Jean-Phillpe Oulevey takes us through his leadership journey in Japan, starting off from dusting shelves in retail stores to climbing Japan’s career ladder and becoming the head of a global flower importing and distribution business. Mr. Oulevey originally studied in the United States where he was exposed to Japanese culture. After working in the finance industry for a while in the states, Mr. Oulevey moved to Japan where he first worked for a luxury goods company. He then moved onto a Japanese trading company and climbed the traditional ranks, becoming kacho in charge of purchasing at a fairly young age. After working for four years, Mr. Oulevey moved back to the US for an MBA and was rehired by the same company. Mr. Oulevey worked as an international Sales Manager, working with Sony Ericsson, liaising between their assembly lines in France and offices across Europe. Mr. Oulevey then took the offer to lead his current company, Greenwings, where he manages a growing team of around 30 employees.
Regarding his first few years of leadership experience, Mr. Oulevey recalls: “I was very young. So when you're young, everything's exciting, and maybe I didn't realize all the politics that could have gone behind the scene, I was just really focused back then on my job and delivering.” Mr. Oulevey does point out that not speaking fluent Japanese at the time was a challenge with communication. However, he brought other strengths such as IT to the company to better the working environment, which helped him build trust with his colleagues. Additionally, Mr. Oulevey explains because he grew through the ranks to become kacho, he had already built the interpersonal relationships with his team and back up from other leaders, making it easier for him to gain credibility.
Transitioning into a management role at Greenwings was, according to Mr. Oulevey, a much more challenging task. Although the business of Greenwings had a solid customer database, there was much friction between the headquarters and Japan office when he first entered. Moreover, Mr. Oulevey was made responsible for certain restructuring of the company, making it harder for him to build trust at the initial stage. Mr. Oulevey also lost some key employees at the time. In order to deal with such challenges, Mr. Oulevey built alliances where he could and led “through others”. He adds: “I have pushed and asked and did my learning without creating burden on the organization…Also without forcing my own view of things. I've been very patient into planting seeds in a way and I had the time to do so…[in] creating the culture that I wanted for the future.” Mr. Oulevey also explains that doing groundwork to get buy-in from others before making a decision in a meeting can be a useful strategy as it could speed up the decision-making and implementation process. On innovation, Mr. Oulevey also thinks it is challenging to try to go beyond the status quo and take risks. He says it is important to have innovative people and create a culture where they can thrive – meaning not punishing people for mistakes and failures.
On building trust, Mr. Oulevey emphasizes the importance of “building your brand” and understanding Japan’s cultural and business values and following them, including being on time and being reliable. Moreover, Mr. Oulevey thinks staying humble makes one more approachable and people will feel they can confide in their leader. In order to bond with his team, Mr. Oulevey spends time outside of work with them enjoying social activities. Yet he points out that every leader has their own style of building trust, and it is important to find a balance between engaging with the team outside of work and actual work.
To new incoming foreign leaders, Mr. Oulevey advises to have good time management abilities in order to be reliable and gain trust. Even if one wants to make changes, Mr. Oulevey emphasizes the need to fit into the Japanese culture first and take steps to make transitions. Mr. Oulevey recommends being polite and showing humility when communicating with Japanese people to be essential as a leader wanting to engage with one’s team. He also adds the importance of identifying who one’s key advisors will be, although he warns that language ability should not be the only quality to look for.
