Our Leadership talk session is a part of our “Leaders Who Lead by Example” series, where we connect leaders from diverse industries and sharing their career journey, experience, insights of the corporate world.
This time we speak with Kim Le Huy, General Manager – Consumer Goods, DKSH Vietnam Co. Ltd., Who share his belief about Leadership, Experience how learning from the Covid 19 pandemic.
Transcript
What great sales leaders do differently?
Sales is a front-line function and one of the biggest department/ function in a company. Sales is not only limited to company employees but also the agencies who are working together to deliver the company expectation. The pressure in sales is high with unexpected challenges and changes happening in the market day in and day out.
It’s like the ice-berg, most of us will only see the surfaces which are the achievements, the reputation, the life style but we could not understand the part under water until we have real engagement and experiences with them. Based on my experiences and observations through my career so far, I see 3 major elements that come from a great sales leader:
They aim big, aim high with clear goal not only on the business but also the organization. They normally don’t accept status-quo, always “can do” and want to do things differently. They are able to deliver/exceed their goals most of the time.
They have a big team who are willing to work “for and with” them.
They are humble. They get their hands dirty. They are always full of energy. Their prides are on their results, not themselves.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
Everyone is a leader. The leadership scaling from leading yourself to leading an organization.
My very first advice is: you should not wait to start building your leadership mindset and skill set but start building it now at any role.
My second advice to the first-time leadership role is “first thing first is your team, your organization”. This sounds very easy and you always hear about it but trust me, that is the most challenging but beautiful experiences you will learn throughout your leadership journey.
I urge you to start observing and taking learning’s on how senior leader in your organization and outside of your organization are working on this matter.
Third advice is about “don’t sleep on your early achievement”. I experienced myself for having a big pride to reach to leadership role for the first time. The experience of the pride was great but there was also side effect of slowing down the learning attitude. It’s dangerous. My favorite quote from Steve Jobs to share is “Stay hungry, stay foolish”.
Last but not least, you must ensure your team result (means your result) delivering and exceeding expectation. The best way to build energy is building through winning moments.
How do you feel traits like empathy and vulnerability play a role in your leadership?
Both are equally critical and important. Empathy gives you opportunity to understand and vulnerability gives you opportunity to engage, to listen. However, you need to have a right balance depends on your nature of work and your organization. Risk of over empathy would be biased decision making or not able to make tough call, while too much vulnerability would not make you a reliable leader.
What is one mistake you witness leaders making more frequently than others in today’s times?
On my personal perspective and observation, I found 2 mistakes on the new generation and the senior generation. On senior side, some of them “only” focused on business and used the people rather than building the organization. On the new generation side, some of them are more to pursue personal interests rather than being a commander with responsibility not only to themselves but others.
What memorable lessons did you learn from your mentors?
I had so many. But the most important lesson for me was enjoying the journey, focusing to expand my influencing rather than being patient with my goals, achievement. This lesson was really evolve me into a different person but much more effective person (on my own assessment.
How Do You Measure Success?
Percentage of my happy time.
What do you do when you are not at work? What are your outside interests?
I spend time with my family. I make ensure I can be a real friend, real coach, and real mentor to my 3 kids. Sports and hanging around with my friends are my energy recharging methods. Fortunately, I have a lot of friends who are real true friends. The remaining time, I try to invest to do social contributions towards knowledge sharing with students’, coaching, and social charity.
What is your key learning’s from this Covid 19 Pandemic about life and work?
Expect the unexpected. It could be much bigger than what you can ever imagine. Cope with the situation, feel blessed for what you have and don’t surrender even if you are not fortunate enough. On the other hand, Covid 19 pandemic does show the bright side of human beings where we can see individuals and organizations are risking their lives out there to help us and help the country. This moment is bringing people together. Covid 19 Pandemic did huge global changes; we should keep going through this pandemic, observing the changes and being ahead for the “new normal”. I wish the pandemic will be over soon and everyone get vaccinated.
