After renault took a controlling stake in nissan in 1999, the French carmaker sent in Carlos Ghosn, a Brazilian-born, 47-year-old turnaround expert, to lead the overhaul. TIME's Tokyo bureau chief Tim Larimer recently spoke with Ghosn about the most dramatic makeover to date of a Japanese company.

TIME: What has been the hardest thing to change?
Ghosn: Establishing or restoring a sense of emergency, and the necessity of speed—in action and in getting results.

TIME: In the 1980s, everybody wanted to copy the Japanese way of doing business. What happened?
Ghosn: Twenty years ago, the Americans in fact adapted the best practices of the Japanese system to their industry. The American car industry rebounded. Part of this was because they redefined themselves and adapted the best practices and didn't care where they came from.

TIME: What went wrong at Japanese companies?
Ghosn: Companies like Nissan lost focus on what really can make them successful, and that has to do with customer focus. And cross functionality—between functions, between regions—working together for the customer was not built enough into an organization.

TIME: Everybody used to think the keiretsu system was a brilliant business model. Not anymore. Why?
Ghosn: The keiretsu system can be very effective if it is performance-driven, if you develop strong cross functionality. If it becomes a tradition, a cozy way of doing business, then you're lost.

TIME: Who works harder: Americans or Japanese?
Ghosn: The Japanese gaman [or endurance] within the first line of people is impressive. From the other side, American executives, I must admit, can work harder than their colleagues in Japan. So I give a plus to Japan for its gaman and a plus to America for its executives.

TIME: What about Japan's consensus style of management?
Ghosn: A consensus style of management is very good. But I make a distinction between active consensus management and passive. The passive style is a killer.

TIME: What things will you take back home with you?
Ghosn: The sense of simplicity. In strategy, in action plan, in processes. That's one of the basic strengths of Japan.

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