125: Noboru Nakatani, President & CEO of JASTEC Co., Ltd.

<p align="left">Noboru Nakatani has been leading in a global environment in various industries including manufacturing, IT, finance, and consulting in France, US and Japan. He is currently the President and CEO of JASTEC Co., Ltd., a leading systems integrator in Japan. Mr. Nakatani graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Keio University and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School. After graduation, Mr. Nakatani worked first as a Production Engineer at Canon Japan, and then led the Research and Development Department in their France operation. He then moved to New York, working as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte before joining JASTEC. As Chairman and CEO of JASTEC International, Inc Mr. Nakatani acquired a French company called LTU, and expanded JASTEC’s business portfolio. Mr. Nakatani also successfully improved JASTEC’s revenue during the first few years of his leadership after the company had been struggling.</p> <p> </p> <p>When looking back at his early leadership years at Canon in Japan, Mr. Nakatani describes it as a “free” environment where engineers were allowed to try new things. The hierarchy was not as top-down, and the decision-making was not necessarily logical. When comparing his early leadership experience in Japan to France, Mr. Nakatani observes that both countries take their time in the decision-making process, yet the reasoning is different. In Japan, it is largely due to people being risk-averse and hesitant to make decisions, whereas in France, it is because there are so many different opinions and discussions that need to be held.</p> <p> </p> <p>In order to maintain trust and engagement during JASTEC’s difficult times as an externally hired leader, Mr. Nakatani listened to his employees and repeatedly communicated his vision and commitment to improve their business. Moreover, he worked to readjust the organization’s client portfolio, and tried to maximize and diversity sales from existing clients. Mr. Nakatani points to internal training and research for his team’s success in