The CEO who gave away his bonus

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Executive secretary Zaibunnisa Hamid, 49, was surprised about two weeks ago when she received a bonus of $400 from her employer Lenovo.

"I thought that I had been given a special award in recognition of some work I had done," she said, recalling the day.

"But what did I do?"

It was only later that she learnt the unexpected windfall was a gift from Lenovo chief executive Yang Yuanqing, 48.

He had received a one-time bonus of US$3 million (S$3.7 million) for leading the company to a record-setting year, and decided to distribute the money among about 10,000 employees in non-management positions, about a third of the company's 27,000-strong workforce.

Said Ms Zaibunnisa, who works in the PC maker's global logistics department in Singapore: "It's a surprise to me when you get money for doing nothing. No other company CEO would have done what he did."

She is one of nine employees in Singapore who received the payout, out of about 220 staff.

Senior executive secretary Patrina Lim, in her 40s, was equally delighted with her bonus. She said: "I feel appreciated and recognised."

Singapore-based Mr Howie Lau, vice-president of marketing and communications for Asia-Pacific and Latin America, said: "As a Lenovo employee, I feel proud for having a leader who cares for his employees. Everyone I meet has this 'wow' expression that speaks so favourably of our big boss."

Mr Yang explained that he wanted to make the point that all his staff had contributed to the company's stellar growth.

He told The Sunday Times by e-mail: "We delivered a record year. I couldn't have done it alone and so I want to celebrate it with employees everywhere."

Often referred to as "Y.Y.", Mr Yang is China's highest-paid CEO, earning about US$12 million last year. With Lenovo valued at about HK$59 billion (S$9.4 billion), his 9.3 per cent stake in the company is worth about HK$5 billion.

Mr Yang was a 25-year-old computer science graduate when he joined the company and became a travelling salesman. His job took him across China, selling PCs and delivering them on a bicycle.

Mr Yang's efforts were noticed. At 29, he was handpicked by the company founder to head Lenovo's PC business. By 1997, Lenovo became China's top-selling PC maker, a position it maintains today.

In 2001, he became CEO when Mr Liu retired. Just 37 years old, Mr Yang was named that year by Business Week magazine as one of Asia's rising stars.

That year too, he led a team of senior executives on a visit to Silicon Valley to see how American companies did business. Out of that trip emerged a goal to make Lenovo a global company within 10 years.

In 2004, he became chairman. That December, he stunned the industry by buying IBM's loss-making PC division for US$1.75 billion, achieving his global dream six years early.

With no experience running a global company, Mr Yang stepped down, preferring to let IBM veteran Steve Ward and then former Dell executive Gil Amelio run the show.

But the Americans failed to integrate the company and grow it.

In 2009, Mr Yang and Mr Liu reclaimed their roles as CEO and chairman, respectively. Mr Yang stepped up as chairman once more when Mr Liu retired again last year.

Mr Yang keeps a low profile. Little is known of his personal life except that he is married with children and they stay out of the public eye.

He uprooted his family from Beijing to live in New York and said that this was so he could understand American lifestyle and business better.

He sent his children to school there so that they would become bicultural. He had English tuition lessons and watched television to learn the language and speak it comfortably. He went from speaking little English to becoming confident enough to be interviewed on major US TV networks.

A hands-on executive, he expects the same from his staff. He wants to find out for himself what is happening on the ground.

He is also a strong proponent of the Lenovo Way, which is "we do what we say, we own what we do", which encourages everyone to take responsibility.

Said a former employee: "If he says he'll be in Sao Paulo in Brazil next Friday, he'll be there. If he says he'll get someone to help you, he'll do it. He means what he says."

But Lenovo is not all about business. It is also a warm and caring place. Employees describe a corporate culture which allows junior staff and managers to communicate openly, and a family-oriented outlook which means staff can take time out if they have to attend to urgent family matters.

Secretary Alice Lee, 36, of the Singapore office, said the company trusts staff to do the right thing. "My bosses don't look over my shoulder, they give me freedom to do what it takes to get my job done."