Today, I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Seno, the Country Managing Director of the renowned Korn –Ferry International Executive Search Company. A dapper man with a distinguished presence, Mr. Seno greeted us cheerily as we all gathered around the meeting table.
The interview began with an overview of his life thus far:
Mr. Seno was brought up in Japan, and graduated from Yokohama University. He went abroad after graduating and found a job in London. Afterwards, he moved to Bermuda and started working for an oil-trading company. Later, Mr. Seno quit his job and moved to California, attending Stanford University. He took his next job at a strategy-consulting company. However, he wanted to find a new job in Japan, which resulted in his position at Korn-Ferry.
I asked many questions, such as:
(I have paraphrased the majority of the answers.)
Q: Do you think a true leader is one who is just that across many different cultures? Is he/she one anytime anywhere?
A: I think multicultural capabilities are really important to a leader. Even if he/she is a leader of a Japanese company, he/she should be familiar with other cultures; I recommend this to the young people of today. You can see this in executive business search, which is very challenging. Our clients include Japanese, European, and American individuals, and we constantly search for not just leadership skills, but for strong interpersonal skills and multicultural prowess.
Q: What are the top qualities that you look for in your recruits?
A: I know it sounds common and not quite unique, but integrity is very important. In all types of situations, I believe that in the end, integrity is the only thing that works.
Q: Do you think the definition of a leader has been constant across time.
A: It definitely changes. I think willingness to take more responsibility and integrity won’t change over time. But how one functions and the effectiveness of the leadership will change. For instance, at the birth of a new company, the leader should be enthusiastic. Later, after the company is a big success, the leader should be skilled at delegating work and such other skills.
A: How much do you think luck is involved with success?
Q: The interesting thing is that many successful people say that they were lucky. Even it was real luck, if he/she didn’t have the skills to take the opportunity, then it wouldn’t happen.
A: What do you think is the difference between a good leader and a great leader?
Q: One way to look at it is that a good leader is good in the given situation, but a great leader is someone who inspires you and makes you think “wow, I want to be someone like him”.
