When it comes to the leadership rules Fauzi Ichsan adheres to, he has four clear favorites.
“First, understand that you are not the best and brightest on your board, but merely the most acceptable,” he tells The CEO Magazine.
“Always surround yourself with people who are brighter and more experienced than you in their respective fields. Second, have achievable aspirations, communicate them with your board and work backward with plans to achieve them.”
Ichsan adds that it’s essential to win the trust and support of colleagues and to ensure they feel empowered to get involved in developing strategies – sage advice for any CEO or manager.
“Focus on people’s strengths, not their weaknesses, and put them where they will maximize their contributions,” he continues. “Be ready to give credit and take blame for your subordinates – it’s easier said than done!
“And finally, have respect, empathy and sympathy for your subordinates, even when you have to make tough decisions as a leader.”
Advertisement
As Chair of the board for Indonesia Financial Group (IFG), Ichsan has overcome more than his fair share of challenges. However, he has benefited from a strong professional foundation both in the private and public sectors.
He spent time in banking, initially for Citibank before working for 13 years at Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia as Senior Economist, Head of Research and Government Relations, and finally, Managing Director, in conjunction with an early period as a debt collector. Later, he spent five years as CEO of Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Advertisement
In that last position, tough decisions and exposing those operating outside of the law were all in a day’s work for Ichsan.
“While I was CEO, I had to close down 39 banks. It was painful, but it had to be done,” he explains. “Typically banks were liquidated because of fraud, which would necessitate me to send people to jail, typically the banks’ management or owners or both.
“It wasn’t fun, it’s not nice to destroy people’s lives and affect their families, but it had to be done.”
Taking huge strides
Then in 2020, he began his journey with IFG. As Indonesia’s largest non-bank financial conglomerate, IFG is unique in many ways. The company was created during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to consolidate the state-owned insurance sector and provide a resolution to failing state-owned insurance companies.
Of its 10 subsidiaries, five are in the insurance industry: Jasa Raharja, a traffic accidents insurance provider; general insurance and guarantee companies Jasindo, Askrindo and Jamkrindo; and IFG Life, IFG’s life insurance subsidiary.
Other than office real estate company Graha Niaga Tata Utama, the rest fall into the categories of capital markets and venture capital: Bahana Sekuritas, an investment bank and stockbroker; Bahana TCW, Indonesia’s second-largest fund manager; and BAV and BKI, both venture capitalists.
In the five short years since its inception and Ichsan’s appointment, huge strides have already been made.
Having managed to rectify some of the failings resulting from the Asian financial crisis of 1997, IFG Life ‘rescued’ over 1.4 million policyholders from the redundant insurance company Jiwasraya.
Of the considerable transition to get IFG to where it is today, Ichsan admits the process was an immense and complex undertaking.
“You need a good sense of humor,” he says with a smile. “Because a restructuring is always tense, especially if you’re getting sued or you’re suing, or you’ve got politicians calling you asking you to sway things their way. It always happens, but that’s life.
“You have to be polite, but you need to not yield.”
Strong foundations
Ichsan has also learned that a promise from one government doesn’t guarantee anything once a new team takes charge.
“Don’t assume the next government will agree with the things we’ve done,” he says. “So I tell my colleagues that whatever we do, it has to follow guidelines.
“It must have a strong legal foundation and instructions or discussions must be written because you never know if it’s going to be audited or challenged 10 years down the road.”
Advertisement
As a key figure in the South-East Asian insurance space, Ichsan explains that IFG has a certain responsibility to help shape and improve the wider industry.
“We need to harmonize the various practices of the insurance businesses by reducing unhealthy inter-subsidiary competition and cannibalization, by standardizing insurance fees based on best market and actuarial practices, and by imposing global accounting standards,” he says.
“We also need to strengthen partnerships between the subsidiaries and strategic investors – preferably global – while eventually preparing for initial public offerings.”
Without a robust and carefully cultivated culture, large-scale institutions in particular can truly suffer. By concentrating on unifying the disparate subsidiaries and teams under the IFG banner and always leading by example, Ichsan has successfully taken the entire company to the next level and ensured it can continue to achieve healthy, long-term growth.
“I see a company like a big orchestra, where the leader is the conductor, trying to perform the best symphony by getting the best out of each musician,” he enthuses.
Advertisement
“Each must understand the culture of the orchestra and conduct his or her acts accordingly, in a trustworthy and harmonious manner. Similarly, in a company, the boss must walk the talk and be the role model for everyone.
“In many cases, the boss must be willing to sacrifice their own personal comforts to gain the trust of the team, because only when the team trusts the boss will they commit 100 percent.”
