The Delphi Roar: March 30th, 2025
Dear Members & Advisers,
The Roar is now being generated on Wednesdays in order to be able to send it out in time on Sundays - so a couple of days (Thursday and Friday) will be missing when you receive it. I hope this is not too much of a loss.
Spring is coming on, and the warmer weather has finally started. The Andaz Cocktails (which happened last night) was wonderful.
As always, there were only a few Delphi members there! We have a few regulars such as Tomo Hasegawa, Robert Dujarric, and Kenichi Sadaka. I was speaking to Kaori Ikeda about this, and I suggested she come, but only if she was OK with there not being many other country managers there. (In the end, Kaori decided to spend her time with her husband, whom she has been too busy to meet recently, a challenge shared by many country managers!)
Some members like the dynamic, entrepreneurial, tech/VC vibe with sometimes random guests, like the secretary to a serving government minister, but some members prefer to only spend their valuable time with other CMs, which is completely fine, and one of the crucial services that comes with “full” membership.
One of my lessons from this first cocktail since we got serious about charging for Delphi “Lite” membership, is that once people pay, they are far more invested in a successful outcome, and the energy was very high.
I personally also felt much more motivated as I was finally being recompensed for the countless hours I have spent selecting guests for the group, finding and organizing venues, giving up a precious evening which I could otherwise spend with my family or friends, and desperately trying to remember people’s names and CVs when I make introductions!
In other words, Capitalism works - who knew? :)
Seen in the Network
Upcoming Events
Can Japan Stand Up to America?
Like many Japanese politicians, Ishiba does not ooze charisma in the Western sense. But is he even likeable?
This is of crucial importance to Japan, because President Trump is imposing mind-boggling tariffs on Japan
April 2025 Cocktails
Join us for our monthly cocktail party at the luxurious Andaz Hotel Toranomon Hills!
Heard in the Network
“We only have 5,000 customers in Japan, and only 500 VIP customers. That’s because our products are deliberately eye-wateringly expensive. So one of my core business challenges is to understand the habits of Japan’s richest.”
“When you solve a business problem, make sure you are solving the problem you should be solving, not the problem you are good at solving.”
“My global CEO trusts me and therefore gives me free rein. I think that’s partly because we are so small in Japan, she has nothing to lose. But it certainly makes work a lot of fun, compared to working for a larger organization.”
“Some elite Japanese can get along with foreigners simply because they have the self-confidence of wealth and status, but quite dislike them. The elite Japanese who get on with foreigners simply because they view them as interesting human beings are much rarer. Non-elite Japanese can be a little intimidated (middle class) or downright hostile (working class).”
“Our company was really hollowed out by the lack of a ‘sustainable growth’ mentality. We grew fast but without investment. Today, we don’t even have a training officer, and have been missing one for 14 months. Given we are a consulting company, doing tech, this is crazy.”
“Our CEO, who is very rich due to a successful exit, keeps telling us to work very hard, and then leave at 6 p.m. to meet his equally rich golfing buddies.”
“People often think of ‘growth’ as increasing revenue. But actually, it’s rather more complicated! You need a balance of objectives, which is less dramatic and harder to communicate, but essential.”
“In America versus Asia, the very definition of trust is different. In the U.S., you gain trust by taking on a task entrusted to you, and then doing it well. You have then earned ‘trust.’ But in Japan, you need to establish trust even before you start.”
“My HQ is in Taiwan, which is much better. We both speak English as a second language, for a start, and we both belong to high-context societies.”
“You have to love Japan for its sheer eccentricity in global business terms. For example, we wanted to enlist the help of the famous cross-dressing dance theatre, Takarazuka Revue. But we found that they only promote goods for individuals (let alone companies) who are genuinely passionate fans. So your CEO needs to have been attending shows for years before they even allow you through the door.”
“I don’t use AI for answers — I use it to refine my thinking. Also, it’s great at generating content, but it’s content I supervise and originate.”
“I could not believe it when a consultant came in and told me and the workforce that he would make us happier with his reforms. Incredibly, he was right!”
“A business guru once told me any business has to be like a table: you need three legs to support it, meaning every CEO needs two other people to share the load.”
“The new book about Masayoshi Son made me realize that SoftBank has lots of dark secrets and incompetent management. It also made me wonder who is really in charge — if Son is just the figurehead and others are ‘pulling the strings.’ After all, this is a very familiar pattern in Japanese history. The other disappointing thing about Son is that he has never created a new technology. He is just a broker, merchant or ‘comprador’ — quite Chinese, not even Korean, and definitely not Japanese.In other words, his legacy will be negligeable ,like that of most bankers”
“Our CEO is a nice guy, but the wrong one for the job. He is obsessed with raising revenue but does not prevent HQ from draining all the profits back to Europe. He should not be CEO — he should be Head of Sales, where he would be great.”
“My first conversation with HQ after taking on a new country manager role is always about why our corporate market share is so far below Japan’s share of global GDP. Even Dyson, considered a gaishi success story, has sales in Japan way below Japan’s weight in the global economy.”
“U.S. HQ has real difficulty wrapping its head around the fact that there are far fewer options in Japan. In Japan, healthcare insurance is compulsory and everyone benefits. In the U.S., healthcare is optional, and a reward for being in a good job — not a right.”
“Ask any country manager what the essence of his job is, and he will say ‘sales.’ It’s a very tough job.”
“It’s great to be in department stores, but the commission they charge as rent is outrageous — 30% compared to, say, 8% in Aeon. But obviously, as a luxury brand, you don’t have much choice.”
“I used to hate all that post-modern relativism originating in French universities. But living in Japan has convinced me that indeed, everything I thought of as an obvious truth is no such thing.”
“What distinguishes a good consultant is if he can impress the gemba.”
“He did not just present the usual road map — he actually helped execute and won their loyalty. He really cared about the state in which he was going to leave the company. One of his best bits of advice was: ‘Don’t plan too much,’ since stuff always goes wrong. But he was there to help us.”
Reflections on Japanese Cultural Aesthetics
What was meant to be a friendly lunch turned slightly sour when my lunch partner tried to take out his PC to talk about his digital venture. I candidly told him I would prefer to enjoy my food and his (non-business) conversation. As we were meeting in Ueno, I thought I would visit the Tokyo National Museum, which is the equivalent of the Louvre or the British Museum. It is vast and stays open until 8 p.m. on Fridays. However, the special exhibitions close at 5:30 p.m., unfortunately, so I missed it… You can easily spend an afternoon here, although its size is quite tiring. I did a Zoom call in the garden and discovered a nice lake and an antique teahouse.
I was interested in how technology has developed in the past: Japan was exposed to new technologies in the 5th century AD through Buddhism, for example, which brought new rituals, new implements, new apparel and new architecture. Technology comes in different forms - it’s not always based on consumption, communication, gaming and porn. Hence, my comment a few weeks ago that the technology we have today needs some adjective to qualify it, such as “Silicon Valley technology”, or the “technology billionaires want us to use to make them even richer” in the long form…
I was also struck by the large and benign influence of China, which rarely threatened Japan, and shared its civilizational riches (script, rice farming, government, etc) with its island neighbour, instead.
I thought it was somehow typically Japanese to create a whole movement out of imperfection (“wabi-sabi”) when the rest of the world sees ugliness and chaos as the “default” position!
Finally, it was interesting to see the long, slow waves of Japanese aesthetics, changing from the courtly elegance copied from China during the Heian period, the austere Warrior ethos of Kamakura, and the “bling, bling” merchant preference of Edo Japan.
It made me thoughtful to think of fierce Japanese warriors sitting around doing the tea ceremony and discussing philosophy in the beauty of a Zen garden, while British aristocrats of the same period would be off killing each other in tournaments, butchering wild animals, stuffing their faces at court banquets, and barely knew how to read or count!
