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

"The purpose of my business is not only bake and sell, because we are introducing… culture or food habits of France to the Japanese people." "Japanese people don't buy baguettes because they don't know how to eat it." "After twenty shops, I needed to change my mentality to be the new type leaders." "I have responsibility for the life of the workers." Shu Kimura is the founder of Boulangerie Maison...

"I listen and I also am always very transparent." "Who cares about what people think about me?" "If my boss, my future boss, thinks that I'm capable, I must be." "Leadership is really defining where we're going, whether it's the end state or whether it's a goal." Mika Matsuo is a Japan-based executive and former AIG Japan CHRO known for repeatedly stepping into unfamiliar roles and delivering chan...

"I think curiosity is very important. When you're curious about something, you listen." "You have to be at the forefront, not the back. You can't, hide behind and say, 'hey, you know, guys solve it', right?" "When they trust you, beautiful things happen."              "Ideas are welcome. You know, ideas are free. But it's got be data driven."  Tomo Kamiya is President Japan at PTC, a company known...

"Leading a team is every time challenging, to be honest." "We need to make a small success every time." "There is no official language of the company. The most important is communication." "It's not if we will do or not. It is how we will do it." "Only people who are not doing nothing are not taking risk." Benjamin Costa is the Representative Director and Managing Director of La Maison du Chocolat...

"If you trust people, your life is very nice." "The bringing people together with one common objective needs to be carefully thought out and defining the processes very carefully needs to be thought out and don't imagine that the process will be figured out by the people themselves." "They are looking for a leader who is responsible, who can make the decision." "Be transparent."  Brief Bio Armel C...

"Leadership is staying ahead of change without losing authenticity". "Trust is the real currency of sales, teams, and Japan's business culture". "Zeiss's foundation model is a rare advantage: patient capital reinvested into R&D". "Japan is less "risk-averse" than "uncertainty-avoidant" when decisions lack clarity and consensus". "Language is helpful for connection, but not the primary qualificatio...

"Come as you are works in Japan when leaders are also willing to read the air and meet people where they are". "Japan isn't as risk-averse as people think; it is uncertainty avoidance and consensus norms like nemawashi and ringi-sho that slow decisions". "In Japan, numbers are universal, but how people   feel   about those numbers is where real leadership begins". "For foreign leaders, kindness, p...

Deliver the win, then ring the bell. Make small mistakes fast; make big learnings faster. Think global, act local — but don't go native. Do the nemawashi before the meeting, not during it. Your salary is earned in the stores: go to the gemba. A 28-year Domino's veteran, Martin Steenks began at 16 as a delivery expert in the Netherlands. He rose to store manager, multi-unit supervisor, then franchi...

"Care and respect aren't slogans; they're operating principles that shape decisions and client experiences". "Lead by approachability, using nemawashi-style one-to-ones to draw out quieter voices and better ideas". "Calm, clarity, and consistency beat volume; emotion never gets to outrank the message". "Consensus isn't passivity—done well, it's disciplined alignment that accelerates execution". "C...

"Get your hands dirty: credibility in Japan is built in the field, not the boardroom". "Bridges beat barriers: headquarters alignment turns local problems into solvable projects". "Make people proud: structured "poster sessions" spark ownership, ideas and nemawashi". "Decisions at the edge: push market choices to those closest to customers, then coach". "Trust travels: clear logic, calm feedback,...

"Leading is easy. Getting people to follow is the hard part". "Listen first; don't pre-decide the outcome". "Japan is a Swiss watch—change one gear and the whole movement shifts". "Do nemawashi before decisions; ringi-sho is the runway, not red tape". "Bring people back to Japan—networks mature with the country". Chris LaFleur is Senior Director at McLarty Associates, the Washington, D.C. based st...

"Listening is easy; listening intently is leadership." "In Japan, trust isn't a KPI — it's earned through presence, patience, and predictable behaviour." "Leaders here must be gatekeepers of governance and ambassadors for people, culture, and brand." "Don't copy-paste playbooks; calibrate the boss, context, and cadence." "Win hearts first, then heads — only then will ideas and decisions truly flow...

  Flowers are a stage — design is the performance. Affordable mistakes beat catastrophic caution. Build leaders from the bench you already have. A shop window can be a growth engine. Hands-on founders create hands-on cultures.   Danish-born floral designer Nicolai Bergmann built his brand in Tokyo by treating the shopfront as a "stage," inspiring customers with ready-made designs. After moving to...

  Timeless luxury thrives on trust, not transactions. In Japan, "walk the talk" converts respect into results. Prepare for 90, execute the final 10 flawlessly. Curiosity first; conclusions later. Empathy is the shortcut to nemawashi.   Born in Geneva, Switzerland — the same city where Piaget began — Alexis Perroton started his career at TAG Heuer. At 24, he accepted a "Japan or nothing" posting an...

"Anything that stretches you and makes you grow is never easy." "In general, to gain trust, the three things that work are humility, curiosity, and authenticity." "In Japan, you have to move from busy to productive, and from productive to impactful." "As a leader, you must trust others to be your voice, your interpreter, and your proofreader." "First and foremost, put your hand up—there's too much...

  "Japan's strength in rule-based processes has become its weakness in today's information age." "In Japan, leadership succeeds when data removes uncertainty and consensus replaces command." "Risk is not avoided in Japan; uncertainty is — and data is the antidote." "To lead here, map out every cause and effect until the team sees clarity in the decision." "Leaders thrive by respecting tradition fi...

"Leaders are responsible for laying the road of brick, clearing the fog, and saying, that's our path." "If leaders are going to be strict on people, they must be even stricter on themselves." "Trust isn't built once—it rises when things go well and degrades when the company struggles." "Ideas should begin without judgment; the mindset must be 'how could we make it work?'" "A leader can't just do t...

"If you feel you should say something, shut up for a little while and work out what's going on." "Leadership starts with humility, respect, and the ability to listen to people." "Always avoid saying, 'I'm bringing this in because something's not quite right.' That doesn't work." "If you're at the top, you take responsibility for just about everything that happens." "Work harder than everybody else...

"Leadership is the ability to bring people to somewhere they didn't think they could go." "If you want to do co-creation, you have to do co-creation—consistently. You can't just turn it on and off." "Don't focus only on your English speakers; that creates toxic politics inside the organization." "There's no point being afraid of change—it's coming anyway, so embrace it and lead from the front." "Y...

"Walk the talk is the most powerful way to build trust." "Beauty grooming didn't exist—it was a new word to reflect a new purpose."  "People didn't see themselves in the beauty industry until they started to look in the mirror." "Recognition isn't just celebration—it's about noticing the mindset, not only the results." Previously Hideo was Country Manager, Beauty Care Japan & Korea at Henkel; Gene...

1.    "If my motivation is to make the best product, the money will follow as a consequence." 2.    "A leader must give up ego and put the right people in the right place—even if it risks their seat." 3.    "You have to read the atmosphere; the same person may need a different approach each time." 4.    "To be a leader, you have to suffer, take the hard way, and do the work yourself first." 5.   ...

"You can ask four thousand people to adjust to you, or you can adjust to them." "If we want the stores to be successful, they need to feel heard—because their success is our success." "When I tried to dictate ideas top-down, the organization kind of choked on it." "Servant leadership means pushing popcorn carts, steaming clothes, and knowing everyone's name." "In Japan, things take longer to get m...

 "Most of any leader's job is change management—setting a vision people buy into and aligning them behind it."  "I view the organisation as an inverted triangle—the frontline is at the top, and we serve them." "You should be most concerned when your performance board is all green. Red means there's something to learn." "Trust in Japan isn't optional—it's the foundation of everything, and it can't...

"In Japan, if you want performance, you need ultra-clear expectations—people need to know the goal." "Building trust means creating a safe environment where it's okay to make mistakes." "Consensus-building is not optional in Japan—it's how decisions gain traction." "Every new joiner has lunch with me and a one-on-one at three months—connection matters." "Leading is about inspiring, guiding, and em...

"We walk the talk—not talk the talk." "Expect the unexpected—Japan will challenge every assumption you bring." "The language we use programs our mindset—'we' means we're in it together." "Creating little leaders is more powerful than just giving orders." "Trust here runs deeper—it's built case by case, moment by moment." Previously Yvette was Managing Director Hong Kong and South China; National S...