Jan - April 2007

Paul Dupuis speaks to Kansai ACCJ

Paul Dupuis, Director of West Japan for Wall Street Associates, continues to expand his public speaking talents and share his unique insight and knowledge into the Kansai labour and business market. Recently, he has also appeared in several newspapers, magazines, and on TV as a guest on CNN Business Traveler with Richard Quest speaking about the issues relevant to our clients and candidates.

On April 26, Paul Dupuis was a guest speaker at Kitahama Law Office in Osaka. The event was sponsored by the Kansai ACCJ Business Programs Committee as part of a regular ongoing series of distinguished speaker.

"Part I: Busting the Myths: The Kansai Labour and Business Market"

In his two-part presentation, Mr. Dupuis discussed many of the "common myths" surrounding the Kansai business and labour market, and provided data to counter each of these. The myths include; "The Kansai market is negligible or unworthy of serious consideration", "There are few, if any, major corporations thriving in Kansai", "There is a drastic shortage of great talent to staff these organizations in the region", etc....

"Part II: Taking your organization from good to great, using the Virtual Bench"

In the second part of his presentation, he took an interactive approach encouraging participants to examine themselves and their current organizations in relation to the "virtual bench". Mr. Dupuis went in-depth into how to attract, develop and ultimately retain A-players & leaders (a growing challenge for organizations in Japan). Some of the questions posed to the auidence included; "Why do you think people join your organization?", "Why do you think people stay in your organization?, and "Why do you think great people leave your organization?". The common theme throughout the dialogue was on the importance of understanding employee motivation, the benefits of building a virtual bench, and how decision makers can use this tool to attract and retain A-players.

The evening included a lively discussion, with most participants departing with new perceptions and insight about the Kansai region, and more enlightened to the benefits of the virtual bench in developing and strengthening an organization.