Reflecting on Vistage Malaysia's 25th Anniversary Celebration on 27 Sept 2019.
Welcoming remarks on 27 sept 2019 at Vistage’ 25th Anniversary Celebration Event at Sime Darby Convention Center, KL
Hi, on behalf of Vistage, I wish you everyone a very happy and blessed morning, our valued Vistage members and honored guests.
Please show of hands how many of you had flown the Qantas Airways? In 1989 I took the Qantas flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur after a business trip. Little did I know it helped to TRANSFORM ....my life forever!
Several years before 1989, I had these persistent callings that I should venture out to leverage my diverse CEO experiences to helping others make a difference, especially the business owners of SMEs. A seed planted but no germination until in mid 1989 on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to KL, when i saw in the inflight magazine a half -page advertisement by Dr Phil Meddings (TEC partner for Australia and UK then), with the heading “it’s lonely at the top .....and you don’t have to be ....if you are with peers in similar positions! THAT connected the dots for me to my calling - helping SMEs making a difference! The “aha” was that TEC/ Vistage could provide me and SMEs a local yet also a global platform (small yet big) to share and obtain assistance from a diverse background of CEOs & business owners both locally and globally! .......I TORE THAT PAGE FROM THE MAGAZINE and pocketed it.
Those connected dots kept haunting me during my time preparing Nylex Malaysia for Listing on the local stock exchange and I helped successfully listed Nylex in November 1990 with that year’s 2nd highest premium for a local listing in the midst of the gulf war! In August 1993, i took a week off and flew to Los Angeles to meet the owners of TEC, persuaded them to grant me license for Malaysia and Singapore. I launched TEC at the first KL Hilton Hotel in September 1994 with the assistance and presence of Dr Bill Williams, the President & CEO. And, the rest is history!
In 2009, we celebrated our 15 years and also published a coffee-table book entitled ‘ CHANGING & GROWING.’ That year we had 303 members with a combined revenue of about RM15 billion then. As I stand here today, 10 years on, we have close to 800 members with a combined annual revenue of about RM70 billion. The revenue grew by 466% and number of membership by 270%! Today, the Vistage membership provides jobs for over 120,000 people. Taking the 2018 national household size of 4.1, Vistage is responsible for the livelihood of about half a million Malaysians!
Reflecting on my life over the past 25 Vistage years, I did three major things outside my comfort zone or courageous or silly things as some may say.
Firstly, I quitted my GCEO job at the pinnacle of my professional CEO career when I turned 50 to found TEC( now Vistage), forgoing generous share options from BTR UK (Parent Company), share options from Nylex Australia (immediately holding company) and Nylex Malaysia. Many of my university mates and business associates thought I was out of my marbles! And I have never looked back but stayed focused ahead come what may! No regrets! My most joyous payback is the immense satisfaction seeing the many transformations in the Vistage membership, both in my groups and also in other Vistage groups
Secondly, still at the youthful age of 44 +30 ( for those do not know how to add any more without a calculator, it’s 74 ALREADY) ....and with a wired left knee ( due to fall in a KL 5 star hotel ),I hiked with my VCE-16 CEOs to the Everest Basecamp in April 2018 despite the early group skepticism and safety concerns plus the reality that the group was in diverse fitness level (about 50% of us were overweight with and without high blood pressure and relatively unfit ).I guessed when I made the decision to hike Everest Base camp, when first suggested by two members ,many of the group members had no choice or option but to join the group hike! But we did put in the necessary and needed attention (in term of training and safety /risk contingency plans) to our Everest basecamp intention. We as a group pushed, carried, challenged, encouraged and supported one another whenever and wherever necessary. The hike was not easy but challenging in terms of sanitation, hygiene, sleeping and weather conditions but we persevered and reached the Everest Base camp in 9 days! Only two members had to abandon the journey during the hike due the mountain sickness. This unforgettable hike had transformed quite a few of us in our own different ways! Some in amazing ways, persevered and found a ‘new version’ of themselves!
Thirdly, three months fresh from the Everest Base camp euphoria and still emotionally ‘high’from the Everest mountain air, we were hungered for the next challenge. BUT not Everest Base camp again! NO,over my dead body everyone said upon reaching the Everest Base camp. In July 2018, Vistage CE-16 group decided to charter a small ship (50mx7m) for the planned ARCTIC Expedition in Sept 2019! WHY?15 months ahead of the planned sailing in the ARCTIC because the waiting list for this ship was 15 -24mths! From 30 August – 9 September 2019, we with some Vistage chairs, members and some biz associates sailed the ARCTIC. Twenty of us were joined by two polar bear experts, a Japanese lady artist and one fanatic photographer cum gypsetter named Yusuf Hashim. It was not a good trip ...BUT an ‘out of this world or surreal ’ experience to many of us with many lasting unforgettable moments and memories of the nature’s landscape, polar bears, walruses, reindeers, arctic foxes, arctic birds and ice cavings and icebergs! We were very very lucky to watch and photograph polar bears, walruses and reindeers at close quarters! We saw the blue whales (largest mammal that lives in the oceans) which swam around our tiny ship. Blue whales can be 60-70 feet long and weigh 100,000 to 120,000 lbs! We also saw humpback whales.
My mantra of ‘ Personal transformation needs courage and the belief that it is possible’ still holds true! AND.......we are planning another ‘bucket list’ outing in 2020!
It would be amiss of me if I don’t record my deepest respect and gratefulness to the following people for their support in my Vistage journey thus far and the sharings in the 25th anniversary coffee book :
0. Dr Bill Williams and Dr Fred Chaney ( both still alive) who saw my passion when I met them in late 1993 and they took the leap of faith that I could introduce TEC to shores of Malaysia and Singapore.
0. My first two staff, Sherine Cheng, Executive Director and Mansor who tripled up as driver, despatch boy and clerk!
0. Dr Phil meddling who helped me connected the dots and Vistage International partners, Nigel Stoke, Chairman Of TEC Australia and Dr Lynn Tanner for their sharings in the book,
0. My pioneer TEC-1 members who believed in me and the TEC model to help launch the first CEO Group in Malaysia in November 1994.
0. My Vistage superteam and chairs, especially those who took time to share their Vistage stories for the book
0. All those Vistage CEO members and chairs who also shared their Vistage experiences in the book
0. My fellow Don Cope awardees - Richard Carr (2018 Awardee), Lance Descourouez (2016 Awardee), Dwight White (2015 Awardee) who have kindly shared their Vistage journeys in the book,...and
0. Nick King, SVP International (partners) who is always a strong supporter of Vistage Malaysia and provide us constant encouragement.
To all of you, I say terima kaseh beribu2 from the bottom of my heart ?? ..
Is my life now complete and done yet after 15 years as a professional Group CEO of a MNC plus 25 years of Vistaging? In Vistage, we say ‘questions are better than answers!’
On behalf of my Vistage team, I warmly welcome and wish all of you a GREAT DAY with us??
Richard CM Wong
27 Sept 2019