The
Reluctant
Leader

Blog

Category: V4. Relationships

Love Never Fails, But We Must Grow to Live It

Love never fails. It is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But our capacity to live it must grow. Parenting, marriage, leadership all reveal that love’s essence is timeless, yet its expression must rise with us. Love endures. We are the ones called to mature.

Richness Without Humility Destroys Leaders

Riches look like blessings, but without humility they blind us. Leadership is not about holding on to comfort but releasing it for the sake of others. True leaders empty themselves so their people can rise. Comfort is never the fruit of leadership. It is the price tag.

Failure Is the First Step

Failure is not the opposite of success. The opposite of success is stagnation. In Kuching, losing the Sustainable Development Award became our first step forward. It forced us to ask harder questions, seek clarity, and model resilience. Sometimes the greatest victory is learning how to fail with grace.

Life Is Too Short for One Lane Living

Life isn’t meant to be lived in silos. In Kuching, I discovered that ministry, family, business, and leadership can run side by side on the same highway. The key isn’t choosing one lane. It’s building systems that prevent collision and multiply legacy. Life is too short for one lane living.

From Weakness to Witness

Success before 30 is often measured by speed and brilliance. My journey taught me the opposite: every milestone was born from weakness. Rejection, betrayal, and brokenness became the soil for witness. Weakness does not erase success. The danger is only when we refuse to let weakness be redeemed.

Same Father, Different Fathers

All four of my children call me “Dad,” yet each has a different father. Not because I changed identities, but because each child reshaped me in a different season. Parenting is not copy-paste. It is seasonal, humbling, and paradoxical. We think it shapes them, but it reshapes us.

The Hidden Cost of 99 Degrees

99 degrees looks close enough. But it is not boiling. It is not transformation. The greatest danger is not failure at zero, but fatigue at ninety-nine. Legacy is never built on almost-there. It is born in the one degree that tips effort into breakthrough.

Malaysian Trust towards Mamak

Why do Malaysians trust mamaks more than five-star restaurants? We accept shifting prices and messy kitchens, yet keep going back. Trust isn’t about perfection, it’s about predictability. Leaders and families often forget this truth. Consistency, empathy, and surrender build legacy. Control destroys it. That’s the real lesson behind Malaysian trust towards mamak.

Between 20 and 60

The fastest four decades of your life vanish between 20 and 60. We think they are long, but they slip away unseen. Fragility hides in strength, drift disguises itself as progress. The real question is not how fast you went but why you lived at all.

Career. Life. Mission.

In a China hotel room, my children shouted commands at “Xiaodu Xiaodu” and the lights obeyed, sometimes too well. I laughed, then realized: leadership is translation. Career, life, and mission are the same. They don’t need balance. They need harmony, one language that multiplies legacy.

Aesthetic vs Authenticity

Branding is not what you design. It is what people believe. A logo may open the door, but only authenticity keeps it open. The real danger is not invisibility, it is unbelievability. Visibility can be bought. Believability must be earned. Aesthetic fades. Authenticity endures.

You Hold the Wheel. But Not the Master

We often believe we’re in control. But what if life was never about ownership, only stewardship? Some things become permanent before we even realize we’ve chosen them. This reflection explores the invisible hairspray moments that shape our lives and what it truly means to surrender the wheel.

Silver Linings in Dark Clouds

Storms will always come. Phones get lost, leaders leave, hearts harden. But not causing harm is not leadership. The real test is whether we turn dark clouds into silver linings, and silver linings into purpose. The opposite of leadership is not following. It is self-preservation.

Empowerment Begins with Awkwardness

Leadership often begins in awkwardness. My team knows I am introverted and rarely chair meetings, preferring to empower younger leaders or my COO. But when newcomers join, silence can confuse. Respect without responsibility is abdication. Responsibility without respect is domination. Empowerment starts with presence: caring, charting, and challenging.

Boring as Johor Bahru’s Superpower

In Johor Bahru, boring is not emptiness. It is protection. The city’s quiet filters out distraction and creates space for families to grow, friendships to deepen, and leaders to focus. What the world dismisses as ordinary is the very superpower that shapes extraordinary purpose and legacy.

Redefining CEO

Leadership is not to rule, but to reconcile. A CEO who cuts his own pay, who reconciles with his child in failure, who builds bridges between generations that is the true Chief Empowering Officer. Rule leaves results. Reconciliation leaves legacy. And legacy outlives every title.

Parenting Breakthroughs from China

Parenting breakthroughs rarely come in perfect moments. They appear in chaos: a child speaking Mandarin with courage, a night of independence in a hotel room, a lost phone turned into financial wisdom. Seeds planted in struggle become the roots of legacy, teaching us that love is the sunlight every seed needs.

Comfort vs Calling

On paper, Malaysia and China produce almost the same per hour. But when you stand in Guangzhou, the pace feels 6 times faster. Singapore races tenfold ahead. Comfort looks at numbers. Calling looks at legacy. The real question is: which race are you called to run?

AI’s Speed vs Human Soul

In an age where AI can craft perfect pitches, it is the human who pauses to ask, “What worries you most?” that opens hearts. Soul cannot be coded. True talent shows in how we listen, choose, and connect. In the end, it is soul, that leads us forward, not speed.

From 50 Yuan to Fortune 500

Midea began with bottle caps and 5,000 yuan. Today it is Fortune 500. Stellar is still small, but small is our vantage point. You climb to gain perspective, not to stay there. Legacy comes when you return wiser, humbler, and ready to lead daily life with new vision.