Leadership is not a skill that just comes by birth. It comes with years of experience, mentoring and above all, learning from failures. William Sim (President, Heilind Asia Pacific) is a true manifestation of this statement. He boasts rich industry experience of more than 30 years which entails holding key positions in the semiconductor manufacturing business as well as the global distribution business of electronics. William’s professional journey began at Philips Semiconductors (now NXP Semiconductors), wherein he was initially involved in sales & marketing while serving as the General Manager for South Asia Pacific at the end of his tenure. Post serving Philips Semiconductors for about 25 years, he moved-on to WPG Holdings, the No.1 Global Semiconductor Distributor and became the Senior Vice President of Global Operations. He also served as the Vice President of Global Alliance at Arrow Electronics, two years prior to joining Heilind Asia Pacific, a well-renowned interconnect specialist as its President. All through this challenging yet content journey, William felt extremely blessed to have worked for many reputable MNCs in both manufacturing and distribution verticals.
Valuing People
It was after plunging into the electronics realm, William learnt a piece of advice from one of his former CEOs, which is People are the single most important resource in any organization which drives all other resources. Till date, this statement has impacted both his personal and professional lives to a great extent. He accentuates on the fact that no matter how visionary a corporate mission is, how good a strategy is, how much investments it acquires, it is ultimately people who accomplish great things for any organization. In fact at Heilind Asia Pacific, William always ascertains to create a culture of valuing people, which inturn yield the firm with great employee satisfaction. He vests his beliefs in empowering each individual in the organization and engage maximum of them in decision making, thus giving them the ownership in each business endeavour. This is what William strongly preaches at Heilind Asia Pacific besides advocating human rights and promoting sustainable development.
William gives his employees extensive freedom to learn & grow in tandem with the organization, and more precisely infuse the feeling of belongingness into each one of them. Even when they commit mistakes for the first time, he fosters them to learn and correct those mistakes instead of inflicting a penalty right away on them. He further respects suggestions or ideas from each of his employees and allows them to walk through his door any time. By and large, his primordial aim is to set goals for his company, communicate them well among
his people, finetune strategies as & when needed, track progress seamlessly, and eventually recognize, celebrate and reward the success of his people.
Presenting people the right recognition is an important aspect that William always emphasizes on. Each milestone accomplished by the company gets featured in its newsletter, while all the teams are allowed to celebrate for the same. Moreover, all employees, including the ones confined to warehouses at Heilind Asia Pacific, proactively participate in the yearly outing and take some quality time off work. No wonder, William takes utmost pride in Heilind Asia Pacific for beholding a very low staff turnover; for instance, out of 30 people who joined the firm during the inception year, 27 still remain. Today, he is extremely elated to have people who clearly comprehend and support the company’s business goals.
William gives his employees extensive freedom to learn & grow in tandem with the organization, and more precisely, infuse the feeling of belongingness into each one of them
Extended Value - Partners & Suppliers
Not just his people, William extremely values his partners and suppliers at Heilind Asia Pacific, as he considers distribution as a relationship business. Since the firm is dependent on suppliers and customers for its distribution business, he pledges its prime business goal is to retain the very essence of distribution through the concept - ‘Distribution As It Should Be’. This concept includes considering distribution as a relationship business, catering to the entire range of customers, applications & market segment and being a stocking distributor with large inventory, and also bringing quick TAT with no minimum order quantity limitation. Implementing this unique concept, Heilind Asia Pacific has beheld major milestones in its business as the most preferred and reliable channel partner for its suppliers and customers, while being the major reinforcement for its suppliers’ offerings.
Moments Of Honour
The inaugural event of Hong Kong Business Management Excellence Awards 2018 honoured the city’s exemplary business leaders along with eminent individuals and teams who have contributed towards the escalation of their company’s business. William is the proud recipient of Executive of the Year Electronics Award who considers it as a recognition of his conviction of valuing people. He received this award on behalf of every single employee at Heilind Asia Pacific who always work with great commitment for the firm.
At the 2018/19 Fellowship & Honorary Award Presentation Ceremony hosted by Social Enterprise Research Academy (SERA), William was rewarded with the 2018 Asian Social Caring Leadership Award. He dedicated this award to Heilind Asia Pacific’s culture of corporate social responsibility, wherein the firm has always ensured to care for society and encourage social services. Being socially responsible has been the company’s philosophy since its establishment, and William is totally delighted that it has been accepted and followed by his people as a part of company’s culture. Some of the social activities that the company has participated in under the reign of William are ‘Happy Children Barefoot Trip of New Year’in 2016, and ‘The more we share, the more we win’ in 2017, to name a few.
Leadership Has No Style
As the President of Heilind Asia Pacific, William always keeps track of a few aspects such as a distinct vision of where the company is going, clear KPIs, the ability to preempt challenges, the courage to make changes, understanding that all problems end with him and trust that each person is important in the company. He also has three chief beliefs that he holds close to his heart learn & improve, treat every individual with respect, and always stay positive.
William Sim, President
In His Career Spanning 30+ Years, William Has Achieved Invaluable Knowledge And Experiences From The Best In The Industry Which Stand As The Backbone For His Endeavours At Heilind Asia Pacific.
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