Episode #55: Reiko Nakamura, Managing Director, SGK Japan

Reiko Nakamura, Managing Director of SGK Japan, first began her career as a radio DJ in Kobe, where she grew up and graduated from university. She entered the advertising world joining Kobe Shimbun Jigyosha, one of the largest advertising firm in Kobe as a salesperson. During her time there, she became number one in her sales team. Ms. Nakamura’s focus on providing solutions to customers rather than purely selling ad space helped her build strong client relationships. Hoping to gain more global experience, Ms. Nakamura began learning English. She then moved to Osaka to enter SGK, working for Proctor & Gamble as a Print Production Manager. After becoming an Account Manager, Ms. Nakamura stepped into her current role as the Managing Director of SGK, moving from Kobe to Tokyo.

When comparing leading between Japanese and multinational companies, Ms. Nakamura says she saw differences in decision making processes between the Japanese and Americans. She observes that the Japanese are detail-oriented perfectionists and build long term client relationships through a set process. With the Americans, Ms. Nakamura notes they are very decisive and think in a black and white logical manner. Thus, when leading her Japanese employees, Ms. Nakamura carefully explains processes and the reason behind a certain task. The clients also have different expectations depending on their background, and Ms. Nakamura says her relationship building style is different between local and global contracts. With local clients, they require much more details and processes to follow. On recruitment, Ms. Nakamura appealed to those who liked working for more flexible and less hierarchical environments as well as those that want to work for big brand names like Coca Cola.

As a women leader, Ms. Nakamura first struggled to show her leadership as she initially thought she had to adapt a more authoritative style. However, after receiving some training and gaining further experience, Ms. Nakamura realized it is best to be herself and use her strengths in communication. She has weekly Monday morning meetings with her team to ensure they stay engaged despite the pandemic and remote work environment. She values having one on one communication with all her staff as well as having daily conversations with her managers. In order to educate her team members, Ms. Nakamura tries to lead by example but also show her struggles so others can learn from them.

On innovation, Ms. Nakamura encourages her staff to think outside of the box. She has encouraged her team members to come up with innovative ideas and present them to each other. Additionally, Ms. Nakamura values the execution of those ideas and encourages people to track what they are doing and follow up. Ms. Nakamura is also part of organizations to support other businesswomen to take on more leadership roles.

For newcomers to Japan, Ms. Nakamura advises them to encourage Japanese employees to speak up and provide explanation on certain tasks or projects to build trust. She also encourages learning some Japanese to show interest in Japanese culture. Ms. Nakamura lastly advises to “not be afraid to open every door to see the world.”