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The Art of
Leadership-
Interview with the Vice-Chancellor
Student Reporter: Cheng Ho Chi, John
With the commencement of the new academic year, the University MarketPlace is honoured to have invited Professor
Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, to share with our readers his understanding on leadership and leadership
experiences.
Q: How would you interpret the word “leadership”?
What qualities or talents do you think a good leader
should possess?
A: A leader is someone who has a vision about the group
he is leading and can see things in broader terms. He
would have some additional inspirations as for how his
group or organization should go forward. A good leader
should also have the ability to convey and share his
vision to the group of people he is leading. Therefore, the
communication skills of the leader are very important.
On the other hand, a good leader should consider all the
time what is the best for the whole group of people. When
doing so, sometimes he may not get everybody to agree
with what he is doing or saying. Yet, it is important for the
leader to try his best to convince the people, to bite the
bullet, to make the decision and hoping that in the long run
people will understand why he made such a decision at
that time.
Q: Personally, what are the experiences in your career
which have helped to build your leadership style?
A: After my graduation and practice as a medical doctor
for several years, I went to Canada to study for my PhD
degree. It was at that time that I read a lot of books of
different kinds and interacted with people from all walks of
life. I improved my visionary horizon. Being the head of the
Shaw College in 2008 opened up a great opportunity for
me to interact with students from all faculties and that was
a wonderful experience. From there I took up the Vice-
Chancellor’s job. To me this is a much more challenging
job because I am not only dealing with teachers and
students, but also the public, the government, other
universities, and sometimes even politics. I can only say
that I am learning every day in my job in order to know
where we should go to and how to convey my vision to my
fellow students and teachers.
Q: What are some of the unforgettable challenges you
have faced as the Vice-Chancellor of CUHK?
A: There have been lots of ups and downs for me as the
Vice-Chancellor. In fact, even before I took up the job, the
challenge had already come. I must say that I started not
on the easiest footing, actually taking up a fairly hot seat.
An example is that when I was nominated as a candidate
for the Vice-Chancellor post, I had to face students asking
very critical questions. One of them put a clock there,
symbolizing that they wanted to have a countdown on my
predecessor’s tenure in the university, and asked me to
unveil the clock. I thought this was getting very personal
and not respecting individuals. At certain points you have
to decide what the right thing to do is and what is not,
according to your conscience. As a leader, sometimes on
certain principles, or with your knowledge and experience,
when you know that this is something we should not go
for, you have to put up a hard face in order not to lead the
whole group in a wrong direction.
2
DO YOU LEAD WELL?
UMP 大學廣場
OCT 2013