VUCA WORLD

LEADERSHIP: INDONESIA. THE NEXT GREAT EXPORTER OF TALENT? 42

THE BIG INTERVIEW: KOH BOON HWEE’S REFLECTIONS ON LEADERSHIP 70

TECHNOLOGY:THE BEST BUSINESS APPS FOR LEADERS ON THE MOVE 86

BEYOND BUSINESS: LESSONS FROM MILITARY LEADERSHIP 78

The building blocks of success

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ISSUE 05/2013

SURVIVING THE

REDEFINING BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

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04 H Q A S I A I S S U E 5 / 2013

EDITORIAL

EDITOR!IN!CHIEFMano Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.

ISSUE EDITORRebecca Siow

ASSISTANT ISSUE EDITORSaradevi D/O Gopal Prabhakaran

CONTRIBUTORS Fanny Cheung, Pilar García-Lombardía, Yvan Legris, Howard James, Goh Swee Chen, Ivy Nguyen, Yoshihiro Yoshida and Yvonne Kageyama, Aabha Gandhi, Hai Ling, Walter Kuijpers, Howie Lau, Tomas Koch, Shintaro Mano, Jean-François Manzoni, Vijayan Munusamy, Koh Boon Hwee, Vinod Kumar, Colonel Charles Sta!ord, In-Sue Oh and Crystal M Harold, Hora Tjitra, Perez Loh

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Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Provost and Deputy President (Academic A!airs), Singapore Management University

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Joseph Flanagan,SVP, Worldwide Operations and Supply Chain, Applied Materials

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INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC PANEL

Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, Senior Adviser, Global Executive Committee Member, Egon Zehnder International

Professor Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School; Founder, Hot Spots Movement

Professor Dave Ulrich, Partner and Co-founder of RBL Group, Professor of Business, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

HQ ASIA TEAM

hat kinds of leaders do you need for your current and future business? Good listen-ers? Strong facilitators and collaborators? Leaders with people skills and who can

manage multiple stakeholders? Recent research by Dr Hora Tjitra of China’s Zhejiang University and his colleagues Dr Hana Panggabean and Dr Juliana Murni-ati from Atma Jaya University, Indonesia, suggest that these are the common strengths of Indonesian leaders.

In a country that covers 17,000 islands and 300 di!erent ethnic groups, Indonesians have long had to manage diversity. But, for Indonesia to over-come its current leadership shortage – let alone become an exporter of leadership talent – much more needs to be done.

M A N Y G E N E R A L I S T S, F EW S P E C I A L I S T S Many Indonesians aspire for a generalist career rather than that of a specialist one. For example, there are more students who choose to be trained in general business management fields or the humanities than in a specific science and engineering discipline. So"an Wanandi, Chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association, blames the country’s education system for this problem. Indonesia, he argues, encourages students to take too many disparate subjects, instead of promoting a focus on specific fields like engineering and physical sciences.

There is perhaps an understandable reason for this preference. In the past, companies in Indonesia tended not to be big. Hence, these companies needed employees who could juggle many responsibilities rather than immersing in a specific field. As such, ca-reer opportunities in Indonesia have tended to attract and reward generalists.

Because of this, leaders were expected to pick up broad skills of the trade quickly. However, those who underwent a fast track career development programme found themselves not having enough time to build deep technical competence.

Today matters are changing. There is a growing demand amongst employers for specialists with strong technical skills. At the Global Indonesian Network conference – organised by Atma Jaya University and Alumni of Catholic Students in Europe – Hadi Kasim, CEO of Triputra Group, complained of the di#culty of finding workers with deep technical expertise.

Without strong technical skills in engineering and science, Indonesians often lack the credibility to progress in their careers. An exception to the rule is former CEO of IBM Indonesia, Yaya Winarno Junardy. Despite not having a university degree he rose to the top because of his strong technical knowledge in com-puters and software programming.

C O M M U N I CAT I N G W I T H O U T I M PA CTA common misconception is that Indonesians do not possess strong English language skills. The busi-ness leaders whom Tjitra and his colleagues spoke to shared that Indonesians’ English proficiency is comparable to their colleagues from other parts of Asia, like China. It is the way Indonesians craft their messages that puts them at a disadvantage.

As a result of striving to maintain social harmony in their diverse cul-ture, young Indonesians are trained to communicate in an indirect and contextual way. In present-ing their strategy and plans, they have not been trained to structure their arguments based on data and analysis. As such, they do not stand out when compared to their other Asian counterparts.

It is even harder to notice com-petent Indonesian workers when they do not actively promote their strengths. Modesty and humil-ity are important virtues for the Indonesian people. The common Indonesian saying: “It is the mature rice plant that bends its head low” speaks of mature individuals being more humble. Take Adi Prabowo, an Associate Director of Johnson & Johnson Asia Pacific, as an example. Prabowo came from an upper-class family and studied in an elite school. Even as a young child, he would sometimes choose to walk to school, rather than to be chau!eured in his father’s luxury car. What is regarded as maturity and humility amongst Indonesians is unfortunately often perceived as weakness in the West.

L A C K I N G A M B I T I O N ?Another challenge is that the majority of Indonesian talent seem content with their current achieve-ments and do not aspire to leave their comfort zone.

One of their guiding principles is the Javanese concept of ‘nrima’. >>

INDONESIATHE NEXTGREAT EXPORTER OF LEADERSHIP TALENT?

W

Everyone from McKinsey to the World Bank is predicting Indonesia’s economy to boom while the talent shortage exacerbates. Mano Ramakrishnan spoke with Hora Tjitra to understand how the nation’s current shortfall of leadership talent need not be permanent – Indonesia can be a great exporter of leadership talent. And, here’s why.

42 H Q A S I A I S S U E 5 / 2013 I S S U E 5 / 2013 H Q A S I A 43

YOUNG INDONESIANS

ARE TRAINED TO COMMUNICATE IN AN INDIRECT

AND CONTEXTUAL WAY. THIS IS A RESULT OF STRIVING TO

MAINTAIN SOCIAL HARMONY IN

THEIR DIVERSE CULTURE

L E A D E R S H I P

IMA

GE:

CO

RB

IS

hat kinds of leaders do you need for your current and future business? Good listen-ers? Strong facilitators and collaborators? Leaders with people skills and who can

manage multiple stakeholders? Recent research by Dr Hora Tjitra of China’s Zhejiang University and his colleagues Dr Hana Panggabean and Dr Juliana Murni-ati from Atma Jaya University, Indonesia, suggest that these are the common strengths of Indonesian leaders.

In a country that covers 17,000 islands and 300 di!erent ethnic groups, Indonesians have long had to manage diversity. But, for Indonesia to over-come its current leadership shortage – let alone become an exporter of leadership talent – much more needs to be done.

M A N Y G E N E R A L I S T S, F EW S P E C I A L I S T S Many Indonesians aspire for a generalist career rather than that of a specialist one. For example, there are more students who choose to be trained in general business management fields or the humanities than in a specific science and engineering discipline. So"an Wanandi, Chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association, blames the country’s education system for this problem. Indonesia, he argues, encourages students to take too many disparate subjects, instead of promoting a focus on specific fields like engineering and physical sciences.

There is perhaps an understandable reason for this preference. In the past, companies in Indonesia tended not to be big. Hence, these companies needed employees who could juggle many responsibilities rather than immersing in a specific field. As such, ca-reer opportunities in Indonesia have tended to attract and reward generalists.

Because of this, leaders were expected to pick up broad skills of the trade quickly. However, those who underwent a fast track career development programme found themselves not having enough time to build deep technical competence.

Today matters are changing. There is a growing demand amongst employers for specialists with strong technical skills. At the Global Indonesian Network conference – organised by Atma Jaya University and Alumni of Catholic Students in Europe – Hadi Kasim, CEO of Triputra Group, complained of the di#culty of finding workers with deep technical expertise.

Without strong technical skills in engineering and science, Indonesians often lack the credibility to progress in their careers. An exception to the rule is former CEO of IBM Indonesia, Yaya Winarno Junardy. Despite not having a university degree he rose to the top because of his strong technical knowledge in com-puters and software programming.

C O M M U N I CAT I N G W I T H O U T I M PA CTA common misconception is that Indonesians do not possess strong English language skills. The busi-ness leaders whom Tjitra and his colleagues spoke to shared that Indonesians’ English proficiency is comparable to their colleagues from other parts of Asia, like China. It is the way Indonesians craft their messages that puts them at a disadvantage.

As a result of striving to maintain social harmony in their diverse cul-ture, young Indonesians are trained to communicate in an indirect and contextual way. In present-ing their strategy and plans, they have not been trained to structure their arguments based on data and analysis. As such, they do not stand out when compared to their other Asian counterparts.

It is even harder to notice com-petent Indonesian workers when they do not actively promote their strengths. Modesty and humil-ity are important virtues for the Indonesian people. The common Indonesian saying: “It is the mature rice plant that bends its head low” speaks of mature individuals being more humble. Take Adi Prabowo, an Associate Director of Johnson & Johnson Asia Pacific, as an example. Prabowo came from an upper-class family and studied in an elite school. Even as a young child, he would sometimes choose to walk to school, rather than to be chau!eured in his father’s luxury car. What is regarded as maturity and humility amongst Indonesians is unfortunately often perceived as weakness in the West.

L A C K I N G A M B I T I O N ?Another challenge is that the majority of Indonesian talent seem content with their current achieve-ments and do not aspire to leave their comfort zone.

One of their guiding principles is the Javanese concept of ‘nrima’. >>

INDONESIATHE NEXTGREAT EXPORTER OF LEADERSHIP TALENT?

W

Everyone from McKinsey to the World Bank is predicting Indonesia’s economy to boom while the talent shortage exacerbates. Mano Ramakrishnan spoke with Hora Tjitra to understand how the nation’s current shortfall of leadership talent need not be permanent – Indonesia can be a great exporter of leadership talent. And, here’s why.

42 H Q A S I A I S S U E 5 / 2013 I S S U E 5 / 2013 H Q A S I A 43

YOUNG INDONESIANS

ARE TRAINED TO COMMUNICATE IN AN INDIRECT

AND CONTEXTUAL WAY. THIS IS A RESULT OF STRIVING TO

MAINTAIN SOCIAL HARMONY IN

THEIR DIVERSE CULTURE

L E A D E R S H I P

IMA

GE:

CO

RB

IS

in Indonesia. No longer should organisations choose task-oriented leaders for these assignments. Instead, they should prioritise expatriate managers with the ability to develop others.

G R A D UA L P R U N I N G FO RG R A D UA L B L O O M I N GMany organisations believe in throwing their high potentials into the metaphorical ‘deep end of the pool’. They assume that these high potentials will eventually swim and build confidence. Doing the same to Indone-sian talent may work less well, as Indonesians tend to appreciate gradual exposure and development through stages. We suggest the following course of exposure:

Stage 1: Station a foreign leader in IndonesiaThis kind of opportunity allows Indonesians to experi-ence the complexity of cross-cultural management in the comfort of their home country. Facing intercultural di!culties at this stage is manageable, as they still have the social support of their family and friends. It is also recommended that Indonesian talent embark on this stage as early as possible in their career. The experi-ence and mentorship from their foreign bosses will prove instrumental in developing their communication skills and working styles.

Stage 2: Take part in international assignments This takes Indonesians beyond the comfort of their home to international regions. It could be either a short assignment of up to six months, or managing projects and virtual teams that span multiple countries. Such an approach allows Indonesians to gradually improve their cross-border management and leadership skills.

Stage 3: Become global leadersThis is the stage where Indonesians take up the chal-lenge of leading in another country for an extended period of time (at least three years). Once successful, they will become role models who will inspire the next wave of Indonesian leaders. At this stage, it is impor-tant to define clear development competencies and goals, which the assignees will need to achieve at the end of their assignment.

In 2009, the World Bank predicted that Indonesia would add two million new workers into the economy every year over the next 10 years. Imagine if the nation could build just 1% of these workers into true global leaders – that would be a good start in not just alleviating leadership shortfalls in Indonesia, but elsewhere in Asia.

Mano Ramakrishnan is the Head of Research at HCLI.

In simple terms, it means if you want to live your life to the fullest, you need not achieve more – but accept what you have now. Often misunderstood as an apa-thetic willingness to swallow everything, nrima actu-ally promotes a positive attitude towards life, especial-ly in the face of adversity. Yet sometimes, this attitude can hold Indonesians back from achieving top roles.

However, a strong motivator for Indonesians is collec-tive ambition. Many of the nation’s business leaders are driven by the ambitions of their organisations, rather than their own careers. And, these leaders are more than willing to make sacrifices for the greater collective – be it their organisation, town or country.

R E C O M M E N DAT I O N SOvercoming the above challenges is important for Indo-nesian talent to realise their potential, and for businesses to benefit from this new type of leadership. After conver-sations with many successful Indonesian leaders, Tjitra and his colleagues discovered a few approaches that organisations can take in order to develop local talent.

E X PAT R I AT E M A N A G E R S H AV E A R O L EMany progressive companies in Indonesia are keen to reduce their dependence on expatriate managers. While this is generally helpful in empowering local leaders, companies should not go too far. Successful Indonesian leaders consistently attributed their devel-opment to foreign mentors.

Some critical roles that expatriate managers play in developing Indonesian talent are:

thinking, data-driven decision-making and impactful communication skills;

‘stretch assignments’ to develop them;

in an international environment;

visible in organisations’ global networks.

Recognising the important roles that foreign expatriates play calls for a change in the way multi-national organisations structure their international assignments. Often, such assignments are designed as a means of personal development for expatriates, or for the setting up of new functions in local o!ces. While these goals are still important and necessary, it is equally critical to endorse clear objectives, such as developing local talent for global roles.

Simultaneously, this understanding should also change the selection criteria for foreign expatriates

44 H Q A S I A I S S U E 5 / 2013