Best of the Best: 39: Andrew Hankinson, President, Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan

We have decided to re-publish this excellent interview with
Andrew.


 


Andrew Hankinson is the President of Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan
and host of the podcast Now and Zen. Originally from Seattle,
Washington, Mr. Hankinson’s passion for Japan grew at a young
age, having been exposed to Japanese culture by family members
living in the country, leading him to learn the language from
high school. After briefly teaching English in Osaka, Mr.
Hankinson returned to Japan with a degree in international
business and Japanese language from the US. He shortly began
working at a Japanese department store as a menswear buyer which
he describes as an “eye-opening” experience and a “great
foundation to be living and working in Japan.”


 


Mr. Hankinson’s next move was in the travel industry, where he
worked for a travel publishing company as a salesperson. He
explains the company to be “very flexible and very open” as they
originally hired Mr. Hankinson in hopes of increasing innovation.
Mr. Hankinson was quickly able to gain the trust of the
organization due to achieving success early on where his
suggestions led to better results for the organization. Mr.
Hankinson’s first official leadership role was working as country
manager for a European-based office product company where he
managed seven employees. He describes his work there as hands-on,
especially with client facing aspects of the organization.


 


Currently, as head of a much larger organization, Mr. Hankinson
leads about 250 employees. Mr. Hankinson says jumping into an
organization that he had no previous knowledge of required lots
of catching up, and building trust with the people had its
challenges. To overcome this, Mr. Hankinson interviewed his staff
in the Tokyo office to build rapport and connect with them at a
more individual basis. In order to lead a much larger team, Mr.
Hankinson is mindful of the Japanese way of thinking through
group consensus. He explains: “if we do it all together…[and] if
it fails, nobody’s responsible.” He is also conscious of
fostering empowerment amongst his employees to give them a safe
space to express their thoughts and encourage innovation. Mr.
Hankinson also leads through other managers by delegating to
ensure everybody is providing input to determine the direction of
the organization. The Japanese office of the global kitchenware
manufacturing company have introduced many innovative products
such as Japanese kitchen knives and pots that have become popular
on a global scale.


 


Mr. Hankinson sums up his ideals of leadership as being able to
“deliver results, have good people skills, being engaged and
having market intelligence,”


 


To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Hankinson advises to enjoy
travelling and exploring the culture and sharing that with one’s
team, which is a wonderful way to connect with others on a human
level. Secondly, Mr. Hankinson advises to earn some “quick wins”
as a fast-track way to earn credibility and trust amongst
Japanese staff when trying to implement change. Thirdly, he
recommends finding the perfect balance between adapting to local
culture and retaining your personal management style in order to
find the best of both worlds.