REFLECTIONS PART I

Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia President Dato’ Seri Ir Dr Zaini Ujang shares his views about the Club and its signature professional development program. “We are targeting highpotential people,” he says. Also, the Club’s founding president Dato’ Sulaiman Abdullah recalls his time at Harvard University in Boston in 1964 and 1973 and why it matters to bring the Program to Malaysia. Photos of the Club’s activities are shared here too.

DATO’ SERI IR DR ZAINI UJANG

President 2015 - current

“You must have determination. If you want to do something, do it. Don’t think small.” ~ Zaini

Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang, dubbed Malaysia’s “water icon”, has been the President of HBSACM since 2016. Dr. Zaini, who is also the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Environment and Water, has said growing up near rivers had given him an appreciation for water quality issues.

The country’s youngest vice-chancellor at 43 years old, Dr. Zaini was the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) from 2008 to 2013. He joined UTM as a lecturer in 1988.

After graduating in chemical engineering from UTM, he took inspiration from his childhood surroundings and branched out into environmental engineering.

He completed his Master of Science (Environmental Engineering) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK. He continued on at the university for his PhD, completing it in less than three years.

He also attended Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in Boston in 2009.

Recalling his Harvard experience, he said top universities such as Harvard and MIT opted for case methods in the teaching process. They cover wide areas of studies such as business, medicine, law and engineering.

He has published more than 250 technical papers, 35 books, chapters, monographs and technical reports on environmental engineering. He and his co-workers have registered 21 patents and copyrights, and he received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Newcastle University in 2018.

On the HBSAM program

This is a signature high-level CPD program in the country. When HR managers read our document, they know it is a high-level CPD (continuous professional development) programme. We are not targeting general managers but high-potential people and they go up the (corporate) ladder. We can trace them. Some CEOs and Chairmen are also attending the programme such as the Executive Chairman of Top Glove Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai. They also include ministry secretaries-general and vicechancellors of universities.

What are the other benefits of this program?

Besides being a high-level CPD program, it also offers networking. This is one of the two biggest contributions of this program. Also, some people attend our program because they want to sample a Harvard Business School program prior to their departure to Harvard in Boston. We serve as a feeder to HBS.

On Harvard Business School’s teaching method

HBS is fully case methods. Some schools like MIT Sloan School of Management also have case studies but 80 per cent are lectures and 20 per cent case studies. Professors are free to design their class, so they don’t obey any instructions from departments for each subject,

for example, finance. But in Harvard, the philosophy of Harvard Business School is case methods. (90 per cent are case methods.)

[In January 2011 Dr. Zaini, the then Vice-Chancellor of UTM, announced that UTM would use the Harvard Business School case studies in related subjects. According to him, the implementation involved students from all levels of study and the case study would be conducted every semester. His had a vision in which our graduates would become the leaders of companies, industries or even the country in the very near future. Therefore, he wanted to embed this HBS case study as one of the professional soft skills in our engineering students.]

On helping to get more Malaysians into top business schools

This is something that we have to do, maybe as a project. Top schools are very important because it is not what you learn in that particular school. It is exposure and networking. Imagine if you were together, with the future belonging to Amazon-like companies, and you are Malaysian. You already have the connection. Because he was your classmate. When I was there, the CEO of Coffee Beans was in my class.

“The Harvard Business School SMDP provided a summarised yet wide-ranging insight into global management trends, experiences and best practices from leading business organisations. The SMDP also provided a great platform to exchange and expand ideas as well as networking opportunities.” ~ Participant Marzida Mohd Nor, Senior General Manager, IT at Malaysia Airlines.

DATO’ SULAIMAN ABDULLAH

Founder President 1976/77

HBSACM founding president and Negeri Sembilan-born Dato Sulaiman Abdullah had served the country in many capacities.

He joined the civil service in 1959 upon graduating from the University of Malaya (Singapore) with an Honours Degree in Economics. He had worked in the Federal Treasury, Negeri Sembilan State Secretariat and the Economic Planning Unit.

He went to Harvard twice, the first time in 1964 when he obtained his Master of Public Administration (Economic Development) and the second time in 1973 for the Advanced Management Program (AMP).

He served MISC as Executive Deputy Chairman, Pernas as Group Vice-President and Chairman and was a director of a few companies associated with MISC and Pernas.

He also sat on the council of Universiti Pertanian Malaysia and MARA.

When asked what spurred him to form HBSACM in 1976, he said: “I was the second Malaysian, after a long while, to have entered the Advanced Management Program (AMP), the first being the Chief Justice of Singapore, Yong Pang How, when he was with MSA.”

“I had the choice of pursuing a PhD but opted for the shorter but much more marketoriented AMP as the programme exposed me to new fields of knowledge beyond economics.”

“When I returned, I recommended that the PSD send more officers to the programme, especially those dealing with finance and development corporations, so that they could manage their idle resources far effectively.”

But the Club went on to organise the SMDP, which is the local version of AMP. The attendees are now in various positions in the private as well as the government sectors.

“As the number of staff with the required knowledge grew I thought that a club of likeminded people would help to advance knowledge to a lot more middle-level staff and we could organise courses locally. That is how the Club was formed.”

“But along the way, the process of giving the opportunity became a means of rewarding people before they retired. So it defeated the purpose.”

“SMDP was well thought out. In fact, for the past 40 years the basic core program has remained intact. We also gave out scholarships to deserving business students.”