How Tetsuro Kano Turned KDDI into a Digital Juggernaut
The CEO Diary with Fexingo: Leadership Lessons, Executive Decisions, and Corner Office Stories · 2026-05-29 · 10 min
Episode notes
In this episode of The CEO Diary, Lucas and Luna explore the remarkable turnaround of KDDI under CEO Tetsuro Kano. When Kano took the helm in 2019, Japan's third-largest telecom was grappling with a saturated market, price wars, and a fading growth story. Rather than slashing costs or retreating, Kano made a contrarian bet: he doubled down on digital transformation, spun off the telecom infrastructure into a separate entity, and pivoted KDDI into a platform for fintech, e-commerce, and IoT. The results? Revenue surged 40% by 2025, and the stock tripled. Lucas breaks down the specific decisions — from the 5G gamble to the acquisition of Lawson convenience stores — that made the turnaround work. Luna challenges him on whether the strategy is replicable for other telecoms. Plus, they discuss the cultural shift Kano engineered inside the company, including a radical open-office policy and a 'fail fast' mandate. A masterclass in leading a legacy business into the digital age.