4 myStarjob.com, Saturday 10 January 2015 SHOULD LEADERS BE MINDFUL OF MINDFULNESS? By CHRIS ROEBUCK editor@leaderonomics.com I attended an excellent discussion at Cass Business School last year on the potential value to business of mindfulness. For the uninitiated this is a practice developed from Buddhism that is designed to help people “take a step back” and think about the actions they are taking in a more thoughtful and holistic perspective, not a narrow eventdriven one. This is achieved through simple techniques. In its most basic form, this may be closing your eyes and breathing slowly for one minute as an example – before considering your current position. It is an extension of the principle of counting to 10 before responding to a remark or email that annoys you. There is clear evidence that these techniques do produce physiological changes such as reduced blood pressure, heart rate and overall stress. As a result, they are used within the healthcare field to help individuals suffering from a variety of conditions. The more difficult question is whether mindfulness makes a difference in running organisations. POSSIBLY, MAYBE The answer is probably – they certainly help employees deal with pressure and stress better, but that’s rather a waste of time and effort if better leadership removed the initial pressure in the first place. For leaders, if it helps them to come up with more effective decisions, bearing in mind the big picture and the impact on others as well as themselves, then it will make a big difference, especially at senior levels. There is a much bigger question about how it will systematically help the organisation. SURIA GROUP (SABAH) – LEADERSHIP IS MOULDED THROUGH FIRE Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Datuk Dr. Fowzi Hj Razi, group managing director of Suria Group and having some amazing conversations with him. Datuk Fowzi is very clear in his mind that leadership is a process of being moulded through fire. As we spoke about leadership experiences, we agreed that times of crisis, adversity, change, and great difficulty bring out the best in our leadership. These difficult times mould our leadership perspectives and define our leadership point of view. In fact, we don’t generally grow as leaders when we are maintaining the status quo or in our comfort zone. Situations that challenge us bring out our best. Leadership is fully internalised when we face adversity, uncertainty, suffering, disruption, alterations and other significant challenges. Leadership and pain are synonymous. So, in light of this, if we truly seek to be great leaders, we need to go through significant pain and challenges. Lesson for 2015: Are we up for the pains of leadership in 2015? See adversity and crisis through the lenses of opportunity. You will be surprised what you start seeing. Yes, you can run everyone through mindfulness training but if this isn’t integrated with improvements in leadership capability to minimise the impact of pressure and stress on employees that drive the need for mindfulness, I can’t see it being more than a “sticking plaster” to address the unnecessary damage caused by poor leaders. However, more work needs to be done to confirm evidence of benefit to enable an effective business case to be presented, but the potential seems to be there given the physiological research and other studies. LOOKING AHEAD To explore this potential further, I have accepted an invitation to be on the advisory board for a series of future mindfulness events starting with a symposium in May 2015 being run in Zurich. These will bring together some of the leading thinkers in the field to speak and Bob Geldof, who will, no doubt, be to the point in his views. I am looking forward to learning more and bringing mindfulness to a wider business audience. Rather than a magical silver bullet for organisations, mindfulness may turn out to be another useful tool in the armoury of the effective leader and the forward thinking organisation to maximise the chances of delivering success. n Chris Roebuck is visiting professor of transformational leadership at Cass Business School in London. He is a sought after advisor and the developer of Mach 2 leadership – the combination of entrepreneurial, engaging, ethical and effective leadership. For more leadership content, visit www.leaderonomics.com > FROM PAGE 3 PWC MALAYSIA 5 – BEYOND DIAGNOSIS In Sept 2014, I met managing partner of PwC Malaysia, Sridharan Nair who had just been given the honour of CEO Champion at the Life at Work Award 2014. Several people who knew him well pre-empted our conversation with “Sri’s very modest. You really need to draw out all the good he has done for us and our organisation.” True enough, he talked about changes in PwC Malaysia 7-8 years prior which were ahead of its time – innovations in human resource management that took into account the changing needs of individuals and families. Changes that were well thought out, well executed and in the end very well received. And Sri constantly attributed all the good that has come about to team effort. “Sri has been a great champion. He looks out for people in the firm – he challenges you to do something you may not believe you can,” shared Florence Tan, corporate responsibility manager. Lesson for 2015: Are you helping to create an environment for excellence? It’s not just the role of leaders; everyone in the organisation has a part to play. Perhaps Jan 1 is just an arbitrary line drawn in the sand. I remember quite well, the many different ‘new years’ we celebrated while I lived in Cambodia. Time does have a peculiar way of speeding up and slowing down though – rather disconcertingly, it speeds up when times are great, and slows when times are not. So before the third quarter rolls round and my career and life goals are still waiting to be prioritised, I am going to take the lessons of 2014 and apply them to 2015. Most definitely before we usher in the Year of the Goat! n Karen has great hopes for an excellent year for all. For more articles on leadership and charting your own course, do visit www.leaderonomics.com myStarjob.com, Saturday 10 January 2015 3 LESSONS LEARNT FROM CORPORATE MALAYSIA By KAREN NEOH karen.neoh@leaderonomics.com T HE year 2014 flew by with many touch points with people and companies new to me. Several have left their indelible mark. My own company has undergone changes and immense growth, and I have observed keenly how some people have thrived under the pressure. 1 TALENTCORP – MOVE AS ONE In my first week at Leaderonomics, I was introduced to the team at TalentCorp Malaysia. It was to be the start of many a late night working jointly on projects, and to be honest when our first project came to a close, I had more people I had worked with in the TalentCorp office than in my own. There are three lessons I learnt from working with (and among!) the TalentCorp team. l Know what is important (and know what your stakeholders need even before they know it themselves!) In my trying to understand their needs, the TalentCorp team lead was always very clear what the project objectives were, and how it sat in the overall organisational objectives. Once everyone involved understood it well, things fell into place more readily and even if it didn’t, things were resolved with minimal fuss. l The ends vs the means Salika Suksuwan, head of industry partnerships and her team have a deep (and enviable) understanding of the needs of their stakeholders. In everything the project team did, we were always grounded by what was important, not just for TalentCorp, but also their stakeholders. l In the background Remarkably, the team never wanted to be front and centre, but remained unseen, supporting their projects and all parties. And this, I believe stems from focusing on the end goal – knowing where they were heading, and not letting things derail the process. Lesson for 2015: Are you focused – individually and collectively in your organisation? Stay the course and be mindful of consequences of all actions, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Having taken a peek at Leaderonomics CEO Roshan Thiran’s own lessons learnt from Corporate Malaysia in 2014, the following lesson from Johor Port Bhd was interestingly along the same lines – or rather, velocity (physics!) where both trajectory and speed are part of the equation. PORT BHD 2 JOHOR – SPEED+ During a leadership programme at Johor Port Bhd last year, a participant raised a question on speed, sparking a lively discussion on the importance and downside of speed in business. Then a wise participant brought up this point: “What is the use of speed- ing fast in the wrong direction? You may actually end up worst off than the person who is focused on the right direction yet makes slower, steady progress.” “I could not agree more. Speed is critical in this day and age. Yet, we should only speed once we are clear where we want to go and how we want to go there,” says Roshan. Lesson for 2015: Speed only when you are clear where you are going. If not, slow down and figure out your bearings. MALAYSIA 3 NESTLÉ – PEOPLE FIRST In June 2014, I met chief financial officer of Nestlé Malaysia, Marc Seiler over a conversation on many topics that somehow kept circling back to people power at Nestlé. I could end right there! Because it was striking to me that the culture of people development was so evident and entrenched that the chief financial officer (not human resources) spoke about people and people development at Nestlé with such great passion. He recalled how he journeyed with his team, who were tentative at first, but are today fully engaged and united in their shared vision. “Many who joined Nestlé as management trainees have stayed loyal for 20 years; some have stayed 30 to 35 years. Loyalty to the company and loyalty to the brand have been astonishing,” Seiler said with pride. Of course, we talked about the famous Milo trucks too! Lesson for 2015: Commitment. Do you know what your priorities are? Is your organisation committed to making it happen – up and down (left and right)? GTI MEDIA – NO 4 MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH The people at GTI Media Asia. You meet them and can’t help but be inspired by their energy! And after meeting more of their people and understanding the vision of their founder, I can see why they stay charged up like the Energizer bunny. CEO Hee Kim Fah and his team demonstrate how purpose + perseverance yield results. Through various efforts, they have extended their reach right across our country to help students and graduates make better career choices. Over time and on an aggregate level, you begin to see how this investment can have a significant impact on our nation. The vibe at GTI Media Asia is definitely ‘can do!’ and a lot of ‘nothing’s gonna stop us’ thrown in for good measure. Certainly worth remembering whenever things take a downturn. Lesson for 2015: Is your team able to survive and thrive in crises? Are they equipped with the right skills, mindset and motivation to reinvent themselves? On a related note, Roshan recently shared this great lesson from Suria Group (Sabah). > TURN TO PAGE 4