Leadership in challenging times
Dick Kovacevich, chairman emeritus of Wells Fargo, discusses regulators' handling of the financial crisis and the recipe for success in the industry, in his opening speech of the Leadership Dialogue at the Asian Banker Summit 2012. April 26, 2012 | Dick KovacevichOpening speech - Leadership Dialogue at the Asian Banker Summit 2012 Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for both my wife, Mary Jo, and for me to be with you this morning and to be back in Asia. My first trip was to Hong Kong back in the early 1970’s when I was executive vice president and general manager of Kenner Products, at that time the third largest toy company in the United States and a subsidiary of General Mills. We had decided to produce a substantial number of our toy products in Hong Kong. I came to visit a young Hong Kong entrepreneur, who our people had selected as our major supplier. I was concerned about their selection, as this supplier was not only very young (so was I by the way) but he had very limited toy experience, as he was primarily a manufacturer of plastic flowers. You may have heard of him. His name is Li Ka-Shing. To make a long story short, i worked with Ka-Shing for over a week, visiting his factories, talking to his people, playing ping pong at his home with his two young sons, long evening dinners, you know the drill. I came away very impressed and so totally confident of this man’s skills, expertise, intellect, and honesty that we shook hands on some very large orders and proceeded to do business together well before the purchase orders and contracts were issued and signed. It was my first introduction to the amazing people of Asia…your hard work, skills, innovation, entrepreneurship, and values. I later became the head of the international toy group for General Mills so I traveled to many more countries in Asia. In the 1980s, I was put in charge of Citibank’s international consumer business and visited Asia at least twice every year for about three weeks each time. So when I thin... Please login to read the complete article. If you already have an account, you can login now or subscribe/register.
Categories: Asian Banker Summit 2012Asian Banker Summit 2012, Asian Banker Summit 2012, Keywords:Leadership, Wells Fargo, Dodd-Frank Act, SIFI’s Leadership, Wells Fargo, Dodd-Frank Act, SIFI’s
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