YTL Scion Fosters Faith-Based Culture in Business

丹斯里(Tan Sri，马来西亚第二高荣誉册封称号)杨肃斌(Francis Yeoh)是杨忠礼机构(YTL Corp. Bhd.)的董事总经理。作为马来西亚最知名的商业领袖之一，杨肃斌是个虔诚的宗教信徒，在生活和事业上努力实践着自己的基督教价值观。在他的带领下，杨忠礼机构从1985年马来西亚一个普通企业发展为七家上市企业的集合体，成为马来西亚最大的企业集团之一，业务遍及本土和海外市场。杨肃斌的祖父在1920年离开中国福建，身上只带了几美元和一包衣服。他在马来西亚落户，辛勤工作，开了一家木材场。他的儿子杨忠礼(Yeoh Tiong Lay)于1955年创立杨忠礼建筑公司(Yeoh Tiong Lay Building Co.)，后来发展成杨忠礼机构(YTL)，早期在马来西亚承接的建筑项目主要是军事驻地医院和廉价房。16岁时，杨肃斌就已经利用周末时间和假期在公司的建筑工地上实习。作为七个孩子中的老大，他提出休学来助父亲一臂之力，当时他在学校还是个学生干部，但他父亲拒绝了这一请求。后来，杨肃斌去伦敦的金斯顿多科技术学校(Kingston Polytechnic)上学（即现在的金斯顿大学），获土木工程学位。1978年，24岁的杨肃斌回到马来西亚，他父亲任命他为杨忠礼机构的董事总经理。30年过去了，现在杨忠礼集团的主营业务已转为供水水处理和发电，还通过兼并收购进入饭店和度假村管理信息技术制造业水泥生产等商业领域，比如收购了新加坡最大的供电企业PowerSeraya Ltd.英国公用事业公司Wessex Water Ltd.和吉隆坡的丽兹.卡尔顿饭店(Ritz-Carlton)。杨氏家族一直在杨忠礼集团的董事会占据主导地位，现在拥有13个董事席位中的八个。泛杨氏家族的净资产总额估计有17亿美元，是马来西亚第六大富豪家族。杨忠礼机构在马来西亚和东京两地上市，六家附属企业在马来西亚上市，杨忠礼地产投资信托基金在纽约纳斯达克证交所上市。作为一个艺术爱好者，56岁的杨肃斌是吉隆坡交响乐团协会(Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra Society)的会长和赞助人，并积极参与慈善事业。《华尔街日报》（以下简称WSJ）记者科斯塔.派里斯(Costas Paris)在新加坡采访了杨肃斌先生。WSJ：谁给过你最好的商业忠告？杨肃斌：我得到的最好的商业忠告来自于上帝的福音：即我只是一个上帝财富的代管者。知道这一点意味着，我率领的杨忠礼机构在进行商业决策时，很少受个人自我情绪的影响。我们是这么说的，也是这么做的。我们致力于开发好的商业机会，目的是在每个经济下行周期──比如目前这个全球范围的经济衰退──都有足够的现金来扩大公司的发展。现在，我们的可投资资金储备超过34亿美元。WSJ：对刚入这一行的新人，你有什么忠告？杨肃斌：很多首席执行官在关注公司发展前景时，注重短期每季度的业绩。从表面来看，杨忠礼机构团经营的业务范围似乎有些分散，其实都有一个内在的共同特质贯穿其中，那就是我们的工程技术优势。专一发展并保持长远目光，这意味着我们资产负债表中有70%以上的收入都是长期稳定的，这也是我晚上睡得很好的原因之一。WSJ：你最喜欢的商业书籍是什么？杨肃斌：我喜欢读巴菲特(Warren Buffet)的著作，还有一些商业战略类的书籍。尤其喜欢金伟灿(W. Chan Kim)的《蓝海战略》(Blue Ocean Strategy)。不过，我 最珍视的书是圣经。我们在打造企业文化时所采用的许多最佳商业实践，往往都以专一信念为基础，而这些思想火花在圣经里都能找到。WSJ：你希望每个入司的新员工知道一个什么道理？杨肃斌：新员工必须掌握我们所称的三种语言：上帝的语言，人类的语言和机器的语言。上帝的语言意味着与上帝合一，在心智上不受世俗的羁绊。人类的语言指的是全球商业交往中使用的语言。表达非常重要，尤其对于一个领导者而言，必须激励团队成员。这种语言可以是汉语可以是英语也可以是印度语，根据业务经营的具体市场而定。最后必须掌握的是机器的语言，也就是基于电脑技术或有助于提高生产率的机器的语言。在杨忠礼机构，我们注重对这三种语言的掌握，因此中高层员工的流失率很少。此外，我们很注意避免过度招聘，以免在经济不景气时不得不考虑裁员。WSJ：在亚洲市场经营与在其他国家有何不同？杨肃斌：在法律完善制度透明和监管全面的环境下，经营起来往往比较容易。因此，我们在马来西亚英国澳大利亚新加坡和美国这类的市场经营，感觉非常得心应手。WSJ：作为一个管理者，你做出过的最艰难抉择是什么？杨肃斌：在杨忠礼机构，任何决策都要经过董事们的严格审核，董事会通过后，我还会向父亲征询意见。在公司发展早期，有个董事（杨肃彬的一个兄弟）向董事会提出一个生产乳胶手套的建议。这不是公司的核心业务，只是一个有可能获取高额利润的机会──至少我们都是这么想的。然而，（当过度投资导致全球乳胶手套行业走向衰退时）这笔投资很快就宣告失败，因此我们关闭了乳胶手套厂。为让所有人记住这个教训，我们在公司的“错误博物馆”保留了（储存生产手套的乳胶液的）空罐子。这个教训增强我们的信念：必须依托自己在工程方面的优势来发展业务。我那个兄弟吸取了教训，后来在亚洲创立了经营最好最有利润的水泥企业之一，杨忠礼水泥公司(YTL Cement)。WSJ：你建议那些想进入你这一行的人先去深造，还是边学边干？杨肃斌：我必须为家族成员设定一个很高的标准。我坚持进公司的人应该有一个工程学或类似专业的优等学位，不想让任何一个恃娇而宠的家族成员进入公司，我反对裙带作风和任人唯亲的做法。因此，大多数家族成员都毕业于或正在就读名校，比如伦敦的帝国理工学院(Imperial College London)剑桥大学(University of Cambridge)牛津大学(University of Oxford)诺丁汉大学(University of Nottingham)和伦敦政治经济学院(London School of Economics)等。这是一个好现象。COSTAS PARIS


Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, managing director of YTL Corp. Bhd. and one of Malaysia's most prominent business personalities, is a religious man who makes every effort to practice his Christian values in life and business. Under his stewardship, the YTL group has grown from a single entity in Malaysia in 1985 to seven listed companies, making it one of Malaysia's biggest conglomerates, with operations at home and abroad.Mr. Yeoh's grandfather left Fujian province in China in 1920 with just a few dollars and a bag of clothes. He landed in Malaysia, worked hard and opened a timber business. His son Yeoh Tiong Lay started a construction company called Yeoh Tiong Lay Building Co. in 1955, later shortened to YTL. Its early construction projects in Malaysia were military garrisons, hospitals and low-cost housing.At the age of 16, Francis Yeoh was already learning the business at the company's construction sites on weekends and holidays. As the eldest of seven children, he offered to drop out of school, where he was the head boy, to help his father. The offer was rejected and Francis went to Kingston Polytechnic (now Kingston University), in London, earning a degree in civil engineering. On his return to Malaysia in 1978, at the age of 24, his father appointed him managing director of YTL.During the past 30 years, the YTL group, whose principal activities are now in water supply and treatment and power generation, has also moved into other activities such as hotel and resort management, information technology, manufacturing, and cement, with acquisitions such as PowerSeraya Ltd., a major supplier of electricity in Singapore; Wessex Water Ltd. in the U.K., and the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Kuala Lumpur.Yeoh family members continue to dominate the YTL board, holding eight of the 13 seats. The extended Yeoh family's net worth is estimated at US$1.7 billion, which would make it Malaysia's sixth richest clan. Shares of YTL Corp. and six other entities in the YTL group are listed in Malaysia, while the parent company is also traded in Tokyo. And a YTL real-estate investment trust trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York.An avid lover of the arts, Mr. Yeoh, 56, is president and patron of the Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra Society and is actively involved in philanthropy. Costas Paris interviewed Mr. Yeoh in Singapore.WSJ: Who gave you the best business advice? Mr. Yeoh: The best business advice I've received came from God's scriptures. I am only a steward of God's wealth. Knowing this means that there is a lack of personal ego in the approach that YTL takes to business decisions. We practice what we preach and look to develop good ideas so that in every down cycle, such as we are currently seeing in the global economy, we have cash available to be able to expand the company. Now we have reserves to invest in excess of US$3.4 billion.WSJ: What advice would you give to someone starting out in your field today? Mr. Yeoh: Many CEOs have a short-term, quarterly-results-oriented outlook. At YTL we have built businesses that on the surface may look diversified. However, linking them all is the central common denominator, which is our engineering skill set. Staying focused and having a long-term view means that we have a balance sheet where more than 70% of our income is recurring, which is one of the reasons I can sleep well at night.WSJ: Do you have a favorite business book? Mr. Yeoh: I read and enjoy Warren Buffet and the usual collection of business-strategy books. I particularly like W. Chan Kim's 'Blue Ocean Strategy.' But the book I value the most is the Bible. Many of the best business practices we adopt as a [corporate] culture tend to be faith-based, and are found in the Scriptures.WSJ: What's the one thing you wish every new hire knew? Mr. Yeoh: New hires must master what we call the three languages: the language of God, the language of man and the language of machines. The language of God means integrating your character with God and being uncorrupted.The language of man is the language of global business. You have to articulate, especially when you're a leader and have to motivate your people. It could be Mandarin in China, it could be English in Britain, and it could be Indian in India if you do business there.Finally you have to master the language of machines, which is computer-based technology or machines that enhance your business productivity. At YTL we focus on these three characteristics and as a result have very little turnover of senior staff. And we are mindful never to over-hire so as to avoid any retrenchment cycles.WSJ: Is there a difference between how you work in Asia and the rest of the world? Mr. Yeoh: We tend to do very well in economies that have the rule of law, transparency and a sophisticated regulatory framework. So in that context, Malaysia, Britain, Australia, and Singapore and economies like the U.S. are territories we are very comfortable with.WSJ: What was the toughest decision you've had to make as a manager? Mr. Yeoh: At YTL, any decision is subjected to rigorous scrutiny of the board of directors. If a deal gets through them it comes to me and I will still approach my father for his counsel. When the company was still young, one director [a Yeoh brother] came to the board with an idea to invest into the latex glove business. Rather than a core business built to last, it was an opportunity to make huge profits -- or so we all thought. It very quickly came to nothing [when the over-invested global latex glove industry faltered] and we closed the business.As a reminder to us all, we still keep the empty tanks [once filled with liquid latex for making gloves] in our [so-called] museum of mistakes. It reinforces the need to stay focused on our skill set, which is based on engineering. The same brother has moved on to build one of the best and profitable cement companies in Asia, YTL Cement.WSJ: Would you recommend someone starting out in your field obtain an advanced degree, or learn on the job? Mr. Yeoh: I had to set a very high bar for members of our family. I insisted on an honors degree in engineering or similar degrees related to our industry. I didn't want any molly-coddled sibling coming in. I didn't want nepotism, cronyism and all that stuff.So most of them have graduated or are graduating from the best colleges, such as the Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of Nottingham, the London School of Economics. These are good signs.COSTAS PARIS