Building the Capability to Cure

In business, growth is good. It’s a problem almost any organization would love to have, despite the associated challenges. Challenges, as it turns out, are quite stimulating for Albert Siu. The vice president of learning and development for Parexel International, a clinical research and regulatory consulting company, said he thrives on challenges, actively seeking them out and probing into areas he doesn’t understand as part of his own development process.

Careerwise, Siu has seldom walked the road well traveled. Instead of using his doctorate in counseling and psychology to help people who have suffered psychological trauma become more functional, he chose to explore the connections between head and heart in the workplace. When information technology company Hewlett-Packard (HP) offered him a job launching its employee assistance program, he asked to learn more about the business functions and how his skill set could enable things to work better. Organizational change and interpersonal dynamics — including how people work together at the enterprise level, how one can leverage values and culture to sustain a business through challenges — is what fascinates him.

He never took on the job HP initially offered. Instead Siu managed the training and development function at a major HP manufacturing site, which opened the door to corporate-level HR responsibilities and a chance to head up HR in China. His next challenge was building the HR infrastructure in Asia Pacific countries for communications company AT&T, where he eventually led the learning function. An interest in the life science industry led to his current position at Parexel, which he joined in September 2010. Siu is responsible for learning and development for the company’s nearly 11,000 employees in 50-plus countries.

Parexel’s rapid growth is offering Siu his biggest challenge to date. Increasing life expectancy and standards of living have led to a demand for new treatment options. Growth is particularly rapid in the Asia Pacific arena, including India, and in some Latin American counties. That need for stretch is where the challenges — taxed bench strength, the need for professional capabilities, managerial and leadership skills as well as processes to inculcate an influx of new talent to the company’s values and practices — come in.