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

Jeff Crawford provided great insight into the tech and digital marketing industry from his experience as a programmer in Silicon Valley to becoming the co-founder of Zo Digital Japan.   Mr. Crawford originally worked in Silicon Valley for 16 years working in famous companies including Apple and Microsoft. Living in San Francisco, he became familiar with Japanese food and culture, and took frequent...

Gregory Lyon is the President and founder of Gregory Lyon Inc., company specialized in providing furniture, workplace solutions and project management. Mr. Lyon originally moved to Japan in the late 90s to teach English which then led him to move to Tokyo to work in a freight forwarding company. There, Mr. Lyon became interested in working in an organization where he could be responsible for proje...

Peter Strydom who is the President of Amway Japan shares his extensive global experience within the multinational corporation, having worked in South Africa, Spain, Germany, and Japan. Originally growing up in South Africa, Mr. Strydom had worked in leadership roles in Europe and Africa within Amway before coming to Japan. He decided to work in Japan after a mentor advised him to go to Asia to tru...

Paul Dupuis is the CEO and Chairman of Randstad Japan, a global human resources consulting firm. Originally from Windsor, Ontario in Canada, Mr. Dupuis always had a passion for Asia, starting from his love of martial arts. Mr. Dupuis arrived in Japan in 1990 with just $300 and slept on a bench on his first night. He then began teaching English in Osaka in a language school, and then moved on to te...

Kenji Govaers originally grew up in France but has been going back and forth between France and Japan due to his half French and half Japanese background. Mr. Govaers started his career in the 80s bubble economy in Japan as a sales engineer. Afterwards, he moved back to France and went into consulting working for Mars & Co. Mr. Govaers enjoyed the inquisitive and client-based nature of consulting...

Wolfgang Bierer takes us through his journey of leading various companies in multiple fields including consulting, fashion and retail. Mr. Bierer first came to Japan on a youth exchange program under the German government. He landed an internship with Hitachi at their software development centre on a six-month contract initially, and later joined them as a full-time staff. He recalls being the "on...

62: David Daniels, Ex-CEO Asia, Le Creuset David Daniels shares his global experience managing various luxury cosmetics, retail and manufacturing companies in Europe and APAC, successfully rebuilding struggling businesses.   Mr. Daniels spent 12 years at Yves Saint Laurent, starting out as an intern in Paris, and experienced several roles in marketing and sales including an Area Manager and Brand...

Phillip Rubel shares his extensive leadership experience in the US, Canada and Japan in various fields including advertising and consulting. Mr. Rubel is originally from Canada and moved to Japan in 1997 on a three-year posting but returned multiple times. In total, his career in Japan ran for over 20 years. Mr. Rubel experienced working in various roles and fields such as marketing, business lice...

Jean-Phillpe Oulevey takes us through his leadership journey in Japan, starting off from dusting shelves in retail stores to climbing Japan's career ladder and becoming the head of a global flower importing and distribution business. Mr. Oulevey originally studied in the United States where he was exposed to Japanese culture. After working in the finance industry for a while in the states, Mr. Oul...

Dr. Jochen Legewie takes us through his 30 years of leadership journey in Japan, starting at Daimler and then as Partner and Chairman of Kekst CNC, a global public relations firm. Dr. Legewie only picked up Japanese by chance as a side hobby, but his unique background in Japanese specialization and language ability, combined with a PhD in economics gave him a competitive edge and landed him a rese...

Hans Heijligers shares his global leadership insight having led in over a dozen countries before becoming the Head of Japan for IHG Hotels and Resorts, a British multinational hospitality company. Mr. Heijligers first arrived in Japan in 2014 after having worked in Singapore and has been with IHG for seven years.   When comparing the different countries he has worked in, Mr. Heijligers says all co...

Frank Packard takes us through his journey in Japan as well as different cultures and business experience in the financial industry. Mr. Packard was originally born in Japan and grew up in the US hoping to pursue law or journalism at Princeton University. After graduating, he lived in Cairo, Egypt for a while before returning to Wall Street to enter the financial industry, starting as an analyst a...

Kiyo Weiss shared extensive insight into her path to leadership starting from an OL in a Japanese corporation to becoming the first female Director of Air Canada's Asia Pacific region. Born and raised in Japan, Ms. Weiss entered Mitsui & Company in an administrative role after graduation but became interested in pursuing a more active business career. She recalls: "watching the guys working global...

Reiko Nakamura, Managing Director of SGK Japan, first began her career as a radio DJ in Kobe, where she grew up and graduated from university. She entered the advertising world joining Kobe Shimbun Jigyosha, one of the largest advertising firm in Kobe as a salesperson. During her time there, she became number one in her sales team. Ms. Nakamura's focus on providing solutions to customers rather th...

Ken Shibusawa shares extensive insight in the global financial sector and alternative investment that has been influenced by his great-great-grandfather, Eiichi Shibusawa, the "Father of Japanese Capitalism." Mr. Shibusawa was born in Japan and grew up in the United States from a young age when his family first moved to New York. He graduated from the University of Texas in Chemical Engineering bu...

David Wouters is the President of InterSearch Japan, an executive search and human resources consultancy company, and the former Corporate Liaison Manager of Coca-Cola Japan. Mr. Wouters first arrived in Japan in 1969 to work for Coca-Cola as the Marketing Manager after working in the US and Southeast Asia for a number of years. Mr. Wouters developed a Coke systemized training program in Japan to...

Moeko Suzuki provides valuable insight as a young global-minded entrepreneur having studied in the UK, US and established two organizations in Japan – StartUp Lady and Tailor Innovations. After graduating from an American University, Ms. Suzuki returned to Japan and worked for a company specializing in foreign direct investment as a business developer. After working for two companies, she founded...

Seth Sulkin takes us through his journey in Japan from working as a journalist to a civil servant to becoming the leader of three organizations - Pacific Air Capital, Pacific Hotels, and most recently, Food-e. Mr. Sulkin first arrived in Japan in 1987 while working for Wall Street Journal and experienced the economic bubble which he recalls as "an incredible time living in Tokyo [and] a rare exper...

Jim Weisser shares his leadership journey in the Japanese IT sector after arriving in Japan to initially teach English to becoming a leader of many internet businesses since the mid-90s. After realizing his IT skills were in high demand in Japan during the mid-90s pre-internet era, he began developing further expertise in the area by working for an internet service provider and then working for En...

Frank Foley, founder of the Next Big Thing and former Managing Director of HarperCollins Japan, provides a detailed account of working inside Japan's publishing and media industry through his experience with multinational corporations including HarperCollins and News Corporation. Mr. Foley first got his start as a publishing officer at the Australia Japan Research Centre which led him to land a jo...

Claus Eilersen, Senior Vice President of Novo Nordisk, Japan, provides deep insight in leading in the pharmaceutical industry in various countries including the US, Canada and Japan. Mr. Eilersen first entered Novo Nordisk after graduating from business school as a liaison between the headquarters in Denmark and Japan, as well as the US doing business development. He initially lived in the US but...

Wolfgang Angyal, President of Riedel Japan, originally grew up in Austria and came to Japan in 1985 as an Austrian representative in restaurant service sector of the 28th WorldSkills Competition and won first place. He credits this win to the trust he had of his supporting team who were all Japanese. Mr. Angyal has also been practicing Judo from a young age where he developed a deep respect and fa...

Loic Rethore, North Asia President of Dyson, shares his diverse background working in the consumer, luxury and premium goods industry across multiple countries including Japan, Australia, Korea and Hong Kong. Mr. Rethore originally developed a fascination with Japan after working as an intern in the Japan branch of L'Oreal. In order to stay in Japan, Mr. Rethore started working at LVMH Perfumes &...

Timothy Connor, Managing Director of Synnovate Advisory has been a veteran of Japanese business, having worked in Japan for over 30 years. He originally came to Japan under the MEF program (currently known as JET, a program that provides opportunities for internationals to teach English in Japan) and lived in Morioka City in the Iwate prefecture where he quickly learned Japanese.   While teaching...

  Christian Wolf, Managing Director of JAS Forwarding Japan originally moved to Japan straight out of university in Germany where he worked in the freight and logistics industry as a student. He first started out as a roads development manager at DHL, developing new business for air and ocean freight transportation from Germany to Japan. Upon moving to Japan from a small village in Germany, Mr. Wo...