Work It

In a world of online social connections and easy networking opportunities, is the traditional, secretive headhunter still relevant? Crispina Robert and Adrian Tan speak to Michelle Koh, managing director of recruitment firm The Edge Partnership, who says good talent recruitment cannot be done online. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Increasingly soft skills in leaders are becoming as important as hard skills. But what exactly are the soft skills needed and what if top managers lack these? Yeo Chuen Chuen, Managing Director of ACESENCE Agile Leadership Coaching and Training, who coaches Fortune 500 leaders, is our guest. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first female CEO of an American bank, Jane Fraser has a nickname: Fraser the razor. She talks to CNA presenter Dawn Tan about change management, the economic outlook, artificial intelligence (AI) and why leaders need to choose teams who can do better than them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Randstad survey showed that 67 per cent of Gen Z employees say poor company culture and leadership would make them quit. One of the hardest relationships to deal with is with their manager. What does it mean to "manage up"? 25-year-old account manager at HighSpark, Teo Jiayi is this week's guest. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Popular work communication tool Slack, used by 20 million users around the world, was recently bought by Salesforce for US$27 billion. Crispina Robert has a chat with its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Cal Henderson on what building a successful business is like, what he looks for when he hires and what's his favourite emoji on Slack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yeoh Ying Ying was made general manager of pharmaceutical giant Roche Singapore at 39. She talks about rising up the ranks, the hard lessons she learnt early on as a young woman doing sales, and how she compartmentalises her time between work, children and self.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The great love affair workers had with working from home is over with more big firms wanting their staff back in the office four or five days a week. But the pushback from employees is real. Professor Mark Mortensen from INSEAD has studied hybrid working for 20 years and he explains how everyone can navigate this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An ageing workforce is a top concern of CEOs, especially in places like Japan and Singapore. But talent management systems that cater to what older workers really want are still not up to scratch. James Root, partner at Bain and Company, gives practical ideas on what managers can do.  In this episode, we talk about a quiz that you can take to show the worker archetype you are. Here's the link. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Top among the discrimination complaints that TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices) receives is discrimination around nationality, followed by age. Next year, legislation will come into place, taking offenders to task. But where are the grey areas and what kinds of processes do companies have to put in place? Faith Li, general manager of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep) gives an outline on this episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ng Jia Min was five years into her first job as an engineer when she decided to move to a completely new industry altogether. But there was just one twist – she didn’t have the skills for it. In this episode, she and her new manager, Melvin Fam, SEO head at digital agency OOm, share their journey on how they made the big move. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Help and support for neurodivergent employees should start at the hiring and onboarding stages. But what should companies look out for? Steven Ng, chief information officer at local cybersecurity firm Ensign InfoSecurity which has developed a programme to hire autistic individuals, and career coach Dawn Foo tell senior journalist Grace Yeoh how inclusion happens even before neurodivergent employees enter the workplace. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having dyslexia hasn’t stopped AI ethicist Chan Pui Yan from holding down a job that requires extensive reading and writing to help craft policies. Coupled with dyslexia, she also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). On the third episode of the limited series Wired Differently, she tells senior journalist Grace Yeoh about her struggles with coming to terms that she’s neurodivergent, and how she has learnt to tap into her natural strengths. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often struggle with details, time management, organisation and prioritisation – skills required to be a good manager. Yvonne Zhang and Amrun Hisyam tell senior journalist Grace Yeoh how they handle the demands of managerial duties in the second episode of the limited series Wired Differently.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a new limited series, CNA’s senior journalist Grace Yeoh gets the personal stories of neurodivergent people in the workplace. In this episode, she speaks with Wesley Loh, a tax associate, about how his autism presents itself at work and how he navigates workplace relationships.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our final installment of our special series, the Leader's Chair, Crispina Robert and Adrian Tan speak to Verena Siow, Southeast Asia president and managing director at SAP, one of the world’s leading technology companies. She talks about her unconventional journey - including leaving university to follow her boyfriend to Budapest - and why she feels women have imposter syndrome more than men.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.