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

Jeremy Sampson, Managing Director of Robert Walters Japan, originally started his career at Hilton Hotel in Australia, before moving to Japan to teach English. He joined Robert Walters as an Associate in 2005. In 2008, Mr. Sampson became the team manager specializing in manufacturing and heavy industries, coinciding with the Global Financial Crisis. 

Looking back, Mr. Sampson thinks of this difficult time as a “year of learning” in which he worked to instil “great habits, great processes, and great discipline.” This put his team in a strong position when the market rebounded in 2010, making them one of the highest performing teams among all offices in Japan. During this time, Mr. Sampson explains how he learned the importance of being a leader that leads by example, working hard and setting clear expectations to earn the trust of his employees. He says: “if you're doing the same things that you're asking others to do, I think that is quite powerful and impacts people…[to] follow suit.” He also explains the power of accountability: “I think when people know that you would be checking in to see how something went, it creates accountability and there's more responsibility to do what's asked.”

To grow his team and organization, Mr. Sampson worked to further specialize in the manufacturing, chemical and energy industries. The division grew from 20 people to over 50 people by 2018, at which point Mr. Sampson had become Managing Director. In managing a larger team, Mr. Sampson talks about learning to lead through other people, welcoming feedback, and being consistent with his communication to ensure it reaches all levels of the organization. To make this possible, Mr. Sampson takes part in all first day training for new hires and communicates his leadership principles throughout the induction training process. He also has coffee with the new employees in small groups after their first month to check in with them and reinforce the organizational values. The company also has offsite meetings to have brainstorming and feedback sessions, which Mr. Sampson and the other directors review at a later time.  

In retaining his employees, Mr. Sampson sticks to his simple philosophy of “hiring good people, developing them well and keeping them happy.” This not only includes financial rewards and promotions but being a genuine leader that provides a caring work culture. Mr. Sampson constantly communicates to his employees how he is there to help them in their careers and develop their skills, providing necessary training. As a result, Robert Walters has been ranked 16th in the Great Place To Work Institute Japan ranking in 2019, winning the best company award. When explaining how he keeps his employees happy, Mr. Sampson claims, “it's the simple fun things from company parties to drinks on a Friday afternoon, [as well as] actual initiatives.” For example, the organization has a voluntary wellness committee that plans activities related to health and wellbeing. 

For newcomers to Japan, he advises them to learn the Japanese culture and landscape first. Secondly, building trust and engagement among employees especially during a time of labour and talent shortage. Lastly, he highly recommends building a networking in Japan’s international business community, which he assures is very welcoming.

Once you walk the talk over a given period of time as a leader, you gain trust, and then people will follow you, instead of just doing what you say. Then you start getting buy-in and ideas and you can work cross-functionally. 

On engagement surveys, if you are giving a very low score, then you should not be coming into the office. If you are not going to be part of the solution, then you should reconsider your career and job. Engagement scores however tend to coincide with big decisions, e.g. head count freezes has a negative impact on scores, but bonus time has a positive impact. It is also not helpful to compare countries against other countries. It is about trends and patterns and feedback. You are always going to get people who score low, but it is when you see big swings that you know there is an issue.

I used to think that my job was to find a local leader to replace me once I moved on, but I have realized we are an international company and rotation is a better solution, so succession plans are not just country-based, they are global.

While it may not be a fantastic analogy, chopping the tree down from the top takes a long time. If you wedge things in the tree all the way up, the tree will fall the way you want it to fall.

The unwillingness to change in Japan is strong. We have long had an innovations/idea box and you can put your name on it or not, but we would offer prizes and that encouraged people to put their names on it. But then we received feedback that the idea then became the responsibility of the person who suggested it, and yet often it was not even about their own division. So we created a business development department that reported directly to the CEO, and they can then tackle any strategic ideas that need to be implemented cross-functionally. It was a great tool to get ideas out of heads and onto paper and then to receive quick feedback on that idea by a specialist department who was responsible for it.

Employee meetings are held quarterly and they are mandatory to the extent I myself would walk the floor to see who was not in attendance. There would be various presentations but it was designed as a forum for communicating what needed to be communicated.

I used to have a pizza lunch every 3 weeks with the newcomers where they would have to answer 5 questions and I would have to answer the same 5 questions honestly. It helped build trust and exposure. My door was always open. I would meet with anyone and everyone.

Sharing personal stuff really helps brighten engagement. I do it because it is just me and how I am but especially in Japan, I realized it was seen as a really big deal. My view is you do not need to be a rock or some kind of impenetrable individual. You are a human, you have a family, you have a dog, you have issues, so its okay to relate to people and have them relate to you. You should not stop a weekend activity you have been enjoying for decades just because you are the CEO or whatever.

I think it is important to be careful what you wish for because changing things that are inherent to a culture, even if they sometimes cause frustration, would fundamentally change the country. Manage the business with the environment you have. Use it to your advantage.

Do not be brainwashed by some of the things you have been told about Japan either by foreigners who are new to the country or who have been there a long time. There are as many challenges in Japan as they are in any other countries. Focus on the good and where there are growth opportunities. Yes, it can be a flat market in general but pick your battles and look for areas you can innovate in. You need to think and you need to ask for help. Consultants can often give you insights into the market from a bigger picture and help you develop those plans, as well as point out where you can hit to grow your business, grow your career and grow your family. So be open-minded, draw your own conclusions and enjoy the ride.

As a leader, I learned to not compete on things I did not have expertise in. I had a financial background, not a technical background, so there was no use trying to convince technically strong employees on that front – I had to use financial data as facts in order to convince my employees to accept that things needed to change in order to grow on the global scale that I wanted.

While I accept there are differences in practices between cultures, I think the basics of people are the same. People are motivated to learn, to grow, to advance. Young people particularly, regardless of culture, are willing to challenge themselves and are not afraid to try and even fail.

We invested heavily in the company computer systems so that all staff can, at the touch of a button, contact any other member of our overseas team. So, apart from being conscious of time differences, there is no excuse for a lack of communication. We communicate, even at the Japanese headquarters, mainly in English and what I encourage the most is everyone just having a go, it can be horrible English with just a bunch of words together but there will always be someone in the meeting who can translate so it is vital that people gets a chance and just tries. Bit by bit, they will realise no one`s English in the company is perfect and that just trying to communicate is the key.

We never fire people for making a mistake, even if it is a big one because they tried, so they are not penalized and in fact we set up challenge systems within the company to recognize employees globally who met the challenge, made the contribution and tried.

We also bring managers to Japan and take Japanese managers to our other offices in India and China and Europe etc, so as many people as possible, can see first-hand how our business operates in different cultures. It is expensive to do this, but I see it as an investment in my people, in team building and in my company.

I think while money is important to people, they have bills to pay after all, but recognition in so far as being trusted to take on certain roles and responsibilities is a bigger motivating factor in my company.

When I took over the company, and instigated the global expansion, I had to be very precise and transparent about my messages. I would send the messages in English and Japanese to the employees about where we were and where we wanted to go. I would outline the broad plan and then ask different groups into meetings to plan, plan, plan – down to the detailed plans. This was how I built ownership from the employees into the global plan, and changed the company culture from a One-King culture, top-down strong leadership style that my father used, to a style that was more suited to me and what I had learnt in the US

I think a problem in Japan is we ask people to choose a specialization at far too early an age. For example, once you go down a science path, you do not learn management or business skills, so we end up with highly skilled workers but only in their particular field, and that puts us at a competitive disadvantage because in many other Western countries, even if you major in science, you still get a liberal arts education, which basically teaches you the leadership and communication skills you need anyway.

In Japan, a well-mannered conversation is based on listening, to fully understand and make an in-depth comment. Feedback is only considered appropriate at work, feedback to people at your own level is considered aggressive. You need to be very careful giving feedback to Japanese people, listen carefully to what they are trying to do and the reasons they are doing that.

Personal relationships are key in Japan. Japanese have hospitality in their DNA, so show some interest in the culture and people will be more likely to engage with you. It helps build trust.

Laurent Depus, President of Natixis Japan Securities, the Japanese branch of French bank corporation Natixis, has been working in Japan for over 30 years. Originally from Belgium, he aimed to become an English and Spanish interpreter but changed his career course when he joined Chase Manhattan Bank in Luxemburg as a trader. After experiencing various management positions in the financial sector, Mr. Depus joined Natixis in 2014.

Mr. Depus observes successful organizations need to establish three main pillars. First is to have a profitable business model. Second is to have regulated governance. Third is to have a strong company culture. 

During his time at SMBC Trust Bank, he built these three pillars for the company from the ground up. He especially notes the challenge he had of creating a strong company culture in the complex Japanese workplace. Although very hierarchical, Mr. Depus observes that the Japanese decision-making process is more participatory than the west. He explains how vital it is to establish trust within one’s team to ensure everyone is moving towards the same direction. This is a challenge especially in a non-confrontational culture like Japan where people may seemingly agree with the boss but silently resist. Additionally, Japanese staff may be wary of foreign managers as they are seen as short-term workers who will move onto another position in 2-3 years. In navigating such challenges and winning trust, Mr. Depus emphasizes the importance of being genuine, honest and transparent. He says, “I think once people have realized that you are honest and genuine, the ice will crack. Trust will be generated. And once you have trust, mistakes can be made. You can make mistakes and your staff can make mistakes. But there's no hard feelings because there is trust, like in any…family.” Mr. Depus adds that when there is trust, more people come forward with new ideas, creating a momentum for creative innovation. 

Mr. Depus advises newcomers of Japan to be prepared, detail-oriented, and honest in order to gain trust. He explains, “in the Benelux where I'm from, I would only get a transaction when I had the best price. [But in Japan], once the relationship is created, it's usually more than just a simple, pure business, [but a] product-oriented relationship.”

Summary

When you lead people, you have to lead them in a way they are going to follow. In Japan, when you teach a class, you line people up in order of seniority and you stand in front of the class. It seems very regimented but everyone is perfectly comfortable because they know their role and where they are supposed to be so that allows for performance to be maximized. In the USA, that kind of a set up would make everyone very uncomfortable and inclined to rebel. To make people feel comfortable and improve performance in the USA, its better to put everyone in a circle so there is no feeling of unnecessary hierarchy. Now, sometimes its useful to put people in uncomfortable situations as a way to challenge them but you need to do it with a specific purpose in mind and that is a call you need as a leader need to make.

A good culture is one where there is a shared sense of purpose and values, and being very upfront about tying that purpose to the actions you/your team are taking. You have to be consistent about that, because especially in Japan, that is the difference between creating a winning culture and a chaotic culture. A shared sense of purpose, professionalism and empowerment create sustainability, where your team can deal with the highs and lows.

In the Shop Japan Business, I looked at our call centre staff as extensions of the customer. They understood the customer because they spent so long speaking to them every day so they took on characteristics of the customer．VOC stands for voice of the customer but really it was at least 50% the voice of the communicator (our call centre staff). It helped us turn morale around because we actively listened and heard.  Especially in Japan, if you show that the least empowered voice is going to be listened to, you create a tremendous amount of morale. It also creates innovation – if every new idea has to come from the top, then you are in big trouble.

I always caution Western leaders unfamiliar with Japan is to not fill up empty space. Ask a question and hold yourself back as the silence drags and wait for an opinion. Also try to never have the first word. Let someone else conduct the meeting and then at the end bring things together.

While the easiest way to teach in Japan is to line everyone up, the easiest way to run a meeting is to be overly attentive and give everyone the opportunity to voice their opinion．Getting buy-in from your Japanese team is really hard but when you get that buy-in, you absolutely over-perform.

Japanese employees are looking to make a long-term emotional commitment to where they work so they look for the same level of commitment from their leaders. For foreign leaders on 3 – 5 year postings, I recommend not just speaking with your inner circle. Everyone is meaningful, so have different events where you can show that you are caring about the voice of your employees and avoid being too focused on one group over others, gives you a balanced view of what is going on in the organization.

My acronym for leadership is VICES, which stands for vision, integrity, competency, efficiency and sustained success.

Poor performance and good performance are easy to deal with. It is mediocre performance that is more difficult to deal with.

Trust your people, let them know they are trusted but that it is an open process where people are also accountable.

New leaders need to be patient. The leader that will make the biggest changes is the one that listens and truly gains insight

Identify who are the biggest obstacles in your organization and remove them immediately and publicly. This is the only way that engagement, empathy and trust principles work.

Today Bela is the Chief Executive of Sans Frontiers Enter Japan K.K., Board Advisor to Soul Mate Company, Senior Executive at Life Lab Inc., and previously Adjunct Professor at Temple University, Vice-President and Board Director at Haagen Dazs Japan, Head of Marketing Nokia Japan & Korea, Management Consultant at Schweiger Marketing & Co., Director Of Marketing at Western Union Financial Services Dubai, Director of Innovation Coca Cola Austria, Country Manager L’Oreal S.A. Hungary, Marketing Director Diageo Hungary. 

Previously Eduard was sales director Outokumpu VDM Japan, Sales Director at ThyssenKrupp VDM Japan.  He has a B.A. in East Asian Studies from the University of Vienna, and an M.A, from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Previously Svein has been in a number of roles at Marsh McLennan: Country Corporate Officer Japan, Chief Executive Korea, Risk Management & Multinational Leader Asia, Managing Director and Country Vice Executive Japan, Senior Vice President Atlanta, Senior Vice President Brazil.  He has a B.A. from the University of San Diego and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He attended the Canadian Academy in Kobe.

Previously Norman was Head of Buyside Enterprise Sales, Asia Pacific and Head of Portfolio & Index Sales, Asia Pacific at Bloomberg; Managing Director, Barclays Investment Bank; Managing Director Lehman Brothers.

He has a B.A. from Pace University,