Engineering Leadership: Traits and Styles of Hitachi's CEO Toshiaki Higashihara

This article explores the successful engineering leadership traits and styles of Toshiaki Higashihara, CEO of Hitachi LTD. It discusses his visionary operations, action-oriented attitude, and skill-building ability. The article also covers the three leadership styles adopted by Mr. Higashihara, including democratic, team, and cross-cultural leadership.

Running head: ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP
ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

1ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP
Introduction
Leadership is a trait with which a
person is born. One may learn and acquire
knowledge about being a better leader,
however the character trait of leadership is
something which is inherent. There are
various kinds of leadership styles and traits
that a person may have.
Engineering Leaders are the leaders
who head innovative companies that
mainly work towards technical innovations
and engineering. The Engineering leader
chosen for this particular assignment is the
present CEO of Hitachi LTD. in Japan,
Toshiaki Higashihara [1]. He has been the
CEO of the company since 2016.
Six Leadership Skills/Traits
The leadership traits that are
adopted by Mr. Toshiaki Higashihara are
as follows-
1. Action Oriented Attitude- It has been
seen that Mr. Higashihara has brought a lot
of organisation changes during his
leadership. He has headed the Smart
Transformation Project Initiatives Division
at Hitachi Ltd. It is generally held that
people with very action oriented and
proactive attitude heads the project
initiatives division.
2. Visionary Operations- A successful
must also be a visionary leader who can
view and understand that part of the future
which other employees are incapable in
seeing. Mr. Higashihara has operated with
great visionary attitude which has made it
possible for him to become the CEO of
such a big organisation. Recently he has
received the “Leonardo International
Prize”. This is in acknowledgement of his
exceptional visionary qualities. His
contribution in the field of expansion
especially in Italy because f the promising
prospects in that area is one of the reasons
behind the award.
3. People and Skills building- Effective
engineering leaders not only guides other
employees but also aims towards building
other effective leaders. Mr. Higashihara

2ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP
has served in various departments of
Hitachi LTD that shows his excellent
human skills. He has served as the
President of Hitachi Plant Technologies,
Executive Officer of Infrastructure System
Group of Hitachi, Executive Officer, In
Charge of Industrial & Social System
Business, Chief Operating Officer of
Power Systems Group of Hitachi Ltd,
Chief Operating Officer of Information &
Telecommunication Systems Group.
4. Initiates Organisational Change- An
effective leader must be proactive in
bringing organisational changes to increase
the efficiency of the organisation. Mr.
Higashihara started investments in regions
which were previously not in the
investment radar of the company. He saw
investment opportunities in new areas and
changed the investment destinations.
5. Operational Integrity- A leader must be
accountable and responsible. An effective
leader follows what he preaches. In this
particular case Mr. Higashihara has been
exceptional in the field of his own personal
integrity in business and the award is a
reflection of that fact.
5. Enthusiastic- The leader must be very
enthusiastic in all senses and should be
doing works on a priority basis. The idea
of leadership comes from the fact that
leaders are very much proactive about the
tasks at hand and enthusiastic about the
situations. This same leadership trait is
also seen in the CEO about whom
discussion is done in this report. He has
been enthusiastic about all the new
projects that have been taken up by
Hitachi.
Three Leadership Styles
1. Democratic Leadership- Mr.
Higashihara has been following a strictly
democratic leadership where he has
consulted with all his employees before
taking important decisions [2].
2. Team Leadership- The CEO of Hitachi
has been a strict believer in the idea of
team leadership [3]. He has set up more
team leaders who are directly answerable

3ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP
to him. These teams function as
independent entities but are synchronised.
3. Cross Cultural Leadership- The CEO
has been a strong promoter of cross
cultural leadership [4]. His team comprises
of employees from all parts of the world.
The company is expanding and the
employee base is also expanding.
Therefore the team now includes people
from all communities and all nationalities.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that
the engineering leadership of the chosen
leader Mr. Toshiaki Higashihara has been
very successful and the company has
grown by leaps and bounds under his
leadership. It can be said that the traits like
“action oriented attitude, operational
integrity, visionary operations, and skill
building ability” will be helpful for other
engineering leaders to go ahead and
become successful in their leadership
phases. The innovation approach of
investing in regions where other
companies are not investing will be also
factors that other engineering leaders may
adopt. Whether or not he will be put into
history as one of the world’s most
exceptional engineering leaders is to be
seen in the future.

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Reference:
[1] Hitachi.com (2018). Directors and
Executive Officers : Hitachi Global.
[online] Hitachi.com. Available at:
http://www.hitachi.com/corporate/about/of
ficers/index.html [Accessed 27 Jul. 2018].
[2] Glauser M, Holland D. The Leadership
Traits Shared by Successful Entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange.
2016 Jul 27.
[3] Antonakis J, Day DV, editors. The
nature of leadership. Sage publications;
2017 Sep 5.
[4] Northouse PG. Leadership: Theory and
practice. Sage publications; 2018 Feb 9.