Robert Kirby at the FMBA breakfast meeting | Closer cooperation needed between gov’t and industry

Robert Kirby

Local government and industry leaders need to forge a closer relationship to enable the city and citizens to thrive on change, says leadership expert Robert Kirby. Mr Kirby made the comments yesterday as he presented his book, titled “Dancing Dragon or Headless Chicken: Unleashing the Leader in You,” at a France-­Macau Business Association (FMBA) breakfast meeting.
Speaking to the Times on the sidelines of yesterday’s event, Mr Kirby suggested that  closer cooperation between the gaming industry and government leaders would be of great benefit to everyone.
“Clearly there’s sometimes a mismatch in terms of areas like infrastructure or education. The phasing of the casinos… seems very strange as we’re suddenly having a lot of integrated resorts opening in a very short period of time,” he noted.
Mr Kirby added that leaders in Macau should manage the city’s carrying capacity more efficiently, and that developing and completing infrastructural initiatives is a crucial step toward success. He recalled that initiatives such as the LRT have been repeatedly delayed over the last five years, and remain uncompleted.
“We don’t know when the LRT is going to open; there’s the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge, or the Taipa ferry terminal. These are very important infrastructure projects that need to be opened in a timely manner (…) Once we get a little bit more infrastructure in place, that’s going to help [Macau] moving forward,” he stressed.
Furthermore, he recalled that the city will never become a world-class tourism destination unless these infrastructural initiatives are fully completed.
Mr Kirby, who founded the Kirby Leadership Academy and organizes the annual Sands China Macau Eco Trail-­Hiker charity race, acknowledged that we need to develop a smarter approach to dealing with our tourism carrying capacity.
As competition increases across Asia, with countries like the Philippines opening gaming resorts, or Japan considering the legalization of gaming, Macau needs to look at every aspect of the tourism industry, including arrivals, immigration, transportation and taxes.
“If locals are feeling threatened by the amount of tourists and they’re not happy with what’s going on, then we have a real issue. So that also needs to be addressed,” he remarked.
Local gaming revenue has continued to fall over the past 14 months, recording a 34.5-percent decrease over the year leading up to July.
Looking forward, Mr Kirby assured those present that leaders in Macau also need to improve their ability to predict future developments.
“This downturn that we’re having in gaming revenues should really be no surprise, because you can’t sustain 35 or 40 percent growth month-­on-month. At some point it’s going to slow down.”
Mr Kirby added, “I’m sure that there are company leaders who saw this coming, and who prepared for it accordingly. But a lot of people got too comfortable, and now unfortunately they’re hurting, particularly SMEs that rely on larger organizations to provide them with business.”
During his talk yesterday, the leadership expert pointed out that people are now looking to work for leaders rather than for managers. Therefore, SME leaders in Macau should remain current and adapt to ever-changing times.
“If you’re an SME leader and you’re of the old style, you need to change, you need to update your software, go on a course, read leadership books, and better understand what it’s going to take to attract and retain talent,” he explained, adding that “if you can’t attract and retain talent, your business is doomed.”
Acknowledging that this is a critical time for Macau commerce, Mr Kirby said he remains optimistic. “We’ve got some great products coming up but we need to manage infrastructure and tourist experience, and ultimately this requires leadership at every level, and open communication,” he confirmed.
Mr Kirby yesterday presented his book on leadership, which reflects upon a range of issues: bolstering leadership competencies; learning from mistakes; thriving on change; setting worthy goals; and creating positive-thinking habits.
The book was written in collaboration with his wife Charlotte Tsang, the co-founder of the  Kirby Group of Companies.