A Career Guided by Intuition
—The Meaning of Leadership

I began my career in cosmetics at Nihon L‘Oreal where those who thrived were the ones who pushed forward with sheer force—people who moved like bulldozers, always accelerating, always driving. New product launches and campaigns followed one after another, and every month demanded the same intensity. It was a world powered by momentum. It was exciting, but at some point, I realized I was close to exhaustion. Around the same time, my daughter was about to enter elementary school.

That convergence of professional pace and personal change led me to reflect quietly: How do I want to work? And how do I want to live?
It was during that period of reflection that I received an unexpected call. The moment I heard about the opportunity, something deeper than logic responded. I felt, instinctively, This is where I should be. That place was Van Cleef & Arpels.

From my first days at the Maison, I sensed a profound alignment. An uncompromising respect for values, a deep devotion to craftsmanship, and an unwavering identity as a true High Jeweler—these were not slogans, but lived principles. They resonated naturally with my own sense of what a brand should stand for. Nearly six years later, after a press event in Hakone, I was invited to breakfast by the French president the following morning. In a calm, almost casual manner, he said:

“I will be returning to Europe, which means the position of President in Japan will soon be open. Are you interested? It is an open application—you must raise your hand for it to begin. But I want you to know that I believe you can do it.”

I was taken aback. At the time, I had been serving as Marketing & Communication Director for only nine months. More importantly, I had never considered myself a leader who stands at the front, pushing people forward by force of personality.
Almost without thinking, I asked,
“What does a president actually do?”
His answer reframed everything.
“Strategy and business management, of course. But the most difficult—and the most important—responsibility is managing emotions: the emotions of the organization, the team, and each individual.”

Every person brings different motivations, circumstances, and states of mind. An organization is not a machine; it is a collection of human beings. And because of that, leadership is not about control, but about understanding. It is about standing close to people, acknowledging their emotions, and drawing out the passion that already exists within them.
That conversation shaped my understanding of leadership—and continues to inform how I lead to this day.

The Question That Changed Everything
—Do You Want to Do It?

Before raising my hand, I struggled deeply with the decision.
I turned to a former boss from my previous company—someone I trusted. He listened quietly, then asked me a single question.
“Akiko, do you want to do it?”
It stopped me in my tracks. Until that moment, I had been consumed by one thought alone: Can I do it?
I had never paused to ask myself whether I truly wanted to.
He continued.
“You’re probably thinking you should wait three or five more years, gain more experience, and then go for it. But by then, the opportunity won’t come to you. It will go to the next generation. The fact that your name is being mentioned now means that this is the timing.”
He was right. His words cleared the fog in front of me.
If waiting three or five years meant never getting the chance, then it made more sense to try now. And if it didn’t work out, I could always take on the next opportunity when it came. I realized that waiting until I felt fully ready was not the answer. The real responsibility was to ride the wave when it appeared.

Even after deciding to step forward, the selection process revealed another challenge—one rooted in what is often considered a Japanese virtue.
There were four interviews in total, with senior leaders from the Paris headquarters: the global head of finance, the head of human resources, and members of the International executive committee.
Without realizing it, I approached each conversation with a typically Japanese humility, saying things like, “If I am chosen, I will do my very best.”
The feedback I received midway through the process was unexpected.
“Akiko is too modest. We can’t tell if she truly wants the role.”

What global leadership required was not restraint or modesty, but clarity and conviction—the ability to say, “This is what I can do. I am the right person for this role.”
Even the president who had initially encouraged me pulled me aside and said,
“Decisions are made in interviews. Sell yourself. Show them what you can do.”
I shifted my mindset.
Instead of focusing on what I lacked or what made me uncertain, I began to focus on what I had done—and what I could do. Once that shift happened, I was able to speak clearly and honestly in the later interviews, without hesitation.

Do What You Can

After becoming president, the first thing I faced was pressure—and the realization that I was, in fact, an ordinary person.

Around that time, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Kunihiko Moriguchi, a Living National Treasure and master textile artist. He was over eighty years old then, yet every time we met, he meticulously took notes about the people he encountered and the conversations he had, carefully organizing them along with photographs.
He said to me,
“By writing things down and keeping records, I can bring order to my thoughts.”

It was a revelation. Even someone regarded as a master continued to steady his mind and face himself through such quiet, deliberate practice. In comparison, I realized how arrogant it was for me—an ordinary person—to be overwhelmed by my perceived inadequacies without doing anything about them.
Rather than fearing what I couldn’t do, I began to write down what I could do, and simply focus on accumulating those actions, one by one. In that moment, the weight on my shoulders lifted.

Emotion Over Efficiency
The Value of Experience That Jewelry Conveys

What should a president truly value?
For me, the answer has always been embedded in the Maison’s philosophy itself.
One day, a former supervisor offered an analogy that has stayed with me ever since.
“If the linear maglev train is completed, it will take just forty minutes to travel from Tokyo to Nagoya. But Van Cleef & Arpels does not think in terms of getting there in forty minutes. Instead, we imagine a local train that takes five or even ten hours—along the way offering moments of entertainment created by Michelin three-star chefs or artists. We think about how people can enjoy the journey itself. Providing the finest experience during that time—that is our way of thinking.”
Those words left a deep impression on me.
Today, our world places supreme value on convenience and efficiency—saving time, maximizing cost performance, optimizing speed. We have Uber Eats that delivers whatever we crave without leaving home, and Amazon that brings necessities to our door with a single click. These are remarkable services, perfectly suited to daily life.
But jewelry is different.
What matters is not how quickly it arrives, but how it arrives—the staging of that moment, and the memory it leaves behind. Jewelry is not meant to be consumed; it is meant to be experienced.

That is also why we choose to hold exhibitions in museums. Just recently, we presented “Timeless Art Deco with Van Cleef & Arpels — High Jewelry as a Reflection of Art Deco” at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. In a boutique setting, there are inevitable limits of time and space when it comes to conveying the depth of a creation. A museum, however, allows us to present historical archive pieces from the Maison’s origins, all together, within an atmosphere that speaks for itself.
What we seek is not mere awareness—having people recognize the Maison’s name. What truly matters is appreciation: understanding why a piece of jewelry is beautiful, why it carries such value. By discovering the history and craftsmanship behind it, people can come to recognize its worth on a deeper, more emotional level.
Expanding that cultural understanding is, I believe, one of the responsibilities of a Maison that has endured for more than a century.

God Dwells in the Unseen
The Spirit of Craftsmanship that Resonates with Japan

One of the techniques that most profoundly symbolizes our Maison is the Mystery Set™.It is a method of setting gemstones without visible prongs, allowing nothing but the stones’ radiance to fill the surface. When someone once saw this technique, they remarked, “It’s like the work of Japanese temple carpenters.” I remember thinking how true that felt.

Why do we devote so much time and effort to what cannot be seen?
In an age obsessed with efficiency, there are certainly faster and easier ways. And yet, we continue not only to preserve this technique—born in the 1930s—but to evolve it. From flat surfaces to three-dimensional forms, from simplicity to ever greater complexity. What drives this is the craftsmen’s unending curiosity: the belief that it can always be done better. Curiosity, in fact, is one of Van Cleef & Arpels’ six core values.

I believe that true authenticity persuades not through explanation, but through what lies beneath. Even if a client does not fully understand the technique behind a piece, the immense time, care, and devotion invested in it will inevitably be felt—as an overwhelming sense of beauty.
God is in the details. Never relinquishing that devotion is precisely why we remain a true High Jeweler.

It is this shared spirit of craftsmanship that allows us to resonate so deeply with Japan’s traditional arts and craft.
One of our six values is Transmission—the act of passing on what has been received. This value transcends borders. A powerful example was the exhibition held in 2017 at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto: “Mastery of an Art—Van Cleef & Arpels: High Jewelry and Japanese Crafts.” There, our High Jewelry creations were shown alongside works of extraordinary Japanese craftsmanship—not as a comparison, but as a dialogue.

That dialogue continues in many forms. In the Lacquered Butterflies collection, our iconic butterfly clip is adorned with traditional maki-e lacquer work by Junichi Hakose, a lacquer artist from Wajima. We have also collaborated with Kunihiko Moriguchi, a Living National Treasure, on a special creation known as the Precious Box.

In each case, this was never a matter of simple commissioning. French esprit and centuries-old Japanese craftsmanship met as equals—engaging, conversing, and ultimately merging.

When I spend time with Japanese artisans, I sense the same presence I feel in our own Mains d’Or—the “golden hands” of our Maison. Though separated by culture and geography, they share the same values: a commitment to passing techniques on to the next generation, an uncompromising attention to detail, and an unwavering respect for craftsmanship. To shape Japan’s extraordinary traditional arts into jewelry and share them with the world—this, too, is one of my most important responsibilities as the gatekeeper of the Maison in Japan.

Not a Fashion Brand
A Pure High Jeweler

In order to reach a broader audience, many brands choose to expand into so-called “lifestyle products”—bags, accessories, or home décor. In today’s world, that is certainly one valid approach.
We, however, have chosen to place value on not doing so.
What exists within our Maison is gold and platinum, and precious gemstones. Beyond that, there are watches—and fragrance, which we were the first High Jeweler in the world to create. You will find no silver or steel products here.
This is because we do not aspire to be a lifestyle brand. We aspire to remain a pure High Jeweler.
Rather than widening our reach, we have chosen to protect what has existed since our founding—the original DNA of the Maison. Remaining faithful to that origin, without deviation, is our unwavering position, and the source of our pride as a High Jeweler unlike any other.

A Challenge for the Future
Passing on what we have received—In Better Shape than Before

People often tell me, “Akiko, you are authentic.”
Perhaps that is because I do not try to make myself appear larger than I am.
I do not believe a president needs to perform perfection. I choose to face people as I am. I am not overly afraid of failure. Failure happens to everyone, and I do not think it is something to hide. What matters is not becoming emotionally overwhelmed when something goes wrong, but stepping back to ask, What actually happened?—and then shifting the focus to What do we do next?
When you do not try to decorate yourself, failure can be transformed into objective learning.
That same sense of speed and openness runs through the organization as well. We often use the expression, “Throw the ball quickly.” Rather than holding onto a problem alone and worrying about it, we throw the ball to someone we trust. The person who receives it throws it right back. This kind of catch does not work if there is unnecessary pride or hesitation. Instead of overthinking, we throw. That lightness—the willingness to keep the ball moving—is what supports both me and the Maison today.

My mission within the Maison is very clear.
It is to pass it on in better condition than when I received it.
Allowing the Maison to decline—or to leave it worse than before—would be the one thing I must never do. I carry that responsibility with me every day as I face my work.
There is no end to what must be done. But it does not feel like a burden of challenges. It feels closer to an adventure.
Unexpected things happen. New discoveries emerge. There is a sense of anticipation—What will I see next? Of course, there are difficult moments as well. But even those are part of the journey. I find myself genuinely enjoying the process.
That is why my work does not feel like a painful struggle.
It is a joyful adventure—one that continues as I carry what has been entrusted to me forward, into the future.

January 2026
Interview conducted at the Van Cleef & Arpels Omotesando Garden Boutique
Interview & Editing: DK Sugiyama
Project Manager: Chiho Ando
Text: Eri Shibata
Photography: Hirona Goto
Production: My Philosophy^® Editorial Team