I have been asked to deliver a short speech about the Demand of Talents in Consulting Industry in Vietnam and the AEC Context. In order to do so, I would like to quote the motto of the “Association of Southeast Asian Nations”: The motto of the AEC consists in three parts: “One Vision, one identity and one community.”
Let’s get started with the first part: “One vision”
How can Talets in Consulting Industry contribute to the “one vision” of the AEC? A famous philosopher once said:
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
As your teacher for leadership in our MBA-MCI Programme I strongly agree with this idea. There is a demand for talents in Consulting who are able and willing to help people and organizations developing their very own vision by teaching them the long for the open future and all the wonderful options the AEC will create for its people.
Let’s now come to the second part of the motto of the AEC is: “One identity.”
Talents in Consulting Industry especially the graduates of our MBA-MCI Programme know, that there are no natural born leaders but personalities with diverse leadership traits and in their own case with well-trained leadership skills. They know that the strengths of the “one identity” of the AEC lies in its diversity and at the end of the day the freedom of individual de-velopment will be the basis for individual and public growth, wealth and prosperity. Therefore, the contribution of Talents in Consulting is the management of diversity in order to enhance the one AEC identity based on the freedom of individual development.
The third part of the motto of the AEC is: “One community.”
Communities are built on shared values. One of the core elements of our MBA-MCI Programme is teaching ethics in consultancy. Your contribution as talents in Consulting Industry is to remind your clients of this fact. Communities, be it For-Profit or Non-Profit-Organisations, Nations as a whole and international communities like the AEC have to be built on strong shared values – and I mean ethical values and not profit orientation in the first place. With no strong ethical basis no human society will last for long.
Let me sum up:
Is there a need for talents in the Consulting Industry? – Yes, there is! – Why?
1. Talented consultants help their clients to develop strong visions for their future.
2. Talented consultants manage diversity in favor of the one identity of every kind of human societies.
3. And last but not least talented consultants contribute to build up new societies on the organizational, national and international level based on shared ethical values.
You, our graduates of our MBA-MCI Programme are well trained and you are prepared to assume this task: Create visions, manage diversity and act on ethical values.
Congratulation for your MBA-MCI degree! After all your effort and your work, you deserve it. But this is not the end. It is the beginning of something new. Now at this stage of your career I give you the following advice:
Be leaders.
Don’t lose any time.
Do it.
Now.
Thank you!
Prof. Dr. Arie Verkuil
– Professor for Management and Leadership
– Head of Institute of Management at School of Business, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW
MBA-MCI Program
