Nurturing people with passion at HKMA’s Annual Conference
At this year’s HKMA Annual Conference in November, Timothy Dattels, Senior Partner, TPG Capital LP was one of the keynotes encouraging delegates to invest in manpower through these less-than-certain times. His take-home message—management is more important than capital to drive growth.
As China gains momentum, Hong Kong’s established role as world player is changing and the workforce of Hong Kong must be more than ready for tomorrow. He explained that where economies are emerging volatility is a definite—the markets are anticipating it and so too must we. History books show that those who held back from investment in volatile times lost out in the long term. What’s more, overall growth in an economy does not equate to climbing equity value; GDP and equity market growth do not correlate positively.
Where capital is no differentiator the only way to add value is through management—there should be an alignment of remuneration against results. Dattels asserted, “One of the single most important things is human talent and talent mastery.” Business leaders were asked to consider the following in the context of their own organisations, ‘Who are the future leaders? Is the compensation model correct? Are the KPIs correct on which this model is based?’ He went further and asked HKMA delegates to consider what the KPIs of the future might be. He urged companies to invest in people and stated that the future should be driven by leaders.
In a more fluid market, experience is lower and regional leadership becomes paramount. He cited the success story of low-cost airline Air Asia who grew by forming local partnerships in each market. Thus it retained management control and drove a consistent brand strategy. The key to its success was its absorption of people with passion for that brand.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
