QLC Rising Leaders Programme participants return from Japan

Participantsof Qatar Leadership Centre’s (QLC) Rising Leaders Programme recentlyreturned from an exclusive Learning Journey to Tokyo, Japan. There,the participants exchanged lessons on innovation and knowledge creationduring a series of interactive visits to some of Japan’s most successfulmultinational companies and well-known educational institutions. Theknowledge exchange will help the Rising Leaders enhance theircontribution to Qatar’s development goals, QLC has said in a statement.“ThisLearning Journey was an exceptional opportunity for the Rising Leadersto hone their management skills and exchange expertise with Japan’s topbusiness leaders,” said Dr Abdulla bin Ali al-Thani, managing directorand member of the Board of Directors of QLC. “Rising Leadersparticipants will apply what they learned to encourage innovation,knowledge creation and sustainable growth in their respectiveorganisations.”Rising Leaders first visited Itochu Corporation, aglobal trading conglomerate, at its headquarters in Tokyo. There, theylearned about Japan’s post-World War II economic growth and sharedinsights on managing innovative teams and organisations. At Itochu,participants were greeted by Hisato Okubo, head of the Energy Departmentat Itochu Corporation. They received a briefing on the country’sdevelopment from Dr Florian Kohlbacher, North Asia director of theEconomist Corporate Network, part of the British company known forpublishing The Economist magazine.  The Learning Journey alsoincluded a trip to Hitosubashi ICS, a graduate school of internationalcorporate strategy, where participants shared a presentation aboutQatar’s past, present and future to the school’s MBA students. WithProfessor Kazuo Ichijo, dean and professor at Hitotsubashi ICS, theparticipants studied Toyota Motor Corporation as a case study ofJapanese corporate success. The Rising Leaders then visited theTsutsumi Toyota plant in Aichi Prefecture, learning about the company’squality control processes. After the visit to Toyota, the group wasreceived by NEC Corporation, one of Japan’s most prominent informationtechnology multinationals. There, the Rising Leaders took part in aworkshop with NEC executives, learning about how the company isconsidering global trends to inform the development of new, innovativetechnologies. Lastly, the participants discussed management bestpractice with Tomoya Nakamura, dean of Globis University’s GraduateSchool of Management, the largest business school in Japan.TheRising Leaders also explored Tokyo’s rich cultural offerings outside ofthe interactive sessions. These included a river cruise along theSumida, Tokyo’s famous waterway, and touring historic sites.