Iffan Fanani (Former PwC Consultant)

Mr. Kemal Azis Stamboel, former Senior Partner of PwC Indonesia shared his views about “doing career at corporation” on an informal session some weeks ago. Pak Kemal, we call him, is authorized to talk about this topic since he already proved his success in his career.

“Mr. Kemal is a nice person” said Gopinath Menon, a partner of PwC Indonesia, to me on lunch time to express his opinion about Pak Kemal. Due to the fact that I also former PwC Consultant, I got information that Pak Kemal, through PwC, had provided many business consulting services to big companies either from domestic or from multinational company, including some state owned companies. Pak Kemal with his PwC Consulting teams also much involved in companies’ restructuring process during economic crisis 1998. On top of that, Pak Kemal has been writing his name in the list of prominent business consultant in Indonesia.

Learning from fully experienced person like Pak Kemal always inspires. Let me share some valuable points from Pak Kemal about career (I try to outline his views through quoting key statements in order to easily hint the main point):

- Everyone can be in the board

Board of director is not belonging to certain experts or positions. Member of board director can be from all fields; engineer, financial experts, HR expert, etc. Some time ago, when the machine development and automation process became competitive advantage of company, people said if you were not engineer you could not be in the board. But some time later, when the financial market offered instant growth of wealth, people said if you were not financial expert, you could not be in the board. Indeed, what people said about opportunities is always changing. It indicates that everyone can be in the board.

What is the criterion to be in BOD? Employees who are eligible to enter the BOD are those who able to translate the company needs comprehensively and strategically. For example: an HRD Staff will be considered valuable if he is able to contribute to the company not only in the number of people recruited and trained, but also able how can he translate the performance of HRD in the size of the profit / loss for the company, able to map out the best talents in the company’s future, etc. In conclusion, you can be in the BOD if you can move from an administrative function into a strategic function).

- There is no a fixed formula applied for all
To do career, actually there is no fixed formula which can be successfully applied for each person. Each person has their opportunities and in many times, this opportunity affects the decision in driving the career. The bottom line is that don’t waste opportunities come to you. Do the best wherever you are now.

One of the participants ask Pak Kemal whether he should take master degree first and then return to business or he just patiently wait for 2-3 years to get knowledge from business he involve in. Pak Kemal just said that it is up to you to decide what is good for you because chance never comes twice.

But Pak Kemal said that in the business world, Experience comes first. If we have already worked for the industry for 1 year, Pak Kemal supposes that we don’t get their business knowledge; if we don’t get the knowledge, then we won’t get the feeling of the industry. Some of us ask what the standard in deciding whether you have already got the business knowledge. Pak Kemal said the standard which determines whether we have knowledge of the company where we work is as far as we contribute to the company. If in two years you’ve felt you have contributed enough to place where you work, then that is your time to take your Master Degree.

In taking your master degree, you must determine correctly whether the college you take will contribute to your future career in the private sector. In the business world it is not the Degree that you collect but knowledge that you need. It is different if you want a career to be a lecturer. In sum, there is no a fixed formula applied for all.

- Read books not news

Overall, Indonesian prefers news rather than books. You won’t get the framework of thinking by just reading newspaper. It is book that provides you with framework of thinking. In this information era where information can be old fashion just in a day, it will be hard for you to come up with the fresh idea; but book can provide you with idea. So read book don’t just newspaper.

- Language of CEO

Are we proper to be a CEO? What is the criterion of being CEO? There is a secret in becoming a CEO. You have to master in language of CEO. If you want to be a CEO, talks like a CEO, behave like a CEO, and think like a CEO. Take a look Indian People. Most of them are good in both language and mathematical capability. Their English is so sophisticated yet understandable. They are also good in number so that they can provide the company with the data that is very convincing. No wonder that many of them become CEO in many Multinational companies. You can start learning the Language of CEO by reading a book about CEO. Right now, many books talking about the language of CEO.

Having a discussion with Pak Kemal is very inspiring. Hope that we can discuss in the near future.

Tags: career, management