126: Yusuke Asai, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Tokyo Japan

Yusuke Asai is presently the CEO at Standard Chartered bank in
Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Asai has spent over 32 years in the financial
services industry. Mr. Asai credits much of his success and
leadership qualities to Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and
Influence People” which he has read twice. Mr. Asai spent his
first 10 years with a Japanese bank, then received a scholarship
to do an MBA at UCLA in the US. He returned to Japan to work with
the bank for a few more years. After this, he switched gears to
Investment Banking starting with Goldman Sachs, leading him to
various other organizations and eventually stepped into his
current position.


 


Mr. Asai’s first experience in leadership was when he was working
for Goldman Sachs. Mr. Asai talks about his responsibilities in
the role and why it was important to win mandates to progress in
the position. By winning the mandate on his own and proving
himself to the leadership team, Mr. Asai was able to justify
hiring a better team. Mr. Asai explains that having an
understanding of what is required to successfully earn a mandate,
and knowing every mechanism and role within one’s own team is
essential to becoming an effective leader. Mr. Asai talks about
this process and why this understanding is crucial regardless of
what country you are in.


 


Mr. Asai talks about starting his senior leadership role at
Reinsurance Group of America where he was a CEO at 45 years old.
He worked hard to gain trust from his staff and listened to their
advice on what is good for the company. Mr. Asai emphasized good
communication and made it a point to connect with all the
business heads and team leads in one-on-one conversations. He
also connected with all staff members. He listened to all the
voices of every employee, which led to increased trust and
engagement. Mr. Asai emphasizes having happy clients as the key
to building a strong business. He says that if the deal is
successful, the clients are satisfied which in turn ensures
stakeholders with increased revenue. Thus, business is a cycle
that starts with ensuring clients are happy.


 


Advice given to experts coming into Japan would be to always be
mindful that they are being watched by others. He credits good
leadership to strong integrity. Mr. Asai thinks that learning
Japanese is not necessary to being a good leader in Japan, but he
does think it is necessary to provide strong value and be a
leader with integrity. Mr. Asai talks about and defines what he
believes leadership is with a single phrase - Noblesse oblige or
integrity - meaning that a leader that has the privilege to lead,
must act with honour and integrity. Mr. Asai believes this is an
important core value for all leaders, regardless of country,
culture or position.