One wish

I learnt something from a humble Japanese man that day. It was the one wish which is the symbolic heart of leadership.

Recently we had a big "kick-off" meeting in Putrajaya, where the senior leadership of the company across APAC came together to plan for the next company fiscal year.

During one of the sessions, we had four of our geography leads on the stage - they were from India, China, Japan and the rest of SouthEastAsia, Australia and Korea - these were the 4 largest geographies we had in the region.

The question one of the audience asked - "What is the one wish you have if you could ask for from all of us here?" - bearing in mind this was being asked to each of them, and the audience was a 400+ strong senior leadership representation across the various APAC countries.

The one wish which bears the most meaning to me was when the Japan lead said that he wanted each of us to give each of our team career counselling everyday, to touch each of our people and guide them when we could, daily. As a multinational company, we had so many challenges, virtual teams and also a 180,000 strong global employee base. Our people are indeed our biggest asset and as leaders we sometimes chase after too many deadlines or requests that we forget the soul of our own organisation is indeed those who work with us.

I ask you - reach out to someone who works with you today, and say thank you to them for being there, or contributing to something. It will not make you less a leader, instead it will make our lifes richer with meaningful interactions.

A powerful "one wish" which is practical, yet easy to request for from all of us.

Do it today.