Ice hockey fanatic passionate about goals

Some people just have what it takes to be successful in business - charisma, for example, and drive, with a natural ability to bring out the best in others. Usually, these talented people also have a fiercely competitive nature, but some may not be too ready to admit that.

Shane Cumming sees no reason to be ashamed of a personality trait that has stood him in good stead over the years. He has an intense desire to win and a dogged determination to lose as little as possible, and he has used this to his full advantage.

He is regional director of Lawson Software, which sells software to the fashion industry in Asia-Pacific. As significant growth is anticipated within the next decade, it is now the most important region for this industry. Cumming faces stiff competition from three or four rivals on every deal.

'It is like a sport,' he said. 'You are always focused on winning. That is where the fun comes. That is what it is all about.'

But being so fixated on winning can have its disadvantages. 'The worst thing is that when you play games you lose the odd one, and that is painful,' said Cumming, who grew up in Canada and developed his keen sense of competition playing ice hockey from the age of five.

He likes to draw similarities between the sport he still loves and the business he runs. He said success in both came from being part of a team of people who understood that the collective was more important than the individual. 'A game is never won by one individual; it is always won by the team,' he said. 'If you organise yourselves well as a team, so that everybody has a role to play, you can sometimes beat an opponent that has some stronger individuals.'

He energises his team of 45 at his office in Quarry Bay in the same way he has always driven his ice hockey team. 'To motivate a team to be competitive, to excel and to do their best is almost exactly the same in work as it is in sport,' he said. 'You need to celebrate when you win. When you lose, although that is hopefully not too often, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get your mind right to be competitive in the next game.'

Cummings hired the best, smartest people from the fashion industry, set them clear targets, gave them the best coaching he could find and tried to trust in the success of this process by standing back, letting them do their job and expecting that they will take chances and even make mistakes.

As a result, he has a team he can turn to when he needs advice. 'I have received excellent input by relying on my team,' he said. 'I just have to know who to ask.'

In his daily routine, he tries to balance this commitment to his staff with being hands-on with customers and prospective customers. He spends a great deal of time with them, helping them evaluate their software, monitoring projects, understanding what prospective customers are looking for and relaying this to his team back in the office.

He also has to keep focused on the bigger picture, setting clear objectives for growing the business and adopting global strategies.

Outside work, Cumming takes full advantage of the ice hockey league in Hong Kong, which he tracked down the moment he arrived here in 2005, and spends the rest of his time with his young family. Both of his children were born in Hong Kong.

Although he said there might come a point when he had to decide whether to return to Canada, for the time being he hoped to continue to raise his children in Asia as he had never wanted to work anywhere else.

A year-long stint at the Chinese University, as part of his degree from Queen's University in Canada, was the start of his passion for Asia. After graduating, he flew straight to Vietnam and took up a sales role with IBM, becoming chief representative for its Ho Chi Minh City branch before leaving for Singapore in 1999 to manage IBM's relationship with software partners.

He said he was fortunate that the hiring manager at IBM recognised that his love of Asia and his competitive nature made him a good match for them. 'I think I was lucky. The industry has turned out to be a much better match for me than I could have possibly predicted,' he said.

Asian adventure

Began his career with IBM in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam

After a brief spell with a dotcom company in Singapore, he moved to Hong Kong in 2005

Now sells software to the fashion industry and attributes his success at work to a fierce sense of competition'

Stepping up

Project director HK$104,000 to HK$141,000 Seven years or more

Senior manager HK$83,000 to HK$125,000 Five years or more

Project manager HK$66,000 to HK$83,000 Three to five years

Project officer HK$54,000 to HK$66,000 Two years

Source: Robert Walters