THE VIEWS OF A PIONEERING BUSINESSWOMAN

       Molly Zhang has become one of the first Chinese female executives to head the major operations of a multinational company in Thailand.
       In February, she was appointed country manager of Dow Chemical Thailand and managing director of the SCG-Dow Group, together representing the largest investment hub in Asia for Dow, one of the world's biggest chemical companies. The appointment followed a career in chemical engineering spanning the globe.
       In a wide-ranging interview with The Nation's Pichaya Changsorn, she discussed engineering careers for women, the petrochemical industry and her management principles, as a well as her perspective on the Thai and Chinese cultures.
       Please brief us on your background.
       I was born and raised in Shanghai. In 1981, when I was 20 years old, I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to study in Germany. I wanted to be a journalist, but my parents always wanted me to be an engineer. In the 1970s, China had just opened its foor to the world. We realised how backward our industry was. China was going to face industrialisation, and my parents realised an engineer would have a bright future.
       Are you the first Asian woman to rise to a top position at Down Chemical?
       In Dow, we have a lot of senior women executives. My last boss was a woman. But in Asia, there are not too many woman executives in manufacturing. Manufacturing has traditionally been viewed as a male-dominated profession. However, we are now hiring a lot of women engineers. Currently, in Thailand, half of new hiring of engineers at Map Ta Phut [where most of Dow's plants are located] are women.
       Has it been difficult for an Asian women to cut the clutter in this profession?
       It depends on where you are. Twenty years ago, a woman engineer was very rare. But it's not like that today. We have a lot of support systems. We have mentoring, coaching and networks for women to be connected.
       What was the most challenging thing you faced in your career?
       I'm not somebody who worried a lot. I just come in and focus on my hobs, so life has been relatively easy. Because I have an excellent education, I got a good job, and the job has never been too difficult for me. What was challenging for me was that having finished the fancy education, I came to the company and realised I actually had to start over again. The technical part was easy, but university doesn't really teach you how to develop soft skills; leadership skills. Like ho to run a meeting, how to manage your time, how to manage conflicts with your colleagues.
       How have you proved yourself?
       You have to do more than just meet expectations. This is true not only for women, but also for men: if you're ambitious in your career goals, you must always excel and do better than expected.
       Do you have to work harder?
       I don't know. I always loved my work, so I never really feel like it was a big deal. I loved to do well. One of my phisolophies in life is to be the best. I want to be the best at work and at home; to be the best mom, the best wife, the best manager, the best employee. And the company gives me a very supportive environment. They keep me challenged all the time.
       What are your management principles?
       I'm very focused person. So what I like to do first is to set goals for myself and agree on goals for the organisation. And I believe in teamwork; I believe one plus one is bigger than two. I also believe in open, direct communication. But to provide timely feedback, it has to go both ways. The scariest thing is if management is operating in the dark. People are very important to me. People are the differentiator in today's businesses. And a very important thing for me is customer focus. I think that without customers, we have noe reason to exist. Another very important group of stakeholders is communities. I worry about how to keep communities happy; how tp support the success of communities.
       What do you think about Thai culture" Do you find yourself blending well with Thai culture?
       No (laughing). That was a big mistake I once made. When I first came to Thailand, I thought: I'm an Asian, I'm Chinese, I can deal with Thai culture [Note: Zhang first came to Thailand in 2002 and for about four years was site director in charge of Dow's manufacturing operations at Map Ta Phut]. I soon learned Thai culture was quite different. I found Thais to be very polite, very nice, very indirect. They did not really want to give me too much bad news (laughing). So, you need to have very good connections within the organisation, with employees, to understand what's going on.
       But I love me Thai culture. People are very balanced, very religious. I've learned a lot. For example, I used to be very active: let's make things happen, do things quickly. Thai people would all tell me: let's talk something over, let's think about it. Don't forget anything. Are we going to upset anybody? We spend a lot more time in planning. But once your get everybody's agreement, then they will make things happen.
       What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of working here?
       The most challengint thing is to change myself. Because I still think that compared with Thais, I am very direct. I really have to learn how to listen. If you don't listen, the people just watch you talk: you're all by yourself. I don't think I can change Thai culture, and because I'm not in the business of changing Thai culture, it's important for me to understand every member of my team. Because I have to ensure that every team member can perform well and maximise his or her potential.
       Could there be something you would like to change about your staff?
       As I mentioned before, what's important to me is good teamwork, because I think every one of us is very smart in certain areas. We need to have a culture in which we help each other to make decisions. We have to be open to debate about what solution is best for the company. When I first came to Thailand, I found that was rather difficult to achieve. We're very good individually, but to see us challenging each other and saying which ideas are the best ... it took me some work.
       Another thing that I tried to change was recognistion. Thais are very shy and do not really like to give compliments openly. We made it an unwritten rule that in every team meeting, we would recognise someone who did something well. One of the very fundamental management tools is giving people positive feedback. And this way - when something happens for a long time - we can make it part of the organisation's culture. That's very effective.
       How is Dow performing in Thailand?
       It's performing well. Asia is really the growh engine which will drive the global economy out of the downturn. We're seeing that in our industry and in our company us well. Everybody was doing so horribly last year - all the profits made in the first three quarters were wiped out in the fourth quarter. We're doing a couple-of-hundred-per-cent better than last year. Over the long term, we're committed to Thailand. We'd like to double our sales within the next couple of years.
       Will China succeed Thailand as the largest operation in Asia for Dow?
       On, absolutely. China is working full stream, on much bigger investments. In a couple of years, yes, absolutely, with many projects going on.
       Thailand has a unique competitive advantage, which is access to natural gas. It doesn't need to ship raw materials from the Middle East. Another very strong point is Thailand has excellent local talent. The engineers are brilliant. The technicians have outstanding work ethics and the education system is very Westernised compared to some other Asian countries. But we're facing some challenges and we have to manage our operations well, because today's competition is worse than ever. Even Vietnam is now attracting the petrochemical industry.