Dialogue Session with Olivia Lum

Olivia Lum is the CEO and founder of Hyflux. The company was called Hydrochem before. The session is organised by NUS Business School. Olivia is an alumni of NUS Science Faculty. Olivia spends 30 mins talking about how she started. Her key driver is "hungry". For her, hungry and want more and better is important for business success. Since young she want to do business. Olivia want to start her own business when she finished her "A" level. She looks at the towkays around and they cannot speak English but can have their own hardware shop. She was convinced by having Bachelor Degree on her name card looks good. So she went for her degree. She was working in Glaxo as a Chemist and decided to leave a cushy job to start her own business. The reason is she work to 10pm every day and she felt it is not possible to do business if she does not spend to time to do research.

Olivia left a $4800/mth highest paid chemist job. She sold her Nissan and . Bayshore Park apartment and with $20,000 started her business. After paying 3 month rental deposit, she is left with $10,000 capital. She bought a motorbike to do sales calls as taking bus will take too long. Singapore was not friendly to startup companies like hers. She venture in Johore and have more business there as her company is "oversea" company. Then she venture into Indonesia. Her business flourish. The first year, she hardly have any salary. The second year, she draws $2000/mth. In the third year, she draws $6000/mth. By 4th year, she is driving her own Mercedes.

She look at China as a big potential market and write a simple business plan which she say will get ZERO marks in the business school. Her 3 Professors in Science Faculty chip in $100,000 each and gather friends and together collected $1,000,000 for the business venture. The first year, she was worried about the money and did not dare to do anything. She says she has lots of missed opportunities. At the end of the year, she call for a partners meeting and told them she will be personally responsible for any losses so that they will not lose their life savings. Then she went to a "spending spree". End of second year, she lost lots of money. However China opens up to foreign investment and foreign factories moved into China. As they say, the rest is history.

Listening to Olivia is an inspiration. She is a driver and risk taker. She is ambitious and business is her life and passion. It is awe-inspiring for me. I would never be like her. While she attained huge success in business, I wonder about her family and personal life. I am glad I have a balanced lifestyle. Training and education is my passion. Will I be able to do great things in this field?

Good Maid, Great Help

It is important to have a good maid who can get things done. This free time for us to do our own work effectively. Likewise in the office, we must have good staff. Good competent and capable staff enhance performance. It takes a lot of training and coaching to help staff gain competency. Investment in increasing and improving capability will give good returns in future. Right now it is taking too much time working and working.

My current maid is very competent and have excellent attitude. She can cook and does all the cleaning without being told. She can communicate well and understand instructions. In short, she is a grrrreat help!

Swimming Lessons

We have trial swimming lessons for B2 and B3 in RI. B2 complains he almost drown as he is not fit and cannot complete the laps required. The kids were swimming laps up and down for an hour. It is incredible just to see them swim. The stamina and speed is they have is the first time for me. The dedication is total. Out of the whole group of maybe fifteen, only three reach standard high enough to represent Singapore. I can now see what it take to be a champion - endless practice with many highly accomplished peers.

Mind Magic

There are two methods of teaching. One is bank account method. You teach the student and like a bank account deposit concepts and problem solving skills. The test will determine how much get deposited and can be withdrawn. The other is the midwife method. You help the student to give birth to ideas on his own. The student read and learn to form ideas on his own. A successful "midwife" will train the student to come up with many ideas and draw his own conclusions.

Is MBA for me?

This is now a $50,000 question with SMU offering EMBA or MBA part-time. I like SMU for innovative advertising and protrayal of new kid on the block in education. SMU takes a different approach and is "fun" in education. Niece P is studying in SMU now and she is working very hard. She is so confident now. My wife has been encouraging me to go back to school. Learning and continuous development is something I advocate strongly. I am mulling over and over this. It is a committment that I worry with a heavy travel schedule. I do enjoy the interaction with the professors and other students.

So should I go for it?

Down and Up

Shares prices are going down and up. Crisis is dangerous opportunity. Two days ago, SGX was at 8.40 and today it is more than 10. Every share is $2 gain. If you buy 10 lots or 10,000 shares, $20,000 gain in two days. Wish I bought the shares. This is how rich get richer because they have the money to buy at an opportunistic time.

A Father's Pride

I received news that B3, the baby of the family is a monitor in his class. He is breaking his two elder brothers record. B1 became a prefect in Primary 5. B2 a prefect in Primary 4. Now B3, a monitor in Primary 1.

It is no news to most. For me, this is great news. My ego swell with pride my boys are in leadership positions in primary school. Hopefully, they grow into leadership positions at work and in society.

Heros

A boy always dream of being a scientist and inventor. He enjoys reading on the life of Thomas Edison who invented the electric light, phonograph and moving pictures. Another hero is a black scientist who live in Alabama, US. He invented more than 100 uses for peanuts and lifted the life of farmers in midwest. His name is George Washington Carver. Jet Propulsion Lab was his employer of choice. JPL is the builder of lunar and Mars explorers. Nikolas Tesla was the genius he admired.

The boy go to school. He has homework, study, and exams. Finally, school is over and he joins the army and become a man. The man look for a job. At work, new priorities. Childhood dreams is forgotten. It is work and night school. Climb the corporate ladder. Climb and climb, he did. Now he wonders what happen to all the dreams he has. What happen to the scientist or inventor?

My House

My house is on every can of Nippon Weatherbond Paint. This is fun and exciting for me. I can brag about it. There is a flaw in my pride. Weatherbond Paint is for outdoor. This mean only contractors, painters and low skilled labourers will the one who will see the picture of my house. Still I enjoy the publicity and feel like a peacock.

My son is featured on the cover of NAFA's brochure. While this is not Straits Times or Parent magazine, it has a feel good factor. My ego has swollen....

Story

Story telling is in vogue. Good stories bring traffic. My blog is boring stuff. Who would want to know about work, more work or family life? One day, a researcher may use my blog for getting insights to everyday life in the 21st century. Warren Buffett is a boring guy too in Wall Street. The difference between Warren Buffett and me is 40 billion US dollars. This makes him a celebrity. I have practised writing for about two years now. It is time for me to start writing toward selling rather than good writing. To read boring stuff is telling my readers to go away. However, I hope my future generations i.e. my boys and their progeny will use this blog to get a window into my perspective and life. Many entries included them. So they should be able to relate.

T3 Changi Airport

There is a huge crowd looking for new excitement. B1 has a huge food court and plenty of resturants. The queues were long. The passenger hall is gigantic. The walk is long. If you are going to board your flight in T3 makes sure you add 15 mins to your regular time. It is a long walk to the immigration checkpoint.

I like the toilet. It is interesting to stare at all the people and people looking back at you with your "cuckoo bird" out. This is my first experience in Singapore. It is common in the toilets in office building in Hong Kong where the glass wall is transparent. At a high level and so far away, I doubt anyone can really see you doing your business. However, the toilet in T3 is at eye level. I wonder if the female toilet has the same feature as the male. Nay! The complaints would have come fast and furious.

There is never a shortcut to Happiness

Americans most celebrated values - Success, Money, Power, Sex. The pursuits of these will give happiness. Fortune, Forbes, Businessweek magazines feature people who has the most billions, the fastest to the billions, lifestyle of the rich and famous, best paid CEOs. Money, money, money it's a rich man's world. We will sell our souls for success.
What is success?
Money, Power, Sex and Respect. When you have the billions, your name appears in the news. You are busy, time is of the essence, no time for family or friends.
Does this lead to Happiness?
Is pleasure same as happiness?
Have money but no time for friends or family. No time to relax or socialize. When am I happy? Browsing in a bookshop, going out as a family, knowing the boys doing well in school, getting respect and recognition at work. Hey, no money mean struggles and unhappiness. I do not want to be poor to be happy. Realistically, I just do not want to worry about day-to-day living. Money is still important. Let's not be hypocritical about money. No money life will be miserable. Obsence money is not necessary. Money for me still buy happiness.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words...

My House...

Alvin and the Chipmunks

This is a good movie. I thought it was a cartoon but actually is a regular movie with chipmunks that talks and sings. It is funny and have a strong family values. It is also touching and the song and dance concert was fun. The movie theatre in the Gardens is posh and the seats are big and comfortable. Sound system was incredible. All for a low price of RM20 per seat. Excellent value!

Long Productive Day

We spend the day discussing about work and man! do we have plenty do.

Chilli's

Wholesome American food. Wings on Buffalo is crispy, tangy and spicy. Chicken and Beef faujitas was tasty, a tad dry. The dessert is chocolate moist cake with a warm centre and a scoop of vanilla cover with chocolate sauce. This is finger licking good dinner.

WRONG Again

I was wrong. No rain tonight. Weather like woman is fickle. I think it is better than Shakespeare's "Frailty thy name is woman." Don't call me a sexist. I am just quoting others:)

Magnificent Lightning

The thunderstorm late afternoon has numerous magnificent lightnings. It is awesome powers. It is also scary to be outside. So we hurry home. In less than 10 mins, the road was flooded. Thanks to our government, we have good road and excellent drainage. Ominous dark clouds are hanging around. Rain will pour again....

Held Hostage

By the Brother Grimm show in Channel 5. It is keeping me awake and on the edge of my seat. It is scary and exciting to watch this kind of show in the middle of the night. It is better to watch on DVD during the day. However, night view enhances and heighten the experience.

Fantastic Food at Hong Lim

Hong Lim has so many famous food stalls. The curry mee makes my saliva keep coming out of my mouth. My handkerchief was soaking wet in 10 mins! Hokkiens really know how to make prawn mee. The soup version was yummy because I can see how my wife was savouring every mouthful. MMmmm! It was the Lor Mee that won the day, errr I mean my stomach. I hunger for good Lor Mee and try this stall. It is delicious. The flavours are different from Tiong Bahru market. For $3 a bowl, it is value for money.

Good food at low low prices, Hong Lim! Hong Lim! Hong Lim!

Imagination

Writing stories requires imagination and writing skills. Something sons are better. So I created another blog which links to my sons' blogs. Reading what I have written, I totally agree. It is boring, uninteresting and would put readers to sleep. So I should label my blog as Cure for Insominacs. I just keep my reader who gave me the gift of feedback in suspense by not telling the name of my new blog or my sons' blogs.

Thanks A Million!

I have feedback from a reader and he is giving valuable feedback. He like me to tell stories. I told a story once and the reception was fantastic especially when I pause to take a break. Finally, my good friend Boh Tong asks me to tell the ending. It was good. Let me mull over this and figure out what to do next. I feel a little Warren Buffet (the famed investor). It is the same old same old boring bore in my family or work life.

Anonymous said...
Yawnnnnnn Zzzzzzzz
11:27 AM
BookLover said...
Hey, thanks for the feedback! What can I do to stop your yawnnnn zzzZZZZ!
12:02 PM
Anonymous said...
tell interesting stories other than about your work,family and self.

Still Alive!

The lobsters we caught I mean. This time the survival of the lobsters are much better. One died after jumping about on the ground. According to B3, the lobster ran up the lily leaf and then to the ground. It jump about a few times and ants start eating it up. I think this is a tall story. This afternoon I caught him catching a lobster from the pond and putting it on the ground. I know the truth about the lobster jumping up the leaf and out of the pond.

I also think the pond filter I installed allow the lobsters to survive. Previously, the water in the pond were circulated but the waste from the fishes were not filtered. The lobsters turned red after being in the pond for a few hours and all died in a day or two. The smaller lobsters numbers were reduced as they were probably eaten up by the bigger fishes. I notices the lobsters come out of their hiding place to eat at night. During the day, they hid in the crevices between the rocks. At night, with a torch light, I can see them out in the open.

I am very happy to see the lobsters we caught in the reservoir surviving. This mean my pond has become a micro-ecology.

Work Mania

I have a series of fires at work. Fighting fires take up time. It is both exhausting and exhilarating. I need to figure how to stablise the situation so that I can spent time on thinking and strategize on growing the business. It is start of the year and activities are hot, hot, hot! I have two meetings tomorrow and a big meeting to prepare. Man! Working for money is not easy.

Craving for a Kit Kat

I am not really a chocolate person although I have a sweet tooth. I have been down with flu for more than a week now. I just had a craving for Kit Kat. It is funny as I normally do not feel favours chocolate. My sweet craving of choice is Ah Kun kaya.

Off to Fairprice I go. There are many choice of kit kat nowadays. I still go for the traditional 4-sticks bar type. It tastes so much better than the "international" versions. The 4-sticks bar is made in UK. It is a little more expensive $8 for 5 bars but give so much more value in terms of taste. If you like Kit Kat, don't compromise. 4 is better than 2.

Lobster Fest at Pierce Reservoir

This afternoon we brought the two younger boys to Pierce Reservoir to catch lobsters after dropping the eldest for his tuition. There were plenty of people catching lobsters. Fishing is popular too. Two fishing enthusiasts caught one fairly large fish each. One also caught a turtle which he realise immediately. Between 3 of us, Daddy and the two boys, we caught 4 or 5 large lobsters and plenty of tiny ones. It is a good way to spend the day. We finished with Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner.

Gymnastics

B3 has been pestering us to go for gymnastics class. He had gone for gym classes two or three years ago. We stopped going to Baz gym because the timing sucks. It is at 6:30pm right smack dinner time. After a few months we gave up because we were either late or have to have our dinner late. Our French neighbours' kids can do cartwheel and other stunts which B3 is keen to do too. Finally, we have a trial lesson today in Raffles Institution. I am impressed by the training class for girls. The girls are arching their backs and can do the bridge from standing position to bridge back to standing without any help. They are also flipping and cartwheeling with ease.

B3 is very happy and will register for the class. His gym teacher was a coach for the national gymnastic team already hope B3 can do well and win competition in future so that he can also teach in his primary school.

Judgement

My neighbour, I shall her Joy(not her real name) recommend this book to me. She told her a Perm Sec recommend to her and she finds it good. The author Noel M. Tichy and Warren Bennis are well-known. Tichy work in GE before and lay claim to Teachable Point of View. Bennis is a professor in U of Southern California specialising in leadership.

"How winning leaders make great calls" is the subtitle. The book studies the "great" American CEOs such as Jack Welch, Jeff Immelt, A. G. Lafley(P&G) and Jim McNerney.

Good judgement is a process and not an event. It is NOT just a decision. The "decision" has to be frame and decided on. After that it need execution and adjustment to the changes.

The 3 Critical Domains or Dimension for judgement calls are People, Strategy and Crisis. People is considered the most difficult and also most critical. Sounds a little like motherhood and apple pie to me.

They continue to say exercising good judgement requires Self-Knowledge. Support teams are vital and engaging others leads to success. Similar to Sun Tze's "Know yourself, Know your enemy, A hundred Battles, A hundred Victories."

I must say the book is quite easy to read and the personalities are well-known and published in many books and articles.

Team building in School

I am impressed by the secondary school orientation program. Pei Hwa is a new school and the school engages professional team building organisation to run the program. The facilitators are JC students and they run the programs. They have break the ice sessions, building trust and different games to build teamwork. This is so much better than my time.

The programs in Secondary schools are getting more and more sophisticated. Xinmin use student leaders and the newbies learn the school war cries, cheers and learn to do sketch and have a campfire all in a week.

This is good orientation and induction into the school. I am also glad ragging is no longer allowed in University and Polytechnics under the guise of freshman orientation. The school environment is now friendlier with better ice-breaking to welcome all freshman.

I am glad to see this kind of progress in our school system.

First Day at Work

It is nice to get back to work. I was kind of on half gear during the Christmas holidays. It is good to take vacation and work when I like rather than when I have to. This is not to say I do not enjoy working when I am not on vacation. I do, I do! Enjoy working that is.

First Day in School

B3 is in Primary 1 and B2 in Secondary One. Both schools are close by. Not sure if neighbourhood school is a good idea. My neighbour has a strong opinion that primary school is very important for the child development. Her view is that if you go to the right primary school, then you will be set for life. She went to Ai Tong and she is one of the two in her peer groups of friends and neighbours who finished University. She thinks for a moment and then tell me that the highest level of qualifications her peers who goes to neighbourhood school is "O" level or Secondary 4. Ai Tong today is a popular primary school and is extremely difficult to enter.

It is funny feeling to see my baby now going to proper school. He is growing up. B1 will be sitting for his "O" level this year. Yes, my boys are growing up and up. Hard to describe the mix of joy and anticipation plus worry for their future. Are they going to be ready to face the global changes that is taking place now? Will there be jobs or must they become entreprenuers? I was thinking of my father who drove pirated taxi, trade in groceries and basically doing anything that earn him money for day-to-day living. Jobs are becoming polarised. It is either high paying or minimum wage. There are less and less jobs supporting middle class lifestyle like managers, engineers, foremen or technicians. High paying jobs or professions are doctors, dentists, architects, CEOs, stockbrokers or lawyers are for select few. Millions will be stuck at factory jobs or waiting at the tables or cleaning or general labour.

What will the future be for my boys? Only time will tell...

New Year Resolutions

I never understand the much talked about and publicized new year's resolutions. Why would people make resolutions to break them? How come resolutions are done on the eve of the new year?

I recalled in 1989, my colleagues and I went to Royal Holiday Inn for new year eve's get together. Mei started to talk about her resolutions and how she planned to make easy resolutions so that she will not break them. This dinner was my first exposure to new year's resolutions. Also bring out my ignorance and innocence. I have never make any resolutions before. I read about the great Ben Franklin who is a well respected and rich merchant, scientist and philosopher. Ben will study his own behaviours and pick one he did not like one at a time and work on it until it change. Using this method, he remake himself into a likeable, diplomatic person and achieve greatness.

I have tried to reduce my weight and is unsuccessful. This actually will fall into my "broken resolution" list. I wonder how it is like to resolve to be rich or successful. I prefer to keep my desires simple and few - Buddha's Way. Maybe because I am not as capable as my classmates who because VPs and MDs earning millions in annual remuneration. I am happy with my lot.

For the new year, I resolve not to make any resolutions. Let life be and flow naturally. This will be TAO.

Happy New Year

Happy mean lucky deriving from Old Danish happe, "to chance" according to Janadas Devan on Sunday Times. He goes on the tell on the history of how Jan 1 became a new year(the day Jesus Christ was circumcised!) Christ was born in 25 Dec BC and circumcision is traditionally done on the 8th day after birth.

The thing that come to my mind is the western world is similar to the Chinese rather they may be following the Chinese custom in the sense that Chinese celebrate with Kong Hee Huat Chye (I prefer the Hokkien rather than the Cantonese Kong Hey Fatt Choy). Which translates to Congratulations on becoming Wealthy! Chinese has strong beliefs in luck and wealth and Feng Shui is the art of bending in with nature to enhance wealth.

Today, I wish all my readers be blessed with joy and luck. May health and wealth follow you every step of the way.

Happy New Year!