Uncomfortable Breakfast: Talent and Culture

Uncomfortable Breakfast: Talent and Culture

Having a talented team is crucial for any organisation. Yet attracting and, importantly, retaining talent has become an increasing issue. Many organisations and leaders claim there’s a lack of ‘talent’, while the ‘talent’ says the jobs are simply not there.

So what’s the truth?

Is there really a skills gap? What trends are we seeing in terms of talent recruitment, nurturing and planning and how can we develop, foster and grow the talent we so desperately need? And what legacy are we creating for future generations of marketers in Hong Kong?

We were joined by Flora Chan, head of digital, Cigna Worldwide; Dr Edmund Lee Tak-yue, executive director of Hong Kong Design Centre and NiQ Lai chief talent and financial officer of the Hong Kong Broadband Network, who revealed their own insights on this subject and explore what impact our culture has on attracting talent and how we should address this.

We've collated a few of our favourite points from the session:

  • Talent is a penguin – they come in different shapes and forms. See what others can't. See beyond
  • Humility should be the number one attribute for great leaders
  • Build the business around the people, not people around the business
  • NiQ and HKBN’s ‘blacklisting’ of rude customers and letting the teams know their leaders have ‘got their back’
  • Retention risk is a great thing

You can also read a full review of the morning by Arun Kumar, programme editor at The Economist Group.

A huge thanks to our friends at Uniplan for helping produce the video from the event. 


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