"Being a soldier is a different feeling from being in sales, but what I learnt from my military career can be applied to human resource management," he said.

"Being a soldier teaches us about duty and responsibility, and these are things that apply to a lot of people. Workforce management is a very important issue because it can lead a company to success, and this is a matter for superiors."

Marco, 39, earned a bachelor's arts degree in English literature and politics from Middlebury College in the US state of Vermont. He never thought of being a stockbroker and shortly after graduating, began work at the Royal Thai Army's Directorate of Intelligence.

He later shifted to work at the Foreign Ministry and ended up working in state agencies for four years. "State officials have low salaries, and I had to ask my father for financial support. At that point, I decided to resign because I would never build up my wealth if I worked at state agencies.

"A friend who worked at the now-defunct BZW-KT Securities Thailand asked me to work with him and I began my new career as a broker in the research department," he said.

"It might sound a bit weird that I graduated to be a soldier, but began working in the research department of a stock brokerage. I didn't hesitate to switch jobs. However, after working in the research department for one year, I realised it was not for me. I had a chance to work as a stock dealer before moving up to sales, and I found what suited me."

Marco worked at BZW-KT Securities for three years before moving to the company's New York office, where he worked for one year as assistant director of Pacific Rim sales trading. Then, Korn Chatikavanij - now a Democrat MP - invited him to move to Robert Fleming, New York, and he worked there for one year.

During the financial crisis, George Soros assigned Marco to supervise Adkinson Securities, in which Soros held a sizeable stake.

He enjoys working in sales, he said, because everything is finished within one day and if he makes mistakes, there is no lasting impact in following days.

"Sales is my most preferred career. It is not a tough job if you understand and take care of your customers. It is really a service job. The greatest difficulty for traders is providing the wrong investment advice to clients, particularly if they're major customers," he said.

Marco said he had sent wrong orders three times while working at JP Morgan, and each order was worth around Bt10 million. "Sending wrong orders always occurs when stock market turnover is brisk. Each trader [at the company] must take responsibility for 30 stocks when turnover amounts to about Bt40 billion, reducing to 10 stocks when turnover is lower. I have to remember stock abbreviations, numbers of stocks bought and sold to each client, to prevent any mistakes," he said.

As JP Morgan's president in Thailand, he heads up a staff of 22.

"During office hours, I always stay with my staff. If they have problems, I can give them immediate suggestions. If there is damage, I have to report the main causes to the New York headquarters. I take joint responsibility with my staff. To minimise mistakes, I focus on recruiting highly experienced employees. In our office, staff members have working experience averaging more than 12 years." Marco said.

However, this does not mean he will refuse to recruit newly graduated applicants.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation