Leader's Digest #23 (January 2019)

LEADERS ISSUE 23

JANUARY 2019

DIGEST

Keeping Up with Artificial Intelligence

Photo by Franck V. on Unsplash

LEADERS

DIGEST

PUBLICATION TEAM EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief Segaren

Read this issue and past issues online at bit.ly/LEADSCS Scan the QR code below for quicker access:

Assistant Editor Yvonne Lee Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 23 | JANUARY 2019

Can AI Help Us Humans Achieve World Peace?

No Reason Why Business Leaders Cannot Tap Into A.I. Is Artificial Intelligence Set To Take On The Role Of Leaders?

How Is Your Well-Being Affected By Technology?

How Many "Buts" Are Holding You Back From Better Performance?

Own Up To Your Life On Women and Leadership: Three Amazing Asian Stories

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LEADER'S DIGEST IS A MONTHLY PUBLICATION BY THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE OF SARAWAK CIVIL SERVICE, DEDICATED TO ADVANCING CIVIL SERVICE LEADERSHIP AND TO INSPIRE OUR SARAWAK CIVIL SERVICE (SCS) LEADERS WITH CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES. IT FEATURES A RANGE OF CONTENT CONTRIBUTED BY OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND PANEL OF ADVISORS FROM RENOWNED GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS AS WELL AS ESTABLISHED CORPORATIONS THAT WE ARE AFFILIATED WITH. OCCASIONALLY, WE HAVE GUEST CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OUR POOL OF SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS AS WELL AS FROM OUR OWN EMPLOYEES. 2

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Can AI Help Us Humans Achieve World Peace?

BY ARUN KUMAR RAMASAMY

Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.

– Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, scientist and former president of India

Peace has been the world’s goal for a long time. Every year, leaders from around the globe congregate at different events to dialogue about how to achieve world peace, but so far, we are nowhere near it. In some ways, we seem to be moving further away from achieving our goal.

Arguably, there are many reasons that contribute to our failed quest for world peace but if we can boil it down to one core reason, it would be leadership.

Effective leadership is built on effective communication; it makes or breaks a home, nation or the world.

In the age of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), we are seeing many new innovations being introduced. Start-ups are growing everywhere.

Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon of technological revolution, pushing the boundaries of possibilities.

Artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), etc. that make up Industry 4.0 have grown exponentially over the last decade.

They are creating businesses, industries and products that are changing the socio-economic fabric of the known world today.

We have seen blockchain change the financial industry through Bitcoin. IoT has made homes, offices and cities “smart”.

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What about AI? " Many science fiction movies depict AI as evil – artificially evil, at least. " AI is bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger riding around in a leather jacket with a shotgun in his hand, and surely bigger than the spooky red laser point, HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Some movies do portray them to be super cool.

Take, for instance, Iron Man’s Edwin Jarvis, short for Just-A-Really-VeryIntelligent-System. He’s potentially the best personal assistant you can ever find.

Even Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s trustworthy butler, who also happens to be excellent at analytics and engineering works, cannot match the processing power of Jarvis.

Not even Niles, the butler from The Nanny series, whose sense of humour and sarcasm towards Cee Cee Babcock, was once thought to be unparalleled.

Jarvis was simply exceptional, but far from a reality.

The dawn of AI systems The idea of a human-like, truly self-aware AI, although completely legitimate, is still limited by technology itself.

Human beings are fully aware of their existence, and that means they are aware of every component, function and interactions within the human body.

At the moment, AI systems are only able to execute individual tasks, independent of others.

Together with smart devices, instant messaging platforms and social media networks have certainly transformed how we communicate.

However, much of these changes have been cast in a negative light with the loss of privacy and the rise of antisocial behaviour.

They may have excellent image or voice recognition capabilities, but these two functions are not aware of each other.

Picture yourself as having your left hand and right hand as two separate units, requiring two sets of brains to function, and these brains are not aware of each other’s existence.

Leveraging AI for better communication

" Simply put, we have not arrived to a place where one single AI system can perform all human functionalities "

In the midst of these advancements, we must realise that we have long moved past the Information Age and are now heading towards the Age of Communications.

Information technology was revolutionary back then because it transformed the way people send and receive information.

Issue 23 | January 2019

With information now readily available, the breakthrough needed is no longer in how information is accessed but in how it is communicated.

As people prefer digital communications to personal touch, we could be heading towards a worldwide communication breakdown.

From information to communication

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It made information easily accessible to almost anyone with a smart device.

The field of AI that deals with human languages is known as Natural Language Processing.

After years of research and development, and many failed attempts like the infamous Microsoft Office assistant, Clippy and the early stages of Apple’s Siri, AI has finally had a major breakthrough in the area of communication.

As a result, we have seen a rise in chatbots, which is now popularly used as a replacement for online customer service, and even apps like Replika that solve the need for relationships for some.

There is even Ruuh, Microsoft’s chatbot on Facebook that has the personality of a girl who enjoys anything Bollywood.

She can even reply in Hindi and is capable of making typos to make her replies sound as natural as possible.

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On that note, why not use AI to create products that enhance communications not only from a social perspective, but in a way that creates a more tangible effect?

As Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam once said, peace in the world starts from righteousness in the heart. Could it be possible for AI to make us better people?

Imagine some of the most popular and effective personality and behavioural assessments used by many, now having an AI tool to provide a clearer and more continuous reflection of our character.

AI for personal, home and work?

Almost everybody with a smart device has a digital footprint. Why not use these data to help us understand ourselves better?

Wire-tapping was, and still is, controversial. It is portrayed in movies where homes were being tapped to listen to important conversations.

Today, we purchase cool gadgets like Amazon Alexa and Google Home because it is just amazing to have a scaled down version of Jarvis at home!

Here’s an idea for the next entrepreneurial millennial – use the exact technology behind these products to solve miscommunication issues at home.

Your start-up tagline could “Building A Harmonious Home”.

be

I was once in a start-up which aimed to resolve communication issues at the workplace through AI. As we know, there are numerous problems that need to be solved in the workplace, but most consultants

are already working on trying to solve them.

An ever-growing diverse culture in the work environment, although admirable, poses a huge communication problem.

We need tools that can help people to communicate at all levels, up and down the chain of command. We need tools to help leaders understand their teams better.

In a nutshell

Industry 4.0 will have a greater impact in time but, unlike the first three that revolutionised transport, power and computation in a positive way by default, this one gives the power back to us to decide on what its impact will be to the world.

It is therefore up to us to shape the future with the available tools today.

Let us take control of our destiny, instead of being led by technology into an unwanted future. Let us guide it in the way that aids us towards our desired future.

Along with the many avenues that have been used over history to achieve world peace, AI and the various components of Industry 4.0 should be seriously considered to solve some of the more fundamental challenges of society.

Let us move past the fear of losing jobs to robots and automation. AI works from a big pool of data towards a convergence point of an optimised solution, and it stays that way until it perfects the solution.

Humans, on the other hand, have the amazing ability to start from pure nothingness and produce greatness in art, literature and science.

We must move pass stock market predictions, targeted advertising and intelligent weaponry, and channel as many resources as possible towards ideas and products that make the world a better place without robbing elements of humanity.

Yes, the potential for AI to be an agent for world peace is incredible, and it begins with the right ideas and the right thoughts for the right cause.

We can start by slowly changing our perception towards AI, from seeing it as potential threat to mankind to promoting it as a powerful tool instead.

Photo by Rock'n Roll Monkey on Unsplash

Arun is the Digital Initiatives Lead at Leaderonomics. He believes that we should never settle for today and never quit from tomorrow, and therefore aims to inspire as many as possible to pursue their purpose, passion and dreams.

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No Reason Why Business Leaders Cannot Tap Into A.I.

BY DR. TOMMY WEIR

I laughed out loud while writing the words intelligent leadership.

The people around me on the plane must have wondered what I thought was so funny.

I had intended for that word combination to be the blending of A.I and leadership, but seeing them together sparked an entirely different thought: “What exactly is an intelligent leader?”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE About 18 months ago, I found myself heading to Tokyo for a weekend of tutoring on artificial intelligence.

I stepped onto the flight to the Japanese capital an A.I. sceptic, but to my surprise, returned to Dubai a changed man.

In the space of just a few days, I came to realise my limitations when it comes to information attainment, processing, prediction, memory and recall.

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For the first time, I was confronted with the troubling fact that I forget far more than I remember of what I learn.

from a sceptic to a cheerleader, but a question remained in my mind: “Could A.I. lead better than you or I?”

Unlike me, artificial intelligence doesn’t suffer from such limitations.

Actually, it goes in the opposite direction: it learns more, processes faster and never forgets.

Not only is A.I. going to impact jobs, it’s going to remake what leaders do.

Of course, this doesn’t make it perfect, but I realised in Tokyo that A.I. would determine the split between winners and losers.

Almost overnight, I had transformed

The cost of using data will continue to reduce, making it more readily usable, and data will move from being the property of the IT department to being accessible to all.

This means A.I. will become a part of everyday work, including leading.

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INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP To oversimply leadership, you could reduce it to its core skill: decisionmaking.

Decisions about what to do, how to do it, when it should be done, who should do it, how to get them to do it, and what the return will be from doing it. The list goes on.

These decisions are shaped by a judgement based upon predictions.

Whether you realise it or not, you predict what will happen in a given scenario and then reach a sensible conclusion.

As A.I. serves up better and cheaper predictions, they’ll be commoditised.

Just as email commoditised written communication by removing the time lag and laborious act of handwriting, A.I. will do the same for all the predictions you make in a day.

It has access to, and can process, more information than you can, it can accurately handle data from the multiple parties you need to consider, it can work out interactions and predict what will happen in different circumstances.

What’s more, it can do all this in a fraction of the time it takes us to tackle any one of these tasks.

A NEW WAY OF DOING THINGS Intelligent leadership driven by A.I. will replace information attainment; it will make sense of it and figure out what to do with it.

In fact, it will handle leadership prediction in its entirety.

Leveraging A.I. as your leadership platform will enable you to concentrate on judgment.

MAKING YOU A BETTER LEADER More importantly, my prediction is that A.I. can make you an even better leader.

By harnessing artificial intelligence, instead of getting bogged down in data and decision-making processes, you’ll be able to focus on your value add.

Who knows? Maybe the interaction of A.I. with leadership will result in more than one kind of intelligent leadership.

The intelligent leadership will propose what you should do, how you should go about it, and who should do it.

When you make a decision, in the back of your mind, you estimate what the consequences will be — or at least you should.

When A.I. encroaches on leadership in this way, it will in essence become your processing platform.

This kind of A.I. prediction is useful because it helps improve decisions, but prediction isn’t the only input into decision-making.

But the fact is, A.I. can do the intelligent part of this better than you’ll ever be able to.

The other key input is leadership judgment, or how we determine the benefits and costs of different decisions in different situations.

A thinker, speaker, and writer to the core, Dr. Tommy holds a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University, and is the founder of EMLC where he is the region’s leading CEO Coach.

In addition to writing a number of books ‒ including the Amazon #1 bestseller, ‘Leadership Dubai Style’ and ‘10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East’, Dr. Tommy is the editor-in-chief of Emerging Markets Business

Photo by Lukas on Unsplash

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Is Artificial Intelligence Set To Take On The Role Of Leaders?

BY SASHE KANAPATHI

Image | Pixabay

I recently watched a documentary about AlphaGo – a software developed

by DeepMind, the artificial intelligence (AI) arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Group – that defeated the best Go player in the world.

For those who are unaware, as a game, Go is much more complex than chess and it was considered a pinnacle achievement for AI to beat a human player at it.

(Go is a two-player strategy board game in which the goal is to surround more territory than your opponent.)

We know that AI is going to revolutionise the way we work, where some of our work may be replaced by robots.

From curiosity and agility to increased learning abilities, there are definite lists of recommended competencies to face the future.

This led me to a pertinent question: How does AI affect leadership?

While these competencies help us deal with the changing world, they are more focused on changes around business models and processes.

But what would the future look like when AI is doing most of our jobs?

What would leadership look like?

THE JOURNEY TO AN AIENABLED WORLD There are many articles about competencies necessary for leaders to survive the new digital world of Industry 4.0.

"Can robots lead people?

Or can a human leader lead a group of robots?"

In 2017, AI was used to beat human players at Texas Hold’em Poker, a game similar to traditional poker but with slightly different rules to minimise the role of luck.

The game pushes AI to move beyond predictions of discrete moves into a realm of understanding human tactics.

Image | AlphaGo

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THE FUTURE FOR HUMANS

THE FUTURE FOR LEADERS

My curiosity led me to the site willrobotstakemyjob.com. It’s a site that calculates the likelihood of your job being replaced by a robot, based on industry research from 2013.

I don’t know what the competencies are for future leaders, but I do know it will be different from the competencies of today, which are focused on being prepared for the changes of tomorrow.

Though outdated, it provided some insight into my questions.

The disruptive technologies that affect the world of business and work − such as AI − will also be the same technology that future leaders will embrace to enhance their leadership skills.

It was interesting to find that a manager’s role is not necessarily removed from risk.

However, if you are a human resources manager, there is only a 0.55% chance (almost no chance!) that your job will be taken over by a robot.

I began to see a trend – people jobs are still protected.

Only those in operational or functional areas of people manager jobs are at risk. Here, you might not even need people.

Naturally, if robots are doing a job, what you need are functional people to “control” the robots. There is no need for “leadership”.

So, what are jobs that we still need leadership skills for? Obviously, it would be in areas where there is still a need for people. For example, people who are “controlling” the robots as mentioned earlier.

Although leaders may have a lot of AI intervention in analysing data for decision-making, they may need to spend more time taking care of their people.

Similarly, leaders may receive AI’s help in monitoring the performance of their people, but they may need to pour in more effort to uphold the values of the organisation.

We haven’t seen AI penetrate as much on the soft skills of leadership, but it’s predicted that the day will come, too.

Who knows, perhaps there might be technology that can alert us when we are making decisions too emotionally in the future? This helps to heighten our self-awareness.

Could it also provide deeper insights into others that help us lead them better?

It will take a long time to transform the world. Even when it does, technology should be used to make us better.

At the end of the day, the core need for leadership remains. And technology can help us be better leaders.

Similar to electricity, mechanisation and the Internet, technology (or robots specifically) will change the way we work and make us more productive (hopefully).

TECHNOLOGICAL SINGULARITY?

This statement is supported by Paul R Daugherty and H James Wilson in their book, Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, which outlines how AI will not come at the expense of humans, but it will instead enhance humans.

The fact that we are concerned about these things shows that we are aware of some of the broader lines between what is acceptable and what isn’t.

In an extreme case, if AI does become human-like, does that not mean leading these robots would also require the same leadership skills that we use to lead humans?

CONCLUSION Ultimately, leadership is contextual and this is why I think AI has a long way to go.

For the same reasons that leadership development is a challenge in organisations today − and that there is no secret sauce which you can replicate across organisations − I think AI will struggle with the contextual nature of leadership.

As can be seen by the success of AI at beating humans in games like Go or Texas Hold’Em, AI today is used to analyse discrete points of data (not soft skills).

Taking the next step of understanding human behaviour and replicating human decision-making is a whole new frontier − more suited for AI to assist human leaders rather than to replace them.

In the meantime, I will keep an eye out and let you know when it’s time to worry about losing jobs related to leading people.

In the worst case scenario, AI may completely master the soft skills required to be a competent leader and become human-like.

This is a popular view, perpetuated by movies like The Terminator or the Black Mirror series.

Sashe is the Director of Corporate Solutions at Leaderonomics.

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Image | 123rf

How Is Your Well-Being Affected By Technology?

BY ARUN KUMAR RAMASAMY

Human beings have three main components: body, mind and soul (heart).

In other words, we have a physical state connected to the body, a mental state connected to the mind, and an emotional state connected to the heart.

Each of these three components grow over time and are subject to change and influence from our external environment (and this includes the people around us).

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Physical

The food that we consume, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the atmosphere around us affect the way we turn out physically over time.

Mental

Similarly, our mental state is also shaped by the information we feed our mind on a daily basis.

The struggles of not being able to cope with the realities of life, and the lack of support in such capacities can contribute towards mental stress.

This is like torsion in solid mechanics, which is the act of twisting an object. Eventually, the object will snap. So does the mind under immense stress.

Emotional

Our emotional state is a direct and indirect result of our exposure to various experiences in life.

These experiences influence how we approach particular situations in the future.

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MEASURES AND REGULATIONS FOR ORDER The mystery surrounding the human heart and mind are continually being explored till today.

This continuous research, combined with advancements in technology, is why we have been able to provide support through counselling, psychology and psychiatry for those who need it.

Over time, we have exercised preventive measures to help ensure a healthy and safe environment for everyone.

Rules and regulations were carefully implemented over time, therefore enabling governance to create a safe space for everyone, be it at home, schools or any public settings.

For instance, cars are fairly easy to drive but a minimum age limit was introduced before an individual can legally drive.

Calculators were invented to speed up calculations. However, in schools, students are only allowed to use them once they are of a certain age.

WE DIDN’T PREPARE FOR THIS! As technology advanced rapidly over time, we simply couldn’t adapt fast enough to keep up.

As a result, we have slowly let go of the need for certain regulations to govern newer technologies.

That came at a heavy price when now, we had access to pretty much anything at any time from the Internet.

By the time the consequences were realised, it was a little too late to regulate the use of the Internet. (And honestly speaking, the web browser security settings don’t quite cut it.)

As inappropriate sharing of materials soared, malwares and viruses began to hit personal computers at a large scale and data breach gave way to the loss of personal data and privacy.

Before we knew it, we had a global crisis on our hands. Before the world could even begin to recover from such a crisis, technology was already advancing into its next phase of innovation.

THE SCENARIO TODAY We are now living in what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Surrounded by complex components that are heavily gratified for their technological brilliance, we have become collectively blinded to the social implications these technologies carry.

Gone are the days when “control” was still an option available, although most of us ignored it.

Today we have intelligent advertising boards that look at us, recognise our gender, age group and mental or emotional states based on facial expression analysis and change the display advertisement or message in real time.

The absence of rules, regulations, governance and accountability has taken a major toll on us, and if not dealt with now, will only continue to have adverse effects on the future generations.

We must consider the future, taking into account the importance of ensuring our identities as human beings are not lost in the midst of technology advancements.

The question of how a new technology will affect me and my children in the future should constantly be posed and deliberated among all stakeholders.

WHAT WE CAN DO All this begins with awareness, which is only made possible through the transfer of knowledge, wisdom and values within the society.

The only way to keep identities alive is to constantly identify it. The past generations should make it a goal to educate and nurture the younger ones with the foundations of humanity.

The successful replication of a physical social environment onto a social network slowly eliminated the need to engage in a physical conversation.

The younger generation should be open to learning and growing with the awareness that not everything can be found on Google.

We have entered a time when being human is considered awkward, thanks to the wonders of technological breakthroughs.

As communities become alive through the sharing of knowledge and experiences, the hope lives on that we will never forget our identity.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT US?

We shouldn’t allow our physical, mental and emotional state to be affected and transformed through the advancements of technology.

Collectively, these rapid changes in the way the world operates are subconsciously affecting us.

We are slowly neglecting the importance of being physically, emotionally and mentally present for one another as humans.

After all, it is our humanity that shapes our thoughts and feelings. Let us not lose it, ever!

Our over-reliance on technology has rewired our thought processes to focus on things that never used to be priorities in life.

We seem to be outsourcing our humanity to technology, mindlessly depending on it to be human to one another.

Arun is the Digital Initiatives Lead at Leaderonomics. He believes that we should never settle for today and never quit from tomorrow, and therefore aims to inspire as many as possible to pursue their purpose, passion and dreams.

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

How Many "Buts" Are Holding You Back From Better Performance?

BY SEGAREN

Our strategy could be more engaging, BUT our strategic/department plan has already been published.

We need better KPIs, BUT we can only give a couple of hours to develop them.

Performance measures are important, BUT there are more urgent things to do first.

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We want to do performance measurement, BUT we have to wait until everyone is available, until we have the budget for a new system, until all our data is lovely, until the timing lines up with our next planning process, until all the ducks are lined up in a row...

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Taking recovery time For performance measurement, we need recovery too. This means time to consolidate each step in the measurement process before you charge into the next one; time to reflect and lock in what you learn; time to check in with how everyone is going with it all; time to celebrate great steps forward.

But...

Yes, Have as many buts as you want... AND do it anyway!

At the start of the year, all departments are busy drafting out their business plans and new scorecards. Somehow, we tend to be too complacent and just maintain the current KPIs and targets. We have lots of reasons not to measure performance: not enough time, not enough good data, not enough engagement from colleagues, not enough support from leaders, not enough clarity in our goals, not the right timing, and so on. These are all constraints. But they shouldn't be showstoppers!

Performance measurement can be fun, easy, fast AND result in really worthwhile performance improvements. It doesn't take perfect timing, perfect availability, perfect budgets, perfect data or perfect systems. It just takes starting.

Know when not to push First and foremost, we need to understand how people really feel about it. Be gentle with the colleagues who aren't engaged with measurement.

Be gentle with the leaders who won't support it. Be gentle with yourself, when time is against you. Don't push with your insistence, your frustration, your cajoling, and your expectations.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Learn to listen Listen to what people are saying about why they don't engage or support your ideas for better KPIs. Behind their words, what are they REALLY saying?

Are they scared? Confused? Bored?

And don't forget to listen to your own internal chatter too, about your expectations and beliefs and attitudes toward measurement. Is that chatter helping you?

Find out what you CAN do within the constraints Work out what you can do even without the support or time or resources you'd really love to have. Maybe you can focus on measuring just one important goal with your team. Or perhaps broadening or deepening your knowledge through reading or a training course. Create a long term plan, and set up some short term steps you can do on your own.

What are the constraints that currently hold you back from having the KPIs or performance measures that would open the door to performance excellence?

Choose 3 small things you can start this week that will help your organisation master performance measurement and achieve performance excellence easier, and sooner.

Improve your technique Practice things like how to de-weasel your strategy, how to design great measures, how to engage people in performance measurement, how to interpret measures and choose improvement strategies that deal with the root causes of poor performance. The important word here: practicing.

Practicing makes you better, and the results come easier.

Segaren is the Chief Operating Officer at Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service.

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OWN UP TO YOUR LIFE

BY SEGAREN

In order to be successful at anything you must first take ownership of the situation. Whether it’s working out, a career, becoming a better lover, student, or human being‌ you must own up to it. And while this may be hard to do so, it is a must for progression. Failure is not an option when you take ownership.

Randy Pausch once quote, "its not the cards you are dealt with, it's how you play the hand". Randy Pausch was a college professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but who carried on with a normal life until his death on 25 July 2008. In the process he inspired millions of people to view life and death in more optimistic terms.

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Its not the cards you're dealt, but how you play the hand.

- Randy Pausch

Basically what this quote means is that in life you just get on with things that happen to you-both the good or bad. For example, being born into a poor family does not mean that you will have to be poor all your life. You just have to deal with the fact that you started life with a disadvantage, but with the right action, this situation can be overturned.

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Photo by Teddy Kelley on Unsplash

More importantly, it means that you cannot control what happens to you, but you most certainly can control your response to it. The worst thing you could do would be to blame your employer, the government or parents for being poor. What may then happen would be three fold: • • •

Your current situation continues, i.e you continue to be poor You become a negative person who will not be well-liked by others You hamper the future attainment of success in your life by focusing too much on the past.

Unfortunately, many people I have seen who take the easy way out and blame all their current ills in life on past events i.e. if only they had gone to a different school, if only they had not been seriously sick, if only they had not been retrenched, if only they had a good boss etc. These are things that happen to everyone in life

i.e. all of us have our share of hard luck stories. The main difference is that the successful ones among us are the ones who accepted what came about, took action on it and got on with life.

The ones who complained, regretted and used it as justification to explain their non-success in life were usually the ones who became mediocre.

Everyone's life is unique, but one common thread is that we have all had our share of 'bad luck', sorrow, disappointments and tragedies. I have learned though that it is not so much about what happens to you; but how you respond to these negative situations that matters most. Life is about looking ahead and taking action rather than looking backwards. You can change the future, but you can never, ever change the past.

So throw away all your past shackles today, accept that life is not a bed of roses and take positive action to become better tomorrow!!

Segaren is the Chief Operating Officer at Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service.

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On Women and Leadership:

Three Amazing Asian Stories

BY RAJEEV PESHAWARIA

Although their numbers have increased somewhat over the last 20 years, women continue to be under represented within top management ranks. The debate as to why more women don’t make it to the top remains unresolved. One assumption is that a cocktail of initiatives designed to improve working conditions for women will eventually combat the problem. Will it really?

Despite the many measures in place like legislated quotas, flexible work hours, better childcare support, women advocacy groups and research, the dearth of women in senior leadership persists. Is the problem one of gender or is it something else? Are we treating the symptoms and not the real root cause of the problem? Let’s consider the careers of three Asian women to find out.

Global solidarity is everyone’s responsibility.

We all have to feel compassion.

Dr. Jemilah Mahmood Malaysian | Gynaecologist, Humanitarian

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- Jemilah

She was at the peak of her career running a lucrative private medical practice with her husband, but was constantly frustrated and did not like what she saw.

“I pursued medicine because I liked working with people and I really wanted to help people. I had always dreamed of working in the humanitarian field but I got into the paper chase and career treadmill instead.” Deep inside, her inner voice continued to nag her, “What am I doing, why am I not following my heart? I really want to be a doctor for everyone.”

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The Defining Moment: It was the Kosovo war at that time.

While watching the news with her 5 year old son, she said to him, “look at these children, look how they have no food and are so hungry. Now do you understand why you can’t waste food and why you have to study hard…” At this point, the little lad turned to look at her and said “Don’t just talk about it Mummy. You are a Doctor, go and do something.” Right there, through wisdom from a 5 year old, she knew it was time to act!

Pursuing Purpose: In June 1999, she established MERCY Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Medical Relief Society. The first humanitarian organisation to provide a platform for Malaysians to take a role in the international humanitarian arena.

Her first big mission was to lead a team of MERCY workers when the tsunami hit Aceh, Indonesia in 2004. Food, medical care and rescue teams were sent to help the people there. As one of the main teams who quickly responded with assistance in the disaster, MERCY Malaysia helped the citizens in restoring what they had lost, by rebuilding homes and providing medical supplies to those in need.

Later in the Afghanistan civil war, she negotiated resolutely with a reluctant Taliban tribal leader until he allowed her to provide medical care for the women of the tribe.

2003, Baghdad: On her way to offer medical relief and supplies to hospitals, she was shot in her left hip by Iraqis.

They mistook MERCY’s ambulance team for Syrians, who the Iraqis thought had

bombed their village. The Iraqi hospital staff and the driver accompanying them were killed in the tragic incident. Two other doctors suffered grievous injuries but Jemilah alone, survived. Doctors at the Chiwader hospital wanted to remove the bullet from her hip but she refused to do so as she did not want to take up their time and medication. Right after her wound was stitched up, she got back on her feet and helped a woman deliver a baby. The bullet remained in her hip for five days!

Her husband once asked her why she wanted to pursue international humanitarian efforts, to which she replied, “I want to do this because Malaysia cannot measure development by these tall buildings and highways alone. Global solidarity is everyone’s responsibility. I am a human first, then Malaysian. We all have to feel compassion…Did I become a doctor only to make money?…I believe every human being has the right to clean water, health, and dignity. No matter if their belief systems and values are different to mine, it is a fundamental human right and therefore I will fight for people’s rights to get these things.”

Her profile read like a dream: An engineer turned investment banker in New York.

Working initially at Lehman Brothers on media and telecom advisory, capital raising and restructuring transactions, she ended up as Director of the Media, Communications and Technology Investment Banking Group at the Bank of Montreal. While most people would have given an arm and a leg to stay, she quit her Wall Street job and career to return to India to start out on her own.

The Defining Moment: It all happened in the summer of 2006, when she and brother Akash were back in India visiting family and the family decided to go out and do something fun. Short of opening the morning newspapers, there were zero options to figure out what was playing at the cinemas and what was out there in terms of leisure event options. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

It was at that very moment that a spark triggered in her brother’s head. “We realised that there was a gaping hole in the system that was not being filled, and we saw that as an opportunity to do our bit to change a part of the world that we grew up in!”

Pursuing Purpose:

Neetu Bhatia Indian | MIT Engineer, Banker, Businesswoman

We saw that as an opportunity to do our bit to change a part of the world that we grew up in!

- Neetu

April 2007, Kyazoonga (now known as Zoonga) – soon to be India’s first and largest entertainment and sports ticketing company – was born. It was aimed to offer consumers easy access to all forms of ticketed entertainment and sports with online, mobile and retail distribution channels.

Under Neetu’s leadership, Kyazoonga emerged as a company of many firsts.

The scope of the company included the fulfilment of personal dreams. In November 2007 the India-Pakistan cricket series was on and for the first time for a match in India, Kyazoonga professionally sold tickets online. It’s no secret how big a deal cricket is for Indians especially when the arch rival nations are up against each other. A chaatwala (hawker of Indian street Issue 23 | January 2019

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snack food) from the city of Agra hears on radio that tickets to the match were available on the Kyazoonga website, and immediately gets to a cybercafé to purchase a ticket for himself. Not owning a credit card of his own, he requests the owner of the café to help make the purchase by using his credit card, offering to reimburse the café owner in cash.

largest sports and entertaining ticketing company in the Indian subcontinent to a rapidly growing international player in multiple geographies, Kyazoonga has just opened their Silicon Valley office, and charges on with its core mission each day: Tickets made simple for everyone, everywhere.

The café owner obliges, and the chaatwala happily gets to Jaipur on an overnight bus from Agra. At the stadium counter, he produces a voucher eagerly waiting to have it exchanged for his ticket. A Kyazoonga rep asks for his credit card in order to validate the purchase, but of course he doesn’t have one. Getting extremely nervous thinking that he was not going end up with a ticket, he explains the background of the transaction.

He manages to contact the café owner and the rep verifies that the transaction was indeed valid, finally handing over the chaatwala his prized ticket. What happens next is totally unexpected.

He is so thrilled that he literally falls to his knees to touch the feet (a mark of respect in India) of the Kyazoonga rep that was servicing him saying, “I never dreamt that I would ever be able to watch an India-Pakistan game live. You have made that dream come true for an ordinary man like me. Thank you, Thank you!”

That was the first of many anecdotes the Kyazoonga team have come to witness.

With such affirmations, Neetu just knew that the organisation was fundamentally altering people’s lives for the better and that was a matter of immense pride. “It’s the very reason that gets me up every morning with a will to be the best every single minute, every single day, in every single transaction – making lives better for all our stakeholders be it consumers, clients, customers and our employees.”

The company has since moved from strength to strength having sold millions of tickets to consumers in India and other countries. From being the first and 18

Issue 23 | January 2019

Sri Mulyani Indrawati Indonesian | Previous CEO and Managing Director - World Bank

Juggling between marriage, family life and career is not really a trade-off. You can manage all, so I cannot say I had to choose one of them.

- Sri Mulyani She was No. 2 at the World Bank, 2nd only to President Jim Yong Kim. As Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Sri Mulyani was the highest ranking women at an institution with 15,000 plus employees operating in 140 countries around the world. She was overseeing global operations with responsibilities ranging from financial management to poverty reduction. She joined the World Bank in 2010, bringing

with her not only financial expertise but also government experience as the former Finance Minister of Indonesia.

Sri Mulyani was selected as Indonesian Finance Minister in 2005 by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. One of her first acts was to fire corrupt tax and custom officers in the department.

She guided the economic policy of one of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, successfully turning around Indonesia’s corrupt tax administration, leading to a large boost in much needed tax revenues, and then navigating the economy through the economic crisis of 2008. As a result, she built a reputation of integrity and earned the respect of her peers. “I was appointed as the first women Finance Minister relatively young, in my early 40s. Of course my top management team, they were all male and older compared to me. They tested me.”

Pursuing Purpose: When asked to describe her career trajectory, she calmly describes it as a ‘consistent path.’ Sri Mulyani explains that the situation was such because she was always driven by an unswerving theme in all her career choices. What was that theme? “The underlying theme was being very clear in knowing how I could test the knowledge that I have to reality.” What reality? To her, reality was understanding how she could eliminate poverty. It influenced the core of how she worked, how she would ensure policies and economic growth models were designed to be inclusive enough to benefit all sections of society. She was also strongly influenced by her mother who defied stereotypes in a rather conservative society. “Juggling between marriage, family life and career is not really a trade-off. You can manage all, so I cannot say I had to choose one of them. My mother got her PhD while raising ten (10) children, that’s really amazing. She is my strongest mentor”, says the mother of three herself, with a PhD in economics and international recognition for her integrity and ability.

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The women featured in this article are succeeding in spite of the environment, not because of it.

What do these remarkable stories tell us about our original issue of the lack of gender diversity at the top? If they (and many other illustrious women around the world) could do it, why not others?

They are succeeding because they dug deep into their own values and found a huge mismatch between the environment and what they believed to be important.

They next conceived a better future, and decided to make it their purpose to create it. Once they started, they never gave up despite significant resistance and difficulty, because they managed to uncover their leadership energy – the power of purpose stemming from a set of deeply held values. It is this (leadership) energy that prevents them from giving up, and that is why they are succeeding. In short, they are real leaders, and both men and women that aspire to succeed have much to learn from them!

Are these three working in environments that are more conducive to women? Are the challenges they face any less significant than those of others? Are they fortunate to have male mentors or supporters who help them succeed despite the odds?

The answer to each of these questions is a big NO. The challenges women face around the world are not trivial by any means.

THEIR ADVICE TO WOMEN: Never project yourself to be different because you are a woman.

Focus always on what it is that you are doing and if you are better than the next guy- then you just are. If other people have biases, it’s best to ignore those biases and focus on what it is you are doing in order to be the best.

So what is one good way to increase gender diversity within the top ranks of the business world? Encouraging women to engage in deep, honest reflection to help uncover their personal leadership energy. If you are a woman that aspires to succeed to the top against all odds, try the self-reflection journey below, and don’t stop until you find answers that are true and authentic for you.

Discovering Leadership Energy by Living Life Awake FEARLESS PURPOSE - The better future you want to create

- Neetu 6

Don’t be afraid to make a change. In life you have to take some risks, calculated risks.

If you don’t take all the shots you definitely miss the opportunity.

5 4

- Jemilah -

To every girl, every women I say-push the boundaries, every inch of it matters.

At the end, it’s about being professional and really good at what you are doing.

That will show your true qualities rather than your gender.

- Sri Mulyani -

3 2

Am I willing to face formidable resistance and No / Yes great personal risk?

How does it feel when I visualise it?

Just Nice / Ecstatic

Who is the better future for?

Does the pain or joy move me enough to want to create a better future?

No / Yes

What is the level of pain or joy?

1 VALUES

What makes me happy?

What makes me sad?

What makes me angry?

Once you are clear about the better future you want to create, reverse engineer it, one step at a time. If your answers are truly honest, and as long as you don’t give up, you cannot fail. Male or female, the secret force behind all great leaders’ success is the continuous pursuit of this inner journey.

Issue 23 | January 2019

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