Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable. You are you, I am I.
— Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, founder of the Rajneesh movement
Tonight at 8pm Friday December 9, The IBR ASEAN Awards 2022 takes place in Kuala Lumpur. Five hundred top corporate and government decisionmakers will turn up to see 20 companies receiving awards for excellence in the corporate sector, government services delivery, innovation technology and leadership legacy.
The guest of honour for this is no other than our Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg who has so graciously accepted to give the keynote address.
The IBR ASEAN Awards is unique amongst all awards because it is an epic journey of storytelling.
It comes back to the core and essence of what we are and who we are – Transforming Perspectives.
Because LIFE, is not a competition. It’s not about a comparison of who is financially better, who has sold more or who has gotten more market share.
We don’t pit companies against each other and make a mockery by pretending they are all cut from the same cloth.
Every company, every government agency excels in one way or another and they have their own strengths, their own way of impacting the nation and have that ONE fine essence that makes them stand out.
These tangibles and intangibles are what we look for when my writers do their case studies.
What defines them? What makes them shine? Why are they excellent in whatever it is they do? We capture this essence, and we position it.
The IBR Asia Group has its own story too.
We tell good stories for our clients because we have lived a great story ourselves.
We drive ourselves harder than most, we push ourselves, we have transformed ourselves against all odds by creating our own reality.
We have pulled ourselves up every time we have failed and we keep walking, running and soon I hope, flying.
All my ‘tribesmen’ as I like to call my team will be having butterfly brooches pinned to their lapels tonight because the butterfly is our spirit guide and is a symbol of powerful transformation. That’s what we are.
We have formed partnerships in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines to create International Business Review localised to those countries. And ensuring that they are mailed out to the top corporate, government and diplomatic decisionmakers in these three countries.
We are currently working on getting partnerships in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, India and China.
The objective is by the next IBR ASEAN awards we will be having International Business Review in six ASEAN countries and China and India.
The plan is to form an ecosystem of storytelling across all emerging markets – Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East.
The drive behind this is the belief that we should own our own narratives.
South East Asians should be defining who we are, our businesses, our policies, our industries.
We should be storytelling to the whole world about what we are doing and how we are going to do it.
No filters, no disinformation, just us Asians creating our own realities for ourselves.
We need our own voice. Curated by us for us. And media is the most powerful tool to do just that.
The irony is – when I walked away from both my business and life partner seven years ago and said I will try to run this myself thank you very much, he told me that I am in a sunset industry and that I will run it to the ground because I am not capable enough.
It’s the most hurtful things that happen to you that becomes the raging fire within that drives you to reach for success beyond your wildest dreams.
And I think The IBR Asia Group is on that journey.
Because everyone now believes the sun either rises or sets, if the media tells you so.
The power of storytelling is almost magical – and we are glad to be in an industry where we can help you be the sun and shine the light on your work and you. It’s FAR from a sunset industry. It’s the sun itself.
So, to all of us reading this – here’s to all the trauma, all the pain, all the fears, all the hard work and to all the impossible dreams we dream that push us to be the best version of us we can ever be.
Each of us has our own stories – stories of resilience, of heartbreak, of failed attempts, of perseverance, of astounding courage, of overcoming fear, rebuilding from worn out tools, of dreams hitched to a star, of hope, of frustration, of unwavering commitment, of tears cried that no one has ever seen, of anxiety that you may not be able to make it, of faith…but the most important story is that through it all, you are still standing, and that is the story of your success.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune. Feedback can reach the writer at beatrice@ibrasiagroup.com
