EP 71: Life & Leadership Lessons I Learned the Hard Way by Dr Ong Kian Ming

Dr Ong Kian Ming (better known as OK Man) is the former Deputy Minister of MITI and two term Member of Parliament in Malaysia from 2013 to 2022, representing the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and serving the largest parliamentary constituency in the country. He currently serves as the Program Director of Malaysia’s very first Philosophy Politics & Economics (PPE) program at Taylor’s University. 

In this wide-ranging discussion, we uncover the life & leadership lessons that Dr Ong learnt the hard way - so you don’t have to! (Spoiler alert: we get some insights on Value-Added Networking, Value-Added Transparency and Value-Added Mentoring) 

Tune in as Dr Ong shares about his lesser-known childhood stories, lessons from his yester-years of management consulting, roadblocks that he faced as a policymaker, how Sheraton Move took a toll on his mental health, what a ‘return to politics’ could look like - and more!

Episode Highlights:

1:35 OKM’s lesser known childhood fun fact

7:40 His proudest policy achivements 

11:22 Not taking credit as a politician 

12:26 Main roadblocks bringing a policy from strategy to ideation 

15:11 First Difficult Lesson (Value added networking) 

20:17 Second Difficult Lesson (Value added transparency) 

22:27 His involvement with the vaccination exercise during the COVID Pandemic 

25:56 Balancing conviction and ROI as a politician 

26:54 Third Difficult Lesson (Value added mentoring) 

29:39 Who is his mentor in the political landscape?

32:26 Sheraton Move and how it affected his mental health 

40:31 His aspirations with his podcast venture, Are We Ok? 

42:40 What he would do differently if he rejoined politics

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