Entering a saturated sector of the economy and having your business success beyond all expectation is testimony to a special set of qualities in a leader. Nuttanai Anuntarumporn, Managing Director of telecommunication (telco) service provider Interlink Telecom Public Company Limited in Thailand, embodies this unique set of leadership qualities and business philosophies, despite being only 29 years old. Interlink boasts the singular achievement of being a pioneer in Thailand by owning a network mixture between railways and highways in a telco industry that is highly competitive market. While the company provides the highest reliability of service to customers and differentiates itself by investing in the physical aspects in order to bring value to customers, Nuttanai helms his ship with a mixture of confidence and business savviness while facing challenges head-on as well as challenges when entering into an industry as saturated and technically-complex as telecommunications, are numerous.
Earning trust from customers, branding and price wars are some of the challenges that Nuttanai have been facing in growing Interlink, but he believes that the character of a leader is shaped by different approaches in tackling these obstacles, especially when they force a leader to shift his or her paradigms.
Moreover, he believes that teamwork will notaccomplish if teams are not led by goodexample from the management. This is why he believes it is important for the CEO or MD to be able to do all basic jobs or tasks that his team have to do on a daily basis in order to make sure customers are happy. This means going as far as being able to install fibre optic cables when teams are short of staff.
Citing his own father and Warren Buffett as role models, Nuttanai now heads a business that employs over 700 people. His telco also has regional reach in Southeast Asia. His father, started off with an empty hand when setting up the business, this is an inspiration for Nuttanai’s work ethic and energy. A graduate from Chulalongkorn University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Financial Economics from Boston University, Nuttanai is adept at looking at a situation from both the micro and macro perspectives, incorporating both systematic approaches to problems with a pragmatic attitude which he accepts that nothing is perfect in real life. Therefore he understands one needs to be adept and agile in adopting different approaches to obstacles and challenges. He also professes his admiration for Steve Jobs for the man’s meticulous eye for details. He also added, “the way that Steve says, ‘Stay hungry and stay foolish’ inspires me every day.”
He understands the importance of thoughtful investment in the early stages of business – not in the sunset phase, as his study of Warren Buffett taught him – in order to get a jump start on costings and being able to compete when price wars happen. This helps businesses pass through the introductory period, he believes, where many businesses fail before reaching the S-curve.
In addition to financial and infrastructure aspect, however, Nuttanai also believes that the success of a company lies in its ability to give back to society. “This core belief comes from the idea that we cannot succeed alone, so if we help society become better, it will eventually return in some form to our business.” He makes this as one of the points to personally devote his time giving inspirational speeches to the young generation in order for them to be prepared with the right mindset when they feel they want to enter into the entrepreneurial world. He also believes education is a key to help improving the societyand so, many projects he involved are educational related.
A leader who walks the talk and who is not afraid of getting his hands dirty when the job requires him to do so, Nuttanai is striking all the right notes in his leadership march.
