Living Life Kingsize

Since then he has donned
various mantles, from monitoring the supply chain to fielding questions in the
public affairs department. He now hopes to continue his successful streak in
India at a time when Samsung needs strong leadership.

With a cheerful person ality that never leaves a chance to smile, Harry S Ahn
calls himself a people's man. And surprisingly, he did not get into Samsung on
his own. Instead, it was at his parent's urging that he joined the
conglomerate in 1987, after he graduated from the Hongik University in Seoul.

Harry still remembers how he wanted to be a teacher and almost became one.
But his mother wanted him to take up a career in the entertainment industry. But
considering that he now hold the top slot position in Samsung India, he is now
grateful for the career decision he took almost two decades ago.

Harry started his career with the company in the public affairs department.
"I was responsible for giving an introduction of the company to VIPs based
overseas. The idea was to introduce Samsung in an impressive way to the outside
world, which I found pretty challenging," he adds.

Harry Ahn Team Leader, IT Products,  Samsung India Electronics “Hindi movies have always been close to my heart and that's how I made my first connection with India. I still remember a song from the movie 'Haathi Mere Saathi', which I watched as a kid.”

But soon he wanted to do more than sell the company's image; he wanted to
do sell its products. He was transferred to the display division in 1988 outside
Korea to sell monitors. "As part of this job, I dealt with OEM brands like
IBM and AT&T. Thereafter, I started focusing on Latin American markets like
Argentina, Paraguay, Mexico and Uruguay," he remarks.

This position gave an impetus to his fondness for seeing new locales, a love
affair that has continued till date and one that he nourishes by taking frequent
trips even within India. His wife and two daughters share this passion and
though the family lives in Delhi, they accompany him on frequent jaunts in and
around the city.

To UK and back

Harry's first sojourn outside his motherland, Korea, was in 1995 when he
established Samsung's supply chain factory at Middleborough in the UK. After
putting the plant in place during three years, he then moved to Scotland to
handle production planning and local sales of monitors in the region.

Harry returned to Korea in 2000, where he was entrusted with the management
of the supply chain logistics. Coming back to his home country, was a memorable
occasion for him. All the more so, because he was elevated to the position of
manager for global operations of the company's supply chain management, no
mean feat, give its spread across several continents.

Talking about his experiences in the UK, Harry recalls how his stint in the
English locales made him passionate about fitness. While in Scotland, Harry
became increasingly aware of his physique, as he was overweight by 20 kilograms.

He decided to tackle this problem head-on and enrolled into a gym and changed
his diet to shed the extra kilos. And what began as a weight-loss plan, has
evolved into a lifestyle for Harry. "On an average, even today, I spend
nearly two hours in the gymnasium on a daily basis," he quips.

Stop worrying and start living

When Harry was in high school, he picked up Dale Carnegie's bestseller 'How
To Stop Worrying And Start Living'. This book gave him a solid foundation on
which he built the ramparts of his life and a vision to do everything with
passion. "This book has given me a lot of inspiration and I must have read
it at least more than 20 times or so," he says.

Harry is not a workaholic and is proud of it. He believes in enjoying life to
the fullest and this is possible only if one gets involved in all aspects of
life. When not working, he relaxes by listening to good music.

Being a Korean has not deterred him to become an avid fan of Hindi movies. He
loves the way Amitabh Bachchan acts and was more than amazed to see his Indian
icon's statue at Madame Tussauds, London famous wax museum.

India was one destination that Harry always wanted to visit, even when he was
a small child. A self-admitted Bollywood buff, the first Hindi movie he saw was
'Haathi Mere Saathi'. This got him thinking about the cultural diversity
between the two nations and people in general.

"Indian movies have always been close to my heart and that's how I
made my first connection with India. I still remember an old song from 'Hathi
Mere Saathi', which I watched with my family as a kid," he recollects. In
his pastime, he prefers going to the gym, catch up on Hindi movies and play
golf. But he is also religious and makes it a point to attend the sermons in
Church every Sunday.

Harry's dream is to explore the diversity of the country by traveling to as
many cities as possible. With his focus towards life, people and work, Harry
wants to take life as it comes. "I am an ambitious person. I always make
sure that my colleagues are successful, even if they leave the company," he
explains. For him, life is not about achieving awards and recognition, but about
making friends, wherever he goes.