In the journey of life, there are junctures that present risks, failures, challenges, opportunities and triumphs.
And it is those junctures which provide valuable lessons allowing one to better manage his or her life, says Suphachai Chearavanont, the new head of Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group.
"Life is always at some turning point," he says.
Tech-savvy Mr Suphachai, 50, tells of a series of crossroads in his own life that forced him to face the prospect of failure, push on and ultimately overcome those hardships, allowing him to capitalise on the opportunities being presented.
"There have been at least four major turning points that I would define as critical life events or experiences that have helped me grow as a person," he says.
Mr Supachai rescues a dog during the 2011 floods in Bangkok.
It started when he was eight years old and his billionaire father, Dhanin Chearavanont, sent him to a school in Taiwan for a year to learn Chinese, paving the way for CP to do business there.
"This pulled me out of my comfort zone for the first time in my life," he says.
The second event was when he got married and had three children in his early 30s, dramatically increasing his responsibilities.
The third was what Mr Suphachai dubs "the most important event of his life": when the 1997 Asian financial crisis hit True Corporation, where he was serving as a senior executive.
True had a record-breaking debt of almost 100 billion baht after the depreciation of the Thai baht by more than 50% that year. "We were financially bankrupt. That was the biggest turning point in my life."
Mr Suphachai says that the day he learned he was drowning in debt, he had absolutely no idea how to get his head above water.
"I was really depressed and I didn't really know what to do with my life or the company," he says.
While driving home that day, he thought of three options for dealing with the debt burden. First, sell the company to repay the debt; second, allow creditors to seize the company, freeing himself from liability; and third, continue to fight and find ways to pay off the debt.
But it was a boy selling garlands at a traffic stop that gave him a sign on how to proceed.
Mr Suphachai and his wife with their youngest child, Sander, who entered the monkhood earlier this year.
"While I was waiting for the light to turn green, a boy asked me to buy one of his garlands," Mr Suphachai recalls. "I bought one and was suddenly inspired by how he was fighting for his livelihood. I decided to fight as well: to negotiate with my creditors and get our debt restructured."
He says a sense of social responsibility to True's 10,000 employers was the critical reason behind his decision.
After managing to negotiate with creditors and successfully entering a debt-restructuring programme, Mr Suphachai was chosen by the creditors to serve as president and chief executive of True Corporation.
He says that in the end there was only one reason why he managed to escape from the debt crisis: "The power of positive thinking."
"That was very powerful, the belief that I thought I could get out of debt," Mr Suphachai says.
One critical lesson he garnered from the crisis is that "corporate values" are the most important factor for an organisation, as they are directly tied to a firm's core value.
The last turning point Mr Suphachai encountered was when he was entrusted by his father this year to take the helm of CP Group's US$45-billion (1.55 trillion baht) agribusiness, serving as chief executive.
He now seeks to transform CP's business through the adoption of advanced technology, which he dubs "CP Version 4.0".
"We are undergoing a complete transformation as a result of the rapidly changing business environment as we seek to drive the agribusiness empire my family has built to accommodate Thailand 4.0," Mr Suphachai says.
Mr Suphachai with Sander. One of the CEO's rules is to focus on being happy when spending time with family.
Digitisation of everything
Moving forward, he says CP will need to transform itself in response to disruptive market shifts. The group will soon get a revamp through the digitisation of management and overall business processes via the cloud-based digital platform.
"Digitisation activities will make our operational and management structure transparent in real time, as a culture of transparency is one of CP's goals," Mr Suphachai says.
In the digital age, CP must take advantage of business analytics management systems and sophisticated statistical tools to integrate the group's business and real-time data into a single unified platform.
"We want to transform the group via business intelligence and drive operational decision making in real time," Mr Suphachai says. "This will enable the group to create sustainable innovations to respond promptly to changes in the business environment."
He says all industries, the agricultural sector no exception, are now entering the 4.0 era, in which data communication occurs directly machine-to-machine, machine-to-person, person-to-person and person-to-machine.
Traceability -- the ability to identify the origin of food and feed ingredients and food sources in agricultural products -- is also necessary because it shows the path of a particular product from suppliers to intermediaries and ultimately consumers.
"This is the way to improve sustainability in our food business development, as well as ensure good social and environment practices," Mr Suphachai says.
He says it's a common misconception that agriculture is not a high-tech industry. But robotics and automation are playing a significant role in turning traditional agriculture into smart farming, delivering more efficient and sustainable production techniques.
Cycling is one among favorite sports of Mr Suphachai Chearavanont.
CP is also promoting the development of agricultural economics and crop zoning in Thailand to foster environmentally friendly production.
New focus areas
CP is embracing innovation, automation and technology to drive its agribusiness empire into the CP 4.0 era.
"We're expanding into emerging businesses like logistics, robotics, analytics and biotechnology to capitalise on opportunities as they materialise," Mr Suphachai says.
CP is also leveraging agriculture to improve nutrition and health.
For its part, True Corporation is combining all of its innovations into a digital platform to serve new consumer lifestyles.
"We aim to become a market leader in our existing businesses while continuing on our path of growth," Mr Suphachai says.
CP has eight business lines: industrial agriculture and food; marketing and distribution; telecommunications; pharmaceuticals; real estate development; auto and heavy industry; e-business; and financial and banking services.
"We aim to become the most admired company in Thailand," Mr Suphachai says.
He says he felt a lot of pressure before taking up the chief position at CP; but that pressure no longer exists because he has learned that the burden of operational management does not fall on his shoulders alone.
"All human resources play vital roles in driving the success of the organisation," he says. "Success as a good leader depends largely on the capabilities of the workforce and their strong commitment to the company.
A man uses his mobile while walking past a True Move sign board. In 2015, the company budgeted 56 billion baht to launch an LTE Advanced network.
Ultimate goal
"I had a dream when I was studying in the US that I wanted to start a real estate business when I came back home. But a slew of opportunities and experiences have changed my life, as well as my dreams. Now I can enjoy whatever I'm doing, which makes positives changes in one's life and allows you to get to the next level."
He says that having the chance to work as the chairman of the Pracha Rat (People's State) steering committee on education and leadership development has been a dream job come true.
But Mr Suphachai says his ultimate goal is to make his loved ones happy.
Mr Suphachai, wife Busadee and their children Korawad and Kamolnan.
Retirement plan
The executive says he will serve a 10-year term as the boss of CP Group, as outlined in the organisation's policy.
"There could be the possibility of stepping down earlier than the 10-year term if I find other people with greater potential than me or with greater capabilities," he says.
But for Mr Suphachai, work is a part of his life that he always looks forward to.
"I never think about my retirement date or any specified retirement age," he says.
As for stress relief, Mr Suphachai says long weekends or trips with his family and activities together always do the trick.
More importantly, he says one important family rule is to focus on being happy when spending quality time together at home.
And while CP may have a term limit for its leaders, Mr Suphachai himself sees no reason to slow down while he is still capable of making his mark.
"I will continue working beyond retirement age," he says, "or maybe for the remainder of my life if it is viable."
True Corporation employees relax in the company library.
