New Age CEOs are bound to take risks despite failures, says JKH Deputy Chairman
Pic by Indika Handuwala shows the panel discussion in progress
‘Look before you leap’, one of the famous idioms elders used to advise the young people at a point when they try to take decisions on their own. Today with technological advancement and the world moving forward there is no time to look, but to take big risks and leap. Company Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) who are also known as the ‘New Age CEOs are bound to take more risks and challenges in organisations than the old age CEOs, says Ajith Gunewardene, John Keells Holdings Plc Deputy Chairman. “The new age CEOs are bound to take more risks than the old age CEOs. The old age CEOs did not have a second option. Once you try and if you fail, that is it there is no second thought or an option.”
oday’s generation have nothing to lose, even if they fail in their first attempt with all the money their parents saved for them. They have a second or even may be a third try as well, he said. “If you ask a new age CEO, one will say that there is no harm in experimenting things and failing. This is the kind of revolution that is going to boost the economy and development of our country in the future,” said Mr. Gunewardene. He made these comments at a panel discussion organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo last week. The Business Times was the only media present among the audience who gathered that evening.
The topic of the discussion was ‘New Age CEO – Are you one?’ He said that just because the big boys (old age CEOs) are in the industry, you don’t have to get scared or run away. Every competitor has some game to play against the opposition. The new age CEOs will have to build on the platform the economy that is already been built. In 5 to 10 years most of the big corporate companies will be working with the new age CEOs onboard, he noted. On the sidelines of the panel discussion, Mr. Gunewardene told the Business Times, “The world is open to many opportunities, especially with the evolving technology. There is so much for the younger generation to always think like new age CEOs.
They should be allowed to choose their career path unlike in those days or else they will not be happy. You cannot have someone unhappy and unmotivated running a business which will ultimately end up in failure. New age CEOs do what they want, they live a completely different life, their value systems and their needs are different. They want to have flexible working hours and work hard. They will also balance their work as well as the vacation times with friends and family even in the middle of the workload.” He also mentioned that there is a big difference between the new age CEOs and the old age CEOs. It’s all linked to what was available at that time 30 to 40 years back in terms of the size of the economy and the opportunities.
The aspirations people had at that time were limited, he noted. Roar Digital (Pvt) Ltd Founder Director Mustafa Kassim stated that start-ups in Sri Lanka need to grow, if not there is no space for development in the country. In terms of growth of an organisation by a new age CEO, Mr. Kassim noted, “Ask yourself whether you can make profit today. Assess yourself and that will be a good way forward.” Takas (Pvt) Ltd Co-Founder, Director and CEO Lahiru Pathmalal expressed that new age CEOs should look at opportunities and put things together. “You have to do what you want and what you have to do. Build your network and from one director to another, work together in order to raise the bars of an organisation.
Every organisation should think what their strengths are.” Emojot Inc Founder and CEO Shahani Markus described a new age CEO as a person having a different kind of attitude, who doesn’t totally depend on the technology itself. She also stated that all business organisations should innovate and launch new products to run the business entity. “We have fantastic engineers here, but you still have to think of outsourcing some of the services to countries outside Sri Lanka due to lack of experienced people in the country.” New age CEOs like to do things differently but their parents do not understand the concept of entrepreneurship when their kids do things at an extremely different level. They need to get out of the box, she added.