Tearing down borders to embrace global change

One of Malaysia’s finest traits is its diverse talent pool made of individuals with a myriad of backgrounds and expertise. Given the right organisational approach, utilising a diverse talent pool can yield great business opportunities and growth for Malaysia’s top industries.

A home grown company that started out small in the 90s, Maxis is well aware of the benefits of tapping into the global talent market. Today, the telco provider commands a lion share of the telecommunications market in Malaysia and is constantly pushing boundaries. 

Malaysian Ngeow Wu Han, a UX Principal at Maxis, shared that having a diverse team of global talents is something very valuable for the organisation. “We have people in Maxis with global experiences, applying their experience in a local context,” he said. This, Wu Han added, has helped Maxis move at a fast pace. 

His opinion is shared by Alfonso Horcaiada Lopez, an Enterprise Mobile Products Executive. “You have to look across the borders,” he added. 

For this Spaniard, bringing people from different countries, different backgrounds and different cultures is an exercise in enrichment for the marketplace. “At the same time, people are able to access best practices and apply that knowledge,” he continued. 

To incubate their global talents, Maxis has gone through a shift in organisation, by tearing down walls and introducing an open management system. The office has no cubicles and no fixed seating. From the intern to the CEO, everyone sits on the same type of chair and works side-by-side.

When asked about this arrangement, Maxis’s CEO Morten Lundal explained that the goal is to “work in a more borderless and ambitious way”. 

Adzhar Ibrahim, Maxis’s Head of People and Organisation, is convinced that with diversity, Malaysia will be ready for the global stage. 

If we have strong global talents coming in to work side by side with Malaysians, overall it will help the country to become much more prepared to be a truly global economic power.”