CEO Insights Magazine

Coming from an unprivileged background with inadequate financial conditions, Muhamad Yasir (Chief People Officer, Brick) never dreamt of attending college after graduating from high school. Having started working as a blue-collar worker at Astra’s factories to feed his family when his father became seriously ill and could no longer work, he grew up at a very young age. However, in two years despite his life’s hardships he soon dared to dream big and change his future life. Making a contested decision to leave his full-time job, after lots of struggles, finally he received a scholarship from Putera Sampoerna and laid the foundation to study at Sampoerna University. That's when his story took the first leap.

Today, Yasir holds a total of nine years of work experience from local & multinational companies, ranging from automotive manufacturers, consumer goods, education, banking investment, and financial technology. Currently, as the Chief People Officer at Brick, he is leading the HR Department to provide strategic & tactical operations of the full spectrum of HR domains, driving people initiatives, and working with the leaders to create a dynamic, inclusive, & fun working culture in the company. Let’s hear it from him.

Define Brick as an organization.

Being established amid the pandemic in 2020, Brick is a strong partner in helping to optimize business finances & operations by offering payment solutions with smart mass transfer processing, flexible credit limit, seamless payment acceptance, and integrated payroll management. Recently, we expanded into business finance after launching integrated transaction management solutions. Leveraging our strength as a leading open finance infrastructure provider in Indonesia, we deliver easier, faster, and more affordable transaction experiences.

Having a fully remote working policy, the company strives to be committed to providing a positive, inclusive, and growth culture in the organization. Our team is made up of members from different nationalities, backgrounds, and expertise from a wide range of verticals. The team has built some of the largest and fastest-growing companies, and we share a common vision of building a modern financial infrastructure to help manage business ventures, especially for SME segments. As an organization, we manage transparency and openness to all members, thus we can be more synchronized and aligned in achieving our common goals. We also have periodic 360-degree evaluations at all levels to foster the personal and professional growth of each individual. We foster professional development with learning programs, ensuring all Bricksters have an equal opportunity to experience their career progression vertically and horizontally within the company.

As the CPO, what are the latest industry trends you have adopted in the company? What growth opportunities the employees can expect?

As a startup, we embody the spirit of innovation in our daily operations. The fintech industry is constantly evolving due to technological advancements that change how our customers behave and how our business operates. To stay ahead, we have adopted AI and machine learning, digital and mobile payments, cybersecurity, and fraud prevention. Additionally, we have embraced open banking and API integration, which have become the core of our initial business at Brick. Currently, we are exploring some other technologies that can be leveraged to make us even more competitive.

At Brick, we believe, the main way to grow as a professional is by improving skills and knowledge. Hence, we offer a formal and informal learning and development program for all employees, which includes mandatory courses, cohorts-based learning, certification programs, and more. In a more casual setting, we have weekly sharing sessions where everyone can share any topic with others. We bring learning to life by collaborating with all stakeholders and involving everyone in the learning process.

Tell us about your leadership approach.

There are many leadership approaches based on theory, but for me, there’s no one style that fits all. Therefore, my style would be agile leadership, applying different leadership approaches in different contexts and situations. When it comes to seeking the team’s input on critical decisions, I would apply the democratic approach and involve all members in the decision-making process. This is how I value and demonstrate inclusive leadership as well. Applying coaching leadership, I keep being supportive and motivational to all team members, understanding their strengths, weaknesses, motives, and potential. I lead by example and hold the team members to a high standard, continually pushing the members to grow professionally and venture outside their comfort zone to support achieving our organizational goals. As a leader, I focus on highlighting the team’s well-being and creating a supportive and positive workplace culture, where we make all members feel happier, healthier, productive, and engaged.

What is the future destination you are heading towards?

With the goal to deliver more contributions to the people and business at Brick, I would like to focus on making a bigger impact by providing strategic HR operations and services. Besides, since the company just commercializing an integrated payroll management software and services, which is more relevant to my expertise, I’ve been closely involved in this project, assisting the product team with the product discovery and development stages, and supporting commercial and marketing teams on the go to market strategy and deployment.

As an HR professional, I also always aspire to learn more about new knowledge applicable to HR technology and keep continuing my social impact initiative through coaching, mentoring, and optimizing my influence on social media to impact other people’s lives.

Muhamad Yasir, Chief People Officer, Brick

A self-driven HR professional with rich experience in various industries, Yasir is passionate about people development, organization transformation, and social impact initiatives to bring impact to the communities.

Awards & Recognition: Scholars Awards & Dean’s Commendation List, LinkedIn Influencer 25K+ Followers, OTS Awards & ABCD Awards Philip Morris International, Employee of the Month.