ICLIF is also currently expanding its outreach beyond the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African regions. These initiatives are based on the conviction that human capital development needs to also include the leadership level. Human capital development in general is of strategic importance and is integral to the success of any organisation. Building human capital capability has never been more important in today’s world. Successful businesses of the future will be the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  ones that are able to fully harness their pool of talent. This more difficult operating environment demands new abilities to manage the new challenges and the new emerging opportunities, and the ability to deal with the high level of unpredictability. The role of leaders in such an environment is to create organisations that are able to effectively respond to the changing environment and at the same time nurture flexibility and innovation. Also important is that it is also supported with high values. Effective leaders in this era, will be those that can deliver results in this environment. It is all about having clarity of purpose and aligning the entire organisation to achieve these goals. Thus, the investment in leadership development is vital to equip leaders and future leaders with the necessary capability to perform their role in the organisation.
Having an understanding of the range of possibilities, having the ability to make sound strategic decisions and excelling under the different circumstances also becomes important. The ICLIF leadership centre was established in 2003 as part of Bank Negara Malaysia’s commitment towards providing a focused and coordinated approach to enhance leadership capability and to develop world-class leaders. It was initially for the financial services industry, post the Asian Financial Crisis, with the aim of producing a new generation of leaders to steer the industry in a fundamentally transformed financial landscape. It has since been extended to corporate and public sector participation. The Centre, the first of its kind in Asia, focuses on the emerging market experience, contextualized mainly to Asia. ICLIF has now grown to offer a wide range of services in the areas that include leadership development, organizational performance, corporate governance and advisory services that are designed to enable sustainable and responsible business growth. In 2010, the ICLIF has further repositioned itself through the setting up of a new governance centre with a vision to promote high impact boards and develop world class directors who are advocates of best practices and excellence in corporate governance. Known as the Financial Institutions Directors’ Education Program or FIDE, it is currently the only governance initiative in the region that focuses exclusively on the financial sector and has trained hundreds of directors since its inception. The Centre has now been renamed as the ICLIF Leadership and Governance Centre with an enhanced faculty comprising renowned experts from the world leading institutions.