I Am My Own Leader – Speech at PETRONAS Leadership Centre (PLC)

Last month, FIFA released its latest international ranking of soccer playing nations. Spain, Germany and Argentina were ranked First, Second and Third respectively. Most Malaysians’ favourite team, England, was ranked number 10. Malaysia was ranked 160th. Just for reference, we were 79th in 1993.

2. If we are making plans to improve our standing, what should our target be? Top 120 by 2020? Or top 100? Why not target top 50? We have seven years to get there – plenty of time.

Some of us may not be so optimistic, not so convinced we can do it. I beg to differ. Malaysia, and Malaysians, are capable of achieving much. And history is our proof.

3. Let’s not forget that PETRONAS, which is only 39 years old, is ranked 75 in the Fortune global listing. The 19th most profitable in the World. Most profitable in Asia. And we did it on our own. With our own Malaysians. With our very own home-grown timber.

And this point is important. Despite the English Premier League raking-in the highest revenue, England is only ranked number 10 in the world. Why? Maybe because they did not plant and grow their own timber! English players only played 32% of the minutes in the EPL. By comparison, Germans have played 50% in Bundesliga and Spaniards 59% in Primera Division. Something for us all in PETRONAS to ponder! In our own respective areas of competence. Of Authority. Of Leadership.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

4. Back in 2007, the Malaysian Government set up PEMUDAH, the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business, with the aim of improving public sector delivery through Public-Private Partnership. Not Public-Private Partnership as in UKAS (Unit Kerjasama Awam Swasta) but collaboration between and among the 13 Senior Officials and 10 Captains of Industry in PEMUDAH. Until my retirement in June last year, I was the co-chairman of PEMUDAH together with Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon, President of Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

5. There are many ways to measure the public sector delivery. One of the most widely used yardsticks is the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index. When PEMUDAH was established, Malaysia was ranked number 25 in the world. We set the target of top 10 by 2015, then a big-hairy-audacious-goal, or BHAG in short. There were many detractors, of course. Some called PEMUDAH unnecessary, a waste of time. Others simply dismissed it outright. We soldiered on. Driven by the singular goal of ‘service’ to the Nation and the People. It is worth highlighting again that PEMUDAH was a joint effort of public and private sectors. And the members were not paid any remuneration. Despite that, attendance was 100% almost all the time. And, always on time!

6. Fast forward to 29 October, 2013. Almost seven years later, Malaysia is ranked by the World Bank as the country with the Sixth most business-friendly regulatory environment. Not Tenth, but Sixth. Against target, that is four positions higher, two years earlier. That is what BHAGs are capable of. They bring the best out of us. Levels of achievement we may not even know we are capable of. To be clear, we didn’t embark on the improvements to chase World Bank ranking. We did it for ourselves. For our Country. The rankings are only a useful yardstick. And of course, it gives us bragging rights in the global arena! The challenge now is to sustain and further improve the delivery. For the sake of our Country. Maybe we can now aim for Number One by 2020!

7. We may have a lot of detractors and critics – but we have also won praises domestically and internationally for what PEMUDAH has achieved. The World Bank has highlighted PEMUDAH as an extraordinarily effective model of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and has advocated its adoption by other countries. Even countries like Switzerland and Singapore have come to Malaysia to learn a thing or two from PEMUDAH. The latest World Bank Report also includes a case study on ‘Implementing electronic tax filing and payments in Malaysia’.

8. So much for PEMUDAH. When I was the KSN, many people associated me with PEMUDAH as if KSN’s job was only to chair PEMUDAH. So I thought it is appropriate this morning to use PEMUDAH as an example to share my experiences. But let me state that PEMUDAH only took at most three days of my time in a month. And the other 27 days or so were perhaps much more challenging! And, equally as rewarding.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

9. There are seven lessons that I would like to expound on. It is about the importance of:

• Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goals (BHAGs)
• Collaboration
• Commitment to the bigger picture
• Doing unto others as you would have others do unto you
• Letting 1000 flowers bloom and allowing for mistakes
• Focus
• Discipline and Integrity

10. The first is the importance of BHAGs. Timid goals will only get negligible results. As Leaders we must have our own commitment to “achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth”. Of building the tallest Twin Towers. Of achieving high-income developed country status by 2020!
Leaders must dare to take calculated risk, be ready to take paths that are different from those that have been tried and tested. Professor Chan Kim calls it Blue Ocean.

11. Second is collaboration. PEMUDAH was a novel approach to old problems. It required ministries and agencies and the private sector to see each other eye-to-eye and treat each other as partners in solving challenges. Not as competitors, let alone adversaries. PEMUDAH see the challenges as that of public service delivery rather than problems of one ministry or another. If we had played the age-old game of who is more important, and who is more powerful, we could not have moved forward.
12. As much as we would like to think otherwise, let’s face it – no one is perfect. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. As Robert Goffee puts it, we must show we are genuine and approachable – human and humane. There are things we are good at, those we wish we are good at, and those we couldn’t care less. For every one of us who wishes he was good in playing the piano, there are thousands who are already brilliant at it. For every Tom who couldn’t care less and has no patience for the legal terminologies, there are millions of legal eagles. We must first acknowledge our shortcoming, then seek out someone who is good at it. There is no shame in collaborating. The only shame is if we hold back our team from achieving its full potential because of our insecurity in admitting weaknesses. The Prime Minister has his cabinet. The President has his ExCo. By collaborating, seeking views and advice from others, we can build on each other’s strength, and hopefully in the process eliminate, or at least minimise the consequences of our own weaknesses. In PEMUDAH, before a plan was implemented by one agency, other agencies and the private sector got to review and evaluate the plan. Contributes to the plan. Potential shortcomings were identified early and embarrassing and costly mistakes were minimised.

13. Third is commitment to the bigger picture. That means going beyond one’s own remit of what’s good for my unit, or my department, to what’s good for the organisation. Beyond what is good for our organisation to what is good for our Country. Not just the output, but more importantly, the outcome. PEMUDAH members from the private sector were driven to contribute beyond their immediate companies. With zero remuneration. Because they understood that in the final analysis, what is good for the country must be good for their own business. It required a mentality of ‘the whole is greater than the sum total of its parts’, rather than, the mentality of a ‘zero-sum game’. As leaders, we must promote the bigger picture, the Whole of Company, the Whole of Government. That there is No Wrong Door. And Leaders eliminate the ‘limiting mind set’.

14. When I was the Malaysian Trade Commissioner in Sydney, Australia between 1985 and 1992, one of my responsibilities was to submit periodic briefs and reports to Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in KL. If I were to have done just that, I would have been doing what was expected of me perfectly fine. But I thought I must go beyond that. There was the Malaysian High Commissioner, the Deputy Chief of Mission and other Malaysian officers with whom I shared the office in Sydney. Somehow it is not right that my seniors in MITI would know more about Malaysia’s trade with Australia than Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Australia. Forget about the territory between Ministries. Wouldn’t the country want our overseas missions to have seamless sharing and integration of information so that we can work effectively and respond immediately on any queries? If I were to have been travelling and Kuala Lumpur needed trade information from Sydney, no one else could have provided that information. At that point, no one would have said, “Well done for keeping to the procedures and submitting the report only to KL and not sharing with others in Sydney.” No, that’s not it. We must think about what our customers and stakeholders want, not only what our immediate bosses want.

15. For PEMUDAH, what mattered was the requirement of the people, businesses and investors. Their requirement to simplify dealings with the public sector. If a Director General or a Sec-Gen didn’t see that, then we had to make sure he or she sees it.

16. Fourth is to ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you’. Simply stated, we must empathise with our followers. With our Customers. With our Stakeholders. With our Shareholders. PEMUDAH met its goal because we had our customers at the table. The Yong Poh Kon’s of the world were with us in resolving the issues. Listening to our customers was built into the PEMUDAH structure. The days of Government knows best, or the Boss knows best, are long over. They are confined to history books. These are days of distributed knowledge. Improved access to information and democratisation of knowledge through the internet means no one has monopoly over knowledge and wisdom. Leading without listening will be foolish, perhaps even fatal. I would not want to be led by a Mr Know-it-all. Why should I subject others to that?

17. But how can we ensure the voices come out voluntarily? That is the Fifth. Quoting Mao Zedong, ‘We must let a 1000 flowers bloom’. But unlike Mao Zedong, we should not then chop-off those that have blossomed. PEMUDAH made full use of the internet to allow the public to provide suggestions and criticism. There is the ‘Idea Bank’ for the public and ‘PEMUDAH Journalism Competition’ to recognise journalists for either highlighting the impact of improvements or areas that require further improvement. As KSN, I made my email address available to all. And I personally read and replied to every email. That is important. But the follow up is even more important. As leaders, it is not enough to say we are open to suggestions. We must really be open to suggestions and criticism. Our actions are constantly sending messages to our followers. They will know if we mean what we say, or if we are only giving lip service. They will know if suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed, and whether honest mistakes will be tolerated and forgiven. If we don’t hear criticism and if we don’t see some mistakes being committed, it is time to re-examine our leadership. Is our team being sub-optimal by playing it safe?

18. A good example of letting a 1000 flowers bloom is an orchestra. Ben Zanders, the conductor for Boston Philharmonic Orchestra has talked about this topic at length. As Zanders put it, the conductor’s job is not to become the most powerful man on stage. Doing his job very well means, every member of the orchestra becomes powerful in their own right, in playing their instruments. He enables and brings the best out of each and every musician. They each have a role to play, and it is the conductor’s duty to make each performer stand-out. For all of them to have “shining eyes”. And at the same time, maintain the harmony within the orchestra. That is not too different from what we try to achieve with our teams every day.

19. Sixth is focus. Public service delivery encompasses thousands of services. We couldn’t possibly be looking into improving every single service offered by every agency. That’s the job of respective heads of departments. What PEMUDAH did was to focus on the main areas that give the largest impact. Some may call it the 80/20 rule. As leaders, we face hundreds of decisions. We need to focus on key areas, galvanise our team around it and drive the performance.

20. And lastly, my favourite topic – integrity, and discipline. It is about being honest and truthful and having consistency between principles, expectations, words and deeds. In public and in private. Especially in private. When no one is watching. Integrity is not just about avoiding corruption. That is but one small aspect. There is much more to integrity. Integrity is about delivering on what is expected of our role, and more, consistently. PEMUDAH had a charter. But it was not one of those that hang pretty on the wall and forgotten. It defined our actions. And guided our decisions. Every member attended every meeting. No compromise on attendance. We must remember, attendance is not just about attendance. It is about our commitment to the cause of the role. Our belief in its value and potential impact. The moment attendance slips, that’s when our followers start to doubt our resolve. Our vision. “If my leader is not committed, why should I?” That is a question I hope none of us will ever hear from our followers.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

21. Those are some of the key values and principles that have served me well in my career. I hope you find it somewhat useful in guiding you as you craft your own leadership path. In the final analysis, we are our own leader!

22. On that note, I wish you all the best in leading your teams, our PETRONAS teams, as The National Oil Company, and beyond just a Company!

Wabillahitaufiq wal hidayah, wassalamu’alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.