Speeches
Speech by CS at opening ceremony of the International Conference on Service Leadership Education in Service Economies 2016 (English only)
Professor Philip Chan (Deputy President and Provost, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Dr Victor Fung (Chairman of the Fung Group), Dr Po Chung (Chairman of Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership & Management Limited), Professor (James) O’Toole, Professor (Po Keung) Ip, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning. Happy New Year! This is my first speaking engagement as the Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government in the year 2016. I am honoured to share the platform with two visionary business leaders in Hong Kong whom I admire and respect – Victor and Po, address a distinguished audience and take part in this conversation on service leadership which is the lifeline of Hong Kong’s continued success. After all, the service sector accounts for over 90% of Hong Kong’s GDP.
With such predominance in our economy, one would expect service leadership education and conferences like today’s to be run of the mill. As far as I can tell, this is not the case. When many high-flying professionals, entrepreneurs and even public officials are going for highly priced MBAs, people tend to take for granted that service leaders and successful service organizations are born, not nurtured. The reality is : education on leadership, knowledge, attitude and skills in the service economy is somewhat under-developed. Fortunately, the scene is changing thanks to the vision, passion and commitment of Victor. Since 2012, the Victor and William Fung Foundation has funded the Fung Service Leadership Initiative with a HK$40 million pledge to promote service leadership education in Hong Kong. The Foundation has successfully united the eight UGC-funded institutions to work together to pursue this very meaningful cause. In a short span of three years, the Fung Service Leadership Education Initiative has gained recognition and has been given increasingly high priority amongst tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Today, service leadership has become credit-bearing subjects as well as non-credit bearing programmes provided by relevant academic units in the UGC-funded institutions. Through these learning opportunities, students develop not only the skills, character and attitude to become effective service leaders, but more importantly, embrace compassion, confidence and care in doing good things for themselves, their family, Hong Kong, our Country and even the World.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Victor and William Fung Foundation for its vision and generous financial support. I also want to thank the Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership and Management (particularly Dr. Po Chung) for its input on service leadership education. Po is known for his passion about the nature and value of service in major economies including of course Hong Kong, and has been spending a huge amount of time in recent years to educate others as service leaders. My appreciation also goes to the eight UGC-funded institutions for their dedication in promoting service learning over the past years, and in particular, to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Lingnan University for jointly organizing this two-day conference.
Human capital is Hong Kong’s most important asset. It is no exaggeration for me to say that Hong Kong’s prosperity depends on its Government, businesses and individuals delivering high quality services. I am sure we will hear a lot more from speakers and practitioners at this international conference on how we could create successful service organizations and nurture competent service leaders. Before that, allow me to share a few observations from my over three decades of government service.
The HKSAR Government is indeed a big service provider, from infrastructure to education, health and welfare services. Through its policy bureaux, executive departments and non-government statutory bodies, we have continuously to meet the needs of our businesses, families and individuals. We have to manage a capital works programme costing HK$75 billion and an operating budget of HK$325 billion in 2015-16. Our customers are the 7.3 million Hong Kong population, 323 000 local companies including 317 000 SMEs, close to 8 000 overseas companies which have set up their regional headquarters, regional offices or local offices in Hong Kong and over 60 million visitors. We take pride in running an extremely efficient public transport system, in ensuring Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world, in providing high quality and affordable hospital care, in offering a reliable social safety net to those in need, etc. It is this all-rounded efficiency that has inspired me to launch a territory-wide campaign last November called Appreciate Hong Kong. These good things of our city should not be taken for granted.
This quality public service organization is in my view sustained by a commitment to serve. Indeed, commitment is what I would regard as the number one virtue in public service particularly in today’s circumstances. These days whenever I attend passing out parades of our disciplinary forces, I encourage our new colleagues to display commitment in discharging their daily duties, knowing very well the pressure faced by our frontline men and women maintaining law and order in this city.
Apart from a willingness to take responsibilities, we need a passion to improve. I have chaired civil service recruitment boards and very often what distinguishes a successful candidate from a failed one is the passion displayed during interviews. Interviewers are not only seeking knowledge from candidates, but are looking for people with passion: people who can think critically and independently; people who always look for room for improvement; people who love what they are doing, etc. In His Holiness’s message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace on 1 January 2016, Pope Francis urges us to overcome indifference and win peace. He said we must refuse to fall into “a humiliating indifference or a monotonous routine which prevents us from discovering what is new!” Indeed, the world is changing fast with technology and we cannot afford inertia. Young people, in particular, have to equip themselves with an ability to be creative and innovative, and passion is the driving force for such creativity and innovation.
Another attribute I want to highlight in the service sector, more so in the public service sector, is empathy. In speaking to graduates of the Medical Faculty of the University of Hong Kong two months ago, I encouraged our young medical graduates to serve with empathy. I said people respect and trust our doctors, and all patients, regardless of their age, their identity and their social standing, take doctors’ words seriously. They submit to their authority and expertise. I told them I fully understand that when they go into the real working environment, the sheer volume of caseload may not enable them to spend enough time with each patient. But that should not prevent them from patiently listening to their patients’ worries, explaining to them their conditions and addressing their anxieties. What I have referred to is “empathy”, not “sympathy” because my decades of public service experience tell me that whether in drawing up new policies or dealing with individual cases, the most practical and rewarding approach is to put yourself into the shoes of those you are serving and trying to see things from their perspective. Showing empathy to customers may not work in the business world but at least knowing your customers’ needs is what a good service leader should set as an example for his team.
In my present capacity as the Chief Secretary for Administration, I earnestly support the Chief Executive’s policy priorities in housing and poverty alleviation, amongst others. I regularly visit low income families living in poor conditions like sub-divided flats to remind myself that we need to speed up the public housing programme and implement effective measures to lift people out of those dire living conditions and to provide children in those families with social mobility. And it is that commitment, passion and empathy which are providing the drive for actions.
Today’s international conference on “Service Leadership Education in Service Economies” is most timely as unless Hong Kong could maintain her competitive edge in the service sector, we would forgo the many opportunities to tap the Mainland’s growing service industry, and various national strategies in the global scene.
As compared with Hong Kong, the service industries only accounted for 48.1% of China’s GDP in 2014, marginally higher than the contribution of the manufacturing industries (47.1%). With the manufacturing processes gradually moving from Mainland China to lower-cost manufacturing bases in South-east Asia and South Asia, China has to diversify its economy to the service sector to sustain her economic growth. With the so-called “twin engines of growth”, namely “increasing the supply of public products and services” and “promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation (大眾創業、萬眾創新)” in place, there is huge potential for growth in the service industries. The Mainland will open up at a higher level, promoting technologies, standards and services around the world. Hong Kong, which has evolved as a mature service economy over the years, certainly could have a great role to play in the process.
Indeed, under the framework of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, or CEPA in short, established since 2003, supportive policies have been put in place by the Central Government to facilitate access of Hong Kong’s services into the Mainland. In December 2014, the Agreement between the Mainland and Hong Kong on Achieving Basic Liberalisation of Trade in Services in Guangdong (the Guangdong Agreement) was signed under CEPA, enabling early realisation of basic liberalisation of trade in services with Hong Kong in Guangdong. On the basis of the Guangdong Agreement, the Agreement on Trade in Services was signed on 27 November 2015, extending the geographical coverage to the whole of Mainland for basic liberalisation of trade in services with effect from 1 June 2016. With these agreements, Hong Kong’s service suppliers can take early advantage of the opening up of Mainland China’s services sectors.
Then we have the Nation’s “Belt and Road” initiative under which Hong Kong’s service professionals can look for opportunities beyond China. The enhanced economic ties between the Mainland and over 60 economies along the “Belt and Road” will present a world of new opportunities for Hong Kong.
To tap these opportunities, there is no room for complacency. We must continue to build on Hong Kong’s strengths in its excellent service provision – in terms of efficiency, high quality, effective communications, reliability and transparency. We must embrace innovation and technology. We have the solid background and know-how in the service industry but we are in need of service talents not only for sustaining the service industries in Hong Kong, but also for sharing the huge potentials in China’s transformation to a service economy.
With a stronger emphasis on service learning, I am sure Hong Kong students will be better equipped to become even more competitive in the global marketplace. For those who aspire to become service leaders, you will find wisdom in Po’s book Service Reborn and reflect on the ideas and best practices that this corporate leader in the service industry has so generously shared with readers.
I wish you a successful and fruitful conference. Thank you!
