One of the evident lessons perceived in the past two years is that weathering and thriving amidst the challenges would need us to work together. This also applies to organizations, as we have recognized that each other’s diverse capacities and insights are vital in enabling the business to adapt to the transformed world and lead it toward recovery.
So, how can businesses maintain fuelling collaborations? This is the center of Globe Business’ Leadership Innovation Forum 2022, which seeks to spark “Synergy: Building Ecosystems from Within.”
Held last Dec. 5 at the Grand Hyatt Manila, the day was full of opportunities for connection and conversations about collaboration to empower industry leaders to develop ecosystems in their enterprises.
Lead-In 2022 commenced with the CEO Brunch, which gathered executives and discussed collaborative leadership, especially its impact on the entire organization. This is followed by the plenary session, the highlight of Globe’s Lead-In where business experts give thought-provoking messages about synergy and ecosystems during the forum.
“Today, we recognize that great things start from small sparks. Because when synergy becomes second nature to everyone in your organization, you are nurturing your company’s proficiency and forming unique, advantageous partnerships outside of it,” Globe Telecom Chief Commercial Officer Issa Guevarra-Cabreira said.
Ms. Cabreira considered ecosystems as “the next evolutionary imperative for businesses to thrive in the post-pandemic future.”
“This idea of a business ecosystem is about interdependence, where economic players come together to create value,” said Dr. Christian Busch, the best-selling author of The Serendipity Mindset, in the forum’s keynote talk about Why a culture of symbiosis and synergy allows everyone to prosper (company, your team, other teams).
He further explained ecosystems based on the concept of ‘if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.’
“The real synergy, real collaboration, allows us to go fast and far at the same time,” he said.
Dr. Busch also highlighted his concept of serendipity, this ‘smart and active luck’, which he believed could lead toward innovation and spark an ecosystem that could move businesses forward.
“In the world of ecosystems today, it’s everybody’s game,” said Aileen Jiao, president and country manager of IBM Philippines, continuing the conversation with a talk about Empowering teams by cultivating and nurturing a culture of ecosystem thinking and collaboration.
“Culture is what shoots the ball. Unfortunately, this is the most difficult of all. This requires a really good fostering and nurturing a culture that allows this to happen,” she said.
Ms. Jiao also shared their culture formula, ‘purpose plus values plus behaviors.’ For them, this involves knowing what they want to do, which is to do change and be a catalyst for what is meaningful; keeping their values in mind, such as dedication to client success and innovation that matters; and developing a growth mindset.
Don Rae, Senior Advisor for Globe Business, Enterprise Group, followed the talk by discussing the topic, Sharing the idea of shared value to stakeholders and partners.
“Ecosystems are a force for good,” he said. “You need to be dealing with people who actually care. It’s not just a business, it’s a mission.”
The three speakers assembled afterward to share more of their insights during the forum’s panel discussion, including a Q&A with the audience, where the speakers further expounded on understanding one’s core, unique capacity in ecosystems, balancing the need to stand out without overpowering others in the ecosystem, and building ecosystems to help address the inflation and uncertainties faced by the economy, among others.
Tania Gil-Padilla, Vice President for Enterprise Sales for Globe Business, hoped that these conversations have inspired the audience to adopt the culture of openness and joint effort. “There is no better time to partner with each other,” she said.
An opportunity to find potential connections continued after the forum as a Networking Night culminated this year’s Lead In.
Lead-In is an award-winning thought leadership event of Globe Business that brings together business leaders, including C-level executives, directors, and managers, for discussions and networking to empower them in making a positive impact within their organizations and to the nation.
Globe Business is a trusted partner of enterprises, enabling them with transformative solutions and insights that can help them take their businesses further.
Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.
Join us on Viber to get more updates from BusinessWorld: https://bit.ly/3hv6bLA.