41: Kei Sakaguchi, Ex-Japan Representative, Eurasia Group

Kei Sakaguchi has a wealth of experience both in global Japanese
corporations and small-scale innovative companies. Growing up in
a Catholic environment, Mr. Sakaguchi was exposed to foreign
culture from an early age and aspired to work in a global
organization one day. Mr. Sakaguchi graduated from Keio
University with a law degree, and entered Sony Corporation as a
new graduate after reading a cover story on Akio Morita, Sony’s
legendary co-founder and CEO. Mr. Sakaguchi first worked in the
legal division of Sony but was selected by Mr. Morita to join his
speech writing team. Mr. Sakaguchi had an incredible experience
working under Mr. Morita, learning the ins and out of how he led.
Mr. Sakaguchi recalls Mr. Morita’s speech to newly hired
graduates which urged young employees to be self-reliant and be
the owner of their own career. In working closely with Mr.
Morita, Mr. Sakaguchi describes him as a passionate believer and
communicator of the Sony vision. He adds: “[Morita-san] was a
very results-oriented person, careless about the method…but he
was very demanding as to the quality of the outcome. So for
employees, the team members, it was very easy to understand what
he is demanding and what we need to deliver. That clarity of
leadership made people work with commitment, passion, and
motivation.” Mr. Morita also encouraged innovation, encouraging
employees to think outside of the box and to not be afraid of
making mistakes as a result of that. To Mr. Sakaguchi, the
lessons he learned at Sony and the “Sony DNA” that he developed
is something that he still carries with him when leading and
engaging with others.


 


After 27 years at Sony, Mr. Sakaguchi’s next move was to
Coca-Cola, where he became the Manager of Global PR, leading a
team of 30-40 staff. In leading a diverse team of staff, Mr.
Sakaguchi highlights the importance of having a two-way
communication, talking about the company vision and business
goals. This style of communicating and creating real value for
the company has, in Mr. Sakaguchi’s experience, led to higher
levels of commitment and motivation. Interestingly, Mr. Sakaguchi
found certain aspects of the leadership style at Coke to be more
manual-based than Sony. Yet Coke also encourage innovation and as
proof, 70% of Coca-Cola Japan’s revenue came from
Japan-originated tea and coffee products. Within his PR team, Mr.
Sakaguchi was mindful of encouraging his staff to not only
publicize the joy and value of a new product but communicate the
innovation behind it to tap into the unique Japanese monozukuri
spirit.


 


Mr. Sakaguchi then joined the senior leadership team of
Meltwater, a San Francisco based online and social media
intelligence company. There, he led a team of 20 people, who were
mainly in their 20s. Mr. Sakaguchi committed himself to
“downloading [his] longstanding corporate experiences” and
educating his young team on the large Japanese corporation
mentality and how the Meltwater employees can better approach
them. Since his team was from a diverse international background,
Mr. Sakaguchi also advised them on how to follow Japanese company
work styles when communicating with potential clients. In order
to maintain engagement amongst his team, Mr. Sakaguchi urged them
to try new things on their own and be accountable for the
results. He also encouraged those who failed in this task by
encouraging them to carefully view the process and how it can be
improved.


 


After two years at Meltwater, Mr. Sakaguchi was headhunted by
Eurasia Group, a New York-based consulting firm focusing on
focusing on advising global companies on the potential risk of
geopolitics on their global business. Mr. Sakaguchi initially ran
a solo operation as the Japan representative mainly focusing on
business development.


 


To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Sakaguchi advises them to be
avid proactive communicators of the organizations value, mission
and goals and engage in one-on-one conversations with employees
frequently. He also advises the encouragement of the box thinking
and being lenient towards failure as long as it is constructive
failure. Moreover, he urges foreign leaders to encourage more
individual initiatives from their team and tap into diverse
talents, including non-Japanese and female candidates. Mr.
Sakaguchi states: “globalization is still a must for many
Japanese companies and for real globalization, for real success
in the global market, you need to pick up positive and innovative
views and suggestions from non-Japanese managers hired outside of
Japan with new thinking.”