When Christophe Weber, a French national, was named president and CEO of Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical in 2015, he drew great attention in Japan's business community, which is not known for its diversity. I n a recent interview with Nikkei, Weber talked about how his early career shaped him as a business person.

I was born and raised in France and studied pharmacy at university under the influence of my parents, who are both doctors. After working at an Australian drugmaker, I joined SmithKline Beecham, now GlaxoSmithKline, at the age of 27 in 1993.

At first I was in charge of marketing and bringing new products to the marketplace, but I started thinking that I wanted to gain management experience. After nearly two years with the company, I volunteered to become a manager. It may be uncommon in Japan, but applying for a position advance one's career is customary in the U.S. and Europe.

I emphasized my track record to my boss and he recommended me to a manager, who was a philosophy professor at a university before joining the pharmaceutical industry. I remember discussing management with him at the office until well after dark.

Takeda Pharmaceutical President and CEO Christophe Weber, second from the right, and his family pose against the backdrop of Mount Mayon in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Christophe Weber)

I became a regional manager and was in charge of marketing new products in western France. It may be difficult to imagine for those used to the seniority systems common at Japanese companies, but I had about 150 staff. Many of my subordinates were older than me and as soon as I took the position, I sensed that they felt they were more experienced than I was and wondered what they could learn from a young man like me. I think they were anxious, too. I wondered how I could persuade them.

I tried to be as modest as possible and learn from my staff, while at the same time thinking about what kind of values I could provide with them. I had little experience with sales but I knew a lot about marketing. It was important for me to convince them that although their manager might be younger than they, working with me would benefit them.

After successfully introducing a hepatitis B vaccine in the market and working in the U.K., I became the head of the company's Swiss unit at age of 33 in late 1999. Just as I had with the regional manager position in France, I put myself forward for the Swiss position. Switzerland is a country with diverse cultures and I studied German to better acquaint myself with different cultures.

I had about 100 employees under me, but unlike the job of simply heading the sales department, as I had in France, I was tasked with overseeing various departments, including marketing, finance and legal, as a company head. I also negotiated with the government and devised strategies in consultation with my staff.

What I remember most clearly was the megamerger between SmithKline and Glaxo Wellcome in 2000. I spearheaded the merger with a local unit of Glaxo as a head of SmithKline's Swiss unit. Employees were concerned about the merger. We thought it was not a good idea to delay, so we swiftly moved things along as we negotiated with the labor unions.

But there were snags. It was a merger of two drugmakers of the same size on an equal footing. The same number of managers were allocated to the two companies, so we could not always put the most talented people in the appropriate positions.

What we learned from the merger was that one company should absorb the other when two companies of similar size merge. It is important to assign personnel based on their abilities, rather than mechanically. I applied that lesson when Takeda bought Irish drugmaker Shire. The two companies were about the same size, with sales of about 1.7 trillion yen ($15.3 billion), but Takeda took over Shire.

I took a big chance in leaving the company where I had worked for 20 years to join Takeda, and experiences shape who we are. The experience of pursuing bigger opportunities since I was young has made me who I am today.