Expert Talk-Reflection

Course Name	DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP
Course Code	UHPS6013-51
Lecturer and Faculty	Dr. Roslizam bin Hassan, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Technology
Student Name	Sharina binti Hashim
Student Matric Number	MHL254004

Summary and Reflection for: Expert Talk (13 December 2025)

LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS IN ACCELERATING DIGITALISATON TOWARDS SMART TOURISM AND FUTURE-READY WORKFORCE.

I was able to attend the expert talk via watching the recording, and while not able to attend it live, I was still inspired by what the expert speaker had to share, particularly on the leadership principles as well as on instilling a continuous learning and adaptive mindset.

The specially invited speaker for this Expert Talk segment was Mr. Jarod Chia Lik Ming (Jarod), an expert in the Malaysian hospitality ecosystem with over 17 years of industry experience. As shared by Jarod in his introduction, he is the current National Deputy President of the Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association (MyBHA) and the Johor Chapter Chairman. In these leadership roles, I felt that Jarod was immensely suited to share with the audience on what it means to drive and advocate for transformation in the budget and business hotel industry.

There were several key learnings for me from this talk:

1. Tourism is one of the key contributors to Malaysia’s growth and economy, it being one of the top 3 contributors to the nation’s GDP.
   
2. Malaysia has diverse tourism segments which includes the adventure, heritage, cultural, medical, luxury travel and as well as Muslim travel.
   
3. The current categorisation of a budget or business hotel are those which are at 3-Star and below. MyBHA is an association that represents the owners of these hotels across the country. In this respect, I see MyBHA’s role as a crucial bridge towards creating sustainable and win-win outcomes for their stakeholders (state government, relevant federal ministries, hotel owners, end-customer). Within this ecosystem, how MyBHA’s leaders operate is key.
   
4. The budget and business hotel industry is undergoing a digital transformation; this is where industry leaders such as Jarod plays a pivotal role as both an industry strategist and change advocate.

Through this talk, I was introduced to the concept of Digital Leadership which, as shared by Jarod, is where technology is combined with transformation. What was interesting to me about this was that it is not just about introducing new and innovative digital systems to this segment of the hotel industry. In fact, Jarod shared that digitalisation does not necessarily equate to innovation but rather the creation of value that is more impactful.

He highlighted the role of leaders behind digital transformation for this industry in that “leaders must set the direction, drive change, build skills and influence policy”.

What was even more critical was for leaders such as Jarod to continuously motivate and engage the hoteliers to facilitate their change their mindset. In responding to one of the questions at the end of the talk, Jarod shared that to change the mindset of hoteliers (who oftentimes prefer to maintain the traditional manual processes and viewed investment into digitalisation as being an expensive) was one of the most challenging aspects of the transformation initiative.

Specifically, Jarod shared that leveraging upon both Transformational Leadership and Authentic Leadership principles are crucial for leaders who participate in this endeavour. I could not agree with him more and upon reflection, I also note that Jarod himself embodies the principles of an effective transformational and authentic leader.  His passion and vision in driving positive change to the industry that he has deep experience and clearly cares about is apparent in his delivery of the subject matter.

Jarod also advocates continuous learning even after a student has graduated from their intended academic pursuit and this is demonstrated by his appreciation of the academic space as a bedrock of innovative ideas creation. In addition, his humility to openly share both his knowledge as well as challenges faced as one of the key drivers to change makes him a prime example of an authentic leader.

As a Malaysian citizen who enjoys being a domestic tourist, where I appreciate the availability of affordable and safe budget and business hotels in various states, I wish Jarod and his leadership team at MyBHA the very best in their efforts to transform this segment of the hotel industry so that it can reach world-class standards and offer both Malaysians and international tourists who come to visit our great nation a seamless hybrid of digital and human-centric experience.

(Note: After attending the talk via recording, I accordingly completed the feedback form and received this email on my completed form. I was looking forward to also receiving the certificate of attendance but noted that it has still not been sent to my email. As a reference of my attendance, below are screenshots of my completed Google Form):