Dato' Irene Gan Ai Ling of Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd, Malaysia, who won the title of "Rookie Agency Leader of the Year" at the 1st Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Awards in 2016, tells us more about what leadership means from her perspective and salutes those who have accompanied her on her awards journey in her contribution: "Embrace challenges to reach greater heights".
Embrace challenges to reach greater heights.
"Embrace the challenges and turn them into opportunities. Leadership is about enabling the full potential in others. Success as a leader is a by-product of the leaders and mentors we associate with throughout our career.
Ever since I was promoted to Agency Manager, I've learned that as a leader, we need to know how to push team members out of their comfort zone and put their potential to the test. We need to observe their ability to stretch themselves and whether or not they accept the challenges and never allow them to be complacent, while constantly testing and helping them develop their skill-sets and leverage their strengths to make them shine. Being passionate in helping them expand their performance tolerance threshold will also unleash the potential in leadership.
It was an honour to represent my company, Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd to be the first Champion Rookie Agency Leader of the Year in the 1st Asia Trusted Life Agents and Advisers Awards in 2016 . This prestigious award is not only the highest recognition in my career but it is also the stepping stone for me as the rookie agency leader in this insurance industry to continue to coach my team members to achieve higher goals with same mission & vision together.
Kudos and appreciation to the organiser, Asia Insurance Review, which successfully ensured that the nomination and judging process was fairly judged by the distinguished panel judges from different countries in Asia. The award presentation and gala dinner was spectacular with all the nominated leaders, agents & advisers from different countries to celebrate together in Singapore and the winners announcement was the highlight of the night as I felt like a celebrity winning an Oscar award!
I'm really grateful that I was able to achieve this special once in a lifetime award with the support and guidance from my Group Agency Manager, Dato' Eric Toh Chun Shiong. His humble leadership has groomed me to be the next leader to inspire others as well. With this recognition, I've gained the most valuable experiences. I have managed to break through in my personal sales and team developments in 2016 to be the MDRT Top of the Table, Champion Personal Producer, Champion Agency Manager and CEO Excellence Award in my company with the unconditional supports from my leader, Great Eastern, customers & team members.
To me, success is not measured by title, position and fame but it is from the hard work, sweat, tears, determination, willingness to learn, perseverance, leading by example as well as walking the talk and sincerely building others to be successful as well.
Strive for excellence service in professional and ethical manners as well as serve our customer with sincerity, honesty and integrity! These are the key factors to success in this challenging industry."