For most of us the idea of a strong leader comes in the form of someone who has gravitas, bravado, and a unique way of displaying their business prowess to their employees and the world. I’m talking about the Jeff Bezoses, Elon Musks and Jack Dorseys of the world. However, in Japan, besides perhaps Rakuten’s Hiroshi Mikitani, or Zozotown’s former CEO, Yusaku Maezawa who is teaming up with Musk to go to the moon, Japanese leaders stay out of the limelight for the most part. Why is that? Are they shy? Discrete? Or is it simply the culture that defines leaders differently in Japan? Let’s take a closer look.
Showing your people who is the boss
For the most part Western business cultures operate in an egalitarian style. The role of a good leader is not to exert themselves as “the boss” and command every aspect of their employees' lives. Instead they want employees to bring their best selves to the workplace everyday. A company full of motivated and driven individuals is the hallmark of a successful company. In this sense, there is a great deal of showmanship that goes into being a good leader in the West. Showing your employees that they too can one day reach the same pinnacle of success if they are devoted enough to their craft, a la the American Dream. Similarly, to attract talented individuals to your company you need to be the face of it and show the world that this is who you are and how successful you have become.
In Japan however, leaders rarely, if ever take center stage. Japan is known for having an extremely hierarchical business culture where the distance between the CEO and the fresh graduate recruit is vast, so one may wonder: why the lack of showmanship? Why do we not see Japanese business owners on TV or social media spreading the “live like me” message to attract more talented and ambitious individuals? In fact, one CEO that did make headlines (outside of Japan albeit) is Japan Airlines former CEO Haruka Nishimatsu back in 2009. He made headlines for reducing his salary to less than $100,000 USD per year, eating in the company cafeteria and taking the bus to work. Certainly not the image of what you would expect for a CEO of one of the largest airlines in the 2nd largest economy in the world at the time. Due to the baked-in hierarchical structure of businesses in Japan, making visible efforts to close the gap between the C-suite and the new grads, and not double-down on lavish lifestyles is apparent.
What is the meaning of a company?
So now we know that Western business culture typically equals egalitarian style and lavish, outspoken leaders, whereas Japanese business culture is herieracial with modest and conservative leaders. But why?
It all boils down to how a company is perceived. As mentioned earlier; a typical western company will be a collective of individuals, working towards a common goal. However, in Japan a company is typically a group of individuals to form a collective, and viewed as a family. A collection of individuals who all have a prescribed place in the hierarchy and greater meaning of what the company’s existence means. One individual is not there to produce “their” best work for their own benefit, but rather for the company (the family) to succeed. This is what Fons Trompenaars’, the famous organizational theorist, coined as communitarianism; a belief that individuals' primary aim is to work for the consensus of the group, rather than for themselves. The latter being coined as individualism.
This sense of communitarianism extends all the way up to the CEO, and all the way down to the fresh out of school new recruit. Everyone in the company is equally responsible for its overall success. Concepts like nemawashi (laying the foundation) and rentai sekinin (collective responsibility) come into play heavily in Japanese organizations. A promotion to manager, director, or VP doesn’t equal bragging rights. Well, maybe to your partner or family members behind closed doors but certainly not in public. It simply means you have stepped up to your next task as a member of the organization as a whole. The ego is typically left out, as are major monetary perks usually associated with them like in the West; with Japan’s top executives making less than one-ninth that of their US counterparts. The rather recent case of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan caught a lot of media attention, not only because of the scandal that ultimately led to his escape. But more because he was significantly "overpaid" by Japanese standards while he argued that Nissan is a global company and for a global company the executive compensation was still on the low end.
So what does a good leader look like in Japan?
This is not to say that Japan’s leaders are “better” or more noble than leaders in the West, or that they are more about self-sacrifice, or that Japan doesn’t have its fair share of CEO scandals (they do). Simply, it is to explore how leaders in Japan are different, and that they don’t look like what you might expect based on what you may be used to seeing.
In Japanese, there is a term called “one man boss” (ワンマン社長), taken from the concept of one-person operation buses. The bus only needs one person to operate it, and takes all the passengers where they want to go. In the business world, this is used to signify a leader who operates entirely as they see fit. They call all the shots, steer the ship whichever way they please, have a big ego, and typically only care about their own success. Under the right light, this could be perceived as a very good and celebrated leader in a Western context! The “visionary” CEO. In Japan, these kinds of traits spell disaster due to how companies and individuals' roles in them are perceived.
The typical leader in Japan can be defined by these traits:
Humility: they will seldom take credit for success and often attribute it to their team or company.
Consensus driven: they will rarely take decisive action before confirming their team and their stakeholders are on board. Acting solo or calling shots is not how they show they are being a good leader.
Devoted: to their company, and not their own career aspirations. Good leaders will fall on a sword for their companies and not let personal aspiration interfere with “the greater good”.
Hands on/close to the genba: regardless of rank, it is expected that leaders stay close to the genba (or place of value creation). That's why you see them walking the production floor, talking to people and often engaging in hands-on work as opposed to just delegating and managing. More about that here.
So next time you are evaluating a leader for your organization in Japan, keep in mind that it isn’t always the most prominent, outspoken, hyped up individual who would make the best fit to lead. Keep in mind that they might be the “one man boss”.
Do you agree with the points of a good Japanese boss above? Anything I missed? What has been your experience working with good and bad leaders in Japan?
Comments