Frank Koo is on a mission to help leaders transform
Having worked at some of Singapore’s most important technology and learning companies over the last 30 years, Frank Koo is no stranger to corporate transformation – nor to the process of reinvention that leaders need to thrive in a fast-changing world. He has lived that shift himself – and it has come to define his purpose.
“My goal is to help people and teams achieve positive transformation with joy,” explains Koo. “I want to support leaders who are still using old methods of leading teams, and help them move towards a more inclusive and more agile way of leading.”
Koo joined the corporate world with IBM, before moving to HP, Oracle, and learning and development-oriented companies including Pearson and LinkedIn. But his leadership journey started in a very different space – within the confines of a small naval ship.
“My leadership journey started when I was 19 years old,” recalls Koo. “In Singapore, all men aged 18 and above have to serve in the military as part of national service – so after a full year of officer training, I was commissioned as second lieutenant on board a ship with about 32-35 crew members. At 19, I was the youngest crew member on there.”
The lessons came thick and fast. “I had imposter syndrome on day one!”, Koo laughs. “The people that I was leading were aged between 18 to about 45, so they were more senior, not just by age, but also by experience – many of them had been in the Navy for a long time.” It was a steep learning curve. “It was a baptism of fire,” he admits. “I learned a lot about humility, and learning from other people, even though I was higher-ranking.”
Since then, Koo has been part of companies that have made huge efforts to transform their culture. He is a thoughtful analyst of the challenges facing leaders today – across Asia, and indeed globally. “We have to change the approach to leadership, from command and control to what I call sense and respond – from a more directive approach to a more bottom-up approach that enables the co-creation of solutions,” he explains.
Koo realized the urgency of that shift in a moment of sudden clarity eight years ago. “Nine months after I joined LinkedIn, we did the employee voice survey throughout the whole company,” he says. “My employee satisfaction numbers were the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region. That was a huge wake-up call for me.”
As he reflected on the data, Koo understood where he’d been going wrong. “In my previous role, what had made me successful as a leader was very different. I had been more focused on command and control. A good leader at that time was someone who knew what was going to happen in five years’ time, has a fantastic strategy, and makes sure that everybody rallies that plan.”
He had been persevering with that old-school model in a world that was changing rapidly. “When I first joined LinkedIn, I was pretty blind to the different cultures in the organization. I used a similar leadership approach – and that’s why I had the lowest employee satisfaction score.
“That was the beginning of my learning – or rather – of unlearning and then re-learning as a leader.”
A role model for change
The transformation described by Koo is probably the biggest challenge facing all the leaders that Duke CE works with around the world. Who does he see as a role model for the shift?
“Satya Nadella of Microsoft,” answers Koo without hesitation. He has firsthand experience here: LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft three months after Koo joined. “I saw the whole transformation of Microsoft, from a very monolithic organization to a very flexible organization that goes beyond focusing on company interests, and has built a whole ecosystem in the tech sector.”
The tech giant’s stock has grown in value tenfold under Nadella’s leadership. “A lot of that has to do with his leadership,” argues Koo. Nadella is famed for his emphasis on a growth mindset. He has written that Microsoft people used to believe they were the best – to the extent that they wouldn’t even collaborate with other Microsoft divisions. “Satya’s beautiful term, ‘From know-it-all to learn-it-all’, was the beginning of the change,” says Koo. “Getting people to have a sense of curiosity, to learn from each other, and subsequently to collaborate, was key.”
Another inspirational quality was Nadella’s gift for empathy. Koo frames this in deeply personal terms: Nadella’s late son was quadriplegic, with cerebral palsy. “That gave Satya a huge amount of empathy. I could see this in Microsoft,” he confirms.
Microsoft’s success is all the more remarkable because it was achieved at a time when many industry incumbents – in tech, as in so many other sectors – were being disrupted and usurped by new challengers. Volatility and change are among the defining characteristics of today’s business world. How does Koo cope? “The key thing about such volatility is that no leader has a perfect answer for everything – and even if they do, the situation will change. That means clarity of vision is vital,” says Koo. “It aligns everybody towards your goal – and helps to rally the team through the thick and thin of the business cycle.
“At the same time, there has to be flexibility as well, because things change all the time,” he continues, citing the way LinkedIn’s CEO, Ryan Roslansky, leads. “He always says, ‘This is the direction that we have in mind – but we will learn along the way, and we will make changes along the way, and adapt to the ever-changing environment.’ That narrative is very meaningful, and it shows a high level of humility and vulnerability,” reflects Koo.
Perpetual energy
How can leaders maintain energy in the face of grueling challenges? It starts with other people, says Koo. “People need to believe that they have a voice, so there’s a possibility to co-create solutions to the organization’s problems,” he explains. “Having that inclusive environment, so employees are part of decision-making, is critical in enabling the energy level to be high all the time.”
The corollary of that is that leaders must enable people to be agile in developing their skills. “As the environment changes, job roles – and the tasks within a role – have to change, so the skills in the organization have to change as well.” It goes back to the growth mindset and the power of being a learn-it-all.
In an era of constant overload, leaders have to manage themselves carefully too. What is Koo’s approach? He thinks about it in terms of four pillars. “Physical energy requires nutrition, physical activity and rest. Mental energy is about learning. Then there’s emotional energy, including both deep relationships and broad relationships with a community – and spiritual energy. That includes a belief in God, for me, but it’s really about having a purpose.” One pillar can compensate when another is sapped. “If my emotional energy dips, I’ll go to the gym to work out – so my physical energy lifts my whole energy level. Thinking about how I’m aligning with my purpose in life helps me level up on mental energy.”
We turn to the strategic picture, and the ongoing rise of Asia’s powerhouse economies. At Duke CE, we’ve seen ‘homegrown talent’ stepping up to play an increasingly prominent leadership role in many of the region’s biggest players. What does Koo see Asian leaders bringing to this era of leadership globally?
“That’s a billion dollar question,” he replies. “Asian organizations have a huge amount of history and capabilities behind them, but they have grown quite significantly by embracing Western management philosophy.” Yet there is space for different models to emerge.
“I look at the key drivers of – for lack of a better term – Asian leadership philosophies. One of the standout approaches for Asian management is collective leadership in organizations,” he says. “You see Asian leaders converse in a more contextual way, compared to a more direct approach. There are pros and cons to both – but in certain circumstances, a more consensus-driven approach can work well.”
Another difference lies in attitudes to short and long-term success. “There’s more focus on long-term planning,” says Koo. “Even among publicly-listed companies in Asia, there is less pressure on quarterly results and longer focus on longer term planning.” That can allow executives greater freedom to make the right decisions for building sustainable value.
China’s success in the electric vehicle (EV) market is a case in point. They may not have been the sector’s leading innovators – but they have honed the technology and brought it to market incredibly effectively. “Those companies were able to think three or five years ahead, not just quarter-by-quarter, and they invested a lot in technological development – and now we see China taking over the world in EVs,” says Koo.
The third area of difference is more nuanced – a tendency to take a more hierarchical approach to leadership than is now found in most Western businesses. Sometimes it works, of course: Samsung has become a global giant, building on the hierarchical Korean culture. “Hierarchy can help to rally the whole team around a common goal. Now, if the strategy is wrong, it can create a lot of issues – but if it is correct, it can help,” suggests Koo. “But a lot of times it’s totally unnecessary, as well as very regressive in nature.”
For the best companies, says Koo, answers are likely to be found in a blend of Asian components with a more typically Western approach to solving modern problems.
In a sense, that will build on what might be the single most important capability for leaders: the ability to resolve seemingly contradictory positions. “I think the single most valuable leadership trait today is the ability to manage dualities or polarities,” says Koo. “Managing long-term growth with short-term profitability, providing clarity while building adaptability and agility, being compassionate with people while ensuring performance happens.” Today’s paradox is that leaders need to achieve these apparently conflicting goals at the same time. “It requires leaders with a huge amount of agility,” agrees Koo.
New directions
Koo himself pivoted in 2024, founding Nextplay to pursue his purpose of helping other leaders. “I do believe that once we know why we’re making certain decisions, and how it impacts people in a broader way, we can be better leaders,” he remarks. He is a persuasive advocate of the power of introspection, and has developed an interest in psychodynamics – how our conscious and unconscious mental and emotional processes shape us. He recently spent time exploring his childhood, to better understand its lasting influences on his leadership. “Through that, I emerged as a leader who can make more appropriate and more compassionate decisions,” he reflects. “I’ve done quite a bit of soul searching and introspection as a leader. Now I try to enable other leaders to do likewise, so that they can become better leaders.”
This is resonant terrain for Duke CE: helping leaders understand everything that goes into leadership choices – even the unconscious elements – could be a major frontier for the evolution of leadership development. We are all shaped by our experiences; understanding how allows us to use those experiences to maximize our potential.
That brings us back to the purpose that drives Koo. “Joy is important for me. If people are happy in their work, if people find meaning in what they do, they have better work-life balance, and the organization benefits from a higher level of productivity and engagement.” The benefits are far-reaching. “Yes – I do believe that then families can become better, and society will change. The whole world can be a better place,” says Koo. “Legacy is too big a word for me – but I’m trying to make a bit of a mark in the transformation of people. That’s what I’m going for.”
Dr Beth Ahlering is regional managing director, strategic projects and Asia/Middle East, at Duke Corporate Education. Patrick Woodman is editor of Dialogue
