Episode #89: Mats Lindstrom, President, Ducati Japan

Originally from Sweden, Mats Lindstrom is the President of Ducati Japan, an Italian automobile company and shares his fascinating experience working in global companies in Japan. Mr. Lindstrom has been living in Japan since the mid-2000s. His love of marital arts made him develop an interest in Japanese culture. From the early 2000s, Mr. Lindstrom started working at Volvo Car Corporation as the Senior Purchaser and Team Leader. When Mr. Lindstrom heard IKEA was setting up business in Japan, he jumped at the opportunity to work in Japan and was selected among the first group of people to start the company from scratch in Japan as a Sales manager. He then moved on to work again in the automobile industry at Scania, a truck manufacturing company, before becoming the current President of Ducati Japan.

Mr. Lindstrom recalls as the first 30 people hired to set up IKEA Japan, he was the least fluent in Japanese but his management experience at Volvo helped him join the diverse team. Mr. Lindstrom took care of recruiting the team, and was able to hire people with international experience such as having worked or studied abroad and wanted to work at a company that was different from regular Japanese companies. At IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom recalls the culture was very principled and not everyone was a perfect fit, yet he knows many of his former colleagues have worked in the organization for years. Mr. Lindtrom had five direct reports at this time, and as the team grew from 30 to 70+, he oversaw the entire group.

The main difference between leading in Sweden and Japan in Mr. Lindstrom’s opinion is the level of accountability and responsibility people take on within their work. For example, in Swedish culture, people work within frameworks and clearly set responsibilities, and how they find a solution to a problem is up to them. Whereas in Japan, people need detailed instructions to get started on their work. Mr. Lindstrom also points out that one cannot force people to make a change while staying fully engaged. He adds as a foreign leader, he needs to ensure he can rely on his Japanese employees to give him honest opinions and feedback from their perspective instead of being yes men and women who never questions the boss. Additionally, Mr. Lindstrom claims that listening in Japan needs to be done at a whole another level as details and history is taken seriously. Much of this passive stance comes from the fear of making mistakes, Mr. Lindstrom explains, and thus as the leader, he is careful to not criticize but exercise active listening and coach people to ensure they stay engaged.

After IKEA, Mr. Lindstrom moved on to Scania as the Executive Director of Sales in Japan. He recalls meeting and receiving a warm welcome from the company’s VP and eventually CEO, Martin Lundstedt. He found it especially memorable how Mr. Lundstedt tried to get to know Mr. Lindstrom on a personal level, asking about his experience working in Japan, his family, and so on, in addition to talking about business. Mr. Lindstrom has learned from this leadership approach and also tries to emulate being a human leader and helping people grow through a coaching approach. . He is also always giving credit where it is due and encourages creativity through small group discussions. Mr. Lindstrom tries to nurture creativity from his team through active listening and encouragement. For example, if a previously tested and failed idea comes up during a discussion, Mr. Lindstrom encourages his team to contemplate why it failed and whether a different approach can be taken. To gain trust, Mr. Lindstrom says he has tried to be himself as much as possible. He is honest with his team in letting them know he does not have all the answers and is relying on them for knowledge and expertise.

For foreign leaders coming into Japan, Mr. Lindstrom advises them to practice active listening and understand that things take time in order to show results. Mr. Lindstrom defines leadership by taking John Quincy Adams’ words: “Your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.” Mr. Lindstrom adds that a leader is generally interested in people, who is constantly learning and wanting to become better and grow with others to reach a common goal.