By Elisa Adelman, Claremont McKenna College '03
This interview was conducted in October, 2003.

Academic Citation: Elisa Adelman, "An Interview with Dr. Chalintorn Buran," Kravis Leadership Institute Leadership Review, Winter 2004.

Dr. Chalintorn Buran is currently the regional Director of the Southeast Asia, Institute of International Education (IIE) office. IIE is a broad-based center that provides numerous educational services for those interested in further study in the U.S. IIE provides computer-based testing for admission tests, administers scholarship and award programs, and helps to develop opportunities for International universities to partner with each other for various purposes, such as jointly developing curriculum and exchanging faculty, staff and students. Dr. Buran's position includes managing the testing, advising scholarship and training units, the ASIA Fellows Program Units, and the regional registration center. She oversees the computer based testing centers and acts as Representative of Educational Testing Service (ETS) for Southeast Asian countries. Dr. Buran directly oversees nineteen staff members and provides additional support in management to IIE offices in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Dr. Buran has worked in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao Democratic Peoples Republic, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States. She worked as a Training and Communications Officer for the USAID-funded AIDS control and Prevention Project in the Asia Regional Office from June 1993 to February 1997. From 1987 to July 1991 she worked as a Human Resource Development Director for the Petroleum Institute of Thailand. Previous to this, she obtained a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from the Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California. She received an East-West Center scholarship for her M.Ed in Educational Communication and Technology from the University of Hawaii. In addition, she also obtained an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Hawaii.

Question: Leadership Review What is your concept of leadership, and has it changed over your career?

Answer: Dr. Chalintorn Buran Leadership is an opportunity for a person to help develop the potentials of others, as well as the potential to help change an organization. At the beginning of my career, leadership had more to do with being a good manager and working as a role model for others to follow. Now I realize the best way to lead is to develop others and base decisions on helping individuals grow and not solely on helping the organization grow.

Q: What types of obstacles did you face as a young, female leader working in a foreign country?

A: [First] gender role issues that one faces being a woman in a male dominated workplace. [Secondly, t]here are many barriers one must overcome when working in a foreign country. While I was getting my masters degree in Hawaii, I was not a native English speaker. I have found that in the academic world, often people believe that non-natives cannot perform as well as the natives can. Thus, I needed to overcome the cultural barriers of being Thai in an American culture. Now, being a Westernized Thai and an American citizen working in Thailand, I must overcome the reverse. [Third, in Thailand,] seniority was a major issue in my earlier years. However, this part is getting easier because I am getting older.

Q: Has your role as a leader been affected by Thai culture?

A: My role as a leader is affected by Thai culture and by Buddhism quite a bit. In my earlier period I struggled with the Thai stereotype that women are supposed to be soft-spoken: "seen but not heard". When I was younger I had strong ideas but never knew what was appropriate; thus, I held back a lot. When I studied in the United States I was able to overcome this, however I swung from one extreme of the pendulum to the other and became too outspoken. Now I have finally found a middle path.

Buddhism has had a very positive effect on me as a leader. For example, one teaching says you should deal with things only in the present moment and let go of the past. So, if I have made a decision at work, but the outcome is not as expected, I must let go and move on. Another important teaching is that of selflessness. Nothing should be deemed as one person's success or failure. Tomorrow things will change, regardless of one individual. This encourages me to look at the organization as a team.

Q: In Asian societies trust and loyalty are valued especially highly in businesses. How have you promoted these values in the company?

A: If I demand certain behavior of my employees, I must do the same. I act like my staff does. I also encourage open communication and provide clear guidelines. People can trust a system like this. Loyalty in the workplace is also promoted very directly. If people know they will be taken care of by their organization, then they will be loyal. At my seven years at IIE I have worked very hard towards providing things such as reimbursement programs, performance appraisal programs and skills workshops so that my staff can grow. Our staff is very well taken care of. We want people to choose to stay with us.

Q: Throughout your career, have you encountered the common stereotype that in Asian societies, one is expected to control frustrations and remain calm?

A: Yes, I have seen this. Thais expect their leaders to communicate efficiently. For example, I practice a lot of meditation so that I am aware of a given situation. I don't make rash decisions until I have had time to think things through. In Buddhism this is called quiet integrity. After I've thought things through I give a firm answer and stick by it. Thais respect these kinds of decisions.

Q: IIE is an international institute with its headquarters in the United States. Are IIE meetings held in Thai or English? Is language ever a barrier?

A: The official language in the workplace is English. Meetings are held in Thai except for when we have visitors or Ex-pat staff working with us. All senior staff members are fluent in English, however language can be a barrier for our junior staff that are non-native speakers. In order to soothe these frustrations I never require them to do anything beyond their ability.

Q: What cultural aspects most affect your employees' performance?

A: In my office we work and live like a family. For example, my staff call me "elder sister". There is a lot of respect for elders. This can be frustrating for young employees who have great leadership qualities and strong ideas but must struggle to be heard.

Q: In a country where importance is placed on status, how do you encourage people of different ranks to interact with each other?

A: In order to combat this problem we do a lot of group and teambuilding activities. I am able to rotate leaders so that sometimes junior staff lead the group. In this was we have a formal hierarchy but changes within the workforce.

Q: Regarding the future of Thai businesses, with globalization rapidly increasing, what aspects of the cultural business world do you feel are changing?

A: In general, there is more of an effort within Thai organizations to play in the international area and reform to a more international business structure. This has been difficult for many Thai companies since they are often not as competitive. Some are beginning to struggle between having compassion and fair trade in the business place, with trying to maintain the competitiveness that is needed in a globalizing world.

Q: Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with Leadership Review.