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Grooming talent for leadership role: Continuallearning is equipping business leaders with theskills to innovate and expand globally, says LEEU-WENGrooming talent for leadership role. (2014, Mar 25). The Business Times Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/1509647724?accountid=25704

Mary Kwan, the regional director of executive education for the Asia-Pacific at Insead, the graduate businessschool, said the key to success in this scenario lies in a company's ability to make the most of the talents it hasand groom these to take on leadership roles in the organisation. Customised courses Ms Kwan said that morethan a third of Insead's resident faculty are based at the Asia campus in Singapore, where they can feel thepulse of the region and know exactly how Asian businesses are evolving. Besides its open programmes, Inseadalso works with organisations on an ongoing basis to customise executive-education courses to suit their needs.

WITH the Asia-Pacific region experiencing strong growth in the past 10 to 15 years, more companies in this partof the world have seized the many opportunities that have come their way and are now spreading their wingsoverseas.

At the same time, companies from the West are increasingly looking to the Asia-Pacific as a high-potential areafor investment and expansion.

Mary Kwan, the regional director of executive education for the Asia-Pacific at Insead, the graduate businessschool, said the key to success in this scenario lies in a company's ability to make the most of the talents it hasand groom these to take on leadership roles in the organisation.

It is here where executive education can play a role in helping companies to become nimble and future-ready,she said.

As Singapore's importance and relevance on a regional scale have grown in tandem with the region'sdevelopment, the urgency for companies to develop a more regional and global perspective business hasincreased. They have a pressing need to prepare leaders who can define and implement effective strategies todevelop the business both regionally and internationally, she added.

"The world has changed so much in the past decade or so, and the changes are happening much faster. Peopleknow that they must stay on top of those changes or they will get left behind, so there is that awareness of theneed to upskill themselves. This continual learning has become more important in today's business

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environment," she said.

Pressing need

The high level of growth in the Asia-Pacific has often meant that executives may be promoted to senior positionswithin their organisations before they are fully ready to assume these roles. The motivation to develop suchindividuals in the company has thus become more pressing.

"A lot of companies come to us and say they have a lot of technical experts - people in fields such as marketing,finance or production who are really good at what they do, but must now take on more responsibility such asleading a team in another country," said Ms Kwan.

This transition is a difficult one for some people if they do not have the right tools to help them along the way."How do you motivate people when you don't have the expertise? How do you see the business as a whole,rather than just from the marketing or finance perspective? How do you see things from the bigger picture andadopt a strategic view to the business' success, rather than just a functional view?" she asked.

When it comes to executive education, most executives say they appreciate a chance to step out of the businessfor a while and have the time to think, but this is a luxury many people usually do not have when they arecaught up in the hustle and bustle of the corporate world.

Insead, which has been actively working with Asian executives since the 1980s, offers numerous executive-education programmes - lasting between three days to several months each - delivered to classes of nationallydiverse participants.

Typically, no nationality comprises more than 10 to 15 per cent of an Insead class; it is not uncommon to be in aclassroom with executives from as many as 30 countries.

Ms Kwan said: "This is a deliberate move on our part, and there are two reasons. One, when Insead was formed,the international and global perspective of doing business was already part of its DNA. Our mission is to developglobal leaders, and that global aspect is very prominent in everything we do.

"The other reason is peer-to-peer learning. You can learn a lot from one another's experiences. We believe thatthe higher the diversity, the better the learning. People come from different industries and countries, so they arelikely to have very different perspectives on the same issues."

More business leaders are indicating that they value the experience of an executive-education programmebecause of the immense networking opportunities. Insead provides them just that because of the very diversityof the participants in its classes.

Last year, 12,000 students were enrolled in Insead's programmes. The school runs 45 of these across its threefull campuses in France, Abu Dhabi and Singapore; about a third of that number are delivered here.

Customised courses

Ms Kwan said that more than a third of Insead's resident faculty are based at the Asia campus in Singapore,where they can feel the pulse of the region and know exactly how Asian businesses are evolving.

Besides its open programmes, Insead also works with organisations on an ongoing basis to customise executive-education courses to suit their needs. Many organisations come to Insead looking for executive-developmentprogrammes in advanced general management, strategy and leadership; a growing number for programmes arecentred around entrepreneurship and innovation.

Ms Kwan said that executive education should not be regarded as an expense; rather, it is an investment in the

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Details

Subject Executives;Education;Leadership

Location Singapore

Title Grooming talent for leadership role: Continual learning isequipping business leaders with the skills to innovate andexpand globally, says LEE U-WEN

Publication title The Business Times

Publication year 2014

Publication date Mar 25, 2014

Year 2014

Section SME Inc

Publisher The Financial Times Limited

Place of publication Singapore

Country of publication United Kingdom

future:

"That opportunity to take a step back, to learn best practices and listen to other people as they share theirexperiences, and also just that chance to get out of the business - this is actually a great investment.

"We do see businesses going through a transformation and their people taking on much more important rolesbecause of their executive-education experience."

leeuwen@sph.com.sg

IllustrationCaption: Diverse participation: Insead's campus in Singapore. More business leaders are indicating that theyvalue the experience of an executive-education programme because of the immense networking opportunities.Insead provides them just that because of the very diversity of the participants in its classes

(Copyright 2014 Singapore Press Holdings)

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Publication subject Business And Economics

Source type Newspapers

Language of publication English

Document type News

ProQuest document ID 1509647724

Document URL http://search.proquest.com/docview/1509647724?accountid=25704

Copyright (Copyright 2014 Singapore Press Holdings)

Last updated 2014-03-25

Database International Newsstand

BibliographyCitation style: APA6

Grooming talent for leadership role. (2014, Mar 25). The Business Times Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/1509647724?accountid=25704

Copyright © 2015 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions

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