Have to jot some words down as I don't want to forget this book. His father taught him to become a businessman, but his mother made him the philantrophist.
He says "my mother taught us nothing is yours until you have given it away with all your heart in the hope it will make someone's life easier."
He started giving away a portion of his salaries since he started working, not after he has made millions. It reminds me of the story of the man who could call the clouds to bring rain to his farm. You have to give first before you spend, not spend and give from what is left.
He is worth billions but still he has tea and dinner with his family daily, and pray the evening prayers with the children, before starting his meetings with advisors and CEOs from 10pm to 3 am everyday. How long does he sleep? tsk tsk...
All his businesses he acquired for ulterior motives- to create jobs, save jobs, save Malays/ Bumiputera's equities, develop communities etc.. It is just mind boggling reading his large and diverse portfolios. Reading him makes me wonder again of 'keberkatan masa' which is really a gift of Allah to some of His servants. (I wondered about this a lot while reading about the 4 Imams).
Quoting his close friend, Mohamed Ali Alabbar (Chairman of Dubai Emaar Properties- the developer of Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world)- what makes Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar different from other businessmen is that the more he moves up the more he focussed down (the society).
Generally, businessmen today finds an opportunity and create profits out of it, and as they climb up the ladder, they start to believe in themselves too much. They become super human beings and lose touch with reality (the reality is God selects you among millions and gives you a chance to succeed).
I believe this is not just among the businessmen but also among the professionals too.
Must read book of the year! Chioww...
1 comment:
Salam perkenalan. Kami skrg tengah survey2 untuk travel to Egypt and thanks to google we ended up here. Thanks for sharing your travel experience :). Would you mind sharing how do we get in touch with the local Malaysian student to be our tourist guide there? Thanks a bunch :)
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