Event Blog
Noorzaman Rashid and his team returned with their guests to Benares restaurant in Mayfair last night for their annual CEO dinner for the Government and Public Sector.
Benares is one of the top London eateries which captures the spiritual and uplifting essence of its namesake city in Northern India. Despite the economic gloom, attendees to last night’s event certainly seemed to strongly associate with the uplifting theme of the restaurant.
More than 120 of the most senior executives from the public sector relaxed together, shared ideas and experiences, and discussed animatedly the strategies for success that public sector organisations can adopt in an environment that has changed beyond all recognition in the last 12 months.
This was certainly not a gathering of corporate fat cats. Those in the room were not comparing their executive bonuses or failed investment arms. Rather, it was a collection of the best talent from the public sector, and of course Harvey Nash (!), coming together to identify "opportunity from ordeal" as President Barack Obama said last night in his speech to a joint session of Congress.
Albert Ellis, Harvey Nash Group CEO, began the proceedings after the attendees had been able to enjoy a glass or two of champagne. He talked about the value of a three pronged approach to overcoming the challenges we all face today. One, employers have to show more responsibility for their people. Two, employee representatives like unions have to realise that changes to employment are better than no employment, and three, individuals need to recognise that the rules of work have changed, possible forever, and adapt accordingly.
Great career opportunities still exist in a downturn, but talent often fails to re-evaluate their career approach during a downturn despite the situation changing around them. More creative career paths should be considered, as well as a greater willingness to compromise with employers in the short term for the sake of pursuing better long term opportunities.
Noorzaman Rashid, Head of Practice and host for the evening, followed with thanks to the event sponsors who had supported Harvey Nash – The Sunday Times, Grant Thornton, Impact Executives and Zest.
Noorzaman reinforced the "we’re all in this together" theme introduced by Albert, outlining the head spinning numbers now involved in the level of debt in the UK and the USA. Clearly these are unprecedented times that will change completely how we all work and lead our organisations. He recognised that 2009/2010 will not be easy years, that as leaders it was the responsibility of the people in the room to secure the existence of their organisations, but that intelligent suppliers like Harvey Nash were quickly adapting their services and approach to help them achieve their downturn objectives. In addition to finding and retaining talent, Harvey Nash is advising more and more organisations on how to use existing talent more cost effectively and creatively.
In his summation, Noorzaman pointed out that no-one in the room could have predicted the scale and severity of the downturn, but that because we all find ourselves in it together it was up to all of us to work together to pull each other out. Harvey Nash are committed to helping all clients and candidates achieve success in the downturn by connecting people, finding solutions as trusted advisors, and sharing experiences of success with all.
Shortly afterwards, the attendees moved from the bar area to the restaurant where they enjoyed the innovative Indian cuisine designed by world renowned chef Atul Kochhar. We all enjoyed the company of the public sector Chief Executives and participated in great conversations about working together in the coming year.