If Impatience is My Virtue, Is Patience a Flaw?

In this series, professionals describe the skills they’re building this year. Read the stories here, then write your own (use #SkillsGap in the body of your post).

It is no secret that I am an impatient person. If I can do two things at once, why do one? I hate wasting time and resources and feel my best when I am impatient.

My impatience enabled me to get my university degree in two and a half years and go straight to Harvard Business School (HBS), where I ended up being one of the youngest students at the age of 21. This gave me a headstart in my professional life.

When I decided to leave an otherwise comfortable career at a big firm to start up my own headhunting company, I started not with one but three offices at the same time, which allowed me to scale and reach critical mass within the first year. Entrepreneurs are impatient! Time is critical in any startup, and it is important to juggle multiple tasks to grapple with complexity and deal with uncertainties.

I also walk faster than most people. There is a Chinese saying, “Walk fast and the world becomes good.” In Hong Kong, where everyone is in a hurry, we push the “close” button in the elevator as soon we get in. Impatience is sometimes a survival instinct.

When I travelled overseas for business meetings, I always took a day trip to places like Shanghai, Singapore, and Manila, so I could compress multiple meetings into a very tight, one-day schedule. I figured if I took day trips every day, I could visit 5 countries in one week. This enabled me to stay in close touch and build my personal connections throughout our 24 offices in Asia. Impatience can often help to overcome the distance associated with regional operations.

I never carry any check-in luggage. With the additional time I save from waiting at the baggage counter, I can always squeeze in one more meeting into my day. I always try to “beat” time.  

My impatience also led to many mistakes. When I started up my company, I knew I had neither the funds nor the “pull” to convince “pedigreed” headhunters to join me. So I had to make my hiring criteria more open and opportunistic, and set aside my prejudices as to who can be a successful headhunter. I trusted my instincts and hired many people on the spot. Many turned out to be the very best in our profession, while there were also many who were simply the wrong fit. I hate letting go of employees as I believe in sticking to the “Employees First” philosophy.  

The delay further increased the costs of wrong hires. Fortunately, the good have more than compensated for the bad, particularly during a high-growth period.

After building one of the most successful search firms in Asia, when the opportunity to buy a big global financial services search firm came about, my excitement and vision blinded me into rushing to a decision without the proper due diligence. My timing was also wrong because the global financial market was collapsing and undergoing fundamental changes.

The big mistake I made and the unprecedented challenges that faced me after the acquisition made me lose confidence. I delayed the necessary cost-cutting and was not decisive enough when I should have fired quicker to let go of underperformers or those who didn’t fit into the teamwork and collegial culture I was trying to rebuild. This caused much delay in making the necessary changes in the organization.

I stayed on too long after selling the company I founded and nurtured for 18 years. The mixed emotions and unfulfilled expectations overshadowed the pride and excitement of seeing the company I built become part of an ambitious global empire.

Indeed, life has a way of throwing curve balls at even the most patiently laid out plans, so certain unforeseen events can flush all that patience down the drain.  With patience, you win some and you lose some, and for someone who’s innately impatient like me, it can even backfire.

At the end of the day, what’s important is not whether patience and impatience are virtues or flaws — because in chartering one’s life journey you would need both. It’s the ability to manage the contradictions of being patient and impatient at the same time that makes a successful leader.