“Learn
from the
young.”
Luen Thai Holdings has a unique approach to
getting its senior leaders up to speed with the
latest trends.WORDS SHARON MASIGE • IMAGES GARETH BROWNW
ith the high life expectancy rate in Hong Kong, Luen
Thai Holdings CEO Raymond Tan devised a new way
to get his senior leaders plugged into modern-day trends.
The apparel and accessories business was co-founded by
Raymond alongside his brother and their father in 1983
and has since expanded throughout Asia–Pacific, with
manufacturing facilities in China, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Now in his mid-fifties, Raymond acknowledges the challenges presented by
having an ageing leadership. “The industry and the whole world is changing,” he
explains. “In the past, people started thinking about their retirement as they got
closer to 60. This is no longer the case. Some companies say you have to bring in
very young talent, forget about the past, destroy your old model and move forward.
Others say ‘Let me hang on to the old model and see how long it can last.’ I tend
to believe there are great values from both ends; the experience from the senior
leaders and the energy and passion from the younger ones.”
What Raymond did was ask each of the company’s senior leaders to have
a young mentor. “In the past, we always believed it was the more experienced ones
who should mentor the younger ones. But I have two mentors and one of them
is my son. I meet with him twice a month just to learn what’s happening in the
world – he taught me how to play Pokémon GO,” Raymond laughs. “I need to
make sure that our senior leaders know what’s happening in the world and to
identify with this young talent. I ask our senior leaders to learn from the young »theceomagazine.com | 39Interview | INSPIRE