Tan Sri Dato’ Paduka Dr Fng Ah Seng shares secrets of success
Date: 30 October 2014
On 30 October 2014 at UTAR Perak Campus, Tan Sri Dato’ Paduka Dr Fng Ah Seng shared his secrets of success through a talk titled ‘How to achieve everything in your life through the 10 strategic goal setting process’.
He is no stranger to hardships. His parents divorced when he was nine and his mother, a cleaner, single-handedly raised him. “After completing my secondary education in Malaysia, I borrowed RM3,000 and purchased a one-way flight ticket to the United States of America. I was accepted into the University of Houston, Texas, to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Having come from a poor family, I worked odd jobs day and night to support myself through university,” recounted Tan Sri Fng.
Resilience played a pivotal role in Tan Sri Fng’s success story. In 1997, he started his housing development company, Epic Valley Holdings Sdn Bhd, from a capital of only RM3,000. From a turnover sales of RM2 million in 1998, he successfully generated the turnover to RM300 million in 2014. His business empire has spread all over Peninsula Malaysia and he currently manages more than 300 staff and 14 branches. He also received numerous local and international accolades for his business acumen.
Behind the shrewd entrepreneur is a man with a heart of gold. Through Yayasan Muhibah Tan Sri Fng Ah Seng which he founded in 2011, he donates more than RM5 million to the community every year. He is also a newspaper weekly columnist, an author on entrepreneurship and leadership, a public speaker in leadership and motivational courses, and holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, two Master’s degrees and one PhD in Business Administration.
Speaking on how to achieve one’s goal, Tan Sri Fng asserted, “You must recognise that success is equivalent to 10 per cent of intelligence quotient or what you know, and 90 per cent of emotional quotient or who you know. Intelligence quotient is made of the technical knowledge that you acquire to be successful in life.”
He added, “Prior to entering university, you should already consider your strengths, goals, required criteria to reach your goals, your desired career path, and areas that need improvements. Remember, opportunities are available to those who are well-prepared.”
To identify our goals, Tan Sri Fng said that we must first evaluate our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We would then need to set up our goal, make sure that it is specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, and action-triggering, and look at the methods and processes to achieve our goals. He revealed, “According to survey, 80 per cent of those who have clarity of their goals achieve what they want in life.”
Tan Sri Fng then elaborated on the 10 effective steps to achieve our goal. They are, in chronological order: clarify your goal and set a deadline to achieve your goal, have a strong feeling and desire to achieve your goal, believe that what you do is correct, equip yourself with the knowledge and expertise to achieve your goal, commit to your goal and do not change the deadline, avoid procrastination in your action, do not worry about others’ opinion and criticisms, synchronise and coordinate your goal to make sure that it is legally and ethically correct, tell others about your goal and be responsible for your commitment and promises, reflect on your progress weekly, and adjust or re-plan your goal after reflection.
Despite having spent his formative years abroad, Tan Sri Fng did not discard the Chinese values that he is deeply rooted in. Emphasising on the importance of loyalty (忠), sincerity (诚), kindness (仁), helpfulness (义), politeness (礼), intelligence (智), credibility (信), and respect (孝,敬), he said, “All these exemplary traits will help you to be a more likeable person and attract the right people who can help you to be successful in your life. This is what we call emotional quotient and it contributes 90 per cent to your success.”
The talk ended with a Q&A session and a souvenir presentation to Tan Sri Fng by UTAR Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology Dean Dr Yap Vooi Voon. Organised by the Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation, the talk is part of the UTAR Entrepreneurial Talk Series which seeks to inspire people with the views and valuable sharing of accomplished entrepreneurs.
