Cross-Cultural Comms Within the Hitachi Group

Shahar Silbershatz: Welcome, everyone, to Always On, where we speak to global business leaders about brand, reputation and data-driven communications. I’m Shahar Silbershatz 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 Communications 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.

Stephanie Roberts: Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here.

Shahar: It’s great to have you. Let me ask you a bit of a left-field question: Do you ever go to cocktail parties?

Stephanie: Of course! Well, especially in Japan, it’s a big part of the culture. They call it the nomikai culture—drinking after work. That’s where the relationships are made.

Shahar: So let’s pretend that you’re at a cocktail party, and I ask you who you are. How would you introduce yourself?

Stephanie: Usually, I like to say I work in communications. You know, maybe a lot of the people listening to this understand what that means, but sometimes that topic then delves off into another discussion: 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. It’s all about building and protecting trust as well. That’s kind of the day job. But outside of that, I really love traveling, running, reading, hiking, and just trying new things. I think that 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’d never been here before.

Shahar: We definitely want to talk about that. Can you tell us a bit more about your background, personally and professionally?

Stephanie: 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 I never really thought I’d end up there. I grew up in a very small town on a farm with about 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. I’ve been in Tokyo for about four years now. Before that, like I said, my entire life was in the U.S. I lived mostly in the Chicago area, and then I also spent a couple of years in Dallas before coming here to Tokyo.

Shahar: And for those listeners and viewers who don’t know very much about Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, can you tell us a bit more about the company?

Stephanie: A lot of people actually don’t know that Hitachi is a huge conglomerate—there are more than 600 companies that are part of Hitachi. Within that is Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, which is kind of a mini conglomerate within the huge conglomerate. The group is about 15 companies, and we make manufacturing industrial equipment—so, anything from transporters, to air compressors, which are used in factories to help power conveyor belts and things like that, to motors. The motor was actually the founding product of Hitachi, and now it’s part of our portfolio. We also make hoists, cranes, and coding and marking equipment. So if you buy a carton of milk or eggs and you see an expiration date on there, we make the equipment that marks that date. It’s a lot of equipment used in manufacturing in almost every vertical that you could think of.

Shahar: Okay, so you’re entirely on the B2B side of the business.

Stephanie: Absolutely, yes.

Shahar: So what’s a day in the life of Stephanie Roberts as CCO of HIES? Can you describe an average day—which is probably difficult?

Stephanie: It is difficult because every day is so different, but I think that’s what really keeps it exciting. More and more, there’s been a lot of crisis preparation or crisis mitigation. I think it’s also about trying to be more proactive—doing the strategic piece, looking at the data and results. How can we 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 and how we need to pivot. It’s the internal communications piece: How are we communicating with our employees? What does the CEO want to say? Getting the voices of the employees. It’s the PR piece, right? Working with the media. Every day is so different because all of that is within my scope that my team helps with. There’s always a lot going on, but I enjoy it.

Shahar: So no two days are alike, I imagine.

Stephanie: Absolutely not, and probably every communicator says that.

Shahar: How would you say the field has evolved throughout your career? What have you noticed most in terms of how the field has evolved?

Stephanie: Yeah, I think every year it really gets more complex. I really think now it’s kind of a leadership and almost a risk function. What we’re doing is so much than protecting reputations. Now it’s more about understanding the whole business holistically, really anticipating issues, and deeply understanding all the different stakeholders that a company touches every day—the employees, the customers, communities, investors, regulators, you name it. It’s really complex, and when I got into this field, I never imagined it would be this complex and more strategy-driven. But I think that’s the way it’s been going, and it’s even going to be more so moving forward.

Shahar: Yeah, that’s interesting. That actually also brings up some thinking around what the study areas are that are relevant for the future communications leader. Because legal risk could be one of them, emerging more and more. But let’s talk a bit more about that complexity. This is partly why we call this podcast ‘Always On’—because this increasing complexity of communications means that crises can erupt at any minute, and that requires communicators to be always on and very vigilant. How would you say that you and your team at HIES are always on?

Stephanie: 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—we’re more prepared. It’s more about being ready. Especially for a company like mine that’s very global, we have operations in different regions of the world. A crisis can happen at any time. It might happen in the U.S. while we in Japan are sleeping, or vice versa. So it’s about knowing what is happening and having that ability to move quickly but remain calm at the same time. It’s a lot about keeping up with the news and the geopolitics and all of that, to try to understand what’s going on, but also how you can anticipate the risks and not just react to them. It’s a lot of 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.

Shahar: 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?

Stephanie: Yeah, so we’re doing a lot of the traditional things that most companies probably do. Recently, we’ve been doing more training—training our executives, but also the crisis playbook, updating that, especially with AI. You have to continuously update that, making sure that our people know what to do if something happens: who can speak, who shouldn’t speak, what to do, who’s going to draft it, who’s going to approve 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. You want to have that prepared in advance.

Shahar: But I guess these risks also evolve and change. I know that a lot of people we’ve talked to here more and more recently talk about new risks that are emerging—for example, disinformation, which has become a much greater risk now than it used to be. Especially in your company, where, as you said, there are a lot of stakeholders, different regions globally, and cultural sensitivities. How would you say your crisis preparation has evolved over the years to address new types of risks?

Stephanie: Yeah, I think it’s just continuously thinking about it—preparing for those scenarios as best we can, mapping out who the stakeholders are that we would have to notify, what the cadence is, what is every possible thing that can happen. For our business, we’re trying to go more digital too. We’re a traditional equipment manufacturer, but we’re really trying to digitize everything. But as you know, that creates a lot more risk. So it’s just trying to think: What are all those hypotheticals? What could actually happen? And then creating everything in advance that we can to try to be prepared—just thinking through every possible situation.

Shahar: While we’re on the topic of complexity, I also want to ask you: How do you navigate this intersection between American and Japanese business cultures? How do you handle that?

Stephanie: Oh, yes. It’s very difficult. It’s not easy.

Shahar: I can imagine.

Stephanie: But I think there’s a lot of strengths on both sides, and there’s a lot of friction points as well. I don’t know if you’ve read ‘The Culture Map’—anyone who has read that book realizes how truly far apart the U.S. and Japan are on anything from decision-making or speed or disagreement or appetite for risk—all those types of things. In the U.S., at least for us, we’re very explicit. 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. In Japan, there’s a lot more emphasis on relationships, on building that consensus. And disagreement is not so vocal; you kind of have to ‘read the air,’ as they say. If you don’t know about these things going in, you can just miss each other completely, and it’s quite difficult. It’s honestly been a very challenging time in my career, but also I think I will use these skills for the rest of my career. I’ve learned patience; I’ve learned how to work with a completely different culture and gained a deeper understanding of that culture. So I know it’s been tough, but very rewarding as well.

Shahar: And probably easier for you being in the field of communications, because as you said in the beginning, it is about curiosity, building trust, and clarity. I guess all these things also come into play when you have to adjust to a new culture and figure out how to work in that culture.

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. I think, 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 if people are in accounting or finance. I don’t know—maybe it would be more difficult in those areas. I thought it would be more difficult where it wasn’t, maybe.

Shahar: So let’s talk a little bit about culture and internal communications. Another trend that we’re seeing today is the growing voice of employees. Employees become more vocal about company news, about how their companies should behave in reaction to world events. How do you handle that? How do you foster open lines of communication within the company? How do you build trust among the employees with the organization when it comes to working across cultures in such a global company? What is your approach to that?

Stephanie: I think that’s an important question, and especially because we often have to remember that employees are people, right? When they go home at the end of the day and sit with their families at the table or with their friends, they’re talking about those issues that directly impact them—like for the U.S., it’s the tariffs; in many places around the world, it’s the economy, or wars, or geopolitics. But I think oftentimes when it comes to work, 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 leadership is kind of seen as being out of touch. So I think communications can play an important role in building trust by being willing to 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 things, but opening up that two-way communication. Some of the companies in my group have done breakfast with the executives or lunch with the executives, or more open collaborative discussions and Q&As—those types of things. I think it really makes the employees more comfortable, just having those open dialogues. When the employees feel like they’re heard and they can talk about those real-life issues, even if we don’t have every single answer, I think the trust tends to be built a little bit easier.

Shahar: Do you find that the approach on this matter in a Japanese company is different from a typical approach taken by U.S. companies when it comes to openness by executives to the employees and trust from the employees? Do you see any differences?

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think in Japan, employees tend to be much more reserved, and there’s a lot more of the hierarchy at play as well. There’s usually a big gap between a factory worker and the CEO, and they’re a little bit more hesitant to speak directly to a C-level executive. But I think that’s changing with the younger generation. They tend to even go to the CEO’s office and just walk in if he’s not in a meeting or something, but you don’t really see that from other generations. It’s just understanding the generational differences as well.

Shahar: Which might make it more challenging, I guess, to also know what your employees are feeling because they’re not expressing it. So you have to be—

Stephanie: Yeah, oh yeah, that’s a whole other side of working in Japan. That’s difficult as well.

Shahar: Yeah, you need to pay attention to the subtext all the time.

Stephanie: Exactly.

Shahar: I’ve noticed in some of your posts that you talk about alignment between communications with the business strategy and with the purpose of the company. Can you talk to us a little bit more about your approach to that side of things?

Stephanie: Yeah, I think there is very close alignment between communications and the strategy. The questions that I like to think about are: Can the employees see themselves in 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, performance is usually increased. But usually when we think about strategy, it’s these big audacious goals, right? But how does that really make sense for an engineer or a factory worker or a salesperson? 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, as employees understand the direction, they’ll feel that purpose, and then more trust, and then you get better engagement and execution, and ultimately better business results.

Shahar: And when it comes to communications in general supporting the business, how do you measure that? How do you measure the strategic contribution of communications to the business?

Stephanie: It’s not as clear as other functions like marketing when you can tie it to sales and things like that. But in my experience, one big thing for us is safety. As an example, with a third of our workforce working in the factory, I think what we can do is measure using correlation. Using safety as an example, I think it would be wrong of us to say, ‘We created these posters or we created this digital signage and it led to a 20% reduction in injuries year over year,’ or something like that. 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 that a certain percentage—say like 15%—of company safety performance is due to employee engagement, that’s where you can kind of make the tie. So the higher the employee engagement, we can correlate that with safety performance. Something like that—that’s how I tend to look at it. But if you want to try to 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 grail.

Shahar: Another thing that I noticed you talk about is the CCO as a truth-teller to the CEO. 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 the executive team, and how you built that trust to be able to have that conversation.

Stephanie: I can share one example—maybe more surface-level so I don’t give away too much. But I do think it is really important when the communications person can be a partner to the CEO. Like you said, that does often mean saying uncomfortable things. So one situation I can think of is a CEO—not my direct boss, but a different CEO—was personally editing communications line by line, adding complexity to the approval process. We as communications professionals always know that’s going to result in diluted messaging. The approval process is going to take too long. We’re going to miss the moment, right? A lot of the other communications professionals were a little reticent to tell the CEO that directly. I spoke up and voiced my concerns about the diluted messaging and the timing and all of that. I think everyone has to be careful how they frame it too—not to be criticizing, but ‘what’s in it for them.’ This CEO’s time is valuable, right? They should be focused on decisions only they can make, leading the business. And the communication should be left to the communications team, especially this level of detail. That’s one example where I had to tell him—and this was in front of hundreds of people, it wasn’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 because no one else would, and I think he needs to know. But ultimately, you should have the psychological safety and the trust to do things like that. I think you have to be that voice of reason and say the impacts of this, but also the impacts to that person—to their time and what they could be focusing on.

Shahar: Obviously you need to feel that there’s trust—as you said, a safe space—to be able to say these things. I’m wondering, as an American working in a Japanese business environment, is it harder to gain that trust, or do you actually get more leeway?

Stephanie: I think it’s gained differently. This is a big difference: In the U.S., trust is kind of gained by ‘I’ve seen you do work. You do as you say. You do good work, I trust you.’ In Japan, a lot of the trust is built on relationships—’I know this person. We have a good relationship’—that type of thing. So it’s not easier, it’s not more difficult, it’s just different, to be frank.

Shahar: This is also part of the conversation about the role of communications and to what extent they actually have a big say in the company—to what extent they sit around the table and participate in decisions and strategy. What you basically described is the communications function becoming a strategic, value-adding function to the business. How do you advise others who work in 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?

Stephanie: Yeah, I think it’s important to understand the business and understand your peers. You have to be able to communicate with them and understand their issues too. It’s not just staying in the communications lane in that regard, but understanding a bit about everything—not deeply, of course, but understanding a little bit about the strategy, or finance, or operations, or HR, you name it. Understanding 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 the advocacy—the education internally. 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. Strong relationships—you have to build that trust and kind of sell yourself, sell your function internally.

Shahar: So do you find yourself sometimes basically having to educate other disciplines in the company—other C-level executives—about what it is that your department actually does and how you build value?

Stephanie: Still. Absolutely. I think especially in Japan, the idea of communications isn’t as mature as in Europe or the U.S. So yeah, it’s been a lot of ‘Hey, this is happening. Please loop us in. Here’s why.’ Or ‘Here’s why we need to do this.’ It’s a continuous process.

Shahar: What is your ‘why’ that explains to people who don’t understand that around the executive table? What is your punchline?

Stephanie: Well, I don’t know if I have one punchline, but it depends on each person. If I’m talking to the HR person, I would tie it to things like employee engagement or turnover or 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 with 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.

Shahar: But the way that you talk about the strategic value of communications is focusing on the stakeholder that they care about and how you help them.

Stephanie: Precisely. Exactly.

Shahar: I’m also curious to hear your thoughts about another topic that we often talk about here, which is: In your role as CCO, how do you help the CEO respond to sensitive issues that come up? Again, we live in an environment with a lot of geopolitical developments. There’s been a rise over a few years now—it’s kind of waning again, I would say—but there’s been this call for more vociferous or clearer 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 stay silent?

Stephanie: I think typically it comes down to: Do we or should we have an interest or a say in this particular topic? One example I can give—and sorry if so many of my examples are U.S.-centric—but like the Venezuela situation. I’m not going to get deep in the politics, of course, but for something like my company, which is 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, where 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. A lot of the political things in general are landmines, right? So you have to be very cautious. But that’s kind of my approach as of right now.

Shahar: 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?

Stephanie: Well, I think from my perspective—and I’ve even noticed it in my own role—it’s just the speed and the velocity of different crises or incidents. Not everything is a crisis, but I’ve never seen something like this in my own career. I’m not even talking about the political stuff or that type of thing, but even within the company itself. So it’s just reacting to that. I think one of the things that I really fear is burnout, and it’s hard to sustain that when they keep happening so frequently and all the time. You’re always on, and it’s kind of difficult to deal with. I’m trying to understand: How do I prepare my team? How do I prepare myself to cope with this new reality? Because otherwise, we’re going to burn out—the people that we’re really relying on to protect the trust and the reputation.

Shahar: Do you feel it’s getting harder to retain talent in this environment?

Stephanie: In certain cultures—I mean, in Japan, people tend to stick with the company more, though again, that is changing as well. I talk to a lot of my peers in communications, mostly based in Europe and the U.S., 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 that mental load is a lot more than what everyone’s used to. So it’s definitely top of mind.

Shahar: You are 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 you think Western executives, communicators, and business leaders can learn from Japan?

Stephanie: I think there is. One of them is slowing down a bit. I’m used to moving so fast, but I think there are some advantages to slowing down—talking to all the relevant stakeholders, gathering their opinions. When it comes to decision-making, it is so very different than what I was used to in the U.S., 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, and there’ll be no surprises. So I think that’s a good thing. Where it can be challenging is if you have to change—that can be a little bit more difficult. But in terms of 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.

Shahar: So slow down and focus on collaboration.

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. At least in my experience working in the U.S., sometimes a lot of departments are more siloed, or they only think about their related department or maybe one or two other people who might be impacted by that. But I feel like in Japan, there’s a lot more of that consensus and talking with way more people, even if they’re kind of ancillary. There’s a lot more consideration—maybe that’s what it boils down to.

Shahar: 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 you want to banish?

Stephanie: Oh, this is a fun question. One thing that maybe gets to me especially is a lot of people kind of complain about when their colleagues or their boss asks them to ‘pretty something up’—or the ‘coloring department,’ all those types of jokes. And then a lot of people kind of pile on and roast that person. I definitely understand that is annoying. It can be frustrating, but I also think for us as communicators, it’s an opportunity. At least they’re coming to us, right? They’re asking the question, they’re trying to get help. 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 laughing them off or—I guess it’s kind of bad for our profession when a lot of people make fun of their colleagues because they don’t know, right? So that’s something I would personally like to see stop, and just view that as a learning opportunity.

Shahar: Yeah, because people want to have other executives stop thinking about the communication department as a service department, but 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.

Stephanie: Exactly. Exactly.

Shahar: We’ve talked a lot about how tough it is to stay always on, and I’m curious to hear: How do you switch off?

Stephanie: Yeah, I think for me it’s a lot of movement and getting outside, getting outside of my routine. 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 educations you can get—experiencing the different cultures. Since I’ve been on assignment in Japan, I’ve kind of made this personal vow to myself of every weekend trying something new, even if it’s just a new restaurant or exploring a different neighborhood, or sometimes it’s a trip to Seoul or Taipei or something like that. It’s a way to stay out of that expat bubble and keep trying something new. But I also think it keeps my mind off work and keeps that balance. So when you’re always on, you really have to make sure that you make space and make time to switch off.

Shahar: Well, it was a pleasure to speak to you, Stephanie. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.

Stephanie: Thank you so much for having me.

Shahar: 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.