A speech given at PromiseLand’s 2011 Retreat on 15 July 2011:

To be the best in our industry and profession,

1) We must seize opportunities and overcome challenges and dangers, and make right critical choices at major crossroads of our life and business

2) We need to know ourselves, our clients and our business environment well and construct and implement successfully effective strategies

How do we spot the opportunities?

How can we identify the dangers before they become problems?

How we do we make the right decisions in our personal, family and business life?

How do we succeed and move from mediocrity to excellence?

I. SUCCESS ETHOS

1) The secret of success is not knowing all the answer
The secret is knowing all the questions

INSPECTION + INTROSPECTION = EXPECTATION + EXCELLENCE

2) Choice, not chance, determines destiny

“Man is not the creature of circumstances; circumstances are the creatures of men.” Benjamin Disraeli

Goals are a preview of future events and experiences in your life.

The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.

Your success can only be as big as your dream.

A POEM

I bargained with life for a penny
And life would pay no more
However, I counted my scanty store
For life is just employer
He gives you what you ask
But once you have set the wages
Why, you must bear the task
I worked for a menial’s hire
Only to learn, dismayed
That any wage I had asked of life
Life would have willingly paid

3) Daily Targets and Activities

When you know clearly what you want, you will wake up every morning excited about life.

“It is not what you do each year, each month or each week, but rather it is what you do each DAY that determines your level of success.” Tony Gordon

4) Winners Find Ways

“We will either find a way or make one.” Hannibal

Faced with a wall, you can climb over it, break through it, tunnel under it, find a door.

5) Winners Overcome Disappointments

“Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

6) Winners Never Quit – and quitters never win (see Appendix I)

7) Action

Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge
Let your learning lead to action

8) Conviction

“One person with BELIEF is equal to a force of 99 who have only interest.” J S Mill

9) Courage

There are people who fear big waves and there are those who love surfing them

10) Par Excellence

“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish”. Michelangelo

The greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success is today’s success

Focus on self-development, not self-fulfillment

II. OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU

1) Singapore will be leading wealth management centre in the world

2) Singapore has world’s fastest growth of millionaires

3) Singapore has all the world’s leading firms based here

4) IFAs have advantages over other channels

5) Singaporeans still underinsured and unit trust investment is still small

6) Financial planning for fees is increasingly emerging as a viable business due to educated population and increasing wealth

7) Inflow of HNWI expatriates in Singapore, e.g. British and European, QROPS

8) Business-to-Business Agreements

9) Corporate Business – ASME, SHRI, SICCC

10) Social Media

III. DANGERS

1) Move towards fees only or fee-based. Both dangers and opportunities.

2) Increase in regulation and compliance, CKA, exams

3) Rising business cost – rental, transport, staff support

4) Commoditisation and disintermediation – clients going direct

5) Increasing complexity of products and need for professional indemnity, e.g. accredited investors

6) Increasing volatility of markets and uncertainty

7) Personal pitfalls
• Health (stress)
• Addictions
• Family

8) Loss of motivation – age, overcrowdedness, health

9) Loss of confidence – information explosion, clients’ knowledge

10) Lack of structure and priorities

IV. MAKING RIGHT DECISIONS

1) Values and Principles

2) Relationships

3) Making Right Decision at Work

4) Practical Wisdom

1) Values

Ken Blanchard

The no. 1 ranked value is Ethical Behaviour

The no. 2 ranked value is Relationship

The no. 3 ranked value is Success

The no. 4 ranked value is Learning

Principles

a) Think Well
• Proactive
• Purposeful
• Future-oriented
• Analytical
• Logical
• Intuitive
• Creative
• Relational
• Sequential

b) Focus, Specialise, Prioritise
• Concentration is learned through practice
• Focus comes from clearer vision
• Specialisation comes from clear mission
• Priorities come from clear strategies and actions

c) Powerful Motivation
• Doing what you enjoy – mental
• Support by family – emotional
• Happy and healthy you – physical
• Spiritual dimension of our lives can have a big impact on our emotional being
• Get rid of
– Excess weight
– Anger
– Cynicism
– Prejudices
– Grudges
– Arguments
– Pet peeves
– Selfishness

d) Know your level (water finds its own level)

i) Beware of
• Overambition
• Pride
• Egotism

ii) Just because you are an expert at one thing does not make you an expert on anything

iii) No one can be a specialist in more than one or two areas

iv) Know yourself and do not envy

v) When presented with options, we should work with what we do well and not be side-tracked

e) Read to feed your mind on
• Your business
• Your values
• Self-improvement

If you can read yet choose not to, you are really no better off than someone who is illiterate

Every leader is a reader

f) Write
• Your thoughts, plans, to-do lists, reflections
• Write your pros and cons before deciding
• Writing forces you to think more clearly

g) Evaluate
• Remember your past success and failures
• Gain understanding and learn what formed your personality, your drive, your skills, your intelligence, your emotions
• Beware of praise, prejudices, envy

h) Have long-term vision
• Think and act long-term. You must have long range to help you from being frustrated by short-term failure
• Marriage – avoid demanding but giving
• Children – avoid absence
• Health – avoid addictions
• Money – avoid debts

i) Have quiet time alone
• Relax
• Refresh
• De-stress
• Creative

“All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” Blaise Pascal

j) Beware of anger

i) Anger

“Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time for the right purpose, and in the right way, this is not easy.” Aristotle

Don’t get mad at the little things

ii) Cost
• Broken relationship
• Crushed spirits
• Stress on our hearts
• Hours spent on repair and reconciliation

Anger is one of the most destructive forces in life

iii) Triggers
• An event
• Internal response
• External expression

iv) Cause
• We do not get our way
• Someone offends us or puts us down
• Disappointments
• Confronted with need to change or improve something in our lives

v) Remedy
• Identify your “hot spots”
• Recognise your inner responses and emotions
• Curb the external explosions
• Strike at the roots
• Why am I reacting?
• Is it reasonable?
• Is the incident worth the stress?

k) Be generous

i) Giving – it is God who gives you the ability to produce wealth

Towards the poor, homeless, orphans, widows, down-trodden:

“Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Solomon

ii) Give time
• Spouse, children, friends, co-workers, others
• Funerals, baptism, birthdays, children’s games, concerts
• Award presentations, graduations
• Visiting ill and aged

iii) Give yourself

“To overcome discouragement, do not focus on yourself; get involved in the lives of other people.” Karl A Menninger, psychologist

Get involved and start helping others. There is no better exercise for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.

l) Watch out for icebergs

i) Moral temptations

ii) Craving wealth

iii) Busyness

“Cultivate our spiritual garden. When this garden is in proper order, it is a great place and there is an abundance of busyness of defiling noise. The inner garden is a delicate place and, if not properly maintained, it will be quickly overrun by intrusive undergrowth.” Gordon MacDonald

iv) What not to do – Don’ts
• Don’t be an egotist
• Don’t give up when life is hard
• Don’t get into debt
• Don’t spend more than you can make
• Don’t give up on your marriage
• Don’t cheat on your spouse
• Don’t cheat on your employer
• Don’t neglect your children
• Don’t neglect your parents
• Don’t abandon your friends
• Don’t drink alcohol excessively
• Don’t do drugs. Ever
• Don’t smoke
• Don’t use profanity; there are other ways to communicate
• Don’t put other people down or speak badly of them
• Don’t be dishonest in business, finance or speech
• Don’t betray confidences
• Don’t give up on God and religion

2) Relationships

Relationship Do’s (see Appendix II)

a) Treat people well
• Honour – who they are, not what they do
• Respect – regardless of their gifting, position, status
• Love – acceptance of their personhood

Golden Rule:

Do unto others as you would have them to do to you.
Love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus

b) Compliment people (see Appendix III)
• Why criticise when you can compliment
• Be sincere. Don’t use empty flattery.
• Be truthful
• Don’t make a big deal out of it – just do it
• Be an equal complimenter. Don’t play favourites.

“Catch someone doing something good and tell him.” Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson, “The One Minute Manager”

c) Be real
• Don’t pretend to be something other than what you really are
• Be self-aware, be consistent
• Be truly focused on other people, listen to them
• Be genuinely caring and concerned
• Get feedback from friends and family

d) Be available

“God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability; and if we then prove our dependability, He will increase our capability.”

Open door policy

e) Disagree agreeably
• Help me understand a little more of your thinking
• You may well be right. I need to think about it a bit more
• I’ve thought that, too. Here are some ideas I’ve wondered about.
• Not: Your idea is really stupid. Let me straighten you out.

Clarifying questions
• Use equivocal and affirming expressions
• I appreciate knowing how you think
• That’s a good observation. I’d like to weigh it more carefully.
• I see you have given that a lot of thought
• Have you considered …..
• Never attack the person. Let him know that your acceptance of him is not altered.

f) Speak gently and be kind

“A gentle response defuses anger
But a sharp tongue kindles a forest fire
Kind words heal and help
Cutting words, wound and pain” Solomon

g) Say “thank you”

Appreciation and affirmation motivate people more than money and rewards

h) Call back

He who is faithful in very little things is faithful also in much

i) Don’t carry a grudge

As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone

j) Make and keep close friends

“Not just acquaintances or colleagues
There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” Solomon

k) Meet with a small group

Choose to meet and share openly on marriage, children, work, personal strengths, career issues

l) Make love
• People who truly love others leave an incredibly valuable legacy
• Learn to love and make love permeate your love and relationships
• Love your family, your employer, your employees, co-workers, neighbours
• Love never gives up

3) Making Right Decisions At Work

a) Work hard

“All hard work brings a profit but more talk leads only to poverty.” Solomon

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Theodore Roosevelt

Give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay
Do more than just enough to get by
Don’t give up when the task is difficult
Help others in their work
Keep learning how to do your work better
Hard work reveals your character

Some turn up their sleeves
Some turn up their noses
Some don’t turn up at all

b) Leave some things undone – WORK SMART
• Not everything that can be done should be done
• Not everything that can do should you do
• Deliberate choices not to get immersed in businesses that consume time with little results

c) Focus on contribution, not position

Whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and whoever wants
to be first must be your slave Jesus

d) Learn to write well and speak well
• People judge you by your communication
• Writing is a learned skill
• Keep a brief journal and write something everyday
• Join Toastmasters Club
• Teach a class

e) Make lists
• Help you organise your day or week
• Offload your memory and free your mind
• Help keep you from forgetting things you need to do
• Help you hold on to information that otherwise might be irretrievably lost
• Relieve anxiety

f) Compete but don’t be competitive

Good leaders will always seek out people who are more gifted and skilled than they are to better the team or company

We develop our God-given gifts by education, practice, focus and training. We are stewards, not owners, of our gifts and capabilities.

g) Do what you say you will do
• It makes you as a person of your word
• It makes you a load lifter on your team
• It makes you a more valuable employee
• It honours your co-workers
• It is the right thing to do

Otherwise, undependable, unfaithful, a slacker, poor worker

“Reliable friends who do what they say are like cool drinks in sweltering heat – refreshing.” Solomon

h) Expect your leaders to disappoint you

Nobody is perfect. The best of men are but men of God.

We expect leaders to be perfect

We expect visionaries, pioneers, innovators, good managers to be positive role models

To have razor-sharp judgement, unlimited energy and patience, exemplary families, faultless morals, available 24/7

Sometimes they disappoint

i) Learn in-depth – don’t be shallow

i) Seek a tried and true expert who really knows his or her profession

ii) Don’t be a mile wide and an inch deep

j) Finish

i) If you have been entrusted with a task, see it through to the end

ii) People don’t get kudos for what they start, only for what they finish

4) Practical Wisdom

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” Robert Burns

The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” Thomas Carlyle

So many houses, so few homes
So many people, so few friends
So much rhetoric, so few words
So many listeners, so few heard
So many believers, so little faith
So many wishes, so little hope
So much passion, so little love
So much laughter, so little joy
So much sympathy, so few care
So much courage, so few dare
So many lessons, so few learn
So much effort, so little done
So many changes, so little difference
So many partners, so few agree
So much time, so few free

V. MOVING FROM MEDIOCRISY TO EXCELLENCE

Ideas from Dan Sullivan “How To Do Better”

1) Break through present ceiling
• Forget the past successes and repetition and stagnation
• Think about the future prospects
• Act in the present for the future through innovation and growth

2) Break away from rugged individualism and discover unique ability teamwork

3) Expect rewards only after creating value to others

4) Set BIG goals or targets
• Be prepared to impact relationships, organisational abilities and habits

5) Be clear about what you want to have changed in your life professionally and personally

6) Learn to get referral

7) Delegate everything except genius

8) Escape the causes of complexity
• Too much happening, not enough time to think and learn
• Too little security, not enough opportunity
• Too few resources, not enough leverage

9) Create a monopoly in the marketplace around an experience that only you can create for your clients

a) Make yourself crucial to the future success of your clients

b) Build structures, process and thinking patterns that allow you to create unique values

c) Always focus on creating increasing value for your clients, customers and prospects

For example, provide leadership, relationship and creativity

i) Leadership provides directions to others in order to help them deal with feelings of confusion that arise out of living in an increasingly complex world

ii) Relationship is providing a new sense of confidence when people feel isolated by change

iii) Creativity is providing new capabilities when people are feeling powerless as a result of change

10) Help others succeed
• Help others ask the right questions and make the right decisions
• Help others plan for the future
• Help others seize opportunities

“It is not the products that keep customers coming back, but the value those customers receive that they feel unable to get elsewhere.”

VI. THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL ADVISORY BUSINESS IN SINGAPORE

1) Increasing demand for risk protection and wealth advisory

2) Movements towards financial planning approach and fee-based compensation

3) Big potential for IFAs if they achieve sufficient differentiation from the other channels and have sufficient resources

4) Increasing costs and likely fee-based compensation will mean need to go upmarket and move to accredited investor clients

5) IFAs will consolidate to keep up with higher paid-up capital and increasing compliance and operating expense

6) Greater reliance on technology and social media

7) Need to specialise and work in teams within company’s multi-platforms and multi-services

8) Need to upgrade professionalism of both company staff and representatives

9) Need to access regional markets and expatriate markets

10) Need for business partnerships at representatives and company level