Somprasong Boonyachai, CEO of Advanced Info Service, is known for his grim face and air of seriousness; he talks of market competition, AIS's determination to provide the best service for customers and the teachings of the Buddha.

A touch of grimness might be understandable, given the intense market competition in his industry and the political pressures that have fallen on AIS, which was founded by the family of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But the man who pours the wine is a different Somprasong.

"I like watching soap operas on Channel 7," he says. "Many times, I sneak a peek at my family members, to find out their favourite TV channels. My housemaid is a fan of Channel 7, while my sister-in-law sticks to Channel 3. My favourite actress is Araya Aharket of Channel 7. She's very lovely."

His favourite Hollywood star is Harrison Ford, but none of the foreign actresses hold him in their spell.

While at home, Somprasong is expected mentally to digest a constant flow of global business magazines, in order to keep in touch with trends, but he confides that he reads only Thai-language mass-circulation daily Thai Rath.

"I like its sentiment and entertainment news. I tell my team to read its entertainment columns, so they can give our wireless contents a similar flavour," he says.

Somprasong says that among his favourite television sports programmes is sumo wrestling.

"What I have learned from sumo is that a smaller player can defeat a bigger one if he has a better strategy," says the 52-year-old executive as he pours another glass of red.

Somprasong is also an avid reader of Dhamma books and can recite their long Pali-language texts. When asked how he can remember them all, he claims he remembers only the good things. Bad memories, he says, are like writing in the sand, soon to be swept away by the sea. Good memories, on the other hand, are like indelible inscriptions on a stone tablet.

Somprasong came from a poor family, which made him study hard as a youngster. It paid off when he won a scholarship to study abroad. Later, he became an Air Force officer before join IBM Thailand and then AIS.

He has two sons. The oldest is 21 and close to finishing his bachelor's degree in graphic design at Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. The younger son is 18 and preparing to study economics in Melbourne.

Somprasong is highly disciplined and health-conscious. He wakes up at 5.45am every day to exercise. Then he drinks as much apple juice as he can before going to the office. On the day of this interview, he cuts a relaxed figure in a suit with no necktie as he settles at the table and sets down seven bottles of French wine to share round: five of red wine and two of white.

He says he respects the keenness of his staff in doing their jobs, but this same respect often brings them undone. He admits to a meeting-room habit of staring fixedly at the faces of his subordinates as they are presenting their ideas, and this occasionally makes them so nervous they forget what they're saying.

"It's because I respect them. I have to concentrate on what they're saying," he explains, laughing.

In his office, there is a table for signing documents, but it has no chairs.

"You have to understand that I sit in meetings all day, so I want to stand to sign documents. It's a way of helping me concentrate," he says.

Somprasong reveals he has three dreams that he would like to achieve before he turns 60. In the next eight years, he wants to fly in a MIG 29 fighter jet. He says Yuri Gagarin Air Force Base in Russia permits civilians to pay a lump sum to fly in one of the jets to see the world from an altitude of 24,000 metres.

His second dream is to drive a racing car at 300 kilometres per hour.

The last is to travel round the world. Although he travels to many countries, most are in Europe, and he is constantly at work.

Somprasong has no plans to retire early. He says he will stick to his chair until his bosses ask him to leave.

At the stroke of midnight, and after the seventh bottle of wine is empty, Somprasong announces that it's time to say good night. But before he leaves, he passes on his favourite personal motto.

"By challenging your boss, you walk on the road to doom," he says with a smile.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation