"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
"One of the things that I think helps is that you show that you're not working for yourself, but you're working for the team."
"You need to be very mindful about who you interact with and how you bring the message to where you want it."
"You need to show up and be in front of the client and live what you preach."
"Be curious about people, connect with people. Be ready to spend some time on that."
Philippe Sommer is CEO of Aon Reinsurance Solutions Japan and an experienced international insurance and reinsurance executive whose career has taken him from Switzerland to the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
Sommer began his career with Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies. After initially working with international European clients, he moved to the United States before being offered an opportunity in Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima disaster. At the time, Japan's insurance industry had an acute need for international reinsurance expertise.
In his first Japan assignment with Swiss Re, Sommer led sales activities and a team of approximately 40 people. After four years, he returned to Europe before an opportunity emerged to return to Japan with Aon, this time operating from a different part of the insurance and reinsurance value chain.
His experience leading in Japan has required considerable adaptability. Sommer has learned that effective leadership cannot simply be transplanted from a Western corporate environment. Understanding hierarchy, nemawashi, indirect communication, client dedication, consensus building, patience and the importance of personal relationships has been central to his approach.
As a Swiss executive working for global organisations in Japan, Sommer sees himself as an important translator between headquarters and the Japanese organisation: explaining to global leaders why Japan sometimes needs a different approach while also explaining to Japanese colleagues why not everything can be different from global standards.
Narrative Summary
Philippe Sommer's experience leading in Japan illustrates why successful global leadership is less about importing a proven management formula and more about learning how people around you actually think, communicate and make decisions.
Sommer arrived in Japan through the world of reinsurance. Following the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan required significant international reinsurance expertise. Having worked in Switzerland and the United States, Sommer accepted the opportunity to move to Japan and eventually found himself leading a substantial sales organisation.
One of his earliest lessons concerned communication. Japanese expressions that appear positive or ambiguous to a Western executive can carry a very different meaning. A response such as "maybe" may actually represent an extremely strong "no". Translation alone therefore does not solve the problem. Leaders need interpretation: an understanding of the context and intention behind the words.
Hierarchy presented another adjustment. Western executives may be accustomed to relatively flat organisations and feel comfortable contacting anyone necessary to achieve an outcome. In Japan, bypassing a counterpart and approaching that person's boss can cause embarrassment, loss of face and damaged trust. Sommer learned that respecting organisational relationships is essential.
Yet Japanese hierarchy operates alongside nemawashi. Decisions may ultimately be approved at the top, but the groundwork is often built from below. People who will execute a decision need to be involved before the decision becomes official. Skipping that process can make implementation substantially harder.
Sommer consequently favours what he describes as a "pull" rather than "push" leadership style. Instead of simply telling employees how something must be achieved, leaders can establish the desired outcome and then involve colleagues in determining how to reach it. This requires patience, but it produces understanding, involvement and commitment.
Trust is built through similar behaviour. Sommer believes leaders need to demonstrate that they are working for the team and for the client rather than themselves. Leading by example matters. A leader should be visible in front of clients, participate in the work and demonstrate the behaviour expected from others.
Curiosity is another foundation of his leadership approach. Rather than constantly talking about themselves, leaders should learn about other people, their interests, motivations and culture. Open questions help, but so does silence. Western executives accustomed to filling conversational gaps need to become comfortable waiting for Japanese colleagues to formulate and express their thoughts.
Sommer's advice to incoming leaders is therefore deceptively simple: connect with people. Spend time with them. Share meals. Learn something about the Japanese language even if fluency is unrealistic. Understand how communication works. Most importantly, do not arrive believing that a powerful presentation or headquarters mandate will automatically create followership.
His preferred definition of leadership, borrowed from Dwight D. Eisenhower, captures the central lesson: leadership is getting someone to do what needs to be done because that person wants to do it. In Japan, once genuine commitment has been established, Sommer believes the organisation can become almost unstoppable.
Q&A Summary
What makes leadership in Japan unique?
Leadership in Japan requires an unusually strong awareness of context, hierarchy, relationships and indirect communication. Philippe Sommer discovered that literal translation is insufficient because leaders also need to understand the interpretation behind Japanese words and expressions.
Hierarchy remains important. A foreign executive who bypasses a counterpart to contact that person's superior may believe they are simply accelerating communication. The Japanese counterpart may instead experience embarrassment and loss of face, damaging the relationship.
At the same time, hierarchy coexists with bottom-up consensus building through nemawashi. The formal decision may come from above, but effective implementation frequently depends upon groundwork being completed throughout the organisation beforehand.
Why do global executives struggle?
Global executives can struggle because methods that generated results elsewhere may produce resistance in Japan. A leader arriving under pressure from headquarters may immediately begin pushing for rapid change. Sommer warns that this can become a "suicide mission" if headquarters does not understand that achieving sustainable change in Japan may require additional time.
The leader also occupies a difficult intermediary position. Sommer sees himself as a translator between Japan and the global organisation. He must explain to headquarters why Japan is different while simultaneously explaining to Japanese colleagues why global requirements cannot simply be ignored.
Is Japan truly risk-averse?
Sommer recognises greater risk aversion in some parts of Japanese business but cautions against treating everyone as identical. Teams contain different personality types, including people who are ready to act.
The leader's task is partly to identify those "doers", create circumstances in which they can contribute and ensure senior colleagues accept their participation. What can initially look like negativity may also represent an attempt to identify problems before implementation.
What leadership style actually works?
Sommer describes leadership in terms of "push and pull". In Japan, he has found pull leadership particularly effective.
Rather than dictating every step, the leader discusses the intended destination and allows colleagues to contribute to how the organisation gets there. This helps the leader understand why people think as they do and allows solutions to emerge from the team.
Sommer also emphasises leading by example. Leaders must show up, work with clients and demonstrate that they are committed to the same mission as their employees. Trust grows when people see that their leader is not merely delegating responsibility from above.
How can technology help?
Technology can make literal communication easier, particularly through AI-enabled translation, but Sommer's experience suggests technology does not eliminate the need for cultural interpretation.
Machine translation may accurately convert words while missing the meaning behind them. Leaders still need to understand how a statement will be interpreted, what the speaker actually intends and how their own communication is being received.
Technology therefore supports cross-cultural communication but cannot replace curiosity, contextual understanding or human relationships.
Does language proficiency matter?
Sommer believes leaders should learn about Japanese even if they never reach professional fluency.
Understanding basic language structures can reveal how communication itself differs. Japanese sentence construction, including the placement of the verb at the end, requires listeners to wait longer before knowing the full meaning of a statement.
That reinforces an important leadership discipline: listen, wait and become comfortable with silence. Language study can therefore provide cultural insight even when the executive continues conducting most business in English.
What's the ultimate leadership lesson?
Sommer's central lesson is to become curious about people and build genuine connections.
Leaders should spend time with colleagues, share meals, ask open questions, listen and understand what motivates people. A presentation alone does not create followership.
His preferred Eisenhower definition captures his philosophy: "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
For Sommer, that idea has particular power in Japan. When people genuinely want to execute the agreed direction, commitment becomes exceptionally strong and the organisation can become almost unstoppable.
Author Credentials
Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.
He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).
In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.
