IN the era of automation and artificial intelligence, tech leaders face what are arguably some of the most demanding roles in the world today. While technology can transform the world and enhance lives, leading in this competitive space is both deeply rewarding and intensely stressful.
Leading communications super app Rakuten Viber vows to invest in people-centric leadership to stay true to its mission of empowering human connections. The company underscores the importance of keeping the human touch at the workplace and the heart of its technology. Specifically, the APAC team has enlisted the help of seven-time Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Coach of the Year and esteemed corporate leadership trainer Chot Reyes for its annual management training. He is also known for his various leadership positions in the corporate world, most notably as the former CEO of media network TV5.
Reyes, the founder of executive and team coaching company CoachCom Inc., is known for his program that focuses on a leader’s puso, cultivating the HEART of a Future Fit Leader-Health, Emotional Intelligence, Agility, Resilience, and Teamship-through a blend of evidence-based coaching with elite sports insights. After all, running a boardroom demands the same disciplines that are required of an elite coach on the court. And the goal is the same: empowering teams, whether they’re in suits or jerseys, to keep their A-game no matter what.
Below are three ways Rakuten Viber is humanizing tech leadership with the help of the Filipinos’ favorite sport, as Reyes shared in conversation with David Tse, Senior Director APAC at Rakuten Viber.
n Assembling a lineup based on ‘fit,’ not on star players. Everybody loves an all-star roster, but Reyes insists that putting together the best of the best will most likely produce unfavorable results. ‘We know at the highest levels, a team of superstars cannot win. The team USA of 2004, with the best players in the world-LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony-they barely won bronze medal,’ Reyes shares, adding that teams attain success better and synergy if they have collaborative members with different roles and different strengths. Tse further notes that in his experience, superstars often create more conflict in a team.
‘That’s why choosing your players is very important,’ explains Reyes. ‘I always call it a question of ‘fit.’ Do they fit my system, and do they fit each other’s personalities? If you do that, then you’ve already solved perhaps 50 percent to 70 percent of the conflict issue. Then you don’t have to manage conflict. And the best coaches, they don’t hire the best players but they know how to create synergy.’
n Encouraging ‘bad’ shots can be a gamechanger. In both sports and the corporate world, there are no wins without losses. ‘If you don’t take risks, you don’t understand the users. We need to understand the process to get there,’ Tse explains. He also notes that failure is an integral part of the learning process, driving both growth and innovation.
Reyes adds that companies often fail to realize that creativity requires trial and error: ‘Organizations that aren’t offering anything new, where there’s no innovation, people there are afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are part of innovation, creativity, breakthrough. You cannot tell your people, okay, be innovative, go out there, but don’t make mistakes.’ However, Reyes emphasizes the importance of understanding that not all mistakes are the same, and good leaders know which ones to tolerate and which ones to encourage.
‘In sports, if you’re wide open, you’re a shooter, you take a three-point shot and you miss, we say, that’s good. Next time you’re free, shoot it again. For us, that’s an intelligent failure,’ the coach explains. This highlights the connection between corporate team coaching and sports, where leaders must establish psychological safety while the responsibility of team members is to perform at their best.
n Knowing when to sit on the bench. For Tse who oversees Viber’s multicultural APAC team and works closely with the app’s global executives, being a good leader means giving members the space and the opportunity to develop their leadership skills.
‘I don’t see my teams as just people to execute. They will one day become leaders. In fact, I often tell them that I fail at my work if they can’t execute or they can’t manage without me. And if I can’t acknowledge my mistakes, they won’t either,’ Tse adds. ‘My philosophy is that every member has a right to shine. I have to do my part to highlight their talents or give them the opportunity to show.’
One of the key questions that Reyes asks players is if they see themselves sitting at the end of the bench if that’s the gameplay the coach calls. In basketball, playing on the bench takes immense humility. A player must set aside personal ego and cheer for the team from the sidelines. This same approach holds true in business, where a team member’s commitment to performing their designated role for the collective benefit of the group can yield significant results.
‘When you think about leadership, sports leadership, corporate leadership in general, I always remind myself that it’s not about me. It’s not about us as the leaders. I think that puts us in a very good position, a very good perspective to start whatever endeavor we’re going to undertake,’ Reyes stated. ‘That’s the first piece of my philosophy, that it’s not about me.’