Takashi Aoki and Making the Conscious Choice to Lead

Takashi Aoki has more than 25 years of experience as a branding professional and international business leader with top management experience in marketing agencies. After beginning his career as a content planner and writer, he spent 18 years at WPP agencies, including more than seven years at the Shanghai office of a leading global agency, supporting the rapid business growth of Japanese and international brands.

In 2018, he joined Publicis Groupe to lead the launch of a bespoke agency dedicated to the digital transformation of a global automotive brand. He later held senior leadership roles across multiple agencies, serving as general manager at a major international agency based in Tokyo and managing director at a digital agency. In Japan and China, his leadership contributed to multiple honours at Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year awards, including recognition in the creative, new business and production categories.

Appointed president of McCann Japan and CRAFT Worldwide Japan, in October 2023, he has since driven strong business momentum with a focus on strategic integration, creativity and operational excellence. He also serves on the board of the Japan Advertising Agencies Association and as an advisory committee member for Advertising Week Asia.

Takashi was appointed representative director, CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan, and representative director, president, Craft Worldwide Japan, effective October 2, 2025.

Below Takashi chats with LBB about where his journey to leadership all began, and reflects on his time learning his craft in China and leading by example.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Takashi> Looking back, I think my journey as someone truly responsible for P&L and organisational leadership began around 2010, when I moved to JWT China to take on leadership roles for both global and Japanese clients. Even though I was at a global agency, I was the only Japanese person in the office at that time. It was also around 2011, when anti-Japanese sentiment was particularly strong due to historical reasons, which made it far from easy to lead in my second, and sometimes even third language.

My leadership style has always been hands-on; I like to make things happen myself. But in those early days, I felt that the only way to earn trust and friendship was through tangible results. So I doubled down on that approach, leading by example, showing through action rather than words.

LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?

Takashi> I think it was also after moving to China that I started to become more consciously aware of this. Compared to Japan, which had long been the world’s second-largest advertising market, the agency industry in China was still developing in earnest as the market opened up, and during the 2010s, its growth was truly dynamic. Talented people were gathering from all over the world, and with Western holding companies leading the industry, I found myself surrounded by world-class senior leaders. It was an incredible environment to observe and learn from many different styles of leadership.

I won’t name names, but even today, some of those people remain my mental mentors. Whenever I face an important decision, I often ask myself, ‘What would he or she do in this situation? How would they express this message?’ It’s a small habit that helps me keep my perspective broad and my standards high.

LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?

Takashi> It may sound simple, but the answer is: every failure.

Failures are easier to analyse than successes, and they always bring more lessons and discoveries.

LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?

Takashi> Perhaps I could say that this mindset has been with me since I was in elementary or middle school. To me, leadership is not something that just happens by circumstance, it’s something you choose to take on.

From an early age, I’ve always chosen to do leadership in some form or another. And even after becoming a professional, that way of thinking has stayed with me quite naturally.

LBB> When it comes to 'leadership' as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?

Takashi> For me, it’s 100% something that is taught and learned.

A leader, in my view, is not someone who becomes one simply because they have the right skills or natural talent, it’s someone who decides to lead. Once you make that decision, or rather because you’ve made it, you have the responsibility to keep developing your skills and knowledge.

Of course, there are people who naturally have charisma in the way they speak or carry themselves. But I truly believe that every great leader in the world shares one thing in common: they made a conscious choice to lead, and they have never stopped working hard to live up to that choice.

LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?

Takashi> It’s about building and continuously sustaining the best-performing team.

In this age of disruptive change, recruitment has almost become a lifelong pursuit. Even when we succeed in developing talent, turnover cycles in the industry are becoming shorter, and as restructuring accelerates, more people are leaving the industry altogether.

To expand the company’s capabilities, we also need to expand the skills of our people. The hiring criteria that worked 10 or 20 years ago can no longer maintain a high-performing team today. That’s why I keep experimenting, adapting, and finding new ways to strengthen and sustain our talent base.

LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be as transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?

Takashi> Both aspects are essential. One of my core business principles is to be fair and logical – a phrase I often share with my team. It’s something I’ve believed in and practiced long before taking on my current role.

To me, being fair and logical is closely related to the balance between being transparent and authentic versus being careful and considered. In leadership, these qualities often seem to exist in tension, yet both are vital. Fairness demands transparency, while logic requires thoughtful consideration. Striking the right balance between the two is something I consciously strive for every day.

LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?

Takashi> As I mentioned earlier, during my time working in China, I had the privilege of meeting several world-class industry leaders. I learned a great deal from them in many different ways, but what left the deepest impression on me was their way of communicating – their clarity, and how they created influence and impact.

Even today, I feel grateful that I have opportunities to work closely with senior leaders whom I personally admire. Every interaction with them continues to inspire and teach me something new.

LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?

Takashi> For me, it’s about staying exposed to the outside world and becoming a catalyst that translates those changes into language and structure.

Agency work can be complex, and at times even cumbersome, which makes it easy for people on the ground to miss the subtle shifts in ‘water temperature’. I often use the word modernisation, but it’s a relative term; what’s modern today will soon become outdated.

That’s why I believe one of the key responsibilities of leadership is to continuously modernise, adapting our organisation, our mindset, and our ways of working to the world as it evolves.

LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?

Takashi> Diversity is something I pay close attention to when hiring. Destruction and innovation are two sides of the same coin, and I believe that if you only talk with people who belong to the same majority, new ideas and true innovation will never emerge.

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?

Takashi> Culture is part of what we sell, so naturally, our internal culture is of utmost importance as well. We don’t sell no-brand products that can be priced at anything. McCann’s long-standing values, bravery, integrity, and generosity, feel even more relevant today, in an age where authenticity matters more than ever.

These days, there’s hardly any debate about remote or hybrid work models. For me, methods are secondary. If a certain way of working doesn’t lead to results, or if it erodes our culture, we can simply change it. What truly matters is preserving a culture that reflects who we are.

LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?

Takashi> It’s everyone around me – regional and global senior leaders, mentors, highly skilled teammates I deeply respect in their respective fields, friends who lead rival companies, and connections from entirely different industries. All of them continue to inspire and challenge me in meaningful ways.