“(CB: Do you think that specific cultural training, experience or language skills are necessary or helpful? You mentioned earlier that the people who are really well versed in the language and culture are not the ones that are really successful…..)
Well, if you are coming in at Senior Manager level or something you will have come up through the ranks in your home country. People who are more acculturated to the Japanese environment will tend to be at the junior levels. There are cases where people do succeed because there are more job opportunities and different roles for people with a deeper knowledge of Japan and Japanese – you might look at a CV and be surprised that five years ago that person was teaching English. That’s a good thing but I think that there is a reason why you are being brought in as a foreigner. You’re not brought in because you’re able to fit in. Just because you’re able to understand the language it doesn’t mean that you are of the culture it just means that you have been sensitive to your environment. (C: So those skills are not a prerequisite for success in Japan?) No I don’t think so. I think that you need the curiosity to understand that people are different and that they may not always tell you what you want to hear……that they may not be that good at expressing their positions. When I say you need to listen, I mean that you’ve got to be sensitive to the vibe. Take a more holistic approach. I think that people will give you their best if they don’t feel threatened.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“I would advise them to look upon themselves as more of a learner than a teacher; To approach their situation with humility; To become more sensitive to their environment and to work on their listening skills; To be respectful of the culture that they are working in and the values of the people that they are working with; To not impose their ways of thinking. I say this not from a moral point of view but from the point of view that if you don’t (do these things) you’ll fail.
Working in Japan is a very humbling experience for arrogant people. So if you value your success then you have to become more receptive. And believe me these would be rare characteristics among expatriates. However, just because you have to do these things and perhaps change the way you communicate and relate a little bit it doesn’t mean that your objectives become meaningless or that you are will not be able to do what you need to do. It’s just that you can’t come in with a sheet of paper and say “now, here’s our new strategy. It’s been dictated by head office and it’s what we will be doing in Japan”. It can’t be like that. It’s got to be workshopped and even though you are now a ’sensitive new age manager’ you still need to understand when someone really is opposing you and get rid of them if necessary.
There is a mix of receptivity and sensitivity…and perhaps ruthlessness as well. The issue that can arise is that you could come over as so receptive that people think you are not prepared to wield your power, but that’s a question of judgment on your part. That’s why managers are paid high salaries, because they are able to make those calls.
Is someone being genuinely obstructive or are they simply failing to understand where you are coming from? You need to be prepared to do a lot of ‘nemawashi’ (kind of informal preparatory negotiations/discussions). If you do not prepare properly you can issue all these directives but no one will follow them and that’s often surprising for foreign managers here. I often hear things like “but I told them not to do that…I told them I didn’t want it done that way and they agreed…..and then it was done the way that we agreed we wouldn’t do it” – I hear it all the time. Of course I not saying that it is all the manager’s fault but it’s much better if you can get people to do what you need them to do of their own free will. Then, they will be very motivated and you will get a high level of performance. But you have to get that alignment – you have to listen. It’s not just a case of getting them to do what you want by speaking softly. It’s a case of really, genuinely, listening, and that’s a challenge.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“The first characteristic is probably the ability to receive advice – the ability to identify allies and build a team of people who are able to influence the organization. It is also important to be able identify who the opinion leaders are and who the change agents might be, and to work with them effectively.
I also think that the ability to create positive dissonance but still maintain harmony is important. In a way that has to do with generating goodwill, so it’s a personal characteristic - being warm and human and at the same time creating understanding of the need for change. I guess a lot of that comes down to good communication skills. But before communication comes listening, so the ability to listen well, and listen well across cultures is important. I think you can learn that in other countries, not just in Japan. I’ve worked with CEOs who have never been to Japan before, but who have a lot of global experience. The successful ones have the abilities I just mentioned.”
“The leadership characteristics are not so different from what you would require for success as a leader in any other culture, but there is probably a heavier emphasis on the ability to trust and rely on others, and to listen intuitively.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
I think that if you don’t know Japanese it will be tough but I wouldn’t say that it’s impossible because I’ve achieved my dream here. You just have to re-work your head because when you are in this country things don’t run your way, they run the Japanese way. So you have to rewire the way you think, not get irritated by it and find out how you can help. As a Westerner, people here are actually really interested in what you are going to say but the issue is working out how to communicate your message. You need to be really mindful and respectful. Understand that they may not understand what you are talking about even though they may understand the words that are coming out of your mouth – it’s a different way of thinking.
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“In terms of being a manager of Japanese staff, my experience has been that it is very different to get local staff to be creative in their problem solving. Not impossible, people do differ, but there is a general bias against taking risks. People want to discuss everything and make sure everybody agrees with a particular course of action before they take it. This has influenced me to a degree and over the years here I’ve become much more collaborative in the way that I make decisions. I used to just dictate but now I hardly ever dictate, I suggest. It’s better that way, it works better. If you have a culture where people are afraid to make a mistake that’s like death to creativity and in Japan when you’ve got fear of being shamed, fear of being shown up, fear of making a mistake, fear of making someone else look bad, fear of making yourself look bad it’s hard. I want to be very careful about making those blanket judgments but nevertheless if you are in a culture where people are afraid to make mistakes and they’re nervous, and they feel like someone will come down on them if they make a mistake…..and you also don’t want to make your clients look bad by knowing more than them…… That’s fatal to creativity.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“I think it is important to observe and to listen. Not just listen. I think that’s relevant everywhere but people aren’t very vocal here – 60% of communication is unsaid. So 60% of everything the Japanese people do is non-verbal. It’s the itch of the nose or the crook of the head – that’s what you’re looking for. You wouldn’t pick up on that if (a) you didn’t understand Japanese culture and (b) you were listening on a tape-recorder. For example, if you ask a consumer what they think about something they might say “it’s OK” but they will have done something else which will tell you that it’s not OK. So you definitely you need their opinions because that’s how you innovate (by understanding insights) but they are never going to tell you what you want so you need understand what their problems are. We go into a lot of consumer homes, go in and see their problems….”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“I think that there are a couple of levels at play here. One level is ‘who’ the person is. For example when I worked in New York, I saw someone come from another market to take on a very senior position there and to me it looked like a dog pissing on fire hydrants marking territory – so that stuff does happen. Here in Japan, because the culture is so different and because people don’t understand it right off people tend to jump to conclusions very quickly – “Oh you guys don’t know? I’m going to show you” – that happens much more. (CB: So maybe the guy going from London to Chicago or whatever, that kind of thing is more status or hierarchy driven?) Yes. I also think that it is more individually driven compared to here where they think they are teaching the Japanese people as a whole race “you guys just don’t know, let me show you”. I find the reactions to this rather interesting because sometimes the Japanese people that they are talking to just play along like “wow isn’t that interesting, that’s amazing”. Later though you find out that they were thinking “what an asshole”. Of course there are other times where they fight and disagree right from the start though.
I think that the Japanese way is not to reveal yourself or the cards that you hold right away. It takes time. They’re just more careful. Whereas in America and the U.K. it’s all just out there right away – take it or leave it. And also if someone challenges something you do or say people are usually thick-skinned enough to say “oh you’re right that’s a better way thank you”. In Japan though people don’t want to be embarrassed and they try very hard to avoid that. If they’re wrong about something they are punished or very harsh on themselves.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“My advice then to someone who is coming is to take six-months or a year to study the language first and then come into the job. If companies would give people that kind of latitude they would have much more successful executives here. But companies say “I can’t take an executive out of commission for a year just to let them study a language!”
That has been one of the toughest things I’ve had to overcome. As my Japanese co-workers and friends come to recognise who I am they understand that I’m culturally sensitive and I understand the culture and I’ve studied the history and all that stuff but I’m not bilingual and probably never will be.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“In Japan, the most successful managers are people that care about people. I think that you can make a lot of mistakes (and get away with it) if people think that you are doing it for the right reasons. You can create a lot of change and discomfort if people understand that your motivations are not manipulative or self-serving – that it’s really for the good of the organization or the good of the individual concerned.
Also, particularly in Japan, people won’t push back very much. They won’t challenge a lot so you have to be careful that you don’t railroad people and force people along a path that they haven’t bought into. Go more slowly than you otherwise would or you’ll miss the signs that they aren’t on board and get the passive aggression at the end.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
“Getting very busy people to carve out 3-days to do an off-site session was hard but you know once they did it some of those managers would go out on as many as four or five. These are heads of function of one of the busiest organizations on earth. Once they saw the value they would carve out the time, but getting that buy-in was especially critical in the Japanese environment. Because they won’t just do it because it needs to be done, they have to see the value.”
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This post is part of a series of excerpts from interviews with foreign executives in Japan, focusing on creativity. Excerpts have been edited for confidentiality.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to this topic. Please feel free to comment directly on this site or get in touch at chris@a-small-lab.com (Chris Berthelsen)
All content on this IDEAS and DISCUSSION blog is provided by a-small-lab under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License: You can SHARE this content as long as you CITE this work, and TELL US about your work (and send us a copy or link!). See Creative Commons for more detail
