As part of our Leading Women series, we want to highlight the professional challenges and career aspirations of women we work with in Asia.

In this feature, Hilda Chan, Vice President of Operations for Hasbro in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, talks about the challenges of being a female leader, the importance of continually learning and upgrading yourself, and the necessity of staying one step ahead. Hilda is one of the inspirational female leaders in Supply Chain & Procurement in Asia helping to pave the way for other women to achieve success and climb the ranks in this field.

 

Q: What’s the greatest risk you’ve taken?  

The greatest risk that I have taken in my career experience was my move from Hong Kong to Singapore in 2008. The challenge was to close down the Asia Pacific Regional Headquarters in Hong Kong and build a new headquarters in Singapore with my management team. I had to start from scratch and rebuild the whole supply chain team in Singapore, covering planning, customer service and logistics. Apart from the challenge of relocation, my comfort zone was challenged through the culture shock I experienced. We faced a number of team member conflicts due to the diversity of the team, with people coming from all walks of life. It was my first time handling a team of this nature, so there were some learning points for me. With all the challenges we were facing, we were still expected to uphold a seamless customer fulfilment process.

It is true that you will never grow unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, so I’m glad I was able to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself.

This is an abridged version of the full interview with Hilda Chan. For the full version of the interview, click here. 

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