SHKP Quarterly

Allen Fung: Focusing on people 馮玉麟：專注「以人為本」的理念 The Group has a portfolio of non-property businesses that contributes material recurring earnings to the Group. Executive Director Allen Fung has been in charge of these businesses since he joined the Group three and a half years ago. He believes there are strong shared values behind the property and non-property businesses within the Group – an untiring dedication to its customers, and a commitment to the welfare and development of its staff. Learning from history Allen used to be a global director of management consulting firm McKinsey before he joined the Group. In fact he was the first Hong Kong Chinese to be a director in McKinsey’s history. Before McKinsey he studied history at Oxford and Harvard, and was an assistant professor at Brown. If you suspect his management philosophy to be likely rooted in his study of governments and companies in history, you will be right. One of the lessons Allen shared is that all institutions, including the best ones, are prone to being destabilised from within and without. “It is easy to become complacent when you have success, as we have repeatedly seen in Chinese history.” Hence, the ability to adapt is the cornerstone for success. To Allen, the fact that the Group has grown so much over the last 45 years is evidence of its relentless commitment to continuous adaptation and improvement. In Allen’s mind, a key pillar in sustaining the G roup’s f u t ure grow th is the recruitment and development of young talent. The Group has been running its management trainee programme for many years, nurturing generations of leaders, and Allen appreciates its growing influence on the Group’s future. The world is changing, and it seems that the change is not only much broader than ever before, but also faster than ever before . “The rise of social media, for instance, means that we cannot engage our customers like we used to – we must be fast, direct, and much more willing to listen.” These are all big adaptations the Group needs to learn, said Allen, “Our young staff understand these changes much better than we do because they grow up in them.” 集團執行董事 Group Executive Director Allen Fung 馮玉麟 20 Profile Vol 84 • Q2 2017 • SHKP Quarterly