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

John Flanagan is a General Manager Japan and Regional Head of Programming and Marketing Asia at A+E Networks Japan G.K. Mr. Flanagan has been in Japan for 30 years. Originally, he is from Denver, Colorado in the United States. He studied Political Economy for his undergraduate degree and was at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He has been based in Media and Marketing for his career in Japan. Mr. Flanagan has a long history with Japan, as he was born in Tokyo because his father was a Professor of Japanese Political Science, but they returned to the US when Mr. Flanagan was 2 years old. In 1985, he returned to Japan as his college had an exchange opportunity with Waseda University and he did an exchange in the third year of his college. He went back to the US to graduate college and looked for ways to come back to Japan, he says one of the easiest ways to come back was through the well-known JET Programme. Mr. Flanagan applied to the JET programme in the first year it started, and he was placed to the sister state of Colorado which is Yamagata. The JET programme was his first exposure to Japanese work life which led to a career in Japan.

One thing Mr. Flanagan remarked was that the office location is very important in Japan, which is different from the US. In the US, people are more used to driving to work so location is not so important and it's alright to have an office in the suburbs. In Japan, people rely on the trains so location needs to be central so people can get into the office. Mr. Flanagan also remarks that the Japanese style of working is much more risk averse than the Western style. He emphasizes its important to understand why the people are so risk-averse, he cites an example of a colleague who revealed to him that he had made a mistake in the past and it is like a black X in his career. Traditionally, Japanese people are employed for life, so it is easier to be very risk-averse, not make many mistakes and have a nice stable paycheque for the rest of your working life. Mr. Flanagan talks about the Japanese old-school system is typically to hide mistakes from upper management because it can be common to be publicly scolded for smaller mistakes. He tries to keep a positive, open culture so people come to him when there is a mistake that has been made and he asks them what they learned and how the mistake can be rectified.

Mr. Flanagan would give someone coming into Japan from headquarters for 3-5 years a lot of advice. He says that what helped him the most was understanding the Japanese culture and language. Being patient is another thing that he felt was important and he overcame this by asking questions. Sometimes due to the cultural aspect, people do not want to seem too critical or point out faults, yet they may be trying to say something indirectly. It can take some time to grasp this and try and understand the point or hint someone is trying to make. In Japan, harmony is more important than truth which can be seen as all aspects of business and culture. Sometimes people coming from headquarters are told to do things in the same manner as they are done in that country and that won't necessarily work in Japan. Trying to learn the language, the culture and enjoying the food can bring you closer to your staff. Trying to pick up the nuances of Japanese culture can be difficult to grasp for some people so being patient with that is helpful. A challenge that Mr. Flanagan found that the time to take a decision is longer in Japan and trying to understand that there is more convincing and more nuanc

Professor Jody Ono is a Specially Appointed Professor at Hitotsubashi University Business School, School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) in Tokyo. She teaches courses in Leadership Development and Leading for Sustainability for MBA students and business executives. She is a graduate of Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs (MPP '03), New York University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (MA '93), and American University's School of International Service (BA '89). Prior to her move to Japan in 2014, she worked for 7 years in the US, at the George HW Bush School of Government, Texas A&M University and for 10 years in Sweden, at the Stockholm School of Economics.

When discussing improvements to workplace engagement, Professor Ono says engagement can be defined as how excited people get about their work, how engaged they are with their workplace, and how much they look forward to going to work. She proposes that engagement has changed from the 20th century: employees today need continuous stimulation in the workplace through interaction and exchange of ideas. Younger employees, especially, need to feel personally seen and valued in the workplace. Professor Ono says it is really very difficult to change an organization fast, and typically the largest companies struggle with maintaining high engagement. While so much is implicit in Japanese culture, she says, in order for intentional change to happen, decisions about change must be made explicitly and then communicated often and via multiple means.

Building trust takes time, Professor Ono explains, in part because individuals trust others at different speeds and levels depending on their lived experiences and related learning. For leaders to be viewed as credible, they need to be clear about standards and expectations for performance. Clarity on these points makes it much easier to have real conversations that foster mutual trust in the workplace.

Professor Ono cautions against "stylizing your facts" when coming into Japan. By this she means that individuals should be cautious to question cliched assumptions about Japan and its people. She advises newcomers to cultivate a diverse network, with people of all ages and backgrounds, to construct a holistic view. In addition, Professor Ono notes that people Japan has different leadership traditions from many western cultures. Leaders should display patience, competence, and disciplined thinking in order to build constituency for the change they desire.

Arthur Mitchell is a Senior Advisor at White & Case in Tokyo. White & Case is a global law firm with a global presence. White & Case is just over 120 years old, having started in 1901, it has progressed to the global firm it is today and serves clients worldwide. Mr. Mitchell has a long history with Japan. He has been in Japan for 54 years. Mr. Mitchell came to Japan when he was 14 years old for a short trip, again when he was 17 and a few years later again as a third-year exchange student in college. After this exchange, he returned to the US, to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Berkeley and went on to Harvard University for Law School. After Law School, in the US it is typical to get hired at a firm that you did an internship in a previous summer, but Mr. Mitchell didn't want to work immediately after graduation, so he decided to take up a Fellowship at Kyoto University.

Mr. Mitchell is getting the sense that there are innovative things going on in Japan. He is seeing that the young people are not necessarily aspiring for government roles or large corporate roles, they are aspiring for more entrepreneurial roles or ventures. Speaking from the perspective of law, he says that the law usually changes with innovation. He is seeing from the 2 companies, where he serves on the board, that the senior management is seriously considering moving towards digital transformation and innovation. Mr. Mitchell not only relies on younger staff within his firm, but also young friends outside the firm to help him further understand technological innovation.

Mr. Mitchell explains some of the things that he has been doing to improve engagement with his employees. Before COVID they used to have in-person seminars, this moved to online webinars, but these leave very little room for personal interaction. Typically for more complex matters, the best way is to sit in a conference room, use a whiteboard and have back and forth discussions, but COVID has made this very difficult as everyone is working remotely, and it becomes very difficult to read the roam in a virtual meeting.

Regarding foreigners coming to Japan, Mr. Mitchell has heard one of the biggest challenges foreign staff face in Japan is explaining the situation back to their home offices. The larger, better organizations understand Japan's work culture and their managers and staff are better equipped to work in Japan. Sometimes, newer organizations that haven't had much exposure to Japan previously, it is challenging to explain the situation back to the home office. The pace of Japan can be quite slower compared to other countries, for example a decision can involve many coffee meetings, talking with multiple stakeholders and convincing a lot of people. Many of the global companies, Mr. Mitchell works with, have realized that they need to speed up the pace of decision making, their changes and their approach to the markets. Mr. Mitchell defines leadership as setting a clear vision and defining the mission. Mr. Mitchell also suggests that in the upcoming years, organizations may need to change the way hiring is done. Currently, companies recruit from the Legal and Economics departments, but if technology is going to play a more important role in the future, perhaps hiring needs to be done from the Science Faculties. Mr. Mitchell also notes that Japan has a shortage of people. Lastly, he says that leading in Japan requires a lot of listening and being a good listener works well for business.

Simon Wallington is the Managing Director of Insurance for Cornes in Japan. Cornes and Company was established in Yokohama in 1861 and is the oldest international trading house in Japan. Mr. Wallington worked in the UK from 1977 to 1985 and was looking for international experience, so when an opportunity opened in August 1985, he relocated to Japan as number two for Sedgewick Forbes Japan. Mr. Wallington worked in Japan until 1991 and then decided to move to Sydney, Australia. In 2009, Mr. Wallington's former boss moved to Cornes and asked Mr. Wallington to join him, so he did. In 2011, he took over as Managing Director in Japan and has been in this role since then.

Mr. Wallington believes that a trait unique to Japan compared with some of the Western countries is that the people are not very expressive, so it is more difficult to understand how employees are feeling. Mr. Wallington tries to spend some one-on-one time with employees by taking employees out to coffee individually every 2 months. He tries to engage with the employees to see how they are doing, how their work is going and to pick up on any cues on mental tiredness. He says that recognising mental tiredness is especially important during these COVID times.

Mr. Wallington talked about how the meeting matrix works at his company. They have four teams, and they have a weekly team meeting and a monthly division meeting. The news is given at the monthly division meeting. The teams each have team leaders, a general manager and five or six people on each team. He says his teams work very hard and the demarcation between home and work is less, especially nowadays. Currently, his teams come into the office three days a week and work two days a week from home. For families with very young children, they provide more flexibility. Mr. Wallington finds remote working more difficult as it is more difficult to read body language and trying to get his point across. He thinks he is maybe 70% more effective as a leader when he is working in the office as for example, he tries to explain to his staff why certain things are done in a certain way so that they will not need him for future similar problems, and this will be more efficient in the long term.

In Japan, culturally people tend not to disagree with the boss. Mr. Wallington says that his general management team is quite good with disagreeing with him when they don't think an idea is going to work. When asked how Mr. Wallington got his staff to openly share their thoughts with him, Mr. Wallington says he credits this to two things, the first is his open communication and getting to know each staff member individually and the second is admitting to making a mistake. Admitting you have made a mistake or when something wasn't a good idea allows the staff to see that they can share their views with him and their boss is humble enough to admit when he is wrong, this provides open communication and more freedom for them to share their views with him.

Mr. Wallington shares his view that the most effective leaders he has seen follow a servant leadership mentality. He says you do this by rolling up your sleeves and being there with them and solving problems together. This creates mutual understanding and a closer understanding of working relationships. He believes in the servanthood methodology of leadership and leading in this manner has worked well but when he needs to make a hard decision, he does that. Mr. Wallington is Christian and serving is in the Bible. He tries to apply this principle in many aspects of his work. Because after leading this way, results and good relationships follow.

For foreigners coming to Japan. Mr. Wallington advises having a sense of humour helps. To get the best of the employees, the employees must see that you are here to stay and not just here for your short stint. Although, many foreigners are in Japan only for a few years, making sure that you leave it as a stable organization and not as an organization full of politics and high turnover is beneficial. A stable and productive organization is a great gift you can leave your Japanese colleagues, so that when you leave, the company's much better.

Originally from the United States, Derek Young is the President of Fidelity Japan for the last 3 years. Fidelity International provides world class investment solutions and retirement expertise to institutions, individuals, and their advisors. Prior to Japan, Mr. Young was working with Fidelity and had been living in Boston, USA for 22 years. Mr. Young had visited Japan on business briefly before 5 or 6 times before shifting base to Japan 3 years ago.

In his initial days in Japan, Mr. Young started by approaching the Japanese market by examining his own strengths and weaknesses. His strengths lay within the investment space, having a deep understanding of Fidelity and having decades of investment experience. His weaknesses were in not speaking Japanese and not understanding the Japanese market. Identifying where his weaknesses were allowed him to collaborate with people that had those language skills and to take the best possible combination of strong investment knowledge, strong language skills and the best understanding of the clients to combine them for the highest probability of excellence and success for the clients.

Mr. Young emphasizes that modelling what works elsewhere may not necessarily work in Japan. He believes that Japan has some of the most demanding clients in the world. Strong attention to detail is ingrained in Japanese culture and that is the expectation everywhere in Japan. His team had this understanding on attention to detail and this pressure to deliver yet he had to learn this. For example, if he was wanting to increase efficiency but this increased client errors, he realized that clients could leave for that error regardless of performance in the portfolio. Thus, anything that is done to improve efficiency cannot increase the risk for client errors. The tolerance for error is significantly less in Japan compared to elsewhere in the world.

One major difference that Mr. Young found about working in Japan is that there is a general appearance of calmness within the employees in comparison to the US. For example, in planning for a large event, employees in the US may be more vocal about the pressures they are facing. In Japan, culturally there is hesitation to be vocal about that pressure and even though they seem calm, they may be facing pressure. These pressures are underneath the surface, and it is the Japanese way is to make things seem under control. Mr. Young has found that having one-on-one conversations to be a good way to truly understand what employees are thinking and providing them the tools they need for success and that makes employees feel comfortable in having these conversations with him. For example, asking for a translator may help the employee feel more comfortable. Even though to an outsider they seem like they speak perfect English, with a translator they may feel they have more time to frame their thoughts. Mr. Young also emphasizes connecting with employees on a more personal level has made them feel more comfortable with him as a person, and not just as the President of their company. He gives examples of asking for restaurant recommendations, vacation spots from the local Japanese people to connect with them on a more personal level.

For foreign leaders coming into Japan, Mr. Young advises individuals to keep an open mind, to really examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and really listen. He emphasizes that you must listen to what your team says. The team should feel that they are truly being heard and you are taking what they say, and you are responding to it in a genuine manner. He provides an example of keeping an open-minded approach. Something that may work well back in your home country may not work well in Japan and the employees should not feel that you are just forcing what you think is best on them. He also advises that learning the Japanese language and understanding the culture may help. If the Japanese language is a barrier that having the right people with the correct language skills on your team is essential for business.

Hideyuki Takahashi is the Chairman of State Street Japan, an American financial services and bank holding company.

Mr. Takahashi established his career at Nomura Securities where he stayed for 21 years, becoming an Executive Account Manager for retail business and eventually moving on to manage international business. Mr. Takahashi has experience living and working globally in places including Australia, England, Amsterdam, Luxemburg, and Frankfurt through Nomura.

When in Amsterdam and Luxemburg, Mr. Takahashi built his sales team from zero, starting from the recruiting process, hiring many local workers. Mr. Takahashi says he made sure that he clearly communicated there were no division in how the local and Japanese hires were treated in his team of six people in the beginning. He explains that the most essential aspect of building a team and delivering results is defining the goal and planning out how it can be achieved, as well as the reward. Mr. Takahashi says his experience working in Australia and London enabled him to manage the international team who tend to be more assertive than Japanese workers.

As the CEO of Nomura Bank Deutschland, Mr. Takahashi led an organization with 300 staff and was first tasked with the role of restructuring, eliminating certain sections, and dealing with litigation matters. Mr. Takahashi recalls this as a tough experience, and required him to be very decisive, without any compromise. He wishes he had been better with constantly and clearly sharing information including his vision and direction of the company as a leader. For example, having a town-hall meetings in addition to communicating in smaller groups.

When in London, Mr. Takahashi was the European Equity Division Head. There, he managed a team of approximately 150 people. Mr. Takahashi initially struggled due to his English skills as his team were mostly English speakers and found the speed of communication to be very fast. When Mr. Takahashi arrived in New York as the COO, and then CEO, he was now leading over 1400 people. He noticed in New York, his staff were very vocal and quick to speak their mind. He recalls working with this team to be "very tough but at the same time, very simple" since there was constant clear communication and everybody was treated equally.

After 7 years in New York, Mr. Takahashi returned to Japan as the Global Head of Internal Audit of Nomura Group for a year and a half, then moved on to become Global Head of Research to integrate Lehman Brothers' and Nomura's research organization. There, he led a team of approximately 1000 people. Mr. Takahashi explains leading a team of researcher was a challenging experience, as they are highly intelligent and in a specialized discipline with a clearly set career path. After his time at Global Research, Mr. Takahashi then moved to corporate communication with non-Japanese media for a year and a half. Mr. Takahashi finally moved into State Street where he currently is the Chairman.

On increasing workplace engagement, Mr. Takahashi advises to clearly outline and communicate the vision and goal of the company, as well as the benefit of each individual joining the team. He adds the importance of clearly defining the role and accountability of each person. In large organizations, Mr. Takahashi points out having a strong and trustworthy middle management team is essential. It is crucial to train these middle management staff to make sure they understand the leader's vision and goals so that they can consistently communicate the same message to the rest of the team. Giving people accountability and letting them know what they will gain from the work they are doing and the future prospect is also important to keep them engaged and motivated. With Japanese people, Mr. Takahashi explains they need to be encouraged to speak up, but once they gain the confidence, they will be more likely to communicate their ideas openly.

On advice to foreigners leading in Japan, Mr. Takahashi advises to be mindful when recruiting people to understand that Japanese people have a tendency to not communicate their strengths clearly as English-speaking people. He recommends not jumping to the conclusion that people who cannot market themselves well are incapable and encourages seeing the real value of the more traditional Japanese staff. Secondly, Mr. Takahashi advises to stay committed to the job, as people will not trust managers who leave in a short period of time. Thirdly, Mr. Takahashi advises that in business, it is wiser to use one's own language to clearly communicate the message.

Mr. Takahashi defines leadership as a very strong conviction of one's own vision and the ability to communicate that with others, as well as winning in business.

Originally from Sweden, Mats Lindstrom is the President of Ducati Japan, an Italian automobile company and shares his fascinating experience working in global companies in Japan. Mr. Lindstrom has been living in Japan since the mid-2000s. His love of marital arts made him develop an interest in Japanese culture. From the early 2000s, Mr. Lindstrom started working at Volvo Car Corporation as the Senior Purchaser and Team Leader. When Mr. Lindstrom heard IKEA was setting up business in Japan, he jumped at the opportunity to work in Japan and was selected among the first group of people to start the company from scratch in Japan as a Sales manager. He then moved on to work again in the automobile industry at Scania, a truck manufacturing company, before becoming the current President of Ducati Japan.

Mr. Lindstrom recalls as the first 30 people hired to set up IKEA Japan, he was the least fluent in Japanese but his management experience at Volvo helped him join the diverse team. Mr. Lindstrom took care of recruiting the team, and was able to hire people with international experience such as having worked or studied abroad and wanted to work at a company that was different from regular Japanese companies. At IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom recalls the culture was very principled and not everyone was a perfect fit, yet he knows many of his former colleagues have worked in the organization for years. Mr. Lindtrom had five direct reports at this time, and as the team grew from 30 to 70+, he oversaw the entire group.

The main difference between leading in Sweden and Japan in Mr. Lindstrom's opinion is the level of accountability and responsibility people take on within their work. For example, in Swedish culture, people work within frameworks and clearly set responsibilities, and how they find a solution to a problem is up to them. Whereas in Japan, people need detailed instructions to get started on their work. Mr. Lindstrom also points out that one cannot force people to make a change while staying fully engaged. He adds as a foreign leader, he needs to ensure he can rely on his Japanese employees to give him honest opinions and feedback from their perspective instead of being yes men and women who never questions the boss. Additionally, Mr. Lindstrom claims that listening in Japan needs to be done at a whole another level as details and history is taken seriously. Much of this passive stance comes from the fear of making mistakes, Mr. Lindstrom explains, and thus as the leader, he is careful to not criticize but exercise active listening and coach people to ensure they stay engaged.

After IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom moved on to Scania as the Executive Director of Sales in Japan. He recalls meeting and receiving a warm welcome from the company's VP and eventually CEO, Martin Lundstedt. He found it especially memorable how Mr. Lundstedt tried to get to know Mr. Lindstrom on a personal level, asking about his experience working in Japan, his family, and so on, in addition to talking about business. Mr. Lindstrom has learned from this leadership approach and also tries to emulate being a human leader and helping people grow through a coaching approach. . He is also always giving credit where it is due and encourages creativity through small group discussions. Mr. Lindstrom tries to nurture creativity from his team through active listening and encouragement. For example, if a previously tested and failed idea comes up during a discussion, Mr. Lindstrom encourages his team to contemplate why it failed and whether a different approach can be taken. To gain trust, Mr. Lindstrom says he has tried to be himself as much as possible. He is honest with his team in letting them know he does not have all the answers and is relying on them for knowledge and expertise.

For foreign leaders coming into Japan, Mr. Lindstrom advises them to practice active listening and understand that things take time in order to show results. Mr. Lindstrom defines leadership by taking John Quincy Adams' words: "Your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more." Mr. Lindstrom adds that a leader is generally interested in people, who is constantly learning and wanting to become better and grow with others to reach a common goal.

Originally from the US, Eric Wedemeyer initially lived in Taiwan working in journalism. He then came to Japan in 1980 and started out at a small PR firm, then moved on to working in magazines. Having gained some advertising experience, Mr. Wedemeyer next joined Cove-Ito Advertising as a writer first, eventually becoming the Creative Director, then Vice President of Strategic Marketing Services. He also became Chief Executive of Cove-Ito Interactive, a spin-off company of the original ad agency. Mr. Wedemeyer currently is the Managing Director of Tactus Partners as well as J-Global, Inc., an intercultural management services company.

As Creative Director of Cove-Ito, Mr. Wedemeyer oversaw around 20-30 people during the 1980s through 90s. Having worked in other parts of the world including Taiwan, Mr. Wedemeyer observed that Japanese staff needed more clarity and were reluctant to try out new and different things. Mr. Wedemeyer explains that gaining trust from his Japanese staff was a gradual process, but his knowledge of the foreign advertising market in Japan helped him gain credibility. The marketing agency closed after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and Mr. Wedemeyer joined Tactus, where he initially led brand strategy.

On maintaining employee engagement, Mr. Wedemeyer says having a clear direction and purpose gives people a target to aim at, which helps them stay engaged. He also explains how delegating and motivating people to take initiative themselves energizes them. Mr. Wedemeyer recalled one client manufacturing company he worked with who took this idea to heart. The company wanted their workforce to think more about better serving customer needs, and launched an initiative in which the entire company department delivered a presentation to the CEO on their insight. Mr. Wedemeyer says this initiative allowed people to think more about their work and communicate their ideas to the CEO, who was eager to listen to their thoughts. This boosted the organization's motivation, exceeding what Mr. Wedemeyer had originally envisioned.

Mr. Wedemeyer says branding boils down to being a promise kept. He gives an example: "Our mission is to turn people blue. Then you make what I call a strategic question. You get your people to ask this question about everything that they do no matter where they are in their company and what they're doing. Does this make people blue? How could I change what I'm doing to make people bluer? If everybody in the company is thinking how to answer that one question from a thousand different directions…it really gets the company moving in one direction."

To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Wedemeyer advises them to take time to learn about Japan, such as joining a local networking group like the American Chamber of Commerce Japan, and get some cross-cultural advice from more experienced professionals. He further explains that knowing how a Japanese business operates will enable one to understand why people act in certain ways and be a tremendous time saver. Getting an interpreter is also a way to get valuable insight from the local Japanese businesspeople even if one cannot speak Japanese. Secondly, Mr. Wedemeyer advises to always walk the talk and make sure what you say aligns with your behaviour. Mr. Wedemeyer thinks that learning Japanese is very helpful, but depending on how long people are planning to stay in Japan, it is case by case.

Jesper Koll is a highly respected member of the Japanese financial scene who has been working in Japan since the mid 1980's. He came to Japan to do academic research before moving into finance as the Chief Economist for SG Warburg in 1989. He followed this with a succession of high-profile jobs including as the Chief Economist for JP Morgan Japan, the Chief Economist for Merrill Lynch Japan, as the Managing Director for Equity Research at JP Morgan in Tokyo, and he is currently serving as the Global Ambassador and Expert Director for the Monex Group Japan. Mr Koll holds a master's degree from John Hopkins University and has written three books in Japanese.

When discussing the role of financial analysts, Mr Koll believes it is important for analysts to look beyond the numbers and get to know the people behind the data. Developing this knowledge will allow trust to build in the analyst's relationships with clients which will in turn allow deeper levels of communication between analyst and client. Mr Koll believes this is what will lead to real success in the relationship for both parties.

According to Mr Koll, the new leader of a team can increase their levels of trust by quickly making their team members look good and demonstrating that they (the leader) will stand up for them when dealing with headquarters, particularly a foreign based HQ that doesn't understand the local situation. One method to make team members look good is to accompany them to visit a potential client and assist them in closing a deal and then attributing all the praise to the team member. Mr Koll believes defending the local office and staff from headquarters while also promoting its virtues is a very important method of gaining trust. If a leader can make the 'Japanese way' on a particular issue the company's 'global way' that will be seen as a very significant win and a sign of trust.

Mr Koll believes a leader is someone who can inspire others to be better than they already are. It is very important for new leaders to quickly get the balance of their leadership team correct. This means identifying good lieutenant/s who will cater for different needs of team dynamics such as a 'whip-cracker', some one with a can-do attitude, and someone who makes people feel comfortable.

After graduating from Keio University, Saori Kanno originally joined Revlon as a Marketing Director, before becoming the current General Manager of Revlon Japan. In between, Ms. Kanno has worked in several other cosmetic companies, making her an expert in the beauty industry.

While still in her mid-30s, Ms. Kanno was scouted to become the Marketing Director at a prestigious French cosmetics company. Becoming a manager at a young age, she recalls needing to look professional as she was managing some staff who were older and more experienced. As a new manager, Ms. Kanno ensured she maintained close communication with each of her staff to earn their trust. She was careful in listening to the team and having open discussions. She would ask questions like, what is new? What is happening in the world, in the market, what should we do? By having such casual conversations on an individual and group basis, Ms. Kanno gained valuable insight from the team and built a transparent culture. At the same time, Ms. Kanno is firm that the objective of any meeting or brainstorming session is to decision-making and coming up with deadline-driven action items. iShe says: "the ultimate objective of this kind of discussion is that we win…we break our current status within our team…[as well as] win in the market versus our competitors."

Ms. Kanno was also interested in working in the mass-marketing beauty industry, and thus joined a commercial cosmetics brand as the Marketing Director after the French company. Ms. Kanno says she used more or less the same techniques to build trust and communicate with her staff in her new company, as she says: "human relationship starts from the heart." Ms. Kanno also became eventually took on the dual role of Sales/Marketing Director. She found it extremely useful to listen to the marketing and sales team simultaneously to come up with strategies that reflected both fields' input.

Ms. Kanno returned to Revlon as the General Manager. This time, Ms. Kanno was determined to take the lead in addition to listening closely to her team. She had many creative ideas ready to be implemented. To convince headquarters, Ms. Kanno used her expert knowledge in the beauty industry and analysis of previous initiatives. She explains: "the Japanese beauty market is very different from the others because many of women, even my age, are still looking for kawaii or lovely, which is not the case for Revlon, but in order to be successful in a local market, we really need to understand the consumers." Ms. Kanno quickly changed various things such as the way the product was promoted and recreated the visuals to suit local consumers. Sales immediately improved, breaking records from the last 50 years of the company. Ms. Kanno explains that her passion for cosmetics as a consumer also helped her be confident in her strategy to dramatically transform Revlon Japan.

On leading an engaged team, Ms. Kanno points out that giving praise and appreciation is crucial. When she hears her team come up with ideas, Ms. Kanno always congratulates them. On handling mistakes, Ms. Kanno encourages her team to consider improving the process to avoid the mistake from happening again. Moreover, on certain initiatives that do not work out, Ms. Kanno will review and analyze to try to learn from its failure. Ms. Kanno also holds executive committee meetings amongst the division head where they share information so everybody is aware of what is happening in the company. Ms. Kanno values ideas that come from the ground up, and thus, encourages her division heads to bring new ideas to her.

On advice to new foreign leaders in Japan, Ms. Kanno emphasizes the importance of listening to the local Japanese team to build trust. Secondly, when asking for people's opinions, Ms. Kanno recommends giving some space instead of constantly asking questions. By building rapport through daily communication, and speaking in a calm tone, Ms. Kanno has seen Japanese employees relax and open up to foreign bosses. Ms. Kanno defines leadership as similar to motherhood. She explains: "In my team, I want to make everybody happy and successful…my mission is giving love and passion to the team [like a mother would]."