The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show Podcast Por Dr. Greg Story arte de portada

The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show

The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show

De: Dr. Greg Story
Escúchala gratis

OFERTA POR TIEMPO LIMITADO | Obtén 3 meses por US$0.99 al mes

$14.95/mes despues- se aplican términos.
For succeeding in business in Japan you need to know how to lead, sell and persuade. This is what we cover in the show. No matter what the issue you will get hints, information, experience and insights into securing the necessary solutions required. Everything in the show is based on real world perspectives, with a strong emphasis on offering practical steps you can take to succeed.copyright 2022 Economía Gestión Gestión y Liderazgo
Episodios
  • 383 Screen-Based Strong Messaging: How to Sound Credible on Remote Calls

    383 Screen-Based Strong Messaging: How to Sound Credible on Remote Calls
    Jan 18 2026
    What makes screen-based messaging harder than in-person presenting? Most people already struggle to get their message across in a room, and the screen makes that challenge harder. Because remote delivery removes many of the natural cues we rely on in person, a mediocre presenter can quickly become a shambles on camera. The danger is that people imagine the medium excuses weak messaging or amateur delivery, but it does not. If you have a message to deliver, you need to do better than normal, not worse. The screen also pushes you into a close-up. The audience sees your face more than your slides, so every distraction competes with your message. That means you must treat remote presenting as a serious stage, not a casual call. Mini-summary: Remote calls amplify weaknesses. Treat screen-based delivery as a higher standard, not a lower one. How do logistics and wardrobe choices build credibility on camera? Start with logistics, because your setup becomes part of your credibility. Dress for success and avoid appearing on camera in pyjamas, casual novelty shirts, or anything that signals you did not prepare. Choose full business battle attire and lean toward power colours rather than pastels, because strong, professional visuals support your authority. Avoid narrow stripes, because video technology can struggle to render stripes cleanly, and that visual distortion distracts the audience. When you look professional, you make it easier for people to trust your message. A business suit can look more powerful on screen than business casual, even if casual is typical in the office. Mini-summary: Your clothes and setup communicate before you speak. Professional, camera-safe choices strengthen message credibility. Which simple equipment upgrades stop remote calls from looking and sounding sloppy? Use tools that reduce friction. A mouse lets you move quickly and accurately compared with a trackpad, so you can manage slides and on-screen actions smoothly. If your laptop or home computer camera is not strong enough, use a dedicated webcam so the audience sees you clearly. Audio often causes the biggest problems on remote calls. If your home internet connection is not robust, your sound can break up and undermine your authority. Headphones with a microphone attachment make communication clearer and easier for others to follow. Also record sessions when the technology allows it, because reviewing your own delivery helps you spot habits you cannot notice in the moment. Mini-summary: Upgrade the basics: mouse, webcam, and headset microphone. Clear audio and a clean image remove distractions from your message. How do you fix eye contact and avoid "nostril focus" on video calls? Eye contact matters on screen, yet many people create "nostril focus" because the laptop camera shoots up the speaker's nose. This angle distracts the audience and pulls attention away from what you say. The screen adds another problem: the camera sits above the screen, so you tend to talk to the screen rather than to the camera lens. Train yourself to speak to the camera lens and treat the screen like notes you glance at. Raise the laptop so the camera sits at eye level, which immediately improves the angle and your perceived confidence. Mini-summary: Look into the camera lens, not the screen. Raise the camera to eye level to eliminate distracting angles. What lighting and background choices make your message easier to absorb? Make lighting a priority. If the room looks gloomy, the audience must work harder to read your face, and that weakens engagement. Add lights focused on you so you become the clear centrepiece. Control backlighting: close curtains behind you if outdoor light is too strong, because a bright background can make you hard to see. Do what you can to control the background so it does not compete with your message. If bandwidth allows, use a virtual background to prevent your home environment from becoming the focus. If you cannot, remove distracting items or reduce background lighting so attention stays on you. Mini-summary: Light your face clearly and control backlighting. Simplify or darken the background so your message wins the competition for attention. How do smiling and facial expression change how you sound on screen? People feel tense and uncertain in an unpredictable business world, and your face can reveal those worries without you noticing. On camera, that matters even more because the audience sees you in a large close-up. Smile deliberately, even if your smile is not perfect, because smiling signals confidence and friendliness. A simple reminder can help: place a note above the camera that says "SMILE" so you remember during the call. When you smile, you look relaxed and in control, which helps the audience trust you. Frowning, tightening facial muscles, or creasing your eyes sends the opposite signal and undermines credibility. Mini-summary: Your face communicates your confidence before your words land. Smile on camera...
    Más Menos
    12 m
  • 382 Consensus Selling: The Invisible Decision-Makers Behind The Meeting Room Wall

    382 Consensus Selling: The Invisible Decision-Makers Behind The Meeting Room Wall
    Jan 11 2026
    Why does a request for a proposal in Japan not always mean you are winning? In Japan, reaching "please send a proposal" can feel like major progress, because it sounds like interest. But the request can also be a polite way to avoid a direct "no". Because Japan is a very polite society, a blunt refusal is often uncomfortable, so people use indirect ways to close a conversation without confrontation. Therefore, if you automatically treat the request as a buying signal, you can waste hours producing a proposal that was never going to be acted on. The practical takeaway is to treat the proposal request as a checkpoint, not a victory lap. Use it to test fit and seriousness before you invest heavy time in writing. Mini-summary: A proposal request can mean interest, or it can be polite disengagement. Treat it as a test point, not proof you have the deal. How can you quickly test whether the proposal request is real or just politeness? A simple way to test is to agree to provide the proposal, but add a second step: discuss pricing while you are still together. Because you usually understand what will be involved in the solution, you should be able to talk about pricing, or at least the main pricing component, on the spot. If the real issue is budget, raising pricing early helps flush that out immediately. This approach protects your time. If the buyer reacts as if the pricing is impossible, you have saved yourself from "slaving away" on a document that will be rejected later. If they stay engaged, you have a stronger sign that the request is not just a soft "no". Mini-summary: Say yes to the proposal, then discuss pricing in the meeting. You are testing budget fit before you spend time writing. Why does pricing discussion still not produce a clear yes or no in Japan? Even if you talk about pricing, you should not expect an on-the-spot commitment. Because the person in front of you often needs internal consensus, the decision makers may be "unseen", effectively sitting behind the meeting-room wall. Therefore, the meeting is rarely the final decision point, even when the buyer personally likes your offer. What you can gain is intelligence. When you introduce pricing, watch body language closely. It can indicate whether you will be a serious contender or whether the organisation will quietly move away from you later. Mini-summary: Consensus decision making limits instant decisions. Pricing is still valuable because body language can reveal your standing. Why might Japanese buyers still ask for a proposal even when they do not want to proceed? There are at least two common reasons. First, they may need something written to show colleagues as part of building consensus. Second, they may prefer to deliver the "no" when you are not physically present, because that is less stressful and less embarrassing. Because people tend to choose the path of least resistance, delaying the refusal can feel easier than saying it face-to-face. This is why a proposal request, by itself, is ambiguous. You need additional signals to understand whether the written document is for internal alignment or for an indirect rejection. Mini-summary: They may need paper for internal discussion, or they may want to reject you at a distance. The same request can serve both purposes. Why does a guilt-based proposal tactic from the United States not translate well to Japan? One sales tactic described in Victor Antonio's podcast involves highlighting how many hours it takes to create a proposal, to encourage the buyer to give a clear answer. In Japan, this does not work well because the buyer often avoids confrontation. Rather than choosing a firm "no", they may default to "interested but not sure" regardless of reality, simply to keep the interaction smooth. Because of this, you should avoid methods that depend on direct refusal or open disagreement. Instead, focus on non-confrontational tests such as discussing pricing and observing reactions. Mini-summary: Techniques that rely on forcing a direct "no" can fail in Japan. Use low-friction tests that do not create confrontation. What do tatemae and honne mean, and why do they matter for proposals? Tatemae is the public truth, and honne is the real truth. In Japan, tatemae is a basic tool of polite society. Western businesspeople can feel they were lied to when they first encounter tatemae, but the mechanism is familiar: many cultures use "little white lies" to protect feelings and avoid unnecessary conflict. Because tatemae exists, your buyer's words can be courteous without being decisive. Therefore, you need to listen for what is not said and to design your process so you can clarify intent without pushing the buyer into an embarrassing refusal. Mini-summary: Tatemae (public truth) can mask honne (real truth). Your process must account for polite ambiguity. If you still have to create a proposal, what is the biggest mistake to avoid? The biggest mistake is sending the proposal by email and ...
    Más Menos
    11 m
  • 381 Why Japan's Talent Crunch Makes Retention a Core Strategy

    381 Why Japan's Talent Crunch Makes Retention a Core Strategy
    Dec 22 2025
    Why is "recruit and retain" becoming the central talent strategy in Japan? Japan faces a demographic crunch: too few young people can meet employer demand, and this shortage has persisted for years. Since 2015, the shrinking youth population has pushed competition for early-career talent higher. With a smaller talent pool, every hiring decision carries more risk, and every resignation hits harder. Turnover among new recruits has started climbing again. A few years ago, more than 40% of new recruits left after training; the figure now sits around 34%, and it may rise further. Companies spend heavily to train early-career hires, so losing them soon after onboarding forces employers to pay twice: once to train and again to replace. Mini-summary: Japan's talent pool keeps tightening, and early departures turn training spend into replacement cost. How does the traditional April intake model still shape recruiting in Japan? Major firms still run large-scale April intakes at the start of the financial year, with uniformed new recruits seated in rows. That model remains visible and important, but it no longer tells the whole story. As demand for young workers intensifies, companies can't rely only on a predictable, annual graduate cycle. Mid-career hiring of younger workers is moving into the spotlight. In practical terms, HR teams shift from one big annual intake to continuous recruiting throughout the year. As the labour market grows more fluid, firms compete for talent in real time—not just once a year. Mini-summary: The April intake remains, but year-round mid-career hiring becomes strategically central. Why will mid-career poaching intensify, and what does that change for employers? Younger employees increasingly know their market value, and recruiters actively scout them. As a result, more young workers will likely move jobs more frequently. Recruiters lean into poaching because high volume can make the model profitable even when individual fees stay modest. Expect a "free-agent" rhythm where people recycle through roles every two to three years. That churn reinforces itself: recruiters place the same cohort repeatedly, younger workers normalize frequent moves, and employers feel instability as a default condition. If you want stability, you must treat retention as a core strategy—not an afterthought. Mini-summary: Poaching becomes systematic because volume pays, and frequent moves become a market norm. When should retention start, and who should it target? Retention starts earlier than many leaders assume—right when a candidate says "yes." Accepting an offer triggers second thoughts for some people, especially when competing messages, family opinions, or pressure from a current employer shows up. So retention doesn't only apply to current employees. It also applies to new hires who haven't started yet. Stay in contact, reinforce the decision, and remove the space where doubt grows. Mini-summary: Retention begins at "yes," not on day one, because buyer's remorse can derail hires before they start. How should employers respond to counteroffers and the rising cost of replacement? Incumbent employers will counteroffer more aggressively because replacing people costs more than paying to keep them. Don't wait for a resignation to act. Increase pay and improve conditions before people decide to leave, rather than matching numbers after they quit. Replacement costs stack fast: lost time, reduced productivity, internal friction, recruiting effort, and onboarding load. If you wait until resignation to respond, you often choose the most expensive option overall. Mini-summary: Proactive pay and retention reduce costly churn; reactive counteroffers arrive too late and drain productivity. What is different about onboarding mid-career hires in Japan, especially in large firms? Mid-career hires arrive one at a time, not in large cohorts. In big firms, HR teams typically manage onboarding, paperwork, and training, but routine can hide weak execution. When teams run a process on autopilot for years, quality slips without anyone noticing. Treat onboarding like something you continuously inspect. Review how you bring people in, and ask recent hires what worked and what didn't. In a retention fight, onboarding becomes a front-line capability—not a box to tick. Mini-summary: Large firms need to audit onboarding quality, because autopilot processes can quietly undermine retention. What do smaller firms need to change to retain mid-career hires? Smaller firms often provide only the basics: payroll setup, insurance, a desk, and a phone. That approach doesn't protect retention. Busy leaders sometimes avoid investing time in a new hire, but that "time-saving" move often backfires. Under-support raises the risk of early departure—right when the hire matters most. Owners and senior leaders need to show up more than they used to. Treat talent like gold because the market won't supply easy replacements. ...
    Más Menos
    12 m
Todavía no hay opiniones