Hideyuki Takahashi is the Chairman of State Street Japan, an American financial services and bank holding company.
Mr. Takahashi established his career at Nomura Securities where he stayed for 21 years, becoming an Executive Account Manager for retail business and eventually moving on to manage international business. Mr. Takahashi has experience living and working globally in places including Australia, England, Amsterdam, Luxemburg, and Frankfurt through Nomura.
When in Amsterdam and Luxemburg, Mr. Takahashi built his sales team from zero, starting from the recruiting process, hiring many local workers. Mr. Takahashi says he made sure that he clearly communicated there were no division in how the local and Japanese hires were treated in his team of six people in the beginning. He explains that the most essential aspect of building a team and delivering results is defining the goal and planning out how it can be achieved, as well as the reward. Mr. Takahashi says his experience working in Australia and London enabled him to manage the international team who tend to be more assertive than Japanese workers.
As the CEO of Nomura Bank Deutschland, Mr. Takahashi led an organization with 300 staff and was first tasked with the role of restructuring, eliminating certain sections, and dealing with litigation matters. Mr. Takahashi recalls this as a tough experience, and required him to be very decisive, without any compromise. He wishes he had been better with constantly and clearly sharing information including his vision and direction of the company as a leader. For example, having a town-hall meetings in addition to communicating in smaller groups.
When in London, Mr. Takahashi was the European Equity Division Head. There, he managed a team of approximately 150 people. Mr. Takahashi initially struggled due to his English skills as his team were mostly English speakers and found the speed of communication to be very fast. When Mr. Takahashi arrived in New York as the COO, and then CEO, he was now leading over 1400 people. He noticed in New York, his staff were very vocal and quick to speak their mind. He recalls working with this team to be “very tough but at the same time, very simple” since there was constant clear communication and everybody was treated equally.
After 7 years in New York, Mr. Takahashi returned to Japan as the Global Head of Internal Audit of Nomura Group for a year and a half, then moved on to become Global Head of Research to integrate Lehman Brothers’ and Nomura’s research organization. There, he led a team of approximately 1000 people. Mr. Takahashi explains leading a team of researcher was a challenging experience, as they are highly intelligent and in a specialized discipline with a clearly set career path. After his time at Global Research, Mr. Takahashi then moved to corporate communication with non-Japanese media for a year and a half. Mr. Takahashi finally moved into State Street where he currently is the Chairman.
On increasing workplace engagement, Mr. Takahashi advises to clearly outline and communicate the vision and goal of the company, as well as the benefit of each individual joining the team. He adds the importance of clearly defining the role and accountability of each person. In large organizations, Mr. Takahashi points out having a strong and trustworthy middle management team is essential. It is crucial to train these middle management staff to make sure they understand the leader’s vision and goals so that they can consistently communicate the same message to the rest of the team. Giving people accountability and letting them know what they will gain from the work they are doing and the future prospect is also important to keep them engaged and motivated. With Japanese people, Mr. Takahashi explains they need to be encouraged to speak up, but once they gain the confidence, they will be more likely to communicate their ideas openly.
On advice to foreigners leading in Japan, Mr. Takahashi advises to be mindful when recruiting people to understand that Japanese people have a tendency to not communicate their strengths clearly as English-speaking people. He recommends not jumping to the conclusion that people who cannot market themselves well are incapable and encourages seeing the real value of the more traditional Japanese staff. Secondly, Mr. Takahashi advises to stay committed to the job, as people will not trust managers who leave in a short period of time. Thirdly, Mr. Takahashi advises that in business, it is wiser to use one’s own language to clearly communicate the message.
Mr. Takahashi defines leadership as a very strong conviction of one’s own vision and the ability to communicate that with others, as well as winning in business.
