Turning His Life's Lessons Into Corporate Successes
DBS Group's CEO Says
His Early Poverty Instilled
Savvy to Thrive in Business
Jackson Tai is vice chairman and chief executive of DBS Group Holdings Ltd., one of Asia's largest financial-services groups, with operations spanning 15 markets, from its home base in Singapore to Hong Kong, China, India and Southeast Asia. Mr. Tai, 55 years old, joined the lender in July 1999 as chief financial officer after 25 years at the Wall Street investment firm J.P. Morgan (now J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.), where he held several senior positions including global head of real-estate investment banking, head of investment banking and senior regional officer for Asia Pacific based in Tokyo, and head of investment banking and senior regional officer for the western U.S. based in San Francisco.
Since Mr. Tai took the helm in 2002, DBS has become Singapore's and Southeast Asia's biggest bank, with a market capitalization of more than S$26 billion, or US$16 billion, helped by its focus on improving loan margins and fee-based income. In the fourth quarter of 2005, DBS took a charge against goodwill of more than S$1 billion relating to its US$5.4 billion purchase in 2001 of Dao Heng Bank, renamed DBS Hong Kong. Including the charge, which further reduced the value of DBS Hong Kong on the group's books, resulted in a group net loss in the period of S$441 million. In the first quarter of 2006, net profit rose 39% from a year earlier to S$518 million. DBS is 28% held by Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., Singapore's state-owned investment company.
Mr. Tai, an American whose parents emigrated from southern China, holds a master of business administration degree from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He is a director of the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore and a trustee of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. He shared his thoughts on management and career development with Kevin Lim in Singapore:
WSJ: What was your first job and the biggest lessons you learned there?
Mr. Tai: I grew up poor in Chinatown in New York. I always remembered working. I was washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant in a fancy suburb of New York when I was 10. My first real, good money-paying job came when I was probably 13, I was a rock-'n'-roll drummer and the business manager for our band, and we used to do weekend gigs like weddings, graduation parties, whatever. Later, instead of just being out for hire, we booked auditoriums, ran our own discos, hired ourselves. We bought some inexpensive punch, and whatever profit we made we'd divide it that night. We were worried we would find imitators, so to better control our destiny, I booked all the halls so that we were the only act in town. Then we raised our prices.
One learns when young to survive, especially when one is relatively poor. You learn about marketing, pricing -- and behaving in restraint of trade.
WSJ: What advice would you give someone starting out in your field?
LEADING IN ASIA
Questions or comments? Please visit:
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Leadership@wsj.com. Please include your name and country.Mr. Tai: I remind our entry-level people that we are in an extremely competitive world and that one has got to specialize, to know something very well. You will get a chance to grow in the business, apply and over time broaden it. With knowledge comes a strong point of view, one is more comfortable taking risks and therefore is likely to get decent returns.
As you develop this specialized knowledge, as you go up, you will get the chances to add a second or third dimension to help you become a successful manager and leader.
WSJ: Given your strong interest in history and the arts, what have you learned there that is relevant in the banking world?
Mr. Tai: I think that an appreciation for the arts, be it music or literature, gives you a deeper perspective. It helps you engage people and appreciate the undercurrents, providing that 20/20 vision when it comes to understanding situations, people and personalities.
WSJ: Do you have a favorite business book? What are you reading now?
Mr. Tai: I don't really like to read business books. If I do, I'll scan them on the airplane. I've scanned recently a very interesting book called "Blue Ocean Strategy" [by professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of France's Insead graduate business school], which encourages managers to compete in uncontested waters. It's an easy read.
I'd much rather read history, or books that expand basic knowledge rather than applied knowledge and give you more depth. One book I was reading involves the Middle East, which has seen so much activity in terms of politics and capital flows that all of us need to know more about the place. The book is "Empires of the Sand" . It's about the struggle for power and dominance in the Middle East from the late 1700s up until the early 1920s.
WSJ: Who gave you the best business advice?
Mr. Tai: I recall that when I was just 33, I was asked by my employer then, J.P. Morgan, to go off to Japan to run our securities business. One of my very senior Japanese colleagues must have seen the terror in my eyes. His advice was: 'Jack, when dealing with clients, when dealing with the world, be confident.' If one exudes confidence, demonstrates self assurance, it goes a long way in projecting one's self.
WSJ: What was the toughest decision you've had to make as a manager?
Mr. Tai: It was about four years ago, when I took on the job of CEO. DBS had gone through transformations of many kinds, but there was a danger that we were building layers of decision makers and becoming a bit Balkanized. I made the decision to let go of 13% of our managing directors. It was a large cut and it was difficult because you were dealing with people's lives and livelihood, but I think it was necessary.
WSJ: What was the most satisfying decision you've made?
Mr. Tai: In 2004, about 83 safe deposit boxes were accidentally destroyed in a branch in Hong Kong that was under renovation. We didn't sidestep the responsibility by pointing to contractors or subcontractors; we took full responsibility, apologized publicly for the blunder, and took steps quickly to restore trust by offering full and fair compensation to all affected customers. I think we moved from being the butt of jokes to being admired for the fact that we were decisive and took seriously our accountability to customers.
汲取生活养分 获得事业成功
戴国良(Jackson Tai)现任星展集团(DBS Group Holdings Ltd.)副主席兼执行总裁。星展集团是亚洲最大的金融服务集团之一，业务遍及本土新加坡、香港、中国大陆、印度以及东南亚等15个市场。55岁的戴国良于1999年7月加入星展，出任该公司的首席财务长。此前他为华尔街投资公司JP摩根(J.P. Morgan)（现为摩根大通公司(JPMorgan Chase & Co.)）服务了25年，他在JP摩根期间曾担任多个高级职务，包括房地产投资银行业务的全球主管、于日本东京出任投资银行部主管兼亚太地区总监、在位于美国西海岸旧金山的公司担任投资银行部主管兼地区总监等。
自戴国良2002年担任执行总裁以来，星展集团已经发展成为新加坡及东南亚地区最大的银行，市值超过260亿新加坡元（合160亿美元），这受益于该银行著力改善贷款利润率水平及服务费用收入的做法。2005年第四季度，星展集团为2001年出价54亿美元收购道亨银行(Dao Heng Bank)作出了11亿新元的商誉减值支出，道亨银行现更名为星展银行（香港）(DBS Bank (Hong Kong))。将这笔支出计算在内，星展银行（香港）的估值进一步减少，2005年当季净亏损达4.41亿新元。2006年第一季度，星展集团净利润比上年增长39%，达5.18亿新元。新加坡政府的投资控股公司淡马锡控股(Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd.)持有星展集团28%的股权。
戴国良是华裔美国人，父母来自中国南方。他在伦斯莱尔学院(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)取得了学士学位，并在哈佛大学获得了工商管理硕士学位。戴国良是新加坡亚洲文明博物馆董事局成员，也是美国旧金山亚洲艺术馆的受托人。他在新加坡接受了《华尔街日报》记者的采访，畅谈了自己对管理和职业发展的看法。
《华尔街日报》：你的第一份工作是什么？你从中学到了什么？
戴国良：我在纽约的唐人街长大，小时候很穷。打工的日子到现在历历在目。10岁时，我在纽约郊区的一家中国餐馆刷盘子。大概在13岁的时候，我得到了第一份真正的、薪水还不错的工作。我当时是一个摇滚乐队的鼓手，也是我们乐队的经理。我们过去常参加婚礼、毕业宴会等周末演出。我们后来不再等客人上门，而是预订了场地、经营迪斯科舞厅，当起了自己的老板。我们买了一些廉价饮料，无论赚了多少我们当晚都会分到每个人手里。我们担心被人模仿，于是为了更好地掌握自己的命运，我包下了所有舞厅，这样一来我们成为唯一一支当地的演出团体。然后我们提高了身价。
人们在年轻时，尤其是在相对贫穷的时候，学会了如何生存。你懂得了在作生意时如何营销、定价以及表现得体。
问：你对刚刚跨入这个行业的新手有什么建议？
答：我会提醒那些刚入行的人说，我们生活在一个竞争激烈的世界，人们都应该学有所长，对某些东西非常精通。这样你在工作中将不断成长，学以致用并不断拓展知识领域。知识会带给你专业的观点，你在面对风险时就更加应对自如，因此也就有可能获得丰厚的回报。
随著专业知识不断加深、职位越来越高，你将有机会拓展其他领域的知识，这将帮助你成长为一名成功的经理人和领袖人物。
问：我们知道你对历史和艺术有著浓厚的兴趣，你在这方面学到了哪些与银行业相关的知识？
答：我觉得对艺术或者音乐、文学的欣赏可以让你获得更深入的角度。它们可以帮助你更好地交流、并意识到潜在的潮流趋势，也能让你更准确地了解情况、了解他人、了解人的个性。
问：你最喜欢的商业类书籍是什么？你现在在读什么书？
答：我其实并不喜欢读商业类书籍。即使读这类书，一般也是在坐飞机时走马观花。我最近看了一本有趣的书，书名叫《蓝海策略》(Blue Ocean Strategy)[作者是法国Insead商学院教授W. Chan Kim和Renee Mauborgne]，这本书鼓励经理人创造无人与之竞争的市场空间，写得简单易懂。
我更爱看历史书或那些拓展基本知识面的书，不爱看那些充满应用知识、深奥难懂的书。我正在读一本讲述中东的书，在中东发生了那么多的政治事件，涉及中东的资本流动也很多，因此我们应该更多地了解这个地区。这本书的名字叫做《沙漠王国》(Empires of the Sand)，讲述了从18世纪晚期到20世纪20年代早期在中东地区发生的权力争夺。
问：在你的职业生涯中，谁对你的帮助最大？
答：我想起在我只有33岁的时候，我当时所在公司JP摩根要求我到日本负责我们的证券业务。一位资深日本同事一定从我的眼睛里看出了恐慌。他告诉我：“和客户打交道以及在面对这个世界的时候，一定要自信。”如果散发出自信，让人们看到自信心，这对表现自己大有帮助。
问：作为一名经理人，你作出的最艰难的决策是什么？
答：那是大约四年前，我出任星展执行总裁的时候。星展银行曾进行过多种形式的改革，不过由于管理层级过多，公司变得有点儿四分五裂。我决定解聘13%的董事总经理。这个裁员幅度很大，也是个艰难的决定，因为这关乎人们的生活和生计，不过我想这是必要的。
问：你作出的最令你满意的决策是什么？
答：2004年的时候，大约有83个保险箱在香港一家支行被意外毁坏，当时这家支行正在装修。我们没有躲避责任，把责任推给承包人或者转包人，而是承担了全部责任，向公众公开道歉，迅速采取措施，向所有相关客户提供全额和公平的补偿以重新赢得信任。我想我们从被众人耻笑转变到备受称赞，这是因为我们行动果断，并且严肃对待我们对客户的责任。
Kevin Lim
