When he was young, Vorkon Patra-yanan fancied himself as a nuclear physicist. He liked physics and maths and topped both his class and the school in both subjects.

However, it was merely a first step on a winding path that has led Vorkon to become the first managing director in Indochina for the US company Cisco Systems and a prominent figure in Thailand's IT business.

"When I was younger I liked physics and maths because I believed they involved logical thinking. I not only decided to be a nuclear physicist, but I also began studies in the science faculty at King Mongkut's University of Technology in Thon Buri," Vorkon says.

It wasn't long before he had second thoughts. After studying for about one year, he changed his mind and decided to become a marketing specialist. So he joined the business faculty at Assumption University.

"My family didn't know that I had changed my mind and wanted to be a businessman. I tried to find work to pay my study fees, and when my parents and friends found out that I was studying marketing and business they resisted," Vorkon says.

His early university years were a tough time for the young Vorkon. As well as studying hard, he had to make enough money to pay his fees at the private university, so he became a salesman "on the side", selling air-conditioners, tape cassettes and life insurance. He never left home without his product catalogues nestled among his study texts.

"When I had free time, I was always looking for customers among my friends and teachers to buy my products," he recalls.

And far from being simply a student and a salesman, Vorkon was president of the university's photography group and led the university's basketball team. He and a friend also set up a home-video shop to provide video cassettes for hire.

"I had many activities when I was studying at university. I was very interested in photography. I was even a model for advertising products such as milk and gum, and I wanted to reach for the camera and take the pictures," he says.

Finally he graduated from Assumption University with a bachelor's degree in business administration and was soon working for an international company with a salary of around Bt20,000 per month. Then his life changed again.

He applied to work at IBM Thailand and learned that he was one of three final candidates for two positions. "Finally the firm chose the other two guys because they'd graduated in an overseas country. This convinced me to return to my studies, but in the US," Vorkon says.

He finally achieved a master's degree in business administration from Texas University.

On returning to Thailand he applied to become a senior salesman at Sahaviriya Data Systems. His new philosophy was one of becoming "a professional employee".

He explains that working as a professional employee leads him to believe that the company belongs to him. In this way, he works hard and performs every task as if he owned the business, and this helps both the company and its customers.

"When I work as an employee I feel that I have my own company, which has its own investors. I have trust, sincerity, transparency, diligence and patience for the business and its customers. I do business as I play sport: I give it everything," he says.

He became general manager of Sahaviriya Data Systems and later managing director of Central Advanced Systems and country manager of Data General Systems (Thailand).

Vorkon is now regional managing director in Indochina for the California-based IT giant Cisco Systems, in charge of Cisco's operations in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. He established Cisco's first office in Bangkok in 2002 to build a sales and marketing team, as well as a network of channel partners.

"I am a man who prompts change for the better. I am a long-term thinker. Every day, when I step out of my home, I feel like I'm going to school: I must learn from other people and understand everything around me, so that I can then adopt it," Vorkon says.

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation