To better understand what is the Chief operating officer role, here is the transcript of the interview of Gerard Lao Thiane, the StreetDeal COO.
What was your professional curriculum ?
I have started my career in 2008 as a buyer in the retail industry in Europe. First at METRO Cash & Carry France, I began with the printing product lines then was responsible for the entire IT product range after nearly 3 years. My mission was to modify the product range to make sure we match better our customers’ needs which were forgotten along the years. The key challenge was to convince the sales force (100 retail shops) with the right products and also develop the relationship with the right brands. After that, I wanted to know more about online distribution and join Amazon France to develop the IT online store. Here, my challenge was to convince all key brands to work directly with Amazon in France. After setting up the key IT stores (Desktop, Tablet, NetBook, NoteBook) within nearly 2 years, I decided to go to Singapore in 2012 to develop my skills at an international level in a dynamic work environment. As I had 5 years’ experience in procurement, my goal was to develop my sales and management skills so I joined StreetDeal Singapore as a head of sales in charge of a team of 10 sales. Within 6 months, I have implemented all the key scalable processes in the sales department and moved to Country Manager for all operations in Singapore. My key challenge was to reduce the overall costs while maintaining the performance by focusing on productivity to make StreetDeal Singapore a profitable entity. Once my mission completed, I was designated COO of StreetDeal’s holding company end of 2013 and my mission is now to implement the same standards for all entities of the group and bring all of them to positive EBITDA.
During your schooling, what internships have you done ?
I did my internship at Carrefour. They were launching a pure player website for online distribution and needed someone to take care of the leading content on the website. Working closely with the Marketing department and the Procurement department, I was in charge of putting the right message at the right place to trigger the sales. It was an interesting experience as I got to know more about retailing and e-retailing working with all departments of a huge group.
Of what consists your work ? What are your objectives and missions to the everyday life ?
My key challenge is to adapt the processes we have implemented in a mature country (Singapore) to fast growing countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines) by focusing on productivity.
Being in charge of many departments (Sales, Support, Customer Service, Finance) requires a lot of multi-tasking as every departments have different requirements so I would say that my job is to make every single employee’s life easier.
What career developments can envisage a COO?
A COO is focusing on the internal operations of a group by helping all employees to achieve their best. The next step for a COO would be the external representation and development of the group (raising funds, …) which is the role of the CEO.
Can you quote me the qualities which, for you, are necessary when we are COO ?
To me, the most important quality for the role is humility. Every employee has different background and different experiences and a COO needs to be able to understand each of them to lead a team.
Three other qualities are vital to create leadership: Knowledge (Being able to understand all issues at all levels and identify the root causes to propose long term solutions), Power (Manage with the right attitude at the right level) and Trust (Being able to create the right relationship with the employees).
What advice would you give to the students who would like to become COO ?
Being at a C-level role is something that takes time and that is earned. I like to say to students to first understand their mission and to always take the ownership on their duties. This is the first way to achieve the extra mile in your day to day life and gain your manager’s trust. That being said, the more your manager will trust you, the more s/he will be able to give you more and therefor, give you an opportunity to show that you are able to handle new missions.
What has seduced you in the post which you occupy ?
I have now the opportunity to still deal with different department but in different countries, meaning different mind-sets and also languages. To me, it is really important to stay in contact with the team and help them face their challenges every day by bringing them tools and technics that were developed in others countries.
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