How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
I had a tough father who would make me earn what I wanted, instead of simply giving it to me when I asked for it. And for that, you learn always to strive for what you want – be it a better car or more money to spend. You learn that good things you need are earned, not merely by asking for them.
Along the way, you learn by listening hard to what others want, modify your behaviour so that your team would be motivated to help you to achieve your goals, and vice versa, helping them to achieve theirs too – both professionally and personally.
What traits do you look for in your talent or how do you decide who is right for a job?
Honesty is first on my list. You would need that so that you can rely on that person to help you along the way to achieve your goals. As for selection of staff, some are smarter, and will perform to help you form a view that he or she is right for the job. But ultimately, getting the job done on time, and in good order ... that will take time to assess. If performance is good and repeated, you will know you have found a good team member.
How do you think the industry you are in will evolve?
In the water treatment industry, we are constantly ensuring to not only have a healthy, safe water environment for all, but also trying to ensure we are energy-saving for the betterment of the environment and society.
With this in mind, we will definitely see more advanced electronics to be incorporated into our product design to make them user-friendly as well as reducing manual hours in maintenance and more energy-friendly. That is where the industry is heading.
What advice can you offer those looking to start their career/own business?
Work hard. This may sound simple. In addition, you need to work smart too. Nothing comes easy. You need to assess current and future competitive pressures to ensure you have sufficient margins to get in. That is the hardest to assess. Once you get in, the work will never stop – calling for you to reassess and improve both sales and margins.
We all know about the industrial revolution, are we in for a technological revolution? Your thoughts.
Yes, I would say that there has been a technological revolution. However, I am also glad that we are not caught in such a fast changing world that we cannot follow, for we are still given room to grow into it, understand it, and adapt to this new space.
We are lucky that technological change is not happening so fast that we cannot develop products that have similar features, and we can still remain competitive and relevant to the community.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional life?
My father was a good mentor who taught me to understand people better, and to keep a reputation of being reliable and ethical so that you can develop a network of associates who can help one another to move forward.
What do you want to accomplish in the next five years?
Having been in the water industry for 40 years, we are now looking to expand our presence further in Southeast Asia and grow with the various Asean countries whose way of life is improving at a higher rate than other parts of the world. We want to build our footprints to continue to be the leading establishment in the water treatment industry, that also emphasize on climate care.
Best piece of advice you ever received on your career.
Expand at a rate that you can cope with, taking into consideration your current human resources and financial capital.
Most-admired business leader? Why?
My old friend of more than 40 years, FF Wong of Boustead Singapore, who has developed his business empire by picking the correct global trends investing in Taiwan in the 1980s during which he enjoyed country growth. Of course, Singapore grew during that period too.
How do you stay abreast of issues affecting your industry?
I work closely with my team members – sharing knowledge with them from time to time, while also understanding the current situation when they are out on field work. I constantly ask our sales team in various locations about our strengths and weaknesses. That covers our pricing policy, competitors and our product gaps so that we can remain relevant yet strong and steadfast, not only in the market but also among our target audience.
If you could have an hour with any thought leader in the world, who would it be and why?
Elon Musk. His electric vehicle is the forefront in vehicle development. I would be interested to know how he evaluates risk into such a venture.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced and what did you learn from it?
A severe downturn causing a drastic drop in sales. We needed to mitigate that drop by adjusting our overheads quickly, and that was our biggest challenge. We were lucky during the global financial crisis in 2008 when it recovered quickly. In that year, our sales recovered swiftly when consumers decided to spend more time at home and improved their backyard pools.
And of course, recently, the impact of Covid-19. Like any other businesses, we had some bad months but for only a short couple of months. That said, with a strong team that stays true to our vision and goals, the industry recovered quickly and in fact, improved to an extent of being better than the previous year.
What we learned was on how to manage reducing our overheads quickly.
What was the most outlandish business proposal you have ever heard of?
A competitor who wanted to buy one of our divisions for US$1 and pay us in instalments over the next five years, probably from the profits of the business.
What man-made innovation confounds you? Why?
Drones. There will be prospects of drones transporting people by air instead of by road.
Malaysia’s greatest brand.
Proton. If not now, it will be in the near future by the time improvements on their entire vehicle range are implemented.
A must-read for every business owner/manager is ...
One-Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. A well thought-out book on how to manage people.
How do you expect policies on climate change to impact businesses in the future?
It has already begun. More so in Australia and influencing changes in Southeast Asia. This is why we are fully emphasising on climate care in all our standard work practices, services and also our products. We are the only filtration company that has been awarded with the Climate Care certification, where you can see it in our energy conservation products like inverter motors, solar PV systems and heat pumps.
What are the top three factors you would attribute your success to?
Adapt to changes in consumers’ demand, product development and team building.
Source: The Sun Daily
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