Tales of Toyota’s leaders: The rock star & the new ruler at TMP

The past six years have been an incredible success for Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP), making it THE number one automotive company in the Philippines to date. In the same way that ships don’t navigate by themselves, corporations don’t get to where they are without a leader directing the way. Leading TMP during that period was its president Michinobu Sugata.

Some would think that it’s easy to be the president of a car company whose brand has a commanding presence not only in the Philippines, but in the rest of the world. But I would speculate otherwise—it takes exceptional leadership to take a corporation to the top, and to consistently keep it there. 

Under Mr. Sugata’s leadership, TMP maintained market dominance as reflected in its record-breaking sales each year. In 2014, TMP became part of the Global Toyota 100K Club after it reached its 100,000 annual unit sales. In 2015, TMP reached its One Million sales milestone, and achieved a new sales record of 125,000 which ranked 4th in Asia and 13th in more than 170 countries for Global Toyota. TMP’s dealer network also grew from 28 to 49 outlets within the six years of Sugata’s term as TMP president. 

Humility is one of the character traits of Mr. Sugata as he declines to take full credit for TMP’s success. “The market situation the past six years has evolved compared to how it was before 2010. I’m glad that during my period, motorization began... giving Toyota new opportunities and challenges in the automotive industry,” he said. 

Nonetheless, the right skills are needed to take advantage of opportunities and to overcome challenges. Sugata-san was a homegrown talent of Toyota. He began his career with Toyota Motor Corporation in 1983 as a staff member for the Africa Division based in Tokyo. In between his professional career, he earned a degree from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Washington.

Mr. Sugata’s first stint in the Philippines was in 1997 as Senior Vice-President for the Comptrollership Division of TMP. From year 2000, Sugata-san went on to work for other Toyota offices in Japan, Thailand and Singapore, until he became president of TMP in January 2010.

Mr. Sugata also gives credit to his predecessor, former TMP president Hiroshi Ito San. He praised Ito San for setting “a direction of building a bigger and better Toyota.” “With my experiences and set of skills, I believe that in my six years, I was able to continue Ito San’s plans and even more as the president of TMP,” he added.

Mr. Sugata has credentials which may be found in other successful car company executives—sufficient work experience in the automotive industry, the right academic degrees, and learning points from a good mentor… But what sets Mr. Sugata apart are qualities that are unique to him. 

Among the motoring media, Sugata-san is considered a “rock star.” He is popular for revitalizing Philippine motorsports through the Toyota Vios Cup. In my experience, he breaks the stereotype of the stiff, distant or aloof company president. He goes out of his way to join TMP events and to really interact with people on a personal level. Come to think of it, the effort I’ve seen from Mr. Sugata to connect with people has been unparalleled among car company presidents in the Philippines. 

Mr. Sugata’s genuine concern for the Philippine community can also be seen in the social contribution efforts of TMP during his term, such as the Toyota City of Santa Rosa-Gawad Kalinga Village in 2012 and the inauguration of TMP Tech in 2013.   

Perhaps other car companies can learn a thing or two from Mr. Sugata’s example—success is not made just by working in the office, but going out there to touch the lives of the people and the community where the company does business in. Business as usual should have a very human component. 

Sugata now moves on to a new assignment as the Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific (TMAP) and General Manager of TMAP-Japan.

Last January 13, TMP introduced its new president, Satoru Suzuki.  Like Sugata, Suzuki-san is a homegrown talent in Toyota. He previously worked in the Philippines as Marketing Vice President for Sales & Product Planning Operations from 1997 to 1999. 

Writer and Political Commentator Walter Lippmann once said, “the final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” Mr. Sugata seems to have passed this test, as Mr. Suzuki expressed the will to carry on TMP’s success story.

“I shall continue your legacy of excellence and relentless passion for continuous improvement,” said Mr. Suzuki to Mr. Sugata at the TMP Turnover Ceremony on January 16. 

Can Mr. Suzuki live up to the challenge? It seems so. The very next day after the TMP Turnover Ceremony, Suzuki-san led TMP’s successful launch of the new Toyota Fortuner on January 17. 

Upon assuming the TMP presidency, Suzuki-san defined his own goals: “I take it as my mission to lead our company in order to meet the growing expectations of our stakeholders. We will do this by continuously accelerating our efforts to push for ever-higher quality in our products and all aspects of operations to achieve customer smiles.”