Support, Empathy & Just Doing What is Right-Be an Inspirational Leader

Angee Chan, Head of People & Culture, Hong Kong & Macau, Philip Morris International

I’m sure we all get advice like “Don’t pick a job. Pick a Boss” from time to time.  While technically we can’t always pick a boss, a supportive, empathetic, and inspirational leader does make a huge difference in our development and engagement.  Ever since I took up the role as Function Head a few years back, I have been constantly observing different leaders for inspiration to develop my own leadership style. I am thrilled to share with you prime examples of good leadership below, as it’s always great to promote positives!

Leaders who motivate and engage me to do even more in my role encompasses are the type of leaderswho care for others more than themselves, able to bring out the best in people, and act in a way to ensure people are respected regardless of theirtitles.  It sounds hard to do, but it can also be as simple as saying and doing the right thing when the team is in need.

A point in case, each year, we have to prepare for this big presentationon the company strategy and budget plans for the following year. This is always the most stressful time as we represent the entire country teamin front of the senior management. It’s important for usto make sure the strategy is clearly understood so as to obtain the budgetapproval, and of course, there is always the pressure to perform as an individual and not to let the team down. 

"We always know that he has our back no matter what, and we just need to do our best, and it will all work out fine"

We had many rehearsals to fine tune our presentation and make sure we were all ready. Our General Manager knew that it was the first time for many of us, and the virtual meetings format during the pandemic time had made things even more challenging when we couldn’t read the room temperature and cover each other like in the physical meetings. He gave us a pep talk the night before,and it went: “We have a great plan, have achieved great results for so long and we just need to trust ourselves and be confident with what we’re doing. If anything happens on the call like you get a tough question, the presentation stuffs up or you feel like you’re falling, don’t worry, I’ll catch you!”  We knew he meant it, like the many other times he did before.

I find that managers like this can be hard to come by. Being able to understand our anxiety and recognize what we’re doing is very important. We always know that he has our back no matter what, and we just need to do our best, and it will all work out fine. It is a simple thing to say, “if you fall, I’ll catch you,” but just the right thing to make the team feel safe and supported.

As I go through my career life, I am going to keep remembering this and do the same for others. Simple acts to be done consistently and genuinely. If people can feel the purpose and the leader has their back and is always there when needed, they will perform at their very best.

Pick the type of “Boss” you want yourself to become. Be supportive, be empathetic, and just do what is right for the people….