Khanh Do, Senior Manager of Tax and Transfer Pricing Services at Grant Thornton Vietnam shares his thoughts on the recent emerging leaders programme (ELP) summit in Vietnam.
ELP is our global milestone programme aimed at high performing senior managers and managers, to support cross border and cross service line collaboration among our future leaders. The programme enables participants to develop their knowledge, skills, and confidence, while building an effective network across the region.
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What was your personal goal for ELP before you started?
Khanh: My goal for ELP was to immerse myself in the multi-cultural environment among my colleagues from different member firms and to develop my professional network. Also, I was excited to see how the six-box model would apply to real life and actual business cases. With Vietnam being the host country, I also hoped to be a good guide to our colleagues from other member firms, introducing them to the culture and physical environment of both Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam in general.
What did you expect ELP to be like?
Khanh: I expected ELP to be a formal and professional event with managers and leaders coaching us. I also expected it to contain lots of meetings and group work in a serious way.
What's one way that ELP was different to what you expected?
Khanh: ELP took a much fun approach than I expected. The summit was all about having a memorable time and stress-free learning through teamwork and case studies. There was no pressure from trainers, coaches or peers and the ultimate goal was to give us training and take-away insights that we could apply to real life.
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If you were to recommend ELP to a colleague, how would you convince them it was worthwhile?
Khanh: I would strongly recommend ELP to my colleagues and encourage them to participate in the future. The training not only helps you develop knowledge and skills that apply to the real world, but also provides a chance to expand your professional network and develop your career path.
What's the key lesson or insight you've taken from ELP?
Khanh: I have learnt a lot from ELP but the most important insight, to me, is appreciating caring. ELP provided an opportunity to working with people from different cultures, different service lines and, of course, different perspectives. Caring plays an essential role in teamwork and cooperation by helping us to understand variance in culture, practice and perspective – that’s why it’s a key principle of our international network culture charter.
How is the experience of being on ELP going to help you develop in your career?
Khanh: ELP is definitely a good resource for both career and real-life development. The six-box model is definitely a good resource to apply to obtain both insight on a client’s needs as well as extending our service offering to clients and growing our firm. ELP also provides an excellent event for networking with colleagues from other member firms which will be a good source for future cooperation on cross-border work.
