When we ask him Dr James Mabey about himself, he lists out just a few of the roles that keep him occupied—pilot, skydiver, professor, board member, hotel manager and developer, yachtsman and even an amateur cage fighter.
“Anything going into the sky, I want to be piloting it, or jumping out of it,” he jokes.
Evident from the vehicle parked at the entrance of his cosy abode in Sukhumvit, James has a passion for vintage automobiles, specifically the Land Rover Defender. “What does Queen (Elisabeth) drive, as well as the Late King Rama IX, Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe? The Defender. It’s classic, a beautiful machine and timeless,” James explains. Similarly, while licensed to fly the most modern aircraft, he prefers vintage planes “where you still feel the air around you.” You can find him on the weekends in Pattaya flying acrobatic and bush planes, his latest passions.
While the 39-year-old invests impressively in his lifestyle and leisure, his work takes centre stage. He demands excellence in delivering on business objectives at all times. “I am quite laid back generally but when it comes to business, I need results,” James quickly explains before jumping on a short international zoom meeting. As a multipotentialite, he switches between several hats including a hotel developer with 87 projects under his belt, a professor of practice of Hotel Development and Strategy at Hong Kong Polytechnic’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management, and chairman of the SEA Angels Chapter of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organisation). YPO is a premier global leadership organisation with more than 27,000 chief executives in over 130 countries whose companies generate 9 trillion USD in annual revenues.
It’s really an honour to serve as a leader in my chapter, where we believe the world and society can be a better place through the development of better leaders.
