140 | theceomagazine.com
“I am extremely logical and very
good at compartmentalising.
This is actually a
most useful skill.”
shift careers and enrolled in the famous
Galbraith’s shipping course in London to
gain some maritime experience.
In 2002, Sabrina returned to Hong Kong
and joined Wah Kwong as part of the finance
department. Her skills in the world of
banking proving immensely useful. “For a
shipping company, cash flow is king,” she
explains. “So my background was definitely
an advantage in running the business.”
An advanced facility with numbers was
even more advantageous. “I am extremely
logical and very good at compartmentalising.
This is actually a most useful skill as
I constantly need to segregate my different
responsibilities to different stakeholders.”
While she brought valuable financial skills
and an outside perspective to the company,
Sabrina was still a young chairperson in an
industry dominated by older leaders. “In
order for a CEO to be effective, he or she
must be respected,” she reflects. “In this
respect, some grey hair and a stellar CV
usually is an advantage. As a younger leader,
I found that gaining respect took time in my
early years with the company. So I purposely
spent a lot of time getting to know the
people. It meant understanding their work
and differing personalities.”
On whether leadership is something that
comes naturally to her, Sabrina says she has
some ability to lead, but as a reserved person,
she is “not an obvious, stereotypical leader”.
Her strengths as a manager lie in motivating
people and finding ways to align their
interests and passions.
She deftly built on these skills during
peer-to-peer exchanges as a member of
Entrepreneurs’ Organizations and the
Young Presidents’ Organization, which brings
together executives from more than 130
countries and offers courses and networkingevents for its members. She was also elected
as Hong Kong’s Young Global Leader, part of
a network facilitated by the World Economic
Forum. The interdisciplinary nature of these
groups proved valuable in inspiring Sabrina,
introducing her to new ideas and developing
her ability to lead.
One lesson gleaned from these groups
was the importance of establishing clarity
of vision. “Externally, the performance of
the company would usually carry enough
weight to gain respect,” she says. “But going
that extra mile in terms of developing and
communicating a clear and solid strategy
also goes a long way.”
Refining the company’s business blueprint
has been doubly important in light of
increased competition. As a gateway to
mainland China, Hong Kong is strategically
important, and at various times has been the
world’s highest volume container facility. In
recent years, however, Singapore has emerged