By Maki Shiraki and Anton Bridge
TOKYO (Reuters) – The seeds of former flight attendant Mitsuko Tottori’s rise to the highest of Japan Airways (JAL) had been planted within the aftermath of the service’s chapter greater than a decade in the past.
Tottori, who rose by means of the ranks from cabin crew to chief buyer officer, takes over as president of JAL in April, changing into one of many few girls to steer a significant world airline. Qantas has a lady boss and KLM and Air France are led by girls who report back to a male group CEO.
That ascent from cabin to boardroom is notable in a rustic the place development alternatives are nonetheless restricted for girls: Japan’s gender wage hole is the worst among the many Group of Seven (G7) international locations.
“Her case reveals {that a} girl who began her profession from the bottom place might turn out to be the pinnacle of the agency. It serves as an ideal mannequin for girls’s profession growth in Japanese corporations,” mentioned Kumiko Nemoto, a professor of administration at Tokyo’s Senshu College, and creator of a guide on gender inequality.
Whereas Tottori’s nomination is an indication of change in Japan Inc, it additionally displays JAL’s sweeping organisational shift after a turnaround by industrialist Kazuo Inamori following its 2010 chapter.
Inamori, the founding father of electronics firm Kyocera and cellular operator KDDI who died in 2022, was tapped by the federal government to revive JAL. Recognized in Japan because the “God of administration”, the ordained Buddhist monk prized hands-on expertise and mentioned the service lengthy uncared for clients.
Her appointment was proof “Inamori’s philosophy of specializing in the frontline nonetheless exists at JAL,” one JAL govt mentioned. Disdainful of hierarchy and the unquestioning obedience to guidelines, Inamori inspired all employees to behave as enterprise leaders, the manager mentioned.
Reuters spoke to seven JAL and business sources, all of whom declined to be recognized so they may communicate freely.
Tottori turns into the fourth post-bankruptcy president and the primary former flight attendant. Two of her predecessors got here from engineering and upkeep and one was a pilot.
JAL’s board wished its subsequent president to have expertise within the trenches, three executives mentioned. Present boss Yuji Akasaka, who turns into chairman in April, got here from engineering and upkeep.
Outgoing chairman Yoshiharu Ueki, a former pilot, was significantly against having a president with little sensible expertise, mentioned one of many executives, an individual conversant in JAL’s pondering.
Tottori was not accessible for an interview now, a JAL consultant mentioned. The airline declined remark.
‘CAREER TRACK’
Tottori’s lengthy expertise managing cabin crews and security was one of many causes she was chosen, Akasaka informed a press convention this month.
She joined service Japan Air System (JAS) in 1985 at a time when changing into a jet-setting flight attendant was thought of glamorous and abroad journey was costly and out of attain for a lot of.
The largely home JAS, which lacked the cachet of JAL, was later absorbed by the larger service.
By the point JAL made Tottori a senior supervisor of cabin security in 2013, the airline had carried out Inamori’s administration system, the place leaders of enterprise models meet month-to-month to share cost-saving concepts and aggressive intelligence.
“She might look quiet on the surface, however she has a robust core,” one of many executives mentioned. “She speaks her thoughts firmly at conferences.”
Girls of Tottori’s era had been not often placed on the career-track, leaving corporations now with few inner candidates, mentioned Nobuko Tabata, a associate at govt search agency Egon Zehnder who advises on gender range.
As such, the previous flight attendant has damaged “a number of glass ceilings” and different corporations might look to comply with by rehauling their coaching and promotion insurance policies, Tabata mentioned.
A fifth of JAL’s 32 govt officers are girls, together with Tottori. Girls account for simply 4.7% of govt officers at massive Japanese corporations, in accordance with a authorities survey. The share is greater when outdoors board members are included.
In 2019, Tottori was put accountable for the cabin security division and impressed the demanding Akasaka with well-reasoned factors at govt conferences, in accordance with one JAL supply conversant in the matter.
“She struck a chord with Akasaka,” the supply mentioned.
‘DECORATION’
JAL’s crew was lauded this month for a cool-headed response in seeing all 367 passengers safely off a burning jet after a collision with a Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.
Internally, the crew’s actions had been seen as the results of measures taken following a 2016 emergency at Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport, when three individuals had been injured after passengers ignored warnings and evacuated with hand baggage, an govt mentioned.
After New Chitose, Tottori retooled the in-flight security video to emphasize leaving hand baggage behind and within the Haneda incident, all passengers evacuated empty-handed, the manager mentioned.
Akasaka mentioned this month the choice on Tottori was made in autumn and never associated to occasions at Haneda.
Tottori herself seems to have a way of getting missed out in transferring round in her profession.
She informed Nikkei ESG she had spent a “very long time” coping with cabin operations and hoped youthful staff might work in several departments to achieve wider information.
Many Japanese nonetheless see prime girls executives as “ornament” – introduced in simply to handle gender imbalances, mentioned Senshu’s Nemoto.
Tottori’s promotion might change that and ship a message “that she really earned her present place by accumulating abilities and experiences contained in the agency,” she mentioned.
(Reporting by Maki Shiraki and Anton Bridge; Enhancing by David Dolan and Jacqueline Wong)
