Diversity drives innovation at Porsche Japan.

A Paradigm Shift

Our management team consists of eight directors. When I arrived at my job, in the beginning, there weren’t any female colleagues as members of this team. In order to foster diversity in combination with new and being different perspectives, my ambition was set to include more female members to my leadership team.

Traditionally, the car industry -- especially in Japan -- is a male dominated industry and the idea to ring different ways of thinking into the decision-making of the company was quite a new concept for many colleagues.

After almost two years of my tenure at Porsche Japan, I am very proud that now we have two very capable ladies fully integrated in our leadership team: our Head of HR and General Affairs, Mari Minamide, as well as our Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Asako Sudo.

Even more, Ms. Sudo has been appointed to be one of the few Japanese female managing directors in the automobile industry in Japan and definitely the first for Porsche Japan.

Both contribute not only with their international work experience, but also bring in totally new perspectives and solution ideas to our business.

And our organizational change goes further:

We also have a significant pool of female talent in our strong Porsche Japan team. I am confident that some of them will have a chance to become future leaders.

I greatly believe that a diverse team with a good mix of perspectives, be it e.g. nationality, sex, religion, to stay fresh, to stay creative, to get new perspectives. We need this to go forward, and to manage the paradigm change the automotive industry is currently facing. We take pride that we show no bias regarding our staffing and recruiting.

I strongly believe that we are on the right track. It is a journey and this journey might not always be on a straight line. That journey might require compromise and detours. But as long as we keep the goal in sight and we can enjoy the trip, we will stay successful and relevant. Porsche Japan with our team is ready for the future, I am sure.

We are Porsche. We love challenges. So, we enjoy the ride.?

Diversity Is a Success Factor

Part of the Porsche DNA is racing. With racing, you want to get the best out of what you have, and constantly innovate to improve. You win a race, you celebrate, but then immediately think, what can I do better? Not to be complacent and sit back. For that attitude, in order to keep fresh everyday and advance, you need different perspectives. And is diversity in every sense of the word a success factor? Yes, it is.

I think that the best results of innovation come out of diverse teams because within these teams you get different viewpoints. Sometimes different ideas on the best solution create friction. I find this generally fruitful because friction creates energy. Energy creates passion. Passion creates innovation. For me, a perfect circle.?

Dream On

We discovered that many young people in Japan are no longer dreaming. My message to the new generation is “DREAM!” Allow yourself to dream. If you create a dream, follow it. Don't be discouraged, and try to find someone who goes along with you. Don't give up and fight for it. Because it is only by such ambitions that you improve yourself and most probably your environment too.

It is commonplace in Asia for the pressures of the education system to be immense. Social stress is applied from kindergarten age meaning there is preciously little time to be a child. When children don't have time to dream, adults will not dream either. Without dreams there is no way to innovate or create the future. That is why my hope and encouragement for the younger generation is to dream. And I hope that Porsche is part of your dream, or if not, we can help you to dream.?

#porschedreamtogether