QI Group Executive Chairman, Dato’ Vijay Eswaran, set a new record for the organisation when he became the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Corporate Philanthropy as part of the 3rd World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF) held in Kuala Lumpur from 3-4 November 2011.
The WCEF was officiated by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak and Dato’ Vijay Eswaran received the award from the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during the Gala Dinner event held on the opening night.
It was indeed a milestone event for both QI Group and Dato’ Vijay Eswaran, as he was the only non-Chinese individual to be bestowed this honour on this occasion. Other recipients include renowned men and women of Chinese origin from Malaysia, Singapore, China and Australia.
Dato’ Vijay Eswaran was also a panellist at the WCEF, at a session titled – CEO Forum: Managing & leading growing companies. At this panel, Dato’ Vijay spoke about the QI Group’s unique management methodologies which include consensus management, the concept of confronting before conflicting and building people up in order to have a strong organisation.
“Confrontation may not be the approach most take in dealing with colleagues, but it can be the pre-emptive step to thwart conflicts in an organisation,” he revealed. Dato’ Vijay Eswaran believes that leaders in a company need to be open to the idea of confronting and being confronted in order for everyone to arrive on the same page at the end.
Taking a leaf from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, he said that industry leaders can drive the success of their company by confronting before they conflict. He said although the strategy would take a longer time to bear fruit as it required leaders to have multiple discussions before they could come to an agreement, the results of such practice usually meant a team of leaders who were capable of speaking out and standing up for their opinions.
Though Dato’ Vijay Eswaran comes from a traditional management school of thought where leaders were not supposed to challenge existing practices he said, “Just because something has been in place for a long time, it doesn’t mean it has to be continued”.
The year has been eventful as it has presented the QI Group with many exciting opportunities. Earlier this year, the prestigious Forbesmagazine’s Asia edition named Dato’ Vijay Eswaran as one of the Heroes of Philanthropy for his work in the region, carried out through the organisation, and now he has been honoured with an award of equal standing by a Chinese Forum.
Being recognised on a global platform demonstrates the fact that the organisation has successfully cut across various transnational and cultural barriers and borders to spread the values of RYTHM – Raise Yourself To Help Mankind, which is the corporate philosophy of the QI Group and the foundation upon which we were established.
