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Politics and business mix at forum

Acer Group founder Stan Shih, left, laughs as he talks to KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou during a forum in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES

An entrepreneur and the head of the country's opposition party exchanged views on what constitutes a leader in a forum held yesterday in Taipei.

Both Stan Shih (施振榮), former chairman of the Acer Group, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who concurrently serves as Taipei mayor, stressed the attributes of vision and integrity during a Harvard Forum on promoting the national interest, sponsored by the Harvard Club of the Republic of China.

Shih cited selflessness, integrity and willingness to take responsibility as the primary characteristics of a leader.

From the perspective of a corporation, he said, if a CEO cannot establish or achieve the company's objectives, that individual should resign or be replaced.

Shih said that being a leader is all about taking responsibility, not about fame or privileges. If a leader cannot accept responsibility, Shih said, then the fame and privileges should be stripped.

Ma, the KMT's likely candidate in the 2008 presidential election, said a leader should have the qualities of vision, integrity, commitment and action.

Ma said a leader should be able to effectively communicate a vision to others and to persevere in reaching goals in a responsible manner.
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