About Chavalit

Frederick Tsao

My Early Years

I am a baby boomer, born in Hong Kong and educated in the USA, I was influenced by both Chinese and Western cultures – I am an east-west product. As a young man in my twenties, born into a wealthy and affluent family, I found career success early on, investing in start-ups and watched them grow. I got used to getting exceptional results, helped reorganise my family’s shipping business and developed profitable new businesses in Thailand and Hong Kong.

Pondering the Role of Business

I witnessed the rise and the fall of the Asian economic miracle, which first emerged during my Thailand period in 1988. And I saw the damage that irresponsible economic growth was inflicting on society. How everyone went crazy, and how everything fell apart! This left me reflecting on the nature of business and greed. How far would people go for a deal? How far would I go for a deal? What is the role of business? What is my responsibility?

Humanity in the Face of Greed

All this provided much food for thought about the role and purpose of business and the way in which it was conducted. The fundamental purpose of economic activity must be to serve human well-being and in its absence, business has no role thus no purpose for its existence.

Awakening to Well-Being

In this era, we are challenged by big agendas, and I put them into three main themes that is sustainability, globalisation, and technology. However, these challenges, big and small, are mere effects of the single most fundamental challenge of ethics, which is relational – of integrity and trust.

Quantum Leadership, A Calling

In the modern world today, leadership, management and business need to consider all the connecting systems and redefine stakeholders needs, to align and collaborate to create and sustain. Alignment can only be possible with a common worldview.

From Stakeholder to Stewardship

My Journey

Chavalit Frederick Tsao is the fourth-generation leader of IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group, born in the East and educated in the West. He became chairman in 1995 and transformed the family business from a traditional shipping company to a multinational conglomerate.

With more than 40 years’ experience as an entrepreneur, Chavalit has worked successfully with business partners and governments in multiple markets across diverse cultures.

Not afraid to push boundaries, as Chairman of Intercargo, Chavalit repositioned the dry bulk industry from a shipper to one that plays a role within the global supply chain. Chavalit has published over 30 books in Chinese, concluding that we are amidst a major consciousness shift and at the dawn of a new era. He advocates that business should transform and reform our era.

For this, he founded OCTAVE Institute, a comprehensive integrated life journey approach towards well-being. In 2019, Fred co-authored “Quantum Leadership, New Consciousness in Business” with Chris Laszlo, published by Stanford University Press.Fred also contributed a piece titled “Reconnecting to the Source in the Mirror of Chinese Culture” to the book by Ervin Laszlo titled “Reconnecting to the Source” published by St. Martin’s Press in 2020.

From Stakeholder to Stewardship

My Early Years

I am a baby boomer, born in Hong Kong and educated in the USA, I was influenced by both Chinese and Western cultures – I am an east-west product. As a young man in my twenties, born into a wealthy and affluent family, I found career success early on, investing in start-ups and watched them grow. I got used to getting exceptional results, helped reorganise my family’s shipping business and developed profitable new businesses in Thailand and Hong Kong.

Immersed in the capitalist system, bestowed with financial wealth, early business success, I felt like I was conquering the world and could live forever. Throughout my more than 45 years in business, I have witnessed the invisible hands that manipulated global systems, saw the winds of change of the Generations X, Y, Z, millennials, the rise and the fall of the Asian economic miracle with the rise of eastern economies of Japan, Asian tigers and now China.

Now, on hindsight and reflection, I can see that much of this was a form of ego gratification. I realised that I too was ignorant and have participated in the capitalist market that drove globalisation which produce today’s ethical issues and sustainability challenges. Having the opportunity to reflect, I saw the damage that irresponsible economic growth was inflicting on society, and the breaking down of the systems built in the industrial era. 

From Stakeholder to Stewardship

Humanity in the Face of Greed

Over the years, there are many stories that urged me to think about the role of business in society. Is it just greed? Is it just to gather resources? In those businesses of establishing a shipyard, dealing with the mafia, catching thieves in the warehouses, or handling gun battles in the shipyard, I encountered numerous challenges that showed how far humanity were willing to go for greed. However, I also realise that business has a role to play in those events as well.

I witnessed the rise and the fall of the Asian economic miracle, which first emerged during my Thailand period in 1988. And I saw the damage that irresponsible economic growth was inflicting on society. How everyone went crazy, and how everything fell apart! This left me reflecting on the nature of business and greed. How far would people go for a deal? How far would I go for a deal? What is the role of business? What is my responsibility?

All this provided much food for thought about the role and purpose of business and the way in which it was conducted. The fundamental purpose of economic activity must be to serve human well-being–and in its absence, business has no role thus no purpose for its existence.

From Stakeholder to Stewardship

Awakening to Well-Being

In this era, we are challenged by big agendas, and I put them into three main themes that is sustainability, globalisation, and technology. However, these challenges, big and small, are mere effects of the single most fundamental challenge of ethics, which is relational – of integrity and trust.

In the West, one seeks truths in the external world, to look outward. Chinese traditional culture tells us that self-cultivation involves looking inward and if we look inward deeply enough, we will discover find that everything we want in life is already encoded within us. And that the purpose of life is to value add to the evolutionary energy and creation – and our inherent nature is loving and connecting. 

My awakening of my consciousness to a worldview of holism started from an exploration of my inner world. In 1993, by coincidence, I started meditating. This practice sparked a significant personal change. I journeyed inward and began to perceive the world differently. I discovered that we are part of a holistic system, and that I can only be well, when relationships within and between systems are well. This is well-being and this awareness is informing all aspects of my leadership and decision making.

I become aware of the importance of stewardship, which is, to take responsibility ethically for entrusted resources towards achieving a common set of objectives. Humanity has moved from survival mode to state of indulgence and affluence, and it is our responsibility to steward the shift to life-purpose well-being mode.

From Stakeholder to Stewardship

Quantum Leadership, A Calling

In the modern world today, leadership, management and business need to consider all the connecting systems and redefine stakeholders needs, to align and collaborate to create and sustain. Alignment can only be possible with a common worldview. I realise that inherently, life and business purpose are inseparable, as it has a common purpose, which is to add value and serve well-being of life and create wealth at the same time. These are the qualities observable in organisations with quantum leadership, and the highest leverage for leadership is the transformation of consciousness. The path to Quantum Leadership is an experiential one, and action-oriented. 

I have therefore chosen to respond to my calling, and take conscious action, to transform my business into one that serves human well-being and happiness. This transformation is an evolutionary energy and I am committed on this journey. However, I realise I cannot do it alone, and invite you can join me on this journey.  This is the energy that gave birth to OCTAVE, a prototype business model that promotes new ways of learning, living and investing in this new era, built upon the belief that well-being is coherent and holistic; and OCTAVE, a Quantum Leadership Center.

Today, I have shifted my worldview and transform my approach to business leadership. This is road least travelled, and it is my wish that you choose to join as a member of this collective system, called Humanity, to steward the creation of a new era of well-being. I believe that the future is in our hands, and we need to steward this transformation together.

{

Chavalit's Wisdom Corner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTukGhdWuPY