Delivering on the promise: UPS International head Jim Barber fast-tracked to the top while grounded in solid values

December 20, 2013 Leave a comment

PUBLISHED DECEMBER 14, 2013

Delivering on the promise

UPS International head Jim Barber fast-tracked to the top while grounded in solid values. By Malminderjit Singh

IN an era where corporations prefer to parachute in management leaders to run their business instead of promoting inbred talent, or where job loyalty may be given less priority, global logistics provider UPS stands out as being unique.The 107-year-old multinational company has instilled the values of humility and integrity in its culture, and believes firmly in grooming its leaders from within. That is why, if you look at the UPS management team, you will find that all of their key decision-makers have been with the company for between 20 and 30 years and nearly all of them have worked their way up from humble beginnings as temporary package loaders and delivery staff or drivers.

Jim Barber, president of UPS International, is one such example of someone who epitomises this unique culture of the world’s largest package delivery company.

Like many of his predecessors and colleagues, Mr Barber’s own background and his 28-year journey with UPS can be traced back to humble beginnings. His father was a farm-boy who joined the US military and served as a non-commissioned officer so Mr Barber spent much of his childhood growing up in military bases around the US.

Subscribers, log in here to read the full story. If you do not have an account,subscribe here.

Filed under Life

Unknown's avatarAbout bambooinnovator
Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

Leave a comment