Welcome back to The Canadian, Sarah. Much has been written about your remarkable journey with McDonald’s across the USA, Russia, Malaysia and, of course, your time as CEO of McDonald’s Japan, leading the company’s notoriously successful V-shape turn around. 

Today, we’re delighted to see you back in Tokyo, serving on the CCCJ Honorary Board of Advisors (HBA) and ready to talk about your current career chapter on the boards of several Japanese organizations.

What thought processes led you to pursue advisory work?

Sometimes in life, it’s easier to know what you don’t want to do than what you do. Toward the end of my tenure at McDonalds Japan, I knew I wasn’t ready to retire, but I was definitely ready to leave behind those 60-to-80-hour workweeks — and my husband was ready for that too!

I started thinking about what might come next. Advising boards seemed like a natural fit, but I wondered where my experience would have the most impact. After 20 years in Japan, I didn’t have the same network in the U.S. or Canada, and Japan was where I knew I could really contribute. I was also excited by the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s push for more women on Japanese boards. With so few women who have held C-suite positions in Japan, I saw a real opportunity to bring my experience to the table.

What surprised me was how quickly the opportunities came. Before I had even finished my tenure, I was receiving calls — starting with Mitsui, followed by conversations with Yamaha, Kao Corporation and Yonex. Each opportunity felt like a natural fit.

If you had told me when I graduated that I’d one day be sitting on Japanese boards, I would have laughed! The same goes for working in Japan — or anywhere outside Canada. I’ve always said yes to interesting opportunities without knowing exactly where they might lead. And this time, that journey has led me into advisory work.

How do you approach your advisory roles in Japanese boardrooms to deliver maximum impact?

For me, the process is a combination of relying on my experience and undergoing continuous learning. 

I’m still amazed by how much of what we practiced at McDonald’s — business basics, risk management, health and safety, leading people and relying on local market customer insight — can be applied almost anywhere. It’s particularly true with Japanese companies because business practices and processes are very different than in North American or European markets. 

Then there’s the learning. Before every board meeting, I want to really understand what’s going on; I thoroughly review every briefing, think about the issues and prepare questions. Then, on the day, I speak up — that’s most important. Wasn’t it [Former Japanese Prime Minister] Yoshiro Mori who complained that women on boards talked too much? Well, I’ll speak until I’m done!

I have huge respect for the people putting together briefing presentations. They work incredibly hard, and often it’s the number two or three in the department presenting, not the head of the business. They deserve a lot of credit.

And I expect leaders to be open to ideas. We’re not there just to put a stamp on a plan. If we can make it better, we should. To me, that’s where the real value of a board comes from: understanding the issue, bringing different perspectives and having a good conversation about how to make things better.

How does your work on the CCCJ HBA fit into this chapter of your life?

The contribution I really want to make is around women in leadership in Japan and helping women build the confidence and networks they need to have greater impact. I’ve experienced Japan as a Canadian, as a woman and as someone who has worked here, and I think there’s a huge opportunity to better use the talent of half the population.

For me, it’s not just about speeches or formal training; it’s about creating opportunities to network, practice, build confidence and get comfortable being uncomfortable. The CCCJ could be a great place for women to build those skills and then take that confidence back into their workplaces.

But I also think diversity goes beyond gender. There’s an opportunity to help Japanese and Canadian professionals understand each other better, whether through mentoring, networking or simply creating a safe environment to experience the other culture. The CCCJ can almost be a “test lab” for that: a place where people can gradually move from what feels familiar to what feels different, with a community around them.

Ultimately, I see the CCCJ as a platform for building relationships. Whether you’re a woman looking to grow your network or a company trying to enter the Canadian or Japanese market, relationships and cultural understanding matter. It’s not just about having the money for M&As or the right business plan, you need to understand the culture, know who to talk to and have the right introductions. That’s where we members of the HBA can help, and this is what the Global Diversity Management Committee series on effective communication aims to provide.

What is your advice for Japanese and non-Japanese leaders to successfully partner together?

If I may, I’d give them four pieces of advice for better partnering.

First, slow down and really communicate. Don’t assume you understand what the other person is saying or even what the translator is saying. We all bring our own assumptions, and that’s where misunderstandings can happen, especially in writing.

I remember being copied on an email chain in Russia. Because I was cc’d on the email, two Russian colleagues decided to write to each other in English. One of them interpreted the English as being angry, so he responded in an angry tone. I said, “Why don’t you just pick up the phone and talk to him?” They did, and the whole thing was sorted out. Never underestimate the value of a conversation or of sitting across the table from someone.

Second, learn the culture. If you’re going to work in another country, culture training shouldn’t be optional. Even something as fundamental as decision-making can be very different. Western companies might make the decision quickly and then figure out how to execute it. Japanese companies often figure out how to execute first and then make the decision. Both sides can end up wondering, “Why are they taking so long?”

Third, empower people closest to the customer. At McDonald’s Japan, we realized that our head office in Shinjuku couldn’t possibly make the best decisions for a restaurant in Okinawa. Local leaders knew their customers better than we did. So, we pushed decision-making closer to the restaurants and changed the mindset: restaurants did not work for the senior management, the restaurants are who we worked for.

That kind of empowerment through decentralization is also how you develop the next generation of leaders, including more women in leadership. You have to let people make decisions, build confidence and — sometimes — make mistakes. It’s uncomfortable, but that’s how people grow.

And that brings me to my last point: think carefully about how you react when someone makes a mistake. Because if your people are too afraid of your reaction to tell you when something goes wrong, you’re never going to know what’s really happening.