Business is often built or destroyed on disruption--some sudden innovation, insight or strategic move that changes the game for everyone. The same is often true in our lives, when an important conversation, a made or missed connection, even an intrusion of pure fate, redirects our thinking and actions for years afterward. While brief, these moments are critically important to who we are. Forbes is asking leaders in business and other fields about the disruptive "Ten Minutes That Mattered" in their lives and will share those stories here. Share your thoughts and own stories in the Reader Comments section below.
Gerard Kleisterlee, president and chief executive of Dutch conglomerate Royal Philips Electronics, says an unexpected stint in Taiwan in the late '90s gave him invaluable experience with emerging Asian markets.
I think that in any career, there are a number of defining moments. I think in my career one of the most defining moments, was when our previous president said to me, "We think it would be good for you to go for a couple of years to Asia." And that was already fairly late in my career. "I'm 50 and do I have to go to Taiwan?" "Are we being exiled?" And of course with the family ... [but] those were the best years in our lives. And I think a defining moment also in the career, because that was 1996 to 1999. You remember '98, the Asian financial crisis. So it had been a great moment to be there and see how pragmatically Asia deals with the downturn, that financial crisis.
And what was also very important was I moved from a business role to a regional role. And regional roles are coordinating roles. So I said, "Well, you have to get in a different mode. You can't manage because you are in charge. You have to manage because you can influence, and you can add value without being in charge." And I think that was a great learning exercise.
And more importantly, I'd been traveling Asia for years, and I thought I knew Asia pretty well. But you don't really have a clue unless you've lived there, really, on the ground with the local people. You read the local newspapers, you talk on a daily basis to local businesspeople. And I think it has helped me greatly to do the right thing for the company, and particularly in an era where we all can agree that this is the Asian age. And our company's doing well in Asia.
See Also:
