Zhao Danyang, the father of China's private equity, spent 2.11 million dollars having a meal with Buffett and then got a big profit. This story was widely known and spread on the Internet. However, today the protagonist is not Zhao, but me.
I was not a professional financial person, nor spent any cost, but it was extremely lucky that I got a close contact with the renowned business leader in Pakistan and Asia----the KASB Group Chairman Mr. Nasir Ali Shah Bukhari. Unlike the directors of large corporations in Europe or America as people may usually image, he led Pakistan business with an unbelievable Eastern wisdom, and devoted a lifelong commitment to develop the friendship with the China. While visiting Pakistan, I saw the industry under his group, and it was not simply business, but like a kingdom. And his influence was far more than a businessman, but same as the leaders of people. I ever interviewed a lot of international businessmen as a journalist in Peking University News Center, and most of them were Westerners, however, I could feel that for young people in developing countries, the life philosophy and ways of doing things of Mr. Nasir Bukhari were more worthy learning, and he was more worthy to be our role model.
In knowing him, his family and his friends (mostly financial sector top elites, and of course also Peking University professor), as well as in my visit to Pakistan, everyday I could feel that my thoughts and perspectives were in another level, and sometimes it made myself hard to believe. How I was suddenly squeezed into this circle? The original situation was broken, and I learned how the world was functioning actually, and some important ways and rules of doing things, business and being a person. These ideas and principles were more useful than the theoretical courses of MBA, and they were valuable asset in my life as well as the great capital while facing the opportunities.
KASB Group is a leading company in Pakistan covering the areas of banking, investment, leasing, education, and scientific research etc, and was founded in 1958. Why it was called KASB? Because it was founded by Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari, the father of Mr. Nasir Bukhari, and named after the abbreviation of former’s name. Sometimes I just couldn’t imagine how this company developed and grew in Pakistan 52 years of ups and downs. Met Mr. Nasir Bukhari in the first time, I didn’t know what he was doing, and the content in his card was too simple, showing this person was extremely unusual but quite low-key. He was very tall, looking like the Arabs, his eyes looked deep and transcendent, and his talk showed a unique charm. Compared to the businessman image, he was more like a philosopher.
Well, having talked so much, here let me write down six summed up sentiments and conclusions, as my study address of learning with him.
1. People Influenced the World and People Read the News
In this world, most people could only read the news, and a small number of people engaged in the profession of journalism could write the news. However, the contact with Mr. Nasir Bukhari in my visit to Pakistan made me know that there were also people in the world could be the news and create the news.
In one dinner, he mentioned several friends of his. And in the night I turned on the TV, and saw the people he mentioned in it. And before leaving Pakistan, we met him at the airport, and he told us 2 hours later he was to meet the Turkish President who was just visiting Pakistan. I suddenly realized what the meaning of big shot was. His bank in Pakistan had more than 100 branches; he also had a university under this group, and his company was almost omnipotence under the legal framework. But what impressed me most, was not how powerful it was, but the laudable tolerant and the great endeavor behind it. Of course, like all companies, KASB Group may also face its own challenges and opportunities. But after all what I learned most was that how the perspective of these top entrepreneurs different from we normal people. Big things were always done with this height. After being back from Pakistan, my vision of doing things was enlarged. I leaned that a person can live like this!
2. The Essence of Business Is Being a Decent Person
When you looked closely on how Nasir Bukhari treated his employees and partners, you may find that with the name of international business aside, everything he did returned to the very simple principles of life: integrity, respect, caring on family, trust, inspire, being nice ... ...He repeated these things everyday, and did them to the extreme, so that everyone around him played to his (her) best potential. It seemed he was not doing business, but always making friends and maintaining friendships, and provided a permanent commitment to his partners. Mr. Omar, who worked in KASB Group, told us that Mr. Nasir was an easy-going person and he always made you feel so important. Maybe this was the highest form of marketing. In short, I didn’t learn the skill of calculation in this visit, but could feel that the essence of business is being a decent person, and to work on your personal brand with lifetime endeavor.
3. Profound China Complex
Mr. Nasir ever witnessed Zhou Enlai’ visiting Pakistan in 1964 when he was quite young. And he first came to China in 1970s. He was invited for speech by the CPPCC around 2000, and his group also supported the Pakistan Research Center for Peking University. Till now, he couldn’t remember how many times had he come to China. Indeed, he is a reliable friend of China! I could feel that his dealings with Chinese partners had being far beyond the ordinary shrewd business way. He integrated the deepest emotion on China with the great ambition and bold vision, and leaved people a feeling of trust. Sometimes you may feel he was not doing business, but fulfilling the commitment between two nations projected to individuals.
In Pakistan, once I asked him how to have a call to China. When I showed the name孙力舟 ( a PHD in Peking University who was very professional at international comments) and the number, he even read out the three words’ Chinese pronunciation “Sun Li Zhou”! That situation almost startled me. I didn’t know when he learned Chinese, but I’m sure his story with China is still going on, and we may expect it to be more exciting and wonderful in future.
4. The Unity of Extreme Fast and Slow
Dealing with Mr. Nasir, I really realized what the world-class efficiency was. Any time you sent him an email, usually he would reply you within half an hour. I researched all his emails sent to me, and found none of the emails was more than five lines. However, he used very refined words to make all the people who wrote long articles get around him. It was unbelievable!
However, he always seemed taking everything easy, looking as if nothing was in a hurry. Maybe decades of ups and downs in Pakistanjust exercised him and made him collected and self controlled facing everything problem. And he might understand the importance of staying calm much more than others. I’m just wondering, is this wisdom called “To deal emergency with a slow way” in Chinese?
5.The Leadership beyondCultural Differences
In Peking University, I heard too many talks about cultural differences. However, touching Pakistani business people, I could feel that all kinds of leaderships in the world were interlinked. Though indeed there were enormous cultural differences between two nations, people are alwaysthe same people. We are all human beings and we all need a strong firm agreement; we all need the support of others; we all need to be trusted, commitment, repay and have a willingness to do more. It seemed Mr. Nasir seldom emphasized on the cultural differences, and his way of doing things went beyond that. You could feel he was always a reliable leader, and solve complicated problems through simple ways.
6. Have an International Perspective, but Never Forgot Where You Come from
Mr. Nasir had ever been to more than 100 countries, and knew what happened in the world by the first line information. Striving in the international word for so many years, he had known too much about how it was functioned and what it looked like. However, in this visit, I felt his strong national sense and patriotism. He dressed in Muslim attire, spoke the Urdu with a Sindh accent, and ate in the way Pakistani did (using hand); he listened to the music of his nation, and managed the team with the spirit of Islam… From the details, you could feel he was a Pakistani with a deep Islamic culture basement, and he loved his own culture and was proud of that. He learned the West, but never looked up the world, and firmly took the own road of Pakistan. As a Chinese, this struck me a lot. We are accepting globalization, but in the end who we are? I learned from Mr. Nasir that as a person from a developing country, you have to face the world with courage, self-confidence and dignity. Your nationality was never a drag or making you look down on yourself, but it was your unique mission and pride.
……
In all, during this period, my mind got freshened and I learned so much. Mr. Nasir Bukhari was an incredible figure. As a foreigner, I could still say that the world needs and welcomed the leaders like him. Of course, we should have the spirit of inquiry on every person and everything. The more important the person is, the more we should not follow him (her) blindly. We have to think independently and follow what is true, as the world is always developing.
People often say who you touch, who you would become. I could feel that a deep belief has begun to affect my thoughts. On the one hand, the history, present and future of China-Pakistan relation made me had a sense of mission and the great name China made me can’t stop feeling exciting; On the other hand, knowing Mr. Nasir Bukhari made me see another possibility of the world, and also made me feel that I have to go beyond, I have to influence others, I have to work hard, I have to do something, and I don’t want to be a normal person anymore.
Now, my friends were all watching the new film <Go Lala Go> (a career promotion film), but I’m reading "Selected Works of Mao Zedong." Why I don’t want to see the film? 1. My destination is not 25 thousand Yuan per month; 2. If everyone gets promoted through this way, where would be my chance? I just want to get absorbed from the most powerful and shining ideological thoughts and methods in modern China. One day, you may also call me “Director Xu”. But actually what I want to do most is to revive an ideal, achieve a possibility, and let the people who I admire today can also feel proud of me some time.
Life is like a journey, and sometimes you never know where the next station is. And the only thing we can do is to take every step well, be a responsible person, and enjoy the whole process. Isn’t it? Learning with world’s top businessman Mr. Nasir Bukhari, I learned the smallest things in life, but I also learned the most magnificent world----it’s in our hands.
(If you want to know more about why I visit and what I see in Pakistan, please see my other articles in www. Chinavalue.net)