Carol Kheng - Leadership Orientation

In the last 20 years, I've learned so much from my mentor leaders and this evening, this morning, this afternoon, I’d like to share with everybody here, these three leadership lessons that centers around the three letters, E R R.

The first letter, E stands for empathy. And Google defines empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. As a leader and a successful financial advisor, we know that we meet a multitude of characters as prospects, clients, and in your current role as a leader, the members whom you'll be working with in the next 12 months ahead. Always try to place yourself in the other person's shoes and try to think and feel what he or she is thinking or feeling. And build connections, like what Ian said. It is so important to build connections and relationships. And it is the friendships that you cultivate over the years that keeps you coming back to the MDRT Annual Meetings year after year, just to be with the friends that you have made over all the years that you have

The next two Rs stands for respect and recognition. Respect begets respect. Respect each member as a unique individual, for you, yourself are unique. No two members are of the same character, so we need to remember that. Last but not least, recognition. Recognize every effort that the member puts in to do a task in the best possible way. This next phrase that a member leader shared with me, I will remember for the rest of my life. He told me, "Praise in public, try in private." But the best thing about it was in the last 20 years, I've never tried anybody because everybody puts in their heart and soul into every member job that they are tasked with.

Recognize that the leadership ladder in MDRT is not unilateral. You may find yourself as global council member or committee chair this year, but the person whom you are working with, the committee member in your team could possibly be your global council member the next year. We are all servant leaders in MDRT. And the role we are entrusted is for the overall good of the 90,000 members around the world. The most important thing is to have fun and learn from one another, like what Greg said. So I like to take this opportunity to congratulate everybody here, the season leaders. And of course, the first time leaders with this quote by Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." So enjoy your first step, everybody.