The Gen A Young Leadership Program is a key initiative of Asia Society Switzerland. It brings together a group of around 25 vetted young professionals and advance students to participate in a year of deepening their Asia knowledge and to provide them with the tools to interpret developments in Asia and identify opportunities for successful collaboration. Gen A enables the next generation of leaders to engage with Asia at eye level and builds a community of young Asia-curious people in Switzerland.

Recently, our 2024 cohort graduated from the Gen A program, joining a community that has now grown to well over a hundred alumni. At the graduation ceremony for the Gen A 2024 fellows, Bettina Schaller, Head of Group Public Affairs of The Adecco Group and President of the World Employment Confederation, spoke with the graduates about skills young professionals at the start of their careers need in a changing world.

A world, Bettina says, that with 2024 has gone through a huge number of disruptions on many different levels and with countries the world over now being led by new governments who will shape what the world will look like in the immediate future. What does this mean for the grads and the demand for their skills? Where does Asia and Asia Competence fit into this? And what’s the one thing still no one has found the full answer to?

Asia Society Switzerland is deeply grateful for the generous support of the Gen A – Young Leadership Program by the Ernst Göhner Stiftung, the Hirschmann Stiftung, Nicolas Oltramare and IMP AG.

GUEST ON THIS EPISODE

Bettina Schaller Bossert leads the Group Public Affairs activities and chairs the Responsible AI Committee at The Adecco Group. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Asia Society Switzerland. Bettina is President of the World Employment Confederation (WEC), Vice-Chair of the OECD BIAC Employment, Labour, and Social Affairs Committee, Co-Chair of the B20 Future of Work, Skills, and Mobility Task Force, and a Member of the B20 International Advocacy Caucus. She is also a Steering Group Member of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Center for the New Economy and Society and a Steering Group Member of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN). In addition, Bettina is a 2011 Young Leader of the American Swiss Foundation (ASF) and serves on its Board. She is a Founding Member of "The Boardroom", a Swiss initiative launched in 2021 aimed at promoting Board Diversity and developing the pipeline of Future Women Leaders. Since 2017, Bettina has been recognized as a Staffing 100 Europe Influencer and named in the International 50 of the Global Power 100 – Women in Staffing. In 2022 and 2023, she was recognized as a Top 25 Leader in Staffing for Latin America.

STATE OF ASIA podcast

Season 7, Bonus Episode 3 – published December 16, 2024

Host, Editor/Producer: Remko Tanis, Programs and Editorial Manager, Asia Society Switzerland

Find previous and future episodes here, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or search for 'State of Asia' in any other podcast app. We're also on YouTube.