Insights on Talent and Business Management from Channel News Asia’s Asian Business Leaders Series

Earlier this evening, there was a repeat telecast of Channel News Asia’s Asian Business Leaders Series that featured four prominent businessmen namely, founder of Wallace Business Forum, Mr Peter Wallace; CEO of Taiwan Uni-President Group, Mr Lin Chang Sheng; financial guru and co-founder of the Quantum Fund, Mr Jim Rogers; and CEO of YCH Group, Dr Robert Yap.

I like Dr Robert Yap’s interview on talent deployment and management as well as business management and operations, and I will like to share some of the insights I gained from watching this interview.

Talent Deployment and Management
Dr Yap pointed out YCH Group’s focus in creating efficient teams and developing effective teamwork.

He mentioned that diversity is the key to the success of an organisation. Each individual should recognise and acknowledge his/ her strengths and weaknesses. The tactic to bring out the best performance of an individual is to concentrate on developing his/ her strengths and balance his/ her weaknesses by working with other team members.

“In this company we are allowed to make mistakes. We encourage our staff to try, and because they try, they inevitably will make mistakes now and then,” Dr Yap shared on the entrepreneurship spirit in YCH Group during the interview, “If they make mistakes, support them, but make sure they don’t repeat the same mistake. And that’s the only way you can create entrepreneurship.”

I share his business insights. An organisation should allow its employees to innovate. One who does not, can no doubt reduce mistakes from its employees, but, this would hinder its business growth and affect its work culture. It is important for organisations to realise that it is the entrepreneurship spirit of an individual that drives devotion to work and improvement in work processes.


Business Management and Operations
In the interview, Dr Yap brought out the essence of adopting an open work environment – (1) a fenestration area for discussions (or arguments/ quarrels at times) with boards to pen down the contents and processes; and (2) having direct accessibility to senior management. This has facilitated the success of YCH Group in delivering a process-oriented approach while getting their employees to work towards common goals.

I really like the idea of having a fenestration area for discussions - to draw out objectives, ideas, and processes. This provides a clear approach to mark out common ideas and to sieve out disagreements for brain storming, analysis, and discussions in forming a common agreement for the business or project. This will also provide both the business and employees a clear, consistent, and result-oriented approach in working effectively and efficiently towards the business direction.

Lastly, Dr Yap shared his vision for YCH Group with Channel News Asia, “It is very important to create the environment to push people in front so that they can feel hungry. As long as you see the direction, you have the conviction and the guts to say this is where you want to go, you push – and that’s what vision is about.”

Indeed, one would never know his/ her full potential unless he/ she push for it.