A Journey Begins on the Road

It was October 3rd, and I will be driving up to Kuala Lumpur with Joshua, Ryan, and Samuel for a mentoring session. Four of us on the road together, and it reminded me of something simple yet profound: it is not good for a man to be alone. Even Jesus sent His disciples in pairs. Traveling together keeps us accountable.

My mentor once told me, all sins are planned. That line has stayed with me for years. It means that mistakes do not appear out of thin air; they begin with intentions. The devil’s schemes start with seeds planted in our minds. Accountability, therefore, is not optional. It is the safeguard.

That set the tone for the day’s reflection. And as the miles went by, one theme kept circling back to me: innovation and collaboration.

Form and Function

Nothing is truly new under the sun. Innovation is not about inventing something from nothing, but about reshaping form to serve a function.

Horses once carried us across distances. Then came bicycles, cars, boats, and airplanes. The forms changed, but the function: travel, connection, remained the same.

We make a mistake when we confuse form with function. Churches cling to rituals. Businesses cling to strategies that once worked. Parents cling to methods no longer suited to their children’s stages of growth. When form outlives function, it becomes a prison.

But here is the deeper truth: form does not only support function, it can also create new functions.

• AirAsia didn’t just repackage flying; it created a new culture of travel and opened the skies to people who had never flown before.
• The iPhone wasn’t just a better phone; it rewrote the way we consume media, connect with one another, and live our lives.
• AI is not just another productivity tool. It is rewriting authorship itself. It turns books from finished products into living, interactive platforms where readers become co-creators.

The key is always to ask: what function must this serve?

For me, the function is collaboration, disciple-making, and community building. These all serve the higher calling of the Great Commission: Go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Jesus never said “teach them to attend church.” Those are forms. When form overtakes function, transformation is lost.

A Book Growing Like a Child

This tension between form and function became personal as I thought about Lead to Impact, the book project we have been working on for over a year.

The book has felt like raising a child. At first, it was like a newborn: fragile, wordless, feeding on milk. Now it feels like a toddler, trying solids, responding to the world, surprising us as it grows. The essence has not changed, but the form has evolved.

One night, I warmed some breast milk for my younger son. My eldest, who loved milk, eagerly asked for some. But when he smelled it, he recoiled. “This is disgusting,” he said. Same nutrition, same goodness, wrong form for his stage of life.

That was an unforgettable lesson. Even the most nutritious thing, given in the wrong form, becomes unbearable. The same is true for books. The same is true for leadership.

Wrestling With Form

That is why Lead to Impact has been such a struggle. From the beginning, the vision was wide: impact entrepreneurs, families, leaders. But the scope was too wide. We asked: What is the main objective? Who is the audience? How can this outlive the book itself?

We brainstormed with our writers over and over again: We wanted stories, simple and human. They wanted a polished, world-class framework for international readers. Neither of us was wrong. But we were wrestling with form. The deeper issue was: what function must this book serve?

After reading the first manuscript draft, chapters one through eight, we paused. It was a moment of clarity. The book could not just be about us.

That realization came to life just days later in Singapore.

Relational Innovation: A New Model

On Monday, I was invited to had a fire chat with Bryan at the SG500 Forum. As an introvert, I don’t thrive in large crowds, but I connect deeply in smaller conversations. After the conference, I spoke privately with two people. One of them was Dr. Bryan Long, author of Relational Innovation.

His model startled me. He wrote his book, and then someone in Melbourne read it, believed in it, and co-authored a localized version: Relational Innovation: The Case of Melbourne. Same framework, adapted to context.

The book became living, not static.

That was a paradigm shift. What if Lead to Impact was not a finished book, but a living platform? Not just my story, but an invitation for others to tell theirs?

Meeting the Future Face to Face

The vision crystallized further just days earlier. On Merdeka Day, our students staged a fashion show dressed as frontliners: doctors, firefighters, policemen. One girl came on stage in an outfit I couldn’t recognize. When announced, she was role-playing as a teacher.

I asked her, “Are you serious about becoming a teacher?” She nodded. “Then you should teach at Stellar,” I told her. She smiled and nodded again.

She is 15, bright and fearless.

I imagined her future. By 21, she will graduate. By 24, perhaps with a master’s, she could be teaching alongside us. In less than a decade, I could be working with her generation.

That is the group I want to impact with this book, not the elders I cannot culturally influence, but the young who are still being formed.

Speaking Gen Alpha’s Language

If that is the target, then the form must fit Gen Alpha. Those born after 2010, now turning 15.

Research shows they are digital natives from birth. McCrindle calls them the “most materially endowed, technologically immersed, and formally educated generation ever.” Deloitte reports nearly half of Gen Z prefers content under a minute. McKinsey highlights that Gen Alpha expects interactivity rather than passivity.

This does not mean they cannot go deep. It means the entry point must be simple, quick, and purpose-driven. Once engaged, they can dive into complexity. But the doorway matters.

Malaysia’s context makes this urgent. With a median age of 30.2, our nation is young. Over 7 million Malaysians are under 15. They are not just future workers, they are future leaders. If Lead to Impact does not speak their language, it will not reach them.

From Maxwell to Malaysia

John Maxwell’s Law of the Lid says leadership ability determines effectiveness. The McDonald brothers had a great system but a low lid. Their vision capped at one restaurant. It took Ray Kroc’s higher lid to multiply McDonald’s into a global phenomenon.

The same applies here. A book written by me alone has a lid. A book co-authored with the next generation multiplies.

We see this pattern in Malaysia. Tony Fernandes did not invent flying. But by reframing the form, “Now everyone can fly”. AirAsia democratized travel. Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling did the same with Grab, not inventing taxis but reframing trust and access. Shopee did not invent e-commerce, but localized payments and gamified shopping, multiplying adoption.

Innovation is not invention. It is reframing form so that function can scale.

From Co-Creation to Co-Impact

This is the heart of it.

Co-creation says: Let’s build this together. Co-impact says: Let’s change the world together.

The difference is subtle but profound. Co-creation is about participation. Co-impact is about ownership and transformation.

When a young person co-authors Lead to Impact, they do not just add words. They claim identity. They begin to see themselves as leaders, responsible for shaping others.

That is the leap we must make, from collaboration to transformation. From writing stories to shaping futures.

The Reverse That Redefines It All

By the end of this reflection, the realization was freeing. The book is not about me. It never was.

My name may be on the cover, but its true power is that it becomes a mirror. Readers see their own story reflected. They begin to write their own chapters.

And that is the real shift: leadership is not about creating for others. It is about creating with others.

When you do that, you move beyond co-creation. You move into co-impact.