Episode #586: Why Authenticity Matters – Inspiring Leadership For Japan’s Evolving Workplace

The blow torch has never been applied more ferociously to how leaders lead than what we see today. Once upon a time, there were resumes pilling up to consider who we would hire. We had the whip hand, and the applicants felt the lash. Now the roles have been reversed and the applicants are interviewing us, rather than the other way around.

I have done my weekly podcast Japan’s Top Business Interviews now for over five years, talking to CEOs here about one topic – leading in Japan. It was never intended for this when I started five years ago, but many of the leaders tell me it is having a positive impact on getting people they want to hire to join the company, in preference to another firm. The reason is that my style of interviewing allows the leader to be authentic and talk in their natural voice. There is no corporate propaganda being issued or false flags being flown.

This is what employees want from their companies and, in particular, from their supervisors. It is easy to proclaim your superior values when times are good. When times get tough, that is when you discover if what you have been told by your boss is real or fake.

I had this experience, and it was very disappointing. I heard all about the importance of our customer, but when the economy went off the rails, the customer was instantly propelled overboard and everything was about the sole interests of the firm. Short-termism took over, and many bridges were burnt to the ground. Promises were retracted and customer collateral damage was waved away as “unfortunate”. Any faith I had in the senior leadership and their commitment to the stated values of the firm evaporated.

As the boss, we have to be very careful about the congruency between what we say and what we do. If we talk about wellness, but we expect people to drive themselves to ill health, then we are revealed for who we were really are. Our interests are the real priority.

Over the years, when looking through people’s resumes, I would ask about some blank spaces. They would tell me they had to quit the company because the horrendous overtime had made them ill. As an Aussie, I always thought to myself “how ridiculous”, but that was the norm in Japan back in those dark days.
If we talk about work/non-work balance, but we push people to work long hours, we are hypocrites and, even worse, obviously stupid hypocrites to boot. If we talk about work ethic, but we are cruising along as the boss, while whipping the troops along, it is clear to everyone that we are applying an indulgent, different set of rules to ourselves.

We can be clever and come up with all sorts of justifications and corporate double speak, but nobody is fooled by our deceit. Treat others how you want to be treated is the most basic level required for boss-subordinate interactions. This is commonly called the “golden rule”. The actual true target level should be to treat subordinates how they want to be treated and is called the “platinum rule”. Let’s go for the platinum rule, shall we?

This sounds easy enough, but there is no necessary uniform idea on this and every person can have quite different expectations. As the boss, we need to keep enquiring about what our people want. We may have had that conversation once before, but a lot can happen in the space of a few years, and these desires are not stagnant. Changes can include getting married, having children, taking care of aged parents, buying a home, paying for the kid’s education, etc. The list of changes are long and we need to appreciate that our subordinates’ needs change.

Taking the view that it doesn’t matter because we pay them is an antiquated idea stuck back in the day when resumes were numerous and boss choices were many. Money is important, of course, but as life speeds up time becomes in short supply. Flexibility can create the time our people need and we can help them achieve things they need. If we are dogmatic about the rules and procedures, that may make us feel powerful, but it will be counterproductive inside the culture. Our research has clearly shown that the key to getting teams engaged is that they feel the boss cares about them. The way they know that is actually the case is through the way the boss communicates and the boss’s capacity to be flexible and supportive of the needs of the staff.

As the boss, you can’t fake this stuff. You are either supportive or you are not. The basic posture has to be an inside out job, where the natural instinct is there to support our staff in every way we can. Prancing around as if you are supportive and using sweet words and pleasant smiles isn’t going to cut it if just fluff. When the decisions get attached to real money, this is when we all see if what the leader says and does is the same thing or not. People are not stupid. They can tell what is smoke and mirrors and what they can trust and rely upon, so let’s not insult anyone’s intelligence.