A guide to corporate values and integrity
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