BUSINESS amp FINANCE MAGAZINE I WWWCAPITALBUSINESSME

Vol 8 - Issue 9 ICapital B siness

F DING HE BEST A D BRIGHTEST

STANTON CHASES PANOS MANOLOPOULOS DISCUSS THE TRIALS OF EXECUTIVE EMPLOYMENT IN DUBAI

ID Vi

- Vgt

-J - z ==~ N- ~

- ltD N - THE SCOPE Of LEADERSHIP ACROSS-

-N -0

lD~ J SOfTWARE BORDERS WITH ~shy AG KELLY WATKINS N= 0 shy

THE GREAT IS DUBAIIN FOR CREW CHANGE A NEW REAL IN OIL AND GAS ESTATE BUBBLE

o Bahrain 200 Dinars - Kuwait 1800 Dinars - Lebanon 8000 LP - Oman 200 Riyals - Saudi Arabia 2000 Riyals - UAE 2000 Dirhams - Qatar 2000 Riyals 00= Vl

v

STANTON CHASE E RN A T o N A L

Executive Search Consultants

F I T E 5 AN STANTON CHASES PANOS

MANOLOPOULOS DISCUSS THE TRIALS OF EXECUTIVE EMPLOYMENT IN DUBAI

G T 5 Panos Mallolopoulos a Global Vice Chairman to one of the leading executive search consultant world wide began his career as a bright intem3tional student and a truly global citizen

Following degrees from of Harvard Business School 011 Executive Education Wharton Business School and CorneH Uni versity on Executive Leadership as well as hi s undergraduate program at University of Athens Panos started his career as a University Lecturer in Wales UK Soon after he assumed the role General Manager and later CEO of o ne of the biggest law firms in Southeast Europe

Manolopoulos Joined Stanton C hase in 2003 serving as Regional and lobal Practice Leader of Consumer Product amp Services Vice Pres ident EMEA and G lobal Vice C hairman of Reg ions before ris ing to the positions of Global Vi ce Chailman of Stanton Chase Intern ational and Managing Partner for the Middl e East Today he is one of the main shareholders in Stanton Chase Balkans and a critical player in Stanton Chases internal ional reach thu s far Panos has visited more than 75 countries

In 2006 he moved to Dubai as the M anaging Paltner for the Middle East and he was e lected as the Vice President for Eu rope Midd le East and Africa Since 2009 he bas been elected as the Vice

Cha irman Reg ions being thus a me mber of the Board of Directors o vervie wing 4 Regiona l Vice Prc i de nt~ in Nortl l America Latin America Europe M iddle East amp Africa and lsia Pacinc

He bas written more than 200 articles in most of the major n w papt rs lllagmines and journals he ha ~ been feature as cover page to many finan cial and bu incs publications and he ilas g iven over 50 interviews in most of the maior TV and Radio networks ( NN N Bc CBS ) whi le he has been invited as a key note speaker in over 100 internalional panels with governments and sci nlists from aII over the world

As a world traveler and l ng-l ime m mber of the in ternational busi ness community Panos Manolopoulos brings a globa l insight to the unique l1 ia ls of exec utive employment in Dubai

In Dubai we are Jiving in a very speculat ive ~nv ironmen t Mmolopoulos points out It s like li ving in the slock market Fac tors such as Ex po 202() and am bitious devclopment proJcch- whilc vita l to business deve lopment- inject instability into the already d is linctly challenging employment market that is Dubai

This exceptional bu sincss climate coupled with D ubais lllll lticul tLl ml internati mal

COVER STORY

foundations all in the end makes it not a very stable market 1t s very sensitive to the intern~tional market Something that happens in the region or something that happens in the rest of the world ha s a positive or negative influence on the city Manolopoulos explains So you can imagine that when you are in a company and you are the CEO or a board member within this environment you have also to look at your company in the same way that you are playing your sales in the stock market

So how does Stanton Chase respond to such factors To Panos Manolopoulos the singular most distinguishing factor of Stanton Chases recruitment is it is process or rather its interaction with the searching companies throughout the process

We are trying to add value [ 0 the organization and so were focusing o n quality he explains So when we do recruitment [or a compa ny we re not looking for the best fit avai lable but simply the best fit We re ac tually acting as ambassadors for the company And by acting as ambassadors for the company organization or government it means we are spending a considerable amount of time with the group understanding its stnlcture its practices and we are able to act as consultants firsl When we st8Ji a search the process for us is very thorough

Rather than the e nd point of findi ng a new employee Manolopoulos insists on the critical nature of the spaces in between Were trying to add value to all the parts of the process the process for us requires a mapping of the industry These processes are so important that sometimes were changing the course of our action during the process Well start going ill one direction and then for in stance well identify that the market is not what we thought it to be

The best pract ice process is very important for executives in these companies It is wha t distinguishes us from recruitment agencies 1113t wi ll simply send interesting CVs to a company To an extreme weve sometimes concluded a search without find ing someone yet still received very high assessment marks from our client because theyve appreciated the process Manolopoulos said

Ultimately with Sta nton Chase there is a lot of back and forth interaction between recruiter and client as they search for tile peJfect candidate an important development for the recruitment industry considering the relative ease with which a person can now publicize their own CV through job search engines and online communities

A lot of recruitment agencies will just go out and find CVs which at the end of the day are fair ly easy to spot Manolopoul os notes 1 remember when I joi ned 15 years ago the important element of our selling is how global you are your reach In the past ten years the focus has shifted Its not just how we can get the best but how we can fit this person into a particular organization

Ultimately Manolopoulos says that s why Stanton Chase emphasi zes their process so strongly We give emphasis to the process and the quality because right now what we sell to the client is not our ability to spot a talented person because thats relatively easy but to spot the best fit for them

THE CHANGING WORLD Of EXECUTIVES As an intemation al executive search firm p31iicularly foc used on CEO and board member matches Stanton Chase bas its finger on the pulse of management and employment trends So when asked w hat has changed for top management in these past few years Panos Manolopoulos has a fairly good idea of what it ta kes to run a company these days At the least he knows what organizations are looking for

WHAT WE SELL TO THE CLIENT IS NOT OUR ABILITY TO SPOT ATALENTED PERSON BECAUSE THATS RELATIVELY EASY BUT TO SPOT THE BEST FIT FOR THEM

We are li ving in a very rapid very volati le world And the challenge for the CEOs and Board of Directors of today is to understand that they have to play different ro les and they have to play very diverse roles within diffe rent environmen ts Manolopoulos says fi rst and foremost

The whole notion of a traditional board member that has a particular way of thinking and is not involved in the de velopment of the company that doesn t work anymore he added Meanwhile CEOs have to adapt themselves to very rapid changes in their environment and they have to play the best roles in the past each CEO was wearing the hat of the salesperson and dipl omat A good CEO was selling and promoting he was working at the top-line without worry ing about the bottom line Now thi ngs have changed

Today Manolopoulos says We are looking at new expectation s for CEOs who need to understand how to keep both the top and bottom line in order to keep their companies sustainable They are more financi ally sensitive in many aspects And in general the) have to be open to constant change

One part of the constant change has been a reassess ment in many globa l market of the ideas of diversi ty and corporate social responsibility (CSR) While most organizations Champion these buzzwords as part of their company ethos the execution of both practices in the workplace proves to be a challenge palticularly in the Middle East

Manolopoulos admits that promoting diversity can be as especially challenging task in the region [Diversity and CSR] are very popular nowadays and a number of organizations are using these words just to use them and say that we 8J-e practic ing the best methods he said Companies wi ll come to us talking about diversity and theyre talking more about putting a woman on their board of directors For Stanton Ci1ase were talking about other problems of diversity he explained referring also to ethn ic national and age diversity within an organization besides the ever important gender dive rsity

But we do experience a lot ofbias Manpollos said bllllltly

Its time to change the cunent outlook towards talent For us were trying to recruit talents that fit for an organization but at the same time with diversi ty regardless of ethnicity regard less of gender and regardless even of age because right now we have Baby Boomers Generation Y Generation X and each brings something different he said We are trying to encourage organizatiolls to practice di versity but there is a long way to go to reach a point where we can say that diversity is really something that we practice in this part of the world

134 i wVcapttJibl1sincssnH (18 - i~S llt Y)

COVER STORY

foundations all in the end makes it not a very stable market 1t s very sensitive to the intern~tional market Something that happens in the region or something that happens in the rest of the world ha s a positive or negative influence on the city Manolopoulos explains So you can imagine that when you are in a company and you are the CEO or a board member within this environment you have also to look at your company in the same way that you are playing your sales in the stock market

So how does Stanton Chase respond to such factors To Panos Manolopoulos the singular most distinguishing factor of Stanton Chases recruitment is it is process or rather its interaction with the searching companies throughout the process

We are trying to add value [ 0 the organization and so were focusing o n quality he explains So when we do recruitment [or a compa ny we re not looking for the best fit avai lable but simply the best fit We re ac tually acting as ambassadors for the company And by acting as ambassadors for the company organization or government it means we are spending a considerable amount of time with the group understanding its stnlcture its practices and we are able to act as consultants firsl When we st8Ji a search the process for us is very thorough

Rather than the e nd point of findi ng a new employee Manolopoulos insists on the critical nature of the spaces in between Were trying to add value to all the parts of the process the process for us requires a mapping of the industry These processes are so important that sometimes were changing the course of our action during the process Well start going ill one direction and then for in stance well identify that the market is not what we thought it to be

The best pract ice process is very important for executives in these companies It is wha t distinguishes us from recruitment agencies 1113t wi ll simply send interesting CVs to a company To an extreme weve sometimes concluded a search without find ing someone yet still received very high assessment marks from our client because theyve appreciated the process Manolopoulos said

Ultimately with Sta nton Chase there is a lot of back and forth interaction between recruiter and client as they search for tile peJfect candidate an important development for the recruitment industry considering the relative ease with which a person can now publicize their own CV through job search engines and online communities

A lot of recruitment agencies will just go out and find CVs which at the end of the day are fair ly easy to spot Manolopoul os notes 1 remember when I joi ned 15 years ago the important element of our selling is how global you are your reach In the past ten years the focus has shifted Its not just how we can get the best but how we can fit this person into a particular organization

Ultimately Manolopoulos says that s why Stanton Chase emphasi zes their process so strongly We give emphasis to the process and the quality because right now what we sell to the client is not our ability to spot a talented person because thats relatively easy but to spot the best fit for them

THE CHANGING WORLD Of EXECUTIVES As an intemation al executive search firm p31iicularly foc used on CEO and board member matches Stanton Chase bas its finger on the pulse of management and employment trends So when asked w hat has changed for top management in these past few years Panos Manolopoulos has a fairly good idea of what it ta kes to run a company these days At the least he knows what organizations are looking for

WHAT WE SELL TO THE CLIENT IS NOT OUR ABILITY TO SPOT ATALENTED PERSON BECAUSE THATS RELATIVELY EASY BUT TO SPOT THE BEST FIT FOR THEM

We are li ving in a very rapid very volati le world And the challenge for the CEOs and Board of Directors of today is to understand that they have to play different ro les and they have to play very diverse roles within diffe rent environmen ts Manolopoulos says fi rst and foremost

The whole notion of a traditional board member that has a particular way of thinking and is not involved in the de velopment of the company that doesn t work anymore he added Meanwhile CEOs have to adapt themselves to very rapid changes in their environment and they have to play the best roles in the past each CEO was wearing the hat of the salesperson and dipl omat A good CEO was selling and promoting he was working at the top-line without worry ing about the bottom line Now thi ngs have changed

Today Manolopoulos says We are looking at new expectation s for CEOs who need to understand how to keep both the top and bottom line in order to keep their companies sustainable They are more financi ally sensitive in many aspects And in general the) have to be open to constant change

One part of the constant change has been a reassess ment in many globa l market of the ideas of diversi ty and corporate social responsibility (CSR) While most organizations Champion these buzzwords as part of their company ethos the execution of both practices in the workplace proves to be a challenge palticularly in the Middle East

Manolopoulos admits that promoting diversity can be as especially challenging task in the region [Diversity and CSR] are very popular nowadays and a number of organizations are using these words just to use them and say that we 8J-e practic ing the best methods he said Companies wi ll come to us talking about diversity and theyre talking more about putting a woman on their board of directors For Stanton Ci1ase were talking about other problems of diversity he explained referring also to ethn ic national and age diversity within an organization besides the ever important gender dive rsity

But we do experience a lot ofbias Manpollos said bllllltly

Its time to change the cunent outlook towards talent For us were trying to recruit talents that fit for an organization but at the same time with diversi ty regardless of ethnicity regard less of gender and regardless even of age because right now we have Baby Boomers Generation Y Generation X and each brings something different he said We are trying to encourage organizatiolls to practice di versity but there is a long way to go to reach a point where we can say that diversity is really something that we practice in this part of the world

134 i wVcapttJibl1sincssnH (18 - i~S llt Y)

TALENT MANAGEMENT Another very relevant challenge in Dubai and the region is the nature of talent management an issues thai ties directly into organizations apprehension about diversity particularly when it comes to young remllts

From an execu ti ve search perspective many companies seek great talent but resist younger finds claiming that they do not have the required experience

This Manolopoulos says can be a loss for the company itself Unfortunately experience is sometimes misinterpreted and only asses sed on paper including how old you are Anumber of organizations are excludin a

b

certam percentage of candidates because of age gender ethnicity and it costs them

But these misconceptions lie under the larer scope of talent management an ultimatelyb challenging strategy for many companies in this region to cultivate

It s not only what you see today but you have to see the potential within these younger talents Manolopoulos explains Good organi zations will have ways to attract retain and develop talent But the talent management in general in this part of the world is not very well developed The allrition numbers wi thin companies have been relatively high even during the period of recession he pointed out

At Stanton Chase we are trying to express to organizations a lot of emphasis on the second and third aspects of talent management retaining and developing We are not looking

at emphasis on one aspect when we are searching for a talented person and were making a successful placement our input is on which organization can best reach their passion and not only to keep the talent but also develop it Talent management is an art With the exception of some exceptional multinational corporations or very good family conglomerates that have invested in talent over the past 50 or so years it is certainly an issue here It is of high importance for companies to strategize on talent management

At the same time Manolopoulos views the art of talent management as a learning process for a fast-growing market Once this market matures these notions like talent management wIll really become more and more important and require more emphasis he says pointing out that when Stanton Chase first established in the region the average stay of an expatriate was brief typically around a year

But in the past few years alone the average stay has increased to three years with an expectation for the number to continue to grow

SO WHEN WE DO RECRUITMENT FOR A COMPANY WERE NOT LOOKING FOR THE BEST FIT AVAILABLE BUT SIMPLY THE BEST FIT

The vast majority of ex pats in the region who lose their job or want to move jobs were finding are looking for jobs still within the region So the rates of expats stayi ng in the regIOn has gone up We call it internal mobility A few years ago 90 percent of our candidates were only coming from abroad Now that has reversed and 90 percent of expatriate candidates can be found within the region Manolopoulos explains With internal mobility and expatriate sta y on the fISe coupled with the looming boom of Expo 2020 Manolopoulos predicts rapid growth in Dubal to continue particularly in the IT and finance sectors

But what is the future of executive employment in the region especially following the economic crisis Manolopoulos says it s simple Ever since the crash companies have stopped looking for primadonnas Theyve stopped lookin fo r tllose highly paid stars especially in fin~ncial services I think the biggest impact of the economic recession was that companies now understand that not necessari ly the highestshypaid indi vid ual-or the one with the highest demands or most successful track record - is necessarily the best fit for their organization The person that is the best fit he concludes take a process

wwwcapitalbuifl essme - (vol 8 - issue 9) 35 I