HKSTP Leadership Seminar – The 10 Innate Qualities of a Successful Leader

The Leadership Seminar Series: The 10 Innate Qualities of a Successful Leader was held by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp (HKSTPC) on 1st Sep 2015. I would like to summarize the seminar for sharing below.

In the beginning, Ms. Freda Wu (COO, HKSTP) gave an introduction to our guest speaker and pointed out the relationship between leadership and innovation.

Mr. Tom Mehrmann (Chief Executive, Ocean Peak) was our guest speaker and shared his secret “The 10 Innate Qualities of a Successful Leader” with the topic named “Ocean Park: Sustainable Leadership”. Firstly, he asked how many participants had visited Ocean Peak and raised hands. Almost all of us had visited before. Then he asked us a question “How many of you desire SUCCESS?” as his talk opening.

Then Mr. Tom Mehrmann shared Ocean Peak vision in the past used “ASPIRES” to be a world leader and “Connecting People with Nature”. But the new one employed “WILL BE”. After that Tom mentioned their core values included “Fun”, “Service”, “Safety”, “Education and Conservation” and “Respect for People and Animals”.

Mr. Tom Mehrmann also stated how to enhance engagement of staff which relied on willing to “Say”, “Stay” and “Strive”. He raised “Employee Value Proposition” and managed their expectation. Tom also shared their internal survey that found out 8 Core Competencies and 5 Leadership Competencies below.

For 8 Core Competencies, they were:
- Planning & Organizing
- Team Work & Partnership
- Communicating Effectively
- Change Orientation / Flexibility
- Quality Orientation
- Goals / Performance Driven
- Problem Solving

For 5 Leadership Competencies, they were:
- Strategic Perspective
- Decision Making
- Innovation and Improvement Orientation
- Respect for Diversity
- Building People Capability

Mr. Tom Mehrmann demonstrated how he working with staff during Halloween last year. (Left hand side)

Finally, he explained Success Factors below.
1. Be Hungry for Change
2. Innovate Beyond Your Customers’ Imagination (I think that is great! Because quality professional focused on customer satisfaction and to excess their expectation (i.e. Kano Model). Tom’s success factor is one step more to Imagination.)
3. Be Disruptive by Nature
4. Be Genuine not just Generous (Tom said they reserved 5% revenue to be conservative fund for R&D use.)

Lastly, he told us the 10 Innate Qualities of Leaders as follows:
1. Curiosity (like Monkey)
2. Sense of Responsibility
3. Sense of Humor
4. Passion
5. Courage of Conviction
6. Initiative
7. Creativity / Innovative
8. Sense of Urgency
9. Persistence
10. Confidence

Q&A Session
During this session, Mr. Tom Mehrmann answered some participants that they have e-learning platform for staff named “Ocean Learning Program”. He would like to employ innovative ideas and products into Ocean Park through people in Science Park. Then I asked the last question about any cooperation with local universities such as School of Veterinary Medicine in CityU.

Reference:
HKSTP - www.hkstp.org
Ocean Park - http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/tc/home/
CityU Vet School - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/svm/en/index.html