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Executive Conversations: Jacob Torén

A new series exploring the journeys of c-suite leaders in Japan.   

 

Jacob Torén has been a cornerstone of EF Education First since 2004, starting with a transformative role in the company's network of English schools for children in non-English-speaking markets. Under his leadership, this segment expanded from 200 to 12,000 staff and established 300 schools in China alone, serving over 200,000 students weekly. Now, as President of EF International Language Campuses since February 2023, Jacob shares his journey of stepping into this role, his leadership philosophy and his vision for the future. We delve into his strategies for mentorship, maintaining work-life balance and navigating the evolving landscape of global education.

When did you join EF? 

"I joined EF in 2004. Before taking on my current role, I led EF’s network of English schools for children in non-English-speaking markets. We grew this business area from 200 to 12,000 staff and in China alone we established 300 schools catering to over 200,000 students per week. It was a wonderful chance to be part of building up the team there."

 

What first drew you to EF?

"I have always been inspired by EF as a company. It is a family-owned business that has reshaped a whole industry, and a company that helps students around the world learn a new language and culture. Already when I came out of business school and started a B2B tech business with a couple of friends, I dreamed of one day working in a B2C setting and EF was at the top of my list."

 

You became President of EF International Language Campuses in February 2023. How was it stepping up into the role?

"Going into a big role is always a challenge. We currently operate in 50 markets globally and have school operations in 20 countries. For me, to deal with challenges and change, it is important to know the business and to know the people who meet our customers. I have therefore spent the last 12 months travelling the world visiting our schools and offices. The job is intense but rewarding and I am extremely happy in the role."

 

How do you lead the business while taking on feedback from your employees?

"At EF, our number one core value is entrepreneurial spirit. The fewer layers we have between management and our students, the better we are as a company. Bertil Hult founded this business in 1965. It has been important for us to keep that entrepreneurial spirit in everything we do and act as a small business as we continue to grow bigger.  This is why it is so important for me to meet our teachers, sales people, service people, and hearing from them how we can develop EF.”

 

What was your strategy to communicate changes and how did you empower your leadership team to make changes?

“By giving clear responsibility and freedom to act. When people know what they are in charge of and are trusted to take action, people grow faster and we innovate and improve as an organization faster.”

 

What strategies to do you have for mentoring employees?

“I believe in mentorships and being able to work with someone more experienced, but mentorship programmes that are enforced can only be successful to a degree and usually mostly help to onboard new staff.

When you are beyond the initial stage of joining an organisation and ask for more, I find the most successful mentorships are when people ask a person who they respect to be their mentor, and this person accepts. We encourage and help leaders to be better mentors, but at senior levels, we encourage but do not enforce mentorship programmes.”

 

Imagine you meet someone in Japan who has just stepped into their first senior leadership role. What would be your top two pieces of advice you would give them?

“My first advice is to ask yourself – 'What would you do if the company was your own?'

In Japan, like many other hierarchical countries, the first thing people do is to think - 'What would my manager do?'

This can make anyone nervous when faced with a difficult problem, but if you instead think of the company as your own, options, communicating them to others and being a force for decisions will come more naturally to you.

My second advice is “Don’t be afraid of making decisions”. There have been studies on management showing that what separates a good leader from a bad leader is their ability to make decisions. If you make the wrong decision, that is of course not good, but it is not the end of the day if you deal with it quickly, admit that you were wrong, and make a new decision. In today’s world, as complex as it is, we can easily get stuck with information overload. Get the facts but use your instincts as well and dare to make decisions.

In a risk averse country like Japan where there is a fear of making mistakes, we let our staff know at EF know that it is okay to make mistakes as part of being entrepreneurial. Learning from mistakes is necessary to grow and raise leaders who are comfortable with pushing boundaries.”

 

What are some ways you do business in Japan specifically that are different than how you operate in other markets?

"People often exaggerate differences between countries as a reason to do business differently and this happens even within a country, for example differences in the north and south of Japan. I find however that our desires, how we think, and how we act are more similar than different. And if we want to be successful anywhere, we need to be a good listener as an organisation so that we can adjust. At EF, as an international company, we have our standards, but when we implement, for example our marketing or sales strategy, we use max 80% of what we bring from other markets, the final touch is made here in Japan.

The same thing goes for education, and how our teachers support students in our classrooms. One of the most important things for our teachers is to give our students from Japan the confidence to use the language.”

 

What does a typical workday look like for you?

"I start my day away from my phone, I roll out of bed and do some stretching on the floor, then I go to the gym 3-4 days per week and arrive 8:30am at the office in Zurich.

My days are filled with meetings. I try to leave some space open in my agenda every dayday, but I don’t always manage. If I am not out traveling, I get back home around 7:00pm to have dinner with the family, and then I work after dinner. Finally, I try to end the day away from my phone, reading a book even if only for a few minutes.

I try to balance my work life by sailing, hiking or skiing on weekends. Sailing has been my lifelong passion including bigger boats like tall ships when I was younger but mainly dinghy sailing now. It helps me stay agile."

 

It is said Gen Z are quite different than generations that have gone before them. What is your approach to working with Gen Z on your team?

"For Gen Z, growing up with TikTok, Instagram and Netflix, there are challenges with instant gratification, or rather lack of instant gratification. I remember myself when I first joined EF asking why I could not be in the leadership team right away and was told to have some patience.

We therefore recognise it is no longer enough to have evaluations once a year and are now implementing a new career ladder for staff in their first 3 years, where they have a performance review every 6 months with clear guidelines of what is required for a promotion.

The other thing required to lead this generation, and more important than ever in today’s world, is the ability to answer “Why”. “Why do I want to join this company?” or “Why am I spending all of my time here?” So, we are even more careful when we recruit today to find people who want to be part of our mission of “opening the world through education”. When we find people who are fulfilled with our mission, they stay with us, and they are happy to go the extra mile.”

 

What is your approach to maintain a good work life balance?

"First off, when we talk about the term ‘work life balance’ it sounds like they have to be in equal parts. I personally don’t think it is like that in terms of being equal in quantity. I also don’t think it is equal for someone from one day to the next.

I always go back to the ‘three circles’ we have in our lives: work, family (the people that you have around you), and yourself. These three need to be in balance. When we have a problem in one area, or worse when we have a problem in two or even in three at the same time, that is when we risk hitting the wall.

So, you need to ask yourself “Am I in balance?” or “Do I need to change anything?” It might be about having a routine where you wake up in the morning and do your yoga, running or swimming. Or, put in a routine to call your mother, or be there for your partner or for your children.

For me this is a challenge, since I travel so much, but as we discussed earlier, if I am at home, I will not sit in the office until 10:00 in the evening. I will leave the office, have dinner with my wife and children, and then once they are in bed do some work later.

Having children has taught me, to admire single working parents and how they make things work. If they can, we all can. At EF, as in many other organisations, we now recognise more the need to be flexible. When people go through something difficult, they need time to deal with it.

The final piece of advice I can give comes from the relationship with my wife. Moving to new country with a partner is a difficult decision as one person usually leaves their career behind.

Every time we moved, we therefore made an agreement, that if one of us is not happy after 14 months, the other one will accept there needs to be a change. This has helped us go through tough times and has given both of us peace of mind when one of us has a bad day. We are on a journey together and if one is not happy after 14 months, the other will accept that.”

 

Share with us challenges you have faced as President of EF International Language Campuses.

"I think everyone talks about creating an open environment in the workplace but actually making one is difficult. So, when I am visiting offices and schools around the world like here in Tokyo, I take questions from staff and encourage them to send an email if they have more. We have four townhalls annually with all the staff in the company, and we have also here started to take questions in the Townhalls openly.

Most of the time I do have answers but not always! It is good to step out of our comfort zone and admit that also as leaders we do not know everything.

A healthy environment in an organisation is where 60% to 70% of all great ideas and decisions come from the organisation, bottom up. The leadership will ultimately make final decisions in the end but allowing space for everyone to open up and ask questions is a great way to facilitate this. It involves being faced with tough questions sometimes, and as a new manager, it might be daunting, but if you put yourself out there with your leadership team, you will soon get there."

 

Share with us your diversity and inclusion practices at EF.

"Going back to when the organisation was first set up in 1965, our motto has always been “employ someone based on their skills and not their gender.” If you look at our office in Japan, 50% of our leadership is female, and we are proud of that. The same goes for many other markets around the world. As our work is about going out and exploring the world, connecting with people and learning different languages, this aspect of being diverse and inclusive is incredibly important to what we do and who we are as a business. The less biases we have in our organisation the more open we will be and the better it will be for our students."

 

Year-on-year, we are seeing rapid developments in technology and transformation. What do you think are the key qualities a CEO needs to effectively navigate a business amid these changes into the future?

"I think one of the most important things, as a leader of any organisation, is that you are not talking among your leadership team how to use AI; you are implementing it. It is clear now that AI is not going to replace all of us, but people and companies using AI will replace those who don’t, so make it happen.”

About Jacob

“Personally, I thrive on challenges and transformation. My journey has been marked by successful turnarounds, expansive growth and technological innovation. My leadership style is deeply rooted in an entrepreneurial spirit and a people-first approach. With an extensive background in marketing, sales, product development, technology, and building long term customer relations, I tackle complex problems head-on.

What I love about my job? It's the people in our schools and offices, the entrepreneurial spirit that defines our thinking, and the passion to help our students that defines our culture.
Beyond the office, you'll find me sailing with my family - my wife and three daughters.”

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