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

"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.

"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.

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"Leadership is a continual journey of getting better and knowing the right techniques to enable people around you to be successful."

"The trick is to listen to the clients because they have problems, and they are going to tell you what keeps them up at night."

"Giving people knowledge is something that enables them to grow in their career."

"Never waste a mistake or an opportunity to learn something from what happened."

"Leadership is about showing the way, knowing the way and giving people space."

James Marsden is Head of Post-Trade, Asia Pacific, at Broadridge Financial Solutions, based in Tokyo. Broadridge provides technology platforms and infrastructure supporting major banks, broker-dealers, asset managers and other financial institutions across front-office, middle-office, post-trade and investor communications activities. Marsden joined the company in London in 1996, initially working as an engineer, programmer and systems designer. He came to Japan in 2000 to help deploy Broadridge technology for JPMorgan's investment banking business. Following the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the Tokyo office contracted dramatically, and at the age of 29 he was asked to run the Japan business. His combination of technical knowledge, project management experience, commercial awareness and Japanese-language ability made him unusually well equipped for the role. He subsequently held broader business development and regional leadership responsibilities and now oversees post-trade teams across Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. His career illustrates adaptability in Japan, long-term client relationship building, technical-to-commercial progression and the development of a coaching-oriented leadership style.

James Marsden's leadership career developed through necessity rather than formal succession planning. He began as an engineer and programmer at Broadridge in London, moved to Tokyo to support a major client implementation and, after the dot-com downturn reduced the local operation from roughly 20 or 30 people to four, was asked to lead the Japan business at just 29. He knew the platform, could speak with Japanese clients, understood delivery and had enough commercial judgement to distinguish between contracted service, maintenance and chargeable work. What he did not have was formal leadership training.

That early experience shaped a practical philosophy: leadership is never finished. It is a continual process of learning how to equip people with knowledge, give them room to operate and create a circle of safety in which they can learn and make mistakes without being abandoned. Marsden's technical expertise initially gave him credibility with employees and clients. As his scope expanded, direct technical knowledge became less available, so his role shifted towards coaching—sharing how he would approach a problem without micromanaging the person responsible for solving it.

Client listening was central to rebuilding the Japanese business from four people to around 60. Marsden argues that customers usually articulate their problems, not the solution. The leader's task is to understand what keeps them awake, combine technical and creative thinking, and bring together the internal support required to deliver an answer. This also demands 'leading up': selling the opportunity internally and ensuring senior management stands behind the local team.

His approach to hiring reflects the same developmental mindset. Broadridge sought intelligent, analytical people who wanted to learn, including graduates whose potential might not be visible in a conventional Japanese interview. Analytical testing helped identify problem-solving capability beyond polished self-presentation. The company could then offer something distinctive: the opportunity to become a global subject-matter expert in specialised areas of securities processing rather than rotate anonymously through a large organisation.

Marsden sees culture as something employees experience through behaviour. Leaders must give people space, lead by example and keep the client at the centre. In Japan, smaller meetings, dinners and informal conversations often create more candid communication than large English-language town halls. Foreign leaders should not force employees to speak English when doing so suppresses ideas. They should allow people to communicate in the language and format that produces the best contribution, listen carefully and make room before offering their own opinion.

Broadridge's global purpose—to help clients operate, innovate and grow—and its CREATE values provide a North Star, but Marsden stresses that leaders must translate corporate language into daily meaning. Employees need to understand why a client request matters, how a project supports growth and what financial results mean for their own learning and opportunities. Values become credible when leaders choose the right client solution rather than the most lucrative one and when sales, delivery, support and infrastructure collaborate before promises are made.

Trust, in Marsden's experience, comes from doing what was promised when it was promised. It is strengthened by offering employees unique developmental experiences, keeping commercial commitments and responding constructively when mistakes occur. Genuine errors are inevitable; the true test of character is whether the team faces the problem, resolves it and learns from it. Criticism, particularly in Japan, can drive people back into risk avoidance. Coaching should instead help them accept that an 80 per cent solution delivered in time may create more client value than perfection delivered too late.

For expatriate leaders, Marsden strongly recommends learning Japanese. Language opens doors, signals respect and builds trust that translation technology cannot replicate. Yet language alone is insufficient: leaders must become bicultural, understand nemawashi and consensus, honour commitments and appreciate Japanese decision logic. A trusted senior adviser with industry knowledge can also help interpret context more accurately than a junior translator. Marsden's final definition is direct: leadership means showing and knowing the way, giving people space, coaching with specific value, making difficult decisions and explaining why they serve the longer-term good.

Q&A Summary

What makes leadership in Japan unique?

Leadership in Japan depends heavily on trust, context and the quality of relationships surrounding a decision. Marsden emphasises that large formal meetings often discourage participation, especially when people are required to speak English or risk being the first person to challenge an idea. Smaller groups, one-to-one conversations and informal dinners can produce far more candid dialogue. Nemawashi and consensus-building also matter: once a Japanese organisation has reached a decision, financial incentives may not reverse it because the underlying values and internal alignment differ from a Western transactional model. Effective leaders therefore listen before speaking, allow employees to communicate in their preferred language and understand how decisions were formed.

Why do global executives struggle?

Global executives struggle when they assume that a familiar management technique will produce the same response in Japan. Forcing English in meetings can turn a discussion into a one-way presentation. Relying on a bilingual junior employee or interpreter can also distort important meaning because translation inevitably involves interpretation, and the person may lack the business experience to recognise what matters. Headquarters may also try to solve a Japanese client problem with discounts or contractual arguments when the real issue is trust, quality or a firmly completed internal decision. Marsden recommends developing cultural knowledge, using experienced advisers and appreciating the client's perspective before prescribing a solution.

Is Japan truly risk-averse?

Marsden views Japanese risk avoidance as closely linked to perfectionism, accountability and concern about making visible mistakes. Employees may invest enormous effort in moving a solution from 80 or 90 per cent to near-perfection, even when the final increment delays value and consumes disproportionate resources. Leaders must explain that controlled experimentation and incomplete automation can still serve the customer well. When genuine mistakes happen, criticism is counterproductive because it teaches people never to step outside their safe role again. The better response is to face the problem, protect the client, identify what can be learned and rebuild the employee's confidence.

What leadership style actually works?

Marsden favours a coaching-oriented style that combines technical credibility, listening, knowledge-sharing and latitude. Early in his career, he could teach from direct product expertise. As his remit expanded, he shifted towards offering guidance—explaining how he might approach an issue—without micromanaging. He believes leaders should create a circle of safety, have people's backs and give them challenging opportunities through which they can grow. Leading by example is essential: values become real when the leader chooses the client's best solution over a larger sale, follows through on commitments and makes difficult decisions while explaining the long-term rationale.

How can technology help?

Technology is both Broadridge's business and a source of employee engagement. Marsden encourages small-scale innovation: side tools, automation and new methods that remove repetitive manual work while helping engineers learn a new language, product domain or business process. Many small innovations can combine to increase organisational velocity. He also finds visualisation particularly powerful. When teams build a diagram together on a whiteboard, people who may struggle to express an idea in English can add boxes, flows and connections. The shared picture creates involvement, improves understanding and often becomes a more effective client communication tool than dense text.

Does language proficiency matter?

Marsden strongly recommends learning Japanese. He believes it creates trust that cannot be achieved in the same way through translators or generative AI because it demonstrates genuine investment in the country and its people. Japanese also opens commercial doors and allows more nuanced relationships with clients who may not feel comfortable discussing complex services in English. Nevertheless, speaking Japanese is not enough. A foreign leader also needs bicultural awareness: the ability to understand etiquette, commitments, consensus, client expectations and the meaning behind what is said. Experienced bilingual advisers with deep industry knowledge can provide an invaluable bridge.

What's the ultimate leadership lesson?

Marsden's ultimate lesson is that leadership means showing the way, knowing the way and giving people space. It is not shouting, bullying or demanding a result without useful guidance. A strong leader coaches with specificity, shares knowledge, makes difficult decisions and helps people understand why those decisions serve the organisation over time. The leader also listens to clients and employees, protects room for learning and treats mistakes as opportunities that should never be wasted. Leadership remains a journey because the techniques required to enable others must continually evolve as the organisation, technology and people change.

Author Credentials

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.

He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).

In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

"Leading is empowering, guiding, inspiring and having a shared goal of working together."

"You need to build up trust, and for me what really helped was the one-on-ones."

"Nobody wants to have a surprise in the meeting."

"Predictability is really important for any leader."

"Leadership is bringing your people forward and putting them in the position where they can perform at their best."

Thomas Fraessle is the Representative Director and CEO of ITK Engineering Japan, a professional engineering services company that develops customised software and systems solutions across automotive, healthcare, railway and other technology-intensive sectors. ITK originated in Germany and later became part of the Bosch Group. Fraessle studied electrical engineering and completed his diploma thesis at Mercedes-Benz, working on vehicle energy simulation and battery sizing. He then joined ITK when it was still a relatively small engineering company, attracted by the chance to work across varied projects rather than enter a large corporation. After assignments supporting General Motors Europe, he asked for an opportunity to work abroad and chose Japan precisely because it was unfamiliar and culturally distant from his previous experience. He first arrived in Japan in 2008, worked through a local partner and helped initiate the establishment of ITK's own Japanese operation. After returning to Germany and developing his leadership experience, he came back to Japan in February 2022 as Representative Director and CEO. His career reflects adaptability across engineering, business development and people leadership, as well as the transition from individual technical contributor to cross-cultural organisational leader.

Thomas Fraessle's leadership journey in Japan began with curiosity rather than a carefully mapped expatriate career. After studying electrical engineering and completing a practical diploma thesis at Mercedes-Benz, he joined the then-small ITK Engineering because he wanted exposure to multiple projects and responsibilities. An assignment supporting General Motors Europe introduced him to international collaboration and prompted him to ask ITK's founder for an overseas opportunity. Given a choice between the United States and Japan, he selected Japan because it represented the more unfamiliar challenge.

That first period in Japan, beginning in 2008, gave Fraessle direct experience as an engineer working with Japanese customers. More than a decade later, he returned as the head of ITK Engineering Japan. The country was familiar, but the responsibility was entirely different. As CEO, he had to build alignment, create trust, communicate direction and encourage people to speak candidly. He quickly discovered that leadership concepts such as motivation, feedback and empowerment do not travel unchanged across cultures.

One of the sharpest differences was feedback. In Germany, direct feedback could be treated as a normal part of improving performance. In Japan, the word itself could sound negative, as though a leader was about to explain what an employee had done badly. Fraessle found that honest views rarely appeared automatically in group meetings. He therefore invested in repeated one-to-one conversations, asking not simply what was wrong, but how the team could improve something together and what support people needed from him. Trust accumulated gradually, and some changes required a full year of discussion and preparation.

This experience led him to appreciate nemawashi—the groundwork conducted before a formal decision. In many Western meetings, participants debate an issue and decide in the room. In Japan, the visible meeting may be the final confirmation of extensive prior consultation. Fraessle learned to plant ideas, explain them more than once, listen to objections and allow people time to reach confidence in the direction. Although the process can seem slow, it can produce stronger implementation because surprises and unresolved resistance have been reduced beforehand.

Trust is also reinforced through transparency and predictability. Fraessle explains not only KPIs and decisions, but the business reasoning behind them. He distinguishes explanation from excuse-making: the leader should own the decision rather than hide behind headquarters. He is also willing to acknowledge mistakes, viewing this as strength rather than weakness. Employees need to know that problems can be raised without anger, blame or humiliation. A leader whose reactions vary with mood creates hesitation; a consistent leader makes it safer to speak up.

Fraessle translated these beliefs into organisational practices. He introduced company gatherings after the isolation of COVID-19, created engineering workshops and cross-project technical groups, and redesigned the office around shared desks and easier interaction. These choices were not cosmetic. They created occasions for engineers from different projects to meet, exchange solutions and generate ideas that could be reused with other customers. His approach to hybrid work is similarly contextual rather than rigid: customer satisfaction, project needs and team collaboration matter more than mechanically applying one rule to everyone.

His ultimate definition of leadership is practical and developmental. It is about bringing people forward, helping them build competence, giving them confidence to decide, guiding them with useful feedback and placing them where they can perform at their best. In Japan, that requires patience, relationship-building and respect for context. The leader's task is not to impose a foreign operating model immediately, but to understand why the current system exists, preserve what serves customers and then lead change with clarity and consistency.

Q&A Summary

What makes leadership in Japan unique?

Leadership in Japan is shaped by context, relationship history and extensive preparation before visible decisions. Fraessle found that people may not openly disagree in a group, particularly when hierarchy, seniority or concern about losing face is involved. A formal meeting may therefore confirm a direction that has already been discussed through nemawashi rather than serve as the arena where competing views are first exposed. Leaders must learn to read what is not being said, create private channels for honest discussion and give colleagues time to absorb and test a proposal. Japan's strong commitment to quality and long-term customer trust also affects leadership. A defect or poorly handled mistake can damage a relationship that took years to establish, so teams often seek a very high degree of certainty before acting.

Why do global executives struggle?

Global executives often struggle because they interpret different behaviour as poor performance or resistance. A process may appear inefficient from headquarters, yet exist because a Japanese customer requires it or because it protects a long-standing relationship. Fraessle advises leaders to investigate why people work in a particular way before changing it. He benefited from having previously worked at customer sites in Japan and understood that management reports rarely show the full picture. Another difficulty is expecting direct feedback. Employees may say yes to preserve harmony without meaning that they fully support immediate execution. Foreign leaders can also mistake English silence for lack of knowledge, when capable employees are simply reluctant to risk making a linguistic mistake in public.

Is Japan truly risk-averse?

Fraessle's experience suggests that Japanese employees are not simply unwilling to take risks; they are highly conscious of quality, accountability and the social consequences of being wrong. An engineer may study a question for weeks before asking for help because appearing unprepared could mean losing face. That caution can protect quality, but it can also slow learning. Fraessle encourages people to ask earlier, communicate sooner and use colleagues' expertise. He also makes clear that mistakes are normal and that leaders should own their own errors. Risk-taking becomes more realistic when people know how failures will be handled, when trials are bounded and when the purpose of experimentation is organisational learning rather than individual judgement.

What leadership style actually works?

The most effective style in Fraessle's account combines approachability, consistency, transparency and role modelling. He used one-to-one meetings to build trust and even created a short personal guide explaining his direct German communication style so colleagues would not misread it as personal hostility. He established regular company meetings and informal gatherings so employees could see him, question him and understand how he behaved. He explains why targets and decisions matter, does not blame headquarters for choices he has made, and apologises when he is wrong. Above all, he stresses predictability. Employees should not have to study the leader's mood before deciding whether it is safe to raise a problem.

How can technology help?

Technology is central to ITK's business, but Fraessle's leadership lesson is that innovation requires human structures as well as technical expertise. Engineers working deeply on individual customer projects can become isolated from one another. ITK Engineering Japan therefore creates engineering workshops and cross-project technical groups where employees demonstrate tools, discuss cybersecurity, programming and systems challenges, and ask peers for alternative solutions. Ideas arising from these exchanges can improve one project and later become reusable solutions for other customers. Digital collaboration also supports an international workforce, but Fraessle does not treat technology as a substitute for human contact. Office design, shared desks, company meetings and informal conversation deliberately create the serendipitous exchanges that remote work can reduce.

Does language proficiency matter?

Fraessle believes learning Japanese is valuable because an expatriate leader is a guest in the country and language deepens cultural understanding. He also candidly acknowledges how difficult it is to improve without regular use and wishes he had invested more heavily at the beginning. At executive level, it is possible to lead without full proficiency, and sometimes using English can create a neutral international space. The larger challenge is psychological safety: many Japanese employees possess stronger English than they reveal in the office because they fear mistakes. Leaders should provide different ways to communicate, allow preparation and create low-pressure opportunities for people to use the language.

What's the ultimate leadership lesson?

Fraessle defines leadership as bringing people forward. The leader should guide, inspire and support employees, help them build the competence required for autonomy, and give them the confidence to make decisions. This begins with trust and a genuine relationship. It also requires patience: change in Japan may take longer than an overseas headquarters expects, but forcing action without understanding can destroy commitment or customer value. The ultimate lesson is to understand the system before altering it, remain consistent in words and behaviour, and create an environment where people can contribute, question, learn and perform at their best.

Author Credentials

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.

He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).

In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

"The most important thing for a leader, in my view, is integrity."

"You need to be hands-on, but then you need to delegate."

"If this fails, ultimately, the accountability sits with me."

"Culture is something that all of us jointly develop and nurture."

"At the end of the day, you have to own your decisions, so you cannot just let AI make

Noriko Sasaki is Country Head of Checkout.com Japan, leading the UK-based payment service provider's expansion in the Japanese market. Checkout.com helps online merchants, gaming companies and digital platforms process payments, improve acceptance rates, receive settlement funds and use payments as a driver of growth and profitability. Sasaki was born in Saitama and spent part of her childhood in Los Angeles when her father was assigned to American Honda. Returning to Japan as a teenager, she rebuilt her Japanese literacy, entered a leading Tokyo high school through a returnee pathway and later studied political science at Waseda University. She began her career in international consulting, working on business-process reengineering and SAP implementation, before earning an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. After returning to Japan, she worked at Walt Disney and then spent close to twenty years at Citibank, where she led major sales operations and participated in the historic transfer of Citi's Japanese retail-banking business into SMBC Trust Bank. She later held roles at Accenture, PwC and a Japanese consulting start-up before joining Checkout.com in November 2024. Her career combines consulting discipline, financial-services leadership, operational transformation, bicultural communication and a long-standing commitment to advancing women in leadership.

Noriko Sasaki's leadership journey has been shaped by repeated transitions across cultures, industries and organisational models. Born in Japan and raised partly in Los Angeles, she returned at fifteen with strong spoken Japanese but limited reading ability. Re-entering the Japanese education system required intensive study, adaptability and resilience. That bicultural experience later became a professional advantage, allowing her to move between Japanese context and international corporate expectations.

After studying political science at Waseda University, Sasaki entered international consulting, where she worked on business-process reengineering, operational standardisation and SAP implementation. She eventually questioned whether advice based mainly on frameworks was enough without experience inside a company. An MBA at Carnegie Mellon gave her a broader business foundation, after which she returned to Japan, joined Walt Disney and then moved into banking through a major Citi integration project.

Her first substantive people-management role came at Citi. The team was small and entirely female, and one early challenge was managing someone older, more experienced and more knowledgeable about banking. Sasaki responded with humility and respect rather than relying on title. She clarified that both people had different responsibilities, maintained a continuous dialogue and focused the team on a shared goal. That approach became a recurring leadership principle: alignment requires over-communication, clear accountability and respect for expertise at every level.

Sasaki later led Citi's branch sales organisation and became closely involved in the transfer of the Japanese retail bank into SMBC Trust Bank. The experience taught her how to translate vision into strategy, strategy into action and action into clearly assigned responsibility. She also learned that senior leaders cannot remain distant from operations. At times, she worked directly on front-line tasks and took customer calls to understand the real issues. The challenge is to remain sufficiently hands-on to retain credibility while delegating enough to expand the organisation's capacity.

Her delegation model is structured rather than passive. Before assigning work, she checks the timeline, capacity, assumptions and direction. She asks for interim updates well before completion so that course corrections do not arrive at the final moment and destroy motivation. The employee retains room to execute, but Sasaki remains accountable for the outcome. That air cover matters in a Japanese environment where fear of mistakes can discourage initiative.

Innovation similarly depends on lowering the barrier to contribution. Sasaki uses brainstorming rules that give everyone an equal opportunity to speak and explicitly reject the idea of a stupid suggestion. She reminds teams that improvement does not always require a dramatic zero-to-one breakthrough. A small change from 1.0 to 1.1 can still create meaningful value. This framing is especially useful in Japan, where perfectionism, hierarchy, seniority and concern about losing face can suppress ideas before they are voiced.

Trust, in Sasaki's view, is built through the smallest commitments. If she casually promises dinner, she records it and follows through. Technology helps her remember birthdays, promises and relationship milestones, but the principle is behavioural consistency. Blaming someone when something goes wrong can destroy trust immediately. Leaders therefore need to own consequences, support people through difficulties and demonstrate that accountability flows upward as well as downward.

At Checkout.com, Sasaki works within global operating principles while adapting them to Japan. A principle such as 'talk straight' cannot simply be imported as blunt communication. Honesty must remain, but the method should fit the individual and the high-context Japanese environment. She rejects the notion of building a personal empire around the country head. Culture should survive the leader and be jointly developed by everyone, because engagement is a shared responsibility.

Her advice to expatriate leaders is to be patient, recognise the depth of context behind Japanese communication and keep searching for channels through which people can contribute. She also urges them to enjoy Japan beyond the office. For women seeking leadership, she stresses sponsors, internal and external networks, authentic behaviour and the willingness to accept promotion as a means of influencing change for others, not merely pursuing personal ambition.

Sasaki's leadership definition rests on four pillars: integrity, vision, communication and accountability. AI can strengthen decision intelligence by processing more information and highlighting options, but leaders must still judge relevance and own the final decision. AI also creates a human-capital challenge: when routine work collapses from 100 hours to ten, leaders need a vision for the capacity released. People should be treated as capital and sources of ideas, not simply as costs to eliminate.

Q&A Summary

What makes leadership in Japan unique?

Leadership in Japan operates inside a high-context culture where a spoken sentence rarely contains the entire message. Sasaki advises leaders to consider background relationships, informal communication and the time people need to digest information before responding. Silence does not necessarily indicate disengagement, and an immediate answer may not be realistic when employees are trying to avoid mistakes. Hierarchy, age, tenure and gender can also influence who feels entitled to speak. Effective leaders create equal opportunities for contribution, clarify expectations and adapt the communication method to the individual without compromising honesty.

Why do global executives struggle?

Global executives often struggle because they import behavioural principles without local adaptation. A global instruction to 'talk straight', for example, can be interpreted as permission for bluntness, even though direct confrontation may shut down dialogue in Japan. Leaders also underestimate how much patience, explanation and relationship-building are required. Sasaki recommends resisting the urge to judge delayed responses as resistance. Foreign executives should search for different communication channels and recognise that Japanese colleagues often have valuable ideas but may lack confidence in English or fear offering unverified information.

Is Japan truly risk-averse?

Japan's reluctance to take risk is closely connected to perfectionism, accountability and fear of public error. Sasaki lowers this barrier by making delegation explicit, requesting early updates and accepting ultimate accountability when an initiative fails. She also reframes innovation as incremental improvement rather than demanding a revolutionary breakthrough. An idea that improves a process from 1.0 to 1.1 is still worthwhile. When leaders demonstrate that there are no stupid ideas and that people will be supported rather than blamed, employees become more willing to test improvements and leave the safety of established routines.

What leadership style actually works?

Sasaki's style balances humility, structure and hands-on credibility. When managing people with greater age or technical experience, she respects what they know while remaining clear about her own role. She aligns people around mission, breaks vision into strategy and action, and specifies responsibility, including her own. She will enter the operation to understand reality, but she does not remain there permanently. Delegation succeeds when people know the direction, assumptions, deadline and escalation points. The leader provides support, receives interim updates and owns the consequence without micromanaging every step.

How can technology help?

Technology supports both Checkout.com's payment business and Sasaki's leadership practices. Payments data can help merchants improve profitability and growth, while productivity tools help leaders keep promises and maintain relationships through reminders and accurate follow-up. AI extends this further by processing a much larger volume of information and supporting decision intelligence, scenario development and contingency planning. Sasaki nevertheless draws a clear boundary: AI can provide evidence and insights, but leaders must determine what is relevant and own the decision. Technology should strengthen judgement rather than replace responsibility.

Does language proficiency matter?

Language proficiency matters because Japanese is a high-context language and much meaning sits in nuance, implication and relationship history. At the same time, Sasaki believes communication is possible even when English proficiency is limited, provided there is patience and genuine will on both sides. Leaders should use multiple channels, allow preparation and avoid assuming that difficulty expressing an idea means the person has nothing to contribute. Her own bicultural background demonstrates the value of moving between languages and contexts, but the deeper skill is creating enough psychological safety for people to keep trying.

What's the ultimate leadership lesson?

The ultimate leadership lesson is to act with integrity and accept accountability. Sasaki believes leaders must consistently do what is right for the company, customers, society and other people. Vision gives direction; communication enables others to understand it; accountability assures employees that the leader has their back. Culture should not become a personality cult or depend on one country head. It should be jointly developed, durable and grounded in shared behavioural principles. Leadership is therefore not personal dominance, but consistent stewardship that allows others to act, learn and contribute.

Author Credentials

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.

He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).

In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.