Leadership approaches and CEO insight provided by Mr. Vichai Kulsomphob, Saha Pathana Inter-Holding Plc. (SPI) Chief Executive Officer & Executive Chairman and Mr. Ruangroj Poonpol, Group Chairman of Kasikorn Business-Technology Group (KBTG)
Bangkok - Mr. Vichai Kulsomphob, Saha Pathana Inter-Holding Plc. (SPI) Chief Executive Officer & Executive Chairman and President of The Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy Alumni Association of Chulalongkorn University, for the first time joined hands with Mr. Ruangroj Poonpol, Group Chairman of Kasikorn Business-Technology Group (KBTG), to lead SPI CEO VIZ TALK and share their CEO insight on the topic of “Awaken Your Magic” to an audience of over 400 business partners, students and personnel from Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy of Chulalongkorn University, and others.
Mr. Vichai is the driving force behind SPI, the holding company of the Saha Group, one of Thailand’s legendary business organizations, and President of The Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy Alumni Association of Chulalongkorn University, while Mr. Ruangroj is a visionary leader who has spearhead development in technology of the future.
The two top executives, each with great vision, expertise and experience in their field, gave tips on four approaches which can create leadership and foster one’s special strength.
Approach 1: Thoughts behind the success of leaders
Mr. Vichai said, “I have created my own approach in order to achieve success via work, which I have been following since the day I took the helm at SPI. This approach consists of continuing the legacy, materializing the dreams, creating new things, and build the talents. It means I will continue the work of my predecessors, I aim to make their dreams come true, I never stop creating new things and, because I cannot do the work alone or run the business in the old way, so I have to build new businesses as well as to develop talents and high-performance culture.”
“In addition, I always remind myself of three concepts my father taught me, which I want to pass on to all employees. The three concepts are to work, to make merit and be mindful, each with its own meaning. In order to be mindful, I try to be open-minded in normal times, remain calm in peaceful times, have a clear mind in happy times, let go in hard times, avoid negative thoughts in sad times, stay neutral in disappointing times, stay strong in crisis times, and remain pure at all times. If you can be mindful in this way, you will have a good chance of success in whatever work you do,” said Mr. Vichai.
In addition, Mr. Ruangroj said, “My way of thinking and approach to work is to have the courage to step out of the comfort zone in order to move into the growth zone. If you keep doing the same thing, you will always be in your comfort zone. But once you step out of it, you will enter the fear zone. At this point, you can move back but you will not improve yourself. And in this era, if you don’t improve yourself, you are moving backward. The right way to leave the fear zone is to leap into the learning zone and learn to do new things. Then, when you leave this zone, the growth zone will welcome you.”
Approach 2: Overcome crises with leadership
Mr. Vichai said leaders must always be prepared to face crises and readiness is utmost important. He said, “Leadership doesn’t come by chance. You must be prepared. No one can tell you what duty you have to do or what you have to handle. But once you are selected, you must be ready and you must make your team believe that you can do it. Because crises are the test of true leadership.”
“One thing I learned from working with the management of Saha Group is how to prepare myself and prepare other people. To select someone to be an executive, we must know the terms ‘mold, hold and polish’. When someone is not ready, you may need to place them in a position that can make them more capable, which is how you mold a person. Or you can hold them in a position that is harmless until you believe it is time for them to shine. Then, you polish them until they shine,” said Mr. Vichai.
Mr. Ruangroj said, “When you face a crisis in your life, embrace it as if it is your soulmate. We live in an era full of crises. But remember that in every crisis, there is always a greater opportunity.”
Mr. Ruangroj talked about the time when he joined KBTG and the K PLUS app was being developed. As the app had broken down before, reporters asked him if the same problem would happen again. Less than an hour after he reassured them that the app would not break down, the system failed.
“That crisis broke my ego completely. And I used it as an opportunity to turn the tables for KBTG. Today, K PLUS is the most stable app in Thailand. I can say that if that crisis didn’t occur, I would not have come this far. Since then, whenever there is a crisis, I will ask myself how I can turn it into a greater opportunity,” he said.
Approach 3: Win and survive in the age of turbulent times
Mr. Ruangroj said leaders who could survive and win in the current age of turbulent times must have humanity and empathy. He said, “Always be humble. Do not be overly confident. Act as a glass half full and learn. Accept that you may not know it. Find talented people to join the team and learn from them. Importantly, be a leader who is emphatic and caring to fellow human beings.”
In addition to being humble, Mr. Vichai said it is important to train yourself to “know how to be stupid” as well. He said, “Once you have become a leader, you will have to produce an achievement that will be accepted. To build upon the success that you have, you may need to ‘know how to be stupid’ in order to be a good leader, because if you don’t know how to be stupid, you won’t be able to do great work. Sometimes, by not knowing something, you drive your team to create great things in the future.”
Mr. Ruangroj added that a good leader must allow subordinates to be more talented than them and become the better version of themselves. He said, “A good boss is not the boss who spoils. It’s the one who make us become the better version of ourselves. A leader is a coach who teaches their subordinates to become better. You must let your subordinates win and go farther than you. A good leader must create changes to people’s lives and win all the hearts. This is because the leader is the culture of the organization. In a modern organization, leadership is not about the title. Anyone can be a leader because leadership is what everyone should have.”
Approach 4: Build courage and find what is special in you
Talking about how to build courage, Mr. Ruangroj said, “Think of small courageous acts you have done, or a situation when you were able to overcome your fear. Find a source of energy near you. Once you found that small courage in the past, you will find a great power within you.”
Mr. Vichai also believes courage emerges when a person discovers how they are special. He said, “As for me, I feel very special when I’m with my mother. I want you to try to recall whom you are special to and who is special to you. This will bring you courage.”
SPI CEO VIZ TALK is a part of SPI organizational development using its own method, which focuses on having executives share their approaches to work to employees in activities that allow them to be close to each other, including the “Vichai Chuan Kui” activity every first Friday of the month aimed at providing a talk on work approaches with employees and “Vichai Chuan Kin” which uses meals to create relationships with employees within the organization. There will be more activities in the future to create strength and sustainability to SPI, a holding company within Saha Group and a leading company in investment and industrial land development in Thailand.
