I was lucky enough to recently sit down with Hideo Goto, the GM of Henke Japan, and speak to him about his business. Over the last few years, he has been able to move the market share of his beauty care from # 7 to an impressive #4 in a challenging and competitive market.
As an entrepreneur, I’m interested in how business leaders are able to accomplish such success. Hideo, with more than 20 years in the health and beauty industry, is no stranger to delivering results with such demanding companies at L’Oreal and Johnson and Johnson. He has continued to drive business, both in Japan and in Asia.
In summary, there were three key components that I took away from our conversation.
Innovation. First, he stressed the importance of innovation, creating, research and development, and being agile.
Local Empowerment. As a global company, he stressed the importance of being locally empowered. Many companies don’t have that agility and flexibility. Some industries need speed. Also, Japanese consumers are the most demanding in the world. Companies need to commit to high quality, along with high efficiency and safety. From a recruiter point of view, I know that the C-suite I deal with always looks for ways to bridge the gap between Japan and APAC or HQ. Hideo is lucky enough to have an organization without that gap, which is so important to grow and thrive in Japan.
Living Values. Henkel has a unique culture, which Hideo calls the 3 Cs Culture.
Challenger. Company where a person can take risks. That’s how a company grows. Many companies don’t allow for that risk taking and there is a fear of failure, but failure is a part of learning and creates a fearless organization.
Creativity. Not only having a sense of beauty, but also to be open to new ideas, thinking outside of the box.
Collaboration. You can’t do everything by yourself. You need the help from your team members and need to leverage that collaboration.
I really enjoyed our conversation and his insights. I hope you’ll give a listen to our conversation on our latest episode of the FocusCore Podcast.
