I had no experience of Japan before I first came here. I came here on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme and was placed in a very small town called Ujitawara in Kyoto, planning to return to Canada after a year to study medicine. I couldn’t have asked for a better place for immersion into Japanese culture, be forced to learn Japanese language, and learn how to work effectively with Japanese people.

Be fearless and be true to yourself. I think in life and in business you can only reach the highest levels of success if you take risks, push the boundaries, and sometimes fail. However, if you are true to your purpose, whether it’s your own personally or your business’, you can learn and get better.

I think surviving the Lehman shock was one of the biggest achievements as it was a very difficult time. In addition, I believe en world has taken the leading spot in terms of size within our sphere — talent acquisition for global talent in Japan. This happened under my leadership so I’m quite proud of that.

I want en world to be the most respected recruiting partner in the global talent market. I want us to achieve this through enabling the success of every candidate, client and employee that we influence. If we can achieve this, I believe we can not only be the leader in the industry, but change the industry for the better as well.