Episode #126: Yusuke Asai, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Tokyo Japan

Yusuke Asai is presently the CEO at Standard Chartered bank in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Asai has spent over 32 years in the financial services industry. Mr. Asai credits much of his success and leadership qualities to Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” which he has read twice. Mr. Asai spent his first 10 years with a Japanese bank, then received a scholarship to do an MBA at UCLA in the US. He returned to Japan to work with the bank for a few more years. After this, he switched gears to Investment Banking starting with Goldman Sachs, leading him to various other organizations and eventually stepped into his current position.

Mr. Asai’s first experience in leadership was when he was working for Goldman Sachs. Mr. Asai talks about his responsibilities in the role and why it was important to win mandates to progress in the position. By winning the mandate on his own and proving himself to the leadership team, Mr. Asai was able to justify hiring a better team. Mr. Asai explains that having an understanding of what is required to successfully earn a mandate, and knowing every mechanism and role within one’s own team is essential to becoming an effective leader. Mr. Asai talks about this process and why this understanding is crucial regardless of what country you are in.

Mr. Asai talks about starting his senior leadership role at Reinsurance Group of America where he was a CEO at 45 years old. He worked hard to gain trust from his staff and listened to their advice on what is good for the company. Mr. Asai emphasized good communication and made it a point to connect with all the business heads and team leads in one-on-one conversations. He also connected with all staff members. He listened to all the voices of every employee, which led to increased trust and engagement. Mr. Asai emphasizes having happy clients as the key to building a strong business. He says that if the deal is successful, the clients are satisfied which in turn ensures stakeholders with increased revenue. Thus, business is a cycle that starts with ensuring clients are happy.

Advice given to experts coming into Japan would be to always be mindful that they are being watched by others. He credits good leadership to strong integrity. Mr. Asai thinks that learning Japanese is not necessary to being a good leader in Japan, but he does think it is necessary to provide strong value and be a leader with integrity. Mr. Asai talks about and defines what he believes leadership is with a single phrase - Noblesse oblige or integrity - meaning that a leader that has the privilege to lead, must act with honour and integrity. Mr. Asai believes this is an important core value for all leaders, regardless of country, culture or position.