Executive Unseen: Transforming ideas into performance

Many career-advice books claim that achieving maximum performance requires hard work and inspiration. While some people dislike working hard, for others the challenge is getting inspired at work.
But Papon Ratanachaikanont, assistant to the president and CEO, and the deputy group chief commercial officer at True Corporation, claims to find inspiration all around him – but most of all from his collection of action figures.
Papon says the figures are like mini-statues that he can pose and display in any way he wishes. Not confined to a single pose, he is free to do whatever he wants with them – and that’s where the inspiration begins.
After getting started with Tamiya models, now his collection includes the Gundam Series and Transformers action figures, especially Bumblebee.
“In the movie, Bumblebee acts as messenger and spy. Due to his small size, he dares to go where others can’t and won’t. He idolises the bigger Autobots, especially Optimus Prime and Prowl, and strives to be accepted. He is the most energy efficient and has the best vision of all the Autobots. He can go underwater for reconnaissance and salvage missions. Although physically the weakest Autobot, his stealth more than compensates for his inadequacy,” he adds.
Collecting figures from comic books or films seems a pretty typical hobby for a man. But apart from personal pleasure, what does he get from these collections?
Papon admires the Japanese concept of being a hero. Not only men, but also robots with human feelings can be heroes.
“Transformers are a great example. To transform a car into a robot is a delicate task. Yet, every robot has feelings and characteristics, just like us. Some are good, some are bad. However, at the end of the day, the good one always wins,” he says.
Papon keeps his beloved figures at his workplace to remind himself of the morals and the concept of the hero. Whenever he needs inspiration or to fire up his imagination, he plays with them.
Bumblebee inspires him, he says, because we all need a partner who knows us and who can help implement our ideas. We cannot reach success alone.
“Again, if we have a bad partner, we will fail. So we definitely need good partners for a great business,” he said.

Sasikarn Watthanachan is a communications professional. She may be contacted at [email protected].