Tech chief betting on a ‘clear North Star’ and ‘deep care’ to drive Google’s Apac solutions

ONE of the key projects that Google's managing director for Singapore is focused on is partnerships with the country's government to provide solutions for the government's tech ambitions and strategies.

It started with a partnership called Skills Ignition, an initiative to equip Singapore residents with digital and artificial intelligence skills to help them with their career development or job searches.

More recently, Google expanded its partnership with the Singapore government to include health and life sciences.

These partnerships are arguably as beneficial for Google as it is for the government. Singapore has a national AI strategy that aims to enable residents to adopt and apply AI applications where possible to ensure its economy stays competitive; some of these initiatives under that strategy use Google's AI applications and tools.

"We really want to be part of the fabric of how a country moves forward," said Ben King, Google's managing director for Singapore, at Google's campus in the Republic.

"Now you may be thinking, what's the commercial upside? To be perfectly honest, if we can have a really thriving digital economy then that's not bad for Google, so I think it's playing a very long game."

King explained that being a "part of the fabric" and anchoring Google's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore also give the American big tech firm early insights into the fast-moving digital world in Asia, allowing it to capture potential trends that could be useful for Google globally.

He cited as an example the trend of short videos that evolved out of Asia before penetrating markets around the world, or the current video commerce trend. Google has its own short video offering on its YouTube platform.

As Google's managing director in Singapore, King – who turns 43 this year – leads teams that provide solutions and applications both to governments and businesses. He first started at the company as a manager in 2012 before assuming leadership roles in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand.

"My role, if I could summarise it very simply, would be to bring the best of Google to a country, like the managing director of any given country," he said.

How he leads a team to do that is by setting a "clear North Star". In Singapore's case the North Star to his team, through the government partnerships, was to "empower Singaporeans for today and tomorrow".

But having an aspirational goal is only one part of the equation. King explained that he "sweats the small things" with his team because the results from daily work compound and eventually add up.

On a day-to-day basis, he advises to focus on "deep care".

"What I mean by that is deep care of execution, deep care of the details. Bringing innovation and aspirational thinking to life doesn't only come through sitting in a room or design sprints," he said.

"It comes through the compounding effect of the day-to-day things that we need to do in order to serve a customer or make a product great."

He added that he also takes time out to allow his team to think of big ideas that contribute to the team's overarching mission, and celebrate wins related to a project.

Apart from overseeing Google's partnerships with the Singapore government, King is also working with Sea Group, a Singapore-founded global technology firm, to develop AI-powered innovations that can serve users across Sea's core business lines of e-commerce, financial services, and digital entertainment.

In recent years, he has also overseen teams in a period when the advancement of generative AI has led to companies cutting jobs and recalibrating their headcount.

Google's parent company Alphabet announced the largest job cuts in its history in January 2023, when it laid off about six per cent of its global workforce or about 12,000 employees. More recently, there have also been reports of the company restructuring its operations globally.

King said that whenever he learns of a layoff, he engages with those affected to explain clearly why these layoffs are happening, and journeys with them through the transition period by working out outplacement services and severance packages.

"I don't think that Google is unique in that, and I think a lot of leaders in a lot of businesses are thinking through what that future of their workforce looks like," he said, and added that companies are going through a bit of a "recalibration".

Yet, he argued that new positions could eventually be created as companies recalibrate their operations. In Singapore's case, he noted that Google's publicly announced investments in AI and cloud for the country in February could create new opportunities for various teams and products over time.

"Fifteen years ago, when I started, an app developer really didn't exist as a job, and then an app developer suddenly became an incredibly robust area of employment within the digital ecosystem," he said. "Likewise, now we need to hire certain new skill sets as we go through another wave of evolution."

Q: Was there a pivotal moment in your career or personal life that changed your approach to leadership?

I'd say my time as country director of Thailand was one of the most defining periods of my career. It was my first real country leadership role, and I had to develop the necessary tools for success on the fly, often during moments of intense pressure.

The business was quite unstable, and the country faced major events such as a military coup and the death of the King.

Upon reflection, it taught me the criticality of building strong foundations, prioritising leadership talent, establishing operational cadences, and fostering durable partnerships based on true value exchange, before pushing forward to scale.

I also built tools for self-management, and learnt how to provide the predictability my team needed to stay focused. I think this chapter ultimately set me up better to navigate what was to come in Covid-19, which took hold a few months after my move to Singapore.

Q: What is one piece of "unconventional wisdom" you swear by, but which most business schools would tell you is wrong?

People think the "move fast, break things" mentality will help them succeed. But I believe this first-mover advantage is not always the winning advantage.

Speed is important, but not at the expense of the right fundamentals, with user trust and durability at the core. Once we establish the foundation, we can execute fiercely, and at speed. I think that is being proved even more vividly in the age of AI.

Q: When you feel burnout creeping in, what is your non-business-related "panic button" activity or routine that reliably resets your focus?

To decompress, I rely on long runs and exercise. Outside of that, watching a bit of mindless sport works well, and I also love how Singapore is very accessible for quick weekend getaways around the region if time permits.

Source: The Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction