Confidence in Every Leadership Decision
Leadership can be lonely.
Let’s think about the future together.
Respect people. Share hope.
That is where transformation begins.
Somni
Catalan for “dream.”
Turning Dreams into Reality
through Better Decisions
Somni Consulting works closely with business leaders, drawing on experience and dialogue to support better decisions and meaningful transformation.
Parc de la Ciutadella, viewed from the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona
Experience to Support Better Decisions
At Johnson & Johnson and the AGC Group, I spent 14 years leading businesses in Japan and overseas.
My experience spans Japan, Asia, Europe, and North America, across international business, M&A and PMI, and organizational transformation.
Fourteen years of living and working outside Japan have also shaped a broad, practical perspective on leadership.
I now bring that experience to support better decisions.
CEO Advisory
Supporting leaders in critical decisions
Business leaders are constantly called upon to make decisions for which there is no single right answer.
Strategy, organization, talent, investment, M&A, succession—
the more important the decision, the harder it can be to find the answer alone.
Over 14 years as a CEO of global businesses, I have faced many such critical decisions myself.
Drawing on that experience, I serve as a trusted sounding board for business leaders—helping clarify the issues, broaden the options, and make decisions with greater confidence.
Global Management
Making global business and PMI work
Managing overseas subsidiaries, establishing new operations, and integrating acquired businesses require more than putting structures and systems in place.
When people from different corporate cultures work together, it is essential to build a shared understanding of what matters and how decisions are made.
Drawing on hands-on experience in business management, M&A and PMI at Johnson & Johnson and AGC in Spain, Somni Consulting supports:
- Overseas subsidiary management
- Global business strategy
- M&A and PMI
- Cross-cultural management
with a practical, management-focused perspective.
Leadership Development
Developing the next generation of leaders
People are at the heart of sustainable business growth.
For 14 years as a CEO in Japan and overseas, I worked alongside future business leaders as they confronted complex management challenges with no obvious answers.
Leadership requires more than knowledge. It requires the ability to identify what truly matters amid differing views and uncertainty, think independently, make decisions, and act.
Through my own management experience and dialogue, I help next-generation leaders develop the ability to think and decide for themselves.
Support can be tailored to each company’s needs, including succession planning, executive development, organizational transformation, and corporate governance.
To bring confidence to leadership decisions
through dialogue grounded in real-world experience.
That is the mission of Somni Consulting.
Working with Somni Consulting
Somni means “dream” in Catalan.
Turning your dreams into reality through better decisions.
Confidence in Every Leadership Decision
- We listen carefully, analyze the situation objectively, and clarify the key issues.
- As a trusted sounding board, we explore solutions with you and help you move forward with confidence.
- We support execution so that strategy translates into tangible results.
Good Things Are Always Possible.
- In recent years, I have seen many businesses lose sight of what truly matters in the pursuit of shortcuts to success.、
- “Good things are always possible.”
These words were spoken by Motoko Hani, an educator and pioneering woman journalist in Japan. - Somni believes in this idea—and works alongside business leaders to turn what is right and worthwhile into reality.
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Challenges We Help Leaders Address
When you need another perspective on an important decision
Before making a final decision, you want to organize your thinking with someone who has no vested interest in the outcome.
When you want to take your global business to the next stage
You need to overcome the distinctive challenges of international business—from overseas subsidiary management and business strategy to relationships with local organizations.
When you want an acquired organization to become truly one
Beyond integrating systems and processes, you want to build shared values around corporate culture and how decisions are made.
When you want to transform the organization for its next stage of growth
You want to move beyond strategy alone and mobilize people and the organization to make transformation happen.
When you want to develop the next generation of business leaders
You want to develop leaders who can think independently, make sound decisions, and turn those decisions into action.
Leaders shape the future.
Dreams become reality through decisions.
One step forward can change a decision. One decision can change the future of a buisiness.
Somni Consulting helps leaders move forward with confidence.
Hiro Kadokura
Founder, Somni Consulting
Watch, Read, Listen
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Reflections on Organizational Foundations in Tarragona / The People Behind the Cheers for Human Towers
On October 3, 2026, I attended a human tower competition in Tarragona. Eighteen teams took part in the Saturday session of the 30th Concurs de Castells, held once every two years. These towers, known as castells, are a Catalan tradition inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2010. The venue was Tarraco Arena,…
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Revisiting Taiichi Ohno Today / Why Toyota Production System, written half a century ago, still feels new in the age of AI
Recently, I had an opportunity to speak with someone who is working at Toyota. During our conversation, Taiichi Ohno’s name came up for the first time in quite a while. This person’s background was not in production engineering but in public relation. Yet when the conversation turned to a challenge on a manufacturing floor, he began…
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Respect and Hope
In management and organizational transformation, there are two words I continue to value deeply: Respect and Hope. During my time in Barcelona, I was given the responsibility of transforming a recently acquired pharmaceutical API manufacturing site from an internal production facility for its former parent company into a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). The…