Ambank Group is a well-known financial institution in Malaysia.

Tan Sri Azman Hashim is the Chairman of the group and has held the position since 1982. This ambitious man is a good rule model in leadership. His leadership has brought Ambank to a very strong position until today. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim was born on July 1939 in Kuala Lumpur, to a family of thirteen siblings. A gifted student, his ambition was to further pursue his education in medicine but he was offered accountancy instead on a Colombo Plan Scholarship which took him to Australia form 1955 to 1960. His hard work and determination was proven when he became a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Secretary even before the age of 21. His career has began with Messrs O.L. Haines & Co (Chartered Accountants) in Perth, Australia before returning to Malaysia in 1960 where he joined Bank Negara Malaysia. He then joined the Board of Malayan Banking Berhad in 1966 and was its Executive Director from 1971 to 1980. He was appointed Executive Chairman of Kwong Yik Bank Berhad in 1980 till 1982 when he became Chairman of the AmBank Group. Currently, Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim is Executive Chairman of Amcorp Group Berhad and Chairman of several subsidiaries of the AmBank Group and also AMDB Berhad. As the Brand Champion of AmBank Group, Tan Sri Azman has successfully steered the growth of this organisation to a prominent financial brand in Malaysia. One of the largest and fastest growing financial institutions in Malaysia, Ambank offers a range of extensive finanacial services for the local and international market. Today, AmBank's investment banking division, AmInvestment Bank is one of Malaysia's leading investment houses. It plays a major role in the equity and debt capital markets, structured instruments, future broking, derivatives and adviser to many prominent business mergers and acquisitions. Tan Sri Azman's expertise and skills in the financial sector has been recognized with his appointment on various business councils and economic advisory panels in Malaysia and abroad. He is the Chairman of the Malaysian Investment Banking Association, the Malaysian Productivity Corporation, East Asia Business Council and Chairman Emeritus of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) International, Non-Aligned Movement's ("NAM") Business Council, Co-Chairman of Malaysia-Singapore Roundtable, Co-Chair, United Nations Economic

and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ("UNESCAP") Business Advisory Council and Board of Trustees, Perdana Leadership Foundation. He is also the President of Malaysia South-South Corporation Berhad, Malaysia-Japan Economic Association, Malaysia South-South Association. Aside from that, Tan Sri Azman sits in the National Economic Consultative Council II (MAPEN II), Business Advisory Council of APEC ("ABAC"), The Trilateral Commission (Asia-Pacific Group), Board of Advisors, AIM Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Malaysia-British Business Council. Tan Sri Azman has been recognized with numerous local and international awards and accolades for his contributions and achievements. These include the ASEAN Businessman of the Year award, in1993 by the ASEAN Business Forum (formerly known as the ASEAN Institute), the Manager of the Year award from the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in 1995, the Grand Entrepreneurial Award in June 1996 by The Kuala Lumpur Malay Chamber of Commerce and a year later he received the Menteri Besar Grand Entrepreneurial Award from the Selangor Chamber of Commerce in 1997. And most recently in year 2008, Tan Sri Azman Azman received the appointment as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to Australian-Malaysia bilateral relations. Acknowledging his contribution to the financial and banking industry, The Asia Pacific Brands Foundation conferred The BrandLaureate Brand Personality Award to Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashims impressive and extensive contribution to many facets of Malaysian economic landscape has not gone unnoticed. To date he has been awarded numerous honours. His first major award was the Darjah Kesatria Mangku Negara bestowed by His Majesty Yang DiPertuan Agong in 1972; His Royal Highness the Sultan of Selangor honoured him with the Darjah Dato Paduka Mahkota Selangor (DPMS) in 1980 which carried the title Dato; this was followed by the Johan Mahkota Negara (JMN) awarded by His Majesty Yang DiPertuan Agong in 1984. The Asian Finance magazine named him Asias Banker of the Year in 1985. This was followed by His Majesty Yang DiPertuan Agong awarding him the Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM) in 1988 which bestowed on him the title Tan Sri. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim has also earned international recognition. In 1993, the ASEAN Business Forum (formerly known as the ASEAN Institute) presented him with the ASEAN Businessman of the Year award. This was followed in 1995 by the Manager of the Year award from the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia. The Kuala Lumpur

Malay Chamber of Commerce awarded him with the Grand Entrepreneurial Award in June 1996 and a year later he received the Menteri Besar Grand Entrepreneurial Award from the Selangor Chamber of Commerce in 1997. The latest accolade bestowed on him was the Sathya Sai Educare Academy Values for Life Excellence for his humanitarian contribution in 2004. He received a lifetime achievement award, at 4th Annual Islamic Business and Finance Awards 2009.

As testimony to his inspirational prominence in business and community affairs Universiti Utara Malaysia honoured him with an Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy in 1985. In recognition of his immense contribution to and success in entrepreneurship, the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration in 2004. He is an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim leadership development can be traced back to his early childhood and career. His success in life can perhaps be attributed to the discipline and wisdom imparted to him by his parents, a father who was a strict disciplinarian and a mother, a school teacher who later became headmistress of the Kampung Baru Girls School. In 1954, he sat for the Senior Cambridge Examination and obtained a first grade. He had wanted to pursue medicine but was offered accountancy instead on a Colombo Plan Scholarship which took him to Australia from 1955 to 1960. His intelligence and perseverance were proven when he became a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Secretary before the age of 21. Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim began his early career as a Chartered Accountant in Messrs. OL Haines & Co., Australia, in 1955 before returning home in 1960 to serve in the Central Bank of Malaysia. He left the Central Bank in 1964 to set up his own accounting firm. In the year 1966, Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim joined the Board of Malayan Banking Berhad and from 1971-1980 he served there as an Executive Director. In the year 1980, he was appointed as the Executive Chairman of Kwong Yik Bank Berhad. He served there till 1982 and then joined the AmBank Group and presently, he is the Executive Chairman of the Amcorp Group Berhad and also the chairman of its various subsidiaries. In corporate circles, Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim has been known to be a conservative and shrewd businessman. He is known as very straight but sharp. He also has a strong mind and is both an entrepreneur and a corporate man. Described as a good man to work with by his associates, he is said to be free of shady stuff. Tan Sri Dato' Azman believes in doing

business in its true sense; not just juggling numbers on paper. He always believes any form of capabilities can make a different. As Executive Chairman or Amcorp Group Berhad, he still holds that view of building and expanding through lateral growth, which is quite distinct from corporate maneuvering. Nevertheless, he agrees that good corporate moves are an essential part of business expansion. Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim acknowledged that the two most important ingredients for the success of a good corporation are good leadership, and sound and enlightened management. He really believes that no matter how effective a corporate strategic plan is, without these two elements, it will be extremely difficult to realize the plan. And even if its realised, it will wither away in time. In a competitive business environment, a CEOs ability to sustain the business is critical to the survival of a corporation. Associates close to Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim say he is able to do both to create and sustain. All the training he had at Azman, Wong, Salleh & Co had provided him with the nose for business and the staying power to carry it through. Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim is basically seconded to provide the sharper eye for business. His contribution as CEO of troubled Malayan Banking Group in 1970, by introducing computerizes banking system was regarded as brilliant and brave. However, he declines to be regarded as a corporate doctor. And he maintains that he is not cut out for politics. A UMNO member for almost 35 years, the furthest he went was as a treasurer of UMNO Selangor in 1970. Leadership development is one of the elements that are crucial to identify the learning needs and create development plan for the employees and managers. A leader must be able to manage changes and support employees as they move to the new roles whilst holding more responsibilities. In exercising the leadership, a leader must be able to respect others ideas, provide acknowledgement and encouragement in innovation. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim sees that the new world and the new era of business pattern require a new way of working According to Van Leeuwen, (2003). This applies not only to the workers but the same to the managers or leaders to bear in mind that it is the time to develop new competencies to sustain in leading the followers in a changing and challenging environment. It is significant to delve into leadership behavior and effectiveness as the expected outcome from an effective leadership does not only impact businesses or organizations and stakeholders satisfaction, it will also eventually lead to a proper nation and community development (Strang, 2005). We can

see the exemplary leadership that Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim has demonstrated by transforming and leading Malayan Banking Berhad in 1970s to become one of the successful bank in South East Asia and now AmBank Group Berhad to the advancement and achievement. Today, Malaysian corporate leaders are facing the challenges in both training and development. The market is in the scarcity of good managers and professionals. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim has demonstrated with globalization, there must a paradigm shift where the business leader has to be creative, innovative and promoted idea sharing. Any leader in an organization will have to practice leadership style and approaches, best suit the current development, changes and challenges in the 21st century. In the studies of Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashims leadership style and approaches, we can first started from the very beginning of the Great Man Approach theory. The Great Man Approach was the earliest theory of leadership. It was a study based on the traits inherited and special features that a leader possesses. It is a leadership approach that sought to identify the inherited traits leaders possessed that distinguished them from people who were not leaders. (Draft, 2005). In the case of Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim, the theory of leadership was then expanded to study the personality, motives, values and his skills as a leader. The common traits, qualities, characteristics and skills required that have been identified are in the aspect of his sociability, initiative, persistence, knowing how to get things done, self confidence, alertness to situations, cooperativeness popularity, adaptability and verbal facility. There are two aspects in this approach. The first aspect was looking at the Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashims responsibilities and abilities in carrying the tasks, coping with constraints and conflict as in 1980an economic downturn and managing the heavily debted Taiping Textiles Berhad and Arab-Malaysia Development Bank. He has to think the unthinkable approaches at that time by renting the Arab-Malaysian Development Bank Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur for RM1.50 sq compare to the normal rate of RM5.00 plus 3 month free rent. Quality control, cost effective measures and tendency to get thing done quickly but thoroughly are among his famous traits. Charismatic leadership attributes to how a leader uses his or her influence to inspire and motivate their followers to sacrifice their personal interest towards the vision (Yukl, 2006; Draft, 2005). Picture 1 below clearly shown the relation between effective leader and his follower, which is depending on situation influential. As a charismatic leader, Tan Sri Dato Azman

Hashim has a great emotional impact on the followers. As the leader he has the ability to communicate and express his vision /idea clearly so that the his followers are willing to take the risk just to abide to what the leader has inspired them to follow. In 1997 economic slowdown, he almost lost everything through a plan set by the government to absorb Arab Malaysian Bank Berhad under the management of Affin Holding Group. He not only managed to convinced the government not to went ahead with the Central Bank merger program, but also taking the advantage of increase his stake by initiating the formation of merger between . MBf Finance and Arab-Malaysian Finance Berhad, into what is known today as The Red Bank, Ambank Group Berhad. In 2005, AmBank Group has become the fifth largest commercial bank-finance company in Malaysia with a total asset of 45 billion and 164 branches nationwide. Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim can be considered as a participative leadership. He is not only involved in banking, but also expanding his interest in real estate and investment. He believes, a leader must be able to maintain a good reputation of an organization not only on the profit margin made, how much of the sales target being met but how ethical an organization can carry out its operation and maintain transparent business records. These efforts can been best seen through his direct involvement in major corporate organization, government initiate entity and NGOs such as Malaysian South-South Corporation Berhad, MCM Technologies Berhad, Perbadanan Pembangunan Multimedia Sdn Berhad, Persatuan Bank- Bank Saudagar Malaysia, Perbadanan Pengeluaran Negara, Pasific Basin Economic Council Malaysia, Yayasan Persatuan Perubatan Malaysia, Malaysian-British dan Malaysia-China Business Council, Asean-Japan Business Meeting, Malaysian Investment Banking Association, National Productivity Corporation, Malaysia-British Business Council, Malaysia-China Business Council, International Advisory Panel, Bank Negara Malaysia, International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), International Advisory Panel,World Islamic Economic Forum and Leader of the ASEAN-Japanese Business Meeting (Malaysia Committee, Keizai Doyukai).

In achieving the great leadership , it is common to a successful leaders such as Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim to be able to challenge the process by finding a process that he believe needs to be improved the most. On the same time, inspire a shared vision and share his vision in words that can be understood by all Tan Sri Dato Azman Hashim is a great man. He not only enables others to act by giving them the tools and methods to solve the problem but also model the way. When the process gets tough, he gets his hands dirty. (The Star, 2010)

References MBLA Official Website - http://mblawards.com http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8369267&tick er=AMM:MK&previousCa http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=10548 http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/12/31/business/5389186&sec=business