Conversation with Philips Japan CEO Jasper Westerink

On March 12th, I hosted an onstage conversation with Jasper Westerink, outgoing CEO of Philips Japan and Senior Vice President of Royal Philips, for the French Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Below are my key takeaways.

1. Rigid hierarchical structures impede communication, delay action, stifle innovation, and suppress productivity gains — whatever marginal benefits they may offer rarely justify the cost.
2. Leaders shape organizational culture more than national culture does. Culture is something business leaders impose and model, not something countries determine.
3. Culture is a common set of behaviors rooted in a common set of beliefs, and it is only visible through behavior. Changing mindset is often assumed to be the prerequisite for changing behavior — but the reverse also holds: impose new behaviors consistently, and mindset shifts follow.
4. Japanese employees adapt their behaviors more rapidly than is commonly assumed when leaders clearly define and consistently reinforce the behaviors they expect — often producing dramatic, culture change.
5. Start with the leadership team. Leaders who change their own behaviors tend to propagate that change through their direct reports, driving culture change down through the organization organically.
6. In medical imaging hardware investment decisions, Japanese doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators tend to prioritize improved clinical outcomes and risk mitigation over productivity, efficiency, and cost reduction — criteria that dominate purchasing decisions in most other markets. The results are tangible: better patient outcomes, shorter wait times, more productive clinical research, and broader access to equipment for medical training. The paradox is that most Japanese hospitals operate at a loss, and the system as a whole is financially unsustainable. Political will to reform is absent — but a reckoning is coming.
7. In medical imaging, the strategic weight of hardware is declining relative to software — including AI — and to process improvement upstream and downstream of device use itself.