Leadership Mosaics Across Asia: "Accelerating The Development Of Vietnamese Emerging Leaders Into Regional Roles"

Panelists:

• Mr. Pham Hong Hai, CEO, HSBC Vietnam
• Mr. Praneeth Yendamuri, Managing Director, Kimberly-Clark Vietnam and Indochina
• Ms. Tieu Yen Trinh, CEO, Talentnet
• Moderator: Ms. Su-Yen Wong, CEO, Human Capital Leadership Institute

1. Vietnamese emerging leaders to take regional roles: How long will it take?

The study reveals that while Vietnam’s business leaders are able and adept at dealing in situations of volatility, their general lack of exposure to other cultures and approaches hampers their potential for global leadership. Leaders’ interviewed also believe that it will take 10 – 15 years before Vietnamese high-potentials emerge as global leaders. However, this idea seems reasonable as the economic development has really only picked up in the last 15 years. 

Moreover, with the fact that Vietnam has been quite active in signing bilateral trade agreements with countries throughout the world over the past few years, enterprises in Vietnam have been offered with not just myriad of opportunities but also challenges. These challenges include improving the strategic management & planning processes, expertise development as well as upscale company exposure to regional level.

2. Tieu Yen Trinh, CEO of Talentnet “3 initial steps to conquer the 15-year gap journey and unleash leadership capability for Vietnamese business leaders”:

Fulfilling business leadership role has never been an easy job, not mentioning about huge challenges the leaders have to face everyday for regional growth. Therefore, in order to go extra mile to connect people, develop resources, create healthy working environment and most importantly drive business, the very first steps include:

• Create opportunity to join professional networks to be developed and updated world business trends in regional context
• Focus on corporate governance, systems and operation before looking outwards
• When it comes to building the connection, make it sincerely from your heart and respect

3. What does it take for second-tier leaders to make a leap in regional roles?

During the frank discussion, panelists discussed the relatively potential leadership workforce of Vietnam and their strengths that position them for regional growth. In order to empower these second-tier leaders, companies and senior leaders should:

• Send your potential leaders out early, offer them the exposure as it helps expand their perspectives
• Show them what success looks like and help bridge the gaps, enable them to do things differently for change.

4. How SMEs in Vietnam could plan to accelerate leadership development of their emerging leaders into regional roles?

According to 3 panelists, these points below need to be taken into considerations:

• Focus development on second-tier leadership through regional and by relational networks
• Focus on corporate governance and systems before looking outwards
• Focus on being a leader within your sector first, before heading to expanding a regional networks
• Systematize your operation transparently and smoothly so that it gets ready to be optimized with global standards when needed.

(Information compiled from the event)