SIBU: Students at SMK Sacred Heart got to hear some valuable advice on what it takes to succeed from a distinguished alumni who has made it big.
He told them that it all boiled down to three traits, namely, dreaming big, overcoming the fear of failure and keeping things real.
Having big dreams isn’t a crime, neither is it morally or mentally wrong, said Tan Sri Clement Hii, the executive chairman of HCK Capital Group.
“It just means that you have set high goals for yourself, while at the same time, you must also be realistic and holistic,” he said.
He made the point at the SMK Sacred Heart 19th Annual Speech Day 2022/2023 where five students were recognised for outstanding performance in their studies and co-curriculum.
Lai Chang Zhe, Fernandez Neo Ping Xuan, Vincent Wong Ping Seng, and Eris Wong Sie Ong were given the Top Student award while Yit Nai Qi received the Leadership Award.
Each received a laptop donated by Hii, the deputy chairman of the school’s board of management, who was the guest of honour at the event at the school hall on Saturday (Feb 11).
Hii who is also the Group Managing Chairman of SEG International Bhd (SEGi) took time to explain the three key points to the students.
The first, he said, is that dreaming big requires big confidence where they must be assured of their self-worth and self-esteem.
“Secondly, you also need to overcome a fear of failure. I used to tell my top employees who are mostly more qualified than me with high IQs and PhDs, that the only reason that I’m their boss and they’re working for me is that I have gone through more failures than they have, and I’ve also learned from those failures,” he said.
The third is that dreaming big requires that they find meaning and purpose in life as a big dream without meaning is pointless.
“Meaningful dreams must be about personal growth, breaking the family cycle of poverty, as was the case for myself, or self-acceptance, or proving to friends and foes that we can make it despite the odds,” he said.
Hii also considered the post-pandemic era as the best time to innovate and grow as he noted that the two to three years of Covid-19 had taught him what it means to be future-proof.
“My organisation has weathered the storm and proven to be resilient and adaptable. But now, we need to reconsider our growth pathway and our agenda for the next normal,” he said.
Hii also advised the students to expand their learning scope to include new digital tools and software applications as education will never be the same again once they embrace digitalisation, big data and artificial intelligence.
About 100 students from the Transition class to Form Six received awards for their respective achievements. Five teachers were the recipients of the Best Teacher Award.
