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Events and Celebrations
Speech by Mr Lim Lay Yew, Chief Executive Officer
at the annual Dinner & Dance 2006.
United Nations @ Esco - a young old company
Let me start by extending a warm welcome to all of you - fellow Esco-Elites - here tonight celebrating the 28th Anniversary of the founding of Esco. Our fellow Esco-Elites in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Chile, India, USA join us in celebrating this auspicious day in spirit if not physically. We have some representatives though from Indonesia and China. May they please stand up and let us give them a warm welcome.
The past 28 years have been eventful years - years of growth, challenges and accomplishments. It was not all smooth sailing. We had our share of failures, dissappointments and heartaches . We sat sail in our wooden junk ikk prepared and not ready in 1988 - 10 years after the inception of the company to cross the oceans but before we left too far from the shores we were shipwrecked by a tsunami. It took us more than 15 years to recover. That's why for many years we did not have an Annual Dinner and only revived it last year. For this we must thank staff like Steve, Randy among others who stayed with us. In 2000, Xiang Qian and his coterie of Pathfinders notably Alvin Heah, Michael Tan, followed by Alex, Maruly and Prihtiono embarked on the most ambitious undertaking ever. More about this later by Xiang Qian. Our Pathfinders have charged forward as fast and furious as they can. They are ambitious fast trackers that set their own pace and "know what they are getting into". They lead intentionally unbalanced lives to most people. But I can tell you they love their jobs and they lead fairly balanced lives - they are filial doring sons and in the case of Maruly and Prihtiono loving husbands and fathers as well.
All of us can choose to follow them with their professional mentality or we can choose the worker's mentality. Being a professional involves far more than acquiring skill. It involves acquiring a whole new mindset. A worker's mentality sees a job as a necessary evil that has to be endured until quitting time. Professionals see their careers as rewarding components of their lives. Workers wait for someone to tell them what and how to do it. They concentrate of their lives. Workers wait for someone to tell them what and how to do it. They concentrate on performing their tasks well but won't worry about what happens outside their own areas. Professionals take responsibility for their own success and for the success of the organisation they belong. THey are constantly looking for things that they personally can do to contribute to organisational success. Workers concentrate of the means. Professionals concentrate on the ends.
When you are operating at the "I'll do whatever it takes" level of commitment, you are willing to use your creativity and proactivity to achieve results. Achieving results means that at times you have to take the initiative and take a risk. It certainly means empowering yourself and accepting total responsibility for achieving your results. Excuses don't cut it. Passing the buck might make you pass out the door.
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field of endeavour. I should know I have less than 10,000 days to live. The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making excuses, that's they day you start to the top. Needless to say it is up to each and everyone of us to grab hold of the opportunities and talents we have to make ourselves and thereby Esco - the United Nations @ Esco a success.
We are now poised for greated growth and success. This time we have the benefit of hindsight and we are better prepared. Let's concentrate on inventing our future. May we continue to work hard in the years ahead. Esco Bisa !
Best Regards
Lim Lay Yew
Chief Executive Officer