THE ART OF PEOPLE ORIENTATION (PART ONE)
‘Human resources are a key to business,” says Sanan Angubolkul, the chairman and president of Srithai Superware Plc. “Whether an organisation will have a good reputation is dependent on its people. Bad people will easily destroy the organisation. Thus, the key is how to develop human resources to be both competent and good.
“The more positive and moral behaviour they have, the more we can ensure that the business is not conducted in any illegal or improper manner, but with moderation and not in any excessive manner.”
Mr Sanan believes that all businesses have three common elements: human, financial and social capital.
“Financial capital is the second factor. While money is not the most important element, it is a means that enables us to help others. Money is not a god, but it is a key aspect of business.”
The last aspect is social capital. The more educated people become, the more important social capital becomes.
“People nowadays tend to care for their own interests, and to be competitive with others,” Mr Sanan says. “However, people and organisations that show their willingness to make a contribution to society will be trusted and be more respected by others. Therefore, a business can achieve a unique advantage by demonstrating a high degree of social capital.”
Applying the Four Immeasurables: Although he does not regularly practise chanting, meditation or going to temples, Mr Sanan often applies a number of Buddhist teachings, such as Brahmavihara or the Four Immeasurables, in his personal and working life. He also has received an honorary doctoral degree in Buddhist Studies from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University.
“With regard to showing loving-kindness, whenever any bad incident occurs I automatically and always try to teach others to show or share loving and kindness towards others who may have done something that annoys us or may not be as aware as we are,” Mr Sanan explains. “I do not become angry with others but rather try to understand why they did what they did. If we can do this rather than feel angry, it can make us feel better, since we forgive them. We should build such a feeling from inside.
“Secondly, showing compassion means that if we do not have problems or suffering, we should try to teach others to be free of any suffering. Also, we should help them to think of how to be free from suffering, and closely monitor the outcome so that we can continue to help them, if needed.”
Thirdly, with regard to showing sympathetic joy over the success or happiness of others, Mr Sanan always attempts to demonstrate a positive attitude towards and a feeling of happiness for others.
“When we are young and show sympathetic joy to others, it may not be meaningful for them. But as a leader and a senior person, whenever I show sympathetic joy to someone, it means a great deal to that person and it inspires him or her.”
For a leader, such occasions are a great opportunity to give recognition to and to motivate others in their moment of happiness. It is also a great way to boost morale by expressing genuine joy to them — in person or via a letter. “Even though you may not personally like someone, as a leader you need to show joy to inspire and motivate him or her in a positive manner.
“Fourthly, with regard to showing equanimity, whenever our subordinates have problems and feel some suffering, we can help them only to a certain degree but cannot solve their problems or suffering entirely,” Mr Sanan says.
“As leaders, at least we can give them words of comfort to relieve their suffering and raise some degree of awareness on their part of the real cause of suffering, so that they can find their own ways to solve or avoid it.”
Practising mindfulness: “Normally people with problems or suffering may not be able to sleep because their problems keep going around and around in their minds. But for me, becoming focused and mindful leaves my mind in a state where I don’t think of anything at all, and also forget everything. This way, we just do everything by ourselves and no one can influence us. It is up to us alone to rely on ourselves.”
Mr Sanan learned this method from natural instinct and not from anyone else. He began by saying to himself: there is no one you can count on but yourself. Therefore, you need to focus your mind to become fully mindful of the situation and stop worrying. The result is a restful night and a clear head in the morning.
“The following day, we will then become mindful, and gain some knowledge and insight, along with the ability to solve a problem or tackle a negative situation.
“We need to let things go, have mindfulness, and be calm so that when we revisit the problem we can effectively solve it through being mindful while gaining knowledge.”
Sorayuth Vathanavisuth is Principal and Executive Coach at the Center for Southeast Asia Leadership and lectures at the Mahidol University College of Management. His areas of interest are executive coaching, leadership development, succession planning and talent management. He can be reached at sorayuth@sealeadership.com