For the second and third time in my life. Do you think a board meeting will scare me?
First time some AK47s were aimed at my chest was in 2023, when I wandered into a nice building in Beirut. Turned out it was a Hezbollah building. So when I’ve had guns pointed at me twice in Myanmar, I could say it was not my first rodeo, but this time I’ve been questioned by armed soldiers, had my passport and visa inspected, and found myself explaining to people with assault rifles where Hungary is. I went to Myanmar voluntarily, while travelling South-East Asia, because I fancied a bit of adventure.
So when someone asks whether I’m comfortable handling pressure, dealing with difficult people or walking into a room full of senior executives, I sometimes think back to those two afternoons in Myanmar.
A trip to Myanmar is actually a good idea, if you are brave enough
While travelling South-East Asia, I decided to visit Myanmar. I suppose I was getting a little too comfortable travelling around the region and needed something different. Myanmar was in the middle of a civil war at the time, but that apparently wasn’t enough to discourage me. I still remember checking in for my Singapore Airlines flight, the lady behind the counter looked at my destination and genuinely asked whether I was sure I wanted to go. I confirmed that I did. She seemed somewhat unconvinced, but printed my boarding pass anyway.
When we boarded the plane, I started to realise just how unusual my decision might have been, since I was the only foreigner on the aircraft. At immigration, I joined the non-existent foreign passport queue and waited. Like a lot. About twenty minutes and some weird looks later, an immigration officer finally appeared, looking rather surprised and opened the counter for me. I suspect they weren’t expecting many tourists, so I got the VIP treatment.
Always stop at checkpoints around Yangon
My first encounter with the local military happened during a taxi ride. My driver approached a checkpoint and for reasons I still don’t understand, decided to drive straight through it with the windows up. The soldiers obviously had a different interpretation of how checkpoints worked, so they stopped the car, pointed their guns through the windows and made me get out. Fair game. I suddenly found myself standing next to a military checkpoint, surrounded by a dozens of armed men who wanted to know who I was and what I was doing there. They took my passport, checked my visa and started asking questions. The fact that I was hungarian seemed to cause some additional confusion and I ended up trying to explain where Hungary was. Foreign SIM cards does not work in Myanmar (neither foreign credit cards!) so I was a bit nervous pinching Google maps on one of the soldier’s cracked phone, but it turned out to be a nice geography crashcourse.
I had no idea what they thought I was doing there, what they were looking for or how the situation might develop. Second time having machine guns pointed at my chest in my life, it was still a frightening experience, but I stayed calm, answered their questions and did my best to be respectful, aside from letting some hungarian swear words spilling out from my mouth when one of the guys decided to press that bloody gun a bit too strong to my chest. Eventually, they let me go, and I continued with my trip.
May I enjoy my cheesecake, please?
The second incident was even more surreal because of how ordinary the afternoon had started. I was in the suburbs of Mandalay, sitting in a coffee’s garden, smoking a cigarette, having a coffee and a cheesecake. Damn, that cheesecake was good after some noodles for lunch. Myanmar has some fantastic food, if you ever get the opportunity to visit, make sure you try Shan noodles, they’re absolutely brilliant.
So I was enjoying my afternoon when a group of soldiers turned up. I couldn’t tell you which side they belonged to, since they looked quite different from the first group and I wasn’t particularly keen to investigate. They gathered around the garden of the coffee shop and before I put my cigarette out, I was once again being held at gunpoint. The questions were familiar by then. Who was I? Where was I from? What was I doing in Myanmar? They checked my passport and visa and once again, Hungary required a little explanation. I still couldn’t tell what they were expecting to find, like I’m some chinese agent? I must be a good one then, have you ever seen a chinese agent with a beard? But yeah, I get it, in a civil war anyone can be and everyone is suspicious. This time they were slightly friendly and a tiny bit curious about Hungary, however they did not accept my invitation for a coffee, nor let me try one of the guns. Sad.
Myanmar is a lot more than a conflict area tho
Despite these experiences, I have genuinely fond memories of Myanmar. The people I encountered were lovely, they were super curious about foreigners, often surprised to see one and generally incredibly friendly. People wanted to talk, learn where I came from and understand what had brought me to their country. The food, the conversations and the hospitality are what I remember most aside from the culture. The whole country (at least the part I was allowed to travel to) reminded me Thailand, which probably looked similar in the 1980s.
There’s something particularly sad about seeing a country with so much to offer and such warm people living through circumstances they never asked for. I sincerely hope Myanmar gets to see peace again and those people, who are responsible for the violence, oppression and suffering will live through the worst of hell. The people of that country deserve considerably better.
So do you think any meeting or work-related situation would scare me?
I wouldn’t pretend that being held at gunpoint is some kind of qualification for any kind of executive leadership, nor would I compare the two situations, but those experiences did tell me something about myself. When things get let’s say uncomfortable, I don’t freeze and I can be scared without losing my ability to think, assess what’s happening and respond appropriately. This has been useful in my professional life, too. Difficult stakeholders, uncomfortable conversations, projects going sideways and rooms full of senior executives with rather different opinions are all part of working life. I don’t need everything to go smoothly and I definetely don’t need everyone to agree with me, I can handle uncomfortable situations without letting them get the better of me.
I don’t know if that’s something you can learn from a book or a leadership course, I just know I’ve seen it in myself when it mattered. So, the next time I walk into a boardroom, I’ll probably be fine. After all, I’ve already had three encounters with armed soldiers who couldn’t quite figure out where Hungary was.
I suspect the board will be considerably easier to negotiate with.
