Always ready to learn

From developing products to being the market leader in cutting edge technology and designing brands, growing a business is Jasper Lim’s idea of a slice of heaven.

I was in secondary school when my father’s company started distributing the Japanese-owned product Yoko Yoko and Follow Me. Then, our factory in Penang, my hometown, started operations.

I used to help make the shampoos at the factory when I was on holiday, which ignited my interest in products. It was one of the reasons why I studied chemical engineering.

Being the eldest son of the eldest son in the family, this entails the most responsibility amongst all family members, according to Chinese custom. After my studies, I was stationed where I thought my passion was: the factory. After a while, it hit me that factory work was rather mundane.

I yearned to be exposed to other areas of the family business, and in 1999, made my way to Kuala Lumpur where I learnt about sales in my position as key account manager. It wasn’t until I formed the product development unit at our company that I truly found my “heaven”.

I have an affinity for design and packaging. I used the insights I received serving customers as feedback to improve the products. I informed my father that I wanted to further develop the design, and pioneered the product development team.

We were the first to come up with green tea shampoo and introduce nano technology into our skincare as well as utilise bird’s nest in our range. My team knows that tried-and-tested ideas are not something I encourage. I always tell them, “If the idea is not close to being crazy, don’t do it.”

In 2007, we launched NUTOX, nanowhite and Ubermen which went on to contribute to almost half of the company’s revenue.

I see leadership as a set of intangible skills. To me, leadership is about inspiring people to have a common vision, and materialising goals at the right time. But before a common vision is aligned, there will always be disagreements and conflicts.

Coming from a science background, I found dealing with management issues rather daunting. My role went from supervisory to decision-making, and I was confronted with leadership issues, having to moderate conflict daily.

I was tensed at every meeting, at every conflict. There were so many emotions to be handled, one too many arbitrations to conduct; I developed a chronic shoulder pain and realised I needed to resolve it before things got worse.

Back to business school I went, taking up an MBA to widen my perspective on the job.

It proved to be extremely fruitful as it helped me look at business from an integrated and holistic point of view.

As someone working in a family business, I had my fair share of challenges – both from family members and working professionals. As the eldest son, the pressure was on me to lead by example. I faced huge resistance when bringing about change and people felt uncomfortable in the company.

From the repositioning of brands to company structure and culture, none of it was easy. What helped me persevere was the passion for creating products and making positive changes. To be able to do what I love on a daily basis and make things happen is really a blessing.

There are many hats to wear when moderating and aligning family members and working professionals. The professionals get a platform to be entrepreneurial and innovative, while family members get a taste of learning alongside professionals. I have to attribute this to the balanced perspective we managed to strike in our internal campaigns.

Recently, we unveiled a set of values through the company campaign LITES, which is short for Learning, Innovate Change, Teamwork, Excellence and Servant Leadership. Learning comes first because I believe it is the foundation for everything; you can never give what you don’t have.

When incorporating learning into my schedule, my daily routine has at least an hour of learning through audio books and YouTube videos. Learning, to me, is as essential as brushing your teeth. I don’t compromise on this, and I cannot bear to waste even a minute not learning anything.

In 2011, I was recruited by a friend to join YPO which deepened my learning curve. I rubbed shoulders with folks that had much bigger portfolios and responsibilities. I learnt that I was not alone as all my CEO peers have similar joys, worries and things that excite them.

The organisation’s stress on confidentiality and structured sharing made me feel safe to be really vulnerable. This made me understand myself deeper as a person, something I otherwise would not have discovered.

Before YPO, I wasn’t much of a talker. What I appreciate about the organisation is that many, if not all of the products they offer, encourage public speaking, or talking in some form. Coming from a Chinese-educated background, public speaking was not my forte. It took plenty of effort, especially in my first year, to speak in front of formidable CEOs, an experience very different from talking to your staff.

I learnt that being uncomfortably vulnerable is a good trigger for a person to grow. I keep this quote on the wall of my daughter’s room – “Problems = discomfort = growth” – to remind me and my family to be thankful of the inevitable challenges we face. The bigger the challenges, the stronger you grow. So risk it.

• The views expressed are the writer’s, and not necessarily representative of YPO Malaysia. For more about YPO and its global network of over 24,000 CEOs, log onto www.ypo.org.