Secret of success: (From left) Nazir, Mazlan and Nicol being interviewed for Diri. — RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star
Edutainment streaming service Diri features successful Malaysians
PETALING JAYA: Datuk Nicol David, the eight-time women’s world squash champion, says her journey to becoming world champion started from wanting to beat her sisters.
“It was very tough and I needed to stick to the process even though I was losing to others.
“You just had to work towards it and four years down the line I got my first world title,” she pointed out. “I only focused on performance, knowing that it would bring in the results. The pain in the process was part of the deal,” said Nicol.
Nicol is now one of the mentors of Diri (‘self’ in Bahasa Malaysia), an edutainment streaming service that is the first of its kind in Malaysia, with the first phase to be offered to the corporate workforce for a fee.
She said the lesson she imparts on Diri are more of how she moved out of her comfort zone and pushed herself to make the big changes needed.
The other mentors in the first batch are former CIMB Group CEO and chairman Tan Sri Nazir Razak, Bursa Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, AirAsia founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, former group chief people officer of CIMB Group Datuk Hamidah Naziadin, and Malaysia’s first astrophysicist Tan Sri Dr Mazlan Othman.
At its launch yesterday, Diri director and co-founder Sheng Wong, 34, said the self-paced edutainment content had been “curated for the everyday Malaysian” and will be available to business and corporates on Dec 1.
It will be made available to the public sometime next year.
“Why the name Diri? It’s all about the self. If you want to lead, you first have to lead yourself. It’s all about self-leadership.
“No matter who you are, there is something for you to take away from Diri courses.
“Time is money and if you really want to learn, as much as all this content may be on the Internet, one does not have time to go through all that. What we did was putting the content in the cinematic style and curated it to enable the audience to be able to enjoy these lessons through Diri,” said Wong.
Diri co-founder Tunku Ali Redhauddin Tuanku Muhriz said Diri is determined to break the concept of education being only a paper chase.
“Education does not end with a certificate or degree, but one should continue to learn and recognise the different paradigms of educational learning.
“Diri is a movement to equip Malaysians with life and leadership skills that transform learning through storytelling by mentors such as Abdul Wahid and Nazir, who had climbed the corporate ranks.
“We endeavour to reach the diverse groups of Malaysians to enable them to be critical thinkers,” he added.
Banker Nazir shared how he had to introduce changes in the banking sector.
Although some of these changes were not welcomed by others, he said what mattered were the results at the end.
Mazlan said she finds the concept of Diri refreshing, as it is the first time she is being presented as a mentor with a successful career, rather than the space expert she is usually referred to as.
“I am a risk-seeker. Is there anything no one wants to do? In science, you need to look for newer things or you would not be stretching yourself.
“In my lessons in Diri, I am not addressing companies, but my courses are catered to individuals who should stretch themselves to look around them and see what newer things they can do in their lives.
“If you do not stretch yourself, you will not advance,” she added.
Mazlan also said she is keen to see Diri being expanded to be made available at rural areas as there are many potential talent out there waiting to be inspired by the stories of Malaysia’s best.
A preview of Diri can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFkLrLAj3rw&feature=youtu.be
