A guide to corporate values and integrity

Power through People and Principles, not Puppets and Prejudices By Vipen Kapur Published by McGraw-Hill, Singapore, 1999 305 pages US$18.50 or Rp 160,000

JAKARTA (JP): Take a bit from Art Buchwald and mix it with some inspiring childhood stories about good repeatedly triumphing over evil. Add to this a permanent student of management and shake it all up with a lot of love for people. And voila! Who do you have before you but Vipen Kapur himself, the author of Power through People and Principles-Not Puppets and Prejudices, seducing his readers on how to run the kind of company that would make even God smile.

A colorful career spanning more than three decades is now condensed into a book that can best be described as a humane guide on corporate values and integrity. The book is also about how to lead a balanced life based not only on personal prosperity but also on respect for nature and genuine concern for the less fortunate.

A practicing manager, family man and one who is forever on the lookout to enhance his own leadership qualities, Vipen is just the kind of voice one needs to hear at a time when the vacuum left by the defeat of corruption, collision and nepotism stands locked in a wide yawn. The author makes all the moralizing merry, by conveying his message through numerous anecdotes, episodes from corporate history peppered with self-penned verses and limericks.

On the eve of starting his first job at Grindlays Bank in 1966, the author recalls his father saying to the 23-year-old Vipen, "Son, in the banking profession, there will be many temptations to make money the wrong way. Don't ever compromise your integrity. You will never be sorry for being honest."

A self-confessed believer in free enterprise, Vipen wishes that ways could be found of profiting without harming or cheating people or violating laws and regulations. But before brooding gets the better of him he turns to humor for help. The intention is to reflect on serious subjects without the need to maintain a relentlessly serious subject matter and style. "Humor is welcome -- as long as the joke is not on me!" writes the cheeky man of commerce.

As Group Managing Director at the Corporate office of Sinar Mas Group in Jakarta, Vipen's personal struggle has always been to discover the human side of business. After being responsible for molding many a corporate culture and motivating countless employees, he concludes, "while a corporate life or career or profession are vital aspects of our lives, we have to remind ourselves that these are not the only reasons why God put us on this planet. There has to be something more to life than just a livelihood". Top bosses are advised therefore to encourage more of the "work smarter than harder" ethic.

Having said that, the author also confesses that it is not very easy to write on human relations and principles, and that it is far more difficult to put these "ideals" into practice. Many concepts talked about in the book are not unknown. Yet it helps to repeat them all over again if only to drive home a point, particularly at a time when not just Indonesia but the entire world is in the midst of rapid change. Human beings everywhere seem confused and are caught in multiple ethical and moral dilemmas, be it business, politics, international relations and even family feuds.

Improved telecommunications and traffic opportunities now require people who can work through regional and cultural differences, people who are able to enjoy the cross-cultural fertilization of ideas, values and management styles.

While basic values like fair play, integrity and respect for human dignity remain constant, change is needed to match a style that will work with the new technologies. The inside story of how perhaps the world's largest and most profitable plantation company -- the Jakarta-based Sinar Mas Group -- is spreading the innovation fever and fervor under its "Reaching the Sky" program makes interesting reading.

However, even more interesting is to wait and watch how Sinar Mas will fare in the future. Two of its core businesses -- real estate and banking -- have been badly affected by the ongoing monetary crisis. The group's reputation remains somewhat tainted for having made easy profits largely due to the comfortable culture of cronyism practiced during the Soeharto years.

In the opinion of the author, Sinar Mas will emerge stronger once the smoke clears because the founding family has some fine businesses and a great vision. The business continues to gain strength from outright concentration now on its two other essential industries of pulp and paper and oil palm plantations and refining.

Respect for Vipen soars with his chosen subtitle on the chapter on women: "The Still Underutilized Resource". Really, what can one say about a world that utilizes only 10 percent of the potential of half of its population that is close to 50 percent of the workforce in certain countries? Except perhaps that we need more men like Vipen who believe that no leader can afford to underestimate the tremendous source of women's economic and social power.

Apart from being an angelic missionary, Mother Teresa is seen as one of the most successful CEOs of this century. Applauding yet another diminutive woman, Master Cheng Yen, a Buddhist nun from Taiwan whose Tzi Chi Foundation helps the needy in about 28 countries, Vipen writes with awe that this great soul has won the trust, admiration and following of four million members, who all do voluntary service. The Taiwanese nun's "power" comes from love and care; her principle is to give with compassion and wisdom regardless of race, religion or nationality. In Vipen's belief, the above two women remain dramatic exceptions to the most fully and beautifully utilized human resources in the world.

And if seeing indeed is believing then Vipen tries to also practice what he preaches. He has been seen holding his wife's hand in public places on several occasion, even though he has remained married to the same woman for 23 long years.

-- Mehru Jaffer