New Framework Needed for Global Leadership
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
The well of strong leadership to carry out the future of Korean corporations is running dry, says the local head of a global management consultancy, and work must be done quickly in order to avoid any human resource loopholes.
``The baby boomer generation will retire soon and what the country urgently needs is a backup plan for the retirement of highly skilled professionals,'' Charlie Kim, representative director of Hay Group, said in a recent Korea Times interview. ``It's not just top management, but the mid-management level that must be pipelined.''
Kim, who recently took office as the Korea executive of Hay Group, served as the CEO of Mercer Human Resource Consulting Korea for almost a decade, and after observing the local human resource market for years, he says a new framework is needed in order to produce global leaders.
Companies must first define their needs, where they know what types of talent must be hired for the firm to reach its target, he said.
``Hiring ready-to-go employees is good, but what's important is to see the potential in a candidate and develop them through proper mentoring and nurturing and not simply training,'' said Kim.
And after that comes placing individuals to appropriate positions.
``The biggest disaster is putting people in the wrong posts,'' he said, emphasizing that the best engineer may be the worst CEO, so everyone has his or her own specialty area that must be pinpointed by management.
The human resources expert explained that it takes about 10 to 13 years to nurture a strong leader, which requires patience and guidance.
``This is what is lacking in Korea,'' Kim said. ``CEOs don't fall from the sky. The most talented CEO may enter the company as an ordinary employee and work their way up, learning the ins and outs of the organization for years before taking the top seat.''
With the transforming perception professionals have on chief executive officers, thoroughly working out a well-knitted ``top team'' is crucial.
Back in the 90s, the idea of a ``big CEO'' was huge, says Kim, but after businesses started seeing major aftereffects on stocks when their CEO got sick or hurt, the emphasis started fading out.
``After all, the CEO can't do everything _ you need a healthy team of people to specialize in their key areas,'' he said. ``However, the team should unify in vision and walk the walk together.''
Wandering eyes and people dozing off are rather unsurprising scenes among executives at a Korean corporate board meeting where the agenda is irrelevant to them, says Kim, and this is a good example showing the lack of general interest in the company's overall direction.
``Just because you are in charge of the Asia region doesn't mean you shouldn't care about the European division,'' he said, adding that the market is changing fast and the people management system is in step with this.
More companies are automating, which means there will be more growth with less hiring, Kim stressed, and for job seekers, this means they must readily prepare themselves for what employers are looking for.
``Just as corporations try hard to rework their human resources management, employees also need to make necessary changes to maximize the country's economic growth,'' he said. ``It's no longer about the company's assets and physical size, but the software _ the people _ that matters.''