He has been active in the business of education since 1994 when he and his wife, Arabella Peters, co-founded Apollo English and then the British University Vietnam. Since then they have invested in a number of businesses all focused on education.

Khalid and Arabella see themselves as the founding generation of their family enterprise and intend to never sell their Dragonfly Education hold co. They’re actively involving their young children in business conversations and laying the foundation for generational wealth, legacy and impact.

Standout Quotes:

• "What's your biggest headache?"
• "Learning from successful family businesses; so many of them do not load up on debt" - [Khalid]
• "The future of education is blended, that means you've got to incorporate online with offline" - [Khalid]
• "Sophisticated multi-generational families.. have taken generations to figure out that they need to separate the Governance from the Operations, and that the family needs to be excellent stewards and owners first before they can consider playing an active role in Operations" - [Mike]
• "A well-run family business is difficult to beat, especially during downtimes" - [Khalid]
• "Why trade anything in, when we've found purpose?" - [Khalid]
• "If you’re building any business, I'd say that 'Focus' is the thing that's often lacking, especially if the entrepreneur at the beginning thinks they have to say yes to everything" - [Khalid]
• "Look for the good in life... because it really helps you enjoy the journey" - [Khalid]

Key Takeaways:

• If you want to be truly in control of your journey in a business, you need to be the owner, not the manager.
• At the very beginning, the vision was simply to get the business to survive.
• It's only when you move from surviving to thriving that you can ask, "what do you want to do?"
• When asked "what is your biggest headache?" at an event, many of the entrepreneurs answered "My father".
• If you're not happy with 60000 pounds per year, then any more money might not change anything.
• Khalid describes the challenges of Covid-19 as a learning period for the business as a whole.
• Finding a way to create balance and incorporate online with offline learning is pivotal, that will be the future for the family business.
• Khalid and his wife, Arabella involve their kids as much as possible in the family business even at the early ages of 8 and 10, with some tests to determine their level of interest and perception of the business as a whole.
• In the future, the key role for the kids is going to be "Good Owners"
• The stewardship role is critical
• One of the tips to help foster togetherness among children is that if one of them does something wrong, punish them all.
• Other points to note is to never elevate one sibling above the other and to always leave them to sort out their arguments without being the judge.
• Khalid shares that the preferred investments taken by DragonFly are those in which a controlling stake can be bought.
• A major mistake that was made at some point was accepting an offer from Nokia when it should have been turned down because it was distracting from the core competency of the business.
• Khalid shares that his source of knowledge includes mentors, peer to peer learning, and mistakes.
• From Khalid to his kids: Look for the good in life because it really helps you enjoy the journey.

Episode Timeline:

• [00:49] About Khalid Muhmood and the inspiration for starting the business of education
• [06:01] Khalid explains some of the reasons behind the choice of Vietnam as a location for starting the business
• [08:59] What was the vision at the time of starting the business
• [15:03] The new vision for Dragonfly Education Group
• [19:41] How did the business hold up in this period of Covid19, do you have an interest in online learning?
• [24:34] Is there a vision of bringing your kids into the business if they're interested?
• [31:20] Do you have any other family structures aside from stewarding Dragonfly as the main asset?
• [32:53] Khalid shares some of the values, principles, and parenting approaches to raise well-rounded children amidst wealth.
• [36:37] Where does this family business DNA come from?
• [41:17] Where do you think you'll make the next operational or financial investment?
• [43:01] One of the major mistakes made in running the business: Losing focus
• [47:50] A letter from Khalid to his kids

For more episodes go to
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Special Guest: Khalid Muhmood.

Sponsored By:

• The Business of Family Newsletter: The newsletter compliments the podcast with subscriber-only articles, bonus content and a great list of book recommendations.

Links:

• Khalid Muhmood — Khalid is the Founder and Investor in education with a passion for delivering education that develops global citizens and fosters prosperity.
• Trung Tâm Anh Ngữ Apollo | Chương Trình Học Tiếng Anh Với 100% Giáo Viên Nước Ngoài — Khalid has been active in the business of education since 1994 when he and his wife, Arabella Peters, co-founded Apollo English and then the British University Vietnam. Since then they have invested in a number of businesses all focused on education.
• Dragonfly Education Group — Khalid is from the UK and through the family business holding company Dragonfly Education Group, is an operational investor in education.

Paul leads young adult retreats, focusing on authentic relationships, navigating change, and leadership development. He also coaches young adults seeking clarity on their life purpose, mission, and vision, and guides them to take full responsibility for their lives.

Jim’s work has led him to write three books and an audio series based on high achievers’ yearnings for identity, meaning, and connection. He has been married 44 years and enjoys enriching relationships with his wife, their three adult children, and a granddaughter.

Jim and Paul work extensively with Young Presidents’ Organization and Family Business Network Families Worldwide. The last dozen years they have also guided several S.E. Asian families in their quest to establish enduring principles across multiple generations.

Standout Quotes:

• "One of the major issues of families of wealth is they make the mistake of insulating the kids from the realities of living outside of the wealth bubble" - [Jim Warner]
• "Without being able to experience pain, you cheat people out of the ability to experience joy; I'd like to think of pain and joy as opposite sides of the same coin and if you mute one, you're gonna mute the other" - [Jim Warner]
• "If we want our young adult children to step into their sense of destiny, are we modeling that ourselves?" - [Jim Warner]
• "If you've worked with one family, you've worked with one family" - [Jim and Paul Warner]
• "Introduce a common language within the family so that we can play in these intentional spaces, to stretch towards each other." [Paul Warner]
• "Harmony is impossible without the willingness to go into painful discussions" - [Jim Warner]
• "If you choose not to discuss the Elephant in the room, you forfeit the right to complain" - [Jim Warner]
• "When all parties are willing to play ball, when all parties are willing to take responsibility, we'll often say "right now this family has 600% responsibility" each of you takes 100% responsibility for what is within your control." [Paul Warner]
• "Love is unconditional, relationships are not" - [Jim Warner]

Key Takeaways:

• Jim explains the need to distinguish supporting and protecting, from enabling, because oftentimes families blur those lines.
• Mike and Jim agree that being insulated from the rest of the world does not necessarily protect wealthy children but may do more harm than good.
• Governance structures are secondary to parental modeling of core values.
• Rather than jumping right into getting the kid fit for succession, the key thing a parent should ask is "How do I help my young adult find their own passion in life?"
• Jim highlights 3 key steps to balancing being a nurturing parent while not enabling children: Active listening, Allowing children to face disappointment, and Guiding them to take responsibility for their lives.
• Many professionals who go into a family environment have a relatively small toolbox; if all you've got is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.
• Harmony is about truth-telling, it's not about being nice to one another
• Jim stresses that the goal of discussing the painful topics (the elephant in the room) is the potential of having an authentic family relationship as opposed to a transactional family relationship
• If a sense of self-awareness is instilled into children, then when they're adults you can have mature transformational discussions as a family, but without it, the children may never grow up.
• The components of the "Trust" that sets elders apart: Credibility, Reliability, Honesty, Vulnerability and Adaptability.
• There are two ways life happens; life can happen to me where I'm the victim, or life can happen by me where I'm a creator and I create my own options
• Life is a journey and the important things take time; part of that journey will be your individual discovery and deeper understanding and connection with yourself.
• Don't change, I love you just the way you are

Episode Timeline:

• [00:50] Mike briefly introduces both Jim and Paul Warner, and they share some of their background stories
• [04:45] Paul describes the impact of his father in his eventual choice of profession
• [07:22] What are some of the challenges that you've seen for parents raising motivated and happy children amidst wealth?
• [13:47] What role do you think formal governance structures play in shaping strong family values and bonds?
• [17:05] Paul's definition of the rising generation, describing the common dynamic between them and the older generation.
• [20:25] How do you help people identify their own path and whether or not they're fit for succession?
• [22:46] How Paul got into the family business
• [28:02] Jim describes how a parent can be welcoming and nurturing without enabling the children
• [29:55] The approach to working with different families
• [33:45] 13 guidelines for authentic interactions in any environment
• [39:10] Discussing the "Elephant in the room"
• [51:37] What sets an elder apart with respect to the ability to influence the success of a family?
• [01:00:06] From Paul to his kids
• [01:01:07]From Jim to his kids

For more episodes go to
BusinessOfFamily.net

Sign up for The Business of Family Newsletter at https://www.businessoffamily.net/newsletter

Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeBoyd

If you feel it's appropriate, I'd so appreciate you taking 30 seconds to Leave a Review on iTunes, I receive a notification of each review. Thank you!

Special Guests: Jim Warner and Paul Warner.

Sponsored By:

• The Business of Family Newsletter: The newsletter compliments the podcast with subscriber-only articles, bonus content and a great list of book recommendations.

Links:

• Jim Warner — Jim Warner is an entrepreneur, author, and transitions expert. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he founded, grew, ran, and eventually sold an international software company.
• Paul Warner — Paul is a seasoned facilitator and coach in professional, personal, and social sectors. He specializes in creating environments for small groups to openly share, build trust, establish deeper authentic connections, and navigate difficult topics through experiential retreats and tailored workshop trainings.
• Click here for specific tools for Enhancing Family Dynamics — (as referenced in the podcast)
• Book: Facing Pain - Embracing Love - by Warner, Jim — Our highly competitive society drives us to be the best and accumulate the most. Yet, as we earn more recognition and wealth, the less we seem to enjoy our lives. In our quiet moments, many of us sense a vague unease and admit that something important is missing. Facing Pain - Embracing Love uses a unique geographic metaphor to guide you out of that discontent and into the joy and richness of authentic living.
• Book: The Drama-Free Office (a.k.a. The Drama-Free Family) by Klemp, Kaley & Warner, Jim — In The Drama-Free Office, authors Jim Warner and Kaley Klemp interweave humorous and relatable case studies with the key skills you'll need for managing office and family saboteurs--be they subordinates, coworkers, boss, parent, child, in-law or other relatives. You will see your coworkers, family members (and yourself) in this entertaining and practical blueprint for addressing the dramatic behaviors that cripple so many teams and families.
• Book: 13 Guidelines for Effective Teams by Klemp, Kaley — Good communication is at the heart of every successful team and family. 13 Guidelines for Effective Teams gives each individual within an organization or family the power to create the most reliable environment for effective communication. Used by an entire team or family, the stage is set for breakthrough creativity and authentic relationships. Team and family facilitator, Kaley Warner Klemp, has compiled these powerful principles into a concise pocket manual, making effective team or family communication accessible in virtually any work environment.
• Book: Aspirations of Greatness by Warner, Jim — AoG introduces several models for navigating the treacherous rapids of midlife, with principles that apply to anyone who feels lost, lonely, or unloved. The book is a blueprint for positive change and offers uplifting, practical guidelines for living out your innate genius with gratitude, wisdom and serenity.
• Audio Series: When Having It All Isn’t Enough by Warner, Jim — This 12-part audio series identifies the issues, dilemmas, and emotions faced by an emerging generation of successful, but unfulfilled, professionals. These “winners with heart” appear to have it all, yet yearn for purpose, connection, and inner peace, along with a renewed energy and aliveness. They have attained affluence and power, but confess to feeling little sense of mission, meaning, or connection in their lives.

14 years passed before all personal liabilities of his family from the days of the financial crisis were eventually settled. In the process, he built a new family business, in education. The Taylor’s Education Group is today the largest private education group in Malaysia. Focused on premium education, Taylor’s K-12 schools & higher education institutions are widely recognised as the top education institutions in their respective categories. Taylor’s institutions operate in Malaysia, Singapore & Vietnam.

The struggles during the tough financial period of his life shaped Teik Ngan’s stewardship views for family business. Appreciating unity, his family has introduced concepts and activities that promote collaborative conversations & strengthen relationships. He is dedicated to the development & transition of his family’s next generation of 13.

Teik Ngan’s family are active members of the Family Business Network Asia & he is the current President of the Board.

Standout Quotes:

• "We had to learn how to live together; we had to form a Living Together Committee"
• "One thing that normally goes wrong when families end up in dispute is lack of proper communication"
• "The family unit is important and sometimes we are subservient to the larger family"
• "We try to always emphasize that the family comes before the business, the business allows us the blessing to be able to have the lifestyle that we have, but we have to work together as a family first"
• "Do you want to be Rich or do you want to be King?"
• "I would encourage my kids to understand the context in why they do what they do... What is it all for? Wealth is fleeting; wealth is something that we cannot take with us when we die"

Key Takeaways:

• Dato’ informed the bank he was indebted to, that they could either push him into bankruptcy or loan him more money to rebuild and pay back the company debts.
• A living together committee had to be formed to help the large family live in one compound.
• Knowing that lack of communication was a common cause of family disputes prompted the introduction of Forums to build positive communication.
• Dato’ shares that the most important thing that has been done as leader of the family business in recent times is Annual Vacations.
• The difference between "Family Business" and "Business family" is that in 'Family Business', the family comes before the business.
• Guided by the shared family values, one of which is "Achievement and Learning", Dato’ explains how the next generation is encouraged to follow their passion even when it may be outside the family business.
• The concept of a "Personal Portfolio" in creating an education plan for the family
• The difference between being rich and being a king is that a king has ultimate authority, loyal subjects and lots he has to look after but being rich is just going for performance, the best point is somewhere between both
• Dato’ explains the concept of the "Deathwalk", an exercise involving walking into our death, looking back at our current age, and giving ourselves the advice we would.

Episode Timeline:

• [00:49] Introducing Dato’ Loy and 'The Taylor's Education group'
• [01:59] Dato’ narrates the events surrounding his transition into his father's company, which was is debt before the overwhelming challenges brought about by the Asian financial crisis
• [07:02] Dato’ admits he was ill-prepared for the scale of complexity involved in the business, worsened by the lack of adequate resources to surmount the crisis at the time.
• [08:43] From a collapsed family business to a thriving one
• [13:45] Dato’ describes in detail the current size and scale of the family business
• [14:50] How did these experiences shape your views towards stewardship of the family business?
• [20:50] The living together committee
• [23:28] Dato’ explains the different strategies employed to keep the family harmony
• [29:25] Differentiating between "Family Business" and "Business family"
• [33:35] Are you actively planning and anticipating succession with the next generation?
• [35:16] The concept of a "Personal Portfolio" in creating an education plan for the family
• [40:53] In the last 5 years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your family business?
• [43:26] Dato's letter to his kids: 'the Deathwalk'

*For more episodes go to *
BusinessOfFamily.net

Sign up for The Business of Family Newsletter at https://www.businessoffamily.net/newsletter

Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeBoyd

If you feel it's appropriate, I'd so appreciate you taking 30 seconds to Leave a Review on iTunes, I receive a notification of each review. Thank you!

Special Guest: Dato’ Loy Teik Ngan.

Sponsored By:

• The Business of Family Newsletter: The newsletter compliments the podcast with subscriber-only articles, bonus content and a great list of book recommendations.

Links:

• Taylor's Education Group — The Taylor’s Education Group is today the largest private education group in Malaysia. Focused on premium education
• Loy Teik Ngan - Family Business Network Asia — Teik Ngan’s family are active members of the Family Business Network Asia & he sits on its board

One of the family's last remaining businesses, Eu Yan Sang, a network of Traditional Chinese Medicine dispensaries, was founded by Richard Eu's great-grandfather Eu Kong and the family's fifth generation are still in the business today. This is a gripping story of family politics, loss of control, re-consolidation, an IPO, and ultimately privatisation of the family firm once again.

Standout Quotes:

• “My father told me when I was still studying that I would not expect to be able to work in any of the family businesses after graduation because of the family politics” – Richard Eu
• “If you want to institutionalize the business, it cannot be in family hands forever” – Richard Eu
• “When an institution buys into a business like ours, to a large extent they also buy into the culture that's been set up there by the family and they should be crazy just to lose it” – Richard Eu

Key Takeaways:

• If you want to institutionalize the business, it cannot be in family hands forever
• One of the problems that we had from the 3rd generation was that nobody called the shots, yet because they were individuals they didn't think like as institutions, they just thought about their situations
• When an institution buys into a business, what they should do is preserve the culture and manage it in a modern and efficient way without trying to kill the original culture
• It's not just about financial ratios or balance sheet, you have to bring in the heart
• Good communication helps build trust in the family business
• From Richard to his kids: when I’m dead and gone, they should look at themselves and see if they are on the path that we set off to follow as a family

Episode Timeline:

• [00:48] A brief introduction to Richard Eu, who shares a detailed history of the multi-generational family business
• [08:15] Richard joined the business at 42, although his father did not expect he would be able to work with any of the businesses because of the family politics involving his uncles
• [16:56] About the TCM family business "Eu Yan Sang", with more emphasis on the challenges posed by politics affecting the family business.
• [34:20] Despite all the challenges, the family business experienced consistent growth almost every year.
• [38:20] Richard describes one of the problems that began from the 3rd generation
• [42:01] How two members of the 5th generation joined the family business
• [47:00] Do you have any favorite failure that set you up for success in the family business?
• [50:42] A major learning point for Richard; Communication
• [52:26] From Richard to his kids

*For more episodes go to *
BusinessOfFamily.net

Sign up for The Business of Family Newsletter at https://www.businessoffamily.net/newsletter

Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeBoyd

If you feel it's appropriate, I'd so appreciate you taking 30 seconds to Leave a Review on iTunes, I receive a notification of each review. Thank you!

Special Guest: Richard Eu.

Sponsored By:

• The Business of Family Newsletter: The newsletter compliments the podcast with subscriber-only articles, bonus content and a great list of book recommendations.

Links:

• Richard Eu Profile | Endeavor Malaysia Mentors — Richard Eu was appointed to the board as Chairman of the EYSI board on 1st of October 2017.
• Eu Yan Sang International - Official Online Store — A network of Traditional Chinese Medicine dispensaries, was founded by Richard Eu's great-grandfather Eu Kong
• Eu Yan Sang: Healing a Family and Business | INSEAD Case Study — This case and teaching note explore one of Singapore's early entrepreneurs and the family business empire he created.