He might not be as cool as Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, nor as full of attitude as Liam Gallagher of Oasis. But Hans O Karlsson might not care. He and his Ericsson 3G-String Band believe they can entertain both an audience and themselves.

Karlsson is Ericsson Thailand's president and country manager, and he has good reasons for giving his band the sexy name. First, the 3G broadband cellular network is the company's flagship, and second, there are many string instruments in the band. Third, he murmurs confidentially, "Some of the band members really do wear G-strings!"

And business competition in the rough-and-tumble telecom industry might not worry Karlsson as much as the growing song list he and his eight band members, all of them Ericsson executives, have to rehearse for coming shows.

"The list keeps growing," Karlsson, 47, says, pointing to a list of songs on a whiteboard in the band's small rehearsal room. Earlier, it was the company's conference room, but Karlsson changed all that.

The self-taught guitarist enlisted his band members in 2004, soon after taking office at Ericsson Thailand and finding that the company had many musical talents on the staff.

In the band, the Swede takes the roles of guitarist and what he calls "moral supporter", while customer account manager Wichit Piriyasombat is the bandleader.

Other members are high-ranking executives, including the chief financial officer, who is the keyboard player. Trained as a classical musician, she's often at odds with the others and threatens to walk out of rehearsals.

"Our CFO was schooled in classical music, but we've schooled her in popular music," Karlsson jokes.

Although she is not a member, the Ericsson 3G-String Band depends on Karlsson's wife, who supplies food for their evening rehearsals - to keep their stomachs in a lively mood.

The band had its debut in 2005, during Ericsson's regional marketing meeting in Thailand. The first song it played in public was the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?"

"Many of my [regional] colleagues at that time felt jealous of us and thought they ought to do something like having their own bands," Karlsson says.

The success of the first show led to other gigs, including the company's year-end party, the Sweden Society Annual Ball and even a couple of pubs.

When asked if his regional boss in Malaysia was happy to see the executives of the Thailand operation engaged in such activities, Karlsson replies: "My boss? Last time he joined us as the bass guitar player!"

Karlsson, a fan of Eric Clapton, says that when the band picks up new songs, the musical style is not as important as the fact that they must be well-known, possibly for the audience to dance along. And, of course, they must be simple so the band can rise to the occasion.

If to err is human, the Ericsson 3G-String Band regularly proves its humanity during performances. On one occasion, as the band wound down the slow, heart-breaking finale to the song "Desperado", the keyboard player slipped up and delivered a staccato burst from a machine gun instead of the last plaintive chords.

"It's okay," Karlsson says with a laugh. "The important thing is we don't want to become professional. We want to please the audience and have our own fun. Anyway, we're getting better."

Karlsson has also linked his passion for music with the way he recruits his staff. He sometimes asks applicants if they have any musical skills and, what's more, whether they've tried coyote dancing. "It's not a joke," he says, stifling a laugh. "I really ask them."

Karlsson believes that fun activities boost the unity of Ericsson staff in Thailand and fuel their working spirit.

"I believe that for myself, the band brings more energy, more fun; it bring us together. It's not there to make us famous, but to prove that it's never too late to learn and you can always do better," he says.

Another thing he has seriously pursued is learning the Thai language from his colleagues. One Thai sentence he can recite fluently is Sab pa don wan la nit jit jam sai (a dirty joke a day is good for a healthy mind).

Apart from his sense of fun, the Ericsson boss can quickly switch to serious mode and the mischievous sparkle in his eyes disappears when the subject is company management.

"I want to be involved in as many things as possible in the office," he says.

He welcomes comments from his colleagues and likes to have the highest quality executives around him. His pet dislike is people who, after leaving a meeting, talk behind his back about their disagreement with his ideas.

"I like people to challenge me. It's not dangerous to disagree with me ... is it?" he says, turning to an executive sitting nearby during the interview.

Karlsson believes that working with the best colleagues is a chance to improve his own game. It's just like playing his guitar in the band. Playing with other people of musical ability helps him improve his skills much faster than learning by himself.

His desire to have the highest-quality staff around him is something he learned from his regional boss.

"My boss's father told him that you know when you have done a perfect job in recruitment when you feel that the person you recruited could one day be your boss," Karlsson says.

As long as Ericsson Thailand performs well and the fans still enjoy the Ericsson 3G-String Band's gigs, the musical group looks like staying together. But what will happen when Karlsson's term as president ends?

Karlsson, whose term with Ericsson Thailand is not fixed, says he hopes that when he is no longer in the post, the company will keep supporting the band.

"It's my hope that the band will survive in one way or another, whether my successor is a musician or not. I'll work hard to make the band become an integral part of Ericsson Thailand and hope the tradition will continue," he says.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation