WHO SAYS: Quotes of the week from HR influencers and leaders

Here’s what HR and business leaders across Southeast Asia have to say on today’s pressing issues:

“If people are not aware or educated about safety, we will have vulnerabilities. We educate our people so they know the threats, and the form they take to try and get in,”

– Anastasia Shamgunova, HR director (Asia-Pacific, Japan, Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa), Kaspersky

In an exclusive interview with Chief of Staff Asia, Shamgunova explains how to safeguard HR data, which includes the personal data of former, current and potential employees. She noted that it’s important to use high quality equipment but this also has to be combined with an HR team that is knowledgeable about potential security threats and how to stop them.

“Pause. And then ask people what they think,” – Jonathan Yabut, managing director, JY Consultancy & Ventures

Motivational speaker and HR consulting expert Jonathan Yabut, in a recent TikTok video, recalls how he used to not talk in meetings until he met this boss who would encourage him to speak his mind. “Some people may have the best ideas in town but they don’t have the encouragement to speak up because they don’t have the person to champion them when given a platform,” Yabut said.

“Sometimes the greatest battles are not fought with our external competitors, but rather internal ‘saboteurs’”

– Able Cheong, director, Kincentric

The Singapore HR Institute associate lecturer likens a CIA handbook on sabotage to some very familiar workplace conditions. These include making committees too big, giving misleading instructions, holding too many meetings, and multiplying paper work to the point of redundancy.

WHO SAYS? — a curation of insights from HR leaders and business professionals across Southeast Asia — appears on Chief of Staff Asia every Wednesday at 12:30 pm.