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Exclusive Life Science Feature to combination-inactivated polio vaccines, and he intends for Takeda to be ready for that trend. As Takeda builds its global vaccine business, it strives to capitalize on the entrepreneurial and innovative thinking of the companies it has acquired. "Small companies are able to move more quickly and address opportunities in the most efficacious way, because there is less bureaucracy," he says. "Hopefully, we can learn from these cultures and gain some competitive advantages and insights against the backdrop of what is a very important Japanese culture," he states. Takeda should have plenty of learning opportunities to do so. Since 2010, the company has grown from around 20,000 employees to 30,305, adding more than 10,000 overseas-based staff, and operating in nearly 70 countries. For the first time in the company's 232-year history, Takeda has more employees working and living outside of Japan than within — a testament to Takeda moving forward in becoming a truly global player. AN IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP SKILL TO FOCUS ON Ever meet people who make leadership look effortless and wonder how they do it? Perhaps you can't quite put your finger on what makes them good leaders, but you view them as a leaders, not just managers. If you asked Takeda's Tachi Yamada what his most valuable leadership skill is, and how he acquired it, he would say being able to extract the best out of the people who work for him. "I think you can walk into organizations and find a group of people who say, 'These people are bad, let's get rid of them all and bring in new people,'" he explains. "Or, you can walk into an organization and say, 'These people are not perfect, but they are good, so let's get the best out of the people we have.' I get the most out of employees' strengths and try to shore up their weaknesses. Every organization I have walked into I have been able to get the people to perform better than they probably imagined they could." How does he do it? Listening. According to Yamada, one of the keys to becoming a leader is listening to what is important to people. "Often people are good at what they consider to be very important," he explains. "People's feet take them to where their hearts want to go. Some people will say, 'I really like this,' but you see them every day demonstrating they don't like what it is they say they do." Yamada believes ferreting out what is really important to people is the difference between excellent and average performance. "You've got to make sure people are doing what they really love, and you'll find they are good at it," he affirms. August 2013 LifeScienceLeader.com 29