1. The Power of the Team: Rugby prepares
Dicky Natapradja for the challenges of
leadership
Dicky Natapradja learned three important values from a sport he loves and says they apply
equally well to business and his personal life.
"The sport of rugby taught me passion, desire and sacrifice," said Dicky, who is also known by
his nickname Bobby, which he prefers. "I have implemented these values in my daily life with
my family and in my professional work life. They have proven very successful for me,
especially in terms of my career and the leadership roles I have undertaken."
Bobby serves as assistant VP and Head of Human Resources at PT Zurich Topas Life in Jakarta.
He joined Zurich just more than a year ago and also serves as a member of the senior
management team that has a strong focus on strategic initiatives, long-term planning and
business decisions.
He points to a long love of a sport in which he has excelled as a guiding force in his youth and
his career. Bobby began playing rugby at age 7 in Sydney, Australia for a club called the
Seaforth Pirates. "It is safe to say that I was probably the only Asian boy running around
playing rugby in the early '80's in Sydney," he recalls.
At 13 in 1990, he was the youngest-ever schoolboy to play in the senior division at the
Commonwealth Bank Cup National Championships. Three years later he represented New
South Wales School Boys and in 1996 was named to the Penrith Panthers Reserve Grade
Team in the Australian National Rugby League Competition. Since 2007, he has played with
the Indonesia National Rugby Team, including four matches as captain and in two Rugby
World Cup qualifying matches. And, in 2011-12, he served as chairman of the Indonesia
Rugby Union.

2. Leadership on and off the field
The parallels in the sport and other aspects of life are obvious, Bobby says.
"Leadership is key in both rugby and the professional world," he noted. "The attitude of a
team reflects its leadership. Our employees rely and depend on their line managers to set the
example and become role models in terms of performance and results - this is no different on
the rugby pitch where the captain or skipper must set the standards in terms of individual
players' performance."
As in rugby, business leaders must sometimes "take a hit for the team and never back down
from a challenge," Bobby said. "I strongly feel that leading by example is not just a way of
leadership, it is the only way, and that is evident on and off the rugby pitch."
Just as important, he emphasized, is the camaraderie and brotherhood that is developed
through a team effort. Without teammates, "we are merely individuals trying to fight a battle
that is impossible to win alone. We can't achieve our targets, our KPIs and other business
objectives without our team members and colleagues within the company striving to achieve a
common purpose."
Helping rugby develop
Bobby's involvement with rugby continues, but is changing. "I recently played my last test
match for Indonesia," he said. "Off the field I am involved with the grassroots development of
rugby throughout the country, as the sport is not well-known in Indonesia. I help coach and
mentor young players coming up thru the ranks as potential stars for our national team."
All of that while a busy work schedule in his first year with Zurich overseeing HR functions and
acting as a business partner to the senior management team to guide, mentor and counsel
them in people-related issues. Since his arrival, Bobby says he has managed such
accomplishments as implementing changes that significantly lowered the turnover rate at

3. Zurich in Indonesia, improved health benefits for Global Life and General Insurance business
units and properly applied the Indonesia Manpower Law with regard to employees' religious
festival bonus payments.
Rugby skills aside, Bobby claims to be a more-than-competent cook. "I love to cook. In fact, I
do all the cooking on the weekends," he says, and his four kids love it. "Well, I hope they do,"
he concedes.
Born in Indonesia, he spent the first 24 years of his life in Australia, where he met his
Indonesian wife. "I look like an islander, sound like an Aussie but played rugby for my beloved
Indonesia!"