WIEF: Talk on leadership in the business world

0

(From left) Rolfsen, Barito, Mohd Izani and Robrechts during the discussion on leadership on the second day of the 13th WIEF.

Teymoor Nebili

KUCHING: Audiences who attended a leadership talk on identifying the archetypes of leadership and their unique roles in business during the second day of the 13th World Islamic Economics Forum (WIEF) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching were given very unique insights of different leadership styles in the business environment.

Khazanah Nasional Berhad excutive director of investments Dato Mohd Izani Ghani said that in identifying the type of leadership for an organisation, a leader should be from the rank of managerial level able to carry out the mandate of the company.

“In Khazanah, we need leaders who have a lot of strategies, leaders who can transform, do the tasks, who can coach and spot talents and use those with the talents do their work.

“It is only with this kind of leader that a company can be managed efficiently and benefits the most,” he said.

Mohd Izani also believed that a leader must not only have leadership skills, but also must be able to do the right things to avoid being scrutinised.

Jo Robrechts, the executive chairman of Triamant, Belgium believes that leadership is the art of defining or shaping the future together.

“The art of defining or shaping the future together is not a science but it is about integrating the future into today.

“To do that, a leader must be able to do it with a team, and he or she must have six kinds of traits. Leaders must have a dream, can think, be very daring, can act, be very persistent, and can share,” he said.

The Republic of Seychelles special envoy for Asean, Nico Barito said that for a small country like Seychelles, their leader must be able to innovate.

He said that a good leader must have innovative ideas that can solve problems for the people and use these innovative ideas to be efficient in managing their organisation and even their country.

“This is what happened to our country Seychelles, which has 115 islands, where we want our people, especially the younger population, to stay and not migrate from our small island nation.

“So we created an economy called ‘Blue Economy’ for our island nation to develop sustainable economic development around an ocean-based economy.

“Leadership quality must also encompass stewardship to manage resources, and in Seychelles we managed our ocean and used it to boost our economy. The ocean is not only for us but is also for the whole world,” said Nico.

Psychotherapist Glenn D. Rolfsen from the Stamina Group, Norway believes that a good leader in business must always possess good personal quality in life and not have any personal problems.

“Not only that, a good leader must achieve many things and proven through their achievements and records. That is why they always lead by example,” he said.

Singapore journalist and broadcaster Teymoor Nebili served as moderator for the discussion.