89: Mats Lindstrom, President, Ducati Japan

Originally from Sweden, Mats Lindstrom is the President of Ducati
Japan, an Italian automobile company and shares his fascinating
experience working in global companies in Japan. Mr. Lindstrom
has been living in Japan since the mid-2000s. His love of marital
arts made him develop an interest in Japanese culture. From the
early 2000s, Mr. Lindstrom started working at Volvo Car
Corporation as the Senior Purchaser and Team Leader. When Mr.
Lindstrom heard IKEA was setting up business in Japan, he jumped
at the opportunity to work in Japan and was selected among the
first group of people to start the company from scratch in Japan
as a Sales manager. He then moved on to work again in the
automobile industry at Scania, a truck manufacturing company,
before becoming the current President of Ducati Japan.


 


Mr. Lindstrom recalls as the first 30 people hired to set up IKEA
Japan, he was the least fluent in Japanese but his management
experience at Volvo helped him join the diverse team. Mr.
Lindstrom took care of recruiting the team, and was able to hire
people with international experience such as having worked or
studied abroad and wanted to work at a company that was different
from regular Japanese companies. At IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom recalls
the culture was very principled and not everyone was a perfect
fit, yet he knows many of his former colleagues have worked in
the organization for years. Mr. Lindtrom had five direct reports
at this time, and as the team grew from 30 to 70+, he oversaw the
entire group.


 


The main difference between leading in Sweden and Japan in Mr.
Lindstrom’s opinion is the level of accountability and
responsibility people take on within their work. For example, in
Swedish culture, people work within frameworks and clearly set
responsibilities, and how they find a solution to a problem is up
to them. Whereas in Japan, people need detailed instructions to
get started on their work. Mr. Lindstrom also points out that one
cannot force people to make a change while staying fully engaged.
He adds as a foreign leader, he needs to ensure he can rely on
his Japanese employees to give him honest opinions and feedback
from their perspective instead of being yes men and women who
never questions the boss. Additionally, Mr. Lindstrom claims that
listening in Japan needs to be done at a whole another level as
details and history is taken seriously. Much of this passive
stance comes from the fear of making mistakes, Mr. Lindstrom
explains, and thus as the leader, he is careful to not criticize
but exercise active listening and coach people to ensure they
stay engaged.


 


After IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom moved on to Scania as the Executive
Director of Sales in Japan. He recalls meeting and receiving a
warm welcome from the company’s VP and eventually CEO, Martin
Lundstedt. He found it especially memorable how Mr. Lundstedt
tried to get to know Mr. Lindstrom on a personal level, asking
about his experience working in Japan, his family, and so on, in
addition to talking about business. Mr. Lindstrom has learned
from this leadership approach and also tries to emulate being a
human leader and helping people grow through a coaching approach.
. He is also always giving credit where it is due and encourages
creativity through small group discussions. Mr. Lindstrom tries
to nurture creativity from his team through active listening and
encouragement. For example, if a previously tested and failed
idea comes up during a discussion, Mr. Lindstrom encourages his
team to contemplate why it failed and whether a different
approach can be taken. To gain trust, Mr. Lindstrom says he has
tried to be himself as much as possible. He is honest with his
team in letting them know he does not have all the answers and is
relying on them for knowledge and expertise.


 


For foreign leaders coming into Japan, Mr. Lindstrom advises them
to practice active listening and understand that things take time
in order to show results. Mr. Lindstrom defines leadership by
taking John Quincy Adams’ words: “Your actions inspire others to
dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.” Mr. Lindstrom
adds that a leader is generally interested in people, who is
constantly learning and wanting to become better and grow with
others to reach a common goal.