Archive - April 4, 2013

In the middle of a dreary, wintry spring day, I, along with three of my coworkers, had the opportunity to attend Union University’s Business Through the Eyes of Faith this past Wednesday afternoon. As our community businessmen and women gathered in the first salon in the Carl Grant Event Center, the atmosphere warmed. Hands were shaken and business friends reacquainted.

Dr. Dockery walked to the stage and congratulated the School of Business for growing ever nearer to full accreditation status. He then introduced the speaker, Wai Kwong Seck, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Markets and Global Services across Asia Pacific for State Street Global Marketing. Seck had received an invitation to speak as a result of Union University’s mutual partnership with the Christian community in Singapore. Seck, though born and raised in Singapore, now lives in Hong Kong with his wife to eliminate excess travel for his job.

Seck simply stated his purpose in speaking: to leave us contemplating two words, surrender and platform.

He reached the people through the story of his life. When he was sixteen years old, his life was so consumed by his studies that he had to take sleeping pills to rest at night. Exhausted, he met with a local pastor who prayed for him. But young Seck left unchanged. Days and nights continued as restlessly as they had. Finally, he prayed, “I don’t care if I collect garbage, I want to follow You, Jesus.” That night, Seck slept.

Seck then jumped to his life as a fifty-year-old man. Rummaging on a shelf, he came across the Bible he used as a twenty-year old student. He stopped and wondered what twenty-year old Wai Kwong would say to fifty-year old Wai Kwong. These were the three statements he created.

1. You have gotten further in life than I ever imagined.
2. You have made more money than I ever dreamed.
3. You are much further from God than you ever were.

Seck believes that only when you surrender your work and your “success” will you find victory.

In East Asia, hunters lay traps for monkeys. They place nuts in a jar. The monkeys’ hands are just small enough to fit in the top of the jar. But once they grab the nuts, they cannot get their hand back out of the jar. Rather than leave the nuts and move on, the monkeys cling to them. Eventually, the hunter presents himself and kills the monkeys. Seck warned Jackson’s businesspeople not to be like these monkeys, clinging to small nuts of success.

He realized that his job is a platform. When people ask him to speak, they are asking the Executive Vice President but they don’t get a position, they get a person. Wai Kwong intentionally weaves his faith in his discussions about his business practices.

Seck’s faith is so real to him that he cannot segregate any aspect of his life from it.

I wonder, what will twenty-year old you say to fifty-year old you?