Succession planning and moving in the right direction

Seamless travel: The Ipoh-Padang Besar electrification project resumed and Gamuda completed the northern part of the project in 2014.

Gamuda Bhd is now grooming the next suite of leaders that can one day fill the role that its long-time group managing director Datuk Lin Yun Ling has been executing since the age of 26.

Now 68, Lin says the more realistic way to manage the issue of succession is having a team that can handle the various tasks the preeminent construction company has now grown into.

According to the company’s website, Gamuda Bhd says Lin joined the company in 1978 as a senior project manager and four years later became its group managing director.

It goes on to state that he has remained at the helm of Gamuda and its subsidiary companies, which has progressed from a small construction setup to Malaysia’s leading infrastructure and property developer.

The journey has been colourful with Gamuda having its fair share of downs and a lot more ups. His tenure, though, was almost cut short prematurely as he contemplated retirement some time back but decided to stick around.

That decision has been fortuitous as Gamuda has grown in size and profitability.

From a Malaysia-centric operations, the bulk of the group’s revenue now comes from abroad.

He says it is not realistic to expect one person to manage what he has accomplished for the group in the decades since taking over a small construction company.

Lin calls it the benefit of a long “runaway.”

The year have accorded him the experience and wisdom to see the bigger picture with the benefit of critical thinking a younger person will not be able to handle. Plus the ability of each generation is different in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

“I can say I’m not very brilliant, but I got a long runway when I became chief executive officer when I was 26. So I had with the benefit of a long runway.

“You know, you build up a lot of experience, wisdom, you know, your critical thinking becomes very good,” he says on the issue of succession.

It is almost akin to what Singapore is doing in finding the successor to its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the “4G” team – potential leaders from the republic’s fourth generation of leaders.

“So we tend to look at them as a team,” says Lin on the assemble of next-generation leaders.

“And even then, there will be like seven or eight of them. I’ve identified most of them and I’ve been working with them for quite a few years now.”

The business momentum of the group is certainly moving in the right direction, and with that the responsibility of its executives will have grown. But for Lin, it is also about being able to hang onto his responsibilities.

Another facet of the leadership group is their age profile. Lin says the group got its choice correct as a number of them are in their 40s, or even younger, indicating that they too will be able to ride on the long runaway that is ahead in their careers.

“So, I feel with this 4G team we have to give them that runway,” he says.

Another subject Lin touched on when asked was the need for a high-speed rail (HSR) between Malaysia and Singapore.

Gamuda was the proponent of the double-tracking project spanning the spine of Peninsular Malaysia.

The Ipoh-Padang Besar electrification project was derailed by a political decision to halt the contruction but the project eventually resumed and Gamuda completed the northern part of the project in 2014.

The southern segment of the project is still ongoing.

Lin asks whether the is a need for the high speed rail, given there is already a double-tracking project underway.

He says the time savings will be negligible, especially if the track gauge can be widened. That way, the service can run trains at faster speeds.

“Of course, the reason for a wider gauge is you have more stability, and you can go faster,” says Lin.

“But when you look at the double (tracking) and really look at the high speed rail, is there a need for them?”

Lin says given there will be a double tracking project from KL to Singapore, the issue is who can afford to use the high speed rail when the cost of using such a fast train will make more economic sense to Singaporean travellers.

Plus the time take to traverse the distance will not be that great if the gauge of the current track can be widened.

“In Europe, whenever I go from city to city, the average train speed is 160 km an hour to 180 km an hour. So why the northern double track is so popular is because from Ipoh to Penang, we we could (the tracks) very straight,” he says.

With the distance between KL and Singapore just 320 km, the time taken by a high speed rail can be 90 minutes versus 120 minutes for a train service with a wider track gauge.

“Okay, you may not achieve 90 minutes, but at most 120 minutes. (That is) two hours and if you ask me, I would pick (the 120 minutes),” he says.