Narihiko Uemura on Sony’s talent philosophy

Remember the first walkman or the first CD player that you listened to? The credit for those incredibly innovative products can only go to Sony Corporation. Over the past 60 years, the company’s portfolio has expanded from creating consumer products to the music, entertainment and financial businesses.

Regardless of which business arm they are under, all Sony employees embrace the ‘make.believe’ philosophy, the innovative and creative corporate culture of the organisation, according to Narihiko Uemura, MD, Sony Electronics Asia Pacific & Sony Electronics (Singapore). “As well as being loyal and energetic, Sony employees are focused on our global mantra ‘make.believe’: Anything you can imagine, you can make real,” says Uemura.

Creating an innovative and open culture

It is not surprising that employees have embraced this culture since the philosophy is shared by leaders at the top. “Our Sony DNA includes open-mindedness, a pioneering spirit and endless curiosity, which you will find in all our employees,” he says. “As a leader, I believe that focusing on the strength of our brand and our people is the key to delivering business success.”

As MD for the Sony Electronics Asia Pacific and Singapore teams, Uemura has thousands of employees under him and communication is the key for effectively leading teams of such numbers, he says.

In fact, he says that “there is no such thing as over-communicating”. He maintains regular contact with his employees through emails, e-newsletters and staff intranet portal, as well as face-to-face meetings, such as lunches, with various departments. He even encourages employees to drop him an email directly if they need to communicate with him.

Also, Uemura says that it is important to earn the respect of employees and listen to their views. “All Sony employees and their ideas and opinions are valuable to me; I make it a point to ensure that there are many channels of communication available to them to share these ideas and know that they are heard.”

This open communication is especially useful when employees are working on key projects. He states that when a team is set up to work on important assignments, he usually gives the direction and ideas on what he wants accomplished. However, the team is encouraged to problem-solve and input their ideas to accomplish the goals, which he says helps them improve their skills, as well as fosters teamwork.

Also, Uemura engages his employees outside of the formal setting of his office. He set up a running group due to his love of the sport, and employees of all ranks join in. He says that this helps him be aware of their views. “It is through such informal runs that I learn more about them individually, their opinions, their feedback, as well as their life at Sony. They have also given me some fresh perspectives and ideas which would probably have not been voiced out in a formal office setting.”

Developing a creative pipeline

For Sony to continue with its business success it has to attract talented people, and Uemura says that the brand name with its many accolades has helped in this aspect. The company currently has 4,500 employees across the Africa, Middle East and Asia (AMEA) region in electronics, sales and marketing sectors. Though he could not give an exact figure for the turnover rate for the AMEA region, he says that it is at “healthy levels”.

However, he candidly states that the reputation of conservative corporate culture in Japanese companies sometimes might work to Sony’s disadvantage. “Japanese companies tend to have a reputation overseas for having a conservative management and long working hours, and we find that this perception can work against Sony.” He says that he does not practise this in the Singapore office as employees “have various flexible working practices” such as working from home and flexi-time.

Sony believes in long-term development of its employees and typically recruits graduates starting out in their careers, he says. “We have recently stepped up our graduate programme in our regional headquarters, offering a two-year rotation programme ending with an overseas placement. The response has been overwhelming, and we will have our first local intake in July,” states Uemura.

The organisation also has an array of programmes as part of their employee development strategy – high-potential employees in the organisation across the region are identified and are sent for leadership training. Also, the company participates in courses organised by Sony University in Tokyo to “work with some of the top US business schools to develop our leaders across our electronics, music, pictures and financial services companies”.

Employees are also given the opportunity to take part in secondments or overseas assignments to add to their work experience. “International experience is critical for career success in Sony, and we actively encourage this with global job boards for employees as well as more focused assignment management for our top talent,” explains Uemura.

The headquarters in Tokyo is making an effort to increase the company’s international presence – the Asia region saw a 50% increase in the transfers of non-Japanese employees last year, Uemura says. Moreover, talented individuals from the AMEA region are moving to new markets, as well as US, Europe, China and Japan to work.

Besides company-related programmes, Uemura has brought about many initiatives since he took over as MD to help retain and develop employees. One of his first initiatives was the Marketing Academy, which gives lectures on various topics each month. It “allows staff to learn from the wisdom of their colleagues in various business groups and upgrade their skills and knowledge”, he explains. Presently, other departments such as IT support are following this concept to educate their employees.

Another was the ‘Applause’ programme, which allows employees to acknowledge each other’s good work. “It allows staff to officially give online kudos to their colleagues who have done a great job and be recognised and rewarded by the company for it.”

Coping with challenges

No company is without challenges and Uemura says that there are several in Sony that he faced due to its large and complex organisational structure. He says that the biggest challenge when he took over as MD was the unity of the teams within Sony Electronics Asia Pacific (SEAP).

“Back then, there were quite a few employees that were working without seeing the bigger perspective – they knew they had a job to complete but were unable to see how their efforts contributed to Sony’s business here in Asia Pacific,” he says.

Another challenge is to manage the expectations of different groups of employees – there are 11 different nationalities comprising various generations of workers. “Staff may understand the ideas I’m trying to explain, but not always well, so I am constantly thinking about how I can get them to truly understand the direction in which I would like all of us to work towards to make Sony better.” He says communicating effectively in the right channels helps in managing employee expectations.

Recently in March, Sony was affected by the tragic tsunami that hit Japan. The organisation had to close a few manufacturing plants, and employees based in the affected areas of Tokyo and Sendai were given a choice to transfer away until the situation stabilised. Uemura says that though the “effects of the disaster will take time to fully [materialise] due to the integrated nature of the semiconductor industry in that location”, the organisation will work hard at re-building.