business today • Monday 10 october 201621

Lawrence Koh • MD and founder, iFly Singapore

Today’s business landscape calls more for a leader than a boss — someone who puts himself at the forefront of the company, leading by example, motivat-ing his staff. Being an entrepreneur from the ground up, I feel that a leader

needs to embody the qualities that are essential in creat-ing and maintaining an effective and happy team. A leader

must be involved, not just in setting a vision but living it daily. He leads by developing, motivating and inspiring his team. Then there are times when he needs to take a step back and assess the business from a macro level in order to forecast its future. A business cannot survive on just the here and now, but should always be forward-thinking if it is to survive and soar. Finally, a leader is a mentor, grooming his team members to one day lead themselves.

Photos: iFly singaPore, salt, FaithFul+gould, aadvantage Consulting, Xylem

Jacqui barrattCEO — APAC, Salt

First and foremost, a business needs a person who can execute (ideas and concepts) and make things happen. Ideally, that person will also have a combination of skills that allows him or her to develop a vision and strategy — and drive it forward. It is not a matter of needing a boss or a leader, but needing both. One cannot exist without the other. Execution without clear direction or vision will result in fruitless activity without a sense of purpose, while great strategy is not great until it is executed properly to deliver results. This does not mean everyone needs to have a strategic mindset — after all, we still need the “doers” — but any talent in a senior position and in charge of a team must possess key leadership competencies to coach, engage and motivate. Nothing happens without engaged people who are encouraged to do their best.

caLLuM bothweLLMD — Asia Pacific, Faithful+GouldBusinesses need leaders, not bosses. Leaders motivate their staff by setting the vision and directional strategy. They empower their workforce to be the best they can be for themselves and the organisation. This engagement involves setting expectations, supporting and actively seeking input so that the company culture and “direction of travel” benefits from the experience of all. Conversely, bosses take a “top-down” approach, often dealing out macro-level instructions and stifling empowerment with control. Good leaders are self-aware and acknowledge that no one can be the best at everything. This is reflected in the way that leaders surround themselves with others who have complementary skill sets and collaborate for the best strategies and decisions. This management style brings benefits to all organisational levels because it recognises that great teams will always trump individual brilliance.

Vincent hoMD, aAdvantage Consulting

Employees are people first, colleagues second. Once your staff feel that you care for them as people and that there is a common future together, they start to commit themselves to what you stand for and believe in you. You no longer need to look over their shoulder, but instead look out for ways to enable them and motivate them to do the right things. You need to identify and remove organisational and people inhibitors so they can focus on the right things. Mistakes do occur and learning helps the organisation and team become stronger and more relevant. ‘You are leading well, boss,’ your staff call out to you, and not just because you hire and appraise them — their respect for and confidence they have in you are the reasons they are willing to spend a significant part of their waking hours making a difference with you.

raMesh nuggihaLLiPresident and MD — greater Asia, XylemIn today’s businesses, we need bosses who are also seen as leaders. Leadership is associated with creating a vision, set-ting a strategy, engaging the talent, and delivering results. Bosses are typically associated with being much more tactical and strong-willed, with a direct approach to getting things done. In the complex and competitive world we live in today, we need leaders who are strategic yet tactical, engaging yet goal-oriented, delivering results while approaching issues with a sense of purpose and belonging. In the technology sector, good leadership is critical for fostering a culture of innovation to continuously develop solutions for today’s challenges while being able to anticipate tomorrow’s emerging issues. Hence, it is essential for leaders to invest in talent, build strong communities and encourage people to grow into their own leadership roles to adapt to change and remain resilient.

Compiled by rumi hardasmalani (rumih@mediacorp.com.sg)

Do businesses need bosses or leaders?PersPectiVes

China’s top central banker cautions against hot property pricesBEIJING — China’s central bank gover-nor stepped up the rhetoric against rapid rises in home prices and contin-ued credit growth, signalling further action on top of recent fresh curbs across a number of cities to cool their overheated real estate markets.

Mr Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), said the Chinese government is “paying close attention” to rising property prices in some cities and will take appropriate measures to promote the real estate market’s “healthy development”. The remarks were made at a G20 meeting in Washington last week and released on the PBoC website on Saturday.

A number of Chinese cities, includ-ing Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Su-zhou, Chengdu and Wuhan announced new restrictions on property purchas-es and mortgage downpayments dur-ing China’s week-long National Day holiday at the beginning of October. The moves came as part of an effort to ward off property speculation.

Late on Saturday and yesterday, a new wave of cities followed suit. Shang-hai’s government said in a statement it would increase land supply for commer-cial housing construction and step up supervision over the purchase of pre-owned homes that had never been used.

Nanchang, the capital of east Chi-

na’s Jiangxi province, on Saturday put restrictions on the number of new homes people can purchase in some districts, and increased the required down payment for first-time buyers to 30 per cent from 20 per cent, said Xin-hua news agency. Authorities in Nan-jing and Wuxi also adjusted downpay-ment requirements yesterday.

Vice-Finance Minister Zhu Guang-yao echoed Mr Zhou’s remarks, say-ing the government’s targeted meas-ures to curb hot property prices were “timely and appropriate”, according to a Xinhua report on Saturday.

The two top officials’ latest com-ments signalled that Beijing would

continue to target property specula-tors and curb credit risks in the real estate sector to prevent bubbles.

While a property boom has helped to support China’s economic growth, fuel-ling demand for everything from con-struction materials to furniture, it is seen as adding credit risks to the bank-ing system and China’s debt problem.

Mr Zhou told the G20 meeting that China would control credit growth as the global economy recovers.

The International Monetary Fund said in August that China needed to slow credit growth and stop fund-ing weak firms, highlighting worries among policymakers about the dan-gers of an unsustainable debt build-up triggering a banking crisis. REUTERS