 |
|
| Pushing the boundaries of communicationsm |
Inside the International Advisory Council
Kimber Cook, IAC secretariat & media relations manager, APCO Worldwide
Questions & Answers with Jim Stent, IAC member
Jim Stent, senior counselor & IAC member, is based in APCO’s Bangkok office. A banker by profession, he has a long and distinguished career in financial services in Thailand and China. He was deputy president of the Bank of Asia in Thailand until his retirement in 2002 and continued to serve the bank as a director until 2004.
Kimber Cook (KC): For those of us who may not be familiar with your work at the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP), can you tell us a little more about the organization’s initiatives to foster cultural awareness and environmental solidarity?
Jim Stent (JS): CHP is a legally registered Chinese nongovernmental organization that is working on promoting the awareness of cultural heritage in China. We work on the software of protection, so to speak, we do not actually have the money to implement things, but we try to get people to be more aware and follow laws that regulate cultural heritage protection in China.
We have two principle programs right now and they are at opposite ends of China; one is called Friends of Old Beijing, which is comprised of about 100 volunteers who are monitoring the 25 historical protection districts of Beijing (monitoring in terms of compliance with the government’s laws and policies regarding the district); and we report to the Beijing city government on what is happening that may be in violation.
The second project is in the far South of the country, in the Unon province on the Burmese border, working with a group called the Dai who are related to the Thais. We have been working in one village to try to get the elderly to document their own culture; the Dai have divided their culture into 35 different areas. They have documented it in their own language, their own script, taking a year’s time to do it. It has now been translated into Chinese and in April was published as a bilingual Chinese/Dai record of their culture. The next phase is to go back to the Dai people and say, “okay, what do we want to do with this – how do we want to make this relevant?”
KC: With the focus that is on emerging markets in today's global economy, what is one strategic piece of advice that you would offer to companies looking to expand into Asia?
JS: Understand the cultural and social environment that you work in and do not assume people in other countries think like Americans! This sounds simple and obvious, but only a few companies are actually really aware of this and practice it.
KC: Why APCO?
JS: I have worked most of my life and career for Thai and Chinese firms, now I have the chance to bring the benefits of my knowledge and expertise to international firms – helping them to understand how to be successful in Thailand and China.
KC: As a member of the IAC, you are constantly asked to provide expertise and advice to a host of clients. What do you find to be most satisfying about working at APCO?
JS: I think what is really fun about APCO is that each engagement is unique with a different challenge and opportunity. The satisfaction that I gain from working with APCO comes from applying my knowledge of a country and how it works to a variety of separate industries. Being constantly challenged and constantly learning, applying a life's worth of knowledge to work – as well as gaining new knowledge – is what I find most satisfying about working at APCO.
KC: What motto or favorite quote do you live by?
JS: Two sayings that I often use in Chinese (the Chinese have huge numbers of maxims in their language), are: 
and 
? In English they mean, “He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak,” and “the old man on the frontier lost his horse, is it a blessing in disguise?” I think that these are important sayings in business and in life.
The IAC is a dynamic group of former senior members of government, the media, the diplomatic corps, academia, the business community and nonprofit organizations who work hand-in-hand with APCO’s professionals to counsel clients on a broad range of issues. This group is a unique collection of individuals with distinct backgrounds who have ‘sat in the seat’ of our clients - or of the audiences with whom our clients communicate. The IAC roster truly reflects APCO’s standard of excellence. They, and the entire APCO team, are committed to providing our clients with the highest level of strategic insight. To contact a member of our IAC, e-mail IACmembers@apcoworldwide.com.