E50 awards: 'Champion mindset' needed to overcome Covid-19 challenges

Singapore

TO WIN the battle against the disruption and business challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, business leaders and their teams will need to adopt a "champion mindset" and develop the ability to turn setbacks into setups for success.

Speaking at the virtual launch of the 2020 Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards on Monday, MindChamps PreSchool founder and chief executive officer David Chiem shared that neuroscientist Allan Snyder identified the champion mindset as a "transferable commodity" that is key to success across the fields of business, politics, art, science and sport.

The mindset, said to separate champions from the rest of the pack, involves three key characteristics: an abhorrence of being "just ordinary"; the courage to confront conventional wisdom; and an ability to overcome and learn from adversity.

Mr Chiem said: "The mindset of our team is the most powerful resource that we have in our organisation, in order to stay ahead of the curve during this disruption period."

Citing Prof Snyder, he added: "In the best of times, a champion mindset is a valuable commodity... In the worst of times, which is what we're facing now, the champion mindset is an absolute necessity. It is the mindset of the leader and his team, above and beyond the products and services, that will help them break through this."

He added that businesses will need to adopt a strategy of "mind judo", which involves turning negative forces such as business challenges into new opportunities.

For instance, MindChamps realised early on that online lessons would soon become necessary, and the group quickly conducted special training to equip its teachers with skills to engage their young students effectively online.

Their efforts helped to build up the brand's credibility, especially during a time when parents were also working from home and using video conferencing methods. One parent commented that she was impressed by the teachers' success in keeping the preschoolers engaged, as she had struggled to engage her own staff on Zoom calls.

The 26th edition of the annual E50 Awards was launched on Monday in a webinar attended by corporate leaders from more than 150 local enterprises. Organised by KPMG in Singapore and The Business Times, the awards recognise the 50 most enterprising privately-owned local companies in Singapore.

This year's theme is "Extraordinary Times, Exceptional Resilience" to acknowledge that businesses are persevering in a challenging economic climate amid the pandemic.

Nominations for the 2020 E50 Awards are now open, and will close on Sept 15. Submissions are to be completed online through the E50 website.

Participants will be ranked on a set of qualitative criteria including their business model, management ideals and innovation, internationalisation, knowledge initiatives, market branding and presence, and risk management.

For the first time this year, the qualitative assessment will include an evaluation of the companies' sustainability practices.

Said Jonathan Ho, head of private enterprise at KPMG in Singapore: "We do this, given the increased importance and emphasis, including expectations from both internal and external stakeholders, on sustainability practices in the strategies adopted by companies."

He noted that the Singapore government's recent renaming of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources as the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment highlights the importance of sustainability as an issue.

This year's awards will feature two special awards for overseas expansion and enterprise transformation.

The Internationalisation Award will be based on companies' growth and expansion strategies, as assessed in the qualitative assessment segment. The Enterprise Transformation Award seeks an enterprise that has taken transformative steps to differentiate itself or increase its competitive edge in the markets that it operates in. The list of winners will be announced at an awards ceremony and gala dinner planned for January 2021.

Supporters of the awards include Enterprise Singapore, the Singapore Business Federation and the Singapore Exchange.

OCBC Bank returns as the main sponsor of these awards for the 15th consecutive year.