Michael
Bekins, Founder and Managing Partner, CapitaPartners, is a global thought-leader on
leadership and human capital consulting. He advises clients on the pressing
leadership and talent issues facing organizations in fast-evolving Asia. His
passion, and the focus of the past ten years, is to understand what it takes to
thrive as a leader amidst vast cross-cultural challenges, change, growth and
volatility. He does this by applying more than 20 years of experience living
and working in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Australia as a
partner with a top-tier global consulting firm. He has a further 10 years
experience living in the US and UK.
Bart,
a regional expatriate head of Asia for a fast-growing, mid-sized consumer
technology company based in the US, spent two years trying to recruit a Country
Manager for their largest business in Asia. This executive, young and
high-potential, churned through more than twenty candidates over this two-year
period, never quite satisfied enough to make an appointment. Meanwhile, Bart,
always moving from sales pitch to sales pitch, drove the business in Asia
until, after two years, he got the promotion he wanted back home and his
assignment in Asia came to an end. He eventually left the company after a
frustrating repatriation and called me with a request to assist him in his job
search. “I love Asia,” he said. “I grew the business in Asia 30 percent during
my two years.” I then asked him how the business is doing now. “Not good,” he
said. ”After I left, the business fell apart. Weak leadership. They don’t have
the talent” I wasn’t sure if he was bragging about his successes before the
company’s fall, or admitting to a cardinal sin for a multinational expatriate
leader in Asia: failure to build talent.
Could
this peripatetic executive have achieved more by helping others be successful?
Would this business be stronger today if Bart had built a stronger platform of
high-potential local leaders? Bart, like many ‘heroic’ expatriate executives in
bustling Asia, ended his career with this multinational with nothing to show
for it. With his repatriation back to the US, the business was no better off,
an also-ran in a sea of local competitors (like Alibaba).
All
expats are tempted to demonstrate value immediately, to be the hero they were
hired to be. Yet many expats conclude their assignments having erected castles
in the sand. It doesn’t take long for waves of change to wash their
achievements away, even as they get promoted for their great work.
So
what’s the job of the regional multinational leader in Asia? Effective leaders
define their value by setting the agenda, creating the space for others to be
successful, building for tomorrow. They find ways to tap into the
entrepreneurial value system in China described by Jack Ma. For some this may
mean spending more time coaching talent, gaining alignment on a bigger vision,
building infrastructure, or unlocking the potential of teams. Or defining a
more liberating culture and creating opportunity for locals to create new
ideas, business models, products or customers. Or making that long-awaited
appointment in North Asia,even if not perfect. Great talent doesn’t need more
heroic bosses. They need space to grow.
Tomorrow’s
regional head of Asia is today’s unpolished gem. The message to Bart: take a
risk on talent, give space. Talent is everything. By the time my 30 year-old
associate becomes a gray-haired partner like me, two-thirds of the world’s
middle class will be buying through Alibaba or through giant malls in the
suburbs of Asia. Our businesses in Asia will have grown five to ten times in
scale. For most companies, China will be a larger domestic market than the US.
On a typical Friday afternoon, more of your suppliers, customers, outsourcers,
and consultants will be connecting through Chengdu on their flights home than
through Chicago, with fewer delays.
What
does this mean for multinationals doing business in Asia? The Chinese consumer
doesn’t know or care where your board members meet or on what stock exchange
your shares trade. They want products on the shelves to meet their needs at the
right price points. Jack Ma’s principles apply: Focus on the customer. Be
entrepreneurial. Treat your employees well. Exploit local opportunities. Multinationals
need to build talent on an unprecedented scale from the inside out. For you
heads of Asia: what’s your legacy?
Visit Mike Bekins’ Executive Pipeline Blog To Learn More.
