Influencer Marketing

Expand your reach and engage with your target audience using this trending technique that blends celebrity endorsements with social media marketing.

Leading High Performing Remote Teams

How can leaders ensure that performance remains high in remote or hybrid-work environments?

Design Thinking

Learn the 5 phases of this problem-solving methodology and switch from technology-centered to user-centered thinking.

Reciprocity

Learn what reciprocity is and how it can motivate people and boost sales.

Gantt Chart

Invented in the early 20th century, the Gantt Chart is one of the building blocks of modern project management. In this online course, you'll learn how this tool can be used effectively to monitor progress and achieve your team's goals.

Navigating Change Successfully

The working landscape is continually shifting and being disrupted, so how to employees maintain a sense of stability? Listen to CEO and president of Carl ZEISS Japan Stefan Sacre share his expertise on dealing with change in organizations and entire industries.

Halo Effect

The halo effect is often leveraged for marketing and promotion. But as a type of cognitive bias, it can also have a subconscious impact on decision-making in the workplace. Learn why and (how to overcome it) in this online course.

Anchoring and Framing

Want to increase your confidence during negotiations? Master the principles of anchoring and framing to take your negotiation skills to the next level.

ZOPA and BATNA

Understanding ZOPA and BATNA will help you become a better negotiator, create more value, and feel more confident at the table.

Content Marketing

In this course, you’ll learn how compelling blogs, videos, podcasts, and other media can reach customers and drive sales. You’ll also learn steps for creating an effective content marketing plan, and some important ways to measure its impact and success.

Content marketing is a essential digital marketing strategy for companies looking to provide relevant and useful information to support your community and attract new customers.

Get started on your content marketing journey today.

Sustainable Innovation in Times of Disruption: Choices for a Better Society

There are opportunities for progress all around us. The key is to innovate on these opportunities sustainably.

To help identify most effective path forward, you'll need to gain a global perspective to these challenges in an open discussion. How can Japan and the world take action to create a more sustainable, innovative world? Where do you fit in?

It's time to find out.

Social Media & Digital Communications: Impact on Global Public Opinion

Social and digital media have dominated the communications industry for decades. But it's no secret that social media has the power to sway public opinion, and the way in which many companies use these platforms could be seen as manipulative.

What do companies need to be aware of when utilizing social and digital media? How can these mediums be used to better communicate strategically with the world?

Discover what top media and communications experts have to say.

Blockchain

Blockchain is one of the most captivating technologies out there. Learn what it is and how to make use of its opportunities in this short online course.

Mehrabian’s Rule

The 7-38-55 Rule, developed by Albert Mehrabian, suggests that effective communication relies less on the words we choose than on our tone of our voice, appearance, and body language. Learn how to put this theory to use for better communication in business.

Pareto Principle

Your time and resources are limited. Efficiency means learning to prioritize. The Pareto principle (also called the 80-20 rule) can help you identify the best way to use your time for maximum results.

Country Analysis Framework

Overseas expansion requires careful planning. The Country Analysis Framework can help you look beyond an industry-level analysis and reframe your view based on performance, strategy, and context. Try this short course to learn how it works.

SECI Model

The SECI model illustrates how knowledge is created and shared. Learn how to put it to use for best practices, and how the Japanese concept of “ba” fits in to broaden your perspective.

Johari Window Model

The Johari Window Model is a self-awareness framework that helps you better understand . . . you. Learn how its four quadrants can help you identify gaps between how you see yourself, and how others see you.

Sunk Costs

Wondering if you should continue an investment or look for something new? Sunk costs can have a powerful psychological impact on decision-making. Learn how to recognize them to ensure rational decisions.

CAGE Distance Framework

Want to expand overseas? The CAGE distance framework can help ensure you're constructing a solid global strategy in four areas: cultural, administrative, economic, and geographic. Learn how to leverage useful differences between countries, identify potential obstacles, and achieve global business success.

Groupthink

Groupthink refers to group pressure and the perception of consensus which together lead to ill-formed decisions—or even unnecessary risks. Learn to identify the warning signs of groupthink and apply countermeasures in this online course.

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

Solving problems with the best results means using two types of thinking: deductive and inductive reasoning. In this online course, learn to form a broad premise, make observations, and form conclusions from different perspectives.

Critical Thinking: Hypothesis-Driven Thinking

Anyone can come up with a good idea. The real challenge is putting that idea into action. In this online course, explore how to form compelling, testable hypotheses and bring ideas to life in your own organization.

Critical Thinking: Structured Reasoning

Even a few simple techniques for logical decision making and persuasion can vastly improve your skills as a leader. Explore how critical thinking can help you evaluate complex business problems, reduce bias, and devise effective solutions.

Critical Thinking: Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is a central business skill, and yet it's the one many people struggle with most. This course will show you how to apply critical thinking techniques to common business examples, avoid misunderstandings, and get at the root of any problem.

How to Dream

Join globally renowned author and Columbia Business School professor Dr. Sheena Iyengar as she explains how to approach your dreams with a new perspective. Learn to reflect on what you long to accomplish and what stands in your way.

Logical Thinking

Logical thinking is at the heart of confident, persuasive decisions. This course will equip you with a five-point approach to more becoming a more logical thinker. Learn to classify ideas and distinguish fact from opinion.

Investing & Diversity: The Changing Faces of Venture Capitalists

Is the venture capital industry embracing diversity in investors? Watch global venture capitalists from around the world discuss the state of things and what needs to be done for a more inclusive future.

Servant Leadership

There's more to leadership than driving a team to profit. In fact, there's a word for looking beyond self-interest to prioritize individual growth: servant leadership. Try this course for a quick breakdown of what that is, how it works, and how it can lead to organizational success.

Organizational Behavior and Leadership

Ever wonder what makes a great leader? Whether your role requires leadership or not, understanding organizational behavior is useful for your career. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can set you on your way.

Leadership vs. Management

Leadership and management are different skills, but today’s leaders must have both. Try out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to understand the difference, as well as when and why each skill is necessary for motivation, communication, and value.

Strategy: Creating Value Inside Your Company

Have you ever wondered why certain companies are more successful than others? The answer is strategy: internal processes that control costs, allocate resources, and create value. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can give you the tools you need for that strategic edge.

Strategy: Understanding the External Environment

To plan strategy on any level, you need to understand your company's external environment. In fact, your level of understanding can impact hiring, budgeting, marketing, or nearly any other part of the business world. Want to learn how to do all that? This course from GLOBIS Unlimited is the perfect first step!

Using Japanese Values to Thrive in Global Business

Japanese companies have unique cultural, communication, and operational challenges. But they also have values that have led to remarkable longevity. Check out this seminar to hear how these values help earn trust from overseas head offices and develop employees.

Turnaround Leadership: The Differences Between Japan and the West

What's the best way for leaders to communicate a shift in corporate strategy? How do you even know when it's time for such a change? This course explains how Japan might have one answer, Western companies another.

Conflict Management

Conflicts in the workplace are inevitable. But they can lead to positive outcomes if they’re managed well. Check out this online course for a two-step process that can help you manage conflict successfully.

Evernote Founder: How Tech Startups Can Break through in Japan

Can startup models from Hollywood and Silicon Valley succeed anywhere? Phil Libin, cofounder and CEO of startup incubator All Turtles, explains how AI can solve everyday problems to bring products to market.

Women Empowerment: Lessons from Cartier

How can women overcome gender inequality and reach their leadership goals? Cartier Japan CEO June Miyachi shares her secret in this special course from GLOBIS Unlimited.

Marketing: Reaching Your Target

Every company works hard to get its products into the hands of customers. Are you doing everything you can to compete? In this course, you’ll find a winning formula to turn a product idea into real sales. Follow along through the fundamentals of the marketing mix and see how companies successfully bring products to market.

Marketing Mix

Seeing good products into the hands of customers is no easy task. The marketing mix can help. It's a collection of strategies and tactics companies utilize to get customers to purchase their products or services, and is an essential part of the overall marketing process.

The Principles of Negotiation

With the proper skills and attitude, anyone can become a successful negotiator.  But first, you'll need to learn the basics to prepare for, assess, and respond to offers for the best results. GLOBIS Unlimited can help.

Negotiation: Creating Value

Want to create more shared value between yourself and your negotiation opponent? Discover how cognitive bias affects the judgment of others. Try this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to master the value of negotiation.

Finding Your Life Purpose with Ikigai

Ikigai can guide you in your quest for self-discovery. Listen to Japanese brain scientist Ken Mogi explain why and how.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Want to leverage Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a leader? Try this short course to see how the theory can be applied in practical work scenarios.

Confirmation Bias

We all subconsciously collect information that reinforces our preconceptions. It's natural . . . but it does lead to a kind of flawed decision-making called confirmation bias. To become more objective and impartial, check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited!

An Investor's Lesson to Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs have the power to transform societies for the better. But how do you attract investors to start or grow a business? Or to sell one? Check out this seminar for the answers to these and more, straight from a master venture capitalist!

Managerial Accounting

Managerial accounting is a powerful way to measure progress, identify problems, and meet your goals. Check out this course to learn how data-backed decisions can help you run your business.

Finance Basics: 1

For a healthy mix of quantitative planning, evaluation, and management, you need solid decision-making. And finance is the secret sauce! Get the essentials of finance in this two-part course from GLOBIS Unlimited.

Basic Accounting: Financial Analysis

Want to compare your performance vs. a competitor? Or evaluate a potential vendor? Then you'll need to conduct a financial analysis. This course will teach you how to use three financial statements and evaluate financial performance in terms of profitability, efficiency, soundness, growth, and overall strength.

Career Anchors

What drives you to be good at your job?

Career anchors are based on your values, desires, motivations, and abilities. They are the immovable parts of your professional self-image that guide you throughout your career journey.

Try this short GLOBIS Unlimited course to identify which of the eight career anchors is yours!

Digital Marketing Psychology to Transform Your Business

How does digital marketing really differ from traditional marketing? How is social media changing things really? And what's going on in Asia?

Pyramid Structure

Having the pyramid structure in your communication toolkit can not only help you approach a problem, but convince others that your solution is valid. Break away from linear thinking and test your logical thinking with this course from GLOBIS Unlimited!

Leadership with Passion through Kokorozashi

The key ingredient to success? Passion.

Finding your kokorozashi will unify your passions and skills to create positive change in society. This GLOBIS Unlimited course will help you develop the values and lifelong goals you need to become a strong, passion-driven leader.

AI First Companies – Implementation and Impact

AI is changing the way companies operate. How do you structure teams to increase efficiency?

Technovate in the Era of Industry 4.0

Is Industry 4.0 is the next step of human evolution human civilization? Dr. Jorge Calvo seems to think so. Join him to learn how the past can help you set goals for an exciting future of digital innovation.

Technovate Thinking

Business leaders of tomorrow need to harness the power of technology and innovation. That means understanding algorithms and how they drive business results. Discover opportunities to make technology work for your competitive edge.

Product Life Cycle

Every product takes a natural course through the market—there's a how, when, and why customers adopt products at different stages. Check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to find out how a product you use every day is part of this cycle.

Logic Tree

Logical thinking is the most valuable asset any business professional can have. That's why logic trees are such a valuable tool—they can help you identify a problem, break it down, and build it back up to a solution.

MECE Principle

Using the MECE principle can help ensure you categorize without gaps or overlaps. Check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited for a practical demonstration of how it works!

GLOBIS University lecturer Cristian Vlad traveled to The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa to interview Director of Rooms Mr. Takeshi Hara and Front Office Assistant Manager Chiaki Harada about service management and innovation.

Cristian Vlad: Mr. Hara, what is your vision of The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa future?

Takeshi Hara: Simply put, becoming the most coveted luxury golf and spa resort in Japan.

Vlad: Oh, that’s really simply put. While doing so, I believe that you have a strategy in mind, some concrete plans to address the modern guests. Have you observed any major trends in guest profiles over the past few years? And how do you best prepare for these changes?

Hara: Well, traveling back in time a bit, in 2013 the foreign guest ratio was a mere 15%, but it has been growing gradually ever since. In 2017, 35% of our guests were coming from countries other than Japan. As a result, we have had to rapidly improve our foreign language abilities. Many of us are now taking English classes while working here at the resort. We are also making a conscious effort to hire international associates, people who were born or who have lived abroad and who can bring their language skills and experience to play in our effort to create and deliver an ultimate guest experience. We are also mindful of the need of communicating written information in more than one language – most of our written announcements, our menus, etc. are bilingually written in Japanese and English. We are now making efforts to add Chinese and Korean language signage as well.

Vlad: That really sounds like a lot of work. While working on creating a multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment, there are elements of the global Ritz-Carton culture that you also need to bring in. What are your challenges in helping employees connect with the Ritz-Carlton Credo?

Hara: Thank you for bringing this up, Cristian. This is an on-going effort to help everyone here at The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa understand, connect with and deliver upon our Gold Standards, including, of course, the Credo, which, we believe, are the foundation of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and, ultimately, of the Ritz-Carlton experience. When joining the Ritz-Carlton family, we all go through a fully-immersive orientation session, which lasts for two whole days. However, the immersion does not stop there. We review the Gold Standards daily with extreme rigorousness. We take this all very, very seriously because we firmly believe that this has always been and should always be the core of our foundation, the platform of our employee engagement, the strong mindset that binds us all together. Without it, it would be very hard to create an authentic Ritz-Carlton experience and we couldn’t even talk about creating any competitive advantage. We have created Credo cards and we have encouraged our staff never to go out without them. Our staff attend morning meetings with the Credo card as part of their uniforms. We frequently cite the Gold Standards during training sessions, meetings, and internal communications. This is how we see that the Credo becomes an integral part of our culture.

Vlad: Culture and innovation are two elements sustaining growth. How do you innovate operations at The Ritz-Carlton in Okinawa?

Hara: First of all, we always look for quality talent and the personal traits that might enable them to best fit with our culture, the innate affinities they might have, and the potential of expressing those core values in-person. Furthermore, we implement the so-called “Three Steps of Service Training” periodically. This is an essential part of the Gold Standards and it is important in our efforts to bring the Credo to life. As part of this effort, we unleash empowerment, problem-solving and, of course, the whole mindset of always being a step ahead of our guests to meet, greet and welcome them with warmth and courtesy. Recognition of great behavior and best practices also play an important role. We implement various initiatives, such as the First Class Card, the WOW Stories, the 5-Star Employee Awards, and so on.

Vlad: It sounds like your work never ends!

Hara: It never does, Cristian. As long as we have customers coming back to us, we are in the business of delivering ultimate delight and hospitality with a genuine touch of our customary Okinawan spirit.

Vlad: Ms. Harada, how do you help your guests “FEEL” Ritz-Carlton?

Chiaki Harada: Well, first of all, I personally always want to make sure that, when greeting guests, I don’t just put on a polite smile, but that I smile warmly from the bottom of my heart. This is such a simple thing, but it helps convey genuine intentions and an utter readiness to welcome our guests into our resort, here in Okinawa. Then, I always try to think ahead of time and see whether there is anything we can do to exceed even the smallest expectation. It might be a flower or a cookie, it might be an unrequested early check-in or a late check-out. It is all about anticipation. In Japanese, we call this “saki-yomi,” which is always being one step ahead of the guest: anticipating their next move and being there ahead of them to meet, greet and assist them with anything they might need. This is what I do. I always try to anticipate every single interaction, be there and be ready to welcome our guests as warmly as I can. Then I consider whether there is anything more, any extra step that any one of us here at Ritz-Carlton can take in order to ensure that we have created yet another small surprise, another “wow” moment. One other thing I always try to do is, at the time of checking in, to call the guests by their name, at least three times. This helps our guests feel my personal attention. Customizing our service to the smallest effect is something that we are all committed to doing, and I always do my best to deliver our Ritz-Carlton promise through such personal interactions.

Vlad: I guess that your guests really enjoy that. I wonder, though, how do you help your guests FEEL Okinawa? How do you remind them that they are not staying at any other Ritz-Carlton property around the world?

Harada:  Well, first of all, The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa is the only Ritz-Carlton resort in Japan. Therefore, we do every single thing we can to help our guests enjoy the resort, to relax and to disconnect. In every personal interaction we have with them, we make a point to talk about the Okinawan weather, people, culture, local products, and activities. Whenever walking together with our clients on the facilities we make sure to walk slowly, to induce the mood of the resort and the feeling of the slow and peaceful life in Okinawa to our guests. We take time to admire views from various parts of our facilities, structures and less obvious parts of the resort together. Our resort is developed ontologically, with the human at the center, as we want our guests to be able to appreciate and take all that in during their stay with us. It is not only physical relaxation, it is also a psychological reset while absorbing the whole atmosphere of Ritz-Carlton and Okinawa. 

Vlad: It sounds to me that there has been a lot of thought put into this process. Is this all unique to The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa?

Harada: Much of it really is. Many of our events are indigenous to The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa, without a doubt. I will give you a quick example. We have many guests coming over trying to plan a wedding. After they have tasted a few samples from our menu, they are invited into a private room of the restaurant at the time of the dessert and they are presented with a surprise: a small wedding cake and a knife for them to rehearse cutting the real wedding cake at the time of their wedding. Needless to say, at this point, their minds are nearly made to celebrate this special event of their life at our resort.

Another initiative that I am particularly proud of is the information-sharing scheme we have developed internally in order to be able to share any information related to our guests across our various teams. This kind speedy information sharing helps us all create an ultimate experience for our guests during their stay with us. We all strive to understand our guests’ needs from gestures, personal interactions, and conversations. Then we do our best to deliver extraordinary experiences based on our “reading” of our guests’ expectations. It is all pure teamwork and it takes every personal effort to anticipate, create and deliver these ultimate Ritz-Carlton experiences.

For example, we sometimes decorate the guest rooms one way or another, differently from the standard setup, in an attempt to deliver a pleasant surprise. If we know that our guests are celebrating a special occasion, we might want to “dress-up” the room in a festive manner or deliver a surprise message together with a special dessert at dinner time. If we hear a guest coughing, we might offer some warm drinks good for the throat, maybe even set up a humidifier in the room. And the story goes on.

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