APB holds evening forum on ‘Navigating Leadership Challenges in a Volatile Market’
The Continuous Professional Development Committee of the Association of Professional Bankers (APB) Sri Lanka held an insightful evening forum recently, at the BOC head office auditorium, with the participation of a large number of bankers, professionals and special invitees.
The celebrity CEO of the corporate world, Dr. Kishu Gomes graced this occasion as the guest speaker. The topic for the day was ‘Navigating the Leadership Challenges in a Volatile Market’, which is an emerging topic in the corporate arena.
Dr. Gomes commenced the presentation with the concept of ‘New Normal Leader’. He emphasised on few leadership lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Gomes took up examples and described about the limited applicability of risk management in an unexpected pandemic situation. He mentioned that most of the businesses were shut down due to supply chain disruptions and elaborated on the balance between the cost vs reliability, high fixed costs, business continuity plans (BCP) to people response processes (PRP), leadership challenges occurred in various industries and the importance of technology using Zoom and other platforms and the quick adaptability to changes and challenges.
Dr. Gomes spoke on the ‘business challenges in the new normal world’ and highlighted some key focus areas in the present-day business context, such as declining markets, economic downturn, reduction of gross profit margins, high inflation and fierce competition among players in the market that needs to be watched carefully by the corporate leaders.
He was of the view that as leaders, we need to “stay focused on controllable” factors. He also underlined the fact that we are facing a highly volatile market with an unforeseen future in front of us and the competition is getting worse than before with the technological innovation.
He quoted from an example from American business leader General Electric CEO Jack Welch in his presentation. “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”
Dr. Gomes highlighted the importance of “making a fresh start to compete to succeed” and mentioned that a leader should “know what you do and do what you know”.
According t o Dr. Gomes, t he biggest leadership challenge in today’s world is arriving at the “right judgement” and “as great leaders, we all should be good listeners”. Also, according to him, 100 percent root cause analysis of a situation/problem and providing a 50 percent accurate solution is better than analysing only 50 percent of the problem and attempting to provide 100 percent of the solution.
He stressed that the leaders should improve the analytical skills in order to excel in the corporate world. Without understanding the questions correctly, proper solutions cannot be provided and as a result, the company will not succeed in the long run and the bottom line will be affected.
Dr. Gomes pointed out another important aspect. He highlighted the requirement of a robust and a well-equipped team with the proper knowledge, skills and attitude to change the world. He mentioned that “a great leader should develop dominant teams, who work towards achieving the best”.
He illustrated how countries have kept a name excelling the competitive advantage. For instance, he described how Switzerland grabbed the untapped market potential of manufacturing chocolate and got renowned as the best chocolate manufacturer in the world.
He also emphasised that the tacit and explicit knowledge of individuals of a team together would lead to synergy and ultimately achieving the success. He was in the view that “right attitude in place is vital to achieve success”.
He also stated that the team should aim for perfection. He specified, “If a person fails, it doesn’t mean that he/she opts to go backwards without achieving better results. A person when aiming for perfection, needs to see it as an opportunity and convert the weakness into a strength.” Dr. Gomes then took another memorable quote from American professional golfer Tiger Woods: “No matter how good you get, you can always get better and that’s the exciting part.”
Dr. Gomes’ opinion was that a great leader should set goals beyond his/her own capacity. He advised that an outperforming leader should focus on trying hard on what people cannot do. He also illustrated the culture of leaning within an individual. He said only 10 percent of learning can be achieved through techniques such as coaching and training, 20 percent can be achieved through on-the-job training and 70 percent is achieved through your own skills and attitude.
He clarified t hat people need to be given proper knowledge in order to grow the business to a higher level. He further mentioned that as a professional who opts the journey of excellence with their subordinates, they need to accept any challenge he/ she faces and be an exemplary character to others. He further mentioned that if any individual is not performing up to a standard level, the leaders focus on introducing a performance improvement plan for such team members.
Dr. Gomes shattered some conventional thoughts as well. His opinion was that people focus more on uncertainty rather than the certainty aspect. But he emphasised the fact that when people focus on short term and achieve the short-term objectives, then an individual can easily achieve the long-term objectives.
“The great leaders see the unforeseen future by continuous focus on the short-term aspects.” He sighted this statement with a great vision throughout his presentation.
Moreover, Dr. Gomes stated that the leaders should focus on the targets rather than the results. Individual behaviours are aligned with the goals. If an individual wants results, he should focus on the target with a clear mind. When you develop the inner boss within yourself and sustain the best performances, repeat the best performances.
Leaders should manage their own life rather t han only focusing on ti me management. Efficient and effective leaders should manage what an individual can manage and he/she will be able to manage their lives against time. Competitive leaders should be good communicators and they should communicate for success.
“Work-life balance is a vital part of great leaders.” He mentioned about integrating and enjoying both in a balanced way.
Another point of view by Dr. Gomes was that leaders should be admired by others. Dr Gomes highlighted the importance of “winning in the eyes of others”, using himself as an example. He quoted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who once said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you are not in the room.” Dr. Gomes emphasised that creating a personal brand is an essential characteristic for becoming a great leader.
Finally, Dr. Gomes opened up the Q&A session to the audience, where most of the doubts were cleared. This presentation was of paramount importance to all the bankers, including the professionals who enthusiastically joined the session and this evening forum enlightened everybody to think as visionary leaders, who will lead the future of Sri Lanka to greater heights.
(APB Member Thilini Chathurika Gunasekera (ACMA, CGMA,ACIFMAACI Dealing, AIB (SL)) currently works as a Treasury Dealer/executive Officer in Bank of Ceylon Dealing Room, Treasury Division,
Bank of Ceylon Head Office)