Episode #57: Frank Packard, Founder & President, Triple A Partners Co. Ltd.

Frank Packard takes us through his journey in Japan as well as different cultures and business experience in the financial industry. Mr. Packard was originally born in Japan and grew up in the US hoping to pursue law or journalism at Princeton University. After graduating, he lived in Cairo, Egypt for a while before returning to Wall Street to enter the financial industry, starting as an analyst at Paine Webber in 1984. He rapidly worked his way up and arrived in Tokyo in 1986 as the Vice President of the Tokyo branch. Since then, Mr. Packard has held leadership positions covering not only Japan but Asia Pacific regions at multinational financial corporations including Drexel Burnham, Bankers Trust and Bank of America. He is the Founder and President of Triple A Partners, an independent company focused on third-party fund-raising, equity research and corporate finance.

Much of his leadership style is modelled after what he had learned from his early days in finance from his mentors. On his first multinational leadership experience, Mr. Packard recalls trying to break down the hierarchy by making an open office seating arrangement, which was uncommon during the 80s and early 90s. Mr. Packard also recognized the diversity of Japanese people, with different interest, hobbies and background, which he found shocking in the beginning. He also points out that though he found it challenging to hold non work-related conversations initially, he gradually learned to “let people go at their own pace” to learn something outside of work about his staff. On engaging with the younger generation, Mr. Packard admits it is difficult as the youth have many more choices than those in the 1980s. On gaining trust, Mr. Packard claims that listening to people and having patience is key to winning them over in Japan. After gaining further experience leading a team in Hong Kong for Bankers Trust, Mr. Packard began a joint securities company focused on fund placement. He built on this experience as the HSBC head of North Asia of the Alternative Investment Group.

On team engagement, Mr. Packard consistently communicates to his staff about the mantra of the company which is broken down to three goal: to do legal business, do rewarding business and add value. He also notes the importance of ensuring the experience is enjoyable. Mr. Packard states that because of his team’s bilingual capabilities, they have been successful in dealing with clients who need support in both languages that cannot be delivered by larger Japanese firms. Mr. Packard is also keen to providing people with more opportunities to expand and develop their career. For example, he has had an administrative staff take on more active roles in finance. Additionally, Mr. Packard emphasizes the importance of giving women equal opportunities as men in developing their career paths. Mr. Packard shows he trusts his team by allowing unlimited holidays, which allows people to work in a more flexible manner.

To newcoming leaders, Mr. Packard advises to be clear and transparent when communicating with Japanese staff, as they will take everything literally. On a similar note, he does not encourage people to work long hours in the office as executive assistants think they also have to work longer hours. Secondly, Mr. Packard has observed that Japanese are very state conscious and want to have consensus over large decisions. In order to be mindful of this, Mr. Packard advises to learn about the educational background of people to better understand them. Lastly, he advises to not forget to laugh and have moments of joy by being vulnerable and authentic.