YT44 | Learn from this French-Moroccan about cross-cultural leadership in Asia

How did this French-Moroccan end up inspiring corporate cultures across Asia? In today’s episode of Yana TV, we delve into the fascinating journey of Omar Hadoui. Born in France to Moroccan parents, Omar’s career began in Europe, but it was Asia’s call that reshaped his destiny. Settling first in Hong Kong, then China and Singapore, Omar shares how adapting to diverse cultural dynamics was less of a challenge and more of an adventure. Now a Managing Director at BI Worldwide, he applies his rich experiences to enhancing employee engagement across the Asia Pacific. Tune in as Omar reveals the challenges and triumphs of connecting different cultures under the umbrella of corporate leadership.

Discussion Topics: Learn from this French

• Where did Omar’s journey begin? Discover the roots of Omar Hadoui, from his early life in France to his decision to move abroad.
• What drove him to Asia? Learn about the pivotal moments and motivations that led Omar to choose Asia as his new home and workplace.
• How did he adapt to life and work in Hong Kong? Explore Omar’s initial experiences in Hong Kong, focusing on the cultural shifts and his first professional steps in Asia.
• What were the professional challenges in China? Omar discusses the unique business and cultural challenges he faced in mainland China and how he navigated them.
• How did Singapore compare to Omar’s other postings? Delve into Omar’s time in Singapore, comparing it to his experiences in Hong Kong and China.
• What leadership lessons has Omar learned from his international career? Gain insights into the key leadership strategies and philosophies Omar developed through his diverse career.
• How does Omar approach employee engagement and corporate culture? Understand Omar’s role in shaping corporate cultures and enhancing employee engagement across different countries.
• What future ambitions does Omar have? Look ahead with Omar as he shares his future goals and what he hopes to achieve in the coming years.
• Wrapping up

Transcript: Learn from this French

Yana: Welcome to another episode of YanaTV. Today, our guest is Omar Hadooey, who is a managing director, a PAC of BI Worldwide. Omar, thank you so much for being with us in the studio today. With your 20 years of experience working in different companies, uh, in Asia specifically, so that our audience understands, can you just give us a bit of a background? First of all, where were you born? Maybe let’s start with this. Sure. So I’m French native and my parents migrated from Morocco in the early 70s and I grew up in the South of France, a beautiful area near Aix en Provence, Avignon. Um, and later on,

Omar: I started growing into my career, I moved into different regions of the world. Um, the first one was really kind of crossing the channel from France to England. I spent seven years in England and when

Yana: When did you come to Asia?

Omar: And I came to Asia. It was around 2000 and end of 2009, beginning 2010. And the reason why was because I had spent seven years in, in the UK and I think the weather was starting to get into me, so I needed to go somewhere else and find some sun. And also I needed to expand my. Exposure to the world to the global world. So I decided on Asia because I felt like there was a stronger calling than he would have been with Latin America, for example. So I felt like, Okay, Asia, it would be for the.

Yana: So it was like an adventure, I know you’re also into adventurous sports. There’s a lot of those things you can do in Asia.

Omar: Motorbikes, uh, skydiving, scuba diving, free diving, which is apnea basically, which really pushes your limits in terms of personal, abilities. I love, I love all that. So you could

Yana: you could say you are, you’re free dived into which country in Asia first?

Omar: So yes, so from Europe, I freedived into Hong Kong. So that was my gateway to Asia. So two years in, in Hong Kong was with in a role where I was managing six people and I was a regional manager. So

Yana: how was the experience? I mean, here you will have. French half Moroccan coming to Hong Kong first time, right? Working in Asia. 

Omar: I managed to arrive in Hong Kong and I was welcomed in in a fantastic way. The first thing I noticed is that when you’re abroad, You feel like between expats, there is this bond that happens because we all want to support each other. We flew away, we left our families, our friends, we left everything that we had behind, and we end up in Asia, which is kind of an unknown territory for me, it was at the time. And as much as I enjoyed everything that I landed in, that effect of extra bonding was fantastic.

Yana: So people right from all over the world probably I mean hong kong is very international

Omar: International and the vibe was buzzing. it’s a much more fast paced environment as you would expect than the south of France, It’s a slower pace. We enjoy it. It’s more on the quality life here. He was like a professional journey of. Um, just going faster and more crazy and learning faster and doing more and more.

Yana: Any interesting stories?

Omar: My first day actually in Hong Kong, I landed, it was 7 a.m. and my friends had already, my colleagues had already invited me to join them into a gathering and I had no real clue of what this gathering would be and we ended up on a boat going for the whole day with a lot of food, a lot of music, a lot of fantastic people around just welcoming me and having a good time and everyone telling me their stories of Asia and I was like overwhelmed with how unbelievable this was and I was like why didn’t I do that earlier.

Yana: Wow. That’s, uh, that sounds very much like an expert. Welcome. Hong Kong. And then you move to.

Omar: So then, um, from Hong Kong, the competition botched me from the job I was in and offered me, the reason why I joined them is because they were offering me a regional director role. So I was, to level a level up, exactly, and I ended up with a coverage where I had reports in different countries, Singapore, China. So I lived in China. So I went to Singapore and I spent two years there and I had a conversation with my boss and I said, We have enough leadership here in Asia in Singapore.

How about I go to China and I try to develop the business even further there. And so he said, yes. And here I am spending three and a half years in China, completely different experience, a lot going on there. Um, I stayed in Shanghai. It’s very much more difficult than Hong Kong and Singapore because, um, Of the language. So, um, I think in the three and a half years that I live there, um, I probably had two taxi drivers speaking English. 

Um, I think something that I quickly learned is that When they speak in Chinese because I didn’t There’s a lot of modern words Words that don’t exist in chinese in mandarin. So basically they translate automatically to english So you have all those sentences in chinese and suddenly you have all those modern words Like digital and things like that that pop that pop in so you can kind of reconstruct a little bit a little bit Yeah, so that was helpful because I could spend like an hour Uh, in a, um, meeting with clients in Mandarin and still see if my team was on track with how we were presenting and all that. One trick that is a trick. This is a good trick. 

Yana: How was life?

Omar: Life was amazing. Yes, amazing. Everywhere I went there was learnings. one question that I’ve always been asked is which one did you prefer Hong Kong, Singapore or Shanghai? I have no answer to that. They all brought me something amazing. Memorable, formidable and grew me in different directions and different ways.

Someone in Shanghai asked me one day. How would you describe Shanghai if he was a friend? It was it would be my dysfunctional friend. And because Shanghai keeps you on your toes, there’s always something going on. You have to be a troubleshooter. You have to be on the go. You have to. This is why Shanghai and China are what they are. People are very dynamic, buzzy, always looking entrepreneurial. They’re very always looking for something new and finding solutions to everything. So that kind of taught me, uh, or help me build, build even stronger edges to how I was in the, in my way.

Yana: Well, of course. Now I want to know, is there any interesting story happened in Shanghai that you would like to share something that may be, you know, again, for you was unusual, unexpected, uh, culturally perhaps very different.

Omar: Many, many, I don’t know, I’ll take one since, I’ll take one related to work. I mean had a team reporting to meet 10 people and one of them, the director, senior director was had just given birth and she was coming back to the office and, um, and she came to me and asking me for a breastfeeding holiday. And I’m like, what? I mean, I’m an expat from Europe. We don’t have that. It’s a HR policy or, uh, actually a governmental policy. So I had to go to HR and ask for more directions on, on that, 

Yana: And you do have to ask where do they do it because they can go home and do it anyway. It was that’s one story that stuck with me.

Yana: That’s funny.

Omar: So then I came back here. it was 2017 ish. And I was like, okay, time to, and also there was no further evolution possible for me in the organization I was with. So it was time to rethink a little bit. So. So I decided it was time to come back to Singapore and a few months later I found a new role in Singapore with a consulting firm and two years later I was hired by BI Worldwide as a business development director for Asia Pacific before I got promoted. A year and a half later to managing director. Thank you. 

Yana: That was fantastic. Business incentives worldwide. It is largely, we could say, about employee engagement like in other words, employee experience this day. Would it be correct?

Omar: Absolutely. One of the reasons that why I joined a BI worldwide was the fact that they are all about experiences. They’re a company that focuses on how do we inspire people, whether they’re employees, channel partners, salespeople, regardless of the role. And to the fact that they’re all about experiences means that it’s very kind of like driven towards human, um, behaviors and all that. And I love that.

Yana: And you come across very much as a people person. So I can imagine that for you, it’s like a really good fit.

Omar: Absolutely. So it has been now about four and a half years, half years, right?

Yana: So in those four years that you were here, so what was your biggest lesson as the person who is leading?

Omar: leading. Yeah, I think so. I joined the I Worldwide on the 1st March of 2020. So my first listen with the I Worldwide was we’re on lockdown and I just started with them. So everything I had to do had to be at home by myself. So I learned a lot about how to work in a very kind of virtual world with, uh, with BIO Worldwide and how we can still make it happen. It was, it was not, not even, no one felt like restrained and constrained. Actually, I feel like when the virtual world started, we had even more engagement because we were creating all those like virtual ways to connect those games, assignments, uh, employee experience kind of, uh, uh, mechanisms and, uh, and, uh, and ways to stay closer. 

Yana: And in reality, very interesting. Um, I’m just curious as I’m listening to you and again, just with all those years and you shared, you have been like to so many countries and places and worked in different companies. Okay. Now you’re managing director, but before that, you still had a lot of bosses and probably you still have in some way, right? So that helps you to become who you are today. And, um, usually what we ask people, who was your favorite boss and why the most inspirational person. With you, I’m going to go in the other direction please forgive me for that. So who was the most challenging, really difficult boss and why?

Omar: so the story is basically As I was trying to leave the UK and Europe because I wanted an experience abroad, I found out that, there was a role available and it meant reporting to a certain person, an individual. I did my research and I found out that some of my network or contact of friends had worked with her. So I quickly gathered that basically they said, Omar, just don’t go to the interview it is not worth it. It’s gonna be a nightmare reporting to that individual. And I, I decided, is the prize worth going through struggle was basically would, that, that struggle would lead me to Hong Kong, which would be my gateway to Asia.

So I decided, you know what? I’m going to take the risk. And indeed that was the worst, , boss I could have expected. He was very, um, Dictatorial. It was, um, there was no space for creativity, uh, as, as a team. He was mostly directions given to a whole team and he was a leadership by fear. And, um, and I tried to shake, a few things and, and he created a lot of clashes. I could not handle, um, my relationship with my direct boss. So I directed my attention and my energy to the customer and the customer Um, appreciated everything.

And I had a great relationship with the customer. So everything was, um, in a good place on that side, meaning that my company was benefiting from the work that I was doing. So he kind of actually started, um, mitigating that conflict that I had with the customer. My boss, because the outcome of my work with the customer was going well.

Actually, it’s interesting because it’s very common. I think people often complain that they don’t like their bosses. I mean, even though now it’s all about leadership and you have to be a good leader, you have to give space to people empathetic. Listen, you know, give space for creativity. It is all about this right now.

Yana: But there are still plenty of bosses that people don’t like. So you can’t change the boss. 

Omar: So you have to, so you have to adjust and you did. And it was a beautiful sort of focus on the customer, which still from your perspective, it benefited your work and your career greatly, which to me, it is just like one of those examples, all their mindships.

Yana: Absolutely.

Omar: Somehow it’s, it’s also, this is where It’s probably the time to ask ourselves how we can become the leaders to others. And I was going towards a role where I wanted to be a leader. So I was like, how can I impact positively the order, the rest of the team? So I was creating bonds with the rest of the team as well. And, um, we, we stayed in touch, but yeah, it was, it was, uh, it was really about focusing the energy in the right place. Maybe it is management, not you think, but your positive attitude brings you forward in life.

Yana: I think this is the most amazing part. And also it is interesting how these different people and, and, you know, and bosses, we, We just learn, you know, some people teach us like really things that we need, uh, you know, to learn in terms of how we need to be and other people would teach us how not to be

Omar: Absolutely.

Yana: Uh, so you guys are focusing what you said on the customer and employee engagement. And I did some research. So I know that you have what is called a 12 style steps of employee engagement, right? We’re not going to go through all 12 on camera, but maybe you can tell us your three favorite and why.

Omar: Sure. So the 12 new rules of engagement are extracted from many years of research that the world has carried across the world. And what it is about is gathering what are the meaningful, uh, rules of engagement that really impacts employees. Um, to create an employee experience. Uh, the three that I prefer the most are make it personal.

It doesn’t mean that you have to have all your employees coming at home and have dinner with them. And it’s more about how do you engage with them and how do you get your, your managers, because they’re the first port of call. So it’s a way to connect with the employees to understand better the different, um, the different employees and the different personalities. So make, make it personal. The other one I like is magnify their success. It’s really about how you quickly spot who is doing something that is going to benefit the company, or they are creating a success stories in a way, or they have over delivered somewhere and basically it’s helping. Build their internal brand with everyone and external brand. If he also happens outside, it could be a post on LinkedIn about what they did, but it’s about magnifying their success and then the last one I could mention probably is, um, show them a path.

Yana: it’s about showing them that there is a path in the organizations for them for the development.

Omar: Yes, there is a purpose. They need to. They need to feel like there is. There is a journey here and and sometimes it’s very simple. It’s not. It’s very hard for organizations to create a career path for everyone and not everyone wants a career path by doing so. We just try to help people understand that if they get to a certain point, there they are milestones to get to something bigger. And so those three kind of create a really good of my, my favorite ones. And also I like them because they’re not just, uh, they, they, they are shared responsibility between the organization and the managers. 

Yana: I like that. And you’re going to include in the description of this interview, the link to all 12 steps rules, right?

Omar: 12 new rules, yes.

Yana: So that you can just look up yourself. I mean, for the remaining nine, I think it’s really interesting guys, but you are doing I’m going to ask tough questions. 

Omar: I’m curious within the company and you don’t have to name the company, right? But have you had experience working you as a leader, working with people who were really difficult employees? 

Yana: sometimes it’s a personality clash and it doesn’t work maybe in a team or with someone else, but like something which is not, you know, quite aligned. And so how did you solve that?

Omar: I think I would say that there was a time where, um, uh, an employee would not, um, would kind of isolate themselves. So as opposed to, it could be someone toxic or something, but And that’s a little bit strange and odd. And I’m very cautious about that because it makes me realize I need to be careful as to how I go with this.

It could be personal. And as a manager, I do not have the right to go into the lives of my employees without, um, without any limits. So I had a conversation with two other people who were closer to that individual and and slowly slowly we found out what was in there without being kind of like, um.

Without praying, but more understanding. How can we rebalance that? Because we don’t want that person to exclude themselves fully. And, um, and, uh, we, we used, uh, all did a few things that, uh, that, that helped. It was actually back to what I was saying, magnifying their success, where something that they had done had been noticed. And so we magnified their success. And suddenly. I don’t know if he helped counter their personal, uh, intention to isolate themselves, but they came back. So that helped those small celebrations off that person as a team, not just saying you’re doing great, but As a team, we, you are doing, those three people here are doing great. And she was proud of them and slowly, slowly she came back into the, into the organizational culture and, uh, and belonging and had that sense of belonging again.

Yana: That’s a beautiful story. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Now that we in Singapore and you have been living here for a while and working for a while, um, what is your favorite thing about Singapore?

Omar: I love the fact that it’s got that, um, it’s considered a regional hub and I think it’s really leaving the regional hub status that it has. I always say that when you go to any country around Asia, um, you do not have a more Asian multicultural city. Country city state than Singapore. Um, a lot of Vietnamese, Indonesian, uh, Chinese from Hong Kong from all around Asia. You can recognize the different, um, cultures here in Singapore. So that’s something that I think is rich maybe an analogy, my favourite street in Singapore, one of my favorite streets is Telokaya Street. I love it because there’s, there’s like a First, there’s like a church. There’s a mosque. There’s a temple. And then next to it, there’s like a bars and restaurants. And there’s like Indonesian food. And then, and everyone is at peace there. That’s that cultural, uh, mix and, and the fact that it’s, it’s, it’s all happening in a happy place.

Yana: That’s what you like. What is your least favorite thing about singapore if there is anything?

Omar: I don’t know. I, I’m, I’m hoping that I could, I could become even further part of Singapore and, and sometimes it in a plane, plane in, uh, in a, on, on the, on the, um, on the, so I’m on a employment path, for example. I would love to be part of Singapore as a PR and all that. So I find those, there’s

Yana: There’s no shame in saying, Kurt, you, you’re like, yes, you want to be a,

Omar: no, I would love to. I would love to. It is, I think all those administration steps are very complicated. And they’re still a bit of a gray area for me, but that’s my aspiration.

Yana: See, I’m here for the long haul, um, which also is part of the 12 new rules of engagement. You know, the 12, the long haul. So I’m feeling like I’m, I’m part of it and I’m, I’m here for the long haul. The final question. I promise. Okay. So let’s say we go all the way when you are 300 years old and you look back at you sitting here today in the studio and we are having this recording and is interviewing you at this particular stage in your life. So that person who is 300 years old, what do you think he would say to you today?

Omar: Um, I think he would say Um, I would say, uh. Embrace the change and the chaos because I feel like one doesn’t come without the other and everywhere. Every time I changed something in my life in throughout those travels that I’ve had and from moving from France to the UK to the UK to Amsterdam, Hong Kong, there was always a little bit of chaos in making it happen. But embrace the change and embrace the chaos and and everything will go well.

Yana: Thank you so much.

Omar: Thank you.

Yana: And that was Yana TV. I love it. Embrace the change, embrace the chaos. And Amar and I would love to hear from you in the comments. So please let us know if are there any other French Moroccans or just French or just Moroccans, you know, audience. I mean, we would love to connect. And please absolutely check, you know, Amar’s LinkedIn profile. And we are So grateful to muse studio for hosting Canada TV. So thank you for having us here. And probably the most important, remember to subscribe to the YouTube channel and share this episode with friend, everything, especially the change starts with the conversation. See you next time. I think you were the first Moroccan guest on the Fantastic. I should give you a present or a medal or something.