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

Hosted by Dr. Greg Story

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Oct 2026

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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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October 24, 20261 hr 10 min

300 Tony Khan — CEO, DHL Express Japan

"Do what you say you will do." "Respect comes first for a reason, and results comes later." "If I do 20% of the talking and 80% let you talk, then 80% of the knowledge is coming." "Leadership is not a title." "Be visible, listen, and never give up on your own learning." Tony Khan is the CEO of DHL Express Japan. His career with DHL began at an entry level in Seattle, before an unexpected transfer brought him to Japan in 1988. Initially unable to speak Japanese, he learnt through immersion, including watching Japanese television, and rose through operational leadership roles. He subsequently led DHL operations in China from Beijing, returned to Japan to oversee major operations and the response to the 2011 earthquake, and moved to Hong Kong in 2013 to run a major global hub. His leadership reflects decades of cross-border experience, language learning, operational discipline and a commitment to developing people from within. A CEO who spends much of his time outside the boardroom offers an unusually practical view of leading people in Japan. In conversation with Dr. Greg Story, Tony Khan, CEO of DHL Express Japan, describes a career shaped less by a rigid succession plan than by the willingness to accept difficult assignments. Starting in an entry-level position in Seattle, he was sent to Japan in 1988, despite knowing no Japanese. He initially struggled with the language, food and isolation. Rather than withdraw, he immersed himself in local life, even using the television programme Sazae-san to build conversational fluency. That adaptability became an operating principle. Khan moved to Beijing to lead DHL in China and later returned to Japan, bringing lessons from a rapidly developing market without assuming that every practice would translate. He established communication guidelines designed to get employees speaking, listening and taking an interest in colleagues. He argues that international executives must earn trust locally, rather than arrive with a ready-made foreign management formula. In a setting where employees may hesitate to challenge senior people publicly, leaders must create safe ways for their ideas to emerge. His defining example is the March 2011 earthquake. At DHL's Shinkiba facility, subsidence disrupted access for vehicles and forklifts. Khan first checked that employees were safe. He then asked when the operation could resume, explaining that DHL was not merely moving parcels: customers depended on shipments containing medicine, passports, wedding items and other important possessions. The team improvised access ramps and resumed operations by Monday morning. For Khan, the decisive act was explaining why the work mattered, not merely issuing an instruction. The same belief informs his leadership routine. Khan says he spends around 70 per cent of his time in the field and conducts town halls across Japan, sometimes early in the morning or late at night to suit shift workers. Anonymous questions through Slido initially helped people raise difficult issues without fear. Over time, he reports that about 95 per cent began attaching their names, a sign of increasing trust. He also returns to answer questions left unfinished, demonstrating his maxim: do what you say you will do. Khan connects employee engagement to customer experience. DHL's Certified International Specialist training, delivered across levels from executives to drivers, reinforces the meaning of service. He visits customers, sometimes delivers parcels himself and encourages employees to find solutions rather than hide behind a manual. He is particularly proud that many senior managers began as drivers. His ultimate leadership lesson combines visibility, attentive listening, ethical standards, patience with honest mistakes and lifelong learning. Leadership, in his account, is measured by the people a leader develops and the commitments that leader keeps. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Khan highlights the importance of trust, humility and creating permission to speak. In Japanese meetings, employees may remain quiet rather than risk embarrassment or contradict a superior. He responded with locally designed communication guidelines, including encouraging people to start the conversation and listen carefully. His experience suggests that consensus-oriented practices work best when leaders deliberately invite diverse input rather than mistake silence for agreement. Why do global executives struggle? Executives can struggle when they transplant methods wholesale from another market. Khan recalls advice to take only what was relevant from China when working elsewhere. Japanese colleagues initially wondered whether he would impose a Chinese management style after his return. He earned credibility by adapting his approach, learning the language and showing sustained interest in employees. Is Japan truly risk-averse? The interview does not establish that all Japanese organisations avoid risk. It does show how concern about mistakes and loss of face can inhibit initiative. Khan counters this by accepting honest errors as learning opportunities while maintaining zero tolerance for ethical wrongdoing. When an employee offered to resign after a costly mistake, Khan instead required him to stay, repair the problem and teach others. What leadership style actually works? Khan favours visible, purpose-led and consistent leadership. During the 2011 earthquake he prioritised employee safety, explained why restoring deliveries mattered and helped the operation resume. He regularly visits frontline teams and honours promises to return and answer outstanding questions. He puts respect before results, while insisting that results still matter. How can technology help? Khan uses Slido during employee town halls so staff can submit and upvote questions, including anonymously. The questions are displayed publicly, giving employees a transparent way to influence the agenda. The interview does not discuss digital twins or other advanced logistics technologies; its concrete technology lesson is that simple tools can help widen participation when supported by leadership follow-through. Does language proficiency matter? Yes, in Khan's experience. He arrived in Japan without Japanese and struggled to build relationships. Watching Japanese television and interacting with colleagues helped him learn, make friends and progress. He later learnt some Chinese through immersion. Language is presented as a route to trust and cultural understanding, not as a substitute for competence. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Khan's advice is to be visible, listen and keep learning. He recommends that leaders speak less and hear more, drawing ideas from frontline employees. He believes leadership is not a title and that people should be developed for advancement, including across borders. Commitments must be kept, ethical lapses treated seriously and honest mistakes turned into development. 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.

October 17, 20261 hr 2 min

299 Carl Williams, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Unipart

"Knowing the details was essential." "Gaining trust through doing is important." "Continuity is the foundation." "The ultimate risk sits with me." "Leadership, if I think of our business, it exists at multiple levels within your business." Carl Williams is Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at Unipart, the privately owned British supply-chain business with roots in the automotive industry. His remit covers India, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Japan and Australia, with Tokyo serving as the regional headquarters. Born in Wales and raised in western England, he completed university in 1997 and began his career with Toyota Tsusho in Japan, combining intensive Japanese-language study with work in its Tokyo office. He subsequently established a Japanese operation for a British motorcycle-parts business and developed manufacturing and sourcing relationships in China. Joining Unipart in Japan in 2005, he progressed through customer service and supply-chain management into regional leadership, spent approximately ten years based in Suzhou, China, and returned to Japan in 2018. His career reflects a practical ability to adjust leadership approaches across Asian markets. Leading in Japan is not simply a question of importing international management practices. Carl Williams, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at Unipart, describes leadership as a combination of technical credibility, continuity, cultural awareness and the willingness to let local teams own decisions. His experience spans Japan, China and other Asia-Pacific markets, giving him a comparative view of how commitment, speed and attitudes to failure differ across organisations. Williams arrived in Japan after university in 1997 to work for Toyota Tsusho. Morning language classes were followed by afternoons in the office, while company dormitory life and evening socialising gave him a deeper view of Japanese workplace relationships. He encountered visible hierarchy, meticulous attention to detail, consultation before action and a strong corporate identity. The investment in language and international assignments helped him understand the organisation from within rather than observing it solely as an expatriate. When Williams joined Unipart in Japan, his immediate challenge was earning the confidence of an established team. He spent time in Britain learning the company's operations and systems, including an SAP implementation, and worked directly in a warehouse. His own picking errors reinforced his respect for frontline expertise. Credibility came from understanding the work, being available and helping colleagues resolve practical problems. It was not enough to rely on a senior title. His approach changed when he returned from a decade in China to lead from Tokyo. With an experienced, stable Japanese operation, he deliberately attended fewer meetings and sometimes worked remotely. That gave the Japan leadership team room to operate while he focused additional attention on growth opportunities in markets such as China and Vietnam. Delegation, in his account, is an allocation of scarce leadership time rather than an absence of interest. Unipart institutionalises bottom-up contribution through its Unipart Way. Teams hold daily thirty-minute communication cells to review work, surface issues and resolve problems or escalate those needing more attention. Digital Fridays provide another channel for ideas, from improving warehouse label printing to borrowing digital solutions used elsewhere in the group. These routines give employees permission and a structure to contribute, rather than waiting for an occasional invitation from the boss. Williams recognises Japan's high standards and caution about errors, but sees untapped opportunity when fear of failure prevents experimentation. He seeks to make clear that the ultimate risk of sensible, authorised experiments rests with him. Speed, agility and digitalisation can distinguish an international supplier in Japan, but never at the expense of quality. His definition of leadership extends well beyond the executive suite: warehouse team leaders, customer service managers and others lead when they accept accountability and act on it. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Williams highlights detailed execution, consultation, organisational commitment and continuity. His first workplace placed considerable emphasis on avoiding errors and obtaining approval. Long-term relationships matter to both employees and customers. Leadership must respect these strengths while creating space for initiative; familiar concepts such as nemawashi and consensus help describe the environment, although Williams does not prescribe a formal ringi-sho process. Why do global executives struggle? An overseas leader may underestimate the local context behind apparently slow or resistant behaviour. Williams stresses that approaches suited to China are not automatically suited to Japan. Credibility is earned by understanding the systems and work. His experience also suggests that recruiting people with relevant sector familiarity can make both hiring and retention easier. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Williams sees substantial caution about failure, linked to high quality expectations. Rather than asking employees to absorb personal consequences for experiments, he makes the boundaries clear and accepts ultimate responsibility himself. This distinguishes prudent innovation from repeated operational errors. Uncertainty avoidance is a useful analytical lens, not a claim that every Japanese employee behaves identically. What leadership style actually works? A leader must be close enough to the work to help, but not so present that local managers lose ownership. Williams initially built trust by mastering operational details and solving problems. On returning to a mature Japan business, he intentionally stepped back from routine meetings, supported the team when needed and devoted time to higher-upside regional priorities. Continuity and predictable behaviour also help establish trust. How can technology help? Unipart's Digital Fridays turn frontline frustrations into proposals for practical improvement. Teams examine whether solutions already exist elsewhere in the business before creating something new. The daily communication cell provides a complementary problem-solving channel. Williams discusses digitalisation and speed, not a specific deployment of digital twins or a formal decision-intelligence platform. Does language proficiency matter? Yes. Williams studied Japanese intensively while working at Toyota Tsusho and regards language as a means of understanding everyday workplace nuance. Speaking with colleagues about ordinary experiences, local events and restaurants creates connections that an English-only executive may miss. Language proficiency reduces the social and informational distance between leader and team. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Williams rejects the idea that leadership belongs only to the CEO. It exists throughout an organisation wherever people accept responsibility and accountability. The senior leader's role includes enabling those people to act, giving them practical support and allowing room for imperfection so the organisation can improve. 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.

October 10, 20261 hr 1 min

298 Goro Naito, President Evonik Japan

"So first thing is you need to listen to them and delegate, and let them do it." "So you try to make it as a conversation." "So then you start mapping them who can be our supporter, who's not." "It's about your mindset." "And you should really take it seriously, not only by words" Goro Naito became President of Evonik Japan in 2024, the company's first Japanese president. His career spans energy, public relations, corporate communications and business development. After studying philosophy at university, he joined Shell Japan, working in liquefied natural gas, including business connected with Australia's North West Shelf. A three-year assignment in London involved global natural gas planning, followed by energy marketing and business development in Japan. He later moved into a Japanese public relations agency, leading a team of around 20 people and working with clients including Pfizer and Nike. He joined Evonik in 2008 as head of communications, supporting local and government relations around a new plant in Yokkaichi. In 2013, he moved to Essen, Germany, as head of global communications for just under three years. He subsequently returned to Japan in business development before becoming president. Five childhood years in Britain helped establish the English proficiency and cultural flexibility that have supported his international career. For Goro Naito, President of Evonik Japan, leadership begins with a discipline that can be surprisingly difficult for accomplished executives: listening. His experience across Shell, a Japanese public relations agency and the German specialty chemicals company Evonik has reinforced a consistent lesson. Technical knowledge, international exposure and communication skills become more effective when a leader creates room for other people's judgement. The turning point came at Shell. After choosing a management path, Naito received feedback from the company's president that he lacked listening skills. Initially, he understood the comment as a question about language comprehension. The real issue was whether he listened to people. That distinction changed his understanding of management, although translating the lesson into everyday behaviour took time. The challenge became practical when he joined a public relations agency. He was older than many colleagues and lacked their specialist publicity experience. Leading around 20 people required respect for expertise he did not possess. Rather than supply every answer, he asked what team members wanted to do, delegated work and accepted responsibility. He also took on projects himself when necessary and stayed to hear colleagues' concerns after they returned from client work. Credibility emerged through consistent support. At Evonik, cross-cultural communication added another dimension. Naito found differences between Shell's informal use of first names and the more formal conventions he encountered in Germany. He also recognised that English exchanges between Japanese and German colleagues involved two groups using a second language. Apparent bluntness could reflect limited vocabulary or unintended wording. Asking what someone meant became an essential leadership habit. His approach to ideas combines openness with challenge. Employees are encouraged to propose action, but proposals must survive practical questions about preparation, resources and stakeholder support. Naito keeps the discussion alive rather than ending it with a dismissive rejection. Mapping supporters and potential objections at German headquarters turns approval into a shared problem. This has an affinity with nemawashi, the preparation of support before a decision, although his account focuses on stakeholder management rather than formal ringi-sho procedures. As Evonik Japan's first Japanese president, Naito invested time in visiting plants and speaking individually with employees. Small-group conversations in the office helped communicate his intentions. The culture he sought was open, with discipline, and capable of independent thought. Growth matters because a strong Japanese operation is better positioned to have its voice heard within the international organisation. Trust underpins that ambition. Naito treats it as a starting attitude that people can sense in a leader's behaviour. For incoming foreign executives, his advice is to listen, disclose the targets and pressures they face, and ask the local team for help. Language learning can build rapport, while capable interpretation allows employees to explain themselves honestly in Japanese. Ultimately, empowerment becomes credible when the leader accepts the consequences. Naito's central commitment is that colleagues can bring ideas and challenges forward because he will take responsibility. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Naito's account highlights the importance of personal trust, sensitivity to hierarchy and the relationship between authority and accountability. Employees may hesitate to challenge a superior or put forward an independent proposal. An open culture therefore requires repeated invitations to speak, followed by supportive behaviour. His stakeholder mapping also resembles the preparatory logic of nemawashi: understanding who will support a proposal and who needs persuasion. Formal ringi-sho and consensus procedures are not explored in the interview. Why do global executives struggle? Executives arriving under pressure to improve performance can move directly into instructions and changes before understanding the local business. Naito recommends openness about headquarters' expectations and asking the team how to meet them. The discussion also stresses understanding customer requirements before judging unfamiliar practices. Another difficulty is language: Japanese and German colleagues communicating in English may both be using a second language. Direct phrasing can conceal unintended meaning, making clarification more useful than immediate assumptions about attitude. Is Japan truly risk-averse? The interview does not establish a general verdict on Japanese risk aversion. It describes a practical accountability problem: people can prefer instructions because the superior then owns the decision. Naito counters this by encouraging ideas and accepting responsibility for the outcome. That approach offers a way to reduce uncertainty avoidance within a team without claiming it defines every Japanese employee. Questions about preparation and stakeholder objections help proposals become actionable while protecting the willingness to suggest them. What leadership style actually works? Naito favours listening, delegation, openness and responsibility. At the public relations agency, he recognised that younger colleagues knew more about their specialist work. He supported their decisions and built credibility through action. At Evonik, he visited plants, spoke with employees and encouraged access to his office. He also challenges proposals through conversation and hypothetical obstacles. The result is an approach that combines independent thinking with discipline, rather than treating empowerment as approval of every idea. How can technology help? Technology is not a substantive topic in this interview. Naito mentions Google Translate while discussing unfamiliar English vocabulary, but offers no programme for artificial intelligence, decision intelligence or digital twins. The grounded lesson is that communication tools may assist understanding, while leaders still need to check intended meaning and business context. His emphasis remains on questions, dialogue and competent interpretation. Any broader technology strategy would require a separate discussion rather than attribution to his remarks. Does language proficiency matter? Language proficiency supports both career mobility and cultural understanding. Naito's childhood schooling in Britain helped him work internationally at Shell and Evonik. For foreign leaders in Japan, some Japanese can serve as an icebreaker even when fluency is unrealistic. A trusted interpreter can help employees speak more openly in their own language. The discussion also distinguishes linguistic ability from business judgement: an English-speaking colleague should not automatically become the executive's adviser on personnel or organisational issues. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Leadership requires taking responsibility for decisions and for the work entrusted to others. Naito's willingness to stand behind colleagues is central to his effort to release their ideas and abilities. A promise of support must be reflected in conduct, especially when headquarters challenges a proposal. Listening makes expertise available; dialogue strengthens decisions; genuine backing makes participation credible. His career suggests that adaptability across industries and national cultures rests on these repeated behaviours more than on a fixed personal leadership formula. 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.

October 3, 20261 hr 8 min

297 Bart Wakabayashi, Managing Director of State Street Bank and Trust Tokyo

"First and foremost, trying to remain human myself." "It was very important for me to let them know we are working together." "Trust is important. We trust each other, we recognise each other, we thank each other." "I constantly tell my team this: I want them to complain up." Bart Wakabayashi is Managing Director of State Street Bank and Trust's Tokyo branch, where the principal business is foreign exchange trading. He has spent more than 26 years with State Street and has built an unusually international career spanning Japan, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. Born in Japan to an American mother and a Japanese father who was born and raised in Canada, Wakabayashi grew up in Japan before attending college in California. After returning to Japan, he eventually entered finance and joined State Street. His career subsequently took him to Sydney, Toronto and Hong Kong before bringing him back to Japan. That combination of Japanese upbringing, North American education and extensive international experience has shaped his approach to leadership. He describes himself as thinking very much like a Japanese person while simultaneously recognising aspects of Japanese business culture that can frustrate him. Rather than seeing this bicultural background as providing a simple advantage, he treats leadership as a continuing process of adapting, listening and building trust. As one of the relatively few locally hired executives to become branch manager in State Street's history in Japan, Wakabayashi has also experienced the challenges surrounding career mobility for Japanese employees in multinational organisations. That experience informs his interest in creating opportunities for local employees, building open communication and establishing an environment where people feel able to raise problems before those problems become crises. For Bart Wakabayashi, effective leadership in Japan begins not with authority but with trust. As Managing Director of State Street Bank and Trust's Tokyo branch, Wakabayashi operates in an environment where trust has unusually tangible consequences. Foreign exchange trading is fast-moving, financial institutions are heavily regulated and mistakes cannot simply be ignored in the hope that they disappear. Yet his philosophy of leadership is strikingly human: remain accessible, communicate constantly, demonstrate ethical behaviour personally and create an environment where employees feel safe enough to tell the leader what is actually happening. Wakabayashi's perspective reflects an unusual personal history. Born and raised in Japan to an American mother and a Japanese father born in Canada, educated partly in California and professionally experienced in Sydney, Toronto and Hong Kong, he has spent his life moving between cultures. He considers himself very Japanese in many aspects of his thinking, yet international experience has also given him alternative ways of interpreting hierarchy, communication and organisational behaviour. That matters because hierarchy remains an important feature of Japanese working life. Wakabayashi remembers being acutely aware of senior-junior relationships while growing up in Japan. His father was a professional athlete, providing another environment in which hierarchy was clearly visible. Yet when Wakabayashi became a leader himself, he did not interpret leadership as an opportunity to impose authority from above. His approach was partnership. Former colleagues might suddenly become direct reports after a promotion. The responsibilities changed, but the people did not. He therefore sought to make it clear that although somebody had to lead, results would come from people working together. Trust, however, cannot simply be announced. It has to be accumulated through behaviour. Wakabayashi consciously speaks to people every day. A simple good morning matters. He asks how people are doing, how their work is progressing and whether problems are emerging. These apparently minor interactions reduce the psychological distance between leader and employee. Over time, employees gain confidence that they can approach the leader when something goes wrong. This is particularly important in Japan, where employees may hesitate to deliver bad news upward. Wakabayashi wants people to "complain up". Complaining, in his interpretation, is not necessarily negative. A complaint reveals something that is not working and can become the beginning of a solution. He applies the same principle to mistakes. Leaders cannot demand openness while concealing their own errors. Wakabayashi believes in acknowledging his mistakes in real time and setting the example himself. Ethical behaviour should also be embedded in everyday conversation rather than isolated inside compulsory compliance training. His approach to corporate culture follows the same logic. People need to see situations from the other person's perspective, ask how they themselves would want to be treated and involve employees in finding solutions. When an employee sees an idea incorporated into actual policy, it becomes powerful evidence that the organisation genuinely values their contribution. For foreign executives arriving in Japan, Wakabayashi's advice is therefore less about mastering a catalogue of Japanese business rules than demonstrating curiosity, humility and commitment. Learn some Japanese. Greet people. Walk the floor carefully. Ask questions. Admit what is not understood. Recognise that employees working for a foreign company may have deliberately chosen an environment different from a traditional Japanese corporation. Ultimately, Wakabayashi defines leadership as creating the conditions in which professionals can do their jobs. Give people trust, space and safety. Allow them to admit when they do not know what to do. Be available when a difficult decision must be made. Leadership succeeds when people genuinely feel they want to follow. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan operates within a strong cultural awareness of hierarchy, seniority and appropriate interpersonal behaviour. Wakabayashi grew up seeing these relationships in Japanese society, television, school and through his father's career as a professional athlete. That familiarity did not mean business leadership was automatically easy. Japanese business communication introduced additional complexities, including keigo and expectations surrounding written communication. Wakabayashi therefore sees cultural understanding not as a completed skill but as an ongoing learning process. Trust is particularly important. Employees carefully observe leaders and assess whether it is safe to raise issues. Everyday behaviour — greetings, accessibility, energy and genuine interest in employees' work — gradually establishes the credibility required for more difficult conversations. Why do global executives struggle? A foreign executive may arrive with leadership practices that have worked successfully elsewhere but discover that employees interpret those behaviours differently in Japan. Management by walking around is one example. In another culture, a senior executive speaking directly with junior employees may appear completely normal. In a hierarchical Japanese organisation, the manager between those two levels may worry that the senior executive is checking on them or discussing their performance. Wakabayashi therefore favours transparency. A leader can explain in advance that walking the floor and talking with employees is simply part of the leadership approach rather than an attempt to bypass managers. Foreign executives should also recognise that Japanese employees working for multinational companies may have consciously chosen not to work in a traditional Japanese corporate environment. Reproducing exactly the hierarchy and restrictions they sought to escape may therefore be counterproductive. Is Japan truly risk-averse? The interview does not characterise Japanese leadership primarily through conventional theories of risk aversion or uncertainty avoidance. Instead, Wakabayashi focuses on the practical risks created when employees are reluctant to communicate problems upward. In a regulated financial institution, delayed disclosure can transform a manageable mistake into a serious organisational problem. Wakabayashi therefore concentrates on creating enough trust for employees to report problems early. The objective is not to eliminate mistakes. It is to create a culture in which mistakes, concerns and uncertainties become visible while leaders still have enough time to act. What leadership style actually works? Wakabayashi rejects the idea that there is one universal leadership style. His starting point is authenticity combined with awareness that becoming the leader changes the relationship with former peers. He favours partnership rather than top-down control. Somebody must ultimately lead and make difficult decisions, but the organisation reaches better outcomes when employees believe they are working with the leader rather than merely obeying the leader. His practical leadership behaviours are deliberately simple: speak to people, greet them, ask questions, listen to complaints, share information, acknowledge mistakes and demonstrate through actions that employees can safely raise problems. Trust emerges from the accumulation of these behaviours. How can technology help? Technology is not a major theme of Wakabayashi's interview. His discussion of leadership concentrates overwhelmingly on human interaction, trust, organisational communication, ethics and relationships rather than digital transformation, artificial intelligence or decision-support technology. His comments do, however, highlight the importance of information flow inside multinational organisations. Knowledge or solutions may already exist in Hong Kong, Thailand, Taipei or elsewhere in the global organisation. Leaders can add value by connecting people and ensuring information does not remain trapped inside organisational silos. Does language proficiency matter? Language matters, but Wakabayashi does not suggest that foreign leaders need perfect Japanese. Even attempting a Japanese greeting can communicate respect and interest. A foreign executive who makes the effort to learn and use Japanese demonstrates a willingness to engage with the country rather than expecting Japan to adapt entirely to them. Equally important is the willingness to ask questions. Foreign leaders can acknowledge that they do not understand a custom or are uncertain about appropriate behaviour. That humility can reduce distance because employees see that the leader values their knowledge. Language therefore functions not merely as communication ability but as a visible signal of commitment. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Wakabayashi's definition of leadership has become simpler with experience. Leadership means making people comfortable enough to do their jobs. It means trusting that employees are professionals, believing that they care about their work and giving them enough psychological safety to say, "I don't know what to do. Please teach me." The leader remains responsible for difficult decisions and for ensuring those decisions comply with ethical, regulatory and organisational standards. But authority alone does not create followers. The ultimate objective is an environment in which employees look at the leader and genuinely feel, "I really want to follow this person." 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.

September 26, 202659 min

296 Nikhilesh Kalra — President, SSP Co., Ltd., an Opella Company

"If you are looking for perfection, you will never try anything new." "Their ownership is crucial because they are outstanding at implementing it." "Longevity matters. There is a very direct correlation to trust." "If it does not work, it is a risk that I take along with you." "Your job is not to impress me. Your role is to do the best for the organisation." Nikhilesh Kalra is President of SSP Co., Ltd., a 260-year-old Japanese healthcare company now part of Opella. SSP is best known through its portfolio of branded over-the-counter medicines, including EVE, a market-leading pain-relief brand, as well as products for allergies and colds. The company began as a family business, later became publicly listed and progressively focused its portfolio on consumer healthcare before becoming wholly owned by multinational groups. Kalra built his career in multinational healthcare businesses and worked across several Asian markets and the United Kingdom. He was serving in a Sanofi role in India when he was asked to lead SSP in Japan in 2022. He subsequently guided the organisation through the carve-out of Sanofi's consumer healthcare business into the independent Opella group. His leadership experience in Japan centres on modernising a deeply established company without discarding its history, increasing risk appetite while protecting pharmaceutical quality, and bridging local stakeholder expectations with global business priorities. Nikhilesh Kalra arrived in Japan knowing that the country would be different, but not fully appreciating how deeply those differences would shape leadership. He had spent his career in multinational companies where junior employees were encouraged to speak up, debate was visible and success was usually framed in terms of outcomes. At SSP, he entered a 260-year-old Japanese organisation operating in healthcare, where hierarchy, quality, continuity and stakeholder alignment were woven into the operating system. His first important lesson was that formal meetings reveal only a fraction of the decision process. In an industry association meeting, agenda items passed with almost no visible debate. The real conversation had occurred beforehand through one-to-one stakeholder management. Inside SSP, he encountered meetings to prepare for meetings, and sometimes additional meetings before those. The purpose was not simply bureaucracy; the Japan team wanted to appear externally as one aligned entity. Kalra worked to reduce unnecessary internal preparation while preserving the consensus-building needed for confident execution. The largest surprise was the extent of risk aversion. Kalra came to see it not as simple timidity, but as the product of a society built around predictable service and exceptionally high quality. In pharmaceuticals, some risks must never be compromised. Yet the same perfectionist mindset can spread into areas where experimentation is essential, including digital transformation, enterprise systems and commercial processes. Organisations may retain outdated infrastructure and manual Excel-based work because changing it feels riskier than tolerating the hidden cost of inefficiency. Kalra therefore distinguishes between critical quality risk and controllable business experimentation. His challenge to employees is not merely whether they completed the process, but what they improved compared with the previous year. He asks teams to examine proposals privately, return with their collective view and explain why they support or reject them. This method respects the reluctance to disagree openly with the president while creating a genuine window for debate. Teams may reject the original idea, or propose a midpoint. Kalra often accepts the midpoint because ownership produces exceptional Japanese implementation: stakeholders are aligned, details are resolved and execution becomes disciplined. Trust was essential because employees initially saw him as someone sent from headquarters who might prioritise global demands over the Japanese business. Kalra created proof that he was on their side by fighting to retain the SSP name rather than replacing it with the multinational parent's name. The 260-year legacy mattered to employees, customers and regulators. By defending it at global level, he demonstrated respect for what generations of people had built and established that local decisions would be made according to what was right for Japan. He also relied heavily on a trusted leadership team able to disagree with him. Without strong Japanese proficiency, psychological safety among direct reports became vital. Kalra openly acknowledges that his own view may be right only part of the time. Leaders who understand customers, employees and local systems must be able to explain what he is missing. This same safety is necessary for risk-taking: when a new initiative fails, the individual who tried it should not be punished. The leader must explicitly share the risk and then walk the talk when the result is imperfect. Early commercial successes helped build the organisation's risk muscle. SSP took its first price increase in roughly 30 years after the COVID-era supply shock. Employees with prior experience showed colleagues how to proceed step by step, the company persuaded retailers and the initiative succeeded. Each successful controlled risk made the next one easier. Similarly, the supply chain team shifted from automatically satisfying every customer request to proposing alternatives that protected the customer's concern while improving SSP's economics and efficiency. Kalra believes culture cannot be replaced wholesale. It can be evolved team by team, person by person, with different functions moving at different speeds. Change agents are needed across the organisation so the entire company is not constrained by its slowest group. For expatriate leaders, his advice is to listen, be patient, create psychological safety and educate headquarters about the real consequences of rapid change. Rather than simply resisting a global request, the Japan leader should offer a data-based roadmap showing how the change can be assessed, recommended and implemented responsibly. His regret is not learning more Japanese. Language would have enabled more unscripted conversations at the gemba—with factory employees, sales representatives and frontline staff—and provided richer insight into whether strategy had reached execution. His broader leadership lesson is equally direct: people are not there to impress the president. Their job is to create value for the organisation and its real internal or external customers. The leader's role is to connect silos, protect thoughtful experimentation, maintain trust through consistent behaviour and help a traditional organisation evolve without losing the strengths that made it endure. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires understanding that visible meetings often confirm rather than create decisions. Debate commonly occurs through one-to-one stakeholder conversations, nemawashi and internal alignment before the formal session. Kalra found that disagreement with a senior leader may be silent because direct refusal can feel disrespectful. He therefore gives teams time to discuss proposals privately and return with an aligned answer. This approach respects hierarchy while creating space for authentic disagreement. Japan's emphasis on quality, continuity and collective reputation also means the leader must consider customers, regulators, employees and long-established relationships before forcing change. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives struggle when they interpret slow alignment as obstruction or assume that a direct headquarters mandate should immediately become local action. They may arrive under pressure to improve profitability and attempt dramatic changes before understanding the supply chain, customer expectations or regulatory consequences. Kalra advises leaders to educate global stakeholders with data and explain the risk of moving too quickly. Simply saying no makes the Japan organisation appear resistant. A better response is a roadmap: assess the issue, make a recommendation, identify the steps and then implement the change in a way that protects the business. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Kalra sees Japanese risk aversion as rooted in perfection, predictability and responsibility. In medicines, exceptionally high quality is non-negotiable. The problem arises when the same standard is applied to every internal process, digital tool or commercial experiment. Organisations may avoid replacing obsolete systems because change seems dangerous, even while manual work creates hidden costs. Kalra separates unacceptable product risk from manageable experimentation. He builds confidence through small proof points, experienced change agents, rigorous discussion of anticipated risks and a commitment that employees will not be penalised for well-considered initiatives that do not succeed. What leadership style actually works? The leadership style that works for Kalra combines listening, patience, local advocacy and shared accountability. He does not demand an immediate answer in the room. He asks teams to examine the issue, challenge it and return with their view. He is willing to accept a midpoint because commitment to an owned solution can matter more than theoretical perfection. Trust also requires proving that the leader serves the Japanese business rather than merely transmitting headquarters instructions. Defending the SSP name was a powerful example. Internally, he depends on psychological safety so senior colleagues can tell him when his interpretation is incomplete or wrong. How can technology help? Technology can reduce the hidden inefficiency created by old systems, manual spreadsheets and repetitive processes, but adoption requires a different risk conversation. SSP is experimenting with AI for content creation, advertising and data analytics, where speed, cost and insight can improve substantially. Kalra sees AI as a major future force and believes companies that use it well will outperform. At the same time, technology cannot be treated as a purely technical project. Leaders must clarify which risks are acceptable, involve the people affected, build confidence through pilots and ensure that modernisation improves outcomes rather than simply replacing one process with another. Does language proficiency matter? Kalra considers his limited Japanese one of his main regrets. More language ability would have enabled unscripted conversations beyond the leadership team, particularly with factory workers, sales representatives and frontline employees. Those gemba conversations help a president test whether strategy has reached execution: whether people have heard about a change, understand the reason and know what to do next. Language also reduces dependence on intermediaries and provides deeper insight into systems and employee sentiment. Such contact should be transparent, however, so direct reports understand that the leader is learning about the organisation rather than checking up on them. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Kalra's ultimate lesson is that leadership is not about being impressed by activity or having employees perform for the boss. The organisation and its customers are the true focus. Leaders must listen, connect people across silos and judge success by improved outcomes rather than process completion alone. They must also protect trust, which can be lost very quickly through inconsistent behaviour. A leader should take collective responsibility for thoughtful risks, build change agents throughout the company and evolve culture at a realistic pace. In Japan, patience and stakeholder alignment are not alternatives to progress; they are often the conditions that make durable progress possible. 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.

September 19, 202625 min

295 Laura Bonamici - Round Two - Former Global Head of Marketing, Fujitsu

Laura Bonamici - Former Global Head of Marketing, Fujitsu "Leadership is increasingly an act of translation." "The role of leadership was not to force speed, it was to create the conditions where speed could emerge." "Perfection was never the problem, but waiting for it was." "You become geographically global, but you're remaining intellectually domestic." "Ultimately, what you leave behind is that beating heart, and you leave that through people." Laura Bonamici is the former Global Head of Marketing for Fujitsu and spent four years in Japan helping lead major transformation within one of the country's best-known technology companies. Born and raised in Sardinia, Italy, she built her career almost entirely outside her home country. After completing university, she moved to the United Kingdom, then Germany and eventually Japan. She describes her career as one of "leading away from home", repeatedly operating as an outsider who must understand a new environment while still delivering organisational results. Her original assignment in Japan was expected to last around 18 months, but the scale and complexity of the transformation extended her stay to four years. During that period, Fujitsu was pursuing an ambitious mid-term plan and expanding its Uvance digital services portfolio, with marketing playing an important role in the company's transformation. Japan ultimately forced Bonamici to question leadership approaches that had previously worked successfully elsewhere. The experience strengthened her belief that effective global leadership depends upon understanding context, translating between different perspectives and bringing people with you through change. Laura Bonamici's lessons about leadership in Japan begin somewhere unexpected: mushroom hunting in Sardinia. As a teenager, she would accompany her father into the woods at six o'clock in the morning. It did not matter how late she had stayed out the previous night. If she had promised to go, she was expected to be standing at the door on time. The first lesson was trust: if people cannot rely on your word, nothing else works. Her father also taught her not to rush into the woods searching for mushrooms. First, they stopped, crouched down and allowed their eyes to adjust to the colours, light and patterns around them. The lesson she later carried into leadership was equally simple: without understanding context, people often cannot see what is actually there. Her four years leading transformation in Japan brought those childhood lessons back into focus. Bonamici describes modern leadership as an "act of translation". She is not referring simply to translating Japanese into English or vice versa. Leaders must translate contexts, perspectives and competing realities so that people can understand what change means and move forward together. One of the biggest tensions she encountered was stability versus speed. Japanese organisations possess formidable strengths in structure, process, alignment, consistency and execution. Yet technology cycles are shortening, AI has become a standard copilot and markets can change in months rather than years. Simply demanding greater speed from a system designed around careful execution can generate resistance. Bonamici instead created protected spaces where small cross-functional teams could experiment, learn and make mistakes. Speed was not imposed on the wider organisation. New approaches were tested, demonstrated and then scaled. Communication also required recalibration. Important ideas were often shaped through relationships, trust and smaller conversations rather than created inside large meetings. Small groups could explore ideas before larger forums validated decisions and accelerated implementation. The second tension was precision versus progress. Japan's commitment to quality encourages organisations to get things right before moving. Transformation, however, often requires learning while moving. In Fujitsu's marketing application of AI, Bonamici did not dismiss legitimate concerns about governance, accuracy and risk. Her team started with focused, lower-risk use cases and made the learning visible. The question gradually moved from "Is this perfect?" towards "What are we learning and how can we improve it?" A third tension involved global ambition versus local reality. Bonamici describes what she calls "Japan-to-Japan globalisation": Japanese companies expanding geographically by following Japanese customers overseas while retaining essentially domestic assumptions. International success requires more. Companies must understand different customers, markets and competitive dynamics. Technical excellence alone does not guarantee that customers will recognise value. Markets construct meaning around products. Marketing therefore becomes a bridge between global ambition and local relevance. For Bonamici, leadership is consequently not about eliminating tension. It is about becoming comfortable enough to hold competing realities simultaneously and helping other people navigate them. Her final insight concerns legacy. Processes, structures and playbooks can disappear after a leader leaves. The more enduring legacy resides in people. Leaders leave pieces of themselves in those they have developed, influenced and encouraged. The blueprint may change. The people carry the beating heart forward. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Bonamici sees leadership in Japan as an exercise in understanding and translating context. Japan combines strong structure, process, alignment, consistency and execution with an increasingly urgent requirement for organisational speed. The challenge is therefore not simply deciding whether an organisation should move quickly or carefully. Leaders must work within both realities. She found that ideas in Japan were frequently developed through relationships, trust and smaller conversations before reaching larger forums for validation. Effective leaders therefore create environments in which ideas can emerge safely, gain support and ultimately move faster. Leadership becomes less about forcing change and more about creating the conditions in which change can occur. Why do global executives struggle? Bonamici experienced this herself. She arrived with energy, a transformation mandate and an initial assignment of approximately 18 months. Like many leaders, she was psychologically geared towards demonstrating results quickly. Japan challenged assumptions and methods that had previously contributed to her success. Her first six months were largely about "landing". By twelve months, it had become clear that 18 months would not be sufficient for the mandate. Her assignment was extended and eventually became a four-year experience. The wider lesson is that leaders arriving from overseas cannot assume that methods proven elsewhere can simply be transplanted into Japan. They have to observe the environment, understand the context and adjust without abandoning the objective. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Bonamici does not characterise Japan simply as risk-averse. Instead, she identifies a strong commitment to precision, governance, accuracy and careful execution. Her experience introducing AI into marketing illustrates the distinction. There were legitimate concerns about governance, accuracy and risk. Rather than arguing that these concerns were obstacles to innovation, her team worked with them. They created small, focused use cases offering low risk and high learning. Results and lessons were then made visible. The breakthrough came when the organisational conversation shifted away from demanding perfection before action towards asking what could be learned through controlled experimentation. What leadership style actually works? Bonamici argues for leadership based on translation, context and bringing people with you. Trying to impose speed can produce resistance. Creating small protected environments where people have permission to test, learn and make mistakes can allow new ideas to prove themselves before they are scaled. She also stresses the importance of breaking enormous transformation challenges into manageable horizons. Her own assignment developed through six-month and twelve-month checkpoints rather than being psychologically treated as one enormous four-year transformation. Most importantly, leadership means bringing others along rather than simply moving ahead personally. How can technology help? Technology itself is one of the forces increasing the pressure for organisational change. Bonamici notes that technology cycles are compressing and AI has become a standard copilot. Her experience with AI in marketing suggests that technology adoption does not require organisations to choose between innovation and governance. Focused experimentation can reconcile the two. Organisations can begin with lower-risk applications, learn from real experience and make those lessons visible. This allows confidence to develop through evidence rather than through argument. Technology therefore becomes both a driver of transformation and a practical environment in which organisations learn how to transform. Does language proficiency matter? Bonamici acknowledges that language translation is a significant part of leadership in Japan, but her larger emphasis is on context translation. For her, leaders must move between worlds, perspectives and competing realities and help their teams make sense of them. Her experience living and working in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan reinforced another lesson: individuals from different cultures are often less fundamentally different than leaders assume. Group dynamics can vary considerably, particularly in Japan, but Bonamici prefers to search for common ground and build from there rather than treating cultural difference as an automatic barrier. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Bonamici's ultimate lesson is that leadership is about people. Structures change. Processes change. Successors reorganise teams and replace systems. A leader who defines legacy solely through organisational blueprints therefore risks disappointment. Bonamici instead thinks of legacy as something carried through people. Her metaphor comes from visiting the island of Teshima with her daughter and recording their heartbeats for an artwork archive. She later realised that the digital recording was not actually her heart; it was merely a record of its mechanics. She sees organisational legacy similarly. Handovers, processes and playbooks are recordings. The "beating heart" survives through people. For Bonamici, the strongest leadership legacy is therefore not a spreadsheet or process that remains untouched. It is having influenced people who carry something meaningful forward, adapt it and eventually pass it to others. 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.

September 12, 202656 min

294 Philippe Sommer - CEO, Aon Reinsurance Solutions Japan

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." "One of the things that I think helps is that you show that you're not working for yourself, but you're working for the team." "You need to be very mindful about who you interact with and how you bring the message to where you want it." "You need to show up and be in front of the client and live what you preach." "Be curious about people, connect with people. Be ready to spend some time on that." Philippe Sommer is CEO of Aon Reinsurance Solutions Japan and an experienced international insurance and reinsurance executive whose career has taken him from Switzerland to the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Sommer began his career with Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies. After initially working with international European clients, he moved to the United States before being offered an opportunity in Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima disaster. At the time, Japan's insurance industry had an acute need for international reinsurance expertise. In his first Japan assignment with Swiss Re, Sommer led sales activities and a team of approximately 40 people. After four years, he returned to Europe before an opportunity emerged to return to Japan with Aon, this time operating from a different part of the insurance and reinsurance value chain. His experience leading in Japan has required considerable adaptability. Sommer has learned that effective leadership cannot simply be transplanted from a Western corporate environment. Understanding hierarchy, nemawashi, indirect communication, client dedication, consensus building, patience and the importance of personal relationships has been central to his approach. As a Swiss executive working for global organisations in Japan, Sommer sees himself as an important translator between headquarters and the Japanese organisation: explaining to global leaders why Japan sometimes needs a different approach while also explaining to Japanese colleagues why not everything can be different from global standards. Narrative Summary Philippe Sommer's experience leading in Japan illustrates why successful global leadership is less about importing a proven management formula and more about learning how people around you actually think, communicate and make decisions. Sommer arrived in Japan through the world of reinsurance. Following the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan required significant international reinsurance expertise. Having worked in Switzerland and the United States, Sommer accepted the opportunity to move to Japan and eventually found himself leading a substantial sales organisation. One of his earliest lessons concerned communication. Japanese expressions that appear positive or ambiguous to a Western executive can carry a very different meaning. A response such as "maybe" may actually represent an extremely strong "no". Translation alone therefore does not solve the problem. Leaders need interpretation: an understanding of the context and intention behind the words. Hierarchy presented another adjustment. Western executives may be accustomed to relatively flat organisations and feel comfortable contacting anyone necessary to achieve an outcome. In Japan, bypassing a counterpart and approaching that person's boss can cause embarrassment, loss of face and damaged trust. Sommer learned that respecting organisational relationships is essential. Yet Japanese hierarchy operates alongside nemawashi. Decisions may ultimately be approved at the top, but the groundwork is often built from below. People who will execute a decision need to be involved before the decision becomes official. Skipping that process can make implementation substantially harder. Sommer consequently favours what he describes as a "pull" rather than "push" leadership style. Instead of simply telling employees how something must be achieved, leaders can establish the desired outcome and then involve colleagues in determining how to reach it. This requires patience, but it produces understanding, involvement and commitment. Trust is built through similar behaviour. Sommer believes leaders need to demonstrate that they are working for the team and for the client rather than themselves. Leading by example matters. A leader should be visible in front of clients, participate in the work and demonstrate the behaviour expected from others. Curiosity is another foundation of his leadership approach. Rather than constantly talking about themselves, leaders should learn about other people, their interests, motivations and culture. Open questions help, but so does silence. Western executives accustomed to filling conversational gaps need to become comfortable waiting for Japanese colleagues to formulate and express their thoughts. Sommer's advice to incoming leaders is therefore deceptively simple: connect with people. Spend time with them. Share meals. Learn something about the Japanese language even if fluency is unrealistic. Understand how communication works. Most importantly, do not arrive believing that a powerful presentation or headquarters mandate will automatically create followership. His preferred definition of leadership, borrowed from Dwight D. Eisenhower, captures the central lesson: leadership is getting someone to do what needs to be done because that person wants to do it. In Japan, once genuine commitment has been established, Sommer believes the organisation can become almost unstoppable. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires an unusually strong awareness of context, hierarchy, relationships and indirect communication. Philippe Sommer discovered that literal translation is insufficient because leaders also need to understand the interpretation behind Japanese words and expressions. Hierarchy remains important. A foreign executive who bypasses a counterpart to contact that person's superior may believe they are simply accelerating communication. The Japanese counterpart may instead experience embarrassment and loss of face, damaging the relationship. At the same time, hierarchy coexists with bottom-up consensus building through nemawashi. The formal decision may come from above, but effective implementation frequently depends upon groundwork being completed throughout the organisation beforehand. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives can struggle because methods that generated results elsewhere may produce resistance in Japan. A leader arriving under pressure from headquarters may immediately begin pushing for rapid change. Sommer warns that this can become a "suicide mission" if headquarters does not understand that achieving sustainable change in Japan may require additional time. The leader also occupies a difficult intermediary position. Sommer sees himself as a translator between Japan and the global organisation. He must explain to headquarters why Japan is different while simultaneously explaining to Japanese colleagues why global requirements cannot simply be ignored. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Sommer recognises greater risk aversion in some parts of Japanese business but cautions against treating everyone as identical. Teams contain different personality types, including people who are ready to act. The leader's task is partly to identify those "doers", create circumstances in which they can contribute and ensure senior colleagues accept their participation. What can initially look like negativity may also represent an attempt to identify problems before implementation. What leadership style actually works? Sommer describes leadership in terms of "push and pull". In Japan, he has found pull leadership particularly effective. Rather than dictating every step, the leader discusses the intended destination and allows colleagues to contribute to how the organisation gets there. This helps the leader understand why people think as they do and allows solutions to emerge from the team. Sommer also emphasises leading by example. Leaders must show up, work with clients and demonstrate that they are committed to the same mission as their employees. Trust grows when people see that their leader is not merely delegating responsibility from above. How can technology help? Technology can make literal communication easier, particularly through AI-enabled translation, but Sommer's experience suggests technology does not eliminate the need for cultural interpretation. Machine translation may accurately convert words while missing the meaning behind them. Leaders still need to understand how a statement will be interpreted, what the speaker actually intends and how their own communication is being received. Technology therefore supports cross-cultural communication but cannot replace curiosity, contextual understanding or human relationships. Does language proficiency matter? Sommer believes leaders should learn about Japanese even if they never reach professional fluency. Understanding basic language structures can reveal how communication itself differs. Japanese sentence construction, including the placement of the verb at the end, requires listeners to wait longer before knowing the full meaning of a statement. That reinforces an important leadership discipline: listen, wait and become comfortable with silence. Language study can therefore provide cultural insight even when the executive continues conducting most business in English. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Sommer's central lesson is to become curious about people and build genuine connections. Leaders should spend time with colleagues, share meals, ask open questions, listen and understand what motivates people. A presentation alone does not create followership. His preferred Eisenhower definition captures his philosophy: "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." For Sommer, that idea has particular power in Japan. When people genuinely want to execute the agreed direction, commitment becomes exceptionally strong and the organisation can become almost unstoppable. 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.

September 4, 20261 hr 7 min

293 Doru Tasca - President and Representative Director, ZF Group Japan

"The very first thing that you have to do as a leader in Japan is to make yourself a team member." "You have to show them that you're here because you want to lead Japan, not because you want to lead." "Don't ask anyone to do anything you wouldn't do yourself." "You have to get to a level where you can show both knowledge and humility." "Once you show your people a path... they will follow you." Doru Tasca is President and Representative Director of ZF Group in Japan, combining more than three decades of life in Japan with extensive leadership experience in the automotive industry. Born and raised in Romania, Tasca came to Japan at eighteen after winning a Japanese government Monbusho scholarship. He spent his first year studying Japanese at Osaka University of Foreign Studies before completing his university education in Japan. That early immersion gave him not only fluency in Japanese but also a deep familiarity with the cultural assumptions underpinning Japanese business. After initially teaching English, Tasca entered the automotive industry in 2005 with Japanese company Witech in Hiroshima, beginning in R&D before moving into sales and programme management. He subsequently joined Visteon and later Continental, where he worked extensively in automated and assisted driving technologies including cameras, radar and lidar. Tasca joined ZF in 2020 as Key Account Executive for Toyota. His responsibilities expanded until he became Head of Sales for ZF Japan at the beginning of 2025 and subsequently President and Representative Director, while retaining his sales leadership responsibilities. His career has been shaped by his ability to operate comfortably between Japanese and Western business cultures. Rather than treating Japan as a temporary overseas assignment, Tasca describes Japan as his home and believes effective foreign leadership requires understanding the language, culture, customers and people from the inside. Narrative Summary Leading successfully in Japan requires much more than importing global management practices and expecting local employees to adapt. For Doru Tasca, President and Representative Director of ZF Group Japan, effective leadership begins with becoming part of the team. Tasca's perspective comes from an unusual career. Arriving from Romania at eighteen on a Japanese government scholarship, he learned Japanese, studied in Japan and eventually built his entire professional career there. His first automotive role was inside a traditional Japanese company, where he experienced Japanese corporate life from the bottom upwards before moving into multinational organisations including Visteon, Continental and ZF. That background taught him an important lesson: Western leadership habits cannot simply be transplanted into Japan. Consensus building and nemawashi matter. Leaders must understand how decisions are developed and gain acceptance rather than relying solely on positional authority. Credibility also comes from being willing to do the work. Tasca believes leaders initially need to get their hands dirty so they understand what their teams actually do. Delegation should come later and must be explained carefully. Employees need to understand that work is being delegated because the leader trusts them and wants them to grow, not because the boss simply wants to unload unwanted tasks. This philosophy extends to decision-making. Tasca asks his management team to investigate problems, consult their teams, develop alternatives and return with a recommendation. If he accepts their recommendation, responsibility is shared. If he overrides it, he takes responsibility himself. This creates psychological safety around decisions while still encouraging ownership. Trust is another recurring theme. Tasca sees reputation as one of the most valuable assets anyone possesses in Japanese business. Trust takes considerable time to build and can be destroyed remarkably quickly. Leaders therefore need to demonstrate reliability through behaviour. Tasca attends meetings alongside his people, joins them when customer problems occur and makes himself visible throughout the organisation. Employees must see that their leader works with them rather than merely issuing instructions. He also emphasises accessibility. As president, he deliberately walks around the office and speaks with employees, even when the interaction lasts only thirty seconds. Japanese employees can be reluctant to approach senior leaders with problems, making it important for leaders themselves to reduce the psychological distance. For foreign executives, Tasca's advice is particularly clear: learn Japanese. Language is not simply a communication tool. It signals commitment and allows leaders to understand nuances that disappear when Japanese employees are required to operate entirely in English. Ultimately, Tasca defines leadership through example, humility and development. Leaders should never ask others to do something they would not do themselves. They must recognise that specialists around them will often know far more than they do and combine sufficient knowledge with the humility to listen. Most importantly, leaders must show people a path forward. When employees understand how today's difficult assignment contributes to tomorrow's growth, leadership becomes more than authority. It gives people a reason to follow. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan depends heavily on becoming accepted as part of the team rather than simply asserting hierarchical authority. Tasca argues that foreign leaders must demonstrate that they understand Japanese business behaviour, including consensus building and nemawashi. This requires hands-on involvement. Employees need to see that their leader understands their work and is prepared to share the burden. Only after establishing that credibility can delegation become genuinely effective. Japanese decision-making also places considerable importance on collective acceptance. Tasca asks managers to investigate issues with their teams, identify alternatives and recommend a solution. When he agrees, responsibility becomes shared. When he rejects their recommendation and chooses another direction, he deliberately assumes responsibility for that decision. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives can struggle when they arrive believing successful leadership practices elsewhere will automatically work in Japan. Tasca warns against behaving like a temporary expatriate who has come to collect several years of international experience before moving to another assignment. Japanese employees observe whether a foreign executive is genuinely committed to Japan. Leaders who remain isolated from employees, customers, language and everyday Japanese society can struggle to build the credibility required to lead effectively. Tasca's distinction is powerful: executives need to demonstrate that they came because they want to lead Japan, not simply because they want to be leaders. Is Japan truly risk-averse? The interview presents a more nuanced picture than simply describing Japanese organisations as risk-averse. Tasca's experience in the automotive sector shows companies managing uncertainty through relationships, consensus and long-term cooperation. Japanese automotive competitors may cooperate when earthquakes or other disruptions threaten production. Customers also deliberately bring competing suppliers together, creating relationships that may eventually enable cooperation when supply-chain problems emerge. Rather than seeing this purely as risk avoidance, it can be understood as strategic uncertainty management. Long-term relationships provide resilience when unexpected problems arise. What leadership style actually works? Tasca advocates visible, participative and accountable leadership. Leaders need to work alongside employees, understand their jobs and demonstrate that delegation is designed to develop people rather than dump work onto them. They also need to listen to criticism. Tasca argues that a person who cannot accept constructive criticism has no business being a leader and is merely someone who possesses power. Accessibility matters as well. Tasca makes daily rounds through the office and speaks with employees because people must feel comfortable approaching leadership with problems. The resulting style combines knowledge with humility. Leaders do not need to be the greatest technical expert in the room. They need enough understanding to evaluate expert advice, make decisions and empower specialists to perform. How can technology help? Technology is central to ZF's business, but Tasca's leadership lessons emphasise that technology does not eliminate the human component of management. ZF operates across advanced automotive technologies including automated driving, cameras, high-performance computing, braking, steering, suspension and transmissions. The company invests heavily in research and development and must persuade customers to adopt technologies that can initially be expensive. Yet commercial success ultimately rests on trust. Customers need confidence that the supplier will deliver reliably over decades. Technology may create the opportunity, but relationships, reputation and execution determine whether customers choose that organisation when the next technology arrives. Does language proficiency matter? For Tasca, the answer is unequivocally yes. His advice to a newly appointed foreign president is: learn Japanese immediately. Japanese employees may become more restricted when forced to communicate entirely in English, and important nuances can disappear. At ZF Japan, Tasca is the only foreigner and normal staff meetings are conducted in Japanese. He believes speaking Japanese helps employees communicate naturally and demonstrates that the foreign leader is making a genuine effort to understand the country. Language proficiency therefore contributes directly to trust, communication and leadership effectiveness. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Tasca's leadership philosophy can be condensed into a simple principle: do not ask anyone to do something you would not do yourself. Leadership also requires humility. There will always be people who possess deeper technical knowledge than the leader. The leader's role is to listen, understand enough to make sound decisions and trust capable people with responsibilities that help them develop. Employees also need to see where they are going. Tasca believes leaders must show people a career path and explain how difficult assignments will help them grow. When people can see that their leader shares the burden, listens, accepts responsibility and invests in their development, they will follow — including when circumstances become difficult. 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 28, 202659 min

292 Frederic Delsaux - Representative Director, PTS Japan

"You can't tell them to stop smoking if you have a cigarette in your mouth." "I think it's all about communication." "You need to expose them, but don't throw them into the lion's cage." "First, learn Japanese." "Trust and communication. You cannot govern by emails or rules. You need to talk. You need to explain." Frederic Delsaux is Representative Director of PTS Japan, a project management and consulting company supporting foreign and domestic organisations with construction, audiovisual, infrastructure and IT projects in Japan, as well as managed services after project completion. His connection with Japan stretches back to his university years in France, where he specialised in the Japanese economy. Attracted by Japan's economic importance and its reputation for automobiles, electronics and manufacturing, he arrived in Japan around the end of 1989 and beginning of the 1990s, just as the bubble economy was beginning to collapse. His career in Japan began far removed from project management. He initially managed a French restaurant, where the necessity of communicating with Japanese customers and colleagues pushed him to learn Japanese. He later joined an import-export trading company before representing a French telecommunications hardware company in Japan. After the local branch manager suddenly departed, Delsaux was offered responsibility for the operation and effectively moved into leadership almost overnight. His telecommunications work brought him into contact with PTS during the early stages of its Japan operation. After seven to eight years with the telecommunications company, he joined PTS, initially in technical sales for telephony, before moving through sales and director-level responsibilities. He has now spent more than two decades with PTS. In April 2020, as COVID-19 was beginning to reshape business globally, the Japanese management team completed a management buyout from the UK parent organisation. PTS Japan became part of a Japanese-owned group while retaining the established PTS brand. Delsaux's career consequently spans technical sales, client management, organisational leadership, business ownership and the challenge of adapting global project-management practices to Japanese business realities. Frederic Delsaux's leadership career in Japan demonstrates how credibility, communication and cultural adaptability can matter more than hierarchy alone. Having lived and worked in Japan since around the beginning of the 1990s, he has experienced the country through the collapse of the bubble economy, the Lehman shock, COVID-19, labour shortages and major changes in Japanese attitudes towards lifetime employment. PTS Japan specialises in project management across construction, audiovisual, infrastructure and IT projects. The business also provides managed services after projects are completed. Following a management buyout in April 2020, the Japanese operation became locally owned, while continuing to use the established PTS brand. Delsaux's route into leadership was unconventional. After studying the Japanese economy in France, he came to Japan and managed a French restaurant. Japanese was essential because the people around him did not speak French or English. He subsequently moved into trading and telecommunications. When a branch manager suddenly departed, he was offered leadership of the Japanese operation almost overnight. Speaking Japanese helped him gain trust among local employees, establishing an early lesson that language proficiency can carry cultural and leadership significance far beyond simple translation. At PTS, credibility came partly from experience and client relationships. Engineers and consultants knew that Delsaux understood the commercial environment and could communicate with decision-makers. His leadership philosophy nevertheless extends beyond expertise. As technology becomes more complex, leaders cannot be the deepest technical expert in every discipline. Instead, managers add value through communication, problem solving, risk reduction and helping technical specialists successfully navigate client relationships. That is particularly important because engineers increasingly need to operate directly in front of customers. Delsaux believes technical professionals should be progressively exposed to these situations rather than simply thrown into them. Supported experience builds confidence until the individual can communicate solutions independently. Trust is equally central. His analogy is memorable: a leader cannot tell employees to stop smoking while holding a cigarette. Leaders need to bring value to conversations with their people. Questions cannot simply be ignored, and employees need access to managers when problems occur. Externally, Delsaux stresses the importance of presenting a unified team to customers. Internal colleagues should not blame one another in front of clients. Trust can be quickly destroyed if different functions appear divided. Japan adds another layer. Consensus, communication and careful explanation matter. International methodologies cannot simply be imported without localisation. Leaders need to understand both the project and the people receiving the message. For executives arriving in Japan, Delsaux's first recommendation is straightforward: learn Japanese. The language also opens a door to understanding the culture. Beyond language, leaders need the right team, careful hiring decisions, regular contact with customers and an appreciation of the institutional knowledge already present inside the organisation. Ultimately, Delsaux reduces leadership to two closely connected concepts: trust and communication. Rules and emails cannot replace dialogue. Leaders need to talk, explain, listen and understand the challenges facing their people. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan requires unusually careful attention to communication, relationships and context. Delsaux's experience suggests that technically correct solutions are not sufficient on their own. International methodologies and global standards still need to be translated into a form that makes sense to Japanese clients and employees. Consensus is important, but the deeper issue is ensuring people understand what is happening and why. PTS therefore places substantial emphasis on sharing project information not merely with the immediate project team but more broadly across the organisation. Leadership also requires sensitivity to the customer relationships that Japanese employees may have spent years developing. What initially appears to an incoming foreign executive as unnecessary resistance may actually reflect employees protecting an important client relationship. Why do global executives struggle? Executives arriving from overseas can assume that practices which work at headquarters should transfer directly to Japan. The danger is judging local structures before understanding why they exist. Delsaux emphasises the importance of having the right team, while the broader discussion highlights the need to investigate why local employees work in a particular way before attempting sweeping changes. Language can compound the problem. An executive who cannot communicate in Japanese may become dependent on whichever employees speak English, regardless of their seniority or depth of business knowledge. Direct contact with a wider range of Japanese employees and customers provides a much richer understanding of the business. Is Japan truly risk-averse? The interview presents a more nuanced picture than simply describing Japan as risk-averse. Japanese clients often prefer people they already know because continuity reduces uncertainty. An existing project manager with deep institutional knowledge may therefore be preferred to a technically stronger replacement who does not know the customer. Delsaux sees this as a balance. Companies need institutional knowledge, technical competence and resource availability simultaneously. Waiting for a familiar individual may be impossible when project schedules are tight. The leadership task is therefore not simply to overcome uncertainty avoidance. It is to explain why a new approach or resource can still protect delivery quality and client interests. What leadership style actually works? Delsaux defines leadership around trust and communication. Credibility matters. Leaders need to contribute something of value when employees approach them. His smoking analogy captures the principle of role modelling: leaders cannot demand behaviour they are unwilling to demonstrate themselves. Accessibility also matters. Employees should not feel that questions will be ignored simply because they are inconvenient or unrealistic. Internally, Delsaux stresses unity. Disagreements can occur, but different teams should not attack or blame one another in front of the customer. Clients who entrust multiple services to one company expect a unified answer. How can technology help? Technology serves two leadership purposes at PTS. First, project managers and consultants must remain current because new technologies continually affect project delivery. Global designs also need localisation for Japan because products, standards, availability and infrastructure can differ. Second, technology creates development opportunities for employees. Repetitive work can become boring, particularly in a tight labour market where skilled people have many alternatives. New technologies give engineers and consultants something new to learn and help keep their work challenging. Technology therefore has value not only as a project tool but also as an employee-development and retention mechanism. Does language proficiency matter? For Delsaux, it matters considerably. His first advice to an incoming foreign leader is simply: "First, learn Japanese." His own Japanese developed out of necessity while working in restaurants where neither French nor English could be relied upon. He believes making the effort to learn Japanese earns respect from employees and strengthens relationships, even when team members already speak English. Language learning also provides access to culture. Delsaux particularly values people who are not merely bilingual but bicultural because they can understand how managers in different countries interpret the same situation differently. Even with strong Japanese ability, he sometimes brings a Japanese colleague to important meetings. This reduces misunderstanding and can also demonstrate respect towards a Japanese-speaking client. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Delsaux's answer is remarkably concise: trust and communication. Leadership cannot be exercised effectively through rules and email alone. Leaders need to talk to people, explain decisions, respond to questions and understand the challenges their staff are facing. The labour market makes this increasingly important. Employees who feel overworked, underdeveloped or bored now have alternatives. The old assumption that employees will remain indefinitely has weakened substantially. Leadership therefore depends on creating an environment in which people can learn, contribute, communicate and trust the people managing them. Technical competence remains important, but communication determines whether that expertise can be successfully translated into employee engagement and client confidence. 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 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.