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Brandix Lanka Ltd. CEO and Phoenix Ventures Ltd. Director Ashroff Omar, Citi UK Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate FX Sales Bernard Sinniah and Brandix Lanka Ltd. Chairman Priyan Fernando.
Look after the people
Deputy Minister Wickramaratne does not believe that success comes naturally or is bestowed upon an individual by birth. Furthermore, leadership does not come from position but from behaviour as he said, “Keep at it, work hard on it and you might be surprised by the success that comes your way.”
Having left a lucrative job as a high-ranking official at a private bank to follow his calling to public service, Wickramaratne displayed his passion for people as he shared his personal motto while leading the sizable workforce at NDB. “Look after the people and the people will look after you,” he said.
He also spoke of the importance of collaboration and taking risks which are the two main takeaways from his story of transition from the private sector to the public service.
There was wisdom in the counsel of others and he urged the audience to engage in the collaboration of ideas because, “If you collaborate you’re certainly going to look good.”
His decision to leave NDB had not only been a financial risk to him and his family but he also had to face many challenges as one of the early members of the coalition that led to the election of the common candidate in a country with little political freedom.
He recollected the warning signs of possible grave danger leading up to the election, from tapped phones to being constantly monitored and having to prepare for the worst-case scenario. He further added that the criticism of the current Government was an indicator of the freedom of expression that had been granted to the citizens that was not prevalent a short while back saying: “We may be forgetting what it was a few weeks ago.”
Changing the game of politics
Western Province Council Member Premachandra reminisced on her childhood and how her father was a strict disciplinarian saying: “It’s difficult to raise a child without punishment. Around 90% of the population is corrupt.”
She attributes this style of parenting as the factor that kept her and her brother from acquiring an undue sense of entitlement as many politicians’ children seem to have. She also addressed those who accuse her of using her father’s name as leverage saying: “If I don’t talk about my father who will?”
She said she had always been passionate about law and politics. Having studied law in the UK she has observed a striking difference between the way politicians are perceived in Sri Lanka and in the UK.
She stated that In the UK politicians were not superior and there was much that needed to be changed in the local mindset in this regard. Sri Lanka had its own culture and her hope was not for Sri Lanka to be just like the UK “but through education we have to change the mindset.”
She also expressed her hope of changing the culture of buying votes, saying that she had proved in her previous campaigns that hard work could quash the work done by big-spending budgets of some political campaigns. She works with a team of young campaign managers who, inexperienced as they may be, understand her vision and work hard to carry out successful campaigns on her behalf even with relatively small budgets.
Premachandra also has plans on starting a starting a foundation for women to provide education, employment and security. Human trafficking is high in Sri Lanka and many women who escape these circumstances only find themselves back where they started because they don’t know what else to do. Helping such women is something Premachandra is very passionate about.
Being controversial
Strategy College Chairman and SkillSalad, Founder/Sales Coach Yasas Hewage told the audience of the 7Es that bring out excellence -envision, edge, energy, exercise, execution, extreme, and excitement.
Being extreme and controversial is part of excellence as anyone who has ever made history would testify. Hewage challenged traditional Buddhist thinking which preaches moderation saying: “Nobody got anywhere through moderation.”
Clarifying that that he meant no disrespect to the religious teachings of Lord Buddha he pointed out that even this great philosopher had tried various extreme methods before discovering the middle path.
Hewage, an avid cyclist, drew from his experiences on the mountains where rough uphill terrain had to first be overcome before reaching the easier terrains such as flat plains. “You get to the top through ultimate sacrifice and then preach moderation,” he stated.
When it comes to accomplishing goals he also spoke of a marketing strategy that revolved around doing and getting. Tasks are 
completed, reviewed and redone with small improvements until you achieve what you could not accomplish before. However, he added a third step to this process - seeing things differently.
Using the example of Parker pens and McDonald’s he showed how companies had been able to turn their fate around by simply rethinking the idea behind their brand.
Parker, a company which according to him produces a sub-par pen, was heading toward oblivion when they rethought their brand as a gift and focused on more attractive packaging. McDonald’s has followed the same strategy and portrays themselves as a play place for children with attractive colours and design and also ‘happens to sell food.’
“You can turn things around by seeing things differently,” he said and showed the audience that success could be found even in seemingly bleak situations.
Taking risks
Brandix Lanka Ltd. CEO and Phoenix Ventures Ltd Director Ashroff Omar had to deal with a lot of losses in business from which he has learned valuable lessons that have helped in his success. The inevitable truth about taking risks is that you will be prone to suffer a few failures.
However, this was no reason to avoid them entirely as he asserted: “Failures are a part of your life. When you look back they seem funny but at the time they were devastating.”
In addition to not fearing risks Omar’s advice to businessmen is “If you use fairness as a yardstick you will not go wrong. The business environment is extremely competitive. However you must play with a straight bat. Stand by your values. It’s not easy,” he said before adding, “I’m not saying I’m a monk. Business is a hard game but you have to fight fair.”
While climbing the corporate ladder it is also important is to have a circle of friends that you can turn to for honest advice. Such a group of friends keep you grounded as they don’t give a damn about who you are and will tell you what they think. It’s very humbling and hopefully it keeps you in touch with reality, he said.
Apart from this advice he also spoke of the importance of fitness and having the energy to grow as well as the importance of having fun and enjoying what you do as it is the best stress buster you can have.
He also warned against jealousy as If you “go down the path of envy and jealously it’s stressful.”
Taking a step back
Citi UK Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate FX Sales Bernard Sinniah had to look no further than his own life to draw examples of excellence in action.
“Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward,” he said, a lesson he learnt watching Tiger Woods play golf. He illustrated the story of an instance when the ball landed in the sand pit during a milestone tournament from which Woods had recovered by hitting a ball backwards in the course rather than forward as expected. This had enabled him to align his next shot better and achieve a higher score.
He added: “Successful people know and acknowledge their own limitations and there is no point in fighting them. It is better to overcome weaknesses by using your strengths.”
In addition to this he has also learnt that it’s important not giving into other people’s definitions of success but striving to find your own path.
“People will judge us by what they expect without realising that we have our own path to success,” he said adding that this would also take a lot of determination to overcome.
Diversity in the workplace
Brandix Lanka Ltd. Chairman Priyan Fernando addressed the need to have more diversity in the workplace stating that failure to do so was like “trying to clap with one hand.” More decisions are being made by women on what to purchase and having this insight will be valuable to any organisation.
In addition to this he said the connected world required a different set of skills, pointing out that in some instances Facebook pages don’t reinforce the brand.
“The digitisation of data is an important point to look into as it is the currency of tomorrow. Utilise it properly because if not your competition could be using data better than you,” he cautioned.
He explained that as technology advanced we would be the first generation to learn from our children and it was important to maintain good relationships with people and be strategic in this aspect.
Keeping a good track-record of progress was also important for both organisational and personal growth.
He stated that leaders should also know what was being said on the streets and not allow themselves to be kept in the dark as they most often are the last to know.
He stressed further on this point saying: “As you go up the ladder you get insulated. Do you have friends who will tell you how it is?”
Pix by Upul Abayasekara
