Mitsubishi Chemical Executive Director Presents to LUJ Postgraduate Students

Written by Yingzhu Lai

Lakeland University Japan (LUJ) proudly welcomed Mr. Ryujiro Kanetoshi to present to postgraduate students as part of this summer’s LO710 –Leadership Seminar: Systems Theory, Adaptive and Servant Leadership course. Mr. Kanetoshi currently serves as the Executive Director of the Water Materials and Overseas Division at Mitsubishi Chemical. He holds undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees from Waseda University.

Mr. Kanetoshi was invited to speak as part of Professor Yasuaki Mori’s postgraduate Leadership Seminar course on June 3rd, 2026. His presentation provided students with a deep dive into the evolving role of Japanese industry, global manufacturing, and the future of sustainable technological development. Mitsubishi Chemical is a leading global company that develops technologies supporting healthcare, sustainability, electronics, mobility, and environmental solutions.

To help students contextualize these ideals, he guided the class through a comprehensive Leadership Questionnaire, breaking the concept down into six distinct categories: Traits, Ability, Skill, Behavior, Relationship, and Process. Through this exercise, he addressed common misconceptions that often hold potential leaders back, such as the belief that one must be a “superstar” or hold a high-ranking position to exercise leadership. Instead, he reinforced that leadership could be anyone, and that there is no single right answer, as different leaders possess niche abilities and skills depending on the person.

Transitioning from personal reflection to academic theory, Mr. Kanetoshi highlighted how the definition of leadership has evolved over time, noting that there have been more than 200 different definitions since 1900. He referenced Professor Bernard Bass’s 1990 definition, focusing on how leadership occurs when a group member modifies the motivation or competencies of others. He explained that leadership terminology today, whether Servant, Shared, Situational, Transactional, or Transformational, is as broad and complex as words like “democracy, love, and peace”.

Bringing this complexity into the new era of corporate strategy, he used Amazon’s 14 “Leadership Principles” as a modern example of how diverse leadership traits are shared globally. To prepare for these corporate realities, Mr. Kanetoshi outlined essential elements for training one’s own leadership capabilities: the ability to act proactively, interact and communicate with people, think deeply, understand the world, and apply self-analysis skills.

For LUJ undergraduate and postgraduate students, attending these elite Leadership Seminars offers unparalleled, real-world benefits. By interacting directly with industry titans like Mr. Kanetoshi, who has consistently achieved annual sales targets and pioneered new global markets since 2011, students gain a practical understanding of how theoretical frameworks operate in multi-billion-dollar global enterprises. Specifically, students benefit by networking face-to-face with an executive who actively promotes the co-creation of new businesses through collaboration with diverse stakeholders. This interaction allows them to observe how theoretical models of leadership directly influence corporate strategy, sales operations, and market development. Furthermore, they develop deep executive insight into how science, technology, and business innovation intersect to solve complex social and industrial challenges, which directly complements their rigorous M.B.A. and M.S. coursework.

Lakeland University Japan’s Leadership Seminars are open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students.