I chased a (global) CEO of a listed company last Friday and tried to extricate as much info the best I could. But of course, being a listed company, they won’t give you much, just enough to chew on.

Then the editor, who doesn’t know much about the intricacies of covering large Japanese trading houses, killed the story because the details weren’t minute enough for her. She said we must ask the CEO again. 🥹

I said the CEO already flew back to Japan. There’s no way to ask him in person. I want to add, ever. Instead, I just said I’m turning this over to our Japanese colleagues.

My Japanese colleagues told me CEOs of that calibre don’t do interviews like that when they’re back home. That’s why they’re only able to quote spokespersons and not C-level people. The heirarchy in Japan (even in Korea) is so strong that no one could do doorstop interviews with them like we do here or in the west.

I was like a deflated balloon. I worked so hard on that interview. I just didn’t want to fight back. I just want the weekend to start.