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

Hosted by Dr. Greg Story

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Japan's Top Business Interviews is the premier business interview podcast for people who want to know more about business in japan. The guests cover a range of industries and organisation sizes, to present a thorough overview of issues with leading in Japan. If you are a leader, especialy someone leading in Japan, then this is the podcast for you.

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August 21, 202659 min

291 Anatole Varin — Founder and President, The Plant

"Trusting people to do things and respecting them and not micromanaging them has been essential to our culture." "If you believe in somebody and you respect them, they start to feel confident in their ability to do that thing." "If people feel they have a lot of autonomy in their work, they will naturally be coming with ideas." "AI is a power tool for us, and if we are not the craftsmen with the best use of these power tools, we are going to be in trouble." "Leadership is creating the environment for people to be successful." Anatole Varin is the Founder and President of The Plant, an enterprise commerce technology company that builds and operates custom digital commerce systems for global companies entering Japan and Japanese companies expanding internationally. The Plant develops its own technology stack rather than acting solely as a systems integrator, giving it greater control over speed, quality, security and localisation. Varin came to Japan in his late twenties after living in France, Spain, Brazil and the United States. He initially worked in education and later completed a master's degree in commerce in Nagoya. While researching a portal project for small and medium-sized enterprises in Aichi, he taught himself programming and became deeply involved in the early Internet economy. He went on to co-found GaijinPot, where he served as a one-person technology team responsible for coding, design and server management. After selling his interest, he founded The Plant more than twenty years ago. The company grew from a small Japan-based development business into an international organisation of roughly 100 people, with major development capability in China and an Australian presence. His career is defined by self-directed technical learning, entrepreneurship, trust-based growth and the gradual transition from individual maker to organisational leader. Anatole Varin's path to entrepreneurship in Japan was neither linear nor heavily planned. He arrived in his late twenties simply because Japan seemed interesting, worked in education and later pursued a master's degree in commerce in Nagoya. His thesis project involved building an online portal for small and medium-sized enterprises in Aichi at a time when the commercial Internet was only beginning to take shape. With little formal technical education, he taught himself to code by buying books, experimenting constantly and building the system from scratch. That work led to GaijinPot, the portal for foreigners living and working in Japan. As the sole technical person, Varin wrote the code, managed the servers and handled design. The experience gave him a powerful taste for speed and autonomy: he could have an idea and place it into production within days because there were few dependencies and nobody blocking execution. When he later founded The Plant, he initially expected to create consumer-facing online businesses. Several failed. As cash tightened, he began accepting development work from companies that knew his capabilities, and the business gradually evolved towards enterprise commerce systems. The Plant's growth was built largely through word-of-mouth. In enterprise technology, a mistake can directly damage a client's operations, so trust is fundamental. Large consulting brands often act as a proxy for trust; Varin had no such brand. Instead, he relied on personal reputation, repeat delivery, the quality of his developers and independent audits and certifications. Over time, clients who had experienced the company's speed and reliability recommended it to others. The company also differentiated itself by building and controlling its own technology stack. Many technology projects are slowed by chains of consultants, subcontractors and global platform owners. The people doing the work can be far removed from the product, while local Japan requirements compete with requests from dozens of other markets. By keeping development close to the customer and controlling the underlying technology, The Plant can respond faster, localise effectively and maintain security and quality. Its expansion into China was driven less by market entry than by access to a deep pool of engineering talent, while the Australian presence grew from the long-term relationship with its founding CTO. Varin's greatest leadership challenge was the transition from doing everything himself to working through other people. His natural preference is to build, move quickly and avoid unnecessary friction. Leadership, however, requires explaining the vision, motivating others and accepting that people need context rather than merely watching the founder work. He has received criticism for not articulating direction enough, yet his visible passion and direct involvement have also become important cultural signals. His strongest leadership instinct is trust. Long-serving leaders such as the company's CTO and China head became influential examples for others. Varin tries to respect capable people, avoid micromanagement and allow them to run with promising ideas before immediately attacking the weaknesses. By sharing their enthusiasm and backing them early, he helps people build confidence. Some ideas do not become viable products, but the failure is usually treated as an investment in learning rather than a reason to punish the person who tried. Autonomy is also the engine of innovation. Varin believes that people are naturally creative when they feel trusted to make decisions. The company uses objectives and key results to give teams a distributed process for setting goals, but the larger mechanism is environmental rather than bureaucratic. Transparent Slack channels, open access to company information and shared financial results help people understand what is happening and contribute without waiting for permission. Technology is now reshaping the company again. Varin views artificial intelligence as a power tool that every team must learn to use well. The Plant has established an AI centre of excellence, is moving developers towards technical product and system-design roles, and has embedded AI capabilities into its next platform, Cortex. AI allows faster prototyping and development, reinforcing the company's speed advantage, but it also creates pressure to grow the client base because the same work may require fewer people. His response is not to retreat or reduce the team, but to grow into the challenge. For leaders in Japan, Varin recommends learning the language while remaining realistic about identity. Fluency creates opportunity and helps Japanese colleagues communicate with greater ease and nuance, but a foreign executive will not become Japanese simply by copying surface behaviours. The better goal is to understand the environment, respect people, communicate openly and build a culture suited to the organisation. His final definition of leadership brings these ideas together: create the environment in which people and the company can succeed, establish alignment on where to go and support capable people in finding the path. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires close attention to trust, communication style and the distinction between cultural understanding and imitation. Varin's organisation is unusually international, yet its client base and operating environment are deeply connected to Japan. Foreign leaders need to recognise that Japanese colleagues may communicate more indirectly and feel more comfortable expressing nuance in Japanese. At the same time, Varin cautions against believing that fluent language or local mannerisms will make a foreign executive Japanese. The more useful goal is to understand the context, respect how people work and develop a culture that can function authentically inside Japan. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they value their own speed and expertise so highly that they fail to provide sufficient direction and context to others. Varin experienced this personally. As a highly productive founder-programmer, he was accustomed to having an idea and executing it immediately. Once the company grew, that approach no longer scaled. People needed the vision explained, motivation, guidance and room to interpret the objective. Another common difficulty is dependency: multinational systems can make Japan wait behind dozens of global priorities. Leaders who do not understand the local need for channels such as LINE or the speed of the market can unintentionally block progress. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Varin's experience suggests that risk in Japan is often managed through relationships, reputation and proof of reliability. The Plant won business not by asking clients to take an abstract chance on a small supplier, but through referrals from people who had already seen the quality of its work. Longevity and visible client success function as powerful green flags because few organisations want to be first. Inside the company, Varin reduces fear by backing good ideas before immediately listing all the reasons they could fail. When an initiative does not create a viable product, the result is usually treated as time and money spent learning, not as a career-ending error. What leadership style actually works? Varin's style is autonomy-centred. He trusts capable people, respects their expertise and avoids micromanagement. When someone is excited about a promising idea, he tries to ride the wave with them, support the energy and allow the person to discover where it leads. That confidence can be developmental: people who are believed in begin to believe more strongly in themselves. His style is also highly visible. Employees see that he remains technically curious, engaged in the work and willing to experiment personally. The weakness of this style is that passion and example do not always replace a clearly articulated vision, so effective founder leadership must balance involvement with explicit alignment. How can technology help? Technology is both The Plant's product and its organisational philosophy. Owning the complete technology stack reduces the delays and information loss created by long outsourcing chains. It allows the company to localise quickly, respond to Japan-specific platforms and maintain stronger control over quality and security. AI is now accelerating that advantage. The Plant encourages AI use across technical and non-technical teams, has created an AI centre of excellence and is embedding AI into its Cortex platform. Varin expects roles to move away from writing every line of code towards defining what should be built, supervising AI-generated output and exercising stronger product judgement. Does language proficiency matter? Varin believes Japanese proficiency opens substantial opportunities. It allows direct communication, helps colleagues relax and gives access to the ambiguity, softness and subtlety built into Japanese expression. He also notes that language ability declines when it is not used, regardless of how long someone lives in Japan. His own Japanese was stronger when his daily environment required it. Language can even influence personality, making a speaker appear softer or more indirect. Nevertheless, proficiency should not become a performance of being Japanese. It is a practical bridge for relationships, understanding and opportunity. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? The ultimate lesson is to create an environment where people can succeed. For Varin, that environment includes autonomy, respect, transparency, good colleagues, a pleasant physical or virtual workspace and alignment around where the company is going. Leadership does not mean personally solving every problem or controlling every decision. It means selecting and supporting people who can carry responsibility, allowing ideas to develop, sharing information and adjusting continually as the organisation learns. The founder's task is to make success more likely for the people and the company, not to remain the only person capable of producing it. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

August 14, 20261 hr 13 min

290 James Marsden — Head of Post-Trade, Asia Pacific, Broadridge Financial Solutions

"Leadership is a continual journey of getting better and knowing the right techniques to enable people around you to be successful." "The trick is to listen to the clients because they have problems, and they are going to tell you what keeps them up at night." "Giving people knowledge is something that enables them to grow in their career." "Never waste a mistake or an opportunity to learn something from what happened." "Leadership is about showing the way, knowing the way and giving people space." James Marsden is Head of Post-Trade, Asia Pacific, at Broadridge Financial Solutions, based in Tokyo. Broadridge provides technology platforms and infrastructure supporting major banks, broker-dealers, asset managers and other financial institutions across front-office, middle-office, post-trade and investor communications activities. Marsden joined the company in London in 1996, initially working as an engineer, programmer and systems designer. He came to Japan in 2000 to help deploy Broadridge technology for JPMorgan's investment banking business. Following the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the Tokyo office contracted dramatically, and at the age of 29 he was asked to run the Japan business. His combination of technical knowledge, project management experience, commercial awareness and Japanese-language ability made him unusually well equipped for the role. He subsequently held broader business development and regional leadership responsibilities and now oversees post-trade teams across Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. His career illustrates adaptability in Japan, long-term client relationship building, technical-to-commercial progression and the development of a coaching-oriented leadership style. James Marsden's leadership career developed through necessity rather than formal succession planning. He began as an engineer and programmer at Broadridge in London, moved to Tokyo to support a major client implementation and, after the dot-com downturn reduced the local operation from roughly 20 or 30 people to four, was asked to lead the Japan business at just 29. He knew the platform, could speak with Japanese clients, understood delivery and had enough commercial judgement to distinguish between contracted service, maintenance and chargeable work. What he did not have was formal leadership training. That early experience shaped a practical philosophy: leadership is never finished. It is a continual process of learning how to equip people with knowledge, give them room to operate and create a circle of safety in which they can learn and make mistakes without being abandoned. Marsden's technical expertise initially gave him credibility with employees and clients. As his scope expanded, direct technical knowledge became less available, so his role shifted towards coaching—sharing how he would approach a problem without micromanaging the person responsible for solving it. Client listening was central to rebuilding the Japanese business from four people to around 60. Marsden argues that customers usually articulate their problems, not the solution. The leader's task is to understand what keeps them awake, combine technical and creative thinking, and bring together the internal support required to deliver an answer. This also demands 'leading up': selling the opportunity internally and ensuring senior management stands behind the local team. His approach to hiring reflects the same developmental mindset. Broadridge sought intelligent, analytical people who wanted to learn, including graduates whose potential might not be visible in a conventional Japanese interview. Analytical testing helped identify problem-solving capability beyond polished self-presentation. The company could then offer something distinctive: the opportunity to become a global subject-matter expert in specialised areas of securities processing rather than rotate anonymously through a large organisation. Marsden sees culture as something employees experience through behaviour. Leaders must give people space, lead by example and keep the client at the centre. In Japan, smaller meetings, dinners and informal conversations often create more candid communication than large English-language town halls. Foreign leaders should not force employees to speak English when doing so suppresses ideas. They should allow people to communicate in the language and format that produces the best contribution, listen carefully and make room before offering their own opinion. Broadridge's global purpose—to help clients operate, innovate and grow—and its CREATE values provide a North Star, but Marsden stresses that leaders must translate corporate language into daily meaning. Employees need to understand why a client request matters, how a project supports growth and what financial results mean for their own learning and opportunities. Values become credible when leaders choose the right client solution rather than the most lucrative one and when sales, delivery, support and infrastructure collaborate before promises are made. Trust, in Marsden's experience, comes from doing what was promised when it was promised. It is strengthened by offering employees unique developmental experiences, keeping commercial commitments and responding constructively when mistakes occur. Genuine errors are inevitable; the true test of character is whether the team faces the problem, resolves it and learns from it. Criticism, particularly in Japan, can drive people back into risk avoidance. Coaching should instead help them accept that an 80 per cent solution delivered in time may create more client value than perfection delivered too late. For expatriate leaders, Marsden strongly recommends learning Japanese. Language opens doors, signals respect and builds trust that translation technology cannot replicate. Yet language alone is insufficient: leaders must become bicultural, understand nemawashi and consensus, honour commitments and appreciate Japanese decision logic. A trusted senior adviser with industry knowledge can also help interpret context more accurately than a junior translator. Marsden's final definition is direct: leadership means showing and knowing the way, giving people space, coaching with specific value, making difficult decisions and explaining why they serve the longer-term good. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan depends heavily on trust, context and the quality of relationships surrounding a decision. Marsden emphasises that large formal meetings often discourage participation, especially when people are required to speak English or risk being the first person to challenge an idea. Smaller groups, one-to-one conversations and informal dinners can produce far more candid dialogue. Nemawashi and consensus-building also matter: once a Japanese organisation has reached a decision, financial incentives may not reverse it because the underlying values and internal alignment differ from a Western transactional model. Effective leaders therefore listen before speaking, allow employees to communicate in their preferred language and understand how decisions were formed. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives struggle when they assume that a familiar management technique will produce the same response in Japan. Forcing English in meetings can turn a discussion into a one-way presentation. Relying on a bilingual junior employee or interpreter can also distort important meaning because translation inevitably involves interpretation, and the person may lack the business experience to recognise what matters. Headquarters may also try to solve a Japanese client problem with discounts or contractual arguments when the real issue is trust, quality or a firmly completed internal decision. Marsden recommends developing cultural knowledge, using experienced advisers and appreciating the client's perspective before prescribing a solution. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Marsden views Japanese risk avoidance as closely linked to perfectionism, accountability and concern about making visible mistakes. Employees may invest enormous effort in moving a solution from 80 or 90 per cent to near-perfection, even when the final increment delays value and consumes disproportionate resources. Leaders must explain that controlled experimentation and incomplete automation can still serve the customer well. When genuine mistakes happen, criticism is counterproductive because it teaches people never to step outside their safe role again. The better response is to face the problem, protect the client, identify what can be learned and rebuild the employee's confidence. What leadership style actually works? Marsden favours a coaching-oriented style that combines technical credibility, listening, knowledge-sharing and latitude. Early in his career, he could teach from direct product expertise. As his remit expanded, he shifted towards offering guidance—explaining how he might approach an issue—without micromanaging. He believes leaders should create a circle of safety, have people's backs and give them challenging opportunities through which they can grow. Leading by example is essential: values become real when the leader chooses the client's best solution over a larger sale, follows through on commitments and makes difficult decisions while explaining the long-term rationale. How can technology help? Technology is both Broadridge's business and a source of employee engagement. Marsden encourages small-scale innovation: side tools, automation and new methods that remove repetitive manual work while helping engineers learn a new language, product domain or business process. Many small innovations can combine to increase organisational velocity. He also finds visualisation particularly powerful. When teams build a diagram together on a whiteboard, people who may struggle to express an idea in English can add boxes, flows and connections. The shared picture creates involvement, improves understanding and often becomes a more effective client communication tool than dense text. Does language proficiency matter? Marsden strongly recommends learning Japanese. He believes it creates trust that cannot be achieved in the same way through translators or generative AI because it demonstrates genuine investment in the country and its people. Japanese also opens commercial doors and allows more nuanced relationships with clients who may not feel comfortable discussing complex services in English. Nevertheless, speaking Japanese is not enough. A foreign leader also needs bicultural awareness: the ability to understand etiquette, commitments, consensus, client expectations and the meaning behind what is said. Experienced bilingual advisers with deep industry knowledge can provide an invaluable bridge. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Marsden's ultimate lesson is that leadership means showing the way, knowing the way and giving people space. It is not shouting, bullying or demanding a result without useful guidance. A strong leader coaches with specificity, shares knowledge, makes difficult decisions and helps people understand why those decisions serve the organisation over time. The leader also listens to clients and employees, protects room for learning and treats mistakes as opportunities that should never be wasted. Leadership remains a journey because the techniques required to enable others must continually evolve as the organisation, technology and people change. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

August 7, 20261 hr 6 min

289 Thomas Fraessle - Representative Director and CEO, ITK Engineering Japan

"Leading is empowering, guiding, inspiring and having a shared goal of working together." "You need to build up trust, and for me what really helped was the one-on-ones." "Nobody wants to have a surprise in the meeting." "Predictability is really important for any leader." "Leadership is bringing your people forward and putting them in the position where they can perform at their best." Thomas Fraessle is the Representative Director and CEO of ITK Engineering Japan, a professional engineering services company that develops customised software and systems solutions across automotive, healthcare, railway and other technology-intensive sectors. ITK originated in Germany and later became part of the Bosch Group. Fraessle studied electrical engineering and completed his diploma thesis at Mercedes-Benz, working on vehicle energy simulation and battery sizing. He then joined ITK when it was still a relatively small engineering company, attracted by the chance to work across varied projects rather than enter a large corporation. After assignments supporting General Motors Europe, he asked for an opportunity to work abroad and chose Japan precisely because it was unfamiliar and culturally distant from his previous experience. He first arrived in Japan in 2008, worked through a local partner and helped initiate the establishment of ITK's own Japanese operation. After returning to Germany and developing his leadership experience, he came back to Japan in February 2022 as Representative Director and CEO. His career reflects adaptability across engineering, business development and people leadership, as well as the transition from individual technical contributor to cross-cultural organisational leader. Thomas Fraessle's leadership journey in Japan began with curiosity rather than a carefully mapped expatriate career. After studying electrical engineering and completing a practical diploma thesis at Mercedes-Benz, he joined the then-small ITK Engineering because he wanted exposure to multiple projects and responsibilities. An assignment supporting General Motors Europe introduced him to international collaboration and prompted him to ask ITK's founder for an overseas opportunity. Given a choice between the United States and Japan, he selected Japan because it represented the more unfamiliar challenge. That first period in Japan, beginning in 2008, gave Fraessle direct experience as an engineer working with Japanese customers. More than a decade later, he returned as the head of ITK Engineering Japan. The country was familiar, but the responsibility was entirely different. As CEO, he had to build alignment, create trust, communicate direction and encourage people to speak candidly. He quickly discovered that leadership concepts such as motivation, feedback and empowerment do not travel unchanged across cultures. One of the sharpest differences was feedback. In Germany, direct feedback could be treated as a normal part of improving performance. In Japan, the word itself could sound negative, as though a leader was about to explain what an employee had done badly. Fraessle found that honest views rarely appeared automatically in group meetings. He therefore invested in repeated one-to-one conversations, asking not simply what was wrong, but how the team could improve something together and what support people needed from him. Trust accumulated gradually, and some changes required a full year of discussion and preparation. This experience led him to appreciate nemawashi—the groundwork conducted before a formal decision. In many Western meetings, participants debate an issue and decide in the room. In Japan, the visible meeting may be the final confirmation of extensive prior consultation. Fraessle learned to plant ideas, explain them more than once, listen to objections and allow people time to reach confidence in the direction. Although the process can seem slow, it can produce stronger implementation because surprises and unresolved resistance have been reduced beforehand. Trust is also reinforced through transparency and predictability. Fraessle explains not only KPIs and decisions, but the business reasoning behind them. He distinguishes explanation from excuse-making: the leader should own the decision rather than hide behind headquarters. He is also willing to acknowledge mistakes, viewing this as strength rather than weakness. Employees need to know that problems can be raised without anger, blame or humiliation. A leader whose reactions vary with mood creates hesitation; a consistent leader makes it safer to speak up. Fraessle translated these beliefs into organisational practices. He introduced company gatherings after the isolation of COVID-19, created engineering workshops and cross-project technical groups, and redesigned the office around shared desks and easier interaction. These choices were not cosmetic. They created occasions for engineers from different projects to meet, exchange solutions and generate ideas that could be reused with other customers. His approach to hybrid work is similarly contextual rather than rigid: customer satisfaction, project needs and team collaboration matter more than mechanically applying one rule to everyone. His ultimate definition of leadership is practical and developmental. It is about bringing people forward, helping them build competence, giving them confidence to decide, guiding them with useful feedback and placing them where they can perform at their best. In Japan, that requires patience, relationship-building and respect for context. The leader's task is not to impose a foreign operating model immediately, but to understand why the current system exists, preserve what serves customers and then lead change with clarity and consistency. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan is shaped by context, relationship history and extensive preparation before visible decisions. Fraessle found that people may not openly disagree in a group, particularly when hierarchy, seniority or concern about losing face is involved. A formal meeting may therefore confirm a direction that has already been discussed through nemawashi rather than serve as the arena where competing views are first exposed. Leaders must learn to read what is not being said, create private channels for honest discussion and give colleagues time to absorb and test a proposal. Japan's strong commitment to quality and long-term customer trust also affects leadership. A defect or poorly handled mistake can damage a relationship that took years to establish, so teams often seek a very high degree of certainty before acting. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they interpret different behaviour as poor performance or resistance. A process may appear inefficient from headquarters, yet exist because a Japanese customer requires it or because it protects a long-standing relationship. Fraessle advises leaders to investigate why people work in a particular way before changing it. He benefited from having previously worked at customer sites in Japan and understood that management reports rarely show the full picture. Another difficulty is expecting direct feedback. Employees may say yes to preserve harmony without meaning that they fully support immediate execution. Foreign leaders can also mistake English silence for lack of knowledge, when capable employees are simply reluctant to risk making a linguistic mistake in public. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Fraessle's experience suggests that Japanese employees are not simply unwilling to take risks; they are highly conscious of quality, accountability and the social consequences of being wrong. An engineer may study a question for weeks before asking for help because appearing unprepared could mean losing face. That caution can protect quality, but it can also slow learning. Fraessle encourages people to ask earlier, communicate sooner and use colleagues' expertise. He also makes clear that mistakes are normal and that leaders should own their own errors. Risk-taking becomes more realistic when people know how failures will be handled, when trials are bounded and when the purpose of experimentation is organisational learning rather than individual judgement. What leadership style actually works? The most effective style in Fraessle's account combines approachability, consistency, transparency and role modelling. He used one-to-one meetings to build trust and even created a short personal guide explaining his direct German communication style so colleagues would not misread it as personal hostility. He established regular company meetings and informal gatherings so employees could see him, question him and understand how he behaved. He explains why targets and decisions matter, does not blame headquarters for choices he has made, and apologises when he is wrong. Above all, he stresses predictability. Employees should not have to study the leader's mood before deciding whether it is safe to raise a problem. How can technology help? Technology is central to ITK's business, but Fraessle's leadership lesson is that innovation requires human structures as well as technical expertise. Engineers working deeply on individual customer projects can become isolated from one another. ITK Engineering Japan therefore creates engineering workshops and cross-project technical groups where employees demonstrate tools, discuss cybersecurity, programming and systems challenges, and ask peers for alternative solutions. Ideas arising from these exchanges can improve one project and later become reusable solutions for other customers. Digital collaboration also supports an international workforce, but Fraessle does not treat technology as a substitute for human contact. Office design, shared desks, company meetings and informal conversation deliberately create the serendipitous exchanges that remote work can reduce. Does language proficiency matter? Fraessle believes learning Japanese is valuable because an expatriate leader is a guest in the country and language deepens cultural understanding. He also candidly acknowledges how difficult it is to improve without regular use and wishes he had invested more heavily at the beginning. At executive level, it is possible to lead without full proficiency, and sometimes using English can create a neutral international space. The larger challenge is psychological safety: many Japanese employees possess stronger English than they reveal in the office because they fear mistakes. Leaders should provide different ways to communicate, allow preparation and create low-pressure opportunities for people to use the language. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Fraessle defines leadership as bringing people forward. The leader should guide, inspire and support employees, help them build the competence required for autonomy, and give them the confidence to make decisions. This begins with trust and a genuine relationship. It also requires patience: change in Japan may take longer than an overseas headquarters expects, but forcing action without understanding can destroy commitment or customer value. The ultimate lesson is to understand the system before altering it, remain consistent in words and behaviour, and create an environment where people can contribute, question, learn and perform at their best. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

August 2, 20261 hr 9 min

288 Noriko Sasaki — Country Head, Checkout.com Japan

"The most important thing for a leader, in my view, is integrity." "You need to be hands-on, but then you need to delegate." "If this fails, ultimately, the accountability sits with me." "Culture is something that all of us jointly develop and nurture." "At the end of the day, you have to own your decisions, so you cannot just let AI make Noriko Sasaki is Country Head of Checkout.com Japan, leading the UK-based payment service provider's expansion in the Japanese market. Checkout.com helps online merchants, gaming companies and digital platforms process payments, improve acceptance rates, receive settlement funds and use payments as a driver of growth and profitability. Sasaki was born in Saitama and spent part of her childhood in Los Angeles when her father was assigned to American Honda. Returning to Japan as a teenager, she rebuilt her Japanese literacy, entered a leading Tokyo high school through a returnee pathway and later studied political science at Waseda University. She began her career in international consulting, working on business-process reengineering and SAP implementation, before earning an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. After returning to Japan, she worked at Walt Disney and then spent close to twenty years at Citibank, where she led major sales operations and participated in the historic transfer of Citi's Japanese retail-banking business into SMBC Trust Bank. She later held roles at Accenture, PwC and a Japanese consulting start-up before joining Checkout.com in November 2024. Her career combines consulting discipline, financial-services leadership, operational transformation, bicultural communication and a long-standing commitment to advancing women in leadership. Noriko Sasaki's leadership journey has been shaped by repeated transitions across cultures, industries and organisational models. Born in Japan and raised partly in Los Angeles, she returned at fifteen with strong spoken Japanese but limited reading ability. Re-entering the Japanese education system required intensive study, adaptability and resilience. That bicultural experience later became a professional advantage, allowing her to move between Japanese context and international corporate expectations. After studying political science at Waseda University, Sasaki entered international consulting, where she worked on business-process reengineering, operational standardisation and SAP implementation. She eventually questioned whether advice based mainly on frameworks was enough without experience inside a company. An MBA at Carnegie Mellon gave her a broader business foundation, after which she returned to Japan, joined Walt Disney and then moved into banking through a major Citi integration project. Her first substantive people-management role came at Citi. The team was small and entirely female, and one early challenge was managing someone older, more experienced and more knowledgeable about banking. Sasaki responded with humility and respect rather than relying on title. She clarified that both people had different responsibilities, maintained a continuous dialogue and focused the team on a shared goal. That approach became a recurring leadership principle: alignment requires over-communication, clear accountability and respect for expertise at every level. Sasaki later led Citi's branch sales organisation and became closely involved in the transfer of the Japanese retail bank into SMBC Trust Bank. The experience taught her how to translate vision into strategy, strategy into action and action into clearly assigned responsibility. She also learned that senior leaders cannot remain distant from operations. At times, she worked directly on front-line tasks and took customer calls to understand the real issues. The challenge is to remain sufficiently hands-on to retain credibility while delegating enough to expand the organisation's capacity. Her delegation model is structured rather than passive. Before assigning work, she checks the timeline, capacity, assumptions and direction. She asks for interim updates well before completion so that course corrections do not arrive at the final moment and destroy motivation. The employee retains room to execute, but Sasaki remains accountable for the outcome. That air cover matters in a Japanese environment where fear of mistakes can discourage initiative. Innovation similarly depends on lowering the barrier to contribution. Sasaki uses brainstorming rules that give everyone an equal opportunity to speak and explicitly reject the idea of a stupid suggestion. She reminds teams that improvement does not always require a dramatic zero-to-one breakthrough. A small change from 1.0 to 1.1 can still create meaningful value. This framing is especially useful in Japan, where perfectionism, hierarchy, seniority and concern about losing face can suppress ideas before they are voiced. Trust, in Sasaki's view, is built through the smallest commitments. If she casually promises dinner, she records it and follows through. Technology helps her remember birthdays, promises and relationship milestones, but the principle is behavioural consistency. Blaming someone when something goes wrong can destroy trust immediately. Leaders therefore need to own consequences, support people through difficulties and demonstrate that accountability flows upward as well as downward. At Checkout.com, Sasaki works within global operating principles while adapting them to Japan. A principle such as 'talk straight' cannot simply be imported as blunt communication. Honesty must remain, but the method should fit the individual and the high-context Japanese environment. She rejects the notion of building a personal empire around the country head. Culture should survive the leader and be jointly developed by everyone, because engagement is a shared responsibility. Her advice to expatriate leaders is to be patient, recognise the depth of context behind Japanese communication and keep searching for channels through which people can contribute. She also urges them to enjoy Japan beyond the office. For women seeking leadership, she stresses sponsors, internal and external networks, authentic behaviour and the willingness to accept promotion as a means of influencing change for others, not merely pursuing personal ambition. Sasaki's leadership definition rests on four pillars: integrity, vision, communication and accountability. AI can strengthen decision intelligence by processing more information and highlighting options, but leaders must still judge relevance and own the final decision. AI also creates a human-capital challenge: when routine work collapses from 100 hours to ten, leaders need a vision for the capacity released. People should be treated as capital and sources of ideas, not simply as costs to eliminate. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan operates inside a high-context culture where a spoken sentence rarely contains the entire message. Sasaki advises leaders to consider background relationships, informal communication and the time people need to digest information before responding. Silence does not necessarily indicate disengagement, and an immediate answer may not be realistic when employees are trying to avoid mistakes. Hierarchy, age, tenure and gender can also influence who feels entitled to speak. Effective leaders create equal opportunities for contribution, clarify expectations and adapt the communication method to the individual without compromising honesty. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they import behavioural principles without local adaptation. A global instruction to 'talk straight', for example, can be interpreted as permission for bluntness, even though direct confrontation may shut down dialogue in Japan. Leaders also underestimate how much patience, explanation and relationship-building are required. Sasaki recommends resisting the urge to judge delayed responses as resistance. Foreign executives should search for different communication channels and recognise that Japanese colleagues often have valuable ideas but may lack confidence in English or fear offering unverified information. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan's reluctance to take risk is closely connected to perfectionism, accountability and fear of public error. Sasaki lowers this barrier by making delegation explicit, requesting early updates and accepting ultimate accountability when an initiative fails. She also reframes innovation as incremental improvement rather than demanding a revolutionary breakthrough. An idea that improves a process from 1.0 to 1.1 is still worthwhile. When leaders demonstrate that there are no stupid ideas and that people will be supported rather than blamed, employees become more willing to test improvements and leave the safety of established routines. What leadership style actually works? Sasaki's style balances humility, structure and hands-on credibility. When managing people with greater age or technical experience, she respects what they know while remaining clear about her own role. She aligns people around mission, breaks vision into strategy and action, and specifies responsibility, including her own. She will enter the operation to understand reality, but she does not remain there permanently. Delegation succeeds when people know the direction, assumptions, deadline and escalation points. The leader provides support, receives interim updates and owns the consequence without micromanaging every step. How can technology help? Technology supports both Checkout.com's payment business and Sasaki's leadership practices. Payments data can help merchants improve profitability and growth, while productivity tools help leaders keep promises and maintain relationships through reminders and accurate follow-up. AI extends this further by processing a much larger volume of information and supporting decision intelligence, scenario development and contingency planning. Sasaki nevertheless draws a clear boundary: AI can provide evidence and insights, but leaders must determine what is relevant and own the decision. Technology should strengthen judgement rather than replace responsibility. Does language proficiency matter? Language proficiency matters because Japanese is a high-context language and much meaning sits in nuance, implication and relationship history. At the same time, Sasaki believes communication is possible even when English proficiency is limited, provided there is patience and genuine will on both sides. Leaders should use multiple channels, allow preparation and avoid assuming that difficulty expressing an idea means the person has nothing to contribute. Her own bicultural background demonstrates the value of moving between languages and contexts, but the deeper skill is creating enough psychological safety for people to keep trying. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? The ultimate leadership lesson is to act with integrity and accept accountability. Sasaki believes leaders must consistently do what is right for the company, customers, society and other people. Vision gives direction; communication enables others to understand it; accountability assures employees that the leader has their back. Culture should not become a personality cult or depend on one country head. It should be jointly developed, durable and grounded in shared behavioural principles. Leadership is therefore not personal dominance, but consistent stewardship that allows others to act, learn and contribute. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

July 24, 202657 min

287 Karl Deppen — President & CEO, ARCHION Corporation

"Everything starts with trust." "Start with listening." "Culture is nothing different from the collective behaviour of people." "Dare to do things differently." "Leadership is giving direction and inspiration to bring out the best possible for the organisation." Brief Bio Karl Deppen is President and Chief Executive Officer of ARCHION Corporation, the new holding company bringing together Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation and Hino Motors. ARCHION began operations on 1 April 2026, combining two major Japanese commercial-vehicle brands to strengthen scale, competitiveness and investment in decarbonised transport, autonomous driving and digital mobility solutions. Deppen began his career more than 35 years ago with the former Daimler-Benz Group in procurement and supply-chain management. His international assignments have included Portland, Istanbul, Beijing, Stuttgart, Brazil and Japan. He has held roles spanning procurement, logistics, product management, leadership development, finance and general management, including Regional CFO for Daimler's China operations, responsibility for finance across Mercedes-Benz assembly plants and R&D operations, leadership of the South American truck business, membership of the Daimler Truck Board of Management with responsibility for Asia, and President and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso. His first Japan assignment began in 2002, when he became one of the earliest Daimler employees to join Mitsubishi Fuso after Daimler acquired a stake. That experience, followed by a return to Japan two decades later, shaped his conviction that adaptability in Japan begins with patient listening, understanding context and resisting the urge to impose pre-formed answers. Narrative Summary Karl Deppen's leadership journey is unusually broad, even by the standards of a global automotive executive. Over more than three decades, he has moved across functions, continents and cultures, building experience in procurement, supply chains, product management, human resources, finance and operational leadership. That range now matters enormously. As President and CEO of ARCHION Corporation, he is leading the integration of Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino at a time when the commercial-vehicle industry is being reshaped by decarbonisation, autonomous driving, digitalisation and intensifying Asian competition. His first encounter with Japan came in 2002. He arrived without Japanese language ability or previous exposure to the country and entered a highly operational environment at Mitsubishi Fuso. The language barrier sharpened his ability to observe, draw, use numbers and read what people were trying to communicate. More importantly, it taught him patience. Trust was not created through positional authority or a perfectly delivered executive message. It emerged through repeated interaction, careful listening and a visible effort to understand. That lesson became central to his approach when he returned to Japan roughly twenty years later. Rather than assuming that earlier experience gave him a complete map, he deliberately treated the country and company as changed environments. Japan is a high-context culture, and effective leadership requires understanding the operating system beneath visible processes. What can initially look slow, complicated or overly cautious may reflect customer requirements, stakeholder commitments, quality expectations or prior experience. Deppen's practical response is to ask why repeatedly, suspend judgement and speak directly with employees, customers, suppliers, banks and other stakeholders before changing the system. He also sees genuine strength in Japanese decision-making. Consensus building through nemawashi and formal approval mechanisms such as the ringi-sho can extend the front end of a decision, but once the team is aligned, execution can be exceptionally fast. The leadership opportunity is therefore not to discard consensus, but to shorten decision cycles while preserving commitment and execution discipline. This is decision intelligence in practice: understanding not only what decision should be made, but how the organisation must be engaged so that the decision becomes real. Trust, transparency, empowerment and accountability form the backbone of Deppen's leadership philosophy. Employees need enough information to understand direction, freedom to act within clear expectations and accountability for outcomes. Difficult moments are decisive proof points. Leaders either build trust by listening to bad news and solving problems, or destroy it by shooting the messenger. In a zero-defect culture, fear can drive mistakes underground. Psychological safety is therefore not softness; it is an operating requirement that allows risks, missed targets and errors to surface early enough to be corrected. Innovation follows the same logic. Deppen supports structured improvement circles, skip-level dialogue, pilots and repeated lessons-learned reviews. The goal is not reckless experimentation, but controlled learning: try something on a limited scale, assess what worked, identify root causes when it did not, refine the process and then scale. For artificial intelligence, he argues that simply digitising an existing paper workflow rarely changes the needle. Companies need end-to-end redesign at the data layer, potentially supported by tools such as digital twins, automation and integrated decision systems. Ultimately, Deppen defines culture as collective behaviour. Purpose, vision and values matter only when translated into visible practices: what people do, what they refuse to tolerate, how they respond to mistakes and how they treat one another. His advice to leaders arriving in Japan is therefore disciplined and practical: start with listening, understand the context, assume there is a reason behind existing behaviour, learn enough language to widen access to the culture, and build the trust that makes change possible. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Japan combines a high-context communication environment with strong expectations around quality, detail and collective commitment. Decisions are rarely just agreements between two senior people. They are embedded in a wider network of stakeholders, informal nemawashi and formal mechanisms such as the ringi-sho. This can make the decision phase appear slow, particularly to executives from low-context cultures. The advantage is that once consensus is genuine, implementation can move with impressive speed because the people responsible for execution understand the rationale and are already committed. Effective leadership therefore respects the social architecture of the decision while working to reduce unnecessary delay. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often arrive with a strong track record and an assumption that proven headquarters practices should be transferred quickly. The visible process may look inefficient, bureaucratic or resistant to change. Deppen cautions that there is usually a good reason for why people do things the way they do. The reason may sit with a Japanese customer, a regulatory expectation, a quality requirement or an unspoken stakeholder agreement. Leaders struggle when they judge before they investigate. Direct engagement with employees, customers, suppliers, banks and partners helps reveal the operating context and prevents premature restructuring based on incomplete information. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan often displays high uncertainty avoidance, especially where mistakes can damage reputation, customer trust or career security. However, Deppen distinguishes caution from an unwillingness to improve. The greater danger is a zero-error aspiration that encourages people to conceal problems. Leaders must create psychological safety for employees to raise a flag, admit that a target may be missed and request help. Innovation becomes possible when experiments are bounded through pilots, resources and review points. A failed pilot should produce a structured lesson, not a search for someone to blame. What leadership style actually works? Deppen's approach begins with active listening and develops through communication, transparency, empowerment and accountability. He argues that people quickly sense whether a leader is genuinely trying to understand them. Trust grows through meaningful dialogue and is tested when conditions become difficult. Leaders must clarify expectations, provide freedom to operate and hold people accountable without turning accountability into punishment. He summarises his model as TEAM: trust, empowerment, accountability and mutual ambition. Shared ambition matters because a large, team-dependent organisation cannot succeed if the CEO's targets are not believed or owned by the wider workforce. How can technology help? Technology can accelerate transformation, but only when leaders redesign work rather than automate yesterday's process. Applying artificial intelligence to an existing paper flow may produce marginal efficiency without changing the business outcome. A stronger approach examines the process end to end, starts with the data layer and asks how the workflow would be designed if digital capability were native from the beginning. AI, automation, decision intelligence and digital twins can improve speed, visibility and scenario testing, but the human organisation still needs the trust and learning discipline required to adopt them. Does language proficiency matter? Japanese proficiency helps because language opens a window into culture, relationships and assumptions that may not be stated directly. Deppen also notes that Japan contains substantial English capability, although employees may hesitate to speak when they fear exposure or embarrassment. Leaders can lower that barrier through patience, written follow-up, visual explanation and an environment in which imperfect language is accepted. Language should improve communication, not become an excuse to avoid it. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? The central lesson is to start with listening. A leader entering Japan should temporarily set aside fixed ideas about what is right or wrong and first understand the existing operating system. Culture is the collective behaviour of people, so change depends on the practices that leaders repeatedly model and reinforce. Purpose and values provide direction, but trust turns them into action. Leadership succeeds when people understand the direction, feel empowered to contribute, accept accountability and share the ambition to achieve something together. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

July 17, 202657 min

286 Sean Travers - Representative Director of MESHD

"Listen more than you talk." "Try to be as inclusive as possible." "Transparency at all times, especially in bad times." "The founder is the mood maker." "Leadership is all about providing clarity, providing direction, but also letting the individual get to that endpoint themselves." Sean Travers is the Founder and Representative Director of MESHD, a Tokyo-based executive search firm specialising in deep technology. The company works extensively with Japanese corporations operating in robotics, industrial automation, mobility, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other advanced engineering fields. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Travers began his career selling large-scale capital equipment to the mining and resources sector. The work involved multimillion-dollar transactions, extensive travel to remote mining sites and direct negotiations with tough, highly practical decision-makers. This environment shaped his early commercial instincts, resilience and results-oriented leadership style. After marrying his Japanese wife and starting a family, Travers moved to Tokyo more than 20 years ago. With limited Japanese-language ability and few obvious career options for a foreign professional at the time, he entered recruitment. He subsequently built a career in specialist executive search, including establishing the Japan operation of a global energy recruitment company. The 2015 oil and gas downturn became a defining moment. Despite the Japan business performing well, Travers was instructed by overseas headquarters to decide within 24 hours which employees should be terminated. The experience convinced him that even a successful local leader remained vulnerable to decisions made by distant executives. He eventually launched his own company with several long-standing colleagues. Over the following decade, Travers expanded beyond conventional executive search. His businesses have helped establish and incubate specialist recruitment ventures, including firms focused on software, chemicals and hospitality. His leadership journey in Japan has required him to move from a highly directive, perfectionist management style towards a more inclusive approach built on listening, transparency, autonomy, trust and cultural adaptability. Sean Travers' leadership journey in Japan began far from Tokyo's corporate offices. Raised in Western Australia, he learned to sell multimillion-dollar capital equipment in the mining and resources industry. Success depended on abandoning formal appearances, visiting remote worksites and earning credibility with blunt, experienced equipment operators. It was a demanding commercial education that rewarded toughness, directness and persistence. Those qualities later helped Travers succeed in executive recruitment, but they also created leadership challenges. After moving to Japan more than 20 years ago, he entered the recruitment industry and eventually took responsibility for teams and entire business operations. His initial approach was highly prescriptive. As a perfectionist, he expected employees to follow the methods that had worked for him. Team members with similar personalities often performed well, but many others struggled. Feedback from his manager and trusted friends forced Travers to reconsider his assumptions. Leadership could not be based on expecting everyone to respond to the same instructions, pressure or communication style. He gradually became more attentive to individual differences, emotional reactions and the need to adapt his expectations. This remained compatible with accountability, but it required him to separate high performance standards from unnecessarily militant behaviour. Leading Japanese employees created another layer of complexity. In meetings, employees might nod, indicate understanding and appear to agree, only for Travers to discover later that they did not understand, support or trust the direction. He learned that setting a clear objective was not enough. Leaders must ask questions that confirm understanding, create alternative channels for feedback and consult trusted internal colleagues who can explain how a message was actually received. This awareness also influenced the way he recruited people into his own company. Joining a new boutique recruitment firm involves considerable perceived risk, especially in Japan, where candidates may consult family members and carefully assess a company's stability. Travers found that trust could not be created through a single persuasive interview. Some candidates required regular discussions over 18 to 24 months before they were ready to join. Rather than continually selling the opportunity, he shared honest updates about clients, target industries, business progress and organisational challenges. His commitment to the team was tested during COVID-19. When revenues fell, Travers and his leadership group chose salary deferments rather than headcount reductions. Travers personally went without a salary for approximately two and a half years. The decision reflected both loyalty and commercial logic. Experienced recruiters require considerable time and investment before becoming productive, and rebuilding the team after the recovery would have been expensive and disruptive. Transparency became central to maintaining engagement. However, Travers does not interpret transparency as disclosing every concern to every employee. Leaders must judge which information should be shared across the organisation and which should remain within the leadership team. The purpose is to provide enough truth for employees to understand decisions without creating unnecessary fear or instability. As the company grew, Travers also had to create opportunities for quieter employees to contribute. Weekly all-hands meetings were useful, but the same confident people tended to speak. He therefore began arranging individual lunches and conversations with team members who were less likely to contribute publicly. Anonymous surveys and live digital voting also provided safer channels for candid feedback. The company's culture evolved with its needs. Its early atmosphere was highly sales-driven and dominated by aggressive dealmaking. Travers recognised that a business composed only of competitive "hunters" would struggle to attract the broader mix of people needed for sustainable growth. Team lunches, off-sites, greater financial visibility and discussions about employees' backgrounds and ambitions helped create a more balanced environment. Travers believes the founder's behaviour has a disproportionate impact in a smaller company. The founder becomes the organisation's "mood maker". A leader who arrives visibly discouraged or negative can lower the energy of the entire workplace. Leadership therefore includes the discipline to demonstrate constructive energy even during difficult periods. His advice to new foreign leaders in Japan is grounded in this experience: listen more than they talk, include people without placing them under uncomfortable pressure and remain transparent, particularly when circumstances deteriorate. Japanese-language ability helps, but it does not guarantee success. Character, attitude, discipline and the willingness to understand people matter more. Ultimately, Travers defines leadership as establishing the destination and providing the emotional support, clarity and guardrails that allow others to reach it. Leaders should give employees autonomy, trust them to perform and provide direct feedback when they deviate. The leader sets the endpoint, but the individual must have room to determine the route. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires close attention to what is not stated directly. Travers discovered that apparent agreement in a meeting may not represent genuine understanding, commitment or trust. Japanese employees may nod, acknowledge an instruction and avoid openly challenging a senior leader, while privately remaining uncertain or unconvinced. This makes confirmation essential. A leader cannot simply deliver a clear message and assume it has landed. Questions must be used to test understanding without creating embarrassment. Trusted internal supporters can also provide valuable insight into how particular employees interpreted the discussion. Indirect feedback is especially important. Travers has used respected colleagues to speak privately with employees and uncover concerns that might never be raised in a formal meeting. This resembles a practical form of nemawashi: gathering reactions, identifying resistance and building alignment through quieter conversations before expecting visible consensus. Trust also takes time. Employees and candidates may evaluate not only the leader but also the organisation's long-term stability. Consistent behaviour, repeated contact, honest business updates and a willingness to acknowledge mistakes are more persuasive than a polished recruitment pitch or inspirational speech. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they transfer a leadership formula that succeeded elsewhere without adapting it to the people or context in Japan. Travers initially relied on the direct, forceful style he had developed in Western Australia. He assumed that employees would succeed by following the same methods that had produced his own results. This approach worked with a minority of employees who shared his temperament, but it was ineffective for many others. The experience demonstrated that leadership success is not automatically transferable. The leader must adjust communication, coaching and expectations according to the individual. Foreign executives may also misinterpret politeness as commitment. A meeting can appear successful because no one objects, yet employees may leave without believing in the decision. Executives who dominate discussions, speak too quickly or fail to invite quieter voices may unknowingly suppress the information they need. Another common mistake is treating Japanese-language proficiency as the primary solution. Language is useful, but a fluent executive who lacks humility, emotional intelligence or cultural awareness can still fail. Attitude and behaviour determine whether language becomes a bridge or merely another tool for issuing instructions. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Travers' experience suggests that caution in Japan is often rational rather than inherently risk-averse. A candidate considering a boutique recruitment company must evaluate whether the organisation will survive the next economic downturn. Recruitment is cyclical and frequently acts as a canary in the coal mine: hiring freezes arrive early when an industry begins to weaken. Employees may also seek advice from parents, grandparents, former colleagues or trusted senpai before changing jobs. From a Western perspective, this can look excessively conservative. From the candidate's perspective, however, employment decisions affect family stability, professional reputation and long-term security. Travers responded by extending the courtship process. Some potential hires remained in conversation with the company for 18 to 24 months. During that period, he did not merely sell the role. He provided evidence about the company's clients, industries, performance, challenges and direction. The COVID-19 response also demonstrated how leadership can reduce uncertainty. Rather than cutting employees immediately, the company introduced salary deferments and preserved the team. This decision created risk for the founder, who received no salary for approximately two and a half years, but it provided greater security for employees and positioned the organisation to recover without rebuilding its workforce. What leadership style actually works? Travers advocates an adaptive style that combines direction, accountability, empathy and autonomy. His early top-down approach was too rigid. Over time, he learned that empathy does not require abandoning standards and accountability does not require brutality. The leader must first clarify the endpoint. Employees need to understand where the organisation is today, where it intends to be in the future and which outcomes define success. The leader then provides guardrails and emotional support while allowing individuals to determine how they will reach the destination. Inclusion is also essential. Leaders should actively invite participation from people who do not naturally dominate meetings. Travers uses individual lunches, direct questions, anonymous surveys and live voting to gather ideas from a wider cross-section of the company. He also believes that leaders should explain the reasoning behind decisions, especially when acknowledging mistakes. Employees may disagree with the conclusion, but understanding the decision-making process increases respect and trust. Admitting an error does not necessarily diminish authority. When combined with ownership and a credible explanation, it can strengthen leadership credibility. How can technology help? Technology can create safer and more democratic channels for employee input. In traditional meetings, seniority, confidence and communication style can determine whose ideas are heard. The same employees may repeatedly raise their hands, while quieter people remain invisible. MESHD has used anonymous post-event surveys and real-time digital voting to overcome this limitation. Employees can express support or opposition without being identified publicly. This allows the organisation to measure sentiment more accurately and reduces the pressure to follow the most senior or outspoken person. Technology does not replace personal leadership. Travers still values one-to-one lunches, informal conversations and feedback gathered through trusted colleagues. Digital tools are most effective when they complement human relationships and provide additional routes for honest communication. The broader lesson is that decision intelligence improves when leaders diversify their information sources. Formal meetings, private conversations, anonymous data and operational results each reveal different aspects of organisational reality. Leaders who rely on only one channel risk making decisions from incomplete information. Does language proficiency matter? Japanese-language ability helps foreign leaders communicate, form relationships and understand more of what is happening around them. Travers speaks Japanese and considers it an advantage. However, he does not believe that language proficiency guarantees leadership success. Character, attitude and discipline matter more. Employees observe how a leader responds under pressure, whether commitments are honoured, whether mistakes are acknowledged and whether the leader listens sincerely. These behaviours build or destroy trust regardless of vocabulary level. A leader who speaks imperfect Japanese but demonstrates respect, curiosity and consistency may be more effective than a fluent speaker who assumes language ability provides complete cultural understanding. Fluency can help a leader access information, but it cannot substitute for humility or good judgement. Foreign executives should therefore study Japanese while also developing deeper listening skills. They need to notice hesitation, indirect disagreement and the absence of expected follow-through. Communication success should be measured by shared understanding and action, not by the leader's ability to complete a conversation in Japanese. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Travers' central leadership lesson is that the leader provides clarity and direction without controlling every step. The organisation may be at point A today and aiming for point Z in two years. The leader must define Z, explain why it matters and create the conditions in which employees can move towards it. Those conditions include emotional support, trust, autonomy and honest feedback. Employees should know the guardrails and performance measures, but they should also have room to use their judgement. When they make mistakes, the leader must respond directly and constructively rather than taking back all control. Leadership also requires personal accountability. Travers learned to admit when decisions had produced negative consequences and to explain the reasoning that led to them. Employees generally responded with greater understanding than he expected. Finally, leadership is visible. In a smaller organisation, the founder's energy affects everyone. The leader becomes the mood maker, particularly during uncertainty. Listening, inclusion, transparency and constructive energy are therefore not occasional techniques. They are daily responsibilities that shape whether people trust the direction and choose to follow. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

July 10, 202657 min

285 Jasper Westerink - CEO, Philips Japan

"I'm here to be part of the team." "The longer you are somewhere, the more you realise you know nothing." "If your intention is positive, people will support you." "We want to be an international company in Japan." "It really starts by asking what is my impact? What can I do?" Jasper Westerink is the CEO of Philips Japan and a Dutch executive whose career has been shaped by international leadership, adaptability, and a deep commitment to learning from local cultures. After completing university in the Netherlands, where he studied marketing, management, and business, he joined Philips with the initial idea of building a career in the Netherlands. Instead, an early opportunity to work in Thailand opened the door to a global career that would take him and his family across Thailand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Greece, Indonesia, South Africa again, and ultimately Japan. Over many years with Philips, Westerink built a broad leadership perspective across emerging markets, developed markets, complex organisations, and highly diverse cultural environments. His Japan assignment brought together his global Philips experience, his interest in Japanese culture, and the company's need to connect Japan more closely with global Philips capabilities. In Japan, he has focused on trust-building, engagement, accountability, recognition, and helping Japanese teams share their world-class ideas more confidently with the global organisation. Jasper Westerink's leadership story in Japan begins with a global career that gave him both confidence and humility. As CEO of Philips Japan, he arrived not as someone assuming he already understood the market, but as a guest who needed to listen, observe, and learn. Having worked across Thailand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Greece, Indonesia, and other markets, he brought a rare breadth of experience to Japan. Yet his most important leadership insight is that the more time one spends in a country, the more one realises how much remains beneath the surface. Japan struck Westerink as extraordinarily organised, harmonious, and safe. He noticed this first in daily life, from the punctuality of trains to the quiet consideration shown by people in public spaces. These visible behaviours pointed to deeper cultural systems. In business, he observed a strong preference for harmony, pre-alignment, and consensus. Unlike more confrontational management cultures, where executives may debate passionately in the room and make decisions on the spot, Japan often relies on nemawashi, informal pre-discussion, careful preparation, and the quiet work that happens before the formal meeting. By the time a decision reaches the table, much of the ringi-sho-style alignment has already occurred. For a foreign CEO, this can feel slow or even passive at first. Westerink admits that he likes visible passion and energetic debate, but he came to understand that Japanese passion often sits below the surface. It may not appear in a formal meeting, yet it emerges in trusted settings, peer groups, customer discussions, informal conversations, and carefully structured opportunities to contribute. One of his strongest methods for drawing out ideas is friendly peer competition. Philips Japan encourages doctors, physicians, and internal teams to share ideas around quality, AI, better patient outcomes, reduced workload, and operational improvement. Rather than making innovation a top-down CEO initiative, Westerink has found that peer recognition, team-based contribution, and "Made in Japan" pride help unlock ideas. Japanese employees may be modest, but many of their solutions are globally competitive. His job is to create safe structures that make it easier for them to speak up. Trust-building has been central. Westerink made it clear from the beginning that he was not above the team, but part of it. He visited teams at different levels, spent time with people outside the office, joined informal social and sports activities, asked questions, listened carefully, and showed genuine curiosity about how work was done. He also recognised his own physical presence and high-energy style. As a very tall foreign CEO with a serious face when concentrating, he learned to smile more, keep appropriate distance, use humour, and turn his height into an icebreaker rather than a barrier. His leadership philosophy also centres on accountability. Using the Japanese concept of jiseki, or starting with oneself, he encourages people to ask, "What can I do? What did I do wrong? What can I improve?" In a culture where fear of failure and loss of face can be strong, he tries to create an environment where mistakes are not hidden but owned, discussed, and learned from. Ultimately, Westerink's Japan leadership lesson is not about importing a foreign management model. It is about combining Philips' global culture with Japanese strengths and his own leadership character. He wants Philips Japan to remain deeply Japanese while also becoming more confident internationally. That balance — respect for local culture, openness to global standards, and the courage to ask better questions — defines his approach. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan is unique because much of the real work happens before the meeting. Westerink observes that Japanese business culture places a high value on harmony, preparation, respect, and careful pre-alignment. In many Western or international contexts, management meetings can be lively, direct, and even confrontational. People interrupt, challenge, debate, show visible passion, and make decisions in the room. In Japan, the formal meeting is often the final stage of a longer process. Nemawashi, consensus-building, and quiet coordination help protect relationships and reduce open conflict. This does not mean people lack passion. It means passion is expressed differently, often in smaller groups, trusted settings, or after the formal meeting has ended. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they misread the absence of visible debate as a lack of engagement. Westerink initially missed the open passion he had seen in other markets. He had to learn that Japanese colleagues may be deeply committed but less likely to challenge publicly until trust has been built. Foreign executives can also underestimate the importance of timing, silence, hierarchy, and indirect communication. They may become impatient when progress appears slow, not realising that a great deal is happening behind the scenes. Japan requires leaders to develop patience, curiosity, and the ability to read context rather than relying only on explicit statements. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan is often described as risk-averse, but Westerink's experience suggests a more nuanced picture. The issue is not that Japanese people lack ideas or ambition. Rather, there is strong uncertainty avoidance around failure, loss of face, and public mistakes. People want to deliver perfect work, and that can slow action when speed and learning are required. Westerink addresses this by making failure discussable. He calls out mistakes, but not to punish people. Instead, he asks what can be learned, what will be done differently, and whether others can benefit from the lesson. This reframes risk from personal embarrassment into collective improvement. What leadership style actually works? The leadership style that works in Japan is humble, consistent, curious, and relationship-based. Westerink emphasises that he is a guest in Japan and part of the team. He asks many questions, visits people where the work happens, joins informal activities, and spends time with employees outside formal meetings. He also leads by example. If budgets are tight, he stays in the same type of hotel as others. If the company expects people to be accountable, he models accountability himself. He also adapts recognition to the culture. Instead of always singling out one heroic individual, he recognises the importance of team contribution, because public individual praise can sometimes create discomfort in Japan. How can technology help? Technology helps when it is connected to real clinical, operational, and customer value. Philips Japan works in health technology, including advanced medical equipment such as MRI systems. Westerink describes initiatives where doctors and physicians submit research on how to improve procedures, increase accuracy, reduce workload, and create better outcomes. Internally, Philips Japan also invites teams to explore AI, quality improvement, billing processes, service efficiency, and better patient outcomes. This reflects a form of decision intelligence: using data, expertise, frontline insight, and structured evaluation to improve decisions. In health care, technologies such as AI, digital twins, and advanced imaging can only create value when leaders understand the clinical reality, the customer's challenge, and the human workflow around the technology. Does language proficiency matter? Language matters, but Westerink's experience shows that leadership in Japan is not only about speaking Japanese. He uses translators when needed, allows questions in Japanese, and encourages teams to prepare and present in English when appropriate for an international company. The key is not linguistic perfection, but communication design. Leaders must create channels where people can speak safely, ask questions, and contribute. Westerink sometimes asks for critical questions and waits until the team provides them. At first, this was uncomfortable. Over time, people learned that constructive challenge was expected and welcome. What's the ultimate leadership lesson?The ultimate lesson is that positive intent, humility, and connection matter most. Westerink advises new leaders in Japan to find trusted people who will tell them when things are going well and when their behaviour may not be landing as intended. They should be transparent about why they are in Japan, what they hope to contribute, and what they hope to learn. They should connect with people through work, food, informal time, customer visits, and genuine curiosity. His advice is simple but profound: the longer leaders are in a place, the more they realise they know nothing. That mindset keeps them learning. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

July 3, 20261 hr 11 min

Christian Baudat — Country General Manager Japan, The Ascott Limited

"Leadership is probably the ability to influence in a positive way." "There is no the right way or the wrong way; there is the best way." "What I do not accept is people not trying." "Status quo is a no-go." "A good leader would be able to grow not just a company, but also grow the people." Christian Baudat is Country General Manager Japan for The Ascott Limited, one of the world's leading serviced residence and hospitality groups. A graduate of the École hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland, he began his international hotel career with Hilton in Tokyo in 1985. His career has included senior leadership and general management roles in Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and across the wider Middle East and North Africa region. Baudat has led hotel openings, major rebranding projects, operational turnarounds and large-scale teams, including roles at Hilton Tokyo, Hilton Tokyo Bay, Hilton Nagoya, Hilton Tokyo, Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk and Hilton Tokyo Odaiba. Before joining Oakwood and subsequently leading Ascott's Japan operations, he served as a regional vice president for Rotana, overseeing more than twenty properties across several countries. His long career in Japan has given him a practical understanding of how to combine global hospitality standards with Japanese expectations around respect, harmony, communication and customer service. Christian Baudat's leadership journey began with a desire to leave his small Swiss hometown and see the world. After graduating from the École hôtelière de Lausanne, he entered the Hilton management trainee programme and arrived in Tokyo in 1985. His first assignment in Shinjuku placed him immediately inside one of the world's most demanding hospitality markets. Over the following decades, he built an unusually broad career across hotel openings, restaurant operations, rebranding assignments, general management roles and regional leadership responsibilities in Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the Middle East. His leadership philosophy has been shaped by the realities of working across cultures and by the particular communication dynamics of Japan. One of his earliest lessons was that agreement cannot be assumed simply because someone says "yes". In Japanese business, "hai" can mean that a message has been heard, rather than that it has been accepted or that action will follow. Baudat therefore places great importance on validation. For him, leadership requires checking whether people truly understand the intent behind a message, whether they believe in it and whether the message has travelled accurately through the organisation. This is especially important in hierarchical organisations, where messages can become diluted as they pass through middle management. Baudat avoids relying solely on formal reporting lines. He spends time close to the operational frontline, speaks directly with associates, observes service delivery and confirms whether leadership messages remain alive at lower levels of the organisation. This approach is not intended to undermine managers. Rather, it is a way of ensuring that leaders understand what is happening in reality, not merely what appears in reports or formal meetings. Baudat also emphasises that directness must be balanced with humility and respect. Early in his career, he encountered experienced colleagues who regarded a young foreign manager as a possible threat. He learned that authority alone would not create commitment. Respecting experience, acknowledging expertise and demonstrating a willingness to learn were essential. Even when disagreement occurred, he found it important to return to the conversation, restore working relationships and avoid allowing conflict to become permanent. His experience also highlights the changing nature of work in Japan. In the past, employees in hospitality often had fewer career alternatives and might have accepted traditional expectations more readily. Today, employees are more likely to assess whether a role fits their aspirations, lifestyle and values. Talent shortages have also shifted the balance of power. Leaders can no longer assume that staff are easily replaceable. Instead, they need to understand why people are struggling, whether a role suits their strengths and how coaching, support or reassignment may unlock their potential. This creates a new leadership imperative. Rather than dismissing employees who do not immediately fit a conventional model, leaders must be curious. They need to diagnose whether a problem comes from poor instructions, insufficient training, unclear expectations, different personal values or an unsuitable role. Baudat sees this as a central responsibility of contemporary leadership: giving people a genuine chance to improve while maintaining clear standards. Innovation is another key theme in his approach. Baudat encourages people to look beyond their own industry, observe trends in fashion, retail, technology and food, and bring fresh ideas into hospitality. He believes that leaders must create an environment in which experimentation is protected. In Japan, uncertainty avoidance can make people reluctant to suggest ideas that might fail. Effective leaders must provide air cover, take responsibility for sensible experiments and ensure that people receive credit when their ideas succeed. Leadership, in Baudat's view, is not about being the source of every answer. It is about creating the conditions in which people can contribute, learn and grow. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires a high level of sensitivity to indirect communication, hierarchy and harmony. Baudat's central lesson is that apparent agreement should be checked rather than assumed. A response of "yes" may indicate that someone has heard a message, not that they support it or intend to act on it. Leaders must validate understanding through follow-up conversations, observation and direct contact with the people responsible for execution. The Japanese emphasis on consensus can make nemawashi especially important. Before a major decision is formally announced, informal groundwork often helps leaders understand concerns, identify resistance and build alignment. Formal processes such as ringi-sho may represent the visible decision process, but the real work of consensus-building often happens earlier through respectful discussion and relationship management. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives can struggle when they arrive with strong assumptions, immediate solutions and little patience for local context. Baudat believes that leaders entering Japan should not assume the organisation is broken or that overseas experience automatically provides the correct answer. His preferred approach is a structured ninety-day process: the first month is spent absorbing information, the second month processing what has been learned and the third month communicating direction and beginning execution. The mistake is to act before understanding the people, the history and the operating culture. Leaders need to recognise what existing employees have already achieved and respect the systems that have kept the organisation functioning. Change is sometimes necessary, but change imposed without listening can create resistance, confusion and disengagement. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan has a strong preference for reliability, quality and avoiding visible errors. This can make people reluctant to experiment, particularly when mistakes may affect reputation or create embarrassment. However, Baudat does not believe that this means Japanese organisations cannot innovate. The issue is not an absence of ideas. It is the need for leaders to create psychological safety around testing, learning and adjusting. He makes a clear distinction between failure and not trying. Experiments may not always succeed, but standing still is not acceptable. Leaders must demonstrate that responsible attempts will be supported. When an innovation does not work, the response should be to examine the learning, refine the idea or move on, rather than punish the person who took the initiative. What leadership style actually works? Baudat advocates a leadership style built on visibility, respect, personal credibility and practical support. He does not believe leaders should remain in an office and manage only through reports. He prefers to walk the operation, speak with people, recognise good work and identify issues quickly. When serious matters arise, he handles them privately and respectfully rather than publicly embarrassing someone. His style also includes being mindful of personal presence. A senior leader's authority, physical presence, tone of voice and communication style can all be intimidating. Baudat has learned to reduce unnecessary barriers by sitting with people rather than speaking down to them, moving away from a formal desk setting and creating a calmer environment for important conversations. How can technology help? Technology can strengthen decision intelligence by helping leaders see patterns, identify operational issues and make better-informed choices. Data, AI tools and digital twins may enable hospitality organisations to test service flows, anticipate demand, model staffing needs and evaluate guest preferences. However, Baudat's experience suggests that technology cannot replace human judgement, frontline observation or emotional intelligence. Hospitality remains a people business. Technology may improve speed, consistency and insight, but leaders still need to understand staff, guests and the human realities behind operational data. The strongest use of technology is therefore to support better conversations and better decisions, not to remove leaders from the people they lead. Does language proficiency matter? Japanese language ability is valuable, particularly for leaders who intend to remain in Japan for the long term. It signals commitment, reduces communication distance and helps leaders pick up nuance. Baudat learned Japanese out of necessity when he was responsible for large teams with limited English ability. He acknowledges that language skills need not be perfect to be useful. The important point is whether the message can be understood. At the same time, language proficiency is not the first requirement for success. A leader without strong Japanese can still listen carefully, observe body language, work with trusted interpreters and remain alert to tone, silence and context. The most important ability is not speaking every word perfectly. It is understanding what is really being communicated. What is the ultimate leadership lesson? For Baudat, leadership is the ability to influence people and the environment in a positive way. It requires trust, growth and humanity. A good leader grows the company, but also grows the people within it. High intelligence alone is not enough. Leaders with low emotional intelligence may achieve results temporarily, but they risk becoming isolated and losing the confidence of the people around them. The ultimate leadership lesson is that influence is earned. It is earned through listening, keeping promises, supporting people when they face obstacles, recognising their contribution and having the courage to make difficult decisions when necessary. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

June 26, 20261 hr 2 min

Robert Roche — President & CEO, Oak Lawn Marketing

"I think what I know now is to be a little more slow." "My style was to steal the best from Japan and the U.S." "What I would do is pick your fights." "Someone who can make a decision without all the information." "A leader can function gracefully with an abundance of ambiguity." Robert Roche is the President and CEO of Oak Lawn Marketing, the company behind the Shop Japan brand. His career in Japan began as an exchange student at Nanzan University in Nagoya, followed by law school in Denver and further study in Nanzan's law department. He returned to Japan without a conventional corporate career path and built his business through persistence, experimentation and a willingness to learn from failure. Early ventures in importing were unsuccessful, but they led to the creation of H&R Consultants and eventually Oak Lawn Marketing. Roche helped pioneer the infomercial and direct-response television shopping model in Japan, building a major business from Nagoya before it became widely known in Tokyo's foreign business community. He later established Acorn International in China, adapting a related television-shopping model to a very different market. His career reflects deep adaptability across Japan, China, media, retail, entrepreneurship and large-company partnerships, including working with NTT Docomo as a major shareholder in the business. Robert Roche's business story is a powerful lesson in entrepreneurial leadership, cultural adaptability and decision-making under uncertainty. His path did not begin with a polished strategy, venture capital or a prestigious corporate appointment. It began with an exchange programme at Nanzan University in Nagoya, an interest in Japan, a willingness to learn Japanese and an instinct that he could build something of value despite having no obvious roadmap. His first ventures were failures. Imported clamshells for cultured pearls did not work. Neon clocks did not work. The experience gave Roche an early and memorable lesson: buying products is easy; selling them is difficult. Rather than treating these setbacks as reasons to retreat, he used them as practical education. That resilience later became central to the development of Oak Lawn Marketing and Shop Japan. The company's breakthrough came through television shopping. Roche initially sold parallel-imported products such as Tiffany goods and Lands' End bags, before being introduced to Japanese television retailing. He had to learn every part of the operation: presenting products on television, answering calls, packing goods, applying shipping labels and even cleaning the office. The experience gave him an unusually grounded understanding of direct-response retail. It also demonstrated that leadership credibility is built when leaders understand the real work of the organisation. As the business grew, Roche and his colleagues recognised an opportunity in imported infomercials. They secured products that were already successful overseas, localised them for Japan and bought television time to reach Japanese consumers directly. Oak Lawn Marketing became a Japan market-entry specialist, acquiring exclusive rights to successful products and adapting media, language, labels, customer service and fulfilment for the Japanese market. Growth created new leadership challenges. Roche describes a company that scaled quickly, often without elegant systems or conventional management infrastructure. Recruiting was difficult in Nagoya, and hires from elite corporations often struggled with the radically different pace, ambiguity and hands-on demands of an entrepreneurial company. He learned that individuals needed the right cultural bridge before moving from highly structured institutions into a fast-moving, experimental business. Roche's leadership evolved over time. Earlier in his career, speed, impatience and relentless momentum helped propel the company forward. Later, he realised that patience, long-term planning, automation and more thoughtful communication were equally important. His experience in China reinforced this lesson. Japan required encouragement for people to take initiative; China often required leaders to channel intense entrepreneurial energy. He came to see the two markets as yin and yang: both dynamic, but requiring very different leadership responses. His ultimate leadership definition is especially relevant for executives in Japan: leadership is the ability to make decisions without complete information and to function gracefully amid ambiguity. It is a lesson that combines entrepreneurship, cultural intelligence, decision intelligence and the humility to understand that there are multiple valid paths to the same goal. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires an appreciation of process, relationships and organisational harmony. Formal authority alone is rarely enough. Effective leaders need to understand how nemawashi, informal consensus-building, supports later decisions; how ringi-sho processes formalise approval; and how trust is often built through consistent behaviour rather than forceful declarations. Roche's experience shows that Japanese workplaces can contain deeply valuable traditions of respect, service and collective responsibility. The aim is not to discard these practices as outdated, but to distinguish useful traditions from unproductive ones. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they mistake unfamiliarity for inefficiency. A leader arriving from headquarters may see different communication patterns, slower consensus-building or less visible individual initiative and conclude that the organisation lacks capability. Roche argues that this reaction misses the point. Japan has a high-quality workforce, strong attitudes towards responsibility and significant organisational knowledge. The challenge is to separate material differences from immaterial differences and to avoid imposing headquarters habits where they do not improve results. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan is often described as risk-averse, but Roche's experience suggests a more nuanced view. The issue is not necessarily fear of risk; it is uncertainty avoidance and the preference to reduce exposure before acting. In a direct-response television business, decisions had to be made rapidly, media had to be purchased and products had to be tested before perfect information was available. This required a more entrepreneurial rhythm. Japanese organisations can act decisively when leaders provide enough context, credibility and confidence that the downside is understood and managed. What leadership style actually works? Roche's preferred style blends the best aspects of Japan and the United States. It values work ethic, respect, disciplined execution and attentiveness to detail, while also encouraging speed, experimentation and direct accountability. It avoids a simplistic choice between command-and-control leadership and consensus-only leadership. The most effective approach is situational: clear about outcomes, flexible about pathways and patient enough to allow people to contribute. It also requires the discipline not to react emotionally when employees lack historical knowledge or make uninformed comments. How can technology help? Technology can help organisations become more deliberate rather than merely faster. Roche sees a need for greater understanding of data science, sales technology, algorithms, automation and decision intelligence. Digital twins, predictive modelling and customer data can help organisations test offers, improve fulfilment, forecast demand and reduce wasted effort. However, technology is not a replacement for judgement. It should support better decisions, not create false certainty. Leaders still need to assess ambiguity, understand customers and make choices before all information is available. Does language proficiency matter? Language proficiency matters because it signals effort, respect and a willingness to understand the local environment. Roche's Japanese enabled him to build relationships, negotiate with regional media figures and understand the realities of Japanese business beyond the expatriate bubble. Full fluency is not the only requirement, but even a practical level of Japanese can deepen trust and reduce distance. It also helps global executives recognise the important difference between what is said formally and what is communicated through context, timing and relationships. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Roche's core lesson is to pick the right fights. Leaders should identify non-negotiable business outcomes while remaining open about how those outcomes are achieved. They should avoid dismissing local practices simply because they differ from headquarters norms. Strong leadership combines clarity, patience, humility, cultural intelligence and the courage to act amid incomplete information. The best leaders understand that several paths may lead to the same mountaintop. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

June 19, 202653 min

Campbell Hanley — Managing Director, Weber Shandwick Japan

"Leadership, I think it's really walking the talk." "I think it comes from within, being genuinely very interested in people." "You can't win every battle, and you're crazy if you try to." "Let's look at the spirit of what they're trying to achieve." "To be successful in Japan, I think you have to be patient." Campbell Hanley is the Managing Director of Weber Shandwick Japan, one of Japan's longest-established international public relations and communications agencies. Originally from Torquay near Melbourne, Australia, he came to Japan in 1992 after deciding to live in a non-English-speaking country and develop international experience outside Australia. His career in Japan has moved across public relations, journalism, content marketing, advertising, digital communications and agency leadership. Hanley began in a small PR company, moved into marketing and digital work, and then became a staff writer for the Mainichi Daily News. He also worked on special projects for Fortune and Time magazine, developing an editorial perspective that later became central to his communications career. Before joining Weber Shandwick Japan, he worked in a major American advertising company, initially as managing editor of a content marketing business and later in international advertising sales and digital marketing. At Weber Shandwick Japan, he was originally hired to build a content marketing unit but soon took on broader business, digital and leadership responsibilities. His career reflects the adaptability required to succeed in Japan: learning the language, understanding local business expectations, building credibility over time and translating global ideas into practical Japanese-market solutions. Campbell Hanley's leadership journey in Japan began long before he became Managing Director of Weber Shandwick Japan. Arriving in 1992 from Australia, he did not come with a grand corporate plan or a fixed career pathway. He simply wanted to live in a country where English was not the dominant language and experience a society very different from the relatively homogeneous environment in which he had grown up near Melbourne. Japan became that destination. What began as a one-year overseas experience developed into a decades-long career across public relations, journalism, advertising, content marketing, digital media and leadership. Hanley's career progression is a useful example for foreign professionals who build their lives in Japan not through a single breakthrough, but through accumulated credibility, language ability, adaptability and a willingness to learn from every role. His early work in a small PR company gave him an introduction to communications. A subsequent role in marketing exposed him to digital work at a time when digital communications meant something very different from today's social media, AI platforms and always-on content ecosystems. Later, he joined the Mainichi Daily News as a staff writer during a period when traditional media organisations were adjusting to digital distribution. That journalism experience became a defining advantage. It taught him to think like an editor rather than simply like a promoter. He learned to distinguish between a genuine story and what he describes as propaganda. That distinction became central to his later work in content marketing and public relations. Clients may want to tell the market everything about themselves, but audiences, journalists, customers and stakeholders only respond when the story is relevant, credible and useful. Hanley later joined a major American advertising company, where he became managing editor of a content marketing operation. It was his first meaningful leadership experience, managing a team of editors and content specialists. He discovered that leading experienced writers required more than formal authority. Editors see their writing as craftsmanship. They have opinions, pride and professional standards. Trying to win every argument would damage motivation and reduce the team's willingness to contribute ideas. The answer was negotiation. Leaders need clear standards, client requirements and editorial principles, but they also need flexibility. Hanley learned that credibility comes from explaining why something should change, listening to experienced contributors and recognising that good leadership does not require winning every battle. At Weber Shandwick Japan, he initially joined to lead a newly formed content marketing division. The intended leadership structure was meant to include a business leader, a digital leader and an editorial leader. Instead, the business leader moved into another area of the organisation and the digital leader never arrived. Hanley found himself managing the editorial, business and digital dimensions of the operation at the same time. That intense period gave him a much wider view of leadership. He had to understand profit and loss responsibility, client needs, digital platforms, team capability and the internal politics of integrating new services into a traditional PR organisation. He later moved into the core Weber Shandwick Japan business, working to embed digital communications throughout the agency rather than treating it as a separate specialist division. His approach was practical. Rather than forcing every team to adopt new digital services at once, he found allies. He worked with colleagues who were curious, receptive and ready to experiment. Together, they met clients, developed communications ideas and used examples from Weber Shandwick's global network to show what was possible. This approach recognised a key truth about Japan. A global campaign may work in the United States, Europe or another Asia-Pacific market, but that does not guarantee success in Japan. The core idea may be relevant, but the delivery needs localisation. Japanese stakeholders need to understand the purpose, feel ownership and have confidence that the programme reflects their market reality. In that sense, digital transformation is not just about technology. It is also about nemawashi, trust-building, internal consensus and creating the conditions for people to support change. As Managing Director, Hanley places strong emphasis on engagement, consistency and psychological safety. He believes employees can sense whether leadership interest is genuine or manipulative. Employees are unlikely to become engaged simply because their employer launches an engagement initiative, an employee survey or a new corporate value statement. Engagement is built over time through repeated behaviour. Hanley's practice of meeting one employee each week over breakfast or lunch is a small but important example. These conversations have no rigid agenda. They are designed to understand how people are doing, what they are seeing and what may be happening beneath the surface of formal reporting lines. In Japan, where employees may hesitate to bring bad news to senior leaders, those informal conversations can help surface problems earlier. He also recognises that approachability is relative. A leader may believe that they are open and accessible, yet employees may still struggle to raise difficult issues face-to-face. One colleague who appeared calm during a discussion later sent a detailed and emotional email. That experience reinforced the importance of offering multiple channels for communication. Hanley's broader leadership lesson is simple but demanding: leadership in Japan requires patience. Executives who arrive with aggressive turnaround plans, fixed KPIs and a desire to make immediate changes can easily misread the organisation. Sustainable success comes from learning the landscape, identifying trusted partners, listening to quieter high performers and allowing relationships to develop over time. For Hanley, leadership is not about issuing instructions from above. It is walking the talk, creating clarity, modelling the values expected from others and building an environment where people can contribute honestly, creatively and confidently. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan is unique because progress often depends on trust, relationships, consensus and careful internal alignment rather than visible executive force. Foreign leaders can underestimate the role of nemawashi, the informal process of building support before a decision becomes official. They may focus on the formal meeting, the ringi-sho approval or the announcement, without recognising that much of the real decision-making has already happened through conversations behind the scenes. Japanese employees may also be more cautious about challenging senior leaders directly, especially in formal settings. That does not mean they lack ideas or commitment. It means leaders need to create multiple ways for people to contribute. Informal meetings, regular one-to-ones, anonymous suggestion systems and consistent follow-up can all help reduce the distance between senior management and the broader organisation. The leadership challenge is not to become passive or avoid difficult decisions. It is to understand that change is more sustainable when people feel included in the process. In Japan, consensus is not simply about avoiding conflict. It is often a method for reducing implementation risk. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle in Japan when they assume that a successful strategy from another market can be transferred without adaptation. A campaign, operating model or leadership style that works in the United States, Europe or Singapore may not receive the same level of buy-in in Japan. Hanley's experience in communications shows that global programmes often fail not because the original idea is poor, but because Japanese stakeholders do not feel ownership over the delivery. Global headquarters may see a campaign as proven and scalable. The Japan team may see it as culturally disconnected, commercially unrealistic or difficult to execute with local customers, media and employees. Executives also struggle when they become too focused on avoiding offence. Cultural sensitivity is important, but excessive caution can weaken decision intelligence. Leaders need to trust their judgement, while also seeking strong local counsel to identify blind spots. The best approach is not blind confidence or excessive deference. It is a balance between clear leadership instincts, local insight and evidence-based adaptation. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan is often described as risk-averse, but the more accurate issue is uncertainty avoidance. Japanese organisations may be reluctant to move quickly when the consequences, stakeholder reactions or implementation details are unclear. That is different from being unwilling to innovate. Hanley's career in digital communications shows that Japanese organisations can embrace change when the purpose is clear, the risks are understood and trusted people are involved in shaping the solution. Innovation often needs more explanation, more examples and more internal preparation than it might in a startup environment or a fast-moving Western market. This is why leaders should not interpret slow initial movement as resistance. Sometimes the organisation is asking for more clarity. What is the business case? Who will support the initiative? How will it affect customers? What are the risks? What happens if it fails? Who is accountable? The most effective leaders reduce uncertainty without eliminating ambition. They use pilots, local case studies, customer feedback, internal champions and phased implementation. They do not merely tell people to be more innovative. They create conditions in which innovation feels credible and safe. What leadership style actually works? A leadership style that works in Japan combines clarity, consistency, respect and follow-through. Hanley places particular importance on authenticity. Employees observe whether a leader behaves consistently over time, whether they treat people fairly and whether they give feedback in a way that supports improvement rather than simply criticising performance. This is especially important in a culture where employees may be cautious about exposing problems or challenging the boss. A leader who only appears interested when there is a crisis will not create trust. A leader who takes time to understand people, recognises contribution, provides regular feedback and deals with issues fairly is more likely to earn confidence. Hanley's approach also reflects servant leadership. He does not wait for employees to bring every issue to him. He asks questions, checks in regularly and works to identify problems before deadlines make them unmanageable. This is not micro-management. It is active leadership. The key is to combine high expectations with human connection. Employees need to understand what success looks like, but they also need to believe that the leader wants them to succeed. How can technology help? Technology can help leadership when it improves access to information, encourages ideas and reduces the barriers that stop people from speaking openly. Hanley's use of an anonymous digital suggestion platform is a good example. The system allowed employees to submit ideas in Japanese or English without fear that their identity would be traced. The value of the tool was not only anonymity. It was also the message behind it. Employees saw that their suggestions were being read, considered and treated constructively. Technology can create channels, but leadership determines whether those channels are trusted. In communications, technology also expands the range of ways organisations can engage customers and stakeholders. Paid, owned, earned and shared media require different approaches. Companies need to think beyond advertising and consider how websites, newsletters, events, journalists, influencers, employees and customers all contribute to reputation. Tools such as AI, analytics, digital twins and data platforms can improve decision-making, but they do not replace local judgement. Technology provides information. Leaders still need to interpret that information through the realities of customers, employees, Japanese business culture and organisational capability. Does language proficiency matter? Language proficiency matters because it signals commitment, builds trust and allows leaders to hear what is not being said. Hanley's Japanese ability helped him establish credibility early in his career. It showed colleagues that he had invested time and effort in understanding Japan rather than treating the country as a temporary overseas posting. However, language alone does not determine leadership effectiveness. A foreign executive may not become fluent in Japanese, yet still lead successfully if they listen carefully, use capable interpreters and bilingual advisers, and create an environment where people can communicate in the way that works best for them. Hanley also highlights the importance of recognising quieter employees. In international companies, employees with stronger English skills or greater confidence in global communication can appear more visible than colleagues whose performance may actually be stronger. Leaders need to avoid rewarding only those who can speak most fluently in the leader's native language. The best leaders look beyond self-promotion. They listen for substance, observe results and create fair evaluation systems. What is the ultimate leadership lesson? The ultimate leadership lesson is patience. Hanley believes leaders need time to understand the organisation, build relationships, identify trusted partners and learn how decisions are really made. Rapid turnaround stories can be appealing, but in Japan, a leader who acts too quickly may damage trust before they have understood the full context. Patience does not mean delaying decisions indefinitely. It means learning enough before acting. It means recognising that a relationship with a client, employee, partner or internal stakeholder may take years to build but can create value for decades. Leadership in Japan is therefore a long-term practice. It is about walking the talk, showing consistency, respecting people, creating psychological safety and helping teams adapt global ideas to local realities. The strongest leaders do not merely manage tasks and KPIs. They create a culture in which people feel able to contribute, raise concerns, share ideas and take responsibility for the future of the business. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō ( ザ営業 ), Purezen no Tatsujin ( プレゼンの達人 ), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō ( トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう ), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā ( 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー ). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.