Chinese Version

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 SCMP Business Post
Part eight of eight

Invisible Leadership

C.K. Chow Chief Executive Officer, MTR Corporation

C.K. Chow was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the MTRC in 2003. Before that, he was chief executive officer of Brambles Industries PLC and chief executive of GKN PLC. He spent 20 years with the BOC Group. He spoke to Richard Ivey School of Business on leadership, strategy and how to successfully merge two companies.

On leadership

“A bad leader is someone who pushes people from behind. A good leader is someone who leads from the front. A very good leader is someone who is not there but you can feel his presence. If you go into an organization that is strongly managed, what you will see are very good plans, systems and control mechanisms. If you go into companies that are very well led you will see that people actually have a common purpose, working enthusiastically towards that purpose and in teams all in the same direction.”

On what it takes to be a leader

“Some leaders are very charismatic, some are very quiet, but they always do three things very well. First, they have the ability to observe and to speak what is on people’s minds. Second, when they speak, others listen and say, ‘Yes, I believe that's the right thing to do’ and the leader would align various constituencies without upsetting any one of them. Third, people would feel that they are motivated, inspired, and doing things not because that is what the rule book says or because it is what has to be done. They're doing it because they want to do it.”

On your biggest challenge since being appointed CEO of the MTRC

“There are three particular strengths of MTR. First, it is a company dedicated to and passionate about what we do. It is filled with people with a high level of professionalism and passion. Second, the MTR has very strong teamwork, which is why we have succeeded in making not too many mistakes when we try out new things. When people try out new things, it is inevitable that they will make mistakes and our motto is that you are expected to make some mistakes if you try out new things but just don't make the same old mistakes over and over again. Third, MTR has two purposes of life: to provide safe and reliable mass transport service in HK, and a satisfactory return to our shareholders. Finding the right balance to optimize these two objectives is something quite unique to MTRC.”

On the coming merger with KCRC

“When you combine two companies together you want to form an even stronger culture as you move forward. Ten years after the merger, we don’t want people still saying, ‘I'm from KCR and you're from MTR and therefore we have different positions.’ We want to form one team going forward. That must be the biggest challenge. It all gets down to what leaders do and what leadership is. Obviously there will be management tasks that have to be performed that will put the two systems together. But more importantly we need leaders from all levels in the new organization to articulate a common vision for the new team and align people to work together to form an efficient operation.”

Advice for someone just starting out

I always advocate that young people should do what young people do best. They are full of energy and courage because they know that if they fail they can come back again and have many chances ahead of them. They should not put themselves into a box. They should get as much exposure as they can because exposure will give them an open mind and help them to think strategically, which is one of the most difficult things to be taught at business school. I encourage young people to get out of Hong Kong and live somewhere else for a period of time, do something different and because they have plenty of chances ahead this will give them a good foundation to develop their career.”

Merging Brands: Designing the Post M&A Portfolio

Successful business mergers demand the successful merger of brands. To succeed, managers have to understand the different types of mergers and strategies and then identify the one that will work best in their particular situation.

Click on www.ivey.com.hk/iveybusinessjournal.html to see what Kanal Basu, associate professor in the Faculty of Management at McGill University, has to say on the topic of mergers.

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