Dahlan's simple recipe for success<\/p>\n
Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
His day-to-day appearance could be considered eccentric when
\ncompared to the usual attire of executives.<\/p>\n
Dahlan Iskan does not carry a mobile phone. He does not have
\nhis own special office to work alone in. He goes everywhere in
\nsandals or sports shoes and wears T-shirts or casual shirts.<\/p>\n
He takes his meals anywhere, from street food stalls to luxury
\nrestaurants. He dislikes formality of any kind.<\/p>\n
\"I was used to living in poverty when I was a child. I didn't
\nhave shoes until high school. My parents were very poor. Though
\nprosperous, I am now quite old, so what more could I want?\" said
\n50-year-old Dahlan.<\/p>\n
There is a moral message behind the way he leads his
\nemployees.<\/p>\n
\"I would not like my employees to start buying luxury cars
\njust because they have big salaries and can start to afford them.
\nIf they did, then I'd better go out and drive a Panther!\" he
\nsaid, laughing.<\/p>\n
\"Life is like a stream. We just have to go with the flow. But
\nI'd prefer mine to flow like a fast current.\"<\/p>\n
Dahlan is today the CEO and president director of Jawa Pos,
\nwith more than 60 dailies, tabloids and magazines. The latest
\nadded to the list is JTV television station, located on the 21st
\nfloor of the Graha Pena building, the center of his kingdom.<\/p>\n
Outside the media business, there are also property
\nbusinesses, such as hotels and housing estates.<\/p>\n
\"In the beginning I didn't imagine anything. There were no
\nobsessions or big plans. I just wanted to work hard, that's all,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The village boy from Tegalarum, Magetan, 200 kilometers to the
\nwest of Surabaya, has come a long way through hard work and
\nperseverance. He was selected as Indonesian Entrepreneur of 2001.<\/p>\n
When he was entrusted with the post of chief editor of Jawa
\nPos in 1982 after its takeover by Grafiti Pers, Dahlan felt a
\nkind of challenge amid the pessimism of his colleagues.<\/p>\n
\"At that time I was wondering whether I could jack up the
\ncirculation to reach one half of Surabaya Post's,\" he reminisced,
\nreferring to the largest daily at that time.<\/p>\n
Fortune smiled on Dahlan several years later. With direct
\ncoverage by his reporters of the fall of Philippine president
\nFerdinand Marcos, the circulation of Jawa Pos skyrocketed from
\n80,000 to 160,000. This achievement created a new spirit and
\noptimism among his colleagues.<\/p>\n
For every new challenge one must come up with new creativity,
\nhe said. From then on he started to build the Jawa Pos Group with
\nall its subsidiaries in media, property, printing, paper
\nmanufacturing and so forth.<\/p>\n
Amid all these activities he is still able to spare time to
\nadd his journalistic touch to some of his newspapers. Every time
\nhe visits the regions, he always sheds some light on \"how to get
\nand write the news\" to his reporters.<\/p>\n
Dahlan, often called Indonesia's Rupert Murdoch, feels
\nconfident that the newspaper business will not decline amid the
\nflood of new TV stations and the Internet. He agrees with an
\nAmerican expert on communications, who said that first class
\njournalists work at newspapers, second class at television
\nstations and third class are for the Internet.<\/p>\n
Today, in the eyes of businesspeople and journalists in
\nSurabaya, he is viewed as a pragmatic and entrepreneurial
\njournalist with a golden touch. His prestigious achievement in
\nestablishing the Jawa Pos emporium has led him to become the
\npresident director of PT Panca Usaha, a holding company with
\nnumerous provincial companies belonging to the East Java
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\"For this position I don't receive a salary or the use of
\nfacilities. I often use my own money for various official
\npurposes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
For him, journalism and entrepreneurship are two mutually
\nsupporting things. From journalism he gets his relentless hard-
\nworking spirit, as well as the ability to build relations. These
\ntraits, he discovered, are also needed by an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
Dahlan acknowledges that he acquired some of the related
\nskills from his managerial positions at some subsidiary
\ncompanies, such as a paper manufacturing plant and a number of
\nhotels.<\/p>\n
However, Dahlan feels that the trust given to him in managing
\nthe government corporation has brought more than a few
\nadvantages.<\/p>\n
\"At Jawa Pos I can get anything done, without much difficulty.
\nWhatever I want, I can get it implemented immediately,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I'm successful at Jawa Pos due to this one-man-show style.
\nHowever, when I'm outside I have to check the 'climate'. I have
\nto ask mysef, can it be done or not? That's a challenge in
\nitself. Of course, that way I learn a lot. I can control my
\nemotions better and have got better acquainted with the
\nbureaucracy from a closer distance. Not every decision gets
\nimplemented as sometimes there are some political factors and so
\nforth.\"<\/p>\n
He has come up in the world, but Dahlan is unchanged. Some say
\nhe is tight with money.<\/p>\n
\"I am aware of being regarded as not charitable. I don't want
\nto squander money for praise or popularity. I could, if I wanted
\nto, seek favors from government officials or whoever. On the
\ncontrary, such people usually don't treat their staff and
\nemployees well,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
In managing his companies, he always strives to develop a good
\nrelationship with his \"internal customers\".<\/p>\n
\"The management thinks about external customers, while I
\nconcentrate on the staff and employees. Many companies occupy
\nthemselves with strategies on expansion, while at the same time
\nforgetting their employees, who are their essential backbone,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He often feels that what he has achieved so far is too little.
\nHe says modestly that if something is outstanding or conspicuous,
\nthen it is closely related to a sort of \"stupidity\".<\/p>\n
He may be a one-man-show around the office, but he also knows
\nthe importance of working in a team.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not a thinker like Goenawan Mohammad or Jacob Oetama,
\nneither am I a philosopher,\" he said. That's why I always need a
\ncouple of friends in a team. Maybe because I'm not smart, it's
\neasier for me to work with others. If I was extremely clever, I
\nmight regard others as stupid. We have reached our position based
\non this kind of teamwork.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dahlans-simple-recipe-for-success-1447893297",
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