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

Masatsugu Shimono is the former Senior Vice President at IBM Japan. Mr. Shimono has a longstanding career of 40 years with IBM, primarily in Tokyo but with a short stint in New York. Mr. Shimono majored in Computer Science at his university when computers were new and computer science was quite different to what it is now.

Mr. Shimono says that to gain engagement on his teams, he focused on closely managing his 10 direct reports. In addition, he held regular meetings, and communicated well with them. He says that he held round table discussions and regular Monday meetings. Whenever there was a need for innovative ideas, Mr. Shimono says he tries to lead the discussion in an innovative way. He praises IBM for being so diverse in terms of racial background, gender, nationality, and age, so gaining diverse perspectives is easier at IBM than it may be in other companies.

Mr. Shimono says that the understanding of the Japanese culture is quite important and the general awareness about Japanese culture is much better than it was 20 years ago. His advice to colleagues and people looking to come to Japan would be to be patient. He believes there is globalization on various levels, 1) Globalization of Japan 2) Globalization of Japanese People 3) Globalization of Japanese companies. For newcomers to Japan, he suggests making changes and innovating Japanese companies, as this will be received well. However, trying to change Japanese people and their culture may be met with resistance. He advises even if someone doesn't agree with the Japanese way of doing things, forcing change can be tricky and advises people to keep an open mind and be patient.

Mr. Shimono says learning Japanese is not necessary when coming to Japan. He says learning the Kanji script is integral to the Japanese language and this can be quite difficult and incredibly time consuming for adults. Mr. Shimono says nowadays there are a lot of interpreters available and many software programs that can bypass the need to learn the Japanese language.

Philippe Jardin is the Country Manager for Pierre Fabre in Japan. His interest in the global world was greatly inspired by his parents who had an interest in Asia. Mr. Jardin learned Judo in school and during business school he had an opportunity to learn Japanese. As a part of the curriculum, which included doing internships, Mr. Fabre chose to do all of his internships in Japan. Mr. Jardin chose the marketing route after his undergraduate degree which led him to do an MBA and enroll in the Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) which was partially in Singapore and France. This led to him furthering his career with various organizations in the corporate world in Japan before coming to Pierre Fabre.

One thing that helped Mr. Jardin with his job was his intuition. He explains the importance of reading the room or reading between the lines. Sometimes in Japan, not everything is explicitly said, and being more intuitive has helped him greatly. Understanding without explicitly asking is a soft skill that he says has been essential in his career. Mr. Jardin faced some challenges with his first posting to Japan including how to improve profitability. He said he overcome this by identifying exactly what the issue was and reinforcing to his staff that they need to break even and make a profit.

When starting a new leadership role, Mr. Jardin takes a systematic approach to evaluating the company. He sits down and talks with everyone on the staff and asks some questions. The first type of question is their personal evaluation of the power of the company by rating the company out of 5 or 10. The second question would be their opinion on the power of the brand. This provides them with some valuable findings regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and issues that the company is facing. Then they are better able to tackle them as a team.

Advice that Mr. Jardin would give to someone who is being sent to Japan for a posting is to be open. By being open he means don't judge too quickly. He also suggests being patient as Japanese work culture can be unexpected and taking things slowly is beneficial. He suggests learning the language to the extent possible, though he knows that someone younger may be able to learn the Japanese language faster than someone older. Regardless, Mr. Jardin would still suggest for people to learn a few phrases in Japanese for a more comfortable daily life.

Hans Werner Burg is currently the Representative Director for Leschaco KK in Tokyo Japan. Originally from Germany, Mr. Werner Burg describes himself as a working-class kid raised in Western Germany close to the French border. He went to university to study Business Administration and that was when he had the opportunity to do an internship at a subsidiary of a car parts manufacturing firm in Hokkaido.

Mr. Werner Burg explains his leadership style and the way it evolved over the years. He claims that in the beginning he was trying to get his team to improve by finding faults in everything they did, and this did not work well. He says he did not like that approach himself. So, he slowly changed overtime. He mentions that in Japan, an apology can be seen as a cultural way to admit that you may have caused the client inconvenience and will rectify for the next time. In comparison to Germany, an apology may be seen as an admission of guilt. As apologies are typically made for larger mistakes in Germany, the company may be taken to court for that admission.

Mr. Werner Burg says he tries to encourage engagement by keeping an open-door policy and trying to speak with people in smaller groups for around 40 of his staff in Tokyo and Osaka. He understands that people in Japan are less forthcoming with ideas and engagement than in the West, and it takes more for them to open up and share their thoughts and ideas. He says he tries his best to be approachable and is calm by nature and doesn't get upset with anyone who disagrees with him. Once they have good engagement with his team, Mr. Werner Burg encourages innovation and good ideas from his staff. In the past he has tried to have a limited agenda at meetings to keep it open for ideas. Mr. Werner Burg notes, engagement and sharing of ideas have become harder as most people are still working from home due to COVID-19.

Mr. Werner Burg explains that Japan is a country where trust is very important. He emphasizes the importance of being authentic and transparent to earn the trust of his staff. Additionally, Mr. Werner Burg says that he shares credit with his team. For example, if Head Office congratulates him on a target that was achieved well, Mr. Werner Burg will make sure his staff members who were involved in the project are acknowledged as well. On the contrary, if there is a problem, he tries to tackle the problem together with his staff, by admitting the mistake to clients as needed and taking responsibility for the company.

Mr. Werner Burg says that knowing the Japanese language can be helpful, as it is a useful tool, though he has seen people succeed without it.

Scott Smalley is presently the Managing Director of DSV in Japan. Mr. Smalley is originally from Michigan in the United States and his first introduction to Japan was through an exchange he did with Japan during his schooling at Michigan State University. He returned to the US to finish his degree in Economics and Anthropology before starting to explore more opportunities in Japan. Mr. Smalley worked in Sales for a few years before pivoting into Logistics starting with Herbalife in Japan. After this role, he held various mid-level and senior leadership positions in Logistics in the US and Japan.

Mr. Smalley defines leadership as leading by example. One of his biggest leading examples is taking a vacation. In Japan, Mr. Smalley finds that many people have not taken a vacation in 5, sometimes even 10 years. He emphasizes that without ample work life balance, people are not at their creative best. He emphasizes that taking vacation will encourage people to be more innovative and to work smarter not harder. Working long hours does not necessarily mean that someone is more productive, and he tries to show his staff this by leading by example.

Mr. Smalley explains that they try and reward innovation by giving out $100 Amazon gift cards as they are a big motivator. He explains that in Japan, the culture is so unique that you really must try as a non-Japanese leader to make that connection, which starts with understanding the language and culture. He emphasizes that to make people drop their defenses, you must show them that you value their culture, be honest and straightforward, and try to share your own experience of being in Japan. Additionally, Mr. Smalley connects with his staff over drinks after work, holding meetings in the mountains and connecting with people at Onsen, the Japanese hot springs.

Mr. Smalley would advise newcomers to Japan to really listen and get to know people outside of work, perhaps through a drink after work. He says that learning Japanese has become easier now with more technological options. He recommends trying to learn Japanese, which will help with communication, getting people to let their guard down and in ensuring good teamwork in Japan.

Per Rasmussen is currently the President and Representative Director for Millet Mountain Group, Japan. Mr. Rasmussen is originally from Denmark, and he studied Business at University of Southern Denmark. His first introduction to Japan was through his Japanese wife who was based in Denmark when they first met and his first job after graduating was with the Lego Group in the marketing side of strategic product development. After working in Denmark for 4 years, Mr. Rasmussen transferred to the Tokyo office and in Tokyo he worked in progressive marketing roles over the years with various companies. This led him to working in senior leadership roles such as Managing Director and President in recent years.

Mr. Rasmussen talks about bringing change through his work with the Danish Toy Company, The Lego Group. He says that in parents' minds education is one of the most conservative things and specifically in the Japanese market, as they do not want to take risks with their children's future. At the time in Japan, education was more closely associated with knowledge and not so much with creativity. They worked to change the product slightly and the commercials to try and market Lego to the Japanese market. He says that trying to increase sales of the products and increased revenue to the company brought about some resistance from employees. Many employees said they had joined for the stability of the organization and were not in favour of change. One of their most popular products was a large bucket full of Lego Bricks which some people thought was boring. After some tough negotiations with headquarters, they introduced The Elephant Bucket to the Japanese market. While most toys last only 3-6 months, the Elephant Bucket was so popular that it lasted on the market for 20 years.

In terms of getting engagement in Japan, making the distinction between success and failure is important in understanding success. Success is spoken of as non-failure. Mr. Rasumussen emphasizes not singling people out if a mistake is made and trying new ways, or new things in the workplace works differently in Japan. In Japanese workplaces, it is okay not to try. But if someone tries to do something, they must succeed. Thus, if someone doesn't try, that is alright with everyone, but they would prefer not trying rather than trying and failing. Japanese work culture can be seen as risk-averse in this regard. Being mindful of this when trying to bring about change can be important.

Mr. Rasmussen would advise newcomers to Japan to come with an open mind, understand that Japan works differently, and do not try to tell Japan how Japan works. He gives an example of his early years, where he would become frustrated because Japan worked at a slower pace. This pace of innovation and change was slower than he was used to. He would also advise investing the time and energy in learning Japanese only if the intention is to stay 15 or more years in Japan as it is a significant time commitment.

Doug Hymas was the previous Japan Country Executive for the Bank of New York Mellon Group. Many years ago, during his college days, Mr. Hymas served in Japan as a Mormon missionary based in Tokyo. He returned after this stint and finished up college at the Brigham Young University (BYU) back in the US. He developed an interest for Japan, while he was at college in the 1980's and Japan was at the frontier in business and culture. Mr. Hymas was glad he was given the chance to develop his Japanese at the university and through his missionary work in Tokyo. During his time with the Mormon Church doing missionary work in Japan, he focused mostly on verbal Japanese and not on the Kanji Japanese script as most of their work was verbal. After about 6 months in Japan, he was very confident in his conversational Japanese abilities. He later did get a chance to develop his written Japanese through BYU, which had a strong focus on Japanese and other languages. The retuned missionaries often teach courses to current students at the university, and this gives students a fresh perspective of people who have experienced Japan.

Mr. Hymas later returned to BYU to do a Law degree and graduated as a lawyer. He started working with KPMG and was later transferred to Japan. He then worked by advising Japanese clients on International Law. Afterwards, Mr. Hymas was headhunted by a Japanese firm called Minebea Company Limited, where he worked as an in-house counsel advising on legal matters outside of Japan, primarily in the US. Mr. Hymas loved this job, but the pay was very low. At this point one of his friends was building a team of lawyers within the Lehman Brothers and invited Mr. Hymas to join his team at Lehman. At this role, his salary tripled but he says his lifestyle went down. He stayed with Lehman brothers for 3 years, which led him to his role at BGI, who were the world's largest indexing investment manager at the time. He liked the business model at BGI as he felt that the company's interests aligned with the clients−if they did well, their fees increased. If they didn't do well, they received a reduced fee. This business model was one of the reasons he stayed within Investment Management for 10 years thereafter. Afterwards, Mr. Hymas was headhunted by Citigroup, which allowed him to step away from the legal world and into business. Soon after, he started leading the organization.

To foster creativity in the workplace, Mr. Hymas reminds his staff that they are not government workers, and their success is dependent on working hard with engagement. Mr. Hymas says there are many ways to be creative in his work. For example, it can be a creative solution in sales, the actual product design, or innovative ways to provide customer service by understanding client needs. Mr. Hymas emphasizes that some people are motivated by financial incentives, but many are not, and acknowledgment through public recognition is also important.

Mr. Hymas advises those new to leading in Japan to be open to cultural differences and try and understand the strong team culture. He observes that Japanese people work well if the team is working well. Thus, trying to understand what you may see in a meeting may not be the real picture. For example if the staff are nodding and agreeing to something in the meeting, that may not necessarily be the case, and there may be something they are holding back. Being mindful of this and trying to understand what is happening in between meetings is important. Mr. Hymas also recommends the person coming in getting a confidant. By building a relationship with people you trust on the team who act as your eyes and ears, Mr. Hymas says you can get a better understanding of Japanese people and workplaces.

Mitch Kristofferson is currently the Director of Customer Service Japan for UpClear. Mr. Kristofferson was a Pre-Med student during his bachelor's degree at Stanford University. His first experience of Japan was when he came on exchange, and was place in a teaching hospital at Yamaguchi prefecture. He graduated from his undergraduate degree and worked in the oil exploration space for 5 years before doing his MBA at Stanford. The MBA led to a pivot for Mr. Kristofferson, and he moved into marketing, working in various companies in Japan and the US.

Mr. Kristofferson explains how leadership and bringing about change in the workplace can take multiple steps. He admits the challenge of stepping into a new role and making changes. Mr. Kristofferson starts out by explaining the direction he wants to take the company but in many cases, he initially gets resistance from people who want things done the old way. He explains that when something like this comes to light, people are divided into 3 groups - those who are keen to innovate and bring about change, those who are hesitant and in the middle, and the third group who are not willing to listen at all. Mr. Kristofferson says that he must deal with each group differently. Mr. Kristofferson explains that not everybody is ideal for every job in every company, and in some situations, it is a matter of finding the right fit within the firm. For those in the middle group, Mr. Kristofferson has attempted to encourage them to try new innovative ideas. For example, Mr. Kristofferson has brought the middle group of marketing professionals with the sales team. He says that the sales department typically has good innovative ideas as they are on the ground and meeting customers and talking to clients everyday. Hence, trying to engage the middle group with such groups seem to work well. On the contrary, he explains that the early adopters are usually the people that have the best ideas and sometimes they reach out to Mr. Kristofferson and try and fast track the innovation for the company.

Mr. Kristofferson has many advice for someone coming into Japan. He explains different cultures in terms of their approach to conflict and expressiveness based on a Harvard business review article. He cites the example of the Philippines where people are expressive but don't like conflict. In Germany, people are not too expressive but are alright with direct communication and conflict. Japanese don't like conflict and they aren't very expressive either. Someone coming into Japan needs to be mindful of the more reserved nature of the Japanese. People may have some great ideas, but they won't necessarily be direct in sharing them. Becoming comfortable with silence in meetings is something that newcomers can be mindful of. Mr. Kristofferson explains that things are slower paced in Japan, but great ideas come out of people and solutions are more methodical and sometimes end up with more fruitful results in the long term.

Peter Cammaerts is currently the Managing Director, AB InBev in Japan. Mr. Cammaerts is originally from Belgium. He studied in Leuven in Belgium, which is still where AB's headquarters are located. He started working at AB as a student and worked in different positions first as a sales rep where he was visiting stores and ensuring good store execution and then moved up into different positions in Belgium. After 9 years in Belgium, he moved to France before relocating to Japan in 2020 for his current role with AB InBev.

Mr. Cammaerts says he builds trust with his team by showing his effort to learn Japanese and the culture to ensure that he is invested in the team in Japan. He tries to run the company as if it is his own business, which shows ownership to the firm. He also tries to connect with the team by holding 30 minute one on one conversations with all 70 of the staff members. During COVID, these conversations were held on Zoom, and he believes that they helped in building a trusting relationship. Additionally, delivering results was another big factor in establishing credibility. Mr. Cammaerts explains that if people can see the results, they are more passionate and more likely to work hard on those projects. Similarly, they will not be as passionate if they don't see the results materializing.

Mr. Cammaerts would advise a new person coming into Japan to try and learn Japanese if they are willing and able to invest the time. Mr. Cammaerts also light-heartedly suggests learning golf before coming to Japan. He explains that many people in Japan have asked him whether he plays golf, and many customers would like to play golf so that is a good way to connect with people. Mr. Cammaerts would also recommend that if anyone is considering relocation to ensure they are happy in their personal life as well. He gives his example of ensuring that his family was happy, and he was able to deliver well in his professional life because his personal life was sorted.

Jan Babatz currently is the President and CEO of Gurhing in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Babatz was born and brought up in Berlin, Germany, on the East side of the Berlin Wall. In High School, Mr. Babatz learned Japanese which was quite unusual at the time. After graduating from a Business Engineering background, Mr. Babatz started working as a Sales Engineer, before stepping into a leadership role as General Manager at Waldrich Siegen GmbH Japan. In 2017, he took on his current role as CEO of Gurhing Japan.

In terms of getting the team to come up creative ideas and solutions, Mr. Babatz is not a fan of big meetings as they aren't efficient to get creative ideas, he feels meetings are good for making announcements. Creativity is fueled in smaller working groups of 2-3 people. In the beginning, he tried getting down at the team level and tried to work as a salesperson with the others, but this didn't go well as people were nervous working closely with the CEO and President and clients weren't comfortable either. In each department, he figured out which people had which strengths and weaknesses by getting to know people outside of work through lunches and non-work activities such as karaoke. Mr. Babatz says that coming down to their level by talking about his personal life and bonding with them instead of acting like their boss works well in improving efficiency. Mr. Babatz further explains that most of the time when he talks to people one by one, he always asks them what their aim is in the next 5 years. In many cases, after these conversations, Mr. Babatz will try to fulfill his employees' goals.

By improving work culture, Mr. Babatz claims that it leads to retention of good employees. Thus, he takes culture building seriously. Mr. Babatz admits that creating culture within Japan that is outside the head office can be different, and that he can only talk about his own office of about 30 people, but there, they hold social activities such as barbeques and play softball. Additionally, at his office, employees are free to to take vacations whenever they like and everyone who wants to try something new or different always get that chance. If the staff feel that they can share their opinion freely and are able to take vacation flexibly, their motivation and engagement within the company increases. Mr. Babatz emphasizes open communication, and this also leads to high staff retention. Since hierarchy is more defined in Japan than the west, Mr. Babatz is also mindful of calling each other by name instead of job positions, in order to break down the barrier between himself and the other employees.

Mr. Babatz would advise new foreign leaders working in Japan to learn Japanese. He has seen people who learn Japanese quickly by practicing every day are much better off than those who use a translator or interpreter. He emphasizes that speaking even a little bit of Japanese builds a bond with clients and other locals. Mr. Babatz also says to keep close contact and find support within one's team by inviting them to events and being open about oneself. For example, Mr. Babatz brought in German beer which he shared with his colleagues. By doing something unique like sharing his own culture, Mr. Babatz says he was able to build a more trusting relationship with his team.

Nikolaus Boltze is currently the country representative for Thyssenkrupp in Japan. Mr. Boltze first came to Japan in 1972 as a child, while his father was working with the German embassy and was posted to Japan. He attended the German school which was at that time in Ōmori and since that time he has a certain soft spot for Japan. They returned to Japan in the early 80's and he finished his graduation from high school at the German School in Japan. He returned to Germany for his University in Engineering and military service.

When Mr. Boltze was applying for jobs after university, he came across a Japanese company starting its operations in Europe called Daifuku. The job description listed a variety of initatives, from setting up an office, finding additional staff, reaching out first to new customers in Germany, transferring the products, which had an excellent Japanese design, but make them fit for the European market and so on. This role got him excited as a young engineer without any previous experience as it was much more than just designing the rear back wheel for a Mercedes Benz, which would be the typical start position for a young engineer. He stayed in this role for 5 years and then later took a position at an automotive supplier called Bayer based out Stuttgart and they were looking for a Project Manager. He took this role and spent a year developing a strategy for entering the Japanese market based in Stuttgart. He presented this to the board, and they came back to him and asked him if he was willing to implement his own strategy and go work from Japan. So, he returned to Japan and started looking for an office and a secretary to start Bayer's work in Japan. He was in this role for about 6 years until 2005.

Mr. Boltze says they have not been too successful in hiring new graduates in Japan. Typically, new graduates in Japan are focused on working for Japanese firms and they also may have some family pressure to work for well-known Japanese companies. They feel they have better success with mid-career employees who have returned to Japan after working in the US, Europe, or Southeast Asia and they don't feel well suited to the Japanese environment. Mr. Boltze says that female engineers are another of their hiring strengths. Hiring female engineers has been good for the company because a lot of the time women feel more comfortable and less restricted at a global company rather than a Japanese one, Mr. Boltze also says they don't discriminate based on gender so women may feel more at ease at Thyssenkrupp. Another segment of people they hire are people from other Asian countries such as Korea, Taiwan or Malaysia who have a degree from Japan and are rather well versed with the culture but for work, they may prefer to work for an international firm.

Advice that Mr. Boltze would give to someone new to Japan who is not familiar with the culture would be to understand that Japan is a G7 nation and if you are bringing a novel idea or a new way of doing something, chances are there may already be a Japanese way or a local firm doing this, and it is harder to penetrate that. Ensuring that firms understand that Japan is a unique island nation and there is likely a local way of doing the thing that you are wanting to do in Japan is beneficial. Learning Japanese isn't going to hurt but on the other side communication is very important. Japanese as a language is vague and not very precise and sometimes communicating in German or English can be more direct, setting clear goals and giving directions to staff may be more beneficial in German or English.