The Virtual Leader

How to Manage a Remote Workplace

By: Takako Hirata

Narrated by: Xenia Willacey

By 2025, an estimated 70 percent of the workforce will work remotely at least five days each month. In The Virtual Leader, Takako Hirata, an experienced leader of large international virtual teams, shares her proven methods for thriving in the remote workplace with the help of new leadership principles.

Remote work is here to stay.

As a result, remote leadership is now a core competency for most executives and managers.

Leaders cannot simply transfer what they’ve been doing in the office to the remote context. While the goals remain the same—efficiency, engagement, community—the means of achieving those are very different.

In The Virtual Leader, Takako Hirata shares the proven leadership methods she has developed over nearly a decade coordinating teams across the globe as the head of international business development at ROHTO Pharmaceutical.

Hirata has seen firsthand that while the remote environment presents its own set of obstacles, the opportunities for innovation far outweigh the challenges. Because remote work is only advantageous when it’s done right, she offers workers and leaders a comprehensive guide to making the most of the world of remote work through strategies such as:

• Conserving office rituals in the remote environment
• Cultivating trust
• Enabling clear and efficient communication
• Making your company leaner and reinvesting in your teams
• Maintaining mental and physical health
• Conducting productive meetings
• Minimizing distractions and maximizing focus
• Managing new expectations for employees

With The Virtual Leader, learn how to evolve your leadership style to empower your teams to thrive wherever they work.

“While the pandemic is still redefining what modern working space looks like, this is the time to care for—and trust—the digital employee experience.... Takako shares her best practices for how to be a successful virtual leader. From the workplace setup to meeting logistics to mental health, Takako gives you a total package to excel in this new world." (Alex Chiang, principal software engineering manager, Microsoft)

"The Virtual Leader is mandatory reading for any remote leader seeking to evolve their leadership style. Based on real-world experience and proven methods, the book is full of practical and actionable advice and strategies for remote leadership." (Michael Vermillion, senior managing director, global business intelligence, J.D. Power)

"Get in-depth insights from an experienced facilitator of 24/7 engagements with colleagues dispersed across time zones, countries, and continents. The Virtual Leader provides hope and a guidebook on how to thrive in the midst of the most significant work development of our time." (Diane Chen, former senior global brand design manager, Procter & Gamble, and former creative director, worldwide brand experience, Lenovo)

©2022 Takako Hirata (P)2022 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Building a great remote culture is critical to the success of all remote teams. Takako’s insights in this space and her overall expertise in managing remote teams are beneficial to all managers making the transition." (Andy Tryba, CEO, Gigster)

“The Virtual Leader serves as a ‘best practices’ reference for navigating the virtual hybrid environment in our professional, personal, academic, and social lives.... Takako’s personal anecdotes give the reader unique insights and lessons learned, as she has developed a framework and a leadership style that can successfully motivate and empower virtual and decentralized teams.” (Nicky Agahari, HealthTech fellow, Harvard Medical School)

“Takako, the author of The Virtual Leader, has managed remote work from an early stage across national borders. The experience and knowledge she gained led her to develop the virtual workplace techniques she covers in the book, which will be of great value to managers everywhere.” (Akihiko Morisawa, president and CEO, The Morisawa Inc.)

It was a reality check on virtual work and being a virtual leader

Biggest takeaway for me is the world is not the same as it was before covid. So we should not treat our work the same. This book helps me open my mind for the changes that need to come with what I do virtually.

Too shallow

The book is for those who have no idea what to do with an online team

Boring common sense

I don’t think if you need to read a book on how to use email, slack, zoom… If you do, then this is the book for you.