Today, I like to share my thoughts of one of Sri Lankas most impressive corporate manager and a true business leader Dian Gomes. I first heard of Dian in mid-90s as a dynamic CEO at SlimLine, a different type of garment factory close to my hometown. I learnt how he changed the thousands of people of my home area particularly empowering the young women who worked for SlimLine. He also helped schools, children and others by carrying out various community projects. For me as a young professional just graduated from the University, Dian gave good impressions by these activites. Dian Gomes again came to my attention in 2003 when I read the famous book The Lexus and Olive Tree by well known author, former New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman who mentioned about his encounter with Dian and his transformation management style. I read the book as a graduate student in Spain in 2003 and the book was very influential in my IR thinking in later in life. When I contacted Dian from Spain and congratulated him he readily accepted it. In 2007, When I was looking for successful Sri Lankan case studies for the Kotlers book Principles of Marketing 13th Edition, I contacted Dian to write about MAS Holdings, he again responded very positively and arranged me all requirements for the case. Unfortunately, MAS Holdings was not among finally published cases from Sri Lanka by the co-authors. But I was able to teach, MAS Holdings Case Study written by Harvard Business School in some of my Strategic Management MBA Classes during next few years. Now in 2014, Dian has again welcomed my request and and I hope I will be able to publish unique MAS story of the empowering women as a part of their social marketing efforts in 14th Edition of Principles of Marketing by Kotler. Over the period of time, Dian has contributed to Sri Lankan society as a corporate leader, sports administrator, motivational speaker and in may other roles. I have never met him in person, never worked for him or his organization or I have no any other business relations to Dian. But he really impressed me with his positive responses to my requests over the years, his high contribution to community empowerment in my own area, his leadership to may young professionals in Sri Lanka and most importantly his genuine and down to earth approach to life. In a country where business and other leaders with super-egos, people who forget their humble beginnings and claim their glamour in life, I believe that Dian Gomes is an inspiring personality and he provides an illustration to others to find their own path. I wish Dian all the success in his future personal and professional career and hope he will enlighten many more people in the future too. diangomes/
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 04:27:52 +0000
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