UNTYING THE GORDIAN KNOT

Bismillahir rahmanir rahim

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh, Salam sejahtera dan Salam 1Malaysia

Y. Bhg. Dato’ Sri Abu Bakar bin Abdullah, Ketua Pengarah Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia

Yang Berusaha Cik Shahnaz Al-Sadat, Pengarah Eksekutif, Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Ketua Setiausaha-Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian

Ketua-Ketua Jabatan

Ketua-Ketua GLC

Y. Bhg. Dato’ Sri-Dato’ Sri, Dato’-Dato’, Datin-Datin

Tuan-tuan dan Puan-puan serta para hadirin yang dihormati sekalian.

Terlebih dahulu, marilah kita memanjatkan kesyukuran ke hadrat Allah SWT, dengan limpah rahmat dan izin Nya jua kita dapat bersama-sama pada pagi ini sempena Majlis Graduasi Program Cross Fertilisation Siri 1 Tahun 2009/2010 dan Perasmian PCF-GLC Siri ke 2 Tahun 2010/2011.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

THE EXCHANGE

2. On the 15th of September 2009, the Honourable Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the inaugural cross fertilisation exchange of candidates between the public sector and government linked companies. The Prime Minister spoke of a more seamless environment between the GLCs and the government when unveiling the exchange programme. This exchange was to also augment the skills of the two somewhat conflicted worlds – – the public and private sectors. A year on, and with many graduating from the programme, some continuing on to their second year and new recruits received into the next exchange we must take stock of the objectives of this journey.

3. As with any graduation this moment straddles the feeling of excitement laced with the “so what next?” question. Specifically in your case, you may struggle between the questions of “Do I go back to business as usual?” or “Do I dare change in my old environment and if so how do I do this?”

4. I would simply start by saying it is natural to feel and think of those questions at this point. In fact, I would be concerned if you were not wrestling with those opposing emotions. Fundamental to these emotions and trepidations is this – – what will the last year mean to the years that face me now?

Colleagues,

GORDIAN KNOT

5. In the legends of the Greeks, an oracle informed the people of Phrygian who had lost their King, that their future king would come riding in a wagon. Gordius a poor peasant would one day arrive in an oxcart with his wife in a public square. The people of Phrygian made Gordius the new King based on the predictions of the oracle. In gratitude, Gordius dedicated his oxcart to the Phrygian god Zeus. He tied the cart with a peculiar knot known till today as the Gordian Knot. An oracle foretold that he who untied the knot would rule all of Asia. Many tried in vain to untie the oxcart named Basilica but all to no avail.

6. In 333 B.C. Alexander the Great arrived in the central mountains of Gordium at the age of 23 after invading minor Asia. Seeing the oxcart now placed at the Temple of the Zeus by the King of Phrygia for over 100 years, Alexander decided he would negotiate the knot. As a crowd of curious Macedonians and Phrygians watched intently, Alexander struggled with the knot and became frustrated. Stepping back, he then called out, “What does it matter how I loosen it?” With that, he drew his sword, and in one powerful stroke severed and cut the knot.

7. This narrative is usually used as a metaphor for thinking outside the box when solving an intractable problem. Alexander later went on to conquer Asia as far as the Indus and the Oxus before passing on at the young age of 32.

CONVENTION OF USED TO BE-s

8. There may have been many ways to unbind the knot. No one will ever know that now. But what stayed with history was the one person who tried an unconventional way of solving a problem. We are not all Alexander the Great nor would we necessarily want to be but we can learn from this. We must be inspired by the impatience of convention when that convention brings the same old results, or in this instance lack of the desired results.

9. We all too often allow ourselves to be chained by the destiny of “the used to bes”. We continue to do the same mundane things and yet demand a significant place in the world. In a rising complex landscape the truism of the day longs for creativity. It hungers for new solutions to old problems for the old solutions works no more.

CHANGING SPACE, CHANGING OBJECTIVES

10. This world owes us nothing. It might however be willing to reward us if we are able to convince it our deserving right. And so we must each claim our place, our rights and our authority from our actions. The Gordian knot is not a sphinx riddle. It is a story of mental and psychological greatness of a leader able to inspire a new way when all other conventions no longer worked.

11. Regardless of where you may work, the public sector, PLC, GLC, MNC, NGO or even the media we must constantly challenge the known and have the openness of mind and the inner strength to embrace the unknowns of today and tomorrow.

12. The essence to any progress is meaningful delivery. The soul to any conversion and change is results. The panacea for cynicism and scepticism is promised results and delivery. Meaningful delivery comes when we each recognise the responsibilities bestowed on us. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain during World War II who went to being the only Prime Minister of Britain to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature was famed to have said “The price of greatness is responsibility”. In a speech in Harvard he said that one cannot rise to be in many ways the leading community in the civilised world without being involved in its problems, without being convulsed by its agonies and inspired by its causes.

13. The prime objective and vision that led to the launch of this programme was to have public officials learn from the work cultures in the private sector and expose private sector to the workings of a government as I mentioned earlier. A year on I dare say that the workings of both the public and private sectors must change altogether to new standards that can and will deliver Malaysia to sustainable competitiveness and relevance globally. This cannot be the responsibility of one and not the other. This has to be the responsibility of all sectors.

QATAR

14. Who would have ever thought, ten years ago that a country whose name starts with a queer “Q” and with much of its land comprising of low, barren plain covered with desert would today rise to having highest GDP per capita income in the world? QATAR is the country. The highest point in Qatar is Qurayn Abu al Bawl which stands at 103 metres (338 ft), a third of Petronas Twin Towers in perspective. Ruled by an absolute monarch Qatar straddles between first and second spots on the rankings of highest GDP per capita income in the world, after countries like Luxemburg on several international rankings for 2009. It is predicted to have the highest GDP per capita for 2010 rankings.

15. How did they achieve this with only oil and gas as their natural resource? We know of many other countries with such resources that have not made similar rankings or even near it. How did a country with a population of less than 1.4 million people, with foreign workers outnumbering locals reach to such heights, including hosting some of the most renowned global events today, and also owning some their own homemade global brands?

16. When the economy of Qatar came to near collapse in 1995, their leaders re-evaluated their resources and re-positioned their gas industry outputs. In 1995, Qatar decided it will use its natural gas supply, the second largest after Russia to transform its desert land into one of the most competitive nations. It did not only depend on its natural resources but opened its country to new ideas, new economies and new industries. We must reflect on this success story.

GENRES OF LEADERS

17. We often cry out that only when a certain policy is instituted or relaxed can we do something. Only when ultimate democracy is in place can success and competitiveness follow. Only when a certain grant or resource given can deliveries come to fruition. The ability to convey true and resounding change lies not in polices alone. It resides in our own wills, in our own faculties and in our fortitude as leaders of the future. Leaders who are able to author their futures based on aspiration and not based on reliance! Leaders who recognise that every great idea have a will and life of its own. It is up to us as leaders to untie the Gordian Knot of these ideas into reality. If we don’t do this, someone else will turn that same great idea into reality and claim it their success.

18. Change, transformation, reformation some argue are overused and underutilised lexicons, not least misunderstood. We can change and transform and remain where we are today in a space where others may have surged in leaps and bounds. I have always subscribed to the view that there are many genres of aspiring leaders. The Thinkers – the Doers – the Thinkers and the Doers. The greatest of them all are the Thinkers and the Doers. Why? Because they inspire. They set new standards for themselves first and foremost and inspire others to emulate them. They are the ones who will go the distance, prove themselves first before claiming their rights – – not claim their rights to prove their worth!

19. Both the public and private sectors in Malaysia must grow entrepreneurial leaders who will inspire and motivate real and meaningful reformation – and meaningful innovation at that. Much too often we convince ourselves that a solution can only be a solution when it looks grandiose, extravagant if not complex. I stand to differ on this. We must deliver the goods beyond the niceties. It is like having a pizza shop. If you want to have a successful pizza delivery chain, this ain’t going to happen by just fast deliveries, pretty napkins, nice wrappings and low prices. You need to also know how to make basic pizzas.

Colleagues,

AMBULANCE IN A VALLEY

20. Think about the following example. There was a town halfway up a mountain on a bend of a road. The town council was asked to get to a solution for the hazards that were taking place at the hairpin turns. They looked into how much it will cost them to regrade the road, put in signs and install a guard rail – – in other words, make the bend safe. The final cost – – well it was going to be very expensive and they could not afford it! They decided to place an ambulance in the valley instead to receive the injured should there be an accident.

21. It’s a great story as it shows how hard people will work to avoid solving a real problem. We often put off solving a problem because it gets too expensive, or that we think we are not given the resources to solving a problem. But the question that often stares us right in the face is “what is the cost of not fixing a problem as opposed to how much does it cost to solving a problem”. The answers to both these questions are essentially different. The outcomes you will agree are starkly different too.

LEADING HIGH SKILLED TALENTS

22. In time, you will move to key leadership roles. One key change in leadership techniques of the 21st Century and beyond is that the traditional text book, MBA style hierarchical leadership approach no longer works. The strength of economies and nations no longer resides on natural resources alone. It does in its talents. In a world that uses highly talented people as its weapon of competitiveness, we must know the leadership techniques needed in motivating highly talented people if Malaysia is to fully realise its aspirations as a high income economy.

23. Talented people seek to be inspired, not led or spoon fed. They wish to be given the space to grow and not be bridled by traditions. Talented individuals will select environments where everyone has a chance to succeed to their highest potentials on their own terms. They will not be attracted by hierarchy, but will be by flat organisations. They don’t seek work security but instead long for personal growth. They will be attracted by diversity, and not by homogeneity. These are people whose own skills and knowledge may out-scale us as their potential superiors. In such vistas of space our own management styles must change from the traditional ways. This by far is the greatest challenge for public and private sectors globally. How do we attract the best, retain the best, and grow the best.

24. Ultimately organisations and companies must infuse environments where talented employees are eager to stay and always ready to perform. This flies in the face of the paternalistic, controlling, “cradle-to-grave” thinking. It shifts the responsibility from the company to the individual to take advantage of opportunities. In the Harvard Business Review, Chris Bartlett describes it as a shift from “guarantee of employment to commitment to employability.”

Colleagues,

INSPIRE, INSPIRE, INSPIRE

25. History has shown us that those in positions of leadership fail when they do not listen. Though listening itself doesn’t guarantee success, lack of it is a seed for fatal blows. As our future leaders you need to become a catalyst for change, a champion of new ideas, an inspiration for those you lead and a sponsor of unconventional thinking and doing. This means you don’t have to be right all the time. You open yourselves to be questioned; you teach your colleagues and the people you may one day lead to challenge the conventions of “knowns” to see if it still works for the times.

26. There is joke amongst the media fraternity that working in the public sector is like visiting Hotel California in the song made popular by The Eagles in the late 70’s. Part of its lyrics goes as follows:

Welcome to the Hotel California,
Such a lovely place,
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California,
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis,
Last thing I remember I was running for the door,
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before,
‘Relax,’ said the night man,
‘We are programmed to receive’
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

Colleagues,

27. The days when you check out and still remain in the service is fast diminishing. This applies to all industries. There is no guarantee of lifelong employment anywhere anymore. Even if the organisation doesn’t take you to task, the world around it will. So hold yourself accountable to great performance. Hold those you will in time lead to high standards too. Focus on high impact opportunities and have your compass aligned always and always towards meaningful achievement. Demonstrate your vision through your actions. Never be fatigued by change for life in itself is hinged on change in its every breath. Simply said—commit to excellence!

28. Congratulations to all who have successfully made the year to graduation today. My congratulations also to those selected on the second programme. Be the authors of our great future – all our futures. Write our futures based on aspiration and not on reliance and fear! Untie every Gordian Knot that can stifle your own personal growth, that of our society and alas our country.

Thank you.
Wabillahittaufiq walhidayah
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh.