The Virtual Leader: How to Manage a Remote Workplace

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER

 

By 2025, an estimated 70 percent of the workforce will work remotely at least five days each month. In The Virtual Leader, Takako Hirata, an experienced leader of large international virtual teams, shares her proven methods for thriving in the remote workplace with the help of new leadership principles.

Remote work is here to stay.

 

As a result, remote leadership is now a core competency for most executives and managers.

 

Leaders cannot simply transfer what they’ve been doing in the office to the remote context. While the goals remain the same—efficiency, engagement, community—the means of achieving those are very different.

 

In The Virtual Leader, Takako Hirata shares the proven leadership methods she has developed over nearly a decade coordinating teams across the globe as the head of international business development at ROHTO Pharmaceutical.

 

Hirata has seen firsthand that while the remote environment presents its own set of obstacles, the opportunities for innovation far outweigh the challenges. Because remote work is only advantageous when it’s done right, she offers workers and leaders a comprehensive guide to making the most of the world of remote work through strategies such as:

 

Conserving office rituals in the remote environment

Cultivating trust

Enabling clear and efficient communication

Making your company leaner and reinvesting in your teams

Maintaining mental and physical health

Conducting productive meetings

Minimizing distractions and maximizing focus

Managing new expectations for employees

 

With The Virtual Leader, learn how to evolve your leadership style to empower your teams to thrive wherever they work.

Takako Hirata is Head of International Business Development at ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. By working to bridge the information gap between Japan and the U.S., she’s also building an online technology-focused media hub called InTech Media. And as a Board Member of Mentholatum, she works at the frontier of healthcare and technology. Previously she was at Proctor & Gamble, where she oversaw major product lines such as Febreze, before becoming a Marketing Design Manager and leading branding strategy in P&G's US and China markets. She later took on a role as Director of Brand Strategy at Aeon. Currently, she is an Executive MBA candidate at UCLA-NUS and the only Japanese certificate holder of the MIT-Harvard Medical School Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp. She lives in Tokyo, Japan. She leads everywhere.