Winding Paths to Success

6Leadership

Some are born to lead, and others stumble into leadership later in adult life, never fully escaping their self‐doubt. Masami Katakura, chairwoman of EY ShinNihon, falls into the latter case. Thirty‐two years of tenure in a male‐dominated accounting industry has certainly taught her resilience, an ingredient for successful leadership. But it was not until Scott Halliday, then–area managing partner of Japan, discovered a hidden gem in her optimistic mindset that she woke up to her full potential as a leader of such a large organization as EY ShinNihon, which counts over 500 partners and over 5,500 staff members within its ranks.

That Halliday, who groomed Katakura to take over the role of EY ShinNihon chairwoman, is American is not a coincidence. Japanese culture remains patriarchal, evidenced by the recent flight of former princess Mako in 2021 from the imperial family to the United States. As I analyze in my column, “Former Princess Mako's Marriage Holds a Mirror to Japan,” her marriage to a “commoner” meant losing her royal status whereas it would not have been the case were she a prince.

Moreover, even Japan's everyday language itself functions to accentuate the gender bias as I discuss in my other column, “Japan's Language Gender Divide Hurts Women at Work.” It is no surprise that if such an omnipresent haze of gender bias exists, it may quietly cloud the eyes of conventional Japanese male leaders as they pick the candidates for the next generation of leaders. ...