Living Our Values

How we live the Leaderonomics values daily

One of the great advantages of social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook is that it can instantly connect prospective employees to companies and business leaders. And this is maximised by many to reach out to us. Throughout this year, I’m grateful to have received many messages from countless people asking if they can join the Leaderonomics team.

More recently, I have been asked about the values a social enterprise looks for in potential candidates for hire. Across the board, people are realising that, to make a difference in any role, they need to look beyond their degree or technical skills and live the values of an organisation to be truly successful.

It’s an awareness that recognises that most of us are ‘good at what we do’ and have the capacity to be trained within an organisation, but to truly embrace and live the values, require a deep alignment and connection to not just the letter of the values but the spirit behind them.

At Leaderonomics, everyone in the team is technically gifted and possesses the ability to crossover to different departments and take on new roles that help them develop professionally.

From the employee’s perspective, it keeps them sharp through the culture of continual learning that we have built over the past 12 years. And it also ensures employees have the agility to pivot and change, when the world changes.

Pro-tip as a CEO: Be like a duck, calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath. Yes, we’ve just turned 12!

From a business point of view, there’s nothing like having a bunch of (literally) multi-talented team players who can help out in any situation, brainstorm the most creative ideas, and solve problems effectively almost as soon as they arise.

Whether it’s here in Malaysia, Thailand, or India or any of our other global locations, it’s a real privilege to know and work alongside so many dedicated people across the Leaderonomics Group.

As any leader will tell you, success comes from more than just skills and abilities within a team. Bringing people together who share the same core values is something that remains overlooked in a lot of organisations.

Read: Lessons I Learnt from Running a Social Enterprise

At Leaderonomics, we have believed since our formation that having the right team members (with the right values) in place leads to great achievements and maintains a strong standard and high levels of service for those we serve.

Does that mean we expect everyone to be the same? Of course not. Diversity and inclusion aren’t just buzzwords to us. We proactive hire from all walks of life, knowing that doing so brings a broad range of skills, knowledge, and perspectives to the table.

Personally, I learn so much from our different members of our team, like Pak Mike Wewengkang and Ibu Nadira from Indonesia, and Nigesh who has his own music albums yet leads our virtual teams to Shashi and Muzzaffar, our TV producers who are always looking for innovative ways to make cool videos.

And even our remote employees like Joyce and Audrey in Singapore, consistently bring new ideas and insights to our team.

Sg remote team ‘working’ from home and ‘whipping’ up some ideas in the kitchen: Cookie-nomics.

Everyone at Leaderonomics is unique, but at the core of each person are some key values we look for in every candidate during the hiring process.

For those who might want to join the team in future, or who knows someone who’d enjoy being part of an award-winning social enterprise, I’d like to share five key values that we look for in people who knock on our door:

1. They have a strong desire to serve others

One of our key values we live by is ‘Giving’. It is something we expect from each other, that we give of our time, effort, and sacrifice for each other and our customers.

At Leaderonomics, we are engaged in a number of innovations and initiatives, and everything we do serves our three main objectives: to develop the leaders of tomorrow; build strong communities; and play our part in transforming the nation, one leader at a time.

Our team members are passionate about serving a cause bigger than themselves, and they feel a sense of renewed purpose every day as they’re reminded that what they do truly matters.

Whether you’re part of the corporate country teams, sales, digital, enterprise, or youth team, everything at Leaderonomics flows back to our key objectives, which can only be achieved when we all give to each other and serve each other.

Our recent Youth Leadership Camp adapting to the new normal by going digital. Here, our team of Leaderonomers from various parts of the organisation chip in to become part of the facilitator team.

2. They continually strive for personal growth

Another key value we have is ‘Growth’. Through the years, people have often said that being at Leaderonomics is about ‘more than having a job’. We have seen many people come into our team, unsure of their strengths or convinced that they are nothing special, but go on to achieve incredible personal successes beyond the work they do.

With the spark of desire to better themselves, new team members gain confidence and inspiration from witnessing the transformation of those we serve in the community.

As such, a career at Leaderonomics has often been described as a ‘journey’ that empowers people to become self-aware of their own potential as they come to realise that anything can be achieved with a passionate heart and determined mind.

And we keep reinforcing the need for every one of us to keep learning, unlearning and relearning consistently. We either grow or decay and at Leaderonomics, growth is imperative for every member of our team.

This might interest you: Reflections on my Leaderonomics Internship

3. They really appreciate and treasure each other – and themselves

Another key value we deeply treasure is ‘relationships’. Before any success, there are unseen challenges and obstacles that arise along the way throughout the business and the communities we serve.

People who want to work for Leaderonomics have a passion for understanding others and, through that endeavour, come to understand more about themselves. Through time, there’s a deep appreciation of the struggles and limitations that we all have to overcome to reach a worthwhile goal or objective.

Flexing our muscles – physical, mental and everything else….

We get to know that people move at their own pace and see challenges from different perspectives and, as we develop that understanding, we recognise a universal truth:

Yet, this does not become an excuse to tolerate non-performance but rather a trigger to motivate others to push even harder and faster, but in love and grace. We honour each person but also expect greatness from each other. We care but we dare. And we live by that mantra to ‘Care and Dare’.

4. They build platforms to ensure others are empowered

At Leaderonomics, empowerment is key. Each Leaderonomer is empowered to make a difference, make difficult decisions and engage directly with the community and clients. And it is imperative that we also build bridges of empowerment so others will likewise be empowered to make a difference.

From our MAD projects, where we empower young people to do extraordinary change projects in their community by giving them funding and support, to our talent programmes which empower organisations to drive change from within, our goal is to empower each other but also ensure empowerment is sustainable and scalable.

Read also: My 8-Year Journey At Leaderonomics

5. They strive to build the future through positive impact of their work

Whatever you do at Leaderonomics, it really does matter. Most people, when asked why they want to join the team, most say they are thoroughly impressed by our vision and they want to be a part of that mission.

To everyone who walks through the door, having a purposeful and meaningful role – knowing that they’re contributing daily to a collective effort that changes people’s lives – is the number one reason why they reached out to us.

We all want to know that our work means something and, at Leaderonomics, the meaning behind our work can be seen every day. No matter what role you’re in, it contributes greatly to the team, and everyone is encouraged to get involved in our camps, community initiatives and school programmes so that they can build the future through their work – and make a huge difference every single day.

Building the future has to be deeply integrated value which pushes each of us to never accept status quo but always strive to make the world a better place, one small piece at a time.

A fun-filled evening with fellow Leaderonomers and their families at our company dinner!

Every organisation has its own values and beliefs. It is more than a statement or words on a wall. To us, it is the very essence of who we are. We make key decisions based on our values and it becomes a guide for us to remain steadfast to our vision and our mission. Living the values is sacred to us, and no Leaderonomer can expect to succeed unless they truly uphold and live the values daily.

More Leaderonomer Stories: Heart Work: 4 Lessons I’ve Learnt From My Ten Years At A Social Enterprise