COVER STORY
SOARING BEYOND BORDERS
Edwin Hawson is the President of Central Marketing Group , the leading international retail brand distributorship in Thailand . His brand portfolio in Thailand spans close to 40 international fashion , beauty and lifestyle brands , including Dyson , Casio , Garmin , Polo Ralph Lauren , Calvin Klein Jeans , Guess , Fitflop , Lee , Wrangler , G2000 , Jockey , Hush Puppies , Clarins , Aesop , The Body Shop .
Central Marketing Group is part of Central Group , Thailand ’ s largest retail conglomerate [ with estimated 2022 turnover 13BB Euro across 15 countries , with businesses ranging from department stores , shopping malls , food retail , hotels , and specialty stores ].
Edwin was born and raised in Manila , and received his education at St . Jude Catholic School and at the University of the Philippines [ Diliman ]. He has worked in 6 different locations – he started in the Philippines , and has spent the last 27 years overseas in local , regional and global roles in Taiwan , Japan , China , Singapore , and Thailand . He began his career in Procter & Gamble , and has also worked in other global companies , such as Johnson & Johnson , S . C . Johnson , and the Intercontinental Hotels Group . He currently resides in Bangkok , with wife Irene and daughter Elyse .
In our recently concluded NCRE 2022 , we invited Edwin as our keynote speaker . He spoke on “ Soaring Beyond Borders ” – going beyond one ’ s pre-conceived limitations and boundaries -- to grow , develop and expand one ’ s horizons . He shared highlights of his professional journey – and how he overcame 3 types of borders – [ 1 ] Physical , [ 2 ] Situational , [ 3 ] Personal . He also emphasized that to sustain us through life ’ s changes , we need to stay true to our values .
Excerpts from his speech :
On “ Physical Border ” example – Edwin shared his journey moving from the Philippines to 5 other locations :
“ Since I was in high school : I had always dreamed of spreading my wings beyond the Philippines . I wanted to travel , to build my career in other countries , to succeed on the international stage , and to broaden my life experience by experiencing other cultures .
Over the past 27 years , I ’ ve had the wonderful privilege of living in 5 other places beyond the Philippines . People ask me – what ’ s been my biggest learning in my overseas stint ? It ’ s the realization that each country is unique -- with a very distinct culture , set of interpersonal norms . This results in differences in how we relate to people at work in each country . I cannot assume that I can just use learnings and behavior from one country , and apply them in the next country .
When I moved to Thailand , I thought it would be an easy move for me . After all , I ’ ve had practice ! But it wasn ’ t the case . I ’ ve realized that a huge part of my career – more than 20 years - was spent in developed-market cultures such as Taiwan , Japan , China , and Singapore . From these places , I had picked up the behavior there of being direct , to the point , being more demanding in my way of talking .
So in my first few months in Thailand , I behaved in very much the same way I did in the other places I had lived in . I was very direct in my speech . When I was mad or impatient , I made it show on my face . Because of this , I started having strained relations with my team . Then we started to miss our business targets , and even more stress started to build up ! I realized I needed a different approach to establish relations with my team .
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