The Ascentador Questionnaire has its origins in the 19th century parlor game popularized by French writer and philosopher, Marcel Proust. This updated instrument is designed to evoke insights from senior executives to the benefit of our readers and contacts around the world.
Dominic Scriven, OBE
Dominic's investing career spans four decades across London, Hong Kong and Vietnam. After spending two years immersed in Vietnamese language studies at Hanoi University, in 1994 he co-founded and today serves as Chairman for Dragon Capital, Vietnam’s largest asset management firm. Since then, he has also co-founded the Vietnam Institute of Directors (VIOD), serving as Vice Chairman, plus the non-profit Wildlife at Risk, which combats illegal wildlife trading. His accolades include an OBE from the late Queen Elizabeth II, and a Labour Medal from the President of Vietnam. His responses to The Ascentador Questionnaire reflect a wonderful balance of the proud, hard-charging, market-beating, as well as the humble, socially conscious, humanist sides of his personality. We are honored to share his perspectives which are insightful, disarming and very encouraging.
The Ascentador Questionnaire
1. What core value has been most central to your success?
Listening.
2. What qualities do you prize most highly in your colleagues?
Laughter.
3. For what attribute or achievement do you most often hear praise?
Pride.
4. For what attribute or decision do you most often fault yourself?
I think immediately of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs - - individuals who appear to have avoided the great pitfall of letting their success distort their view of the marketplace, the world, and even themselves. By all means, success in any endeavor is worth pursuing, but if we are fortunate enough to achieve it, it is vital to recognize we did not do so alone.
6. What words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Journey”.
7. For what fault in others do you have the least tolerance?
Deceitfulness.
8. What was the most important experience of your formative years?
The opportunity to work in another culture.
9. What was the first job you ever held and what did it teach you?
When I started my first job, I had no notion of the world of work I had just joined, but my employer had met me in the ‘milk rounds’ and decided to take a punt on me. Thanks to his generosity, I had a big learning experience and in just a year or two had learned a great deal about myself and had even begun to form the early notions of a career path.
10.Is your work more challenging now or when you were first starting out?
Probably now, at least in terms of complexity.
11.In what area of business have you had the greatest impact?
Leadership and team formation.
12.What has been the most significant setback or obstacle you have had to face?
A number of years ago, we ran into a crisis of governance when a co-founder of ours fell out with us strategically and, having taken some big bets and big losses, left us feeling humbled and humiliated. Instead of being defeated, we looked our mistakes in the face, did the challenging work of maturing our governance model, and were able to set the company on an even stronger course.
13.What are your main passions outside your professional life?
Resorts in odd places, conservation, history, language, spirit and sound.
14.What ambitions do you have that are, as yet, unfulfilled?
Some encourage me to think about my legacy and others to let it go. I’m undecided.
15.What role, if any, has “luck” played in your career?
Considerable!
16.What experience have you had with “failure”?
Enough.
17.How has your underlying source of motivation changed over time?
I focus more on the journey than on the numbers now.
18.Do you have any hopes regarding your “legacy”?
I shouldn’t, really. The journey is not about hard objectives, but about how one lives, how one makes decisions, how one views today and tomorrow, and how one manages desire. Rather than thinking about legacy, I think about optimism and about living, and one day dying, in an easy, uncomplicated way.
19.If some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them, which are you?
This is the wrong question, I think. We do not have ‘greatness’ in ourselves. We are only a reflection of energy, small complications in the machinery of life. Ego is such a flawed notion. Instead of reflecting on our own greatness, the way to peace is to consider the role we have played in the larger story of which we are only a part.
20.What motto or slogan best captures your current state of mind?
Live the Journey.