INTHEBLACK December 2025 / January 2026 - Magazine - Page 16
“Leaders get a lot of glory when things go right,
but it is important to recognise that success is
never achieved alone. True leadership shines
when you work together as one team.”
F E AT U R E
CHUANG-LI KHOO FCPA, AMD
to lead an organisation or lead teams, it is not about
who is the best person technically. It is about who
can get the most out of their people.”
Jamie Getgood, founder and CEO of People
Avenue, says people-centred leadership has never
been more important.
“Every organisation needs to focus on how
to embed AI or it will be left behind, but it is people
who will underpin that, so leaders can’t lose sight of
what people need,” he says. “They want someone
who is visionary, who has purpose and who can
empower them.”
Getgood was head of HR for Holden manufacturing
in Australia when its local operations closed in 2017.
Prior to its closure, he says the organisation was
transformed through people-first leadership.
Every leader at Holden was required to dedicate
30 minutes to get to know their people, he recalls.
“When leaders organise their businesses
or departments, it is very easy to take a projectmanagement approach by setting goals and
objectives and moving forward. They don’t often
spend enough time with individuals, asking about their
goals and getting to know the employee,” he says.
Research from Gallup shows that engaged teams
achieve 23 per cent higher profitability and
18 per cent greater productivity.
Employee engagement is closely linked to purpose,
Khoo says. This year, she introduced a theme called
“GROW” — an acronym for Great, Relevance,
Opportunity and Will — to guide her team’s culture
and mindset.
Khoo says leaders cannot succeed in isolation
from their teams.
“Leaders get a lot of glory when things go right,
but it is important to recognise that success is never
achieved alone. True leadership shines when you work
together as one team.”
16 INTHEBLACK Dec 2025/Jan 2026 SPECIAL EDITION
LEAD WITH INTEGRITY
Modern leaders carry an increased load. Research
into workplace wellbeing by Deloitte and Workplace
Intelligence shows more than 40 per cent of C-suite
leaders are stressed, 36 per cent are exhausted and
almost 70 per cent are considering quitting their job
to find something that better supports their wellbeing.
According to Hafizuddin, leaders need to develop
an ability to let go. “If you are supported by people
who understand your vision, that’s much easier to do,”
he says.
Miki agrees that letting go is essential to building
resilience among modern leaders.
“A sign of a good leader today is a willingness
to put your hand up and say, ‘I don’t know everything,
and I need to draw on the expertise and insights
of others in my team’,” she says.
Hafizuddin believes professional integrity can help
modern leaders navigate demanding terrain.
“There are many challenges today, such as how
to stay focused while keeping the team motivated.
How do you leverage technology to free up the team
to do more strategic work? How do you empower
your teams to take ownership and drive the business
forward while giving them a safety net? I anchor that
with ensuring that we have total trust.
“Long-lasting business relationships are always
anchored on integrity and trust. To me, that is
non-negotiable.” ●
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