Background
Akiko has twenty years of experience managing and consulting companies through culture change, M&A, joint venture launch, and market entry in Japan. Having served as the founding head of a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corporation and a European branded business, she has an intimate understanding of the specific challenges and demands of leading and performing in a hybrid culture working environment.
Akiko appreciates first-hand the complexity of leadership in cultures and environments that differ from our culture of origins, as well as navigating between global standards and local practice. Her depth of business leadership experience combined with her experience in coaching both leaders and organizations through makes her highly effective with her clients.
Coaching Style
Akiko enjoys working with coachees who lead in culturally diverse environments, usually between management seated in headquarters in the home country, and local stakeholders.
She also works well with coachees in transition, helping them see the challenges of transition as potential opportunities for growth, calibration, and alignment. She helps clients to create the outcomes they seek by clearly identifying areas for growth or change, acknowledging resources available to them, and then adopting their communication and actions to lead to effective results.
Akiko brings inquisitiveness, clarity, warmth, practicality, and non-judgement in her interactions. In working with Akiko, coachees learn to play to their strengths and develop their emotional intelligence to expand their range of communication, or to build aligned growth and lasting change.
Special Interests
Raised between cultures, Akiko understands the power and the challenges of cultural fluidity. She brings curiosity and warmth into her sessions, inviting the client to speak in what the Japanese call the “hon-ne” – using their gut feeling and their authentic self.
Through neurolinguistic programming and co-active coaching, Akiko works with clients to uncover more effective and powerful ways to lead. Coachees identify under-utilised resources, as well as blocks or limiting beliefs holding back their full potential. The collaborative design process influences her approach and helps coachees identify challenges and build actionable solutions.
Training & Qualifications
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Akiko trained at the Academy of Leadership Coaching and NLP, California (USA) and is a certified NLP Coach. She
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holds a BFA in Design and Art History from the Rhode Island School of Design (USA).
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Akiko holds her coaching sessions in English and Japanese, and is fluent in French.
Current Clients
Akiko works with executives and teams in a wide range of sectors including financial services, publishing and consulting.
