Doing Something for Nothing

Abstract from FLY 2024 Finale Speech

I was once asked, what kind of leaders do we most want the FLY attendees to become, after they have graduated from our program? 

Is it one that they will fast track into being a CEO one day?

My answer was No. Not really.

As much as we wish for the unlimited, unending and unprecedented success of our FLY alumni, there is one thing more important that we wish for you than any success, is that you would turn out to be a thoughtful, responsible and useful member of our society.

Covid has taught us that we need to develop a new kind of leader that is not only obsessed about individual success. More than just being an excellent director or problem solver, we need leaders who are also intensely value driven, so that we will never again drive the world into the mess and chaos that we have all just experienced.

Therefore, during the 4th and final session of our FLY Program, we dedicated our time to learn about values.  We deployed a team of students from each institution to volunteer in a different NGO, amongst them included Yaska, Smarter Brunei, Lavida and Majlis Belia Brunei. And we asked the students to come back to convince their fellow classmates why they should become a volunteer themselves for that particular NGO, by sharing with us about the NGO’s problems, needs, objectives and aspirations.  While doing this exercise, we helped the students to discover for themselves the Joy of Giving, by simply holding space for them to experience the magic of doing something for nothing through their volunteering endeavors. 

The result? The students came back fully charged with a sense of purpose, and excitement, experiencing the thrill of knowing what it is like, when they are making a real difference in someone elses’ life, with no expectations in return.

In the 4th session of our FLY program, we also learned about the definition of a Social Contract by closely examining how the Japanese fans earned the admiration and respect of the world, when they cleaned up after the stadium after each football match in the world cup. Together, we pledged to hold ourselves to a higher standard of social contract, that we will grow up to think beyond individual benefits, to become an inclusive leader that cares about treating people with dignity and fairness, especially towards those who are different from us, the underprivileged and the least of us. We challenged our students to be a generation that protects and speaks up for the environment, as we are the last remaining generation who have the time to turn things around. We call upon our students to be a responsible leader that not only does the right things, but are also the ones who adhere to the highest level of integrity by not taking the trust bestowed upon us lightly. 

We spoke about making a Social Impact not only on the day when we become a CEO, but rather, right here right now, when we are still a leader without a title. We learned this by studying the example of the fiercely passionate stall vendor in a Thai commercial that nourishes an entire neighborhood with good food by charging an affordable price, and an Indian barber who offers discounts for the customers that reads a book rather than scrolling their phone while having their haircut with him. This example has inspired me personally to set up Curious Mind library for the students to borrow book from us, for their further development. 

No, we did not set out for students just to learn how to climb the corporate ladder, but demanded of them to be a leader of Values, a leader that embodies the spirit of “Doing Something for Nothing”.

My fellow FLY Alumni, speaking of Doing Something for Nothing, I want you to look to your left and your right, and remember the faces of all these adults who are seated among you. These are the perfect illustration of people who are leading by example in the department of “Something for Nothing”.

How can they measure the return on investment from giving their time and money to a group of anonymous youngsters, and justify a direct and tangible benefit towards their bottomline tomorrow, let alone 10 years from now? Nobody can. 

But they did it anyway. They took a chance in good faith to pay it forward for your success, for the betterment of our nation with zero guarantee of success in return. They do this because they believe in you, the very same way that others that came before them have believed in them.

Dear Students, I want you to take this opportunity to acknowledge them and learn from their walking example. Most of all, I want you to remember to pay it forward for your future generations, the same way that they have so generously given to you. 

Before I leave the students in the good hands of the adults, I want to let the young people here in on a secret. As much as you aspire to reach the kind of success that some of the adults among you in this room have achieved, there is something that you possess, which all of us adults have secretly wished for, and will happily trade with you with all that we have in a heartbeat.

I want to close my speech by unveiling this little secret, perhaps it will make you a little less nervous about networking with your future employers, knowing that you have something that we don’t have.

Thank you and don’t forget to pay it forward.