Stephanie Roberts on Cross-Cultural Comms within the Hitachi Group

[Music] Welcome everyone to Always On, where we speak to global business leaders about brand reputation and data driven communications. I'm Shahar Sobhashad in Copenhagen, and we're back after a short break. It's great to be here again. Our guest today is Stephanie Roberts. She is the Chief Communication Officer at Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems. That's part of the Hitachi Group. Stephanie is based in Japan, where the headquarters are. And another interesting thing about Stephanie is that she's got over 20,000 followers on LinkedIn, which is pretty impressive for our profession. Welcome to Always On, Stephanie. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here. It's great to have you. And let me ask you a bit of a left-feel question. Do you ever go to cocktail parties? Of course, especially in Japan, it's a big part of the culture. They call it the Nomi-Kan culture like drinking after work. That's where the relationships are made. So let's pretend that you're a cocktail party, and I ask you who you are. How would you introduce yourself? Usually I like to say I work in communications, and maybe a lot of the people listening to this understand what that means. Sometimes that topic then delves off into another topic. What does communications really mean? But yeah, like you said, I'm the Chief Communications Officer for Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, which is part of the Hitachi Group. So really, I like to tell people in a simple way, I try to help smart people make complex things very clear. And really it's all about building and protecting trust as well. So that's kind of the day job, but outside of that, I really love traveling, running, reading, hiking, just trying new things. So I think that kind of the curiosity aspect is what pulled me into this career and what keeps me saying yes to things like moving across the world to Japan when I've never been here before. And we definitely want to talk about that. Can you tell us a bit more about your backgrounds personally, professionally? So basically my entire career I've worked in communications, I've worked in several different fields, I started out in civil engineering, and then I spent a little time in legal, I also worked in commercial real estate, and now most of my career has been in manufacturing, which I really enjoy, because I grew up in a manufacturing family, but never really thought I'd end up there. So I grew up in a very small town in a farm, with like 7,000 people, and now here I am living in the biggest metro in the world. So it's quite a story, I will say, but I've been in Tokyo for about four years now, and before that, like I said, my entire life was in the US, I did live mostly in the Chicago area, and then I also spent a couple of years in Dallas before coming here to Tokyo. And for those listeners and viewers who don't know very much, he touched industrial equipment systems, can you tell us a bit more about the company? So a lot of people actually don't know that Hitachi is a huge conglomerate, so there's more than 600 companies that are a part of Hitachi. So within that is Hitachi industrial equipment systems, which is kind of a mini conglomerate within the huge conglomerate. So the group is about 15 companies, and we make manufacturing industrial equipment. So anything from, you know, transformers to air compressors, which are used in the factory to help power conveyor belts or do anything like that to motors. Motor was actually the founding product of Hitachi, now it's part of our portfolio. Voice, screens, coding and marking equipment, so if you buy, you know, a carton of milk or eggs, and you see an expiration date on there, we make the equipment that marks that equipment. So it's a lot of stuff used in manufacturing and almost every vertical that you could think of. Okay, so you're entirely on the B2B side of the business. Absolutely, yes. So what's a day in the life of Stephanie Roberts as a CCO of Hires? Can you kind of describe an average day, which is probably difficult? Yeah, it is difficult because every day is so different, but I think that's what really keeps it exciting. You know, more and more, there's been a lot of crisis preparation or crisis mitigation. I think it's also, you know, trying to be more proactive doing the strategic piece, you know, looking at the data, the results, how can we kind of pivot from that? Are we doing what we should be doing? Keeping up with all the AI and, you know, no longer SEO, but GEO, how that's impacting our content, how do we need to pivot? It's the, you know, internal communications piece. How are we communicating with our employees? What does the CEO want to say? Getting the voices of the employees? You know, it's the PR piece, right? Working with the media. Just every day is so different because all of that is within my scope that my team helps with. So there's always a lot going on that I enjoy it. So no two days are like I imagine. Absolutely not. And probably every communicator says that. You say the field has evolved throughout your career. What do you notice most in terms of how the field has evolved? Yeah, I think, you know, every year it really gets more complex. You know, I really think now it's kind of a leadership and almost the risk function. You know, what we're doing is so much of protecting reputations. So now it's more about understanding the whole business holistically, really anticipating issues, you know, like, deeply understanding all the different stakeholders that accompany touches every day. You know, the employees, the customers, communities, investors, regulators, you name it. It's really complex. And you know, when I got into this field, I never imagined it would be this complex and more, you know, strategy driven. But I think that's, you know, that's the way it's been going and it's even going to be more so moving forward. Yeah, that's interesting. And that actually also brings up some thinking around what are the study areas that are relevant for the future communications leader because legal race actually could be one of them emerging more and more. Let's talk a bit more about that complexity. So this is partly also why we call this this podcast always on because this increasing complexity of communications. Means that there can also be crises erupting in any minutes and that requires communicators to be always on and be very vigilant. How would you say that you and your team at high is are always on? Yeah, and I think that's a reality of being in communications now. But I try to make sure the team and myself aren't in that crisis mode, but we're more prepared. You know, it's more about being ready and especially for a company like mine that's, you know, very global. We have operations in different regions of the world. So you know, crises can happen at any time. You know, might happen in the US while we in Japan are sleeping or vice versa. So it's kind of, you know, knowing what is happening and having that ability to like move quickly, but remain calm at the same time. It's a lot about you have to keep up with the news and the geopolitics and all of that to try to, you know, understand what's going on. But also how can you anticipate the risks and not just react to it. So it's a lot of like, you know, not just paying attention to what's happening now, but what can happen in the future? That's what I think can help avoid some of those crises. Right. And are there any particular systems or protocols that you use as part of preparing your team better to predict risks and to be able to react faster? Yeah. So we're doing, I mean, a lot of the traditional things that most companies probably do. Recently, we've been doing more of the training, you know, training our executives, but also, you know, the crisis playbook, but updating that, you know, especially with AI. You have to continuously update that. Keep making sure that our people know what to do with something happens. You know, who can speak, who shouldn't speak, what to do? Who's going to draft it? Who is going to prove it? We're trying to really make sure all that is honed in on and ready to go. Because I think as you know, once a crisis is happening, there's no time to figure all that out. So you want to have to have that prepared in advance. But I guess these risks also evolve and change. And I know that obviously a lot of people we talk to hear more and more recently talk about new risks that are emerging. For example, disinformation that has become a much greater risk now than it used to be before, especially in your company where, as you said, there's a lot of stakeholders, there's different regions globally and cultural sensitivities. And how would you say your crisis preparation has evolved over the years to address new types of risks? Yeah, I think it's just continuously thinking about it and, you know, preparing for those scenarios as best we can. Right? Just mapping out who are the stakeholders that we would have to notify kind of what's the cadence, what every possible thing that can happen. And it's worth trying to go more digital too. Like we're a traditional equipment manufacturer, but we're really trying to digitize anything. But as you know, you know, that creates a lot more risks. So it's just trying to think what are all those hypotheticals, what could actually happen and just, you know, create everything in advance that we can to try to be prepared and just thinking through every possible situation. While we're on the topic of complexity, I also want to ask you how it is to navigate this intersection between American and Japanese business cultures. How do you handle that? Oh, yes, it's very difficult. It's not easy. I think there's a lot of strengths on both sides and there's a lot of friction points as well. And, you know, I think I don't know if you've read the culture map, but anyone who has, you know, as a bread that book can realize how truly far apart the US and Japan are on anything from like, you know, decision making or speed or disagreement or appetite for risks, all those types of things. So I mean, in the US, at least for hours from we're very explicit, you know, if we don't agree with something, we're not afraid to say that we move quickly, like the move quick and break things philosophy. But in Japan, you know, there's a lot more emphasis on relationships, kind of building that consensus and disagreement. It's not so vocal. You kind of have to read the air as they say. So I mean, if you don't know about these things going in, you know, you can just miss each other completely and it's it's quite difficult. So I mean, it's it's honestly it's been a very challenging time in my career. But also I think I will use these skills the rest of my career. I've learned, you know, patience. I've learned how to work with a completely different culture, a deeper understanding for the culture. So I know it's been tough, but very rewarding as well. And probably easier for you being in the field of cons because as you're setting the beginning, it is about curiosity. It's about building trust. It's about clarity. So these things also come into play when you have to adjust to a new culture and figure out how to work in that culture. Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, fortunately for me, I feel like I have some of those skills. I'll never say I'm amazing at everything, but I think it's a little bit easier versus maybe, you know, some other, I don't know what people are accounting or fine. I don't know, maybe it's a little bit more difficult. Maybe where I thought I would be more difficult. So let's talk a little bit about the about culture and internal communications. Another thing we talked about the growing complexity, but also another one of the trends that we've seen today is the growing voice of the employees. So employees become more vocal about company news. They're more vocal about how their company should behave in reaction to world events. How do you foster open lines of communications, for example, within the company? How do you build trust among the employees with the organizations when it comes to working across cultures in such a global company? What is your approach to that? I think that's an important question. And especially because, you know, we often have to remember that employees are people, right? And we know when they go home at the end of the day with their families, that the table or their friends, they're talking about those issues that directly impact them. You know, like for the US, it's the tariffs or many places around the world is the economy or wars or geopolitics. But I think oftentimes when it comes to work, you know, we tend to take a step back and we don't want to acknowledge those things exist. We kind of ignore them. But when you do that, then you know, leadership is kind of seen as being out of touch. So I think communications we can play an important role in building trust by being willing to kind of talk a little bit about those things, even if the answers aren't simple. But to your point, it can't just be one way, right? It can't just be the executives always saying that, but it's opening up those two ways, you know, two way communication. So like some of the companies in my group, you know, they've done breakfast with the executives or lunch with the executives or more open, collaborative, just discussion, Q&As, those types of things. And I think it really makes the employees more comfortable just having kind of those open dialogues. But when the employees feel like they're heard and they can talk about those real life issues, you know, even if we don't have every single answer, I think the trust tends to be built a little bit easier. Do you find that the approach on this matter in a Japanese company is different from a typical approach taken by US companies when it comes, for example, to, or as you say, openness by executives to the employees and trust from the employees? I mean, do you see any differences? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think in Japan, employees tend to be much more reserved and there's a lot more the hierarchy at play as well. So there's usually a big gap between like a factory worker in the CEO, and they're a little bit more hesitant to speak directly to a CEO level executive. But I think that's changing with the younger generation. You know, they even go to the CEO's office and just, you know, go in if he's, you know, not in a meeting or something, but you don't really see that maybe from other generations of them. So it's just understanding the generational differences as well, which might make it more challenging, I guess, to also know what your employees are feeling because they're not expressing it. Yeah, all we have. That's a whole other side of working in Japan. That's difficult as well. Yeah, you need to pay attention to the subtext all the time. Exactly. So you've also talked about, I've noticed in some of your posts about alignment between communications with the business strategy and with the purpose of the company. Can you talk a little bit more about your approach to that side of things? Yeah, and I think there is very close alignment between communications and the strategy. You know, the questions that I like to think about are, can the employees see themselves and the strategy? Do they understand the role they play? How does their work connect to the strategy? Because there's a lot of research out there that shows when employees can connect to the strategy, then the performance is usually increased. But usually when we think about the strategy, you know, it's these big audacious goals, right? But how does that really make sense for an engineer or a factory worker or a salesperson or something like that? So we're trying to make it something that the leaders aren't just talking about, but helping the employees actually feel they're a part of that. And then from that, you know, we can see as employees understand the direction, they'll feel that purpose and then more trust. And then you get better engagement and execution, then ultimately better business results. And when you come to communications in general, supporting the business, how do you measure that? How do you measure the strategic contribution of communications to the business? It's not as clear as, you know, other functions like marketing, when you can tie it to sales and things like that. But in my experience, you know, one big thing for us is safety as an example with a third of our workforce working in the factory. So I think what we can do is measure using the correlation. So as safety as an example, you know, I think it would be wrong of us to say, okay, we created these posters or we created this digital signage and it led to a 20% reduction and, you know, injuries year over year or something. I don't think that's fair. But what I do think is if you have something like the employee survey data, where you can understand, you know, like a certain percentage, say like 15% of, you know, company safety performance is due to employee engagement. That's where you can kind of make the tie. So the higher the employee engagement, you know, we can correlate that with safety performance. So something like that. That's how I tend to look at it. But if you want to try to like directly tie it to revenue and things like that, it's a little bit more difficult. I think we're all still trying to figure out that holy gradual. Another thing that I noticed you talk about is the CCO is a truth teller to the CEO. And I was wondering if you would be willing to share an example with us of a case where you needed to have a tough conversation or be a truth teller to the CEO or to the executive team and how you built that trust to be able to have that conversation. I can share one example, you know, maybe more surface level to that, give me think away too much. But I do think it is really important when the communications person can be a partner to the CEO. And like you said, that does often mean saying uncomfortable things. So one situation I can think of is CEO, not my direct boss, but a different CEO was personally editing, you know, communications line by line. And then adding complexity to the approval process. So we as communications professionals, you know, we always know that's going the result in deluded messaging. You know, the approval process is going to take too long. We're going to miss the moment, right. And a lot of the other communications professionals were a little reticent to tell this CEO that directly. So I spoke up and voiced my concerns, you know, about the deluded messaging and the timing and all of that. I think everyone has to be careful how they frame it too. You're not to be criticizing, but you know, what's in it for them. So like, you know, this CEO, their time is valuable, right. They should be focused on decisions only they can make and leading the business. And the communications should be left to the communications team, especially this level of detail. So I mean, that's one example where I had to tell him and this wasn't front of hundreds of people. Yeah. You know, isn't the ideal forum and I didn't even have a super deep relationship with him. But I felt I needed to speak up on behalf of the communications people. No one else would. And I think he needs to know. But I mean, ultimately you should have the psychological safety and the trust to do things like that. But I think where, you know, you have to be that voice of reason and say the impacts of this, but also impacts that person to their time and what they could be focusing on. Obviously, you need to feel that there's trust as you said, safe space to be able to say these things. And I'm wondering if as an American working in a Japanese business environment, is it harder to gain that trust or to actually get more leeway? I think it's game differently. At least it's a big difference. Like in the US, trust is kind of gained by, okay, I've seen you do work. You do, as you say, you do good work. I trust you versus in Japan. A lot of the trust is built on relationships. I know this person, you know, we have a good relationship, that type of thing. Hence the cocktail parties. Yeah. So it's not easier. It's not more difficult. It's just different to be frank. So what would you say? Because this is also part of the conversation about the role of communications and to what extent they actually have a big saying in the company. And to what extent they sit around the table and they participate in decisions and strategy. And what you basically described, you know, the communications function becoming a strategic value adding function to the business. How do you advise others who are working companies where maybe communications is not given that type of credence or that type of role? How do you advise other senior communications leaders to actually secure the seat or cement the seat around the table? I think it's important to understand the business and understand your peers. You know, you have to be able to communicate with them and understand their issues too. So it's not just staying in the communications lane in that regard, but understanding a bit about everything. Not deeply, of course, but you understand a little bit about the strategy or finance or operations or HR you name it. Understand what is keeping your CEO up at night. All of us can take the initiative to try to learn more about those other areas. So we become more respected in the business. And then I think another piece is kind of that the advocacy, the education internally. You know, a lot of people still don't really understand communications or they have a very narrow view of what it is or used to be. They don't understand that trust and reputation are on the line. They think it is still that messaging thing, right? So it's like continuous advocacy and education internally as well. You know, strong relationships. You know, you have to build that trust and kind of sell yourself, sell your function internally. So do you find yourself sometimes basically having to educate other disciplines in the company, other sea level executives about what it is that your department actually does? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think especially in Japan, you know, the idea of communications isn't as mature as Europe or the US. So it's, yeah, it's been a lot of, you know, understanding, hey, this is happening. Please loop us in. Here is why or, you know, here is why we need to do this. And how do you explain that? What is your why that explains to people who don't understand that around the executive table? What is your punchline? Well, I don't know if I have one punchline, but it depends on each person. You know, like if I'm talking to the HR person, I would tie it to things like employee engagements or, you know, turnover retention, those types of things that they care about. So I think it's understanding each executive's pain point, what they care about. Like, you know, as my thing, anything in life, right, you need to understand your audience and then tailor your messaging or your pitch, if you will, to each of them. But the way that you talk about the strategic value of comms is focusing on the stakeholder that they care about and how you help. Precisely. Right. Yes, exactly. I'm also curious to hear your thoughts about another topic that we often talk about here, which is you and your role as CCO, helping the CEO respond to sensitive issues that come up. Again, we live in an environment with a lot of geopolitical developments. And there's been a rise over a few years. Now it's kind of on the way. And again, I would say, but there's been this this call for more vociferous or more clear opinions from companies to talk about sensitive issues, whether they're political or societal issues. What is your typical approach? What is your advice when to speak out? When to when to stay silent? I think typically it comes down to do we or should we have an interest or a say in this particular topic? And you know, like one example I can give, then sorry, if so many of my examples are US centric. But yeah, like the venous weightlifting, you know, I'm not going to get deep in the politics, of course. But for something like my company, which is manufacturing, not really oil and gas at all, it's not really relevant for us to speak up about that matter. But if it's an oil and gas company and they feel strongly against that, that might be an opportunity to speak up. Because they have more of a vested interest in that versus my company, and we don't really have anything to say about that. So I think it really comes down to that relevance. And what is the risk versus reward? You know, a lot of the political things in general are very the really in mind, right? So you have to be very cautious. But that's kind of my approach as of right now. What challenges do you see on the horizon for communications leaders? What are some of the key trends and key challenges that you see emerging over this year and the coming years? Well, I think from my perspective, and I've even noticed it in my own role, is just the speed and the velocity of different crises or incidences. Not everything is a crisis, but just I've never seen something like this in my own career. Now, I'm not even talking about the political or that type of thing, but even within the own company. So it's just reacting to that. So I think one of the things that I really fear is burnout. You know, and it's hard to sustain that when they keep happening, you know, so frequently in all the time. And it's like you're always on and it's kind of difficult to deal with. So I think, you know, I'm kind of trying to understand that. How do I prepare my team? How do I prepare myself to cope with this new reality? Because, you know, otherwise if we're going to burn out the people that we're really relying on to protect the trust and the reputation. Do you feel it's getting harder to retain talent in this environment? In certain cultures, I mean, you know, in Japan, people tend to stick with the company more, but again, that is changing as well. But, you know, I talk to a lot of my peers and communication, you know, mostly based in Europe and the US. And I think a lot of people are feeling it. They're talking about it. I don't know that they're leaving their jobs outright, but just kind of that mental load is a lot more than what everyone's used to. So it's definitely top of mind. You're in the fortunate position of being based in a part of the world that has a lot of cultural influence today. I can only tell from looking at my daughter and her obsession with anime and manga. She talks a lot about Japan and all her friends do as well. What about the business world? Is there anything Western executives, communicators, business leaders can learn from Japan? I think there is. One of them is, you know, slowing down a bit. You know, I'm used to moving so fast, but I think there are some advantages to slowing down, you know, talking to all the relevant stakeholders, gathering their opinions. So I think when it comes to decision making, it is so very different than what I was used to in the US. But I think it has a lot of positives to it. Because once you actually reach that decision, then you can move fast. Everyone's in agreement. They're aligned. You know, there'll be no surprises. So I think that's a good thing. Sometimes where it can be challenging is if you have to change that. Change can be a little bit more difficult, but in terms of like talking to the different people and getting that agreement, I think that's something that a lot of cultures could benefit from more of that collaboration upfront. So slow down and focus on collaboration. Yeah, absolutely. At least in my experience, you know, working in the US sometimes, a lot of departments are more siloed. Or they only think about, you know, they're related department or maybe one or two other people who might have, you know, who might be impacted by that. But I feel like in Japan, there's a lot more of that consensus and the talking with way more people, even if they're kind of an ancillary. There's a lot more consideration. Maybe that's what it boils down to. Are there any myths in the area of communications that you'd like to bust anything that you think people think about communications that is wrong or anything that any kind of terms that you want to banish or anything like that? Oh, this is a fun question. One thing that maybe kind of bothers me and linked in especially is a lot of people kind of complaining about when their colleagues or their boss asked them to pretty something up or, you know, something like that, like the coloring department, all those types of jokes. And then a lot of people kind of pile on and roast that person. And I definitely understand that is annoying. It can be frustrating. But I also think for us as communicators, it's an opportunity. Like at least they're coming to us, right? They're asking the question. They're trying to get help. So it's kind of on us to at least acknowledge that and try to teach them or help them understand the right way instead of just, you know, like kind of laughing them off or, you know, that I guess it's kind of kind of ban for a profession when a lot of people are making fun of their colleagues because they don't know. So that's something I would personally like to see stop and is view that it's learning opportunity. Yeah, because people want to have other other executive stop thinking about the communication department as a service department. Right. As a value, a strategic value department. But at the end of the day, everybody needs you. So that's also an opportunity to educate everybody, right? And to engage them. Exactly. Exactly. So we talked a lot about how tough it is to stay always on and I'm curious to hear how do you switch off? Oh, yeah. I think for me, it's a lot of movement and getting outside, getting outside of my routine. So every day I like to start with a run. That's kind of how I clear my head and prepare for the day. I also love traveling a lot. I think that's one of the best education you can get is experiencing the different cultures. And since I've been on assignment in Japan, I've kind of made this personal vow to myself of every weekend trying something new. So even if it's, you know, just a new restaurant or exploring a different neighborhood or sometimes, you know, it's a trip to Seoul or Taipei or something like that. It's a way to stay out of that X-Tem bubble and keep trying something new. But I also think it keeps my mind off work and keeps that balance. So when you're kind of always on, you really have to make sure that you make space and make time to switch off. Well, it was a pleasure to speak to you, Stephanie. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. Many thanks for listening to this episode of Always On. If you haven't done so already, check out some of the other episodes. They're packed with unique insights from seasoned experts at leading companies. Oh, and if you have any comments or questions about anything you've heard on the pod, we'd love to hear from you. Just drop us a line at [email protected]. Thanks again for listening. Till next time, take care.