Makana 2.0 · Issue 05 · May 2026
HR, Leadership & Technology Shaping Asia's Future
Makana 2.0, Issue 5: 7 pieces from the Makana Partners network.
In this issue
Issue 5 opens with a letter from the editor, Yan Sen Lu, and a Market Trends page on Japan's demand for bilingual executives, covering key trends, challenges and opportunities.
The features are Jody Ono on why leadership is not a training need (in English and Japanese), an excerpt from Sebastian Chen's The Cockroach Way on thriving in a BANI world, and Jonathan Stewart on AI and the interventions HR leaders need to make. The issue closes with a list of recent placements.
Table of contents
- Letter from the Editorp. 5By Yan Sen Lu · Letter from the Editor
Yan Sen Lu opens Issue 5 with a Golden Week trip to Shizuoka and a farmer's answer to "what is enough", then introduces the issue's themes of BANI uncertainty, Japan's talent market and leadership.
- Market Trends: Japan's Bilingual Executive Talentp. 6By Makana Partners · Market Trends
Demand for bilingual executives in Japan keeps rising while the senior talent pool stays limited. The page sets out key trends, challenges and opportunities, and what will favor employers over the next six months.
- How To Train Your Leaderspp. 7–9By Jody Ono · Feature
Jody Ono argues that leadership is not a training need. She separates management from leadership, cognitive from non-cognitive skills, and explains what organizations must do to develop leaders.
- リーダーをいかに「トレーニング」するかpp. 10–12By Jody Ono · Feature
ジョディ・オノ氏が、マネジメントとリーダーシップの違い、認知的スキルと非認知的スキルの区別を示し、リーダーシップは「トレーニング」が必要なものではないと論じる記事の日本語版。
- The Cockroach Way: How to Survive, Adapt and Thrive in a BANI Worldpp. 13–14By Sebastian Chen · Feature
An excerpt from Sebastian Chen's book argues that a brittle, anxious, nonlinear and incomprehensible (BANI) world calls for resilience, emotional steadiness, optionality and small adaptive steps.
- Tomorrow's World Is Here. Are we Ready?pp. 15–18By Jonathan Stewart · Feature
Jonathan Stewart looks at how AI is turning employees from passive users into active creators, and sets out four interventions HR leaders need to make on work design, capability, leadership models and AI governance.
- Recent Placementsp. 19By Makana Partners · Placements
A list of thirteen recent placements, each shown as a role and its industry, from HR Director in Healthcare to Country Manager in Industrial Manufacturing.
Read the issue as printed
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Editor and contributors
Editor-in-Chief: Yan Sen Lu
Jody Ono
Jody Ono is an expert in leadership development and executive education with extensive experience across academic, business, and policy sectors in Asia, Europe, and North America. Her professional focus involves designing and delivering customized leadership programs for global organizations, including the Executive Asian Immersion Series and the Global Talent Certification Program. In addition to her academic work, Jody is a Senior Adviser for G3 (Good Governance Group) Japan and previously served as the first female and non-Japanese Outside Director for Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd. With extensive experience coaching hundreds of individuals across diverse industries, she specializes in activating leadership identity and building robust cultures of decision-making.
Sebastian Chen
Sebastian Chen is a Singapore-based author of The Cockroach Way: How to Survive, Adapt and Thrive in a BANI World, and a speaker on resilience, adaptability, and personal growth. He is Co-Founder of SG60 Voices from the Heart, a community storytelling movement co-created with Dr Nik Chong, and also Co-Founder of Asia Voices of Courage.
Jonathan Stewart
Jonathan Stewart is a senior recruitment leader with over 20 years of hiring experience across the APAC region and global markets. Throughout his career, he has specialized in talent acquisition strategy, employer branding, and operational scale within diverse sectors, including technology, pharmaceuticals, and financial services. He served as the Global Head of Talent Acquisition Strategy, Operations and Analytics at Dialectica, where he built a global organization of 30 to support hyper-growth and expansion. Jonathan’s expertise includes managing recruitment for private equity-backed transformations—such as supporting Bain Capital’s investment in Kantar—and implementing AI-driven hiring frameworks to optimize organizational capability. A member of the Resourcing Leaders 100 (RL100), he also provides mentorship to seed-stage HR Tech startups.
