Short-term pain may be necessary to secure our children’s long-term future

Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz

HUMANS have always struggled on striking a balance between short-term gains and long-term returns because the human brain is hard-wired to favour instant gratification. Hence, it is never easy to convince people to act now for a future gain, even though the benefit is clear. If it was that easy, everyone would be selling insurance!

When I was the CEO of a regional bank, I always insisted on presenting the longer term perspective to our shareholders, who tend to have a short-term view. Such short termism may, for example, hamper a multi-year restructuring plan from panning out properly.