Episode #101: Will Shaffer, President, Boeing Japan

Will Shaffer is currently the President of Boeing, Japan. Mr. Shaffer is originally from the US and started out as a pilot in the Navy, stationed out of Whidbey Island. After working as a pilot, Mr. Shaffer went to Business school and then worked in Consulting in the Seattle area. It was in this role within the consulting space, that Mr. Shaffer got accustomed to Boeing. Before coming to Japan with Boeing, Mr. Shaffer worked for many years in the Puget Sound area working across multiple roles within the supply chain organization. Prior to his posting to Japan over 2 years ago, Mr. Shaffer had some prior exposure to Japanese culture. When he was in the military, he was deployed to Japan several times. He later visited Japan many times when working in Boeing’s Japanese suppliers. He says that an advantage of working at a global organization like Boeing is that though it is in Japan, there are Japanese hires but there are also international staff on the team that were hired locally.

He says he has noticed that many of the employees in Japan are a bit shyer when sharing ideas than perhaps other countries. Mr. Shaffer says that sometimes it takes a bit more effort to draw those ideas out from these people. He says the advantage that Boeing Japan has is probably staff that are more outspoken than an entirely Japanese firm. Sometimes drawing out these ideas can take a bit longer in Japan. Boeing is a highly regulated company, on both the commercial and defense sides so it can be easy to get caught up in the process and rules. He says that encouraging and rewarding managers that encourage innovation on their team while meeting safety and quality requirement is a way to encourage innovation.

He uses a variety of techniques to engage teams and garner ideas outside of them. Before COVID, he says he walked around to talk to people personally for the staff in Tokyo. Boeing has employees dispersed throughout Japan, so he would periodically go visit those regions to engage with those staff in-person. During the COVID period, this has shifted to the virtual world, Mr. Shaffer says that he has noticed that the virtual environment through chat and Webex has enabled some people to speak up and ask questions that they may not have asked that question in an in-person meeting.

Mr. Shaffer’s advice to someone coming into Japan who doesn’t know Japanese, or the culture would be to be humble. This advice could be different from US based or multi-national companies where you are supposed to be louder and advocate for yourself to succeed in the workplace. Another piece of advice would be to have patience, Japan does move at a slower pace and just being positive and celebrating the smaller wins will be helpful. He also suggests exploring the country and culture as that can bring you closer to colleagues and clients as well. Getting to know your team and people is a good step to bring you closer to your team, after-work culture and having drinks with your colleagues. Mr. Shaffer gives his personal advice on respecting privacy but also getting to know his team and workplace and asking about their weekends, sharing more about his own personal life on the weekend and hobbies brings him closer to his team.