From $3.40 to a listed company: The Leadership Style of CCK’s founder Tan Sri Datuk Tiong Su Kouk

Abstract

Leadership style has been affecting staff commitment which will determine the success of an organisation. Tan Sri Datuk Tiong Su Kouk who is the founder of CCK, started his career as a fishmonger with the start-up capital of $3.40 only and had now expanded his business into a listed company. At the same time, Tan Sri has diversified his business into a property developer and also shipbuilding which has become a listed company in the Singapore Stock Exchange. This study aims to explore Tan Sri's leadership style and the impact of Tan Sri's leadership on staff commitment. Qualitative semi structured interview was conducted with Tan Sri using open-ended questionnaire. Pre-test was conducted and the interview questions were modified and customised. The interview transcript was analysed by two authors along with the Kurt Lewin's leadership style test. It was concluded that Tan Sri's leadership style is virtuous leadership which consists of truthfulness, humanity, courage, justice, temperance and prudence.