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Sun Life Asia president Ingrid aims to make a difference in Asian lives
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Ingrid Johnson.
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lying across the Asian region has become an inseparable part of the many joyful experiences that Ingrid Johnson has, especially since she started to take the helm at life-insurance-provider Sun Life Asia.
Ingrid acknowledged, however, that the real joy she gets as a leader is when her life has an impact on other people.
Now, as the number-one person in Sun Life Asia, Ingrid travels to eight Asian countries where Sun Life operates on a scheduled basis to make a difference in Asian lives.
Sun Life’s eight Asian markets are Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, India and the Philippines.
Despite the relative newness of her engagement with Sun Life Asia, Ingrid feels that she is already at one in heart with the insurance company because her current position is aligned with the personal-mission statement she made almost two decades ago.
It dated back to 2003, when Ingrid frequently pondered what she would like to do in life and what difference she could make to society.
“What I love to do is what I am doing now at Sun Life, which allows me to touch the lives of millions of people in Asia. Sun Life’s purpose gives me a greater sense of meaning as an individual. I am blessed to have the role I have now,” said Ingrid in an interview in Jakarta on Monday.
Ingrid’s career journey spans for 25 years in international-financial-service industries.
Prior to being appointed as president of Sun Life Asia in Hong Kong, Ingrid was the group-finance director of the then-GBP 12 billion market-cap dual London- and South Africa-listed Old Mutual plc, and a member of its various subsidiary boards.
Over the course of more than two decades, she held several senior roles, encompassing the technical aspects of governance; finance; treasury; risk and capital management; leading large-scale sustainable change of the businesses; and servicing international, corporate, business and retail clients.
Ingrid revealed that profession-wise, how she has climbed the career ladder has been based on electoral experiences, albeit her study in accounting in the first place and the advanced-management program at Harvard Business School where she joined a leadership program also played a contributing role in her earlier-career path.
She reminisced that she was promoted to a senior role, not as an outcome of pursuing higher study, as is commonly the case, but because of her potential, which her boss saw, and which led her to serve in the senior role.
“My boss saw my potential, commitment and willingness to learn, and took this into account as I was looking to progress to more senior roles,” said Ingrid.
“I was given an opportunity to lead a commercial bank, which initially only employed 15 people. After 10 years, the bank had grown and I led a business of 25,000 people,” she recollected her ability to successfully deliver her potential.
“Then again, I am excited to see how my previous experience can be applied as I lead Sun Life Asia,” she said.
Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ingrid felt blessed as her parents always encouraged her and her siblings to be the best that they could be, with the children given an opportunity to pursue education.
She said that her mother, who died young after six years struggling with cancer, was one of the most-influential persons in her life. She learned how important staying healthy is, “to be able to support the people around us”, she pointed out.
Her grandmother had a senior role in business in those days, which also influenced her early life. “I was surrounded by people who had a positive impact on the business environment,” she recollected.
Ingrid said she lived in the era in which Nelson Mandela, also recognized as the father of modern South Africa and a great inspiring figure, constantly encouraged local people to pursue education to broaden their mind.
“I was at university in 1990s when I witnessed efforts to address the inequality in Africa,” she said.
Ingrid said that her early-life experiences molded her personality and shaped who she is today.
Leadership
When discussing the leadership issue, Ingrid was very enthusiastic.
“The greatest joy for me is to see leaders in my team succeed,” she said.
She revealed how she still kept in touch with the very first persons she employed in 1995. “I still invest in those people and I want them to reach their full potential,” she said.
She said that when it came to leadership, she learned through others, which required her to be in the field. But she said she was also blessed to go to Harvard Business School to take a two-month course in the advanced-leadership program. “I started to learn leadership in 2005,” she said.
According to her, as far as leadership was concerned, context mattered. “We may be a strong leader in the current situation but the next situation will be very different. So the ingredients for current success will be different from those that we use to achieve success in the next situation,” said Ingrid, who loves Asian foods.
Although working is very important, Ingrid stressed that it is essential for leaders to create time for themselves to replenish. “Otherwise, eventually we’ll get tired and burn out,” she said.
“I don’t think in a day or a week, we can achieve work-life balance, but over a period of time, we have to make sure that we invest in ourselves as much as we invest in our work,” she said.
Asked what the biggest achievement is she has made to date, she said, “My character.”
She explained that in life, there are many moments where the path is hard and “I always choose to do the right thing,” she declared.
“Success is, at the end of the day, keeping my integrity,” she said.
“For me, character is also about my family because career is only one part. When my niece or nephew look at me, I hope they can see the difference that I make to society through my career, but not at the expense of what other expect from my life,” she said.
With respect to Sun Life business in Asia, Ingrid stated, “I’m just excited by the quality of talent across Asia. Every person I have met has been well educated, culturally diverse, inclusive about learning other cultures and yet embracing their respective distinctiveness.”
According to Ingrid, diversity, equality and inclusiveness are essential in life. “I think what is important about Asia is for us to see the uniqueness of all the cultures in each country,” she pointed out.
She revealed that Sun Life Asia ranked four in terms of sales in 2021. “What I’d love to see is further strengthening of our leadership position in Asia. This can be done through, among others, retaining the talent, rotating talent and exposing people to different opportunities,” she said.
“We can use the talent to grow. I would love to expose people to be a cross-functional team so that when they develop the skills to deliver their own role, they can contribute in other ways,” she added.
Ingrid said that Indonesia, the fourth-largest population in the world, offers an exciting market for insurance products albeit not necessarily an easy market. “That’s why a strong team is a prerequisite for driving the impact needed in Indonesia,” she said.
Asked how she kept up her passion for working in insurance, she said, “I have been traveling all around the region. Every time I meet a new person, I’ve found there is a financial need, a need for help, for holding financial security. I ask to myself what more of a difference can I make in my personal journey.”
