A 130-strong audience of senior management gathered over breakfast. Their agenda: To examine "Building a Viable Leadership Bench Strength and Talent Pipeline in APAC for Growth and Sustainability" - a fresh long-term view beyond the, of late, over-dissected global financial downturn.

An impressive cross-discipline panellist proffered varied perspectives. It comprised Professor Richard Arvey, Head of Management and Organization Department at NUS Business School; Pratap Nambia, founder and CEO of Thought Perfect, and Executive-in-Residence at NUS Business School; Howie Lau (BBA 1993), General Manager and Executive Director, Lenovo ASEAN/Korea; and Carl Camden, Global CEO and President of Kelly Services Inc. Jonas Ang, Vice President, Human Resource APAC, Kelly Services played emcee and moderator.

The event marked the successful first-time partnership between NUS Business School and NUSBSA with Kelly Services. It was timely, too, as alumni got to learn about future employment trends in Asia Pacific from global CEOs as the region continues to increase in prominence on the world stage.

Key Learning Points

• Much of local talent has been overlooked. Tap into talents within, as opposed to beyond, our boundaries.
• Experienced employees may provide skills and knowledge, but inexperienced employees can produce fresh perspectives. Hiring a balance of experienced and inexperienced individuals.
• Differentiate the Eastern model of leadership and talent management from the Western model. Don't just blindly copy the latter.
• One fundamental behavior separates managers from leaders. Managers manage people; leaders fix problems.
• There is much untapped talent. Always keep an open mind, and a lookout for fresh, atypical ideas.

Participants Speak
Ng Pheck Choo (BBA 1984):
"The event was very well-organized, and the topic was very relevant to these changing times."

Date:
8 July 2009
(Wednesday)

Time:
7:00am - 9:30am
Saturdays 2:00pm - 5:00pm

Venue:
St Regis Hotel, John Jacob II

Organizers:
Kelly Services
NUS Business School
NUS Business School Alumni Association (NUSBSA)