Arnold Leung : Founder and CEO of Appnovation Technologies
When 21-year-old Arnold Leung founded Appnovation Technologies straight out of university, he didn’t have much management experience – and knew it. But as he sought out advice on how to run a company and lead employees, Leung came to a realization: his best mentors might be right in front of him.
“What I find is, outside mentors are great, but a lot of times it’s pretty hard for them to help you because they don’t know the context and situation,” said Leung, now 26. “So one thing I learned is that my employees are actually my mentors.”
Leung said that through his employees, he’s been able to stretch his knowledge of sales, marketing, business development and operations. But he emphasized that, beyond their business skill sets, employees’ first-hand knowledge of the company’s day-to-day operations makes them invaluable in solving complex problems.
“One person might have a personal issue with family and stuff and they need to have support to overcome that, even from the company’s standpoint,” he said of the types of challenges a company can face. “Another might just have other problems or be underperforming, so how do we deal with that, how do we motivate that person?”
Leung said he’s learned to canvass his employees’ expertise when launching into unfamiliar terrain – such as a company move and major renovation.
“It was a pretty sizable budget and I haven’t done renovations before,” he explained. “So we had multiple team members who had done [renovations] before contribute their ideas and together as a team we decided what to do while ensuring that we controlled our costs and got it done on time.”
Leung said that he faced some early fears that, in turning to employees for help, he might appear to lack authority.
“There’s always that feeling in the back of the mind,” he said. “But over time I realized that it really doesn’t matter, that’s more of a feeling, not an objective thing. I want to focus on the results, not focus on personal feeling.”
Leung added that recognizing his staff’s arsenal of skills has bolstered his confidence to take on new challenges.
“Now I can say, ‘Hey, I haven’t done it before but I know how to do it.’”
