To live in harmony even while you're working hard, you must set aside time for brief breaks, and enjoy life. Adi Juwono Rusli, managing director of PT Oracle Indonesia, abides by this principle of life.
Even though he prioritizes harmony, Adi traveled a long road before reaching his present position.
While he was a third-year student in the electrical engineering department of Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, he worked as a programmer at a small software company owned by his older brother. There he sharpened his professional skills.
After graduating in 1990, he worked at Astra Federal Motor as a business analyst. He stayed at the company, which is a subsidiary of PT Astra International, for just two years. He then moved to an Australian company, PT Mincom Indo-Service.
Mincom supplies various software packages, ranging from Human Resources Management applications to Information Management Systems for giant companies. He spent two years at Mincom on various assignments, ranging from managing information technology services at client companies to undertaking help-desk activities at Mincom's office in Jakarta. After working for Mincom for three years, Adi was offered a job by a Singaporean headhunter as support manager at Oracle. In April 1995, Adi, who was born in Pekalongan on July 22, 1967, decided to take up the offer.
He was interested in joining Oracle not merely because of the managerial post, but also because he had been offered a chance to establish a new division.
"I saw here an opportunity to broaden my horizons and enrich my knowledge," Adi said.
In his 10-year career at Oracle, Adi has notched achievements in various areas, for which he has been rewarded with promotions. After successfully handling the support division, he was promoted to support director and asked to handle the educational and consulting service areas.
It was then that he introduced many innovative ideas, such as the establishment of Oracle Initiative Academic, which is a cooperation scheme between Oracle and several universities in Indonesia. Under the scheme, these universities include programming based on Oracle applications in their curricula.
After having done enough in the educational area, he was named sales director of the company. One of his new tasks was to sell Oracle's various technologies and information technology-based services to companies such as communications and media firms, utility companies (CMU), financial services institutions (FSI), manufacturers, retailers and distributors (MRD), government offices and companies dealing in education and health matters. He held the position of sales director for a year and then was named deputy managing director. On June 1, 2004 he was appointed the company's managing director.
As a managing director Adi has faced more complex challenges. He is responsible for the management of PT Oracle Indonesia in various areas, including the sale of license applications, the development of business and technological applications, the development of business channels and alliances, support services, and the establishment of Oracle University.
It has been a chance, however, for Adi to demonstrate his management skills, technological abilities and his experience in commercial management combine to shape his abilities as the leader of Oracle Indonesia.
"More important, we must think about how to develop Oracle Indonesia in line with the vision that has been outlined," he said, referring to the vision of making Oracle the most respected company in the business sector it serves by 2010. "It's not just a matter of increasing our revenues. We must also enhance Oracle's superiority among its competitors," he said.
Currently Oracle is a market leader in Indonesia and in the world in database applications and also in so-called middleware, or software that enables two or more applications to interact. This superiority is in terms of sales volume, not in terms of revenue.
To reach this goal and to carry out his daily activities as managing director of the company, Adi has introduced a leadership principle called MR VIP, in which M stands for Motivational leader, R for Responsible, V for Vision, I for Integrity and P for Persistence.
A motivational leader, he said, must be able to serve as a role model for his or her entire staff. The leader must also stay oriented to the company's goals by maintaining the motivation and moral integrity of all employees. The word "responsible" means employees must always be responsible for both their successes and their failures.
As for vision, this reminds everybody in the company to look forward and strive to fulfill the plan that the company has laid out. As far as integrity, he continued, that means all employees do their jobs with propriety. "It is doing the right things, and not just doing things right," he said.
Finally, persistence, he said, refers to an effort to complete every assignment. It requires a fighting spirit and great patience, born out of a conviction that what you do will produce optimal results.
In addition, Adi has formulated organizational values to support each step taken by his employees in fulfilling their assignments. These principles include trust, integrity, respect, innovation, a focus on the customer, a values-creating organization, and fun and happiness. In terms of values Adi said he wants all his employees not only to work hard but also to enjoy their lives. That's why he allows his employees broad access to various activities that bring enjoyment to their lives.
Adi said he is grateful to God that the leadership model he implements has succeeded and has strengthened his relationships with employees and customers. He said the openness he has worked to develop enables employees to communicate with him easily and directly.
"Oracle customers have become more open now and find it easier to lodge complaints or express their appreciation when using the products that Oracle offers," he said.
The Jakarta Post, 24 May 2006
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