55: Reiko Nakamura, Managing Director, SGK Japan

Reiko Nakamura, Managing Director of SGK Japan, first began her
career as a radio DJ in Kobe, where she grew up and graduated
from university. She entered the advertising world joining Kobe
Shimbun Jigyosha, one of the largest advertising firm in Kobe as
a salesperson. During her time there, she became number one in
her sales team. Ms. Nakamura’s focus on providing solutions to
customers rather than purely selling ad space helped her build
strong client relationships. Hoping to gain more global
experience, Ms. Nakamura began learning English. She then moved
to Osaka to enter SGK, working for Proctor & Gamble as a
Print Production Manager. After becoming an Account Manager, Ms.
Nakamura stepped into her current role as the Managing Director
of SGK, moving from Kobe to Tokyo.


 


When comparing leading between Japanese and multinational
companies, Ms. Nakamura says she saw differences in decision
making processes between the Japanese and Americans. She observes
that the Japanese are detail-oriented perfectionists and build
long term client relationships through a set process. With the
Americans, Ms. Nakamura notes they are very decisive and think in
a black and white logical manner. Thus, when leading her Japanese
employees, Ms. Nakamura carefully explains processes and the
reason behind a certain task. The clients also have different
expectations depending on their background, and Ms. Nakamura says
her relationship building style is different between local and
global contracts. With local clients, they require much more
details and processes to follow. On recruitment, Ms. Nakamura
appealed to those who liked working for more flexible and less
hierarchical environments as well as those that want to work for
big brand names like Coca Cola.


 


As a women leader, Ms. Nakamura first struggled to show her
leadership as she initially thought she had to adapt a more
authoritative style. However, after receiving some training and
gaining further experience, Ms. Nakamura realized it is best to
be herself and use her strengths in communication. She has weekly
Monday morning meetings with her team to ensure they stay engaged
despite the pandemic and remote work environment. She values
having one on one communication with all her staff as well as
having daily conversations with her managers. In order to educate
her team members, Ms. Nakamura tries to lead by example but also
show her struggles so others can learn from them.


 


On innovation, Ms. Nakamura encourages her staff to think outside
of the box. She has encouraged her team members to come up with
innovative ideas and present them to each other. Additionally,
Ms. Nakamura values the execution of those ideas and encourages
people to track what they are doing and follow up. Ms. Nakamura
is also part of organizations to support other businesswomen to
take on more leadership roles.


 


For newcomers to Japan, Ms. Nakamura advises them to encourage
Japanese employees to speak up and provide explanation on certain
tasks or projects to build trust. She also encourages learning
some Japanese to show interest in Japanese culture. Ms. Nakamura
lastly advises to “not be afraid to open every door to see the
world.”