The New Asian Tiger Leadership Style

An Aggressive Asian Western Business Management Model

Jun 8, 2009

In the 70s, Southeast Asian refugees fled to Western safe havens where they learned to mix an Asian work ethic with a Western capitalist spirit, tiger leadership emerged.

Tiger leadership is a new leadership style prowling around Southeast Asia which combines the brashness of a Western entrepreneurial style with a tireless Asian work ethic.This new style of leadership is exemplified most prominently by young Southeast Asian refugees who were forced to flee their homelands during the Vietnamese War and Cambodian genocide. Young Cambodian entrepreneur Kith Meng is one example of this new tiger leadership.

Kith Meng - The New Asian Tiger Leader

Kith Meng is the Chairman of the Royal Group of Cambodia, a growing conglomerate which owns among other things the country's (a) largest cellular service, (b) most well-known hotel, (c) the second largest full service bank, and (d) the country's #1 TV station. Gluckman (2008) describes Kith as brash, ambitious and sometimes ruthless; another commentator called him "The New Asian Tiger Leader" who has become the face of Cambodia's rise in capitalism.

New Asian Tiger Leaders - Tireless and Aggressive

Like many Asian businessmen, Kith Meng loves to work long hours and cannot think about ever taking a vacation (Minter, 2007). However, unlike other Cambodian tycoons who wish to make deals in the privacy of a back office, Kith is aggressive and out in the public's eye. His aggressive style was partially developed when living in Australia as a refugee where he carried a cricket bat to school to protect himself from racial attacks.

A Khmer-American Tiger Leader

Nick Meas is a Khmer-American who demonstrates the same mix of Asian work ethic and aggressive entrepreneurial style. When he was a little child, he rode his mother's back as they fled from the Khmer Rouge. Growing up in Long Beach, California, Nick had no use for school where he endured continuous racial attacks. Instead, Nick followed in his mother's footsteps and became a real estate agent and quickly found out he had a knack for making money (a talent Kith Meng claims as well) (Coggins, personal communication).

Asian Tiger Leaders - High Risk Tolerance

Today, Nick is a business tycoon in his own right, spanning the globe to increase his opportunities for a profit. Furthermore, Nick is unflappable with a high risk tolerance. When presented with nearly impossible odds, Nick does not flinch, saying he should be dead already. Nick thinks if he escaped the Khmer Rouge everything else is a bonus (Coggins, personal communication).

Tiger Leadership - High Energy, Authoritarian-Autocratic Mix

As leadership theories go, the new Asian tiger leadership style is an authoritarian-autocratic style with a lot of energy and huff and puff. It is a hard-driving, no nonsense, get results style of business leadership. While waiting to interview Kith Meng, Gluckman observed him stomping around the lawn of his hotel, barking out orders over his cellphone. Furthermore in his partnership with ANZ bank from Australia, Meng likens himself as the driver of the relationship whose job it is to push and push for more growth and profits. Despite his character flaws, Kith Meng gets things done and has now become the gateway into Cambodia's fledgling economy (Gluckman).

Tiger leadership is a hard driving, gets results leadership style that is taking the Southeast Asian business jungle by storm.

Unanonymous. (2008). Cambodia: The New Asia Tiger and Cambodian Tycoon Kith Meng. KhmerLife.com.

The copyright of the article The New Asian Tiger Leadership Style in Regional Business Profiles is owned by Eric Coggins. Permission to republish The New Asian Tiger Leadership Style in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.