One of my daily goals is to wrap each day up by learning or doing something that moves me forward. My newsletter's called Better Tomorrow for this very reason (which is why in each mailing, I share things that have added meaning to my life). I live up to this mission by seeking inspiration from anything that occupies my day. And I've concluded that people are my greatest source of inspiration, insights, and guidance. On the topic of great people, there are authors, alive and otherwise, whom I've never met and whose books have changed my life. I count them as inspirational friends because they never let me down. However, I also have actual, non-imaginative relationships that give me the same ever-dependable 'pick-me-up' value. And one such is with a man named Bo Lingam, someone I've grown to know, respect, and love over the course of a friendship that just crossed the three-decade mark!
Podcast Guest #1
On the 26th of November, 2022, my podcast 'Tony John iN Conversation' went live. In the series debut, I sat with Bo Lingam, a Malaysia-born and educated corporate leader who is the Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Ltd., Asia's largest low-cost carrier by fleet size, destination and passenger load. I met Bo in 1992 when I joined the Malaysian branch of EMI, the English record label that was one of the Big Four that dominated the 1990s (alongside Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.) When EMI hired me to run its Virgin Records division, Bo was already in the company for several years, overseeing the production of consumer music products. At the time, this meant manufacturing music albums on CD and 'cassette tape' (two words that instantly timestamp both Bo and me as borderline relics!)
I left EMI a year later to present shows on radio and television. A little after I left, a rival record label poached Bo. Convincing him to join EMI's competitor was the head of Warner Music Asia at the time, a gentleman named Tony Fernandes. For several years, Bo worked across various departments of Warner Music, from production to PR to Artist & Repertoire and promotions. Then in 2000, Tony Fernandes left Warner Music rather unexpectedly. And even more stunningly, less than a year later, he purchased a debt-ridden loss-making airline! If a music industry executive buying an airline in deep trouble seems confusing, what Tony did next appeared to be a recipe for inevitable disaster. To help him resurrect and revitalise the ailing carrier, he brings in a team of individuals primarily comprised of people from the music industry, including one Bo Lingam!
A Brief History of Improbability
As the new AirAsia team started chiselling away at the challenge they signed up for, peers from other airlines openly sniggered at the audacity and silliness of Tony Fernandes's ambition. But those who laughed at the delusional band of entertainment industry executives who presumed they could run an airline didn't have long to revel in their mockery. Within a few years, Tony and his team of unlikely commercial aviation executives bring AirAsia back to life and, while doing so, rewrite the rulebook on how to run an airline! With detractors and sceptics all around them, AirAsia proves over and over again to be the most delightful disruptor of the aviation sector, and Bo is in the thick of it, running various departments and relocating from one regional base to another across South East Asia.
The rest of the AirAsia story is modern-day corporate lore, quickly becoming a South East Asia mythology-level success story of a phoenix that emerged from ashes and flames. Just a short decade from the day the music industry cohorts took over the airline, the fire-red AirAsia brand became a symbol of freedom and opportunity to tens of millions of excited travellers who got to explore the wonders of Asia by air, fulfilling the brand's slogan, 'Now everyone can fly.'
Back to Bo
In the blink of an eye, two decades go by in the history of AirAsia. And the guy who produced cassette singles and albums for EMI Malaysia is today the Group CEO of AirAsia's aviation division that employs over twenty thousand and transports millions of passengers annually across Asia.
What moves me the most about being a friend of Bo's is that I get to witness his deliberate way of life - a profound exercise in humility, drive, groundedness, and being of service to others by honouring the Self. I have learnt so much from Bo across the decades of our friendship, and each time we talk, there is more I learn. When I decided to produce a podcast about incredible human beings living extraordinary lives, people you ought to know because knowing them makes you better, Bo Lingam was the first name that popped into my head as a must-have guest! And our 90-minute conversation on the podcast reminded me of why he's a top-of-mind guy in the realm of awesome people.
Thanks for being in my life Bo.
Footnote:
Lessons I've learnt from Bo Lingam:
1. Being of true service to others can only happen by honouring Oneself.
2. You're never too busy or too important to give someone who needs it some time and attention.
3. A clear desk reflects a clear mind (Bo was a fervent decluttered before Marie Kondo was even born!)
Watch Tony John iN Conversation with Bo Lingam here
