Thought Leadership

The Leadership S-Curve in Japan — Why Newly Promoted Managers Struggle and How to Fix It | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

The S-Curve explains a simple truth: performance always dips before it improves. When an employee is promoted,...

Leadership Listening in Japan — Why Great Leaders Stop Talking and Start Hearing | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

Many leaders believe they are good listeners — yet, in reality, they are excellent “tellers” and poor “hearers...

Leadership Communication in Japan — Why Technical Excellence Doesn’t Equal Leadership Success | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

We assume strong communicators naturally rise into leadership. Yet most promotions in Japan are based on techn...

Leadership in Japan — How to Be Liked, Followed, and Respected | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

As Yogi Berra wisely said, “Leading is easy. Getting people to follow you is hard.” In Japan’s business cultur...

Leadership Communication in Japan — Why “Orders” Fail and Stories Win | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

Leaders in Japan today are overwhelmed — moving from meeting to meeting, managing clients, HQ calls, HR issues...

Leading Japan’s Most Difficult Generation — How Managers Must Evolve Beyond OJT to Win the Talent War

Leaders in Japan today stand at a critical crossroads.Do they cling to the past — leading the way their senior...

The End of Lifetime Employment in Japan — Leading in the Age of the Free-Agent Employee

For decades, Japan’s employment system was built on loyalty.Large firms hired staff straight from school or un...

Why Leaders Must Keep Repeating the Message — The Power of Reminders in Japanese Teams

It seems obvious, doesn’t it? We told the team what we needed to achieve at the Town Hall meeting months ago.W...

Why CFOs Struggle as CEOs — The People and Communication Gaps That Undermine Leadership

A recent Financial Times article by Anjli Raval highlighted a growing trend:according to Heidrick & Strugg...

Why Leading Teams in Japan Feels So Hard — Understanding “Nemawashi” and the Four Follower Types

Many foreign leaders in Japan face the same frustrating experience.They hold a meeting, gain apparent agreemen...

The Success Equation: How Mindset + Skill Set = Results in Leadership and Business

There’s a simple formula worth remembering:Mindset + Skill Set = Results. It sounds obvious, yet in our daily ...

Why Imperfect Leaders Build Stronger Teams — The Four Hidden Blind Spots Holding Back Japanese Leadership

Of course not — no one is perfect. Yet, many leaders act as if they must be.They project authority, issue comm...

Why Japan’s On-the-Job Training Model Fails to Develop True Leaders — And What Must Change

At first glance, leadership might seem universal — after all, people are people. Yet, Japan’s approach to deve...

How Leaders Define Team Purpose — Six Steps to Align Vision, Values, and Execution

Managers manage — ensuring things run on time, on cost, and on quality.Leaders do that and something more: the...

Leading Teams in Japan — Managing Conflict, Fostering Cooperation, and Building Better Communication

Leaders in Japan are overloaded. You’re driving results, managing costs, maintaining quality, setting strategy...

From Manager to Leader — How Vision, Mission, and Values Drive Strategic Success

Managers keep the business running smoothly—on time, on quality, and on budget. Leaders do all that and more. ...

Unlocking Team Creativity in Japan — 10 Steps to Build Your Own Innovation Methodology

The traditional “expert boss” model—where leaders knew every task inside-out—has vanished. Today, business suc...

Leadership Failure at Baidu: When Fear Replaces Emotional Intelligence | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

When Baidu’s Vice President of Public Relations, Ms. Qu Jing, posted a video boasting about her “results-only”...

Don’t Climb the Wrong Wall: How Japan’s Approach to Problem Solving Can Transform Leadership Thinking | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

In Japan, wisdom begins not with solutions—but with defining the right problem.While many global leaders rush ...

Why Great Ideas Die: Turning Brainstorms into Real Results | Dale Carnegie Tokyo

Ideas are free. Execution isn’t.Every company hosts brainstorming sessions filled with Post-it notes and passi...