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Published on January 10, 2008

 Sompodh Sripoom looks younger than his early 40s, probably because of his easygoing manner.

At our first meeting, he was ready to indulge in small talk, something that is hard to find in top executives of companies equalling the performance of Thai Tap Water Supply. The company earned Bt1.8 billion in the first three quarters of last year and boasts an impressive growth record.

Yet, he had a way of knowing what he wanted to talk about and was ready to pursue issues after thinking deeply.

Born in a small village in Suphan Buri, where high-school graduates could dream only of getting a job, going to a teaching college or joining the Army, Sompodh considers himself a very lucky country boy to have come this far.

He decided to join the Army after finishing high school. With top grades in the Cadet Academy, he won a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree in civil engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in the US. His folks were more excited than he was. They hired a bus and loaded it with people from his village to send him off from Don Mueang Airport.

"I was more popular than Sayan [Sanya, the famous luk thung singer who was born in Suphan Buri]. My neck could not hold all the garlands they gave me," he joked.

Life at VMI was easy. Sompodh finished with a good grade and easily won admission to the University of California at Berkeley on an extended scholarship.

At Berkeley, where top students gather, Sompodh tasted trouble for the first time and began to understand why his friends at VMI, unlike him, were always anxious whenever taking exams. His grades plunged, and he found he could not motivate himself.

Desperate, he bought a ticket to see a movie called "Risky Business", released in 1983. There, Sompodh identified with the main character, Joel Goodsen, a typical high-school student who, for fun, disobeys his parents' instructions at a high price. Joel, played by a young Tom Cruise, was frustrated, and a friend advised him: "Sometimes you've got to say: what the heck!" That advice calmed Joel, who found he could work out solutions to his problems.

The message also struck Sompodh's heart. He was so impressed with the movie that he still keeps a video of it. From that day, Sompodh told himself he had nobody to compete with but himself. Once he was sure he had done all he could to prepare for tests, he told himself to be pleased with whatever grades he received.

Without pressure, Sompodh returned to a top position and graduated with ease. His grades were high enough to win a scholarship to study for his doctoral degree. However, he had decided to become a professional soldier and knew a PhD would not be needed.

Sompodh still applies the lessons from that movie to his professional life. In everything he does, he does it with full confidence, with no regrets for the outcome.

Returning to Thailand in 1985, he joined the Army's Strategy Department intending to become a soldier for life. It was not to be. In 1993, Sompodh won a scholarship to complete a master's degree in business administration at the US Air Force's training centre in Monterey, California. Once the home of a large contingent of US troops that played a leading role in the first Persian Gulf War, the venue contained nothing but training facilities for the US Navy and the Air Force.

The Army, it seemed, had become redundant, and foreseeing no future in the Thai Army, he resigned.

Construction firm Ch Karnchang was the only firm to offer the ex-soldier a job, and at 36 he understood why. He was too old to work at construction sites but lacked business experience for an executive job in the private sector.

However, he was placed in charge of business development at Ch Karnchang, and one of the company's projects was Bangkok's subway.

Sompodh was involved with the subway project from the start, helping the company conform to the bidding terms of reference until it won the job. With degrees in civil engineering, he was appointed operations director of the company's Bangkok Metro (BMCL) subsidiary, because he was already familiar with all of the systems involved. Although he knew the project would be both difficult and time-consuming, he decided to take it on, because it made him the first Thai subway operations director with control over an all-Thai operating team.

"It was the peak of my life," he says with pride. "Operations lies at the heart of all subway companies. One tiny mistake could wreak havoc."

As operations director, he was busy recruiting staff. From 70,000 applicants, 7,000 were shortlisted for written tests, 3,500 were then shortlisted for interviews, and only 800 were recruited. All new staff members undertook a months-long training course that Sompodh helped design.

The job consumed so much of his time that Sompodh was a stranger to his year-and-a-half-old child, who dared not speak to him on his rare appearances at home. So as soon as the subway commenced operations, he decided once again to call it quits and took a six-month break.

Upon his return, Ch Karnchang offered him the top job at Thai Tap Water Supply, another of its subsidiaries operating on a concession, supplying tap water to consumers in Pathum Thani province.

Looking for new challenges, Sompodh decided to accept it. However, although it also operated on a concession, Thai Tap Water Supply was very different from BMCL. While technology and labour were the heart of BMCL, Thai Tap Water Supply operated on low technology and had only about 100 employees, none of whom had seen the benefits of provident funds or other modern company schemes.

Sompodh is happy that under his guidance, Thai Tap Water Supply has grown from strength to strength and is now about to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. He expects all shareholders and employees to benefit from the move. However, he does not know how long he will stay with the company - or anywhere else, for that matter.

Sompodh has decided to retire when he turns 50, at which time he should have enough money to pay off his mortgages, educate his children and keep him and his wife in comfortable retirement.

"I've passed the peak of my life," he says. "People are born with nothing. They study, work and make money. We must take time to spend that money, or it will only go to doctors. Without using it, we're living at a loss. It will turn out that we spend more time making money than spending it."

Furthermore, Sompodh believes men should not struggle to make money for their children. He sprang from a poor family and made his mark purely because of education. With the same philosophy, he says, his children should be fine. Others may see fit to follow his example, and that's okay by Sompodh.

 Achara Deboonme

 The Nation