During the past week since the 3/11 Japanese triple-witching disasters there has been a lot of talk and a certain amount of controversy over how expatriate heads of Western corporate subsidiaries are personally responding to the situation.
Quite a bit of “news” coverage has reported the large-scale retreat of subsidiary presidents and country managers out of Japan - supposedly leaving their Japanese teams to fend for themselves. As with much reporting there probably is a kernel of truth in there somewhere but more often than not it has been blown out of proportion wither by the journalist or more often the editorial head to give it more punch.
Alarmist announcements by the French Embassy were harmful and misleading, followed later by the US and British embassies offering government chartered aircraft to “evacuate” any citizens of their respective countries to other “safe-haven” countries did not do anything to help the image of the foreign corporation and their executives.
I am not a journalist nor am I an editor. I run the Japan office of a global consulting firm specialized in helping corporations build their top leadership teams. Over the past several days I have had telephone discussions directly with the Japan and regional leaders of several globally-known companies. As these were privileged off the record discussions I will not mention names.
One of the top multinational enterprise software companies, had been receiving criticism that 2 of the top 3 expat leaders were not in Japan. What was not reported is that the Japan CEO and his executive team immediately announced to all Japanese (and other) employees that they were not required to come to the office and could work remotely. Next the Japan CEO convinced corporate HQ to fully fund relocation of up to 100% of Japanese employees AND THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES to other cities in Japan, specifically Osaka and Fukuoka where the company has significant offices - on a voluntary basis of course. Already they have secured around 250 hotel rooms and other living facilities in Osaka and are working on a similar amount in the Fukuoka area. Journalistic reports neglected to mention that the reason some of the expat execs were not in Japan was that they were already attending a global meeting offshore when the earthquake hit and it was decided they could be equally effective anywhere in the world - also not reported was the fact that several Japanese executives were also on overseas business trips and they were treated in exactly the same manner - recommended they stay offshore until the situation stabilized. As of yesterday afternoon the relocation of Japanese employees to Osaka and Fukuoka was well underway. The expat execs will be back in Japan in a few days - one of them in Tokyo, the other in Osaka.
A global communications consultancy Japan President moved quickly to announce to all it’s employees that no one was required to report to the office and in fact were encouraged to work remotely from home or other location of their own choice.
The European President in Japan of one of the best-known consumer brands had along conversation with me Monday - he had called to ask my opinion and learn what other executives were doing. at the end of our discussion he decided to move his family to the Kansai area (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto) and he would stay in Tokyo. He personally felt that the top corporate executive leaving for a safe haven is analogous to the Captain abandoning his ship and crew in a violent storm.
In my own firm we had the entire team in the office half a day on Monday and decided to close the physical office for the rest of the week, encouraging staff to be with their families wherever in Japan they might be, and work remotely via email and mobile communications.
The true test of leaders often comes in times of crisis and extreme stress. This is one of those times. How is YOUR company and it's leadership responding to the situation?
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Roger,
ReplyDeleteNice article. I am not leaving.
All the best and be well,
Mark
Roger, the Japanese media and the Japanese people are upset at the foreigners and reporting their displeasure at how many foreign company executives have handled themselves.I think you re being way too kind to how most of these execs handled themselves. I even spoke with a Japanese employee of the dominant soft drink company in the world and he told me he and his colleagues were disgusted at US management for running away.
ReplyDeleteThese CEOs show very poor leadership and risk assessment abilities.They are guilty of knee jerk responses and blind panic. As my good friend Mark Davis pointed out; Many people don't consider how to respond to danger or manage risk until they are faced with the "unimaginable". Here is a primer for those not familiar with risk management basics. It is better for people to make calm, rational decisions based on facts instead of emotional, knee-jerk reactions based on fear of the unknown. In risk management jargon, there are three ways to deal with risk: avoid, assume or transfer it. Before you decide which way to go, first you need to know:
1) What could happen (threat event)?
2) If it happened, how bad could it be (threat impact)?
3) How often could it happen (threat frequency)?
4) How certain are the answers to the first three questions (recognition of uncertainty)?
Then:
1) What can be done (risk mitigation)?
2) How much will it cost (over a time period)?
3) Is it cost effective (cost-benefit analysis)?
I hope this will help ease some anxiety and/or anger by offering a rational means of dealing with danger for those consumed with an irrational fear of uncertainty. Note that we must all assume some risk in life.
I've had four different offers of lodging in the United States, but there is little chance we will go. I could not imagine leaving my wife's family here in the lurch. I agree that calm, careful deliberation is needed.
ReplyDeleteAs for execs fortunate enough to have been outside Japan and not returning, that seems the same to me as if they purposefully high-tailed it out of here. Their employees look up to them for leadership and certainty. How can that possibly be demonstrated from five thousand miles away?.
What kind of leadership persona could a deserting leader have after leaving his or her teams behind? Being an expat leader in Japan is a privilege. Privilege also carries responsibility. Adapt but don't desert.
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