor Jody Ono is a Specially Appointed Professor at Hitotsubashi University Business School, School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) in Tokyo. She teaches courses in Leadership Development and Leading for Sustainability for MBA students and business executives. She is a graduate of Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs (MPP '03), New York University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (MA '93), and American University's School of International Service (BA '89). Prior to her move to Japan in 2014, she worked for 7 years in the US, at the George HW Bush School of Government, Texas A&M University and for 10 years in Sweden, at the Stockholm School of Economics. When discussing improvements to workplace engagement, Professor Ono says engagement can be defined as how excited people get about their work, how engaged they are with their workplace, and how much they look forward to going to work. She proposes that engagement has changed from the 20th century: employees today need continuous stimulation in the workplace through interaction and exchange of ideas. Younger employees, especially, need to feel personally seen and valued in the workplace. Professor Ono says it is really very difficult to change an organization fast, and typically the largest companies struggle with maintaining high engagement. While so much is implicit in Japanese culture, she says, in order for intentional change to happen, decisions about change must be made explicitly and then communicated often and via multiple means. Building trust takes time, Professor Ono explains, in part because individuals trust others at different speeds and levels depending on their lived experiences and related learning. For leaders to be viewed as credible, they need to be clear about standards and expectations for performance. Clarity on these points makes it much easier to have real conversations that foster mutual trust in the workplace. Professor Ono cautions against "stylizing your facts" when coming into Japan. By this she means that individuals should be cautious to question cliched assumptions about Japan and its people. She advises newcomers to cultivate a diverse network, with people of all ages and backgrounds, to construct a holistic view. In addition, Professor Ono notes that people Japan has different leadership traditions from many western cultures. Leaders should display patience, competence, and disciplined thinking in order to build constituency for the change they desire.

Arthur Mitchell is a Senior Advisor at White & Case in Tokyo. White & Case is a global law firm with a global presence. White & Case is just over 120 years old, having started in 1901, it has progressed to the global firm it is today and serves clients worldwide. Mr. Mitchell has a long history with Japan. He has been in Japan for 54 years. Mr. Mitchell came to Japan when he was 14 years old for a short trip, again when he was 17 and a few years later again as a third-year exchange student in college. After this exchange, he returned to the US, to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Berkeley and went on to Harvard University for Law School. After Law School, in the US it is typical to get hired at a firm that you did an internship in a previous summer, but Mr. Mitchell didn't want to work immediately after graduation, so he decided to take up a Fellowship at Kyoto University. Mr. Mitchell is getting the sense that there are innovative things going on in Japan. He is seeing that the young people are not necessarily aspiring for government roles or large corporate roles, they are aspiring for more entrepreneurial roles or ventures. Speaking from the perspective of law, he says that the law usually changes with innovation. He is seeing from the 2 companies, where he serves on the board, that the senior management is seriously considering moving towards digital transformation and innovation. Mr. Mitchell not only relies on younger staff within his firm, but also young friends outside the firm to help him further understand technological innovation. Mr. Mitchell explains some of the things that he has been doing to improve engagement with his employees. Before COVID they used to have in-person seminars, this moved to online webinars, but these leave very little room for personal interaction. Typically for more complex matters, the best way is to sit in a conference room, use a whiteboard and have back and forth discussions, but COVID has made this very difficult as everyone is working remotely, and it becomes very difficult to read the roam in a virtual meeting. Regarding foreigners coming to Japan, Mr. Mitchell has heard one of the biggest challenges foreign staff face in Japan is explaining the situation back to their home offices. The larger, better organizations understand Japan's work culture and their managers and staff are better equipped to work in Japan. Sometimes, newer organizations that haven't had much exposure to Japan previously, it is challenging to explain the situation back to the home office. The pace of Japan can be quite slower compared to other countries, for example a decision can involve many coffee meetings, talking with multiple stakeholders and convincing a lot of people. Many of the global companies, Mr. Mitchell works with, have realized that they need to speed up the pace of decision making, their changes and their approach to the markets. Mr. Mitchell defines leadership as setting a clear vision and defining the mission. Mr. Mitchell also suggests that in the upcoming years, organizations may need to change the way hiring is done. Currently, companies recruit from the Legal and Economics departments, but if technology is going to play a more important role in the future, perhaps hiring needs to be done from the Science Faculties. Mr. Mitchell also notes that Japan has a shortage of people. Lastly, he says that leading in Japan requires a lot of listening and being a good listener works well for business.

Simon Wallington is the Managing Director of Insurance for Cornes in Japan. Cornes and Company was established in Yokohama in 1861 and is the oldest international trading house in Japan. Mr. Wallington worked in the UK from 1977 to 1985 and was looking for international experience, so when an opportunity opened in August 1985, he relocated to Japan as number two for Sedgewick Forbes Japan. Mr. Wallington worked in Japan until 1991 and then decided to move to Sydney, Australia. In 2009, Mr. Wallington's former boss moved to Cornes and asked Mr. Wallington to join him, so he did. In 2011, he took over as Managing Director in Japan and has been in this role since then. Mr. Wallington believes that a trait unique to Japan compared with some of the Western countries is that the people are not very expressive, so it is more difficult to understand how employees are feeling. Mr. Wallington tries to spend some one-on-one time with employees by taking employees out to coffee individually every 2 months. He tries to engage with the employees to see how they are doing, how their work is going and to pick up on any cues on mental tiredness. He says that recognising mental tiredness is especially important during these COVID times. Mr. Wallington talked about how the meeting matrix works at his company. They have four teams, and they have a weekly team meeting and a monthly division meeting. The news is given at the monthly division meeting. The teams each have team leaders, a general manager and five or six people on each team. He says his teams work very hard and the demarcation between home and work is less, especially nowadays. Currently, his teams come into the office three days a week and work two days a week from home. For families with very young children, they provide more flexibility. Mr. Wallington finds remote working more difficult as it is more difficult to read body language and trying to get his point across. He thinks he is maybe 70% more effective as a leader when he is working in the office as for example, he tries to explain to his staff why certain things are done in a certain way so that they will not need him for future similar problems, and this will be more efficient in the long term. In Japan, culturally people tend not to disagree with the boss. Mr. Wallington says that his general management team is quite good with disagreeing with him when they don't think an idea is going to work. When asked how Mr. Wallington got his staff to openly share their thoughts with him, Mr. Wallington says he credits this to two things, the first is his open communication and getting to know each staff member individually and the second is admitting to making a mistake. Admitting you have made a mistake or when something wasn't a good idea allows the staff to see that they can share their views with him and their boss is humble enough to admit when he is wrong, this provides open communication and more freedom for them to share their views with him. Mr. Wallington shares his view that the most effective leaders he has seen follow a servant leadership mentality. He says you do this by rolling up your sleeves and being there with them and solving problems together. This creates mutual understanding and a closer understanding of working relationships. He believes in the servanthood methodology of leadership and leading in this manner has worked well but when he needs to make a hard decision, he does that. Mr. Wallington is Christian and serving is in the Bible. He tries to apply this principle in many aspects of his work. Because after leading this way, results and good relationships follow. For foreigners coming to Japan. Mr. Wallington advises having a sense of humour helps. To get the best of the employees, the employees must see that you are here to stay and not just here for your short stint. Although, many foreigners are in Japan only for a few years, making sure that you leave it as a stable organization and not as an organization full of politics and high turnover is beneficial. A stable and productive organization is a great gift you can leave your Japanese colleagues, so that when you leave, the company's much better.

Originally from the United States, Derek Young is the President of Fidelity Japan for the last 3 years. Fidelity International provides world class investment solutions and retirement expertise to institutions, individuals, and their advisors. Prior to Japan, Mr. Young was working with Fidelity and had been living in Boston, USA for 22 years. Mr. Young had visited Japan on business briefly before 5 or 6 times before shifting base to Japan 3 years ago. In his initial days in Japan, Mr. Young started by approaching the Japanese market by examining his own strengths and weaknesses. His strengths lay within the investment space, having a deep understanding of Fidelity and having decades of investment experience. His weaknesses were in not speaking Japanese and not understanding the Japanese market. Identifying where his weaknesses were allowed him to collaborate with people that had those language skills and to take the best possible combination of strong investment knowledge, strong language skills and the best understanding of the clients to combine them for the highest probability of excellence and success for the clients. Mr. Young emphasizes that modelling what works elsewhere may not necessarily work in Japan. He believes that Japan has some of the most demanding clients in the world. Strong attention to detail is ingrained in Japanese culture and that is the expectation everywhere in Japan. His team had this understanding on attention to detail and this pressure to deliver yet he had to learn this. For example, if he was wanting to increase efficiency but this increased client errors, he realized that clients could leave for that error regardless of performance in the portfolio. Thus, anything that is done to improve efficiency cannot increase the risk for client errors. The tolerance for error is significantly less in Japan compared to elsewhere in the world. One major difference that Mr. Young found about working in Japan is that there is a general appearance of calmness within the employees in comparison to the US. For example, in planning for a large event, employees in the US may be more vocal about the pressures they are facing. In Japan, culturally there is hesitation to be vocal about that pressure and even though they seem calm, they may be facing pressure. These pressures are underneath the surface, and it is the Japanese way is to make things seem under control. Mr. Young has found that having one-on-one conversations to be a good way to truly understand what employees are thinking and providing them the tools they need for success and that makes employees feel comfortable in having these conversations with him. For example, asking for a translator may help the employee feel more comfortable. Even though to an outsider they seem like they speak perfect English, with a translator they may feel they have more time to frame their thoughts. Mr. Young also emphasizes connecting with employees on a more personal level has made them feel more comfortable with him as a person, and not just as the President of their company. He gives examples of asking for restaurant recommendations, vacation spots from the local Japanese people to connect with them on a more personal level. For foreign leaders coming into Japan, Mr. Young advises individuals to keep an open mind, to really examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and really listen. He emphasizes that you must listen to what your team says. The team should feel that they are truly being heard and you are taking what they say, and you are responding to it in a genuine manner. He provides an example of keeping an open-minded approach. Something that may work well back in your home country may not work well in Japan and the employees should not feel that you are just forcing what you think is best on them. He also advises that learning the Japanese language and understanding the culture may help. If the Japanese language is a barrier that having the right people with the correct language skills on your team is essential for business.

Hideyuki Takahashi is the Chairman of State Street Japan, an American financial services and bank holding company. Mr. Takahashi established his career at Nomura Securities where he stayed for 21 years, becoming an Executive Account Manager for retail business and eventually moving on to manage international business. Mr. Takahashi has experience living and working globally in places including Australia, England, Amsterdam, Luxemburg, and Frankfurt through Nomura. When in Amsterdam and Luxemburg, Mr. Takahashi built his sales team from zero, starting from the recruiting process, hiring many local workers. Mr. Takahashi says he made sure that he clearly communicated there were no division in how the local and Japanese hires were treated in his team of six people in the beginning. He explains that the most essential aspect of building a team and delivering results is defining the goal and planning out how it can be achieved, as well as the reward. Mr. Takahashi says his experience working in Australia and London enabled him to manage the international team who tend to be more assertive than Japanese workers. As the CEO of Nomura Bank Deutschland, Mr. Takahashi led an organization with 300 staff and was first tasked with the role of restructuring, eliminating certain sections, and dealing with litigation matters. Mr. Takahashi recalls this as a tough experience, and required him to be very decisive, without any compromise. He wishes he had been better with constantly and clearly sharing information including his vision and direction of the company as a leader. For example, having a town-hall meetings in addition to communicating in smaller groups. When in London, Mr. Takahashi was the European Equity Division Head. There, he managed a team of approximately 150 people. Mr. Takahashi initially struggled due to his English skills as his team were mostly English speakers and found the speed of communication to be very fast. When Mr. Takahashi arrived in New York as the COO, and then CEO, he was now leading over 1400 people. He noticed in New York, his staff were very vocal and quick to speak their mind. He recalls working with this team to be "very tough but at the same time, very simple" since there was constant clear communication and everybody was treated equally. After 7 years in New York, Mr. Takahashi returned to Japan as the Global Head of Internal Audit of Nomura Group for a year and a half, then moved on to become Global Head of Research to integrate Lehman Brothers' and Nomura's research organization. There, he led a team of approximately 1000 people. Mr. Takahashi explains leading a team of researcher was a challenging experience, as they are highly intelligent and in a specialized discipline with a clearly set career path. After his time at Global Research, Mr. Takahashi then moved to corporate communication with non-Japanese media for a year and a half. Mr. Takahashi finally moved into State Street where he currently is the Chairman. On increasing workplace engagement, Mr. Takahashi advises to clearly outline and communicate the vision and goal of the company, as well as the benefit of each individual joining the team. He adds the importance of clearly defining the role and accountability of each person. In large organizations, Mr. Takahashi points out having a strong and trustworthy middle management team is essential. It is crucial to train these middle management staff to make sure they understand the leader's vision and goals so that they can consistently communicate the same message to the rest of the team. Giving people accountability and letting them know what they will gain from the work they are doing and the future prospect is also important to keep them engaged and motivated. With Japanese people, Mr. Takahashi explains they need to be encouraged to speak up, but once they gain the confidence, they will be more likely to communicate their ideas openly. On advice to foreigners leading in Japan, Mr. Takahashi advises to be mindful when recruiting people to understand that Japanese people have a tendency to not communicate their strengths clearly as English-speaking people. He recommends not jumping to the conclusion that people who cannot market themselves well are incapable and encourages seeing the real value of the more traditional Japanese staff. Secondly, Mr. Takahashi advises to stay committed to the job, as people will not trust managers who leave in a short period of time. Thirdly, Mr. Takahashi advises that in business, it is wiser to use one's own language to clearly communicate the message. Mr. Takahashi defines leadership as a very strong conviction of one's own vision and the ability to communicate that with others, as well as winning in business.

Originally from Sweden, Mats Lindstrom is the President of Ducati Japan, an Italian automobile company and shares his fascinating experience working in global companies in Japan. Mr. Lindstrom has been living in Japan since the mid-2000s. His love of marital arts made him develop an interest in Japanese culture. From the early 2000s, Mr. Lindstrom started working at Volvo Car Corporation as the Senior Purchaser and Team Leader. When Mr. Lindstrom heard IKEA was setting up business in Japan, he jumped at the opportunity to work in Japan and was selected among the first group of people to start the company from scratch in Japan as a Sales manager. He then moved on to work again in the automobile industry at Scania, a truck manufacturing company, before becoming the current President of Ducati Japan. Mr. Lindstrom recalls as the first 30 people hired to set up IKEA Japan, he was the least fluent in Japanese but his management experience at Volvo helped him join the diverse team. Mr. Lindstrom took care of recruiting the team, and was able to hire people with international experience such as having worked or studied abroad and wanted to work at a company that was different from regular Japanese companies. At IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom recalls the culture was very principled and not everyone was a perfect fit, yet he knows many of his former colleagues have worked in the organization for years. Mr. Lindtrom had five direct reports at this time, and as the team grew from 30 to 70+, he oversaw the entire group. The main difference between leading in Sweden and Japan in Mr. Lindstrom's opinion is the level of accountability and responsibility people take on within their work. For example, in Swedish culture, people work within frameworks and clearly set responsibilities, and how they find a solution to a problem is up to them. Whereas in Japan, people need detailed instructions to get started on their work. Mr. Lindstrom also points out that one cannot force people to make a change while staying fully engaged. He adds as a foreign leader, he needs to ensure he can rely on his Japanese employees to give him honest opinions and feedback from their perspective instead of being yes men and women who never questions the boss. Additionally, Mr. Lindstrom claims that listening in Japan needs to be done at a whole another level as details and history is taken seriously. Much of this passive stance comes from the fear of making mistakes, Mr. Lindstrom explains, and thus as the leader, he is careful to not criticize but exercise active listening and coach people to ensure they stay engaged. After IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom moved on to Scania as the Executive Director of Sales in Japan. He recalls meeting and receiving a warm welcome from the company's VP and eventually CEO, Martin Lundstedt. He found it especially memorable how Mr. Lundstedt tried to get to know Mr. Lindstrom on a personal level, asking about his experience working in Japan, his family, and so on, in addition to talking about business. Mr. Lindstrom has learned from this leadership approach and also tries to emulate being a human leader and helping people grow through a coaching approach. . He is also always giving credit where it is due and encourages creativity through small group discussions. Mr. Lindstrom tries to nurture creativity from his team through active listening and encouragement. For example, if a previously tested and failed idea comes up during a discussion, Mr. Lindstrom encourages his team to contemplate why it failed and whether a different approach can be taken. To gain trust, Mr. Lindstrom says he has tried to be himself as much as possible. He is honest with his team in letting them know he does not have all the answers and is relying on them for knowledge and expertise. For foreign leaders coming into Japan, Mr. Lindstrom advises them to practice active listening and understand that things take time in order to show results. Mr. Lindstrom defines leadership by taking John Quincy Adams' words: "Your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more." Mr. Lindstrom adds that a leader is generally interested in people, who is constantly learning and wanting to become better and grow with others to reach a common goal.

Originally from the US, Eric Wedemeyer initially lived in Taiwan working in journalism. He then came to Japan in 1980 and started out at a small PR firm, then moved on to working in magazines. Having gained some advertising experience, Mr. Wedemeyer next joined Cove-Ito Advertising as a writer first, eventually becoming the Creative Director, then Vice President of Strategic Marketing Services. He also became Chief Executive of Cove-Ito Interactive, a spin-off company of the original ad agency. Mr. Wedemeyer currently is the Managing Director of Tactus Partners as well as J-Global, Inc., an intercultural management services company. As Creative Director of Cove-Ito, Mr. Wedemeyer oversaw around 20-30 people during the 1980s through 90s. Having worked in other parts of the world including Taiwan, Mr. Wedemeyer observed that Japanese staff needed more clarity and were reluctant to try out new and different things. Mr. Wedemeyer explains that gaining trust from his Japanese staff was a gradual process, but his knowledge of the foreign advertising market in Japan helped him gain credibility. The marketing agency closed after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and Mr. Wedemeyer joined Tactus, where he initially led brand strategy. On maintaining employee engagement, Mr. Wedemeyer says having a clear direction and purpose gives people a target to aim at, which helps them stay engaged. He also explains how delegating and motivating people to take initiative themselves energizes them. Mr. Wedemeyer recalled one client manufacturing company he worked with who took this idea to heart. The company wanted their workforce to think more about better serving customer needs, and launched an initiative in which the entire company department delivered a presentation to the CEO on their insight. Mr. Wedemeyer says this initiative allowed people to think more about their work and communicate their ideas to the CEO, who was eager to listen to their thoughts. This boosted the organization's motivation, exceeding what Mr. Wedemeyer had originally envisioned. Mr. Wedemeyer says branding boils down to being a promise kept. He gives an example: "Our mission is to turn people blue. Then you make what I call a strategic question. You get your people to ask this question about everything that they do no matter where they are in their company and what they're doing. Does this make people blue? How could I change what I'm doing to make people bluer? If everybody in the company is thinking how to answer that one question from a thousand different directions…it really gets the company moving in one direction." To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Wedemeyer advises them to take time to learn about Japan, such as joining a local networking group like the American Chamber of Commerce Japan, and get some cross-cultural advice from more experienced professionals. He further explains that knowing how a Japanese business operates will enable one to understand why people act in certain ways and be a tremendous time saver. Getting an interpreter is also a way to get valuable insight from the local Japanese businesspeople even if one cannot speak Japanese. Secondly, Mr. Wedemeyer advises to always walk the talk and make sure what you say aligns with your behaviour. Mr. Wedemeyer thinks that learning Japanese is very helpful, but depending on how long people are planning to stay in Japan, it is case by case.

Jesper Koll is a highly respected member of the Japanese financial scene who has been working in Japan since the mid 1980's. He came to Japan to do academic research before moving into finance as the Chief Economist for SG Warburg in 1989. He followed this with a succession of high-profile jobs including as the Chief Economist for JP Morgan Japan, the Chief Economist for Merrill Lynch Japan, as the Managing Director for Equity Research at JP Morgan in Tokyo, and he is currently serving as the Global Ambassador and Expert Director for the Monex Group Japan. Mr Koll holds a master's degree from John Hopkins University and has written three books in Japanese. When discussing the role of financial analysts, Mr Koll believes it is important for analysts to look beyond the numbers and get to know the people behind the data. Developing this knowledge will allow trust to build in the analyst's relationships with clients which will in turn allow deeper levels of communication between analyst and client. Mr Koll believes this is what will lead to real success in the relationship for both parties. According to Mr Koll, the new leader of a team can increase their levels of trust by quickly making their team members look good and demonstrating that they (the leader) will stand up for them when dealing with headquarters, particularly a foreign based HQ that doesn't understand the local situation. One method to make team members look good is to accompany them to visit a potential client and assist them in closing a deal and then attributing all the praise to the team member. Mr Koll believes defending the local office and staff from headquarters while also promoting its virtues is a very important method of gaining trust. If a leader can make the 'Japanese way' on a particular issue the company's 'global way' that will be seen as a very significant win and a sign of trust. Mr Koll believes a leader is someone who can inspire others to be better than they already are. It is very important for new leaders to quickly get the balance of their leadership team correct. This means identifying good lieutenant/s who will cater for different needs of team dynamics such as a 'whip-cracker', some one with a can-do attitude, and someone who makes people feel comfortable.

After graduating from Keio University, Saori Kanno originally joined Revlon as a Marketing Director, before becoming the current General Manager of Revlon Japan. In between, Ms. Kanno has worked in several other cosmetic companies, making her an expert in the beauty industry. While still in her mid-30s, Ms. Kanno was scouted to become the Marketing Director at a prestigious French cosmetics company. Becoming a manager at a young age, she recalls needing to look professional as she was managing some staff who were older and more experienced. As a new manager, Ms. Kanno ensured she maintained close communication with each of her staff to earn their trust. She was careful in listening to the team and having open discussions. She would ask questions like, what is new? What is happening in the world, in the market, what should we do? By having such casual conversations on an individual and group basis, Ms. Kanno gained valuable insight from the team and built a transparent culture. At the same time, Ms. Kanno is firm that the objective of any meeting or brainstorming session is to decision-making and coming up with deadline-driven action items. iShe says: "the ultimate objective of this kind of discussion is that we win…we break our current status within our team…[as well as] win in the market versus our competitors." Ms. Kanno was also interested in working in the mass-marketing beauty industry, and thus joined a commercial cosmetics brand as the Marketing Director after the French company. Ms. Kanno says she used more or less the same techniques to build trust and communicate with her staff in her new company, as she says: "human relationship starts from the heart." Ms. Kanno also became eventually took on the dual role of Sales/Marketing Director. She found it extremely useful to listen to the marketing and sales team simultaneously to come up with strategies that reflected both fields' input. Ms. Kanno returned to Revlon as the General Manager. This time, Ms. Kanno was determined to take the lead in addition to listening closely to her team. She had many creative ideas ready to be implemented. To convince headquarters, Ms. Kanno used her expert knowledge in the beauty industry and analysis of previous initiatives. She explains: "the Japanese beauty market is very different from the others because many of women, even my age, are still looking for kawaii or lovely, which is not the case for Revlon, but in order to be successful in a local market, we really need to understand the consumers." Ms. Kanno quickly changed various things such as the way the product was promoted and recreated the visuals to suit local consumers. Sales immediately improved, breaking records from the last 50 years of the company. Ms. Kanno explains that her passion for cosmetics as a consumer also helped her be confident in her strategy to dramatically transform Revlon Japan. On leading an engaged team, Ms. Kanno points out that giving praise and appreciation is crucial. When she hears her team come up with ideas, Ms. Kanno always congratulates them. On handling mistakes, Ms. Kanno encourages her team to consider improving the process to avoid the mistake from happening again. Moreover, on certain initiatives that do not work out, Ms. Kanno will review and analyze to try to learn from its failure. Ms. Kanno also holds executive committee meetings amongst the division head where they share information so everybody is aware of what is happening in the company. Ms. Kanno values ideas that come from the ground up, and thus, encourages her division heads to bring new ideas to her. On advice to new foreign leaders in Japan, Ms. Kanno emphasizes the importance of listening to the local Japanese team to build trust. Secondly, when asking for people's opinions, Ms. Kanno recommends giving some space instead of constantly asking questions. By building rapport through daily communication, and speaking in a calm tone, Ms. Kanno has seen Japanese employees relax and open up to foreign bosses. Ms. Kanno defines leadership as similar to motherhood. She explains: "In my team, I want to make everybody happy and successful…my mission is giving love and passion to the team [like a mother would]."

After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Law from the University of Tokyo, Yasunori Takeuchi began his career in the financial sector by working for 12 years with the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan. This was followed by positions with Commerzbank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, ABN Amro Bank NV, WestLB Tokyo and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Yasunori joined Standard Charted Bank Japan in 2012 as the Managing Director, Head of Corporate & Institutional Clients and Co-Head of Wholesale Banking, before becoming the current advisor/former CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Japan in 2015. When reflecting on his career Mr. Yasunori describes his role as a team leader in Japan for European banks partly being that of a translator or interpreter. He explains how many European banks, like the country they originate from, have a very direct culture. This does not always align with the Japanese culture of arriving at decisions through consensus building via official and unofficial methods. Mr. Yasunori states one of his leadership roles was to try and act as a cultural translator between these two conflicting styles. Soon after becoming the CEO of Standard Chartered Japan, Mr. Yasunori led the company to create a country vision document. At first, they tried doing it amongst the leadership but quickly realised that wouldn't work and it needed input from across the organisation. Mr. Yasunori explains how, apart from giving some opening comments and instructions, he deliberately excused himself from the process so that junior staff would feel more comfortable sharing their ideas in an open discussion. The result was a productive and interactive process. In his career in leadership, Mr. Yasunori has tried to develop positive corporate culture by breaking down the divisions within organisations, or silos, and increase interdepartmental interaction. He believes this can be achieved through unofficial means such as Diversity & Inclusion events. Events like International Women's Day, Mental Health Day, and a charity run that Standard Chartered has been hosting for 10 years that encourage staff participation are all opportunities for staff to engage within various departments. To foreign executives coming to work in Japan, Mr. Yasunori advises that while their core leadership style does not need to change, they need to understand how Japanese may respond. Are you getting silence in return? What will you do next? He also advises patience and the ability to create an atmosphere where Japanese feel comfortable to talk. On the topic of Japanese language skills, Mr. Yasunori does not believe they are of vital importance for a foreign businessperson - a useful tool but you can certainly get by without it.

Tomo Hasegawa is a second-generation Japanese-American with extensive leadership experience in the global medical and pharmaceutical industry. After he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an Electrical Engineering degree, Mr. Hasegawa joined Hewlett Packard (HP) as a Project Manager and Engineer where he helped design ultrasound devices that HP was creating at the time. When HP was struggling to survive the competitive market in Japan, Mr. Hasegawa was assigned from the US to work for HP Japan Medical (later became Agilent) to help turn around the business. He was originally hired to assist with marketing and sales of roughly 50+ people. Eventually, Agilent was acquired by Phillips and Mr. Hasegawa became the General Manager of the cardiac ultrasound business in Japan. After three years, Mr. Hasegawa was headhunted by Sonosite Japan, a company specializing in portable ultrasound devices. Mr. Hasegawa then began working at Sandoz Japan, a multi-national pharmaceutical company, and most recently, joined Medline Industries Japan office as their president. Mr. Hasegawa says HP's people-centric approach in business was what made the company so successful, and he has taken on this leadership approach throughout his career. He explains: "[As leaders] we were told to just do two things...first, set the direction and second, get things out of the way for your people." During the early 2000s, a rival company had headhunted many of the leadership staff from HP, which caused many challenges. Mr. Hasegawa initially struggled with the challenge of leading an organization with a strong competitor, on top of the fact that he had no experience in doing business in Japan in Japanese. Yet he eventually came to realize that the customers care much more about the product and wanted to hear about the technical details, which Mr. Hasegawa as an engineer had thorough knowledge of. Within his team, Mr. Hasegawa's knowledge and active listening skills helped him build trust and credibility. At Sonosite Japan, Mr. Hasegawa joined just as the company had set up a subsidy from Olympus, which grew to 15 people within a year. Mr. Hasegawa helped take the company from a distribution model to a direct sales model and exceeded set targets. After a successful four years at Sonosite, Mr. Hasegawa was offered a position at Toshiba in the US to lead their ultrasound business. There, Mr. Hasegawa was tasked with bringing an ultrasound device to the commercial side. Mr. Hasegawa's felt Toshiba had "made it" in the US when he was approached by salespeople from General Electric (GE) who joined Toshiba, and are still with the company. Mr. Hasegawa then joined Sandoz Japan after completing an MBA at the University of Washington – Michael G. Foster School Of Business. This was Mr. Hasegawa's first experience in the pharmaceutical industry, leading an organization of approximately 300+ people. Mr. Hasegawa found it challenging to be in a competitive market trying to sell a product that was similar to many other rival companies. He explains that because the company was trying to make a cultural transition yet at the same time not agreeing on how to make the change, maintaining transparent communication was a challenge. Mr. Hasegawa recalls his years at Sandoz as a challenge but also a time of tremendous growth and learning. He explains: "I remember my boss telling me I don't care about your opinion and it's like, okay, great. So, what do you care about? And he explained to me it's facts, insight, and then action. That's what we pay you for…not the, this is what my gut is telling me…Right, the insight is why we are human beings running a business. Otherwise, you can have a computer run the business for you." Finally, Mr. Hasegawa joined Medline, a medical product manufacturing and distribution company, which he calls the biggest company people have never heard of. The secret of Medline is, according to Mr. Hasegawa, despite its grand scale, it is run like a start-up – the organization is agile, bureaucracy-free, and focused on the genba (field). Mr. Hasegawa led the Japan branch of 400 people. At Medline too, Mr. Hasegawa practiced the leadership approach he developed at HP by setting the direction and leading by example. From customizing products to suit Japanese customers to building a warehouse in Japan, Mr. Hasegawa says such leadership activities allowed him to build trust from his team as well as customers who felt listened to. Mr. Hasegawa has built a yattemiyo (let's just do it) spirit within the company culture, which he believes has given the organization more innovation.

Born in Tokyo while his father was serving as a German diplomat, Georg Loeer spent his first five years in Japan before his family returned to their homeland. However, that was long enough for a keen interest in Japan to be sparked in Mr. Loeer, as he would study Japanese languages, history, and economics at universities in both Japan and Germany, eventually attaining an MA in from Freie Universität Berlin. In a rich career in the financial sector, after his initial training in Frankfurt, Mr. Loeer worked in leadership positions for a number of banks in Japan, Indonesia, and China. He also started his own company, now run by his wife, before accepting his current role as the President of NRW.Global Business' Japanese division. When discussing his experiences with leadership in Japan, Mr. Loeer explains that there are times when leaders must explain the local situation and cultural nuances to corporate headquarters who don't understand why things are, or aren't, a certain way. This can also include defending excellent performing staff who don't fit headquarters definition of an ideal staff. He also believes in the importance of giving staff challenges and clearly explaining what the opportunities and rewards are for the intended challenge. In working with Japanese teams Mr. Loeer is full of praise, highlighting that the Japanese he has worked with are well educated, hardworking and honest. He does acknowledge the cultural inclination for Japanese not to speak up and that this can make getting feedback difficult. However, Mr. Loeer believes this can be worked around by developing strategies to get direct feedback rather than relying on open or passive feedback. On building a culture within an organisation, Mr. Loeer believes communicating openly with teammates and showing empathy are important to developing a positive company culture. He also states that successfully managing the relationship with headquarters is vitally important and if you can do this, you will go a long way to earning the trust of your colleagues and employees. It is this trust which Mr. Loeer believes is a key word for doing business in Japan. It will mean standing behind your employees, supporting them, and sometimes taking the blame for them. However, trust can also be earned by showing that you have good ideas that work. Finally, Mr. Loeer defines leadership as being able to stand in front of a team and engage them about the path that will be taken together as one (a team). He also believes a leader needs to be mindful of the values they and the organisation embody and have influence on, like climate change and aging demographics. When discussing his experiences with leadership in Japan, Mr. Loeer explains that there are times when leaders must explain the local situation and cultural nuances to corporate headquarters who don't understand why things are, or aren't, a certain way. This can also include defending excellent performing staff who don't fit headquarters mould of what staff should be like. He also believes in the importance of giving staff challenges and clearly explaining what the opportunities and rewards are for the intended challenge. In working with Japanese teams Mr. Loeer is full of praise highlighting that the Japanese he has worked with are well educated, hardworking and honest. He does acknowledge the cultural inclination for Japanese not to speak up and that this can make getting feedback difficult. However, Mr. Loeer believes this can be worked around by developing strategies to get direct feedback rather than relying on open or passive feedback. On building a culture within an organisation, Mr. Loeer believes communicating openly with teammates and showing empathy are important to developing a positive company culture. He also states that successfully managing the relationship with headquarters is vitally important and if you can do this, you will go a long way to earning the trust of your colleagues and employees. It is this trust which Mr. Loeer believes is a key word for doing business in Japan. It will mean standing behind your employees, supporting them, and sometimes taking the blame for them. However, trust can also be earned by showing that you have good ideas that work. Finally, Mr. Loeer defines leadership as being able to stand in front of a team and engage them about the path that will be taken together as one (a team). He also believes a leader needs to be mindful of the values they and the organisation embody and have influence on, like climate change and aging demographics.

Philippe Auvaro is the former President of OrphanPacific Inc. of CMIC Holdings. Being born in the 60s, Mr. Auvaro grew up in a generation when Japan was experiencing the economic boom. He developed an appreciation of Japanese culture including classic movies, leading him to apply to an internship at a French pharmaceutical company called Roussel. Mr. Auvaro was eventually hired as a full-time staff at Roussel based in France, then worked for Aventis, which had gone through a merger with Sanofi in France. As Mr. Auvaro wanted to return to Japan, he then joined Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) Japan where he eventually became Executive Director. Most recently, Mr. Auvaro was the Managing Director, Senior Executive Officer of CMIC Holdings and President & Representative Director at OrphanPacific, Inc. At GSK, Mr. Auvaro started as a Deputy Director in the Sales Division. He calls these years the "most amazing 11 years" of his life as he calls the organization "a school of empowerment." Prior to his leadership role at GSK, Mr. Auvaro has experience in moving through the traditional Japanese management style ranks as well as working in a multicultural environment in both Europe and Japan. Mr. Auvaro explains his true "cross-cultural leadership experience" came when he was promoted to lead Roussel (which at that point had merged into Hoechst Marion Roussel) in Taiwan where he created the local office from scratch Mr. Aurvaro's first major leadership role at GSK was leading a mega product for an antiasthma inhaler. There, Mr. Auvaro says he gained "field leadership" experience by working with people from various cultural background at the ground level, being in contact with every single part of the organization including manufacturing, R&D, and digital technology. Mr. Auvaro helped set up business units and create a shared service structure for the commercial operations such as helping start market research and call centres. Mr. Auvaro then got a secondment from GSK to work for Aspen PharmaCare, headquartered in South Africa, and was asked to help start Aspen in Japan. After GSK, Mr. Auvaro was offered his most recent position at CMIC Group as OrphanPacitic Company's leader through a personal connection. At CMIC, Mr. Auvaro had been working on providing pharmaceutical solutions for rare disease challenges. Mr. Auvaro describes his leadership as more "hardware than software" as he leans more towards directive leadership than being the recently popular "servant leader" type. Mr. Auvaro loves to be involved in the technical side of any product or service development and calls himself a fact-driven, field person. Mr. Auvaro defines leadership as a transaction between the leader and the employees. He says: "there is a fair amount of trust and delegation that people put in you. So you need to measure and scope and accept it, or redefine the scope."

Born in France, Jerome Chouchan has more than 25 years of experience working in the Japanese and Asian business environment. He began his career in Japan starting the local branches for the French high jewellery brand Mellerio dits Meller and the French Government Mint Monnaie de Paris. Mr. Chouchan then worked for the fashion brand Lacoste as their North Asia Regional Director, before becoming the Business Development Director for Hennessy, the famous Cognac maker. A move to the famous Spanish porcelain company, Lladro, saw Mr. Chouchan become their Managing Director for Japan and Asia before he finally became the current CEO of Godiva in 2010. Mr. Chouchan is also a long-time participant in the Japanese martial art of kyudo, the way of the bow, and has risen to the rank of 5th Dan, as well as being an accredited instructor. He has written the book, Target, on how the philosophy of Japanese archery can be applied to business. In his interview, Mr. Chouchan discusses coming to Japan as a young 25-year-old after graduation, in which he had the choice of doing compulsory military service or being part of a government program to help companies increase their exports. This led to him choosing Japan as he was interested in the country, and there he set up the local branch of the French high jewellery brand Mellerio dits Meller. Mr. Chouchan describes this first job as an 'adventure' as he was working by himself and did not speak Japanese upon arrival. Additionally, as a young man in a culture that respects age and experience added to the challenge. However, by the time he moved on Mr Couchan had established relationships with 20 retailers for his French suppliers. When arriving at the Spanish company Lladro, Mr. Chouchan was engaged in his first significant leadership position, leading a team of approximately 70 people. By going out with the sales teams to meet customers and understand their work, rather than sitting in his office and reading reports, Mr. Chouchan was able to build trust and be accepted by his team members. He even participated in selling product to customers during exhibitions at department stores. It was during his time with Lladro that Mr. Chouchan came up with the innovative idea to make porcelain figurines aimed at the Japanese market for Boys Day (Tango no Sekku) and Girls Day (Hinamatsuri). At the time this was a controversial move, even within his Japanese team, where the feedback was that Japanese people would only want to buy European-style products from a Spanish company. However, the decision to make figurines aimed at the local market was a great success for Lladro. Mr. Chouchan continued with his innovated business ideas when he moved to Godiva, the luxury chocolate company, which had been experiencing several years of stagnant sales when he arrived. In a shake up of the company's advertising strategy, Mr. Chouchan went all-in on TV advertising, which was highly unusual for a luxury brand at the time. This move proved to be a masterstroke with Mr. Chouchan stating that the company saw immediate growth of 20% as a result. New product development, or the burden of generating new ideas, is an issue that Mr. Chouchan admits all companies, including his own, must deal with. He explains that if the task of generating new ideas and products is placed on existing staff who already run the company's core processes, then there is very little innovation achieved as they are too busy with the core processes of the company. To overcome this issue at Godiva, Mr. Chouchan has set up an innovation team to create a new product every month in small amounts for testing in the market. On advice for newcomers to Japan, Mr. Chouchan believes the first few months are critical as that is when you will develop your first impressions and others will develop their impressions of you. He advises leaders to go out of the office and visit customers with their teams so they can learn the business firsthand and ask a lot of questions. Finally, he emphasizes the need for leaders to be capable decision makers and be able to say 'yes' or 'no'.

Om Prakash is the current CEO of Northrop Grumman Japan, a position he has been in since 2019. Prior to this he was Northrop Grumman's Director for Corporate Strategy and had also served in the United States Air Force where he performed numerous roles including a test pilot with over 3 000 flying hours in 60 aircraft and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy before retiring with the rank of colonel. Mr. Prakash has a bachelor's degree in engineering from the US Air Force Academy as well as master's degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and national security strategy (National War College). In his interview with Dr. Greg Story, Mr. Prakash describes how his background in the military and involvement in many leadership transitions has helped his civilian career by being able to make decisions based on limited information. When discussing the topic of new leaders introducing change, Mr. Prakash is a supporter of author Simon Sinek's philosophy to "start with the why" and believes that if a leader is clear, open and willing to listen to their team, they are more likely to succeed. When describing his own leadership style, Mr. Prakash says it is important for him to get to know his team as individuals and encourage them to grow to their full potential, even if that means them moving on to something bigger and better. As Mr. Prakash says, a good leader does not keep talented people under them to make their own job easier. To help foster creativity Mr. Prakash believes incentives are needed not only at a team level but across an organisation. These incentives can take a variety of forms including financial, recognition, or as promotions depending on the recipient, organisation, and context. An incentive that may motivate one person to come forward with a creative idea may not motivate another person. To understand what motivates people, Mr. Prakash points to the need for leaders to know their people and their desires and suggests leaders can simply ask their teams what they want as incentives. Recounting a story from when he was in Japan in the late 1990's, Mr. Prakash recalls seeing people sending text messages and thinking it was a strange concept that would never catch on in America. He highlights the point that there are different mediums of communication preferred by different people for a variety of reasons, such as age and background, so it is important to experiment with different communications media. Similarly, he believes it is important to have team meetings not always run by himself, but have the meeting led by different members of the team as they will bring other qualities to the meeting. When discussing the topic of work delegation, Mr. Prakash describes some important factors that good leaders need to consider when delegating work. These factors include the comfort and skill level of the people who are taking on the work, discussing the deadline and time-management including leaders expressing how much time is to be spent on a task, as well as feedback. Mr. Prakash talks about how it is important for leaders who delegate work, not to delegate any criticism that arises from the work or to withhold praise. In his first piece of advice to newcomers to Japan, Mr. Prakash suggests not assuming that they were understood just because they received a positive response (Hai). People assuming that they were understood when they in fact were not can lead to difficult situations that can be avoided by checking for understanding. He also believes learning Japanese has been very useful to him including making friends that he probably otherwise would not have made. Lastly, Mr. Prakash acknowledges that in a business setting, people may get in to trouble if their Japanese is not proficient enough to pick up all the subtlties and nuances.

Mr. Spitzer has extensive experience living and working in Japan. After a business trip to Japan in the early 1990's he attended the European Union's Executive Training Program (ETP) which had a heavy focus on Japanese language and management skills. It was through this course he was headhunted to become the President and CEO of Stoll in Japan. Fourteen years later, Mr. Spitzer moved in 2008 to become the CEO of the Japanese division for Stihl, a world leader in the manufacturing of chainsaws and outdoor power tools, a position he continues to hold today. Mr. Spitzer was also an Executive Member of the German Chamber of Commerce in Japan from 2012 to 2016. In looking back over his almost 30 years of experience in Japan, Mr. Spitzer discusses some of the changes he has witnessed in the Japanese business environment including a reduced emphasis on 'wining and dining' customers and the shift to digital technologies in business. He also describes how he motivates his own teams; rather than leading through seniority alone he has tried to develop a respectful space where team members feel safe to develop and discuss ideas and not be afraid of failure. Mr. Spitzer admits this was not an easy process and it took a long time, but it has been worth the effort. On the topic of challenges when moving from leading a small team to a much larger one, Mr. Spitzer emphasised that once a team gets over approximately 30 people, leaders can't do everything themselves and they need trusted deputies. To build this required level of trust in his own organisation Mr. Spitzer goes to significant lengths to get to know all of his employees including calling them by name, knowing what is happening in their lives, wishing them happy birthday (even if it is on a weekend), and having an open-door policy to his employees in his office. Mr. Spitzer and his wife participate in company activities, and he like to think of the company as the 'Stihl family'. For foreign companies or professionals currently operating, in Japan, or looking to, Mr. Spitzer advises developing a real understanding of the local context rather than trying to implement a series of short-term projects which never get local support. He believes companies wanting to make change need; a sustainable concept, a clear vision with realistic targets, and to involve everybody in the process. With the right mindset and preparation, Mr. Spitzer believes success can happen in Japan as he views the Japanese market as very open-minded. On the topic of learning to speak Japanese, Mr. Spitzer has found it a very valuable skill in his own experience, but he does warn that there are times when a businessperson should use a translator including when they are not certain their Japanese will be correctly understood.

Michael King shared great insight into how to become a successful business leader in Japan. Mr. King's arrival in Japan may have been accidental but this did not stop him from having a long and prosperous career within Japan that has lasted 22 years. Despite originally being from Ohio, he began to work in the Asia Pacific 25 years ago within APAC in Sydney Australia before eventually moving to Japan as the General Manager for Sterling Commerce as Japan was the hot spot for business action and opportunity. His time at Sterling was integral as it was his sink or swim moment. With no experience of business in Japan and leadership skills, he quickly adapted to the environment around him and began to grow and develop his skills. Mr. King began to understand the importance of hard work ethic. His work increased ethic allowed him to understand the sales process better and interact with Japanese business. Despite not knowing the language at first, he did study, but he realised it was not necessarily important to know Japanese when working in Japan. Mr. King learnt that as a leader of a team to succeed, he needed to learn how to listen to his team and read the non-verbal cues his team would send his way and thus, developing trust. After his time at Sterling and later Borland he became the President of Citrix Systems for 7 years which reinforced the necessity of listening to the team and creating trust. Through his experience as a leader, he came to Citrix knowing how he can grow the company, which he succeeded in doing. After a stagnant 5 years, he formed a vicious and successful sales team which led to the acceleration of revenue growth. Through this team, he learnt to become proactive and lead rather than sit and take orders which allowed the team to create widespread awareness of who Citrix are. After his time at Citrix, he spent a year at Autodesk using his previous knowledge to help them change their business model to allow them to grow and increase revenue. While at Autodesk he learnt more about managing large groups of people and bridging the gap between the expectation of headquarters and the channels. After his short but fruitful year at Autodesk, he began working at the Japanese company Rakuten. While at Rakuten Mr. King developed a more intense understanding of working in Japanese business and leading a team of 1200 people as the CIO. Mr. King had become interested in what it would be like as an end-user which drove him to Rakuten in combination with working for one of Japan's best CEO's and businessmen Hiroshi Mikitani. Mr. King learnt a variety of lessons at Rakuten such as using data to optimise customer experience and developing new solutions to problems. His time at Rakuten was the gap to where he is now at SAS as the President. At SAS he strives to drive the engagement of his team and consumers. Mr. King's 22-year long career in Japan has taught him a range of valuable lessons that have helped him become the successful businessman he is today. He claims that in order to succeed in Japan you need to understand that accountability, listening, and trust are integral.

Originally from Austria, Dr. Parissa Haghirian is a renowned expert on international and Japanese management. Her studies include a Masters in Japanese Studies, a Masters in International Management, and a PhD in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. She has been a visiting Professor of International Management to numerous universities, Adjunct Professor of Japanese Management at Keio University and WASEDA Business School and since 2015 is the Professor of International Management at Sophia University. Dr. Haghrian started learning Japanese when she was 19 and still takes lessons 30 years later. She recalls enjoying studying Japanese, but thought she needed to study something a bit more 'practical' and went to business school at the same time. This led to her first job at Kyushu Sangyo University as an Assistant Professor where she was the first foreign woman the university had hired. Dr. Haghirian believes that, even today, not enough foreign business leaders working in Japan speak Japanese and that there is much to be gained from speaking the Japanese language. According to Dr. Haghirian, communication is a significant point of difference between Japanese and Western cultures and something that foreigners living or working in Japan need to mindful of. In Western cultures Dr. Haghirian argues communication tends to be focused on the speaker trying to get information out with listeners free to do what they please with the information. This contrasts with Japan (and many Asian cultures) where Keigo, or honorific speech, means communication is dictated by the listener and a speaker must first assess who they are talking to and adapt their way of speaking. When discussing Western and Japanese team dynamics, Dr. Haghirian highlights the differences in responsibility and accountability. Western teams emphasise responsibility for individual tasks or roles, while Japanese teams emphasise the group's responsibility. This can be challenging for cross-cultural team members and leaders, and she emphasises the importance of leaders working in Japan to not only understand their own leadership style but to also understand the 'Japanese way' of leadership which may have less executive power and relies on consensus building but carries enormous emotional weight with junior staff members. Talking from her extensive experience working in Japan, Dr. Haghirian believes that in Japan teams are most motivated when working together towards a common goal. She explains the goal should be clearly communicated to the team and should be one that allows the team to work collaboratively. Dr. Haghirian points out that the best way for managers to find out what works for their teams is to ask. Even in her work with university students, when asked if they would rather work alone or in groups her experience is that teamwork is the preferred option. Finally, when asked for final pieces of advice to foreigners coming to Japan to work, Dr. Haghirian offered; preparation by reading, asking as many questions as possible upon arrival, be mindful of the stresses in working overseas, and engage in self-reflection.

Darren McKellin shared great insight into how he became a leader through his journey to mindful leadership. Mr. McKellin's choice to come to Japan was both one of economic strategy and love for international affairs after studying in both Mexico and Sweden during college. After college, Mr. McKellin joined the Japanese air cargo company Kintestsu located in Chicago. Through the directors' brother, he was able to move to Japan as an English teacher in Yamanashi. After a year he moved to Omotesando to work at his old boss's brothers' company in Minami Aoyama where he worked for four years. This was the beginning of his 30-year long career in Japan. At this company, Mr. McKellin learnt about sales and selling products to a Japanese consumer. When he left this company after four years, he had one failing venture at Chrysler Japan but that did not stop him from persevering through a difficult time with macho management and a harsh environment to thrive him. Afterwards, he moved to sell ads for a computing magazine known as Japan Inc. Through Japan Inc he was able to gain connections with various tech companies both large companies and small start-up companies. Through this opportunity selling ad space for the Japan Inc magazine, he learnt more about systems interrogation type of work. Through the gaining rise of technology and his gaining interest in the IT market, this would eventually be his last job outside the IT world. After Japan Inc. He would later join the tech company called Techno Box. This company was the first cloud serving within Japan which allowed him to learn more about managing a team of people. After this, he would move to World Com but they went bankrupt two years later. After this stressful time, he gained a job at Vodafone. He did this through the power of intention which was an important part of his success. Mr. McKellin has gained an appreciation for intention and mindfulness when he read the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill as a young child at his grandfather's house. The idea of mindfulness had become an integral part of Mr. McKellin's life and the reason for his success. At and after his time at Vodafone, he began to grow as a leader managing large teams of people at Oracle and later NetSuite. As a leader, he learnt how to use harmony, and patience as a way to motivate and lead his team to great success. Through his use of mindfulness and gaining inspiration from Google's 'search inside yourself' program, he co-founded the Mindfulness Project at Oracle which helped improve the lives and mental health of employees. After his time at these two companies, he became the regional head of Zscaler. Currently, through his ideals, he has helped the team at Zscaler grow at a tremendous speed. He has helped develop the team from five people to sixty. Which has also helped Zscaler become a top leading IT company which now has a $40 billion market cap. Not only has he helped Zscaler become a leading company he also wrote a book to help others. His book 'Mind Over Sales' is a revolutionary book that helps readers gain knowledge about how they should use mindfulness to develop a more fulfilling life and successful career. Mr. McKellin strives at helping other gain knowledge about seeking self-awareness, intention, and harmonization to gain effortless success in their life.

Originally from the US, Mr. Whitson's background in Accounting, Japanese and Korean language opened him up to many opportunities in international business as a new graduate. After entering KPMG in 1975, Mr. Whitson was first assigned to work in Los Angeles to audit many Japanese companies that were entering the US market and American companies going to Japan. His clients included major companies such as Honda and Mazda Motor. Mr. Whitson then left for Korea and what was originally intended to be a short posting turned into over three years. Afterwards, Mr. Whitson went back to the US for a year in various types of training before becoming partner at KPMG Japan in Tokyo. Mr. Whitson's first few years as a junior staff in Korea allowed him to gain important accounting and client management experience. He had a supportive boss who enabled him to learn from his mistakes and learn how to handle difficult foreigner clients. During his first years of leadership in Japan, Mr. Whitson quickly noticed how compared to other parts of the world, Japan values team work as opposed to being independent minded. Mr. Whitson has also noticed that certain Japanese people who have international experience act differently depending on the situation – in a more international environment, they will act outgoing and assertive whereas when surrounded by more Japanese people, they will become more consensus oriented and soft. Hence, Mr. Whitson is careful to listen to those who are less vocal or are not fluent in English but are adding value to the organization and giving them recognition. He explains that active listening shows respect to the other party, which leads to trust. Not jumping to conclusions about people or things is important in Japan – which is a trap many foreign leaders fall into when first arriving. Moreover, giving challenging assignments with clear expectations and support is another way Mr. Whitson shows trust in his team. By delegating and providing more accountability to his staff, Mr. Whitson believes they will become more engaged in their work and the organization as a whole. When handling mistakes, Mr. Whitson is careful not to blame the person but instead focus on fixing the problem. On innovation, Mr. Whitson says diversity is a key element in working with creativity. Upon setting up a transaction practice at KPMG, 60% of the hires Mr. Whitson made were women, which was a rare situation at the time when the organization was made up of 90% men. Mr. Whitson noticed that his female employees excelled in intervieweing their clients and understanding their needs and challenges to help them make informed decisions. Mr. Whitson has carried through this lesson in diversity and creativity into his other projects including the Japan Market Entry Committee. To new foreign leaders coming to Japan, Mr. Whitson advises to have high cultural sensitivity. He adds, leaders should learn how Japanese society functions from various sources. Secondly, Mr. Whiston recommends learning some Japanese as it provides valuable insight into the way Japanese think and present ideas. Thirdly, Mr. Whitson advises to take time to get to know the Japanese team as in many cases, decisions are made through a longer process than compared to the west. To Mr. Whitson leadership is about setting goals for the organization and communicating with people to help them contribute in the best way possible to achieve those goals.

Paul Kraft fell in love with Japan after a school trip in the early 90s and originally came to Japan to teach English in Osaka. Afterwards, he became involved in the food business in the US as a product and brand manager for a large privately held frozen food company. Mr. Kraft returned to Japan after being head hunted by Starbucks to open a consumer-packaged goods office in Tokyo. Mr. Kraft then moved on to become the head of HoneyBaked Ham, opening and managing the Japan office. In 2016, Mr. Kraft became the Commercial Director of Nestle Nespresso. Mr. Kraft most recently is the Japan Country Manager for HARIBO Asia Pacific since 2018. Upon arriving in Japan to head the market entry of Starbucks into Japan, Mr. Kraft experienced many culture shocks and made many of the "classic mistakes." He was first surprised with the way meetings were run in Japan in which discussions could take hours with no agenda. Mr. Kraft also realized his business partners' priorities were different from his American counterparts. Mr. Kraft further notes the challenge of implementing new ideas as Japanese people tend to be risk averse and rely on past case studies. From these early leadership experiences, Mr. Kraft learned that allowing people to make mistakes was an integral part in creating a culture in which people would take more risks and innovate. He adds active listening is extremely important in order to understand employees and stakeholder needs and establish trust. After Starbucks, Mr. Kraft joined Honeybaked Ham, an American food retailer with over 400 stores in the states. Although a well-established company in the US, Honeybaked Ham was still relatively unknown in Japan when he joined. Therefore, when recruiting new hires, Mr. Kraft put extra effort in persuading prospective employees on a particular story and even serving ham to them during interviews. Furthermore, the company was mostly run by free-lancers and Mr. Kraft enjoyed the entrepreneurial culture. Mr. Kraft then moved to Nespresso as the Commercial Director, mainly managing clients in the hotel industry. As the leader of a large, globally renown company Mr. Kraft focused on having close communication with his team by holding weekly one-on-one meetings with his direct reports. Mr. Kraft recalls Nespresso had a very process-heavy approach to business and thus, he ensured to build an open communication environment. Seeking a more entrepreneurial opportunity, Mr. Kraft then moved into his current position as the Country Manager for Haribo, the number one gummy producer in the world. As a historical and well-known company, Mr. Kraft explains that recruitment and persuading people to join the team is much easier than his previous lesser-known companies. Mr. Kraft is currently the solo employee of Haribo in Japan and acts as the middle person between the Japanese market and global organization. Mr. Kraft explains that when bringing in new ideas, he "divides and conquers" to persuade his stakeholders – in other words, he uses groundwork methods to make his implement his plans. Mr. Kraft also notes that explaining the background and reasoning behind his ideas and requests is important during such discussions. For newcomers coming into Japan, Mr. Kraft advises to have close communication with team members through occasions such as weekly one-on-one meetings and to have a high "EQ radar." Secondly, he advises to provide feedback to people which should be 90% positive. Thirdly, Mr. Kraft recommends people to try to learn Japanese, although they do not need to become fluent. Mr. Kraft finally notes that leadership is achieving the organization's goal by maximizing the potential of one's team.

Growing up in California, Mr. Risberg has been an entrepreneur since high school and by his mid-20s he had already founded and sold a start-up company. His early success enabled him to move to Japan, which he had been interested in largely due to his half-Japanese roots, and invest in a series of companies in the health care industry. In 1999, Mr. Risberg joined Respironics (currently Philips Respironics) as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and in 2005, became the President and CEO of Fuji Respironics. He then became the CEO of Philips Japan in 2009. Since 2018, Mr. Risberg has been the President and General Manager of Baxter Limited Japan. Mr. Risberg's earlier experience in his 20s working and learning from his mentors taught him much about running a business as well as gaining trust from local Japanese investors and business owners. During his time at Respironics group, Mr. Risberg successfully persuaded the CEO of a distributor to agree to an acquisition. Mr. Risberg was also successful in persuading the people at Respironics on the arrangement of the acquisition process. Mr. Risberg notes having empathy, passion, decisive decision-making abilities and determination helped him with such challenging stakeholder management. During disagreements he explained the importance of ensuring the other side understands the reason behind the conflict to try to find the middle ground. Starting from a founder of a start-up company to heading a multinational conglomerate, Mr. Risberg has been a constant learner and active listener. When starting his position at Philips, Mr. Risberg asked one of the company board members to become his mentor to support him through the transition period. Mr. Risberg says at the centre, business is "all about the people, connections and communication" and forming a strong bond with more experienced leaders enabled him to access a wealth of knowledge and network he needed to understand the organization. He took on a similar approach when becoming the head of Baxter Japan and focused on bringing the company's true value to the marketplace not just through the product but through systems and services and focusing on how to maximize employee engagement. For new foreign leaders coming to Japan, Mr. Risberg firstly advises them to understand the company goal including their expectations, the reason behind them and the time frame. Secondly, he advises to learn from people and form trusting relationships. Thirdly, Mr. Risberg explains that Japan is a unique market and what seems to be a "crazy idea" could in fact add value – therefore, having a flexible mindset is essential. Lastly, Mr. Risberg recommends anybody coming to Japan to put in the effort in learning the language as he believes this will be appreciated by the local employees, customers and market.

Shinzo Yotsumoto shared great insight from his extensive leadership career in the manufacturing industry in various multinational companies including Japan, the US, France and Germany. After graduating from Waseda University, Mr. Yotsumoto entered Kobe Steel where his manager inspired him to work overseas. He worked in the German operation of Kobe Steel from 1985 to 1989 which he recalls as a life changing experience and calls Germany his second home. Mr. Yotsumoto was then head hunted to become the Key Account Executive for Michelin Japan working with Toyota for 12 years. Mr. Yotsumoto then moved on to TRW Automotive Japan as a Representative Director, and then to Schaeffler Japan as the Managing Director. After retiring from a full-time permanent position, Mr. Yotsumoto worked as an Advisor to Roland Berger and then most recently as Senior Counselor to Kiduki Architect. Having managed several multinational companies, Mr. Yotsumoto found that each country and company has a very different culture and working style. Working in Germany where employees were more vocal in their opinions, Mr. Yotsumoto found a need to communicate and understand his counterpart on a deeper level. Mr. Yotsumoto found this a challenge but an eye-opening experience coming from Japan where people mainly followed instructions. Mr. Yostumoto experienced this firsthand when he moved from Kobe Steel to Michelin. He noticed that the leaders were dedicated to the philosophy of the company to develop tires for a wide range of customers and pushed employees to be equally committed to their vision. Leadership at Michelin encouraged open discussions and welcomed differences in ideas. Mr. Yotsumoto himself, who recalls not being too vocal with his opinions in a Japanese company to become more open and speak up in this new engaging environment. After Michelin, Mr. Yotusmoto joined TRW Automotive's Japan operation as their country manager, leading a team of 250 people. Since the company had just gone through M&A, Mr. Yotsumoto's major task was to bring all the different business units together to create a "one-team atmosphere." He began by interviewing all 250 of his employees to understand their desires and expectations and how to bring them towards a single direction. This enabled the business units to deliver consistent, united messaging to their Japanese manufacturing partners such as Toyota, which helped create more trust and strengthen the reputation of TRW. Mr. Yotsumoto found that listening to his team and taking quick action based on their input helped him gain trust from his team. For example, Mr. Yotsumoto convinced the American headquarter of TRW to create an R&D Centre in Japan. This action showed his Japanese employees that the US headquarter will listen to the needs of the Japanese customers, which boosted team engagement. Mr. Yotsumoto was then head hunted to Schaeffler in 2012 as their Japan operation's Representative Director, leading a team of 300 people. At Schaeffler, Mr. Yotsumoto also held group meetings to listen to his employees and there, he understood that people were ready to embrace change. He encouraged his team from the bottom-up to speak up more to German headquarters on how to grow the business with Japanese customers and provide technical solutions and invest in the local engineering capability. Working in a multinational corporation, Mr. Yotsumoto says the key to success is to have a sense of curiosity and a desire to further understand stakeholder needs. When faced with a conflict in opinion, Mr. Yotsumoto asks further questions to try to understand why the difference exists. In monthly meetings, Mr. Yotsumoto would pose as a role model by asking simple questions or admitting his mistakes. In doing so, he hopes to create a psychologically safe atmosphere for others to voice their opinions. Mr. Yotsumoto believes that leadership is a "positive influencer" of an organization that creates an atmosphere that encourages people to take on challenges and continue to grow. To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Yostumoto recommends understanding the needs of the Japanese customers to gain trust. In order to build trust, Mr. Yostumoto emphasizes honesty, consistency and accountability. He notes: "we need to sometimes say no to Japanese customers. That's good, but we need to explain why. So that kind of [honest] conversation and explanation can create trust with the customers." Lastly, Mr. Yotsumoto advises newcomers to "enjoy" Japan including the uncomfortable situations and take it as a learning opportunity.

Paul Atkinson shares his journey as a leader of a multinational global insurance company and his insight in working in diverse cultural environments. Originally growing up in the UK, Mr. Atkinson joined RSA Insurance after graduating from university. Mr. Atkinson was attracted to the people aspect of insurance built on trust and integrity. Having worked in London for five years, Mr. Atkinson was posted in the Bahamas for two years before moving to Japan. After five years in Japan working for Royal Insurance, Mr. Atkinson move to Hong Kong and then to Taiwan where he continued to build his career within the insurance industry. In 2003 Mr. Atkinson returned to Japan and has been living in the country since then. After working as an executive search consultant, Mr. Atkinson went back to insurance and ran a direct marketing consultancy. Mr. Atkinson has been Head of Corporate Sales at AIG and is currently the Representative Director, Country Manager of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. Through his experience of working in multiple countries, Mr. Atkinson has learned the power of diversity and inclusion in management. Having managed both male and female dominated teams and faced its challenges, Mr. Atkinson has worked to bring more balance to his organizations by forming diversity and inclusion employee resource groups. Mr. Atkinson explains this has been a wonderful way for him to connect with people outside of his immediate leadership. Although Mr. Atkinson points out the prevailing gender gap in management positions in Japan, he sees a potential of talented people with diverse backgrounds and different ways of thinking to bring change. In order to increase team engagement, Mr. Atkinson treats people with respect without being judgmental. Mr. Atkinson spends a third of his time speaking to people including those outside of his direct report. As his leadership style is delegation based, Mr. Atkinson understands the need to develop a culture of trust that enables people to step up and make key decisions. To encourage this, Mr. Atkinson sets up a clear vision and goal, and consistently communicates his expectations to his team. He also holds multiple discussions at various levels of the organization. Although Mr. Atkinson realizes this process is much more time-consuming than just giving out directions, he believes the final product is of much higher quality. He additionally encourages multiple departments to work together cross-functionally to create a culture of open communication and innovation. Mr. Atkinson also points out that following up and having regular check-ins with people is essential for ensuring that the delegation is happening. To newcomers coming to lead in Japan, Mr. Atkinson recommends talking to all team members in order get a sense of where to focus on in terms of improvement, be it in staffing, communication or strategy. He also advises to buy some time from head office – at least three months – before doing a 90-100 day report as this initial communication aspect is essential. Mr. Atkinson recommends people to learn some Japanese to understand the culture and show genuine interest. Lastly, Mr. Atkinson encourages newcomers to find a hobby and enjoy the beautiful culture and sites in Japan.

70: Antony Cundy, former President, McCann Worldgroup Japan Antony Cundy, former CEO & President of McCann Worldgroup Japan first arrived in Japan in the mid-90s to teach English and completed his Post-Graduate Studies at Tokyo University. Through connections, he landed a role in a Toyota subsidiary working on marketing Lexus. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Cundy started working at Hakuhodo Lintas working with large global consumer brands. Mr. Cundy then became general manager at DDB's Japan office and then moved to London to lead the strategy and account services. Mr. Cundy then became head of planning and account services for Beacon Communications. In 2016, Mr. Cundy joined McCann Worldgroup. During his first few years of leadership, Mr. Cundy admits he "did not do a good job" as he found it challenging to engage and motivate his team to work towards a set vision and goal. Through experience, he realized being clear and consistent with his messaging and communication was crucial to lead the team. "You have to tell people as realistically and in as much detail as you can, this is what we're going to do. This is what I expect, everyone. This is your job. Make sure that people understand that at their level they're expected to do this." Moreover, he highlights the need to communicate not just to one's direct report but to people at all sections of the organization. As the strategic and account lead for DDB in London, Mr. Cundy worked to build client relationships across vast markets in Europe. There, he found that people worked like a "steam train" in which people kept running ahead but did not look back to evaluate their work. As a martial arts enthusiast, Mr. Cundy values Zanshin 残心 meaning remaining mind, or having a state of awareness once something has occurred. Therefore, Mr. Cundy put a stronger system in place to be able to evaluate the team's work and create templates to improve future performance. As Mr. Cundy matured into his leadership role, he explains delegating became much smoother for him. When he trusts his team to deliver on their own instead of relying on him to provide all the answers, Mr. Cundy found that the team started to trust him back and became more accountable to their work. On his advice to foreign leaders coming to Japan, Mr. Cundy recommends talking to all levels of people in the organization to get a wholesome picture of the company. Secondly, he emphasizes the diversity of the Japanese market, as the North and South of Japan have very different needs. As the leader, Mr. Cundy says one should be making sure every level and every part of the business understands these differences. Thirdly, Mr. Cundy notes clarity and consistency in communication, and being oneself is important. Lastly, he explains: "you have to believe in the fundamentals of your business plan. You have to have some flexibility. You're not going to achieve it through a straight line, but you should never take yourself away from it because the Japanese are saying, that's going to be tough. If you're there for the mission you need to deliver on the mission, you just got to realize that it's not going to be as straight as you think." Breaking News: Tony has just been announced as the new Vice President Marketing and Communications at Cartier.

Since her childhood, Fara Taraie has been exposed to global cultures, being born in the middle east, spending middle to high school in Europe and South Korea, studying in Iran, and finally arriving in Japan. In total, Ms. Taraie has lived in six different countries. After graduating with a master's degree in Architecture Engineering from Tokyo University, Ms. Faraie began working as an architect for a large Japanese corporation as she wanted to learn the ecosystem of big companies involved in large scale building projects. She soon became more interested in sustainable design and contributing to society, leading her to work with more startup companies. Ms. Taraie is currently the country manager for ImpacTech, an organization that supports startups to enter the Japanese market and create social, environmental, and economical impact. Ms. Taraie is also the founder of New Norm Design, architecture firm specializing in sustainable design. Ms. Taraie believes in educating and developing her people to gain mutual trust and engagement. As ImpacTech is an NPO, she understands there is more than money the organization can offer, including the opportunity to create social impact and connect with other start-ups. In this way, she has found that her staff are able to form valuable connections which help further develop their careers or even start their own businesses. She also encourages them to learn new skills and grow in their field. Ms. Taraie believes her team will become more comfortable being held accountable and come up with innovative ideas. Additionally, she has observed: "If you educate someone to work with you, you will see the chances of them leaving is much lower." Ms. Taraie advises newcomers in Japan to learn Japanese and have a good understanding of the culture in order to work here. She also explains that sometimes, instead of changing a system, it is better to come up with a new system that works better.

Jeff Crawford provided great insight into the tech and digital marketing industry from his experience as a programmer in Silicon Valley to becoming the co-founder of Zo Digital Japan. Mr. Crawford originally worked in Silicon Valley for 16 years working in famous companies including Apple and Microsoft. Living in San Francisco, he became familiar with Japanese food and culture, and took frequent vacation trips to Japan. He eventually began working at Microsoft's Japan branch for five years as a Program Manager. Mr. Crawford then stepped into a managerial position, leading a team of five staff as well as managing vendors. Next, Mr. Crawford moved into Adobe Systems Japan, also managing a team of approximately 5 people . Afterwards, he got the "entrepreneurial bug" and began a digital advertising service for music and dance schools in the US. After realizing the business model was not going to work, Mr. Crawford moved on to started Zo Digital, an SEO and digital marketing agency. Mr. Crawford first began as a consultant before starting Zo Digital, and eventually started hiring contract staff to run as an agent. On starting his own business, Mr. Crawford reflects: "Fortunately for me, I had management experience at places like Microsoft and Adobe. I think I understood how to manage people, how to have good processes, that type of stuff. And so for me, personally, everything came together. I've always had a love of user experience with computers. I'm very strong and very interested in things like analytics, looking at data to see what people are doing." In 2015, Mr. Crawford began a professional network organization called Tokyo Digital Marketers. The first event had about 10 people, but the organization has grown to over 2000 people registered and usually 50-60 people showing up in events. Mr. Crawford has also been active in other business organizations such as the American Chamber of Commerce Japan and the Japan Market Expansion Competition. Through these networking opportunities, Mr. Crawford has been able to connect and recruit people. Mr. Crawford also actively hire people online through discussion boards to find people who want to work in an international, flexible environment. The challenge Mr. Crawford faced as a leader in Japan was change management as he faced strong resistance to change in the culture. For example, there was an occasion where his Japanese team who was focused on the Japanese market suddenly had to expand to support China and Korea as well, and had to speak English. Therefore, Mr. Crawford explains the importance of explaining to people the need for change and having an open discussion about people's concerns and ideas. Mr. Crawford developed his leadership schools through reading books and using techniques, including Dale Carnegie's books and listening to management podcasts. He also highlights the need to understand how to use the learned principles in Japan. He also tries to ask his staff on what would work to try to pull out their thoughts and ideas while sharing case studies from his experience. Mr. Crawford also notes that if a team member comes to him with an idea, they have most likely already shared those thoughts with others and rewards such situations. Learning and Development is something Mr. Crawford also puts emphasis on and helps his staff grow their career paths. He believes in investing in his people to grow their career paths and enable them to add further value to the company. He finds innovation also happens in this way. Over the recent years, Mr. Crawford has found people in his company stepping up to more leadership roles. On advice to newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Crawford recommends to be careful of who you favour, as ability goes beyond just being able to speak English. He also advises to maintain a balance between being humble and assertive, and try to be observant in order to "read the air." Mr. Crawford also emphasizes the importance of understanding Japan's relationship-based business culture. He explains: "What often affects decisions [made in Japan] is that they're taking into account everybody's relationship. And a lot of times what you may not realize, especially if you're a new manager, is all these relationships exist around you, and they've been built over years... compared to other business cultures or other countries, you may want to take more time to understand the situation before making those executive decisions."

Gregory Lyon is the President and founder of Gregory Lyon Inc., company specialized in providing furniture, workplace solutions and project management. Mr. Lyon originally moved to Japan in the late 90s to teach English which then led him to move to Tokyo to work in a freight forwarding company. There, Mr. Lyon became interested in working in an organization where he could be responsible for projects from beginning to end. Mr. Lyon eventually landed a position at Herman Miller as a sales representative going back and forth between Korea and Japan. Seeing more opportunities in the furniture business in Korea, Mr. Lyon persuaded his boss and moved to Korea to focus on managing the distributors there. He eventually returned to Japan and worked at Herman Miller for nine years and had finished an MBA program. Mr. Lyon then decided to start Gregory Lyon Inc. On leading in a multinational environment as a western brand marketing to Korea and Japan, Mr. Lyon notes: "You're going by the Western brands rules in terms of marketing and how you manage your business, how you engage with clients, and then you have the Japanese side of things, which is very different. So bridging that gap can be a challenge…and finding a way to engage with clients based on what the company's line is and getting that to translate in the Japanese way." Mr. Lyon had also received a 360-degree survey from his staff and realized he needed to be more patient and explain the background behind his opinion. Mr. Lyon also decided to focus entirely on project management and client relations which allowed him to gain trust and respect from his colleagues as he was brining in business. When dealing with global accounts, Mr. Lyon spent much of his time and effort speaking to his international clients and overseas decision-makers to ensure smooth communication and project management. On engagement, Mr. Lyon found that by focusing on trying to solve issues locally, the Japanses staff began to trust him instead of seeing him as an outsider who only wanted to talk to the overseas decision-makers. Mr. Lyon recalls he had been able to do so effectively by discussing with the international and Japanese staff together on conference calls, ensuring people were on the same page. Mr. Lyon notes: "There's two sides [to] our clients. You have the non-Japanese side who rightly or wrongly typically will sign the checks for things and then make the decisions. That's usually the side that I've dealt with. The other side, which is equally important is the Japanese side who has to implement all of these projects and get everything done. So both sides have to feel comfortable. Both sides have to be attended to. And so, if I can help the decision-making side, it clears the path for the rest of the folks." Moreover, Mr. Lyon holds kick-off meetings in July to review the annual company performance based on revenue and profit, as well as making plans for next year. Overtime, Mr. Lyon has learned that it is also important to be able to rely on his staff as he does not know everything, and this humble attitude has made him more trusted. He has also shown flexibility in adjusting his team's work hours. On advice to newcomers, Mr. Lyon recommends gaining a basic understanding of Japanese history to be able to better understand the culture. Secondly, he advises to learn enough Japanese to be able to "understand the sentiment around what is being said in Japanese." He adds: "I think in my experience [with] Japanese clients, Japanese partners, [and] Japanese venders, if you speak [English] in a way that they understand, if you speak clearly enough and you speak slowly enough…especially for people who don't speak English very well, If you do that over time, the more comfortable they are listening to you, the better your relationship is going to be. And if they understand what you're saying whether you throw some Japanese words in or not, if it's all in English…they're going to be thrilled to talk to you." Thirdly, Mr. Lyon advises to be honest, direct and keep things in moderation. He adds: "be genuine and be approachable and let staff know that you're on their side and you're trying to help them."

Peter Strydom who is the President of Amway Japan shares his extensive global experience within the multinational corporation, having worked in South Africa, Spain, Germany, and Japan. Originally growing up in South Africa, Mr. Strydom had worked in leadership roles in Europe and Africa within Amway before coming to Japan. He decided to work in Japan after a mentor advised him to go to Asia to truly understand the business of Amway. He calls Amway Japan one of the crown jewel of the organization, with a nearly billion dollar business and 600, 000 independent distributors built over the last 40 years. As the President of Amway Japan, Mr. Strydom currently leads around 400 employees. One of the biggest challenges Mr. Strydom first faced when arriving in Japan was needing to implement a change management plan to within a set timeline. In a country like Japan that is resistant to quick change, he recalls this was a huge struggle. After leading in Japan for 6 years, Mr. Strydom has come to realize that profit and creating shareholder value is not necessarily the only primary driver in Japanese business culture. Hence, Mr. Strydom realized that explaining the profit-driven motive behind his change management plan was not going to work in this country. Mr. Strydom explains: "you need to expand the definition and dig a little bit deeper as to why you're doing this, not only for today, but for the impact it's going to have on people and for what it means for the future of the business." He further explains that as a CEO in a multi-corporation in Japan, it is one's responsibility to balance profitability required by headquarters while addressing the "more personal and societal concerns that are important within the local context." For example, as part of their corporate social responsibility initiative, Amway Japan has been devoted to supporting victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku by building community houses. Mr. Strydom says these initiatives have resonated and built trust with all of Amway Japan's stakeholders and led to new opportunities. Another leadership challenge Mr. Strydom points out is the hierarchical organization and siloed structure of Japanese businesses. In order to resolve this problem, Mr. Strydom says he takes a servant leadership approach to listen to his employees at various levels into the organization. Mr. Strydom has been working with HR to have more occasions where people hold small group discussions to encourage free flow of conversations and transparency. Mr. Strydom notes that the pandemic has in fact allowed him to hold these conversations in a more informal way online and has given him further insight into his team. Mr. Strydom adds: "for me, it's always been speaking from the heart speaking from my own personal experience speaking with stories and always elevating other people above oneself." Furthermore, Mr. Strydom has noticed that in Japan, people tend to want shared accountability instead of full accountability, so he realizes he needs to understand these cultural nuances that are different from the west. On encouraging innovation, Mr. Strydom says Amway Japan has created principles around having a growth mindset, which is constantly discussed in team meetings and integrated in their training sessions and public seminars. He says in this way he encourages his team to understand that taking risks and failing is okay. By congratulating people who have taken risks, Mr. Strydom hopes that others will be more comfortable doing so as well. Mr. Strydom advises newcomers leading in Japan to stay patient and communicate that change will not happen immediately to headquarters. He recommends people to not make any assumptions and jump to conclusions. For example, at first Mr. Strydom did not understand the concept of nemawashi, doing groundwork before the actual meeting. However, overtime, he has come to accept that nemawashi works well in the decision-making process in Japan. Lastly, Mr. Strydom recommends learning basic survival Japanese as it will demonstrate respect to Japanese culture and people.

Paul Dupuis is the CEO and Chairman of Randstad Japan, a global human resources consulting firm. Originally from Windsor, Ontario in Canada, Mr. Dupuis always had a passion for Asia, starting from his love of martial arts. Mr. Dupuis arrived in Japan in 1990 with just $300 and slept on a bench on his first night. He then began teaching English in Osaka in a language school, and then moved on to teaching in a public high school. After moving back to Canada and contemplating a career in teaching and hotel management, Mr. Dupuis returned to Japan as the Assistant Director of International Education Programs at Osaka Kunei Jogakuin, an all-girls school in Osaka. There, Mr. Dupuis ran international study abroad programs in Canada and New Zealand where he got to see how education can be combined with business and developed an interest in the corporate sector. Mr. Dupuis then started his own company, OIC K.K. focusing on bridging Canadian and Japanese businesses. Mr. Dupuis then landed an opportunity to set up a recruiting company with a partner and opened up Wall Street Associates (currently part of en world) in Osaka. From there, Mr. Dupuis' career in the recruiting business began. After growing Wall Street Associates, the company was acquired by en Japan and Mr. Dupuis led the rebranding of the company to en world beginning in Singapore. In 2013, Mr. Dupuis moved back from Singapore to Tokyo to head Randstad's Tokyo office as the Managing Director, then to India, and returned to Japan this year in 2021 as the Chairman and CEO of Randstad Japan. In addition to his extensive global career, Mr. Dupuis is also the author of three books on leadership – The E5 Movement, The Rule of 5, and Empty Your Cup. All books are available on his website: https://pauldupuis.net/my-books Recalling his early leadership experiences of starting a company and opening up an office in Osaka, Mr. Dupuis learned the importance of becoming a role model and having to "walk the talk" as a leader – being honest, supportive, motivating and consistent. He believes that people trust leaders when they are listened to, supported through the good and bad times and are given opportunities to continue developing. Mr. Dupuis also learned the value of having a diverse team and connecting with people who are different from himself and letting their qualities shine. Although at first Mr. Dupuis struggled to connect with people who were different from him, he has learned overtime to communicate in various ways to build trust. Currently at Randstad Japan, Mr. Dupuis holds discussions at all levels of the organization and tries to understand the different values and motivations people have by taking an "omni-channel approach." For example, when meeting with sales employees Mr. Dupuis makes sure to tap into their competitive mindset by offering rewards when meeting a set goal. When talking to risk and compliance teams, Mr. Dupuis will keep in mind their purpose to protect and enable and asks if the team is doing everything to protect the organization, while enabling the business to grow. He adds: "when you listen more than you speak, ideas are born…it also starts with asking the right questions." His initiative to hold one-on-one conversations with his employees, which he calls compass meetings, has given him great insight into learning more about the actual people who are doing the groundwork in the organization. Mr. Dupuis is currently planning another initiative in which people are encouraged to present their ideas to a panel and get recognition. Additionally, Mr. Dupuis puts significant emphasis on learning and development opportunities at Randstad Japan, as he believes investing in people also leads to trust and development of the company itself. On the challenge of recruiting people to foreign companies, Mr. Dupuis explains: "People don't join a brand. They join people and people stay because of people. They also leave because of people. So I realized pretty quickly that ultimately I had to be the one that was going to attract people to join." Thus, Mr. Dupuis has made sure when talking to prospective employees to share his values and his insight in recruitment, which had been an unfamiliar concept in Japan 10 years ago. On his advice to newcomers in Japan, he recommends coming to Japan with an open mind and connecting with the people in the field using active listening skills. He also advises to talk to other expats who have gone through similar experiences and have been successful in Japan. Mr Dupuis thinks learning basic Japanese – even 10 words - is a great idea as it sends out a message to the organization that you are "walking the talk" as a leader, trying to learn and better connect with Japanese people. He lastly advises newcomers to spend time with employees outside of the office. Mr. Dupuis points out: "There is something in the office environment. People are hesitant to speak up, but the moment you go offsite…that's where you have the best

Kenji Govaers originally grew up in France but has been going back and forth between France and Japan due to his half French and half Japanese background. Mr. Govaers started his career in the 80s bubble economy in Japan as a sales engineer. Afterwards, he moved back to France and went into consulting working for Mars & Co. Mr. Govaers enjoyed the inquisitive and client-based nature of consulting that opened him up to new opportunities and growth. Mr. Govaers then helped open an office in San Francisco where he was inspired by the diversity of people and ideas which were different from his experiences in Europe and Japan. In the late 90s, Mr. Govaers helped open an office for Mars in Tokyo. Mr. Govaers then moved to Bain & Company where he has been for the last 12 years and is currently the Partner and Director of the Tokyo office. On recruiting new graduates, Mr. Goavers says in addition to considering candidates from the top schools, he also looks at the types of specialties they have studied. For example, at Bain, they will likely consider someone with a strong engineering background. Mr. Goavers also looks for people who have a high sense of lateral thinking, which can be seen in interviews. According to Mr. Govaers, the industry is one of the popular choices among university graduates in Japan. Mr. Goavers thinks that young people are attracted to the project-based structure of consulting that is different from a routine job. Mr. Govaers notes they are drawn to the network of other ambitious and intelligent people they will be working with who will enrich their work experience. Mr. Govaers highlights the importance of building an engaging culture especially being in the business of consulting. He says: "the purpose of the business in many ways is to change the industry of a client [and] help you grow as a person." When placing his staff in different projects, Mr. Govaers explains they consider whether the person will be a good fit or not and have the right level of expertise. He also adds they consider these assignments as a development opportunity for the individuals themselves. Mr. Govaers explains that one of the benefits of working in a consulting firm is that "you never stop learning" and you "learn not from a textbook…but from watching what others do…you learn by being put into situations where you have to learn from the experience." At Bain they also provide training classes on client-facing communication skills where participants learn the basics of consultative selling such as active listening. Mr. Govaers points out that by developing better client communication skills, one can start to recognize certain patterns in the problems the clients are facing from their conversations. On gaining trust and retaining talented people , Mr. Govaers notes: "At the end of the day, it's about commitments. If you commit to the mission and if you behave like you are fully committed, then people will trust you…and that commitment is practically just being very spot on [with] the messaging and consistent over the years." Moreover, he explains the mission should not just be about the client or product but something on a larger scale that people will feel extremely excited to be a part of, such as creating a new IP practice. Secondly, Mr. Govaers recommends leaders to define their business principles. He explains: "What do you value between freedom and accountability?...Between alignment and independence? [Having] these kinds of fundamental business principles, you have to be clear about [them]. You have to be mindful of the different layers of communication that's happening in your Japanese organization." On his advice to foreign leaders coming to Japan, Mr. Govaers advises to stay focused on one's particular mission to bring change in Japan, as it is easy to get comfortable and think one knows everything about Japan. He explains that for many Japanese employees and leaders working in foreign companies, they make the choice because they are looking for something different from a typical Japanese business culture. Thus, Mr. Goavers explains, the leaders should communicate a strong mission that sets them apart from their Japanese competitors. Finally, Mr. Govaers advises foreign leaders to talk to people who have been in similar situations and ask for their insights.

Wolfgang Bierer takes us through his journey of leading various companies in multiple fields including consulting, fashion and retail. Mr. Bierer first came to Japan on a youth exchange program under the German government. He landed an internship with Hitachi at their software development centre on a six-month contract initially, and later joined them as a full-time staff. He recalls being the "only gaijin living in a male dormitory" and experiencing the raw Japanese working culture "the hard way." Already in his 20s, Mr. Bierer worked with clients in the US and India on development projects, and quickly became unit manager for his development team. Mr. Bierer then went into consulting and returned to Germany for four years, becoming more knowledgeable in management consulting. Mr. Bierer then returned to Japan with his family to start his own consulting firm, Endeavor SBC, which celebrated its 17th year in business in April. Mr. Bierer additionally leads 12 other companies including 1-Stop-Solution.com, Mephisto Japan, Bree Japan and Seeburger Japan, mainly in the fashion and retail industry. One of Mr. Bierer's first work through Endeavor was with Adidas from his old contacts where he learned much about the business processes within the fashion and sports industry as well as utilizing SAP. Overtime Mr. Bierer built a business model that minimized companies from buying inventory to reduce warehouse costs and improve their profitability. This business model has become a template for Mr. Bierer's other retail companies. Additionally, the company brands managed by Mr. Bierer are sold by one buyer at Mitsukoshi Isetan, instead of each brand having multiple staff representing them. For his other companies, although Mr. Bierer has a core team of managers that take care of the daily operations of each organization, he himself keeps in close contact with his staff and clients by holding meetings and selling at the retail stores. When stepping into a new company, Mr. Bierer takes a process approach by carefully listening and consulting the team and looking at the cost drivers to analyze how costs could be reduced. Once he is set on a certain direction for that company, Mr. Bierer uses his knowledge and connections to work towards a set goal with his team. Mr. Bierer explains: "I think overall in Japan…you need to try to get in the inner circle of your Japanese team. Like…you need to maybe make a fool out of you at the karaoke evening, or you need to be approachable and understand the details. And I think there are many leaders in the ivory tower [who] don't really know what is [operationally] going on." By closely communicating with his staff, Mr. Bierer has been able to build trust with his team. He also adds that by paying his staff consistently including full timers and temporary staff even during tough times like COVID, has further developed this trust. Mr. Bierer also gives incentives by giving out company products or unexpected rewards from time to time and has received positive feedback from his team. Mr. Bierer credits the multiple revenue streams he has from his various companies that secures his staff and his own lifestyle, as well as his core management team which allow him to work efficiently between various companies. On advice to new incoming foreign leaders, Mr. Bierer recommends having a good translator to be able to communicate with the Japanese team. He also explains that Japanese staff may need more guidance on their work and leaders need to understand that each team works differently. Thirdly, Mr. Bierer advises to "be approachable and not sit on your highchair or somewhere overlooking [the team]. You need to gain the trust of the people and show that you actually care."

62: David Daniels, Ex-CEO Asia, Le Creuset David Daniels shares his global experience managing various luxury cosmetics, retail and manufacturing companies in Europe and APAC, successfully rebuilding struggling businesses. Mr. Daniels spent 12 years at Yves Saint Laurent, starting out as an intern in Paris, and experienced several roles in marketing and sales including an Area Manager and Brand Manager in the UK. He was eventually promoted to Marketing Manager, leading a team of 16 staff at the age of 29. Mr. Daniels has since then experienced various leadership roles in a global environment as Vice President and General Manager of Marketing Services at Coty Prestige, President of Asia Pacific at Georg Jensen, and General Manager Middle East at Saks Fifth Avenue, and President/CEO Japan at Folli Follie Group. Mr. Daniels most recently led Le Creuset Asia as their CEO. After an extensive career in the cosmetics industry as a marketing and sales manager at Yves Saint Laurent and Coty Prestige, Mr. Daniels moved to Australia where he experienced first hand the challenge of engaging the local market with headquarters. Yet Mr. Daniels' fascination with Asia led him to work at Georg Jensen, a Danish watch and jewelry company, as their APAC President. Once in Japan, Mr. Daniels fell in love with the country immediately. At Georg Jensen, Mr. Daniels successfully bought out Georg Jensen from a joint venture partnership with Takashimaya. Mr. Daniels then worked to bring more energy to the operational management side of the organization. By spending time in the stores and asking his staff for feedback, Mr. Daniels discovered that although the Japan team had many great ideas on organizing promotional activities and creating customized products, it was not being communicated clearly to headquarters. Therefore, Mr. Daniels set up a product council who worked to create Japan exclusive products, which later became best sellers. In doing so, the engagement level between the Japan office and headquarters, as well as within the Japan team increased. Mr. Daniels then moved onto Saks Fifth Avenue to lead their business in the Middle East in Dubai. Mr. Daniels helped set up a new department store in Bahrain, which he calls a challenging but incredible experience. Mr Daniels recalls his father, who was a veteran in the luxury retail industry was a great mentor to him during this time. Mr. Daniels next took on the opportunity to join Folli Follie as their Japan President in 2010, when the company was struggling from the aftermath of the Lehman shock and some great internal talent had been lost. Mr. Daniels started by visiting all the retail stores and talking to the store staff as well as the finance people to look at the numbers in detail. In engaging with the staff, Mr. Daniels claims that his Japanese language skills helped him gain more trust. Mr. Daniels further explains: "Ultimately we had to close quite a number of stores that was painful…But the business changed quite quickly. Within 12 months we'd had three years of decline and suddenly the business started growing again, month for month." After leading other Asia subsidiaries including Korea, Taiwan, Hawaii, Guam and Singapore, Mr. Daniels left Folli Follie after 9 years and stepped into his recent role at Le Creuset. At Le Creuset, as the Commercial Director for Asia, Mr. Daniels managed nine Asian subsidiaries including Japan. Again, Mr. Daniels sought to bring more positive energy to the business. Mr. Daniels sought to bring more stability to the leadership team and improve their retention rate, communicating with people to increase their motivation. Mr. Daniels says: "One of the lessons that we know in Japan is the "hai", or even "wakarimashita" does not mean, yes, I'm going to do this. All it means is I've just listened to what you've told me." By taking careful steps in explaining to each individual their role and what their accountability is, Mr. Daniels says the execution is often flawless. On advice to new incoming foreign leaders, Mr. Daniel recommends actively listening to the local staff to look beyond what's being said, and carefully observe what is not being said, as well as the body language. He adds: "be consistent, respect everybody, and talk to everybody…don't stop asking questions"