So This Is My Why

Rodney Wong is the CEO of Munchy's, one of the largest Malaysia-based snack food manufacturer with presence in over 60 countries globally.

Which makes him the Willy Wonka of Malaysia!

And he's had quite the varied career.

From tobacco to Coca-Cola, Petronas and now the world of snacks and sweets, Rodney is testimony to the fact that we all need to take charge of our own career and personal development to get to where we want.

The question is... how?

While everyone's path is different, Rodney's shared his personal journey, highlighting the people who were significant in his journey, why paying forward is so important him, what it's like working with founders on their 'baby' and his vision for the future.

Want to hear what one of Malaysia's top entrepreneurs has to say about building success career?

Stick around and you'll find out!

Highlights

• 2:41 Rooted in family
• 3:18 Being an archaeologist
• 6:21 Structured way of working
• 7:23 Connecting the dots
• 8:45 Take charge of your own development
• 11:41 What success looks like
• 13:43 I have a hard rule
• 15:05 Paying it forward
• 16:28 Major learnings
• 18:35 Gen Z
• 23:31 Being in Shanghai
• 25:11 KOLs
• 27:07 Do you want to expand the market or improve the bottom line?
• 29:03 The challenge of working with founders
• 31:58 We're going to sell...
• 34:50 Progression & growth
• 36:38 Personal growth
• 42:35 Soka Gakkai
• 44:38 How can people help you?
• 48:53 Do you feel like you've found your why?
• 48:54 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
• 50:47 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/dx_ePevgoRU&list=UULFSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

🎙️Show notes/transcript for this episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/149

💌 Subscribe to the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

We're back with Part 2 with Dato' Sri Idris Jala - the former CEO of Malaysia Airlines, Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka and Senator & Minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office, and current Chairman of PEMANDU.

In Part 1 of this So This Is My Why feature, we delved into his tribal origins, how becoming top of his class was a matter of life and death, and his journey to becoming the Managing Director in Shell Sri Lanka - still his toughest gig to date. Listen here: https://youtu.be/KekuCGZJYlk

In Part 2, we go even deeper, exploring things like:

🔸 If Dato' Sri Idris would act the same way if he had a chance to redo everything?

🔸 How Shell moved Idris out of Sri Lanka because he was taking huge risks and they thought, “We should take you out before you kill yourself!”

🔸 What he learned from Michael Black

🔸 How he put Eddy Leong as the first CEO of Firefly because “he’s a bit crazy but he has the tenacity to push it”

🔸 Why he gave up the job he really wanted - to be the Chairman of Shell - to become the CEO of Malaysia Airlines

🔸 The advice he has for his sons

Want to learn more?

You’ll just have to tune in.

Highlights:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:30 If you had a chance, would you redo anything?
• 6:01 Shell was a fantastic school of management
• 6:43 Why Michael Black left such an impact on him
• 10:52 If you really want to do the real impossible stuff, you must put everything on the line
• 12:06 The line between the impossible goal v being foolhardy
• 14:54 The best way to tell you what you don't want to hear?
• 15:39 Why did you reject your dream job?!
• 16:46 Huge leap of faith - MNC to GLC
• 18:46 Launching a budget airline, Firefly
• 23:36 Common values of incredible people
• 24:43 Making it sustainable
• 29:07 Common issues
• 35:27 Lessons from PEMANDU operating in other countries
• 37:23 Check into Hotel California
• 39:14 Having a soulmate
• 44:16 SOW Club - Scared of Wife Club
• 48:58 Advice to sons
• 53:46 Legacy you want to leave behind?
• 54:03 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/lhIUOf7jSKs 

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/148

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

When Dato Sri Idris Jala became the Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka, he wasn’t expecting to hold the country on ransom.

The Sri Lanka unit had already experienced 27 years of continuous losses when he took over. And on Day 1, what Idris had to handle was: bombs strapped to his depot, the kidnapping of his transport manager, a major labour strike and…

Threatening letters sent by a professional sniper who knew where he lived, where he worked, when he left each place and the exact route he took each other. 

Tough doesn’t even begin to cover it.

But Idris turned it around. 

And in the latest STIMY episode, he shares how, why he took on such a tough gig and what continues to drive him.

There were so many gems in his 2-hour interview that it’s only right to have split it into two parts.

This is Part 1.

Which opens up with his childhood in the Borneo Highlands - where his dad would throw him into the pigsty when he misbehaved.

And also insisted that they sleep on the floor of the stinky fish market - because they were travelling with neighbouring tribes who couldn’t afford a tribe and “they shouldn’t act different from others”. 

Education, for him back then, was a matter of life and death. 

His North Star then was to be the top of his class. 

So he asked his dad, a teacher, for advice.

He was told, “Very simple, son. Find out who’s currently No. 1, be his or her best friend, and do exactly what he does but put it to the power of 10.”

And so Idris just did. 😂

Others highlights:

🔸 Surviving ghostly encounters & treacherous rapids in the Borneo Highlands

🔸 His spiritual awakening as part of the Bario Revival

🔸 The concept of “ketuit” (which is kelabit for ‘kiasu’ or being very competitive)

🔸 Why his cocky job application letters were successful - he began his letters with the words, “Dear Sir, I’m the man you’re looking for”!

🔸 Why ‘the graveyard is full of indispensable people’

🔸 The impossible game

Highlights:

• 3:15 Storytelling culture
• 4:33 Thrown into the pigsty!
• 7:06 Ketuit
• 7:40 What does winning mean?
• 8:26 My true north then & the trick to achieving it
• 10:05 Becoming a lawyer
• 15:48 Walking through the cemetery 
• 17:19 The Bario spiritual revival
• 21:50 Not quite from God? The Gestapo inquiry
• 25:03 Post-Revival
• 29:08 Not able to go to New Zealand
• 31:55 The ‘magic’ in his cocky letters
• 34:01 Wanting a free flight home
• 42:28 Sense of curiosity
• 47:02 Becoming Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka & the game of the impossible
• 51:49 He makes every big decision with his wife
• 54:03 Never make the position become you
• 55:22 Fear & holding the country at ransom?

🙊 Support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day! - https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/ 

🎙️Show notes/transcript: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/148 

💌 Subscribe to weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

When Arthur Kiong, CEO of Far East Hospitality, failed his A Levels, he thought his life was pretty much over.

His dad even told him, "I’m sorry, you had your shot but you missed it" and in Arthur's own words, "I was lost and I was discouraged and I was in a great deal of pain and despair."

Arthur ended up selling slimming products on the streets because it was the only job he could find before applying to Mediocorp to become a stage technician.

Things took a turn when he was asked to take a voice test and he ended up with a celebrity radio DJ because he could pronounce "Thursday the Thirteenth”! 

Overnight, Arthur found himself rubbing shoulders with the who's who and celebrities of the world and you would’ve thought that this was where Arthur’s career was on a rapid trajectory upwards save that he gave it all up to work to become a greeter at Prego. 

People were astonished. 

Why would he take on such a 'demeaning' job?!

But Arthur was adamant.

And Prego signalled the first step that Arthur took into the world of hospitality, where you'll find that he's had more than his share of incredible luck, ingenuity and adventures.

Including:

• Being 'saved' by a war and lauded as a genius
• Landing his dream job (at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong) because his dog, Silky, fell sick!
• Launching a successful marketing campaign straight after 9/11 (despite being in the thick of a fight between the head office & owner!)

To find out more, you’ll just have to listen to this STIMY Ep 147 with Arthur Kiong. 😏

Highlights:

• 2:49 Adrian Tan
• 3:52 You have to be on the right escalator
• 6:18 Being in despair
• 6:53 Selling Japanese slimming starch
• 7:04 Becoming a celebrity radio DJ because he could pronounce ‘Thursday the Thirteenth’
• 9:01 Giving it all up
• 10:36 No future?
• 12:17 Becoming a waiter at Prego
• 12:55 Oh Lord, what have I done?!
• 15:00 Sales wasn’t easy!
• 15:26 First big breakthrough in hospitality
• 16:33 Interesting initiatives
• 19:39 Being saved by a war
• 22:35 I found nothing!
• 23:58 That scares me… I like being in control!
• 25:21 The difference between knowing and knowing
• 26:35 Landing the dream job at The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong because of my sick dog!
• 28:09 It was a spooky experience
• 30:42 Returning to Singapore
• 31:18 The significant career break that allowed him to get into the Ritz
• 33:42 Superman in New York
• 36:21 When the cucumber turns green, it means the time is ripe
• 37:43 If things go south, will the corporate body defend me? 
• 39:37 I wanted to architect my resume
• 41:10 Why Singapore?
• 42:11 Building a Singaporean Hotel Brand
• 45:18 Living by Christian Values
• 49:05 Challenges of a CEO (that most don’t see)
• 50:23 Do you believe in God?
• 51:32 The Second Act in your career?
• 53:00 Biggest career advice
• 54:23 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
• 55:18 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
• 55:37 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?

Special thanks to Limpeh Studios for making this in-person interview possible!

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/147

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/lJkY_8igcxQ 

📚 Download 5 Stones & a Sling: https://www.fareasthospitality.com/-/media/StayFarEast/Five-Stones-and-a-Sling

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Official Biography

Arthur Kiong is the Chief Executive Officer of Far East Hospitality, which is part of Far East Orchard Limited, a listed company under Far East Organization. 

Since Arthur joined the organisation in July 2012, he has been instrumental in growing the company’s hospitality management business through joint-ventures and acquisitions. Over the last nine years, Far East Hospitality's portfolio grew from 18 properties in Singapore to 105 hotels and serviced residences in nine countries – Austria, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore, with more in its development pipeline.

In more than 35 years of his career in the hospitality industry, Arthur has worked at prominent international hospitality brands including Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton (Singapore and New York), Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (Hong Kong), Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Westin Hotels & Resort. 

Arthur also plays an active role in championing change in the hospitality industry, and currently serves as First Vice President of the Singapore Hotel Association. In 2020, he was appointed as the hospitality representative in the National Jobs Council – a task force set up to establish jobs and upskilling opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In Nov 2022, Arthur received the Executive of the Year – Hospitality & Leisure award from the Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards for initiating transformative changes to FEH’s operations and steered the group’s expansion in recent years despite the pandemic. 

Arthur was a recipient of the Special Recognition Award from Singapore Tourism Board in 2016 for having played a key role in rallying support for driving productivity and manpower development initiatives in the hotel industry.

“When people say it’s ok, I don’t need a family, I don’t need a partner, I say bullshit.”

Woon Tai Ho is most known for being the founder of Channel News Asia & author of prolific books like the trilogy by George Yeo (Singapore’s former foreign minister). 

But has the success been worth it?

What are some of his biggest regrets in life?

In Part 1 (which you should listen to if you haven’t), we explored all of his big career achievements and the challenges that came with it, including being summoned by China to answer for their coverage of Falun Gong.

But today, we cover something very different.

Deeper.

More personal.

Starting with Tai Ho’s major pivot from broadcasting to author.

Because nowadays, it’s common to make career pivots. It’s hard enough when it’s just jumping from one company to the next in the same industry, but Tai Ho has made that huge jump so…

❓ How did he do it? 

❓ How does he think about the ‘Second Act’ of his career? 

❓ How should people plan for their own Second, Third or even Fourth Act, especially when it comes to retirement?

And is there such a thing as living for too long and just ‘waiting to die’?

We also talk about some of his deepest regrets, his relationship with success and thoughts on relationships.

His advice to people: Go marry, have kids, then go back to your career.

We don’t have to be that woke. 😅

Do you agree?

Time to hear from Tai Ho again in the latest episode from STIMY!

Highlights:

• 3:14 Becoming a biographer by accident
• 5:29 What makes George Yeo (Singapore’s ex-foreign minister) so special?
• 6:56 Transparency & Lee Kuan Yew
• 7:53 Is living to age 102 a blessing or a curse?
• 9:35 “If I don’t have my second act, I don’t know what to do with my time”
• 12:36 Is all of Tai Ho’s success worth it?
• 15:40 Tai Ho’s biggest regret
• 19:31 His biggest advice for people
• 23:02 Why does Tai Ho collect bunnies?
• 25:57 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
• 26:51 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind
• 27:05 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/ 

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/146

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/U0_pVl_RsGM 

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Growing up, Woon Tai Ho - Channel NewsAsia founder & Bestselling Author of books like the George Yeo trilogy, Soul of Ink, Riot Green- didn’t know he was poor.

Until he invited his friends over and was asked questions like:

❓ Where’s your phone?

❓ Where’s your sofa?

None of which he had.

Which made him realise that actually, he was pretty poor. 😅 

But he was never ashamed of it.

When his sister invited him to stay at the house she was working at as a domestic helper, that changed his world.

“I couldn’t believe it, the way they stayed… these people had a dimension of luxury that I didn’t know about. So I told myself, I need to work very hard.”

And work very hard he did. 

We know Channel News Asia as one of the preeminent TV news channels in Asia, but that wasn’t always the case. As Tai Ho shares, the earliest days of CNA was very much a ‘wait and see’ game.

It was hardly easy too. 

“Television is a very, very hungry animal. A news channel is a very, very hungry animal. Every hour, every minute, every second needs content. Otherwise it's black.”

❓So how did Tai Ho build CNA from the ground up?

❓Position CNA amidst other giants like CNN & the BBC?

❓ Gain support from the likes of former Singapore foreign minister, George Yeo?

❓Handle challenges like when he was summoned to China for their coverage of Falun Gong?

You’ll have to listen to Part 1 of this STIMY episode to find out. 😉

Part 2 will come out next Sunday!

Highlights:

• 3:00 Would you consider yourself successful?
• 6:34 Family
• 8:27 Becoming a chef?
• 11:00 Singapore is a pretty good place!
• 13:29 “I never thought about being the best”
• 14:20 “When I was a kid, I didn’t know I was poor”
• 15:50 Mediacorp
• 16:53 Founding Channel News Asia
• 20:48 The reality of founding a news channel (that most people don’t know)
• 23:09 How do you define “quality content”?
• 24:28 Establishing the boundaries for quality
• 26:01 Looking at competitors to figure out CNA’s value proposition
• 28:33 No government support?!
• 31:14 Pushing the Singapore government’s perspective?
• 34:32 Getting into trouble with the Chinese government
• 37:56 Knowing which stories and perspective to put forward
• 40:51 Time to move on? 

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy 

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/146

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

“Are you a masochist?”

“Do you love books that much?”

If you want to be a bookseller, than those are the questions you need to ask yourself - according to Kenny Chan, the former Senior Director at Kinokuniya Book Stores (Asia Pacific) - he spent ~20 years of his career there prior to his retirement!

But prior to bookseller, Kenny was a foreign diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore, where he was posted to London as their Trade and Culture Attache.

He then switched to bookselling, first at Popular Holdings Limited, then MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, and back again at Popular when they launched their IPO!

And finally interviewed for a position at Kinokuniya.

The President & Chairman of Kinokuniya flew from Japan to Singapore to conduct the interview and asked Kenny just one question:

“Do you love books?”

As it turns out, Kenny gave me the exact answer he was looking for!

And even after retirement, Kenny remains deep in the bookselling world.

If you haven’t already guessed it, Kenny is the latest guest on STIMY!

And we dive deep into all things books & the art of evangelising.

❓Why does Kenny not judge people by their educational level?

❓Why did he initially become a foreign diplomat?

❓What was it like opening bookstores throughout Asia Pacific, Dubai and New York?

❓What was it like working at his dream company?

❓What is the secret to buying books & why is bookselling a spiritual experience?

❓How can aspiring authors can get Kenny’s attention?

Are you intrigued yet?

The YouTube version is out now too. 😎

Highlights:

• 1:01 The Punisher
• 1:50 Don’t judge people by their level of education
• 2:59 Do your best in everything that you touch
• 3:58 My education was a roller-coaster
• 5:31 Didn't want to be a bookseller!
• 7:56 Getting into foreign affairs
• 9:51 Hunted down a book for Lee Kuan Yew & the power of connections
• 11:35 Lee Kuan Yew was a hard task master
• 14:54 Life isn't fair
• 18:32 How to get rid of inventory/books for bookstores
• 20:21 Leaving Popular for MPH
• 21:00 Introducing comics & Sanrio (Hello Popular) to Singapore
• 22:12 How Kenny knew it was time to bring Hello Kitty in
• 24:07 Memorable stories
• 26:43 What was it like working in his dream company?
• 27:46 Becoming store manager of the MPH Stamford Bookstore
• 28:22 You need to be a dictator
• 32:22 A great success
• 36:23 The IPO
• 37:11 The secret behind buying books & working at Popular
• 41:29 Moving to Kinokuniya
• 43:03 Meeting 
• 43:30 The 1 question asked by the President & Chairman of Kinokuniya from Japan
• 44:44 Working with someone who doesn’t understand English
• 46:09 The spiritual aspect of book selling
• 47:01 Opening a store in Dubai
• 48:16 Love of books
• 49:13 The Kinovirus & training to become a great bookseller
• 50:45 The Speech
• 52:05 Biggest achievements while at Kinokuniya
• 54:44 Kinokuniya isn’t a bookstore. It’s a lifestyle choice
• 56:15 The importance of building a brand
• 58:51 The Twin Lemons Act
• 59:50 Getting Kenny’s attention
• 1:00:25 Ask a bookseller, what questions should you ask yourself?

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy 

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1uCeI8LOI5Y 

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/145

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Gero DiMaria knows what it means to go truly viral.

He's an Italian chef & owner of Kucina - Singapore's first authentic halal food restaurant.

But he's also a bona fide Italian culinary superstar with over 500k followers on social media - 256k on Instagram & 252.6k on TikTok!

He took the world by storm with his recent series of viral reels on choosing the best pasta/cheeses in grocery stores, and that had a real trickle down effect on his business.

So we dig into all the juicy stuff, including:

❓ What does it mean to actually go ‘viral’?

❓ What kind of measurable impact has social media had on his business?

❓ What is his advice for leveraging social media for businesses?

❓ What have his toughest moments been?

❓ And who exactly is Gero?!

The goal: To understand the role of social media today, what it really means to go viral & how one can leverage on that social media reach to build your own business.

Highlights:

• 1:55 Italian childhood
• 4:11 What do Italians eat every day?
• 5:38 People in Asia aren’t taught to think?!
• 10:58 Entering the food industry
• 12:13 Work hard to earn your money
• 13:33 Your first job sets the bar
• 14:49 That English breakfast shift 
• 16:52 Knowing that the F&B world was for him 
• 17:33 How to cook the perfect pasta
• 20:04 Moving from London to Singapore
• 21:58 First job at Pasta Fresca
• 23:19 What’s an authentic halal Italian restaurant?
• 25:59 Chefs can only be chefs, they can’t run a business
• 29:43 Going into marketing & the lost $3000
• 31:22 The turning point
• 32:39 Content strategy
• 35:14 Going truly viral
• 36:18 Acting debut
• 37:58 Why accept collaborations?
• 40:00 Separating his personal brand from his Kucina restaurant
• 41:24 The content creation team
• 42:48 Advice for entrepreneurs
• 44:06 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
• 45:25 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
• 46:15 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/144 

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Would you die for your passion?

Most wouldn’t but for 58-year-old Swee Chiow, Singapore’s first professional adventurer, it’s a question he must face every day.

And it all began when he caught a glimpse of Mount Everest from a plane.

He was working in IT (Singapore Airlines) then, but he decided from that one glimpse that he wanted to climb Mount Everest - a dream that took him a mere 10 years to achieve!

The journey was hard.

He knew nothing. So he read many books & even went on a 10-day mountaineering course at Mt Cook that he flunked because he wasn’t fit enough!

In 1998, he joined Singapore’s first Mount Everest expedition. It was a disaster at first because:

❌ Their tent collapsed during a freak storm

❌ Their first attempt at the South Pole failed as they didn’t have enough rope - the Singapore media hounded them & issued headlines declaring that the expedition had failed

But they didn’t give up.

Their second attempt was a success!

But an exhausting one. 

In the midst of the media glory, Swee Chiow knew he had to take advantage of it so he immediately launched Singapore's first Antarctic expedition.

Since then, he has:

• Climbed Everest x3 and K2
• 8,000km cycle from SG → Beijing (China) = 2003
• Swam 40 km across Malacca Straits
• Kayaked 3,000km across Philippines
• Broke his first Guinness World Records for the longest scuba submergence (220 hours)
• Rollerbladed 6,000km from Hanoi SG in 94 days (and broke the Guinness World Records in 2008)

Highlights:

• 3:34 Why Why Why?!
• 4:12 Fear of heights
• 5:00 Computer science in Kansas
• 6:11 Saw Mount Everest from a plane
• 6:51 Not giving up after 10 years
• 7:24 The mountain is magical & spiritual?!
• 9:06 Lessons learned
• 10:27 Altitude sickness / AMS
• 12:04 Pulling Singapore’s first Everest expedition together
• 13:25 You can’t fail!
• 14:19 What should people know about Everest?
• 16:45 Quitting his day job
• 17:45 Antarctica
• 19:38 Commercialising his adventure business
• 20:32 Swee Chiow’s value proposition?
• 22:02 How he builds trust with his clients
• 24:11 Risks & death
• 25:11 Any trick to staying calm?
• 25:24 Drifting to Taiwan & near certain death
• 27:37 Never let your ego take over
• 29:28 Dealing with the media
• 30:55 Never doing K2 again
• 32:19 The ghosts at Tibet’s Xishapengma
• 36:12 Adventurers hogging the limelight
• 37:04 Collaborating with AirAsia X
• 40:16 How Swee Chiow decides on his adventures
• 41:43 Advice for those in their 30s
• 45:28 What’s next?
• 46:26 The second act of his career?
• 47:36 Leadership principles to be an effective guide for his team
• 49:15 What drives you to push yourself to the extreme each time?
• 50:23 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
• 51:06 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
• 51:27 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?

Special thanks to Limpeh Studios (Hepmil Media) for the studio!

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy 

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/143  

💌 STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Meet Lucas Lu - Head of Zoom Asia.

And also a fellow Sarawakian!

Lucas has had an illustrious career going from GM of Systems Technology Group at IBM Malaysia where they closed large deals within the first 6 months, leading to Lucas winning ASEAN Rookie of the Year - his first big recognition.

He ended up staying at IBM for 10 years and won 2 Global Golden Circle Award before moving on to become:

• General Manager, Astro
• GM (Tech Sales Malaysia), Oracle
• Senior Director (APAC Enterprise Commercial Sales & Industry), Microsoft

Prior to his current role heading the Asian arm of Zoom, covering ASEAN, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan.

While at first glance, Lucas appears to have had a very varied career, he has also been very intentional about every career move he’s made. 

And has had no zero regrets with how it has turned out.

So we dive deep into this episode into all things career development:

❓ How has Lucas chosen the roles that he has? 

❓ What is his secret sauce to climbing the corporate ladder? 

❓ How should one find mentors/career sponsors? 

❓ How does he plan his career & life (he has a plan for everything, including for his family members!!)?

Please do listen & leave a rating & review!

Highlights:

• 1:50 My first 15 years
• 2:27 Shell City
• 4:22 No one leaves Shell, but I did…
• 5:26 Getting the call from IBM
• 6:05 Switching to tech
• 6:59 Lucas’ unfair advantage over other people
• 7:50 Lots of planning & reflections
• 11:55 What should you do when you first take on a regional role?
• 14:06 Career sponsors
• 14:41 Secret to landing career sponsors
• 15:22 The first time doors opened for Lucas?
• 16:15 Moving on after 10 years
• 17:14 Bringing a corporate mindset to the startup world?
• 19:09 Measuring returns for media projects
• 19:41 Moving to Oracle
• 21:01 Kilimanjaro
• 22:55 Element of luck
• 24:16 Dealing with failure
• 25:55 No regrets?
• 27:37 Moving to Microsoft
• 29:14 Takeaways from being fully immersed in a country 
• 32:00 Did hiking change how he approaches sales and work?
• 32:25 Why Zoom?
• 33:43 Checklist for Lucas’ next career move (no compromise)
• 34:24 How to determine if someone is the right person to work for?
• 35:33 Most influential person in Lucas’ career
• 37:28 Managing the strawberry generation
• 39:15 What Lucas hopes to achieve at Zoom
• 43:58 The second act in Lucas’ career
• 46:45 What STIMY listeners can help Lucas with

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📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/142 

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