Reconnecting Your People Across Generations and Cultures is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage
In the modern corporate landscape, we often obsess over digital transformation, AI integration, and the latest agile methodologies. Yet, amidst this relentless pursuit of technological efficiency, a fundamental, human-centric mechanism of success remains overlooked: the capability to connect. Reflecting on nearly two decades of observing global business, the trend is undeniable. Organisations...
The Unspoken Success Factor: Placing Culture at the Heart of M&A
Mergers, acquisitions, and divestments are strategic endeavours that are often meticulously planned around financial models, technical integrations, and procedural alignments. Yet, time and again, the value promised by these transactions erodes, frequently because of one critical oversight: the insufficient consideration of People and Culture. At the recent IMAA Post-Merger Integration Conference...
Beyond the 'Visionary' Leader: The Power of Decentralisation
We often hear the argument that centralised, totalitarian systems are inherently faster, more efficient, and better equipped to navigate dynamic environments. The belief is that a single, visionary leader can cut through bureaucracy, making swift decisions based on superior insight. Yet, history - and contemporary failures - tell a different story. This reliance on the ‘dominant Tiger leader’...
From Power Play to High-Performing Ecosystems: Cooperation as the New Competitive Edge
When I look around me today, it often feels like the loudest voices belong to the power-hungry. Narcissistic leaders, both in nations and corporations, seem to dominate the conversation, setting the rules and employing the bully's playbook. It’s easy to conclude that Darwin’s "survival of the fittest" is the only law that truly matters - the inevitable 'law of the jungle'. However, this...
The Ownership Crisis: Why Your Talent is Quitting the Bureaucratic Grind
Do we need a hierarchical structure? Yes. Do we need to be compliant? Yes. Is it good to be data-driven? Yes. Bureaucracy, at its core, is an information technology and it is essential for enabling larger organisations to function by providing necessary structure, compliance, and data-driven decision-making. These are not inherently bad things. Are we getting frustrated with bureaucracy? Yes!...
Time to Let Go: Six Leadership Truths for the Modern CEO
Remember that moment when you first stepped into a top leadership role? Perhaps as a General Manager (GM) or a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Suddenly, the job wasn't about being the smartest person in the room or the best functional expert anymore. It felt like a fundamental shift, didn’t it? In a recent post, I explored this very evolution: the transition from 'functional expert' to the...
Defining Your Leadership Team's Raison D'être: Addressing the Silent Inhibitor of Success
Have you ever stopped to ask your management team the simplest, yet most profound question: "Why do we exist as a team?" As a facilitator, I recently had the privilege of guiding the Sika Vietnam leadership team through this exact inquiry. The air in the room, initially thick with the daily pressures of EBITDA targets, sales forecasts, and operational firefighting, soon began to shift. We weren't...
Unleashing Potential: Cultivating a Connected Leadership Team at Sika Vietnam
The journey towards sustainable, high-impact growth for any organisation is intrinsically linked to the strength and unity of its leadership. We at Hive17 were privileged to partner with the Sika Vietnam’s Management Team for an intensive two-day Leadership Development Workshop, a program designed to reinforce team cohesion and build future-proof leadership capabilities necessary for their...
Debugging Our Systems: Why We Must Adopt the Lean OS Now
Last week in Saigon, I had the privilege of attending the Anphabe conference, a powerful event that served as an urgent wake-up call for every executive concerned with talent, innovation, and performance. The central theme was clear: there is a dangerous chasm between what our employees want and how our organisations operate. We are running on antiquated operational systems that are resulting in...
Step Down to Step Up - Unlocking Performance by Meeting on the Same Eye Level
Building a genuinely people-centric work culture starts with a surprisingly simple yet profound shift: meeting everyone on the same eye level . It means leaders intentionally step down from the hierarchical perch and join the team as a partner, not a judge. Let’s look at this everyday scenario illustrating how we can be stuck in the parent-child trap. A team member, Sarah, brings a thorny problem...
The Thriving Leadership Team: Navigating Uncertainty with a Strong Sense of Belonging
In today's unpredictable business landscape, traditional leadership models are falling short. What we need is a leadership team that embraces uncertainty and thrives on it. It's not about having all the answers; it's about cultivating a mindset and characteristics that turn ambiguity into opportunities . Imagine your leadership team as a force that thrives in uncertainty. It's built on a...
Beyond Tasks & Targets: Cultivating People-First Cultures for Growth in Asia
In today's fast-paced corporate world, it's easy to get caught up in the relentless pursuit of tasks, targets, and processes. We often see leadership styles that prioritise output above all else, treating human interaction as merely transactional. At Hive17, we believe it's time to shift our perspective. Inspired by our experience and a number of books and articles, we advocate for a profound...
Uncertainty is Your New Opportunity
Recently the terms ambiguity and uncertainty are popping up a lot. The geopolitical situation is giving us one surprise after another; trade wars and armed conflicts don't seem to stop. We have been talking about a VUCA world for over a decade. The world is not only complex, it's ever changing in an unpredictable way. And the speed of change and the uncertainties are only raising faster.
The Art of Power: A Zen Approach to Leadership
Where does power solely come from authority? In the pursuit of business success, leaders often find themselves grappling with the concept of power. How can power be wielded effectively, not just for personal gain but for the betterment of the entire organization and community? The book "The Art of Power" by Thich Nhat Hanh offers a Zen approach to leadership, suggesting that true power lies not...
How to Drive Strong & Fast Results? Lead without Authority
Would you agree - it is so easy to lead and influence with authority. Your hierarchical position allows you to tell people what to do. And things are getting done. Easy, right? In my experience, this leads to complacency and "dump followership". It hinders your productivity, agility and innovation. You want your teams to add their expertise, make fast decisions, and think out of the box. Let's...
The Synergy between Change Maker & Change Facilitator
One way I like to explain what change management practitioners are doing, is by making a distinction between Change Makers and Change Facilitators. The former being responsible that the change is happening; the latter being responsible that the change is happening as effective as possible. We can find great synergy between these two roles, supporting each other in creating lasting success for...
The Leadership Triangle for CxO Team: Trust, Communication, and Decision-Making
In my previous post, we explored the critical importance of healthy and effective CxO teams for overall organizational success. We identified common challenges such as lack of trust, misaligned goals, and ineffective communication. Now, let's delve deeper into three interconnected elements that form the bedrock of highly effective leadership teams: trust, communication, and decision-making.
Strong & Uniting Business Families
This year I took the journey to become a certified family business advisor in expanding Hive17's services into a new field. Based on our strength of fostering relationships and enabling leadership teams to give their best, we are now able to help families to define and build a long lasting future for their families and the business they are engaging in. In helping business families, we are...
Pillars of Organisational Health - Structure
Have you encountered that before? Your organisation has clear values around trust and agility. And then you compare this with internal processes like your expense reporting which manifest the opposite: expected fraud and bureaucracy. This year I have developed an additional pillar for organisational health. In order to reduce confusion, increase productivity and address attrition, developing the...
Frustrated that people don't follow your lead? Find out where your leadership style is fragile
Recently, a good number of people share with me that they are frustrated that people at work are not greeting each other, that they only focus on the minimum, are not sharing their opinion, and are simply waiting for the next instructions. Did we hire the wrong people? Or rather, do our leadership styles have blindspots that indirectly encourage such behaviour? I definitely think, your leadership...