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The plain truth: Uniqlo boss Tadashi Yanai explains his plans for world domination

Tadashi Yanai, Chairman and CEO of Fast Retailing of Uniqlo CREDIT: GETTY

12 MARCH 2016 • 12:28PM

As he approaches old age, Tadashi Yanai, the most successful businessman in Japan at an estimated worth of about $15.4 billion, has a few more goals yet to meet. Nothing too taxing: merely to make his clothing-retail company the biggest in the world – it is currently the fourth – with the soundest ethical values, that’s all. Last year he set his manufacturing and retail company, Fast Retailing, which owns the clothing brand Uniqlo, the adrenalin-inducing target of five trillion yen ($44 billion) per year sales by the year 2020. And yet biggest is not enough. The older Yanai gets, the more heart he wants to put into his business. ‘I’m quite old now. My life is ending, and before I die I have to do something,’ he tells me with more levity than these words might suggest. ‘What we say and what we do need to be equal. This is the most important thing.’

Yanai, a married man with two adult sons, one of whom works for Uniqlo, doesn’t look like someone ready to quit this mortal coil any time soon. Short, sturdy and round-faced in a blue suit (he usually wears +J from a Uniqlo collaboration with the German designer Jil Sander), he is 67 and full of vigour. He starts off interviews briskly and gradually thaws into if not warmth, then at least cheerfulness, I’ve met him twice in the past year, both times in the boardroom adjoining his office on the 31st floor of Tokyo Midtown, the second highest tower in the Japanese capital. And despite the distancing nature of an interview translated through earphones by two interpreters sitting at the other end of a long table (he speaks and understands English well, but for the purposes of accuracy prefers to answer in Japanese), there is no mistaking his drive.

On a typical Saturday, Uniqlo's Soho flagship serves about 24,000 customers.   (Photo: Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao for New York Magazine)Tadashi Yanai, the founder and owner of Uniqlo, is the richest man in Japan, worth over $9 billion. He has spoken openly about his ambition to surpass Spain’s Inditex, which owns Zara, as the world’s largest clothing retailer. To that end, Yanai is currently building a Uniqlo University in Tokyo, where he hopes to train 1,500 new store managers a year, who will fan out across the globe. He has discussed expanding by merger, and nearly succeeded in buying Barneys in 2007. Last year, he talked about buying the Gap.Yanai was in town recently to accept the International Retailer of the Year award from the National Retail Federation, which was holding its annual convention at the Javits Center. He was much in demand that day, mostly from the Japanese press. “He is like Warren Buffett in Japan,” says Shin Odake, Uniqlo USA’s COO. “He is on television all the time.”While teams of Japanese cameramen waited, Yanai met with me in a windowless press room. He wore thick glasses and had shaved his graying hair close, and he couldn’t have been more than five-foot-five. Speaking with a translator, he promised more U.S. stores “as soon as possible,” in San Francisco and L.A., and again in New York. When I asked Yanai about his aim to overtake Zara, which grossed about $11 billion in sales last year, he nodded and said, “Yes. By 2020, we’d like to be making $50 billion in sales, $10 billion in operating profit.”Though announcing domination plans is commonplace for “visionary” CEOs, industry watchers aren’t particularly skeptical.“Yeah,” says equity analyst Dairo Murata, who is based in Japan and follows the retail industry for the bank Credit Suisse. “It’s realistic. We’re in the Uniqlo era.”Uniqlo is a company that prescribes, records, and analyzes every activity undertaken by every employee, from Ahmed’s folding technique to the way advisers return charge cards to customers (Japanese style, with two hands and full eye contact). To some extent, management science is an element of all international companies, but Uniqlo’s obsession is more like a turbocharged version of kaizen, the Japanese concept that translates roughly as the continuous search for perfection. (Kaizen is often invoked in business schools when describing Toyota, though less so recently.) Uniqlo has a relatively flat power structure and encourages employees to suggest ideas for improving productivity. Experimentation, however, must go through the proper channels. There is a poster in every Uniqlo manager’s office outlining the “Ten Accountabilities.” No. 8 reads, “As a store manager, always follow company direction. Do not work in your own way.”Each morning at nine o’clock, employees at the Soho store practice working the Uniqlo Way, doing what they call “The Behaviors,” or the ways in which they are taught to interact with shoppers. General manager Kristi Brink oversees the meetings. Before arriving at Uniqlo, Brink had managed at Home Depot and the Sports Authority. “All companies have rules and guidebooks,” she says. “But Uniqlo is on another level entirely. There’s just a sense of urgency about everything in this place.”This morning, 30 “advisers” (as Uniqlo calls its employees who help customers) stand at the bottom of the stairs leading to the lower floor, with notebooks open and pens poised. Each is instructed to carry a notebook at all times, and to write down everything any manager tells them. A manager named Jose Campos begins the meeting by riling the crowd up with challenges, exhorting them to keep the New York Uniqlo store No. 1 in the company (“Paris, No. 2, is moving up, getting close!”); to move as many units per transaction as possible (“If it’s raining, offer them an umbrella”); and to keep “shrinkage,” or theft, to a minimum, by making sure customers know they are present.Within the company, Uniqlo is unusually transparent, informing every employee exactly how much business the store does on any given day, and in each department, down to the number of jeans sold. A four-foot-long chart of sales figures is posted in the employee break room. Campos announces that yesterday, sales were up 70 percent over what they were last year on that same day. (Uniqlo wouldn’t share sales figures, but a good day can easily top $200,000.)“Okay,” says Campos, “let’s turn to our partners and go through the six standard phrases.”Every day, at every Uniqlo worldwide, customer advisers repeat what are known as “the six standard phrases,” which they are expected to use while on the floor. The advisers pair off, and repeat after Campos:“Hello, my name is Uniqlo, how are you today?”“Did you find everything you were looking for?”“Let me know if you need anything. My name is Uniqlo.”

QUOTES“When I first started, my father wouldn’t let me make a shoe. Instead, he said: ‘Sit and watch, sit and watch.’ For months and months, I did that.”—Jimmy Choo

SynopsisFashion designer born in Penang, Malaysia in 1961, Jimmy Choo used the craftsmanship he learned from his father, also a cobbler, to create some of the most coveted shoes in the world.

Early YearsFashion designer. Born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat in 1961 in Penang, Malaysia. The son of a shoe cobbler, Choo was immersed in the world of shoemaking from an early age. His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and by age 11 Choo had made his first pair of shoes."When I first started, my father wouldn't let me make a shoe. Instead, he said: "Sit and watch, sit and watch." For months and months, I did that."After learning from his father about the craft of shoemaking, Choo made his way to England in the early 1980s to study at the Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney, where he graduated with honors in 1983.
Becoming Famous

Choosing to remain in England, Choo opened his first shop in Hackney in 1986 in an old hospital building. It didn't take long for Choo's reputation to build. Within two years of opening his shop, Choo's shoes were featured in an eight-page spread in Vogue magazine.

Soon, Choo became the darling of the celebrity world, in particular Princess Diana, who donned Choo's footwear seemingly everywhere she went.

But it was his relationship with Vogue that would prove to be instrumental in the rise of the Jimmy Choo brand. Despite the rise of his popularity, Choo was still a small operation, making just 20 hand-made pairs shoes a week. But Tamara Yeardye Mellon, an accessories editor at Vogue, who often hired Choo to make shoes for fashion shoots, sensed a larger market for Choo's creations. She approached the shoemaker about partnering to create a line of ready-to-wear footwear.

Together, Choo and Mellon quickly grew the business, keeping the focus on creating high-end footwear, but no longer relying on the idea that every single pair had to be made by Choo himself. They contracted with Italian factories and opened their first boutique shop in London.

By the late 1990s, Choo had stores in Los Angeles and New York and lineup of adoring Hollywood celebrities that included Julia Roberts and Renee Zellweger.

Going Out On His OwnBy the turn of the century, the Choo name was a global brand, with high-end retail clients that included Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue carrying Choo footwear. The Choo brand had also expanded to handbags and other accessories.But in the background, all was not well. Choo and Mellon were at odds about the direction of the company. In what would become one of the more fascinating rifts in the fashion industry, Choo didn't think bigger was better. He questioned the quality of the shoes the company was making, and seemed to long for the days when he was back at his shop in Hackney making a small number of pieces of footwear for specific clients.In 2001, Choo sold his half of the company to Robert Bensoussan of Equinox Luxury Holdings for $30 million.Today, Jimmy Choo has returned to his roots at a small shop he opened in London, which serves as the headquarters for the exclusive Jimmy Choo Couture line. It's here that Choo crafts a small number of pairs of shoes each week and trains a select group of students on how to make high-end footwear.For Choo, a devout Buddhist, education has become a central part of his life. In recent years he has become an Ambassador for Footwear Education at the London College of Fashion and spokesperson for the British Council in its efforts to reach out to foreign students. Choo is also a recipient of the O.B.E. (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).Choo, who has one daughter, resides with his wife, Rebecca in London.

2. Open-mindedness.
The most successful entrepreneurs I know never forget how much they can learn from others. They ask for advice. They're flexible. They soak up the best practices around them like a sponge. Fear of failure can make it easy to grip onto your vision with an iron fist, but rigidity won't serve you.

3. The desire to be an expert.
Entrepreneurs like a challenge. If they didn't, they'd probably have chosen another line of work. But as exciting as it is to consider a new field, high-achieving entrepreneurs know the benefits of staying in the same industry for a while are immense. When you spend years in the same industry, you learn its history. Knowing what's been done before can help you identify how it can and should move forward. In the meantime, you'll build a network of relationships to support you in future endeavors, especially when times are lean. Those relationships are invaluable.

4. A forward-looking approach.
Successful entrepreneurs are always thinking ahead. They may stray from their roadmap, and that's okay, but they have one in mind. Having a clearly established set of goals will keep you from getting stuck. Your goals may be constantly evolving, but if you don't know where you want to go, chances are, you won't get anywhere.

5. A constant flow of ideas.
Having one project that's doing well is great. But the successful entrepreneurs I know don't rest on their laurels. Instead, they're constantly asking themselves, "What's next?" They understand that being a successful entrepreneur is a lifestyle choice, not a destination

By Ruchira Agrawal, Monster Contributing Writer

Have you ever thought about striking out on your own? After all, being your own boss can be an exciting prospect. However, owning a business isn’t for everyone. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have -- or develop -- certain personality traits. Here are nine characteristics you should ideally possess to start and run your own business:

1. Motivation

Entrepreneurs are enthusiastic, optimistic and future-oriented. They believe they’ll be successful and are willing to risk their resources in pursuit of profit. They have high energy levels and are sometimes impatient. They are always thinking about their business and how to increase their market share. Are you self-motivated enough to do this, and can you stay motivated for extended periods of time? Can you bounce back in the face of challenges?

2. Creativity and Persuasiveness

Successful entrepreneurs have the creative capacity to recognize and pursue opportunities. They possess strong selling skills and are both persuasive and persistent. Are you willing to promote your business tirelessly and look for new ways to get the word out about your product or service?

3. Versatility

Company workers can usually rely on a staff or colleagues to provide service or support. As an entrepreneur, you’ll typically start out as a “solopreneur,” meaning you will be on your own for a while. You may not have the luxury of hiring a support staff initially. Therefore, you will end up wearing several different hats, including secretary, bookkeeper and so on. You need to be mentally prepared to take on all these tasks at the beginning. Can you do that?

4. Superb Business Skills

Entrepreneurs are naturally capable of setting up the internal systems, procedures and processes necessary to operate a business. They are focused on cash flow, sales and revenue at all times. Successful entrepreneurs rely on their business skills, know-how and contacts. Evaluate your current talents and professional network. Will your skills, contacts and experience readily transfer to the business idea you want to pursue?

5. Risk Tolerance

Launching any entrepreneurial venture is risky. Are you willing to assume that risk? You can reduce your risk by thoroughly researching your business concept, industry and market. You can also test your concept on a small scale. Can you get a letter of intent from prospective customers to purchase? If so, do you think customers would actually go through with their transaction?

6. Drive

As an entrepreneur, you are in the driver’s seat, so you must be proactive in your approaches to everything. Are you a doer -- someone willing to take the reins -- or would you rather someone else do things for you?

7. Vision

One of your responsibilities as founder and head of your company is deciding where your business should go. That requires vision. Without it, your boat will be lost at sea. Are you the type of person who looks ahead and can see the big picture?

8. Flexibility and Open-Mindedness

While entrepreneurs need a steadfast vision and direction, they will face a lot of unknowns. You will need to be ready to tweak any initial plans and strategies. New and better ways of doing things may come along as well. Can you be open-minded and flexible in the face of change?

9. Decisiveness

As an entrepreneur, you won’t have room for procrastination or indecision. Not only will these traits stall progress, but they can also cause you to miss crucial opportunities that could move you toward success. Can you make decisions quickly and seize the moment?

Starting with only operates at level two Dato’ Aliff have moved in the store lot and had hired two lots of shops to launch a business and make it easier for all business partners deal. Now D'Herbs has become a brand that has gained a place in the hearts of consumers either in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and he  also aim to become one of the famous cosmetic brand in Malaysia and neighboring countries, and expand its market to the whole world.
Dato’ Aliff  have been selling products with D'Herbs in magazines and newspapers such as the Weekly bestsellers in Malaysia Women, Midi, Family, Harmony, Metro, where their ads have been broadcast every week and it was a very big impact for a bussinessman. He has also been broadcast on national radio and got an overwhelming response. More encouraging D'Herbs also sponsored programs such as Akademi Fantasia great and Stars for Stars on Astro and TV3.

Roddick was involved in activism and campaigning for environmental and social issues including involvement with Greenpeace and The Big Issue. In 1990, Roddick founded Children On The Edge, a charitable organization which helps disadvantaged children in Eastern Europe and Asia.

The big break for Microsoft came in 1980 when IBM approached them for a new BASIC operating system for its new computers. In the early 1980s IBM was by far the leading PC manufacture. However, increasingly, there developed many IBM PC clones; (PCs developed by other companies compatible with IBM’s). Microsoft worked hard to sell its operating system to these other companies. Thus Microsoft was able to gain the dominant position of software manufacture just as the personal computer market started to boom. Since its early dominance, no other company has come close to displacing Microsoft as the dominant provider of computer operating software.