At Japan Airlines, Bankruptcy Helped Lay Groundwork for First Female Boss
Ideas:
Perhaps because of the double challenge of being a wife and mother, it makes it hard for a career women to move up the leader to a CEO position.
But more and more women, are not only running major name-brand companies, but many are now running their own companies too.
There are always going to be women who step-up to the challenge, but unfortunately, because of being a wife and mother too, many women, especially in Japan, might shy away from it.
Women, as a resource, is a long-neglected variable in the Japanese economy. And as many companies now face labor shortages, it becomes even more important for Japanese companies to look to Japanese women to fill the vacancies they might have.
Part of the challenge is changing mindsets and expectations of everyone in Japan society. For example, maybe many women aspire to move up the corporate ladder, but societal and companies expectations keep many women from attempting the challenge.
And then there is the mindset of many of the older traditional Japanese corporate men, who don't see the need for women in management positions, and might even feel threatened with women in power situations.
There is also societal expectations on women, to maybe leave the company after they get married, and or still, place more emphasis on raising children instead of moving up the corporate ladder, which, again, might be a psychological barrier to many women who aspire to be in management positions.
There is also the notorious number of hours that many Japanese managers have to work, which might discourage some women from seeking management positions.
Perhaps Kazuho Inamori has/was the real innovator for Japan Airlines and Tottori just followed in his footsteps, but either way, both transformed Japan Airlines.
Maybe overtime, Japan Airlines had become too arrogant, and didn't really respect customers, and maybe they thought they were doing customers a favor instead of the other way, Japan Airlines should have seen customers as key stakeholders.
Its a good lesson to be learned by many Japanese companies to not neglect the customer. That doesn't mean the customer is king or God, but customers are the key to any business, and especially related to the airline industry.
These days, there are many challenges with airline travel, that need to be changed, and if companies would get back to putting customers first, and of course with safety, it would go a long way for positive public relations.
For example, before the pandemic, traveling to Japan from Korea, from Seoul Gimpo to Tokyo Haneda, either on JAL of ANA, both used wide-body planes which provide a lot of comfort and space for customers.
Bu after the pandemic both JAL and ANA switched to smaller body planes with only a middle isle between seats, which made it very uncomfortable, and it seemed everyone was bringing their luggage onto the planes which made getting on and off the plane even more difficult.
But unfortunately, maybe lowering costs instead of customer comfort has become the norm in the airline industry today.
Perhaps, again, Inamori was an old-school manager, who put customers first, which seems to have been neglected in the age of putting share-holders first above workers and above customers, which use to be the two main stakeholders in Japanese companies.
It seems Inamori was like the late Peter Drucker and or Peter Drucker was like Inamori, in what they thought about companies, customers, and managers.
It would be interesting to know if both men knew each other, as Peter Drucker for many years had traveled to Japan and did a lot of seminars on how he thought companies should do business, especially the idea of workers being stakeholders in a company and not just shareholders.
And Drucker's ideas about business never really became that popular in the US, but became very popular in Japan.
Its important for any service type company, which an airline is, to have someone at the top who is close to the front lines as possible. The idea that anyone else in charge just shows that companies are not concerned with customers and their importance.
Its like a car manufacturing company placing someone in finance at the top of the company, when that person might have no experience with customers and or really making cars.
Japanese companies used to have its line managers move from department to department to gain experience in all phases of a company's operations. But these days, everything has become too specialized and new line employees don't get the experience like maybe a Inamori or Tottori had back in the day.
Putting a women as president of JAL might not change much related to Japan's ranking among OECD nations and gender equality, but its a start, just like the Tokyo mayor, Koike is a start for women in politics in Japan.
But again, Japanese society environment and mindsets need to change before many women feel comfortable entering into management positions or in politics in Japan.
And again, JAL is a service type company, which should be very focused on customers and of course customers safety, and it makes perfect sense to have someone with practical experience in a service company who knows what its like and been there and seen the day to day activities of the company and how do deal with customers correctly.
Actually, it should be the priority of any company to have those with practical experience at the top and not some back-room manager who has never seen or been on the front lines of a company.
Its like placing a family member, who has never been in charge of anything at the top of a division of a family owned company just because he/she is the nephew of the CEO, which used to happen a lot in South Korea and the big family owned companies.
It seems Tottori was, at the time, like Koike, was one of the few career oriented women.
Another trend setter was/is Fumiko Hayashi, the former major of Yokohama, who also worked for BMW and other car companies before she became major of Yokohama, the second largest city in Japan.
There are probably many women in Japan like these women, but maybe they are not known or prefer to stay unknown and just do their jobs, be good wives, and raise their children, without a lot of noise or publicity.
Perhaps, Japan is on the verge of seeing a lot of women step-up to management level positions, as maybe the tide as finally changed in Japan, maybe women are actually going to make significant strides in management positions in companies. But maybe not, as who knows exactly.
Who knows exactly means Japan still has a way to go for gender equality, as so does the US. It seems many of the northern European countries have figured out how to solve the gender equality situation with many men and women have equal standing in many situations.
That doesn't mean Japanese men are opposed to Japanese women in management positions, as again, there are many constraints that men too have do deal with, such a going along with the main ideas of what a companies wants, but maybe some men might think having a women in management is a good idea to them.
Many women, such as Tottori might have good communication skills, good business reasoning skills, but if the male CEO or some above dismisses their thinking, they might never get a chance to move up in the company.
Some or many women, see this and either give up and or don't even try to move up into a company as they know and see what is going on and or have seen how other women, before them, were treated and or ignored.
But again, Japanese companies, who are smart and see what is happening will be quick to implement policies and strategies that seek to employ more women in management positions, especially as Japan is going through a labor shortage period, its time to use women in companies besides just as clerks or serving tea.
Customer safety should be number one for any service company and especially an airline. But unfortunately, there are always going to be some customers/passengers who don't follow the rules, no matter how much an airline might emphasize following safety rules and safety procedures.
The Haneda incident might have been the exception as everyone got off safely and everyone followed the rule of now luggage when leaving.
Hollywood movies are never what really happens and the Haneda incident showed that clearly.
Its important, whether a man or woman, that they can get the chance to move around a company and gain experience with many different operations of a company, and not just remain in one positions their entire career.
But again, these days, maybe companies don't move employees around like they used to, as back in the day, Japanese employees, were considered generalists and not specialists meaning they moved around a lot and experienced many different operations in a company.
But again, maybe women, back in the day were not put in to management track positions, which means they were stuck in one part of a company and now allowed to experience other parts of a company to again experience to move up in a company. Tottori, might have been the exception.
Its unfortunate that some men maybe many corporate men, still have that kind of thinking, but of course it might be in the US too for some.
But the more women move up the ladder maybe over time mindsets will change and as more men and women interact in the management arena, men will eventually see women as equal management partners and not just "decorations."
Its not going to change today or even tomorrow but it's going to take time as more and more women enter the management workplace and corporate men really see what they can do, then maybe the mindsets will change.
Have a nice day and be safe!
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