BACK TO THE FUTURE OF BOLD, HANDS-ON MANAGEMENT
One of Japan’s most senior business leaders talks about what makes a good corporate executive amid an environment of constant change.
Since becoming President of Kikkoman Corporation back in 1995, Yuzaburo Mogi has been the public face of the company. He took on the dual role of Chairman and CEO in 2004. Having helmed the company’s day-to-day operations for more than 15 years, Mogi was appointed Honorary CEO in 2011 and retained his post as Chairman of the Board. Regardless of his title, Mogi will always be known as the leader who transformed Kikkoman into a global household name.
Mogi is not only one of the most senior business leaders in Japan, he is also one of the most respected. A key proponent of internationalization, he persuaded his company in the early 1970s to do something radical: build a factory in the U.S. Mogi then spearheaded the development of a network of production plants and sales subsidiaries around the world. Today, Kikkoman’s main product—soy sauce or shoyu in Japanese— is enjoyed in over 100 countries. “Roughly 75% of our business profit comes from our overseas business,” Mogi proudly says.
After expanding rapidly in North America and Europe, Kikkoman plans to enter new markets. “We see new horizons beckoning,” Mogi says. “We are looking to expand our sales in Asia, and then develop the South American and African markets in the years to come.”
With the world facing unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mogi—who is seen as one of the boldest and most internationally savvy executives in Japan—believes corporate leaders need to be steadfast and be prepared for the unexpected. “The most important quality for a chief executive is to be forward-looking,” Mogi says. “Not just thinking about the future but being able to see what lies ahead and navigate accordingly. There are always so many possibilities. You must decide which path is best for your company.”
Mogi says CEOs also need to be decisive leaders. “An executive needs the ability to decide. That means, examining information, evaluating it, and making clear judgments— in other words, decision-making ability. A CEO needs to be able to both guide and persuade employees and to create a consensus in the company in order to get things done. Not by issuing orders, but by leading people in a certain direction.”
Given the rapidly changing business environment, Mogi says the job of CEOs will be extremely difficult in the next two decades. “The next 20 years will be much more challenging than the past 20 or 30 ever were. Think of what the pandemic taught us. There are all sorts of risks we didn’t think of before and can’t even see now.”
While technological advancements will help CEOs navigate the future, Mogi says corporate leaders need to harness these technologies to make the best decisions. “There are things we couldn't adequately measure before and data we didn’t have before that are now available. Because we have much more data to work with, we have a slightly better view of the future than we did in the past. And yet it is still difficult to make good decisions.”
Mogi believes that one important thing has not changed and won’t change anytime soon: “In the end, it’s still the CEO’s job to decide what the future will look like for their organization. Digital tools, AI systems, and big data can help, but at the end of the day someone has to make a decision. Data don’t make decisions; people do.”
“Data don’t make decisions; people do.”