122: Mario Munoz, President of Mölnlycke, Japan

Mario Munoz is presently the President of Mölnlycke in Tokyo,
Japan. Mr. Munoz has a long-standing history with Japan, having
first come to Japan in 1979, he was studying in middle and high
school until 1982. He moved to France for the rest of high
school, where he continued studying Japanese. Mr. Munoz was one
of the lucky foreigners who was immersed in the Japanese language
and culture at such a young age. He went to the US to continue
his education and attended Thunderbird School of Global
Management in Arizona. He had an affinity for an international
career and with the program’s heavy emphasis on international
business, this was the right choice.


Mr. Munoz says that to increase innovation, there are ranges
provided in terms of targets provided to an individual. He says
the target numbers are set but the way in which the
representatives handle the accounts differ. Mr. Munoz speaks
about encouraging his staff to speak. He has made Townhall
meetings, there is a section called “Ask Mario” where people are
encouraged to ask questions, a hot topic on their mind or
something that they are curious about.


A few things have worked from Mr. Munoz to gain trust. He walks
around the office to talk to people and there are two engagement
surveys done a year. Mr. Munoz says something that works in Japan
is analyzing the surveys and addressing low hanging fruit and
pain points. In Japan he has found, flexible time schedule and
encouraging people to take their holidays goes a long way. Mr.
Munoz encourages people via personal messages to take holidays.


Mr. Munoz has a lot of advice for people coming into Japan.
Firstly, he advises individuals to be themselves and not try to
be Japanese. He also suggests learning a little bit of Japanese
would be helpful in communication, as most Japanese people can
read and write in English, but they aren’t as comfortable
speaking English. Mr. Munoz also emphasizes that the Japanese are
very patient, especially with foreigners. It helps foreigners to
be patient while in Japan as well. Mr. Munoz suggests keeping an
open mind, have good open communication and be ready to be
flexible in the Japanese work setting. He ends by saying that
investing in Japan is likely to be fruitful if you are patient.