101: Will Shaffer, President, Boeing Japan

Will Shaffer is currently the President of Boeing, Japan. Mr.
Shaffer is originally from the US and started out as a pilot in
the Navy, stationed out of Whidbey Island. After working as a
pilot, Mr. Shaffer went to Business school and then worked in
Consulting in the Seattle area. It was in this role within the
consulting space, that Mr. Shaffer got accustomed to Boeing.
Before coming to Japan with Boeing, Mr. Shaffer worked for many
years in the Puget Sound area working across multiple roles
within the supply chain organization. Prior to his posting to
Japan over 2 years ago, Mr. Shaffer had some prior exposure to
Japanese culture. When he was in the military, he was deployed to
Japan several times. He later visited Japan many times when
working in Boeing’s Japanese suppliers. He says that an advantage
of working at a global organization like Boeing is that though it
is in Japan, there are Japanese hires but there are also
international staff on the team that were hired locally.


 


He says he has noticed that many of the employees in Japan are a
bit shyer when sharing ideas than perhaps other countries. Mr.
Shaffer says that sometimes it takes a bit more effort to draw
those ideas out from these people. He says the advantage that
Boeing Japan has is probably staff that are more outspoken than
an entirely Japanese firm. Sometimes drawing out these ideas can
take a bit longer in Japan. Boeing is a highly regulated company,
on both the commercial and defense sides so it can be easy to get
caught up in the process and rules. He says that encouraging and
rewarding managers that encourage innovation on their team while
meeting safety and quality requirement is a way to encourage
innovation.


 


He uses a variety of techniques to engage teams and garner ideas
outside of them. Before COVID, he says he walked around to talk
to people personally for the staff in Tokyo. Boeing has employees
dispersed throughout Japan, so he would periodically go visit
those regions to engage with those staff in-person. During the
COVID period, this has shifted to the virtual world, Mr. Shaffer
says that he has noticed that the virtual environment through
chat and Webex has enabled some people to speak up and ask
questions that they may not have asked that question in an
in-person meeting.


 


Mr. Shaffer’s advice to someone coming into Japan who doesn’t
know Japanese, or the culture would be to be humble. This advice
could be different from US based or multi-national companies
where you are supposed to be louder and advocate for yourself to
succeed in the workplace. Another piece of advice would be to
have patience, Japan does move at a slower pace and just being
positive and celebrating the smaller wins will be helpful. He
also suggests exploring the country and culture as that can bring
you closer to colleagues and clients as well. Getting to know
your team and people is a good step to bring you closer to your
team, after-work culture and having drinks with your colleagues.
Mr. Shaffer gives his personal advice on respecting privacy but
also getting to know his team and workplace and asking about
their weekends, sharing more about his own personal life on the
weekend and hobbies brings him closer to his team.