41: Kei Sakaguchi, Ex-Japan Representative, Eurasia Group

Kei Sakaguchi has a wealth of experience both in global Japanese corporations and small-scale innovative companies. Growing up in a Catholic environment, Mr. Sakaguchi was exposed to foreign culture from an early age and aspired to work in a global organization one day. Mr. Sakaguchi graduated from Keio University with a law degree, and entered Sony Corporation as a new graduate after reading a cover story on Akio Morita, Sony’s legendary co-founder and CEO. Mr. Sakaguchi first worked in the legal division of Sony but was selected by Mr. Morita to join his speech writing team. Mr. Sakaguchi had an incredible experience working under Mr. Morita, learning the ins and out of how he led. Mr. Sakaguchi recalls Mr. Morita’s speech to newly hired graduates which urged young employees to be self-reliant and be the owner of their own career. In working closely with Mr. Morita, Mr. Sakaguchi describes him as a passionate believer and communicator of the Sony vision. He adds: “[Morita-san] was a very results-oriented person, careless about the method…but he was very demanding as to the quality of the outcome. So for employees, the team members, it was very easy to understand what he is demanding and what we need to deliver. That clarity of leadership made people work with commitment, passion, and motivation.” Mr. Morita also encouraged innovation, encouraging employees to think outside of the box and to not be afraid of making mistakes as a result of that. To Mr. Sakaguchi, the lessons he learned at Sony and the “Sony DNA” that he developed is something that he still carries with him when leading and engaging with others.

After 27 years at Sony, Mr. Sakaguchi’s next move was to Coca-Cola, where he became the Manager of Global PR, leading a team of 30-40 staff. In leading a diverse team of staff, Mr. Sakaguchi highlights the importance of having a two-way communication, talking about the company vision and business goals. This style of communicating and creating real value for the company has, in Mr. Sakaguchi’s experience, led to higher levels of commitment and motivation. Interestingly, Mr. Sakaguchi found certain aspects of the leadership style at Coke to be more manual-based than Sony. Yet Coke also encourage innovation and as proof, 70% of Coca-Cola Japan’s revenue came from Japan-originated tea and coffee products. Within his PR team, Mr. Sakaguchi was mindful of encouraging his staff to not only publicize the joy and value of a new product but communicate the innovation behind it to tap into the unique Japanese monozukuri spirit.

Mr. Sakaguchi then joined the senior leadership team of Meltwater, a San Francisco based online and social media intelligence company. There, he led a team of 20 people, who were mainly in their 20s. Mr. Sakaguchi committed himself to “downloading [his] longstanding corporate experiences” and educating his young team on the large Japanese corporation mentality and how the Meltwater employees can better approach them. Since his team was from a diverse international background, Mr. Sakaguchi also advised them on how to follow Japanese company work styles when communicating with potential clients. In order to maintain engagement amongst his team, Mr. Sakaguchi urged them to try new things on their own and be accountable for the results. He also encouraged those who failed in this task by encouraging them to carefully view the process and how it can be improved.

After two years at Meltwater, Mr. Sakaguchi was headhunted by Eurasia Group, a New York-based consulting firm focusing on focusing on advising global companies on the potential risk of geopolitics on their global business. Mr. Sakaguchi initially ran a solo operation as the Japan representative mainly focusing on business development.

To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Sakaguchi advises them to be avid proactive communicators of the organizations value, mission and goals and engage in one-on-one conversations with employees frequently. He also advises the encouragement of the box thinking and being lenient towards failure as long as it is constructive failure. Moreover, he urges foreign leaders to encourage more individual initiatives from their team and tap into diverse talents, including non-Japanese and female candidates. Mr. Sakaguchi states: “globalization is still a must for many Japanese companies and for real globalization, for real success in the global market, you need to pick up positive and innovative views and suggestions from non-Japanese managers hired outside of Japan with new thinking.”