Getting our act together
30
By Zafrul | October 30, 2009
Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (pics below courtesy of Tengku Zafrul Tengku
Abdul Aziz)
TENGKU Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, 36, is the group director of investment group K & N Kenanga Holdings Bhd. He was previously the chief executive officer of Tune Money, described as Malaysia’s first online “budget” finance house. In October 2008, he quit abruptly from Tune Money. But Zafrul was surprisingly candid and reflective about this move, and even wrote about it in January 2009.
Zafrul is also quite eager to talk about his extra-curricular endeavours. He is deputy chairperson of the Kuala Lumpur Business Club (KLBC), which he says is “like an entrepreneur’s non-governmental organisation”. Additionally, he sits on the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia board.
He is also the chairperson of Xterra Malaysia, an off-road triathlon event. Zafrul does not just chair the event, he is a triathlete himself. “Every week, I run 40km and cycle 150km,” he tells The Nut Graph in this exclusive interview, held at his office in Kuala Lumpur on 8 Sept 2009.
He relates how he once cycled for three hours in a thunderstorm from Putrajaya back to Kuala Lumpur. After a stunned silence, The Nut Graph ventures into questions about his dreams and hopes for Malaysia.
TNG: Where were you born?
Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz: I was born at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, 25 June 1973.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up mostly in KL (Kuala Lumpur) and PJ (Petaling Jaya). I went to kindergarten in PJ. My primary school was Sri Petaling, in Section 14. And then from Form One to Form Three, I was at Bukit Bintang Boys School, which was next door to Sri Petaling. I did Form Four and Form Five at Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK).
Then I got a scholarship to do my A-Levels in Dorset, England. I studied economics and accountancy at Bristol for my undergraduate degree. I came back to Malaysia afterwards, but then the currency crisis hit soon after, so then I went on to do my Masters in finance at Exeter University.
Can you trace your ancestry?
My maternal grandmother is from Ipoh. My maternal grandfather is from Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. He was a civil servant, and travelled a lot, but was based in KL. He goes back to Sumatra, to Pagar Ruyung, sometimes to have a look at what’s there, and he likes studying history.
My mother went to Methodist Girl’s School in KL. Then she did her Form Six at St John’s Institution, and that’s where she met my father. She was also a civil servant, the first woman director-general of the Economic Planning Unit. She’s from that generation and background that really believes in serving the country. There are a lot of civil servants on my mother’s side.
You know (acclaimed theatre director Datuk) Zahim Albakri? He’s my cousin through my maternal grandmother’s side.
Holding his daughter, Zahra
On my dad’s side, both my grandparents come from Langkat, near Medan, in Sumatera. They came to [the Malayan peninsula] out of necessity.
My paternal great-grandmother was the then Sultan of Selangor’s daughter. She was married off to the Sultan of Langkat and went to Langkat. She and her husband were very rich as Langkat was a rich oil state, like Brunei. And then in 1945 there was a revolution in Indonesia, and the royalty was targeted. That’s why she came back here. They had to start from “scratch”. I say that because their “scratch” still meant they had some support lah.
I still have relatives in Langkat, and I’ve visited them.
My father was born in Kedah and migrated here when he was seven years old. He speaks fluent Dutch, as do many of my relatives.
What is your strongest memory of the place in which you grew up?
I had a lot of fun in Form One and Form Two playing hockey. Although I went to school in PJ, I lived in the Bangsar and Brickfields area, which was predominantly Indian [Malaysian]. I was always invited to play hockey with them. Always, there were only two or three Malay [Malaysians] playing hockey with them. I played hockey until I left for the UK to study.
When I went to MCKK, it was all Malay [Malaysian]. But because I went only in Form Four and Form Five, I already had my Chinese and Indian [Malaysian] friends. A lot of MCKK boys didn’t have this.
What are the stories you hold onto the most from your parents?
It’s all about money, always about saving up. They’re very stingy. When I was a kid, they’d lie that they didn’t have money. Now I find out that they actually did have some money, slightly above the poverty income level.
My parents always wanted me to mix around with everyone, but they gave me such a small amount of money that I couldn’t do much. It influenced the groups I hung out with. For example, in university I hung out with all the scholarship holders.
They never gave me money when I was abroad. If I asked for money, I’d have to justify why I needed it. At that time, I resented this, but now I appreciate it.
How do you connect with these stories as a Malaysian?
Zafrul with his family and grandmother, minus his
brother, Zuhri
I realise that friendship is very important. I keep friendships from primary school and secondary school until now. Some of my friends have migrated, to Australia, the UK and so on, but we still keep in touch. I value these friendships. Your friendships define who you are right now.
Of course, people do change. But when you meet with friends from your past, they remind you [about] who you are. Sometimes we move too fast, and we forget where we come from. That’s why it’s good to meet old friends who tell you the truth. And you also help to keep them grounded.
That’s why I started this program called L4T, which stands for Leaders for Tomorrow. I started it a few months ago together with a group of friends. It’s for young Malaysians who need a platform to voice out their concerns. These are young people who are not interested in politics, or if they are, they’re not interested in entering party politics. They prefer multicultural settings, career guidance, and just general knowledge about current affairs in the country.
In March 2010, L4T will launch something called the Cili Padi programme. It’s a mentorship programme for rural students in Form Four and Form Five. It’s a multi-racial group, with about 1,000 members so far, and it’s officially registered.
What aspects of your identity do you struggle with the most as a Malaysian?
I [returned] to Malaysia after I graduated from university to discover that there was a divide between local and foreign graduates. I’m lucky, I came back around 1996. It was boom time, and a lot of people were able to get jobs.
But the thing is, it’s even more evident among Malay [Malaysians]. The majority of Malay [Malaysian] students are graduates from local universities. But there is a minority of Malay [Malaysian] scholars who studied overseas and so on. And overseas also you have a lot of Chinese and Indian [Malaysian] students who probably studied at some point in private colleges.
So when I was a student, I was in my own comfort zone. I didn’t see the real world. I came back to Malaysia only to realise that Malaysia is not so Malaysian after all. You can even see this in the office, when people take lunch breaks. They don’t hang out with people from the same department. They hang out with people of the same background. It is more of an urban divide. There are also undercurrents of resentment by some Chinese and Indian [Malaysians] towards Malay [Malaysians] who studied on scholarship.
Describe the kind of Malaysia you would like for yourself and future generations.
Zafrul with a Malaysian professional after the first Xterra Malaysia and South East
Asia trial run in Teluk Chempedak, Pahang
I hang out with my L4T guys, with my triathlete and KLBC friends, and most of them were happy with the results of the March 2008 elections. But they are now disappointed with how things are moving along. March 2008 gave people hope because they thought there would be more checks and balances [in governance], but now we see other markets progressing while over here there’s just fighting between two political coalitions.
As a corporate person, I keep wondering, where will we be in the next 10 years? There are fewer investments in corporate Malaysia because of fighting among political parties. They’re not even fighting to counter-check policies, often it’s just about personalities clashing.
If this continues, we will be left behind. The government should start governing, and the opposition should start [being a responsible opposition]. We need to get our act together.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
L4T’s Lecture Series with Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar
01
By Zafrul | September 1, 2009
Topics: L4T, Speeches | No Comments »
L4T’s Lecture Series with Tony Fernandes
01
By Zafrul | September 1, 2009
Topics: L4T, Speeches | 1 Comment »
L4T Leadership Lectures with Tun Daim
11
By Zafrul | June 11, 2009
It was a great effort by the L4T team to organise this event. Tun Daim gave an inspiring speech which the guests enjoyed. Below is the full text of his speech:
Since my second retirement in 2001, I have accepted only one invitation to speak in Malaysia and that was in 2004.
So to accept this invitation, it took some serious thinking on my part. I have spoken many times overseas but at home I think people may be tired of hearing me talk all the time so as a retiree I should just keep quiet!
“I accepted this invitation because I have great faith in our young people. For us as a nation to grow and succeed in the future we need good leaders and you here are our leaders of tomorrow.
So, thank you Tengku Zafrul Aziz for inviting me. The topic you chose is interesting – Jaguh Kampung, A Personal Perspective on Business Outside Malaysian Shores.
Nowadays, the term Jaguh Kampung seems to suggest our failures. It dismisses our achievements and local successes. It portrays us as a failure overseas. It looks down upon us. It used to refer to sports, now it encompasses business.
I do not see anything derogatory about being a Jaguh Kampung, for how can you succeed globally if you have not achieved success even at home. It is here that you hone your skills, know of your strengths and weakness, make your mistakes and learn from them; it is here that you plant the seed of your success overseas. It is only negative when you are successful at home yet not able to translate the same success abroad. Why?
It has been argued that Malaysians are far too comfortable at home and therefore cannot stand the competition outside. For the Malays particularly it is said that we do not have the history of migrants who came in junks and sampans to make a new life in a new land; that we have no history of doing business and that there is no NEP overseas.
I don’t subscribe to such an argument. Many non-Malays fail too. Many non-Malays who have succeeded here with Government help have failed overseas. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with ourselves. We have to see our own strengths and weakness to know why we succeed and why we fail. I have no sociological or anthropological thesis on this but I can tell you of my personal experience to illustrate, if that is of any help.
So, I guess I shall start from the beginning. I come from a small place called Lorong Kampong Padang in Kota Tanah, Seberang Perak, Kedah. Growing up I was confused, we had no padang, no kota (fort), no perak (silver)! It was a small kampong where everyone knew everyone. Yet this village produced 3 doctors, 2 veterinary surgeons, a dentist and may top civil servants. As far as I knew, they were no lawyers, yet my father kept urging me “Grow up to be a lawyer”.
Two of the three doctors were Dr Mahathir who married another doctor, and Dr Bakar who married Tan Sri Dr Salmah, the first female Malay doctor in the country. Amongst my schoolmates and seniors were Tan Sri Hanafiah Ahmad of Tabung Haji, Tan Sri Hanafiah Hussein, the first Malay Chartered Accountant, and Tan Sri Bakar Hamid, Head of Income tax. The list goes on.
The late Tun Zahir (Speaker of Parliament) helped me with my admission to Lincoln’s Inn. In London I was friends with other students some of whom went on to become Judges, Chief Justices, President of the Ct. of Appeal, Lord Presidents, top Civil Servants etc. I learnt politics from the likes of Syed Albar and even when back in Kuala Lumpur he would come to my house weekends and drive me around Kuala Lumpur introducing me to the whos who of Malay politics. Hussein Onn would tell me Malayan political history.
When I moved to Kelantan I got to know the various political leaders in PAS like Asri, Zulkifli and Wan Mustapha. In fact PAS was the first to offer me to stand for election. When I joined the Legal Service, I served in Johor and Perak and built up further my network of friends.
When I was in private practice I represented the Governor of Sarawak in the case of Stephen Kalong Ningkan. I was in Allen & Gledhill then and a very junior lawyer too but the senior partner asked me to do it as he thought that I was able to handle it as he considered me well read and thorough in my work plus he knew that I was well versed in the politics of the day. It was during this case that I got to know Tun Razak, Tun Rahman Yakob and Tan Sri Taib Mahmmud. At 28, I attended my first Cabinet meeting to brief the Cabinet on the case. I never thought that 18 years later I would be attending it weekly.
Tengku Razaleigh and Manan Othman for reasons known to themselves, recommended to Hussein Onn that I be appointed a Senator. Suddenly people wanted to find out who this Daim was. Manan when he was Minister of Public Enterprise, put me on Board of UDA as I was recognized as a successful property developer then and later made me chairman of Peremba. When Tun Mahathir became PM, he appointed me as Chairman of Fleet Group. Tan Sri Sanusi made me Chairman of Rakyat First Merchant Bank. In 1984, Tun Mahathir made me Minister of Finance.
It is from all these people that I learnt so much and who had in some way or the other helped me in my professional, business and political life.
I was also a busy body and had an opinion on everything. I was there when Tan Chee Koon, Lim Chong Eu and Syed Hussein formed Parti Gerakan. I took part in the debate on the issue of Bahasa Kebangsaan and had friends who alerted me that I was to be arrested under the ISA on the issue. I wrote letters to the Prime Ministers in office, offering them my 2 cents worth, the advice unasked and often ignored but that did not deter me.
I started my private practice with some savings and a RM60k loan from MARA. I furnished my office frugally and spent the rest on the stock market. When May 13 came I almost lost the shirt on my back. I learnt there and then that the stock market is not a casino for me to gamble in but that investment has to be made through informed choices. Later when I decided to go back to the market I only invested in quality and strategic stocks.
Before I could invest in these quality stocks I had to make money to pay off my debts. Luckily I had my practice; but the need to succeed was too strong for me to remain purely a lawyer. Not one to give up, I decided to go into business. I invested in a salt making business – everyone needs salt right? well, an unseasonal storm washed that away! I went into many businesses that didn’t do too well, until I decided to go into property development. I approached Dato Harun Idris then MB of Selangor for a piece of an abandoned, disused mining land. I paid the premium for it and finally was on the road to success. It was not easy going. It would have been easier if it was a piece of flat estate land, instead I had manylakes to be filled before I can build.
But if it had been easy then I’m not sure I would have learnt the lessons that failure teaches you. Failure is a great teacher if you are willing to learn. My tenacity was my strength. I never gave up. As Churchill said “Success is not final and failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts”. I stumbled, picked myself up and continued.
By the time I was in my mid thirties I was a millionaire. With the money I made I went looking for my strategic stakes not only in the stock market but also in properties. By the time I join the Cabinet I was the shareholder of Raleigh Bhd (a name famous worldwide for its bicycle, made since 1887) Raleigh had shares in Prudential and had landed properties and another listed company. I bought into UEP which had a 1,400 acre land bank which I later reversed into SIME for shares, making me the single largest shareholder of SIME then. I also had a Joint Venture with the State Government of Kedah to develop 2,000 acres of converted land. Maluri also JV’ed with PNB to develop 600 acres of land in Kajang. I had a housing estate in Malacca. My land bank was massive. I was also a founding shareholder and chairman of TV3. I was also the largest individual shareholder in Nestle, and in Jaya Jusco. I had 4 factories in Malacca producing cast iron, plastic, packaging and preserved foods. I also invested in a haulage company. I also had a stake in UMBC Bank. I’m telling you all this not to show off and impress you but to share with you my journey.
When I was asked by Dr Mahathir to join the Government I had to think very carefully. I knew it will be a sacrifice on my part to take the offer but then this would not be the first time I have been asked to sacrifice in the name of national interest. When I had the opportunity to increase my share in SIME to 30% Dr. Mahathir heard about it and asked me not to take it up as it would be better to be given to PNB. When UMNO youth objected to MCA buying shares in UMBC, MCA approached me to exchange my controlling shares in Malaysian French Bank for a non controlling stake in UMBC. I was not keen to give up control in one for non-controlling in another, further I had to borrow as I was buying into a bigger bank, but the government insisted on the exchange for economic and political stability. By the time the deal was completed I was made MoF and later had to sell my stake. The government insisted that I can only sell to a Bumi or Bumi company and at cost too! I had much higher offers from non Bumis and could have made money on this sale but I have no choice. On top of it all, I had to pay tax on the sale too!
As I said earlier, it was a sacrifice on my part. Joining the Government also meant that I would have to give up my business. I was rich and answered to no one. I was carefree and wanted to enjoy the fruits of my labour. I had my privacy which I value highly. It was a difficult decision to make. I took more than a month to think it over. Whilst I would sacrifice a life of greater wealth, there is more to life than making money and more money. At some point you have to look beyond material wealth and personal interest. In the end the call to serve was made, partially because growing up my father had always drummed it into my head that there was no better calling than to be serving the government. That to be of service is an honour. And he also thought that I should be Prime Minister. In fact when I was appointed MoF and I told him, he replied “bukan PM?”!! Obviously he thought very highly of me.
There has been bouquets and brickbats, but I did not take the job to win a popularity contest. National interest comes first and in the end, you have to do what you think is best for the nation. Joining the government has brought me immense satisfaction to see the economy succeed from an agrarian economy to an industrialised economy. If I had not joined the government I would have been far richer in wealth but so much poorer in experience. If there is any regret, it is regret for the loss of my privacy.
I couldn’t have done all this on my own. The friends I knew, the network I built was very useful. You cannot be successful if you are a hermit staying in your house watching TV after work. Whether its through school, work or sports, there is always an opportunity to meet people. Networking, building relationships, what the Chinese called “quan xi”, is important in business – you never know who you meet may be your guardian angel in disguise. Of course I’m not suggesting that you make friends for an ulterior motive – if you are not sincere, people can see through you. If you use people, it can only work once or twice before you lose your reputation and that, if once lost cannot be recovered.
Whenever I travel and meet people I would always write to them, to thank them, to keep in touch, to invite them over etc. So wherever I went I always knew someone or the other. But mix with like minded people. Your so called friends can lead you astray. As I have said earlier,networking is very important but is of no use when all you do with your network of friends is to “omong-omong kosong”.
Saudara, Saudari / Ladies and Gentlemen
After retirement I had no ministry and no company to run. All my life I have been active and staying home doing gardening and playing golf did not appeal to me. So I went to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. I spent my time reading, meeting people, attending lectures. After a few months I was restless. I reassessed my situation – do I restart in Malaysia? If I did, and succeeded, my success would be questioned as I still had friends and contacts both in and out of Government. I had nothing to prove but I thought if I could succeed in Malaysia, maybe I could do so overseas. As I’ve said earlier Malays have been criticised that they can only succeed because of the NEP, I thought that I owe it to the Malays to prove otherwise.
In the course of my work as MoF I travelled and engaged with various people, government and non-government everywhere. I had visited Eastern Europe and was convinced that Russia could not hold on to them for very long.
In 1994 I started my banks in Republic of Czech and then Hungary, Albania, Bosnia. Whatever we may say of Russia, it left behind a very good education system and excellent infrastructure. Still, it was tough to do business there. There is the question of language and there was no experience of market economy. It was not easy to get Malaysians to work there and the locals were used to working for the government. We had to motivate them to work for profit, to understand that we go into business to make profit, profit to pay salaries, bonuses and to expand.
If Eastern Europe was tough, Africa was tougher. Why Africa? Its too long to go into but if you are interested I’ve given my reasons in a separate paper. Its with Tengku Zafrul. It was not easy for us to start in Africa. We were not Citibank or HSBC or Standard Chartered. Whilst most of the Governments in Africa knew me when I was MoF and I was involved in both the Smart Partnership and South-South Cooperation, nobody knew the Bank. Tun Dr. Mahathir’s name carries a lot of weight and Malaysia under him was held in high esteem. All these helped but we still had to prove ourselves and further we had to carry the burden of maintaining Malaysia’s good name. Failure was not an option.
Africa was tough. There was little discipline, most do not have the expertise nor the experience. The better ones had left and were in Europe or America. The pool to draw staff was small. If it was difficult to entice Malaysians to Eastern Europe, you can imagine what it was like to ask them to go to Africa!
We started from scratch. Fortunately for me, I had an excellent team who understood and shared my vision. The team you build is critical. You cannot do it alone.
My team were as determined as me to succeed. We had put our money there and our reputation and the country’s reputation were at stake. My team were motivated and prepared to sacrifice the comforts of home to blaze a trail there. It was pure team work and dedication that made it. Without a good team, no way would we be where we are today. Our banks have won many awards, particularly Euromoney’s Bank of the Year awards, some of them repeatedly. I am very proud of them. And I must add that we have a good reputation in Africa. Wherever I go and I meet Presidents, Prime Ministers, MoF, Governors of Central Bank of countries where we operate and where we don’t, they now know us and of us and are happy with us. They see that we have been fair and honest. We treat them as partners and equals. We train the locals and it is a measure of our success that our local staff are always in demand and poached by other financial institutions. We get a lot of requests to open up in their countries but we are limited by our resources. We cannot over-stretch ourselves and end up with quantity but not quality. Quality is of the utmost importance.
Today we have a presence in 10 countries in Africa and have also expanded our reach into Asia; Indonesia, Bangladesh, Laos, and are looking at other neighbouring countries. People must think that you have to be immensely rich to be in Europe, Africa and Asia, but that is not true. When we first started, the paid up for each bank was only US$2 million. Today a European bank’s paid up must be at least Euro 5 million, in Yemen for example, US$20 million, and in Nigeria US$100 million. With that kind of requirement, we had to reassess our business plans. We sold off Europe and with the proceeds decided to go to Asia.
In every business you start with a plan but the plan has to re evaluated, reassessed, and reconsidered at every turn. What works today may not necessarily work tomorrow. Facts change, operating conditions change and we must change with them. Business is not static and we cannot run on the spot.
I know I have gone on too much, boring you with my personal history. I should have just quoted my son’s one paragraph biography he wrote of me when he was in primary school: “My father was born in Kedah. He studied law and became a lawyer, then a businessman, then MoF twice. He is now retired and runs banks and does charitable work. He is a good father because he plays football with me.”
Seriously, though, what distinguish one who succeeds from one who fails? Everyone I’m sure starts out wanting success, but it has been said that success usually comes to those who were too busy to look for it. It is a sacrifice. You will have to defer immediate gratification and forgo leisure. You have to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. It really is hard work and nothing else. There is just no substitute for hard work. But you cannot work hard stupidly. You have to plan, execute the plan, change the plan when necessary to suit changing situations. As was said by Darwin – “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptable to change”. How do you know that the situation changes? You have to read, read and read. Read all the time. Be curious about the world around you. Try to keep up with the latest in technology and business, the latest trends and the geo political changes too. As an example, when I read that the French Government was nationalising its banks I realised that it would have to sell its bank in Malaysia as Malaysia then did not allow government owned banks to operate in Malaysia. I saw an opportunity here and decided to contact the French Government to take over the Indo-Suez Bank which I later renamed the Malaysian French Bank. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
It is also important that you take the opportunity to work in and learn from businesses that have been successful. It is no embarrassment to say you don’t know and to be aware of your own limitations. Never be too proud to learn from others. But on the other hand, do not follow blindly. If someone is successful at one thing it does not mean that you can too. You have to know yourself. It helps if you can do something that you love. As Confucius said “Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. You have to be hands-on. No one is interested in your success except you. Its your money, and in most cases, borrowed money. You have to ensure your own success. You are your own best asset and the master of your own destiny, to make your own future. You have a choice to either work hard, remain committed, diligent, determined and disciplined or just buy a lottery ticket and hope to get rich overnight!
For the Malays particularly I say this to you – do not be afraid of competition. We are used to competing – we have other races to measure against, so there is no reason why we can’t succeed. Don’t believe in handouts, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Handouts do not test you and when faced with adversity, the price of that handout is failure.
For the Non-Malays, I say this to you – Do not accept any discrimination or perceived discrimination as an excuse for failure. See it as an obstacle to overcome and an opportunity to strengthen your resolve.
Do not fear the fear of failure. Do not fear to take chances. Do not fear of making mistakes that will shatter your confidence and fill you with doubts. You have to take a chance on life. When one door closes another opens but you have to look for that open door and not remain fixated on the closed door. Move on, you have done what you can. Learn from it and that will give you confidence in the next venture.
In your quest for success, be wary of making compromises; your values and beliefs will be tested. Have a clear conscience in what you do as you have to face the mirror everyday. Do not let praise go to you head nor criticism weigh you down. Have faith in yourself and faith in God. He will not let you down.
When you have achieved material successes, live simply and shun extravagance and arrogance. Do not lose all that you have achieved because you were resting on your laurels. What happens when that laurel wilts? Be humble and reach out to those less fortunate than you. Your success is an obligation and a responsibility to your society and it is only when you give back to society that you are truly successful.
Ladies and Gentlemen/ Saudara, Saudari
Be brave to leave your ‘kampung’ and go anywhere in the world to claim your future. I wish you well.
Thank you.”
Topics: L4T, Speeches | 6 Comments »
To evolve or face extinction
17
By Zafrul | May 17, 2009
I recently attended a small gathering of friends whom I haven’t met in a long while. We caught up in Malaysian style – over toast with kaya and coffee. Thankfully, everyone was doing alright (measured by the fact that we still have jobs) but there was an air of sobriety that the going was tough. The business environment in the various industries we were respectively involved in has changed drastically due to the downward spiral of the global economy.
We pondered long and hard: “What can we do to ease the situation?” While we generally concluded that to survive, we needed to adapt and make the necessary changes, one of my friends, Alex, didn’t feel that way.
“If it’s not broken, why fix it?” he asked.
He got us thinking for a bit on that point. Should we rock the boat in a fragile economic situation in the hopes of improving things or should we just go along with what has worked so far which has managed to keep us afloat?
Survival, under such trying circumstances is, of course, key but perhaps we should think out of the box and focus as well on flourishing our businesses. Many theories were bandied about at the kopitiam session about survival in the corporate world but we soon came to an agreement that regardless of what businesses we were in, we still needed to adapt to survive long-term. There is a need to continuously reinvent and equip ourselves with the right skills to keep ourselves relevant.
No doubt we tend to get comfortable and are reluctant to leave our comfort zones. It is in our nature to surround ourselves with the familiar, and to step out and try something new can be scary. Change though is inevitable and if you don’t adapt to the times, you could suffer greatly; be it financially or even socially. Even nature adapts to the surrounding environment i.e. evolution (if you subscribe to that theory). Change is a key feature for survival.
We had started out the conversation on a personal level but we then moved on to talk about whether our companies were prepared to change given the current economic circumstances.
I have worked for a few companies and I know that cultural change in any company is not easy, especially if the company has a long history of success and legacy issues. Again, this boils down to Alex’s way of thinking; why fix something that isn’t broken? I was involved in a start-up company before and introducing new issues and a new culture is definitely easier in this situation. I have also worked in companies with proud histories and implementing change in such a settled environment can be tough. Many are resistant to change and may even feel threatened by it. I believe that to transform the culture of the company, we would need to go through a transition period ourselves.
Okay, let’s get back to the kopitiam – there were just the five of us but even with such a low number, there was already one in disagreement with the rest of us. So, surely in a company of 100 or 1,000, you will find even more dissent. Change may be embraced by some, and may be fought against by some others. Everyone will have their own different views and within one company, there will be many people who would have to be convinced that the change will bring about positive results. Executives, managers, GMs, CEOs; each will have their differing views based on their own positions, responsibilities and accountability. Let’s assume that the senior management is convinced that a change in the company culture would bring about positive results; the next step is to convince the other staff (subordinates, managers and even partners). How do we do this?
Based on my experience, communication is key to the whole process. If change is implemented without communicating to the staff clearly and concisely what the whole plan is, they will be in the dark and will most definitely resist the change. Our colleagues need to know what the new mission and vision are. We need to go down to the ground to get everyone to buy into the new culture and ideas that we are trying to introduce. There is a need to find a strategy towards finding the solution. Everyone has to participate in this thought process to find a new solution. If they feel a part of the process, then they won’t be so against it.
Once the vision and mission is agreed upon and ironed out, the next step would be the execution of the said plan. This is actually the hardest part. Empowerment must come in at this stage of implementation. Each and every level of staff in the organisation must feel empowered and be part of the change taking place.
All these changes will take some time to be fully implemented and there will be some people who will make things more difficult than it actually need be. Although these people may be few, they can create some trouble within the organisation. One way of convincing them of what we are doing is by calling attention to the short-term wins. Of course, the idea of a cultural change is to provide a long-term solution and to improve on company performance in the long run. This will take some time though and short-term wins will help to keep everyone focused on the main goal. Short-term wins must be produced to further motivate the group as a whole.
One of my friends at the table (Azmi who is a CEO of a large company) said that it took a long time for changes to take place in his company, but in the end it was worth it. We must keep our eyes on the goal to remain focused and motivated. Change isn’t easy but it isn’t bad. The need to change and adapt to survive is very real and sticking your head in the sand isn’t going to make the problems go away.
Maybe the Government and political parties could take a leaf out of the corporate world book…
Topics: The Star | 6 Comments »
« Previous Entries
I am currently the Group Director of K & N Kenanga Holdings Berhad. Prior to this, I was the CEO of Tune Money. Before trying to be an entrepreneur, I was Head of Investment Banking in Citigroup Malaysia and before that, I was Group Managing Director of Avenue Capital Resources (now ECM Avenue).
