{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"278 Benjamin Costa \u2014 Representative Director and Managing Director, La Maison du Chocolat Japan","description":"\u201cLeading a team is every time challenging, to be honest.\u201d \u201cWe need to make a small success every time.\u201d \u201cThere is no official language of the company. The most important is communication.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s not if we will do or not. It is how we will do it.\u201d \u201cOnly people who are not doing nothing are not taking risk.\u201d Benjamin Costa is the Representative Director and Managing Director of La Maison du Chocolat Japan, overseeing a luxury chocolate brand founded in Paris in 1977. Trained in civil engineering, he moved early into action sports retail, becoming a pioneer in European e-commerce and customer trust-building systems during the internet\u2019s formative years. After senior roles growing multi-sport retail and online operations in France, he relocated to Japan with his Japanese wife, driven by a long-standing personal connection to the country developed through annual travels over two decades. In 2015, he became General Manager of the French Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Osaka office, then co-founded an international business development firm supporting market entry for European and Japanese companies across sectors including luxury, high-tech, culture, and food and beverage. He joined La Maison du Chocolat Japan in January 2020 to lead a strategic transformation\u2014reconnecting with Japanese consumers, strengthening alignment with headquarters, and reshaping internal ways of working\u2014while managing an all-Japanese team as the sole foreigner in the subsidiary. Benjamin Costa\u2019s leadership story in Japan is built on an unusual combination: an engineer\u2019s analytical structure, an entrepreneur\u2019s appetite for experimentation, and a deep respect for the social mechanics that underpin Japanese workplaces. As Managing Director of La Maison du Chocolat Japan, he is not merely \u201crunning the shop\u201d; he is running change\u2014balancing the expectations of a French luxury heritage brand with the uncompromising standards of Japanese customers. His approach begins with a clear premise: in luxury, \u201cnot perfect\u201d is still not acceptable. For him, Japan is not a constraint on excellence; it is the benchmark that can lift the whole organisation. If a product, service, or process meets Japanese expectations, he argues, it will travel well globally. Costa treats trust as an operational asset, not a soft concept. Internally, he speaks about building credibility through \u201csmall success every time\u201d\u2014a practical rhythm that mirrors nemawashi and ringi-sho dynamics, where progress is stabilised through incremental validation and consensus. He also recognises that trust must be built in two directions: with the local team and with headquarters. In subsidiaries, he notes, distance and lack of informal contact can weaken confidence and slow decision-making. His solution is to tighten the relationship through evidence, responsiveness, and direct communication between functional experts\u2014so Japan is not an isolated \u201ccastle,\u201d and headquarters is not an untouchable authority. He leads with a deliberately flat management style. Ideas can come from anywhere, and he is comfortable letting his original concept be reshaped into something better by the team. At the same time, he rejects the paralysis that can come from over-consensus. When deadlines are short, he reframes the discussion: the debate is not whether to do the project, but how to do it. That combination\u2014openness paired with decisiveness\u2014becomes his method for working with Japan\u2019s uncertainty avoidance without letting it harden into inaction. Risk, for Costa, is inseparable from growth. He encourages experiments, protects people when outcomes are imperfect, and focuses on learning to prevent repeat mistakes. Yet he is also candid: some people thrive in the former business model and struggle to keep pace with transformation. He treats that as fit, not failure. Ultimately, Costa defines leadership as elevating others\u2014creating conditions where the team can move alongside the leader, not behind him, and where capability expands through responsibility, clarity, and shared wins. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Costa emphasises that trust and credibility tend to be earned in small, visible steps. Rather than grand announcements, progress is reinforced through incremental wins that allow people to align safely\u2014an approach closely related to nemawashi and ringi-sho style decision-making, where consensus is built before execution. He also highlights Japan\u2019s high expectations for quality and reliability, which shape how teams think about accountability and reputational risk. Why do global executives struggle? He points to a common clash: headquarters urgency versus local reality. Executives arrive as change agents under pressure to deliver quickly, but Japan\u2019s organisational habits\u2014consensus-building, precision, and risk sensitivity\u2014slow the apparent pace. His advice is to listen first, move thoughtfully, then return to HQ with a strong, evidence-based case for what will work and why it will take time. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Costa sees risk aversion as real, but not absolute. Japan\u2019s uncertainty avoidance often expresses itself as a desire for clarity of responsibility and avoidance of public failure. His workaround is to create psychological safety: he takes responsibility for outcomes, reframes \u201cfailure\u201d as collective learning, and builds confidence through repeatable wins. Over time, people take more initiative because the consequences feel manageable and fair. What leadership style actually works? He blends empowerment with selective firmness. He runs flat, encourages ideas from the team, and keeps his door open for long, individual conversations until an agreement is reached. But he also breaks silos by design\u2014treating inventory, priorities, and performance as \u201cone Japan\u201d rather than separate departmental territories. When speed is required, he makes the decision structure explicit: the question becomes \u201chow,\u201d not \u201cwhether.\u201d How can technology help? Costa is cautious about AI adoption, arguing that tools can save time but still require verification of sources and critical thinking. In practice, leaders can use decision intelligence concepts to improve judgement, scenario planning, and trade-offs, and they can explore digital twins to test operational changes virtually before rolling them out\u2014while still maintaining human accountability for decisions and customer experience. Does language proficiency matter? He values Japanese ability, but he prioritises communication over perfection. He notes there is \u201cno official language\u201d if the team leaves the room aligned. His experience is that effort matters: speaking Japanese\u2014even imperfectly\u2014invites support, and colleagues often help translate intent into precise business language. What\u2019s the ultimate leadership lesson? Costa defines leadership as raising others. The leader is not the genius; the leader creates the conditions for strong people to contribute, grow, and own outcomes. The best outcome is a team capable of moving the business forward with confidence\u2014because trust, responsibility, and momentum have been built together. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie \u201cOne Carnegie Award\u201d (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers \u2014 Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery \u2014 along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigy\u014d (\u30b6\u55b6\u696d), Purezen no Tatsujin (\u30d7\u30ec\u30bc\u30f3\u306e\u9054\u4eba), Tor\u0113ningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemash\u014d (\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30cb\u30f3\u30b0\u3067\u304a\u91d1\u3092\u7121\u99c4\u306b\u3059\u308b\u306e\u306f\u3084\u3081\u307e\u3057\u3087\u3046), and Gendaiban \u201cHito o Ugokasu\u201d R\u012bd\u0101 (\u73fe\u4ee3\u7248\u300c\u4eba\u3092\u52d5\u304b\u3059\u300d\u30ea\u30fc\u30c0\u30fc). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan\u2019s Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows \u2014 The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan\u2019s Top Business Interviews \u2014 which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan. ","author_name":"Japan's Top Business Interviews Podcast By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan","author_url":"http:\/\/japanstopbusinessinterviews.libsyn.com\/website","html":"