It’s rare that the CEO gets a chance to compare notes with other c-levels in their industry or even other businesses both greater and smaller. The CEO needs to be the visionary that sets the tone for the whole team. Any CEO that says she or he has no internal issues is usually hiding something. The power CEO identifies the issues and figures out a way to do things better.

As we bring 2016 to a close, we will take advantage of the experience and mental power in the CI meeting. Our focus will be on what the CEO needs to do for planning the future of the firm. We plan to discuss
• How to set and implement realistic budgets
• Setting corporate sales, service, and production targets
• The big R- Resources, Resources, Resources!

Although, we will focus on planning. Other areas that may up are executive privilege, making the most of real estate, and corporate security.

Looking forward to seeing you at CI as we plan for explosive growth!

Date– Tuesday, 15 Nov 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

Things no longer flow as they used to. Just one look at politics around the world will shows the CEO can’t just do business as usual. Businesses are no longer built on R&D, sales, and production. Successful companies of our generation take an idea that simplifies life for people and are able to turn that into a business that can make money. In many cases a business idea may not make any money at all, but draw in investment from people who have bought on to the idea itself. CEOs cannot be asleep at the wheel, we must always be moving because what sells today could be easily take over tomorrow by someone with a great idea working out of a garage. Once a company gets mass and momentum, there is more infrastructure and team that needs to be supported. Innovation is essential to the longevity of that company, but innovation is a moving target.

Rather than being clobbered by the weight of change and business waves, the November CEO Insights lunch CEOs will be talking about how to ride the wave of business change and innovation. Some of the planned topics to be covered will be
-Communicating with the team
-Finding the next business that harmonies with your strengths
-Protecting your innovation
-Knowing when to invest and when to cut your losses

This interactive CEO lunch will bring together top business insights to help you ride the wave of change.

Date– Thursday, 10 November 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

When the earthquake, tsunamis, and nuclear meltdowns of 2011 hit Japan the leadership skills of the CEO were evident. Great leadership led while weak leadership buckled and bailed. Life is waves of ups and downs, but it is possible to have more high points than disasters. Being prepared for natural disasters, regulatory changes, human resource challenges, cyber attacks, corporate espionage and nearly anything that can come at us is mostly about being ready. Readiness comes because we’ve given thought to an area of our business. As the CEO, we are expected to lead our companies into success.

In the November CEO Insights meeting, bosses will have the chance to hear about issues that other businesses have had and how the CEO was able to keep it together. We’ll be covering HR, technology, logistic, legal, and other challenges in this interactive exchange.

Date– Friday, 11 November 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

Join leading Japan-based CEOs for a night of networking and discussions with the theme “Looking Inside”.  A biannual invitation event, the CEO Insights Forum (CIF) is Tokyo’s gathering of the top brass of of the world’s leading brands.

In the November, in addition to great networking, we will have Mr Ben Rowse, MD Nardello & Co. speaking on “The Nexus Between Politics and Business”.  Japanese companies operating overseas have learned the hard way that they are not immune from the long arm of US law enforcement. High profile investigations into Marubeni and Hitachi among others have awoken Japan Inc. to the reputational, legal and financial costs of non-compliance.

Also speaking, will be our own CI member, Mr. Harry Hill.  Mr. Hill and his partner Robert Roche founded Oak Lawn Marketing, a media company, which was acquired by Japan mega-company NTT Docomo in 2009.  Flowing with the CIF theme, Mr. Hill be focusing on the CEO’s need to “Look Inside” from the standpoint of a entrepreneur as well as a the CEO of a large Japanese organization.

The meeting will be moderated by Mr. Ross Rowbury, President of Edelman Japan, and will give you insights from c-level peers, great food, and networking at the top of Roppongi Hills. See a report of the Spring CIF here.

Date-
Thursday, 17 November 2016
7:00PM-8:30PM (Soft closing with drinks until 9PM)
Cost- 9,990 yen
Registration Deadline- 11 Nov

Venue-
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- the star bar & the study
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

*We want to keep things simple. If your company needs a paper invoice and would like to pay via bank transfer, please drop us a line. Otherwise you can easily register and pay via credit card below. No cancellations after 15 Nov.

Sign up here via our online registration. We will be focusing on the event that evening therefore invoices and payments will be completed prior to event day.

**The CEO Insights Forum is a focus group of c-level (CEO, CFO, COO..) executives of leading firms.
CIF brings together bosses of retail, industrial, consumer products, high tech, media, hospitality, real estate, and other areas under one roof. We look forward to seeing you at the Fall event. Please sign-up online or if you have questions please have your PA contact Ms. Imai (in Japanese) at 03-4550-6500.

Years ago, we heard the term multimedia for nearly everything. It was a buzzword that has disappeared but using multiple media in presenting, entertainment, teaching, and other areas is here to stay. Recently, we hear a lot about the Internet of Things or IoT. The concept that all these devices will interconnect via the network. Although, the term IoT may or may not be with us 10 years from now. The interconnection of devices is definitely here to stay.

The combination of artificial intelligence (AI), the cloud and IoT means that systems of machines will be able to interact with human beings, learn about them and better adapt to their needs. How these new cyber-physical systems are transforming human behavior and companies’ business models is the topic of the C3 meeting of October. CI is pleased to welcome Mr. Amit Ranjan, EY Advisory Innovation and Digital Business Leader in Japan. Mr. Ranjan will share on successful implementations of IoT in different fields and industries. The discussion will be open and give CI members a chance to share views and opinions on the role of top management to instill innovation in the organizations and drive the technological change towards to new frontiers.

Date– Tuesday, 18 October 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

More On Mr. Ranjan-
Amit Ranjan has been working for 17 years in Japan with an extensive experience in the Techno-Functional environment in big organizations and currently a partner at Ernst and Young Japan. He has recently been a speaker at the CEATEC 2016 Conference in Tokyo.

CEO Insights meetings provide a lot of knowledge to c-levels running a business in the major trading centers in Asia such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and various other countries. Many of our firms manufacture in China but we don’t go into too much detail about doing business in China. With such an important player such as China, experience in the market can make the difference between business success or failure. In October, CI members will get a chance to dive into China.. without going there. CI welcomes a c-level that has spent several years doing business in China. Mr. Daniel Onaggowinarso

Mr. Onaggowinarso will be sharing with us his insights on the benefits and challenges of running a Sino-German Joint Venture Operation and the cultural and economic challenges of succeeding in the current and future Chinese Market for foreign companies. Special thanks to Bartek Radzimski for arranging this meeting!

Join us for an insightful lunch on doing business in China and see the connections to the business abroad.

Date– Thursday, 13 October 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

Storytelling. Big Data Analytics. Customer Journey. Omni-channel. Consumer Experience. Disruption. All concepts flipped around C-Suite, Marketing and IT circles over recent times. And yet, the rise of the very technology that has enabled and empowered individuals can create seemingly impossible paradoxes for B2C and B2B companies to overcome.

Enter the rise of Design Strategy. What began as a strategic process applied to designing products is now permeating all manner of how to engage with customers, consumers, clients, patients, stakeholders, users… you know, people. Design strategy principles & tactics are impacting boardroom decision making, product & service development and how best to connect with the people you want to build an ongoing relationship with.

On Friday October 14 please join us for lunch with Phillip Rubel, head of Designit Tokyo & a global board member of the firm. Designit is one of the largest and most successful strategic design companies in the world, recently acquired by IT powerhouse Wipro. Designit consults for and co-creates with some of the world’s most successful companies across a huge variety of industries. Come learn how Designit helps companies re-invent themselves, develop products, services and ultimately relationships with their customers in agile and practical ways.

Date– Friday, 14 October 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

In January 2016, CEO Insights members welcomed Dr. Christoph Walther, CEO and founder of CNC – Communications & Network Consulting. The meeting was off the record but something that everyone enjoyed gaining insights on the importance of communications for the inter-workings of business and governments incl. political leaders. We continue to receive great feedback for that gathering.

This time, our guest speaker will be Mr. Bernhard Meising, the new global CEO of CNC, one of the world’s top 3 leading financial communication consultancies.
Bernhard will open CI members to a different perspective. Bernhard will share with us his insights into the communication challenges of complex international M&A transactions and the Do’s and Don’ts during such situations.

This special meeting will be a joint meeting open to all CEO Insights members (limited to space in room). Please register early if you plan to attend. Bernhard is probably Germany’s best known financial PR advisor. Among others, he advised Bayer on its recent announcement to acquire Monsanto, the largest takeover ever by a German firm.

We look forward to seeing you at the CI Joint lunch!

Date– Thursday, 27 Oct 2016 1200PM-1400PM
Venue-
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- Italian Restaurant- La Cucina
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

As a business professional, there are many wonderful places in the world to live. However, there is some appeal to Japan that seems to draw people from around the globe. The food, the safety, the thousands of great companies..the reasons may vary. Every major company in the world that is successful, likely has an office in Japan. Why is it that Japan continues to draw people? Why is it that younger Japanese are no longer moving abroad but are actually coming home. There is a draw to the land of the rising sun. We see it in the doubling in the number of international visitors in 2015.

In the September CEO Insights Luncheon will welcome guest, Carl Kay. Carl is founder and president of TOKYO WAY KK, a destination management company specializing in deep access to authentic Japanese culture, both traditional and modern, emphasizing experiential activities. Carl will share some of his views on why Japan is resonating so strongly with today’s travelers and how the perspective of outsiders like himself who love Japan is changing the travel experience here.

Come enjoy another meeting of Japan’s leading and get a fresh perspective as well as the interaction with other CEOs.

Date– Tuesday, 13 September 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

More About Carl –
An American residing in Japan since 1996, Carl founded and successfully sold a software localization company. He served as President of the Harvard Club of Japan from 2008-2016.
Carl has consulted for companies ranging from Uniqlo to mid-sized Japanese companies in the education and user experience design fields.

The past 30 years has seen a sea change in the willingness, some would say eagerness, of foreign firms in Japan to engage external stakeholders, including government officials and politicians and their staff. Indeed, senior executives in many foreign firms in Japan now see GR as a key element of their business strategy in Japan. The GR space represent a significant shift, it remains to be seen how the Japanese side views the increasingly proactive, high-profile, and “impactful” approach to influence their decision making.

In the August CI lunch we will welcome Keith Henry, a 30 year Japan veteran. Keith began his career in Japan as an aide to a member of the Diet, then as an aide to both the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Environment. After 5 years with a management consulting firm in Tokyo, he established Asia Strategy where he pioneered the establishment of government relations as a profession in Japan. Keith has great client relationships and is very open about what his firm is doing. His clients have included financial services and banking (UBS, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Manulife, Genworth), ICT (Dell, HPE, Vodafone, eBay), healthcare (Pfizer, PhRMA, EFPIA, Bayer, GSK), consumer goods and services (Wynn Resort, Wal-Mart, Philip Morris, UPS), manufacturing (GE, United Technologies, Embraer Aerospace), alternative investment funds (TCI, Elliott Advisors, Caxton Advisors, Perry Capital), among others.

Join us for an insightful lunch on what companies are doing into Japan to work better with our government.

Date– Friday, 8 Sept 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan