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One of the top leadership practices Norman Osumi follows may seem simple, but it’s incredibly powerful: smiling. Lots of smiling. It’s an act that matches his naturally kind disposition, and one that he hopes counteracts any misconceptions people may get from his self-described “serious face.”
“I consciously make an effort to smile more,” he says. “It tends to put people at ease and make them feel comfortable approaching me.”
It’s just one of many ways the extremely friendly finance and accounting executive, formerly of global technology company LivePerson until 2024, has always works to make his teams feel like they can go to him. He had frequent personal conversations with his staff, doing his best to understand more about their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual state. The latter two can be hard to decipher, he says, but understanding where their hearts and minds are at remains very important to him.
“It’s a really important part of building trust and connecting with my staff and colleagues,” Osumi says.
Taking the time to develop those relationships leads to more candid communication and increased efficiency, both of which were necessary to keep the finance department of a company that made half a billion dollars in revenue in 2021 on track.
“I consciously make an effort to smile more. It tends to put people at ease and make them feel comfortable approaching me.”
Norman Osumi
A big initiative Osumi worked on at LivePerson was helping move the company over to the cloud. There was a lot to consider when it comes to reliance on third parties in that way versus keeping the company’s IT infrastructure in-house. Going to the cloud meant a provider would help manage activities around key resources. The jury is still out regarding which path will prove to be the best, Osumi noted at time of speaking back in 2022, as his team looked forward to how the cloud migration would play out.
It reminded him of one of his favorite quotes from the infamous baseball player Yogi Berra: “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is,” Berra said.
In practice, Osumi has always tracked the numbers, overseen finance departments, assessed internal efficiencies, and searched for ways to automate and improve processes. All the while, he looked to help manage the stress of his employees.
“I try to gauge the team’s bandwidth and balance the load as best as possible,” he says.
He also does the same for himself. Osumi prioritizes a healthy diet, exercises regularly, and finds way to manage stress. Given the stress-reducing effects of smiling, it’s good that it was already integrated into his routine.
“This is business, but that doesn’t have to mean it has to be cold and impersonal. It can be warm and inviting.”
Norman Osumi
In the course of more than twenty-five-plus years in the accounting and finance industry, Osumi has learned a lot. He has learned that your twenties should be a time of apprenticeship and learning and your thirties should be a time of taking on as many projects as you can and applying that knowledge. Once you reach a leadership level, a lot should be about people skills: developing your team, practicing empathy and patience, and of course, developing a culture of kindness.
“This is business, but that doesn’t have to mean it has to be cold and impersonal,” he says. “It can be warm and inviting.”
Even the not-so-fun parts of his job, like talking to employees about problems, can be done in a warm way—“focus on the problem, not the individual”—and is a task that Osumi looks at with positivity.
“The fact that I can have interactions with people and help solve problems as a human [as part of my journey] . . . I just feel so grateful for that,” he says.
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