Episode #115: Dieter Haberl, President & CEO, Furla Japan

Originally from Austria, Mr. Dieter Haberl has a wide array of experiences, the most recent being the President and CEO of Furla Japan. Previously, Mr. Haberl has worked with well known names in the retail space such as Adidas, Toys R Us, Lacoste, Reebok, and GAP. Mr. Haberl went to the US after high school. He first went to Northern Michigan for his undergraduate degree, and then to Arizona for his master’s degree in management. He developed a strong interest in Japan very early on, selecting Japan as his regional specialization in university and later doing an internship in Japan.

In the organizations that Mr. Haberl has worked in, he has tried to improve team culture by trying to bring people together. He says that many times, people are divided based on their departments, i.e., Marketing, Finance etc. He says that creating culture can be a top-down approach, where senior leadership is involved. He suggests bringing people together for dinner and drinks and says that this works well in creating good culture. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic age, this can be difficult, and he suggests bringing people together in smaller groups and having virtual meetups.

Mr. Haberl advises trying to engage his team by listening first, learning from them, and then leading them. He says that teams get engaged when they realize you are paying attention to them and that you care. Moreover, driving innovation involves taking risks. However, Japanese culture and education teaches people to be risk averse. This can be a problem when trying to innovate or seek new novel ideas or ways of doing things. He stresses that this can be overcome by creating an environment where people know it is okay to make mistakes and then learn from them.

Advice that Mr. Haberl would give to someone coming to Japan would be to find people that you can trust. He suggests trusting your instincts and asking yourself who you can trust and who you cannnot. He also suggests being patient, listening and learning as much as possible. Sometimes offices with overseas headquarters are unfamiliar with Japanese culture and thus may have unrealistic expectations. He recommends having honest conversations and communicating well with headquarters. Mr. Haberl has noticed that loyalty is a trait unique to Japan. Both Japanese customers and staff are known to be extremely loyal, and it can work to the company’s advantage if they can capitalize on this. Additionally, Mr. Haberl recommends learning Japanese, even if it just a few phrases to communicate better with the locals.