Simon Murray, CBE, Founder and chairman of Simon Murray and associates, CEO of GEMS.
David Tang, OBE, Founder and Director of Tangs Department Stores, CEO of DWC Tang Development Ltd
For this special Hong Kong themed edition of The Peninsula, it was a difficult decision to choose between the most talked about and the most written about CEOs in town. Do we pick up the well-read and the popular or the adventurous and the unstoppable? Why pick one when we can double the pleasure for good measure?
Presenting the inimitable David Tang and the incredible Simon Murray, men of power, vision, style and savvy, as heads of their respective companies, every year they add a paragraph to their lengthy list of achievements. Both good friends and a Dictaphone's delight, we sent them the same list of questions only to get disparate responses, indicative of the distinctive personalities who made it big in Hong Kong.
It's an achievement of sorts when you've got an entry and web page in Wikipedia and spurious as it may be, but Leicester-born Simon Murray, 66, certainly does. Mostly because his achievements could indeed fill a page in an encyclopedia but let's dispel some myths fabricated online. For the record, he is the writer of Legionnaire: An Englishman in the French Foreign Legion, an account of the five years he spent in the parachute regiment of the French Foreign Legion. He does head GEMS but it has nothing to do with jewels or diamonds; it's a Hong Kong-based private equity investment arm and an acronym for General Enterprise Management Services Limited. In 2004, at the age of 63, he became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported. Founder and chairman of Simon Murray & Associates, his corporate success sometimes seem incidental, compared to the array of accomplishments he has achieved outside his office.
Perhaps one of the most famous Hong Kong exports and one of the brightest sparks in the international social circuit, David Tang O.B.E., 52, always seems ahead of the curve. Whether it's dressing Whoopi Goldberg for a television show with his brand of high fashion, or discussing world politics with Margaret Thatcher and the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Pattern, or heading to an island resort with his wife and their good friend supermodel Kate Moss and co, Tang has done it all with panache, style and remarkable wit. For a man deeply grounded in Hong Kong, a city he calls home despite his extensive travels, his posh British baritone seems like an antithesis. Just like his title of being a "Taipan Anglophile", a "a philosopher socialite" and other labels that the media has slapped him with - none of which he takes seriously, he assures. A man of many seeming contradictions, he's also a journalist's dream; full of bon mots and quotables. He was on a flight when he sent responses to this Q&A via his new best friend; his blackberry.
P.Ramakrishnan: As the head of your companies, what qualities do you think a leader should preternaturally possess-and what are the ones that you learn with experience and time?
Simon Murray: I don't know what preternaturally means, but the key quality a leader needs is to be able to choose good people (support comes from below, very seldom from above) and also to remember that people follow those in whom they trust.
David Tang: A leader must always have the confidence and conviction of his staff. They must also believe you know best. And it's best to be able to explain your decisions in simple and convincing terms.
How would you best describe yourself? "I am a ..."
SM: I am a hunter - but I like the chase more than the kill - and I love the excitement of life and am interested in all of it, from the morning mist as the sun comes up to the night stars - from dancing to deals - from history, to predicting the future - boredom is a sin.
DT: I am always, as a businessman, looking for niches. Anything I choose to do should be exceptional. All good business should be based on a single idea which then needs to be focused, focused and focused more on.
What is the source of pride and joy in your company? Which particular achievement stands out?
SM: We created something of value and the operative words are "created" as in "birth" and "we" - as in a team.
DT: Any business that matures and becomes profitable for 10 years is a good foundation. And any business which sustains profitability, more or less, for 20 years, is a good achievement.
During troubling times - fiscally, during SARS, the rise and fall of the stock market/trade and such - where do you find the strength to continue?
SM: There are many sources of energy from where we get our inner strength. Hate and love are great sources of energy - as are greed and fear - but the greatest source is hope.
DT: The strength comes from the knowledge that the business are not geared or leveraged or under-capitalised.
Who was the great influence in your professional career?
SM:The greatest influence in my professional career was Li Ka-Shing because he taught me much and gave me more. The role models for life were those I read about in the school library in my young days - Livingstone, Nelson, Burton, Scott, Nansen, Cook, Drake, Churchill and Al Capone.
DT: Anton Rupert for his vision, and Warren Buffett for his valuation of building a business with products and services.
What is one thing/person that can have you racing out of the office as soon as the clock hits 7:00pm?
SM: It's confidential - and it isn't "Dallas".
DT: When someone you don't know very well, or not at all, telephones you and asks whether he could pick your brain and "explore opportunities".
The adage is, the secret of success is doing what you love to do. Was there any job in the past that you did just because it paid the bills?
SM: At eighteen I worked in an iron foundry in Manchester, because it was a job (and they were hard to come by in the 50s) and yes, it paid the bills. It was not dissimilar to working down a coal mine in Victorian England except the coal mine would have been less polluted. I hated it so much I ran away to join the Foreign Legion in Algeria for five years.
DT: More important than doing a job that pays the bills is the notion of preoccupation. I was a floor assistant, kitchen washer-up and cashier when I was young, having to look for pocket money. But whilst I was doing all these jobs, I didn't not stop thinking about other things, and I spent a lot of time reading.
As new graduates hit the market and go job hunting, what would you say to them? When it comes to hiring people, what key qualities do you look for in a person?
SM: I am old-fashioned. I look for honesty, integrity, loyalty and passion combined with modesty and some achievement already accomplished. They must have done something, and having a sense of humour is also a great asset.
DT: Anyone coming for an interview with me most show that they have done some homework on the companies for which they are applying for a job. For them to say that they are committed and will work hard and believe that they have talent is simply not good enough - and boring. I like those young people who know what they want to start doing and get on with it before thinking about higher ambitions.
If you could turn back the clock, what would you do again differently?
SM: Nothing. We do not regret the things we do, we regret the things we left undone though the opportunity was presented.
DT: In business, I wish I was more aggressive and more thick-skinned and more ruthless in personnel.
What is the ultimate goal for your company? What can we expect from you in the future?
SM: Not much. I am three years off 70 in the year of the Pig. It's nearly time to hand over the keys of the front door and time to start coming in by the side door. The company belongs not to me, but the team, and they will take it on up the hill.
DT: Sustainability is the only goal I wish to achieve for all my businesses. If they are still going strong when I was dead, that is what I would call success.
No comments:
Post a Comment