ABOUT

Chavalit was formally educated at the University of Michigan, USA. Having been exposed to both Eastern and Western cultures, Chavalit became the product of his time and his exposure. He is a product of both the East and the West. Chavalit saw his destiny to be intertwined with that of his family business and poured himself into it, finding success early in his life. The young chairman found himself in a strong financial position within a flourishing capitalist system. He felt that he could live forever and that the sky was the limit to his ambitions and passions.

The businessman felt that he had done justice to the family business he inherited and could imagine how to continue exploiting the markets and growing the family coffers even more. During these turbulent times, he saw the invisible hand of the market moving and saw the very real greed behind many of the decisions that would continue to shape the economy. 

Like how World War II was pivotal for the Tsao family realities, the Asian Economic miracle started to fall apart in 1978. During that time, Chavalit was aggressively expanding the family business in Thailand, which was very much a developing country. He saw the backlash of unhinged and irresponsible economic policies and strategies that catered to human greed regardless of its impact on society. Behind the deals and docks, he saw in the eyes of business people everywhere the all-encompassing allure of Greed. From catching thieves in the warehouses to negotiating with the local mafia to just to lay the foundations to establish a new shipyard, Chavalit’s personal experiences forced him to confront himself regarding how much he would go to secure a deal and make another dollar. He wondered about the legacy of the family business and its role in the world. Chavalit could see that business and economy efficiently deliver value into the market and impact society; economic activities to serve ethical human desires. To Chavalit, business is the most efficient institution to deliver these economic activities in an ethical manner.  

He had to confront him self with the fundamental question, what is the purpose of business? Why was it that his efforts to clean up an industry faced with such intense resistance. Why was he not welcomed to create more value for more people?  

If business was the most efficient way to deliver value, he needed to define a new role for business and how it would manifest itself in an ethical market economy. 

Because of the incidents and experiences, he encountered in growing the business in Thailand, he asked himself, “What is the role of business, and what is business sustainability?” This question led him to found the East-West Cultural Development Centre. The centre was mandated to discover the equivalent of the fountain of youth for businesses, the foundations for business sustainability and continuity (modernity). After over a decade of research and publishing over 40 books, the centre evolved into Octave Institute. The Tsao family’s ideals and philosophies were instrumental in guiding the research process (golden thread). 

The new era is upon humanity; people are awakening to the realities and the cause-and-consequence relationship between unmitigated greed behind the market economy. Humanity’s consciousness is shifting, and as a humanity, we are demanding more from our market economy than its current form; we are awakening. 

Chavalit believes that for businesses to flourish, they must serve the era they find themselves within. The Tsao family served the industrialisation of Japan and the industrialisation of southeast Asia, and now, the family business must serve the new era, one that is centred on the well-being and happiness economy if it is to flourish as in the previous three generations. The role of the stakeholder will evolve into the role of stewardship, which is not to extract value from the system but to take responsibility ethically for the entrusted resources towards achieving a common set of objectives.   The key difference is that the challenge of sustainability is shared by the whole of humanity; the various levels and aspects of this challenge stem from the core issue, which is a relational one; It is the challenge of ethics. Through his personal research and that of Octave Insititute, it was revealed to Chavalit that the solution lies in shifting the consciousness of humanity, beginning with the awakening of the consciousness of our interconnected nature. Each of us has everything within us, encoded.

When we care for our environment, our environment will care for us; “When I am well, all is well, and when all is well, I am well.” The new era will demand humanity to shift into a new consciousness, and you can shift consciousness and lead in the new era. 

“I can only be well, when everything around me is well. And everything around me is well when I am well. 

Chavalit has committed his business towards the support of the movement, the new era movement, one that will see the economy and social contracts transformed.   

Chavalit has crystalised the wisdom and principles behind the sustainable success of the Tsao family business into a framework backed by ancient wisdom and modern science; Quantum Leadership. In the modern world today, leadership, management and business need to consider all the connecting systems and redefine stakeholders' needs, to align and collaborate to create and sustain. Alignment can only be possible with a common worldview. A key lever to address humanity’s shared challenge of sustainability is the creation of Quantum Leaders. Quantum Leaders are made possible via an experiential and action-oriented path & pedagogy. 

The purpose of Life and business are inseparable, which is to add value and serve the well-being of Life while creating wealth in all its holistic dimensions. These are the qualities observable in organisations with quantum leadership. When leaders experience a shift in consciousness, it offers the highest leverage for the organisation to be transformed into one that contributes to the flourishing of life and its sustainability. 

Chavalit has chosen to respond to his calling, taking conscious action to transform the family business into one that serves the well-being of Life. As its steward, Chavalit is also aware that for his company to experience transformation, it would not be sufficient to steward the movement of the new era. He has committed his time and resources towards the advocacy of business reform, inviting family business and business leaders into a community, collectively awakening to our shared reality. Offering them a model and mandate they can adopt to repurpose their families and businesses to “add value to life” for the sake of humanity and the shared destiny of the generations to come as the Sage of Sustainability.