KHALID MUHMOOD
MBE, Co-founder, Dragonfly Education Group Entrepreneur Khalid Muhmood, cofounder of familyfounded education business, has spent time establishing a higher education institution (British University Vietnam), an English language training organization (Apollo English), and a venture investing in education. The group development plan is to enter the preschool sector. The big picture objective, Muhmood shares, is to establish the best run preschools in the ASEAN region that will change lives through education. More specifically, to operate their first preschool within the next six months. He focuses on being a member of the Dragonfly Education Group board. “We are fortunate to have great CEOs running the businesses that Dragonfly is involved in so the role of the board is very much on how to support the CEO’s succeed. For new projects, the role of the board is to make sure that we have the right people in place and that they have the right resources behind them to succeed.” The company has been providing funds to various charities, and Muhmood is now looking into giving them time and education resources as well. To keep at his best, Muhmood relies on what he calls his “three key tools”: a good night’s sleep, some morning exercise, and a constant reminder that “life isn’t a rehearsal so we need to make the most of being alive”. He also admits that having a clear purpose of impacting lives through education helps give him more than enough momentum. “Coffee and cake helps too,” he adds. “I’m lucky enough to have great people around me who can help review personal performance in every area (business, family, community, etc.) but at the end of the day, I’m usually the toughest judge on myself.” JOHN KIM Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Amasia Venture capitalist John Kim manages a sustainabilityfocused VC firm that he co-founded. At present, he is writing a song for one of his portfolio companies, Super, a social commerce startup (the Pinduoduo of Indonesia) that enables micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas of the country to earn a living. “My main aim is to get more exposure for the company. I have a vlog that gets hundreds of thousands of views per video, and my companies really benefit from letting more people know about their value proposition.” Kim focuses on cosmic alignment in all his endeavors. “When I’m doing what God wants me to do, it always works out. Counterintuitively, that often requires me to slow down on the actual project and spend more time getting centered in prayer and meditation.” Kim juggles commitments nimbly. “In my day job I spend my time searching for and helping founders who are leveraging behavior change to create a more sustainable planet. I’m also involved in various non-profit efforts, and I serve as a lay preacher at my church, Solomon’s Porch.” Kim, who is married with three young boys, has been traveling in and out of
Korea where he has been looking after his father. “We found out last year that he has cancer. While it’s a tough set of circumstances that catalyzed these trips, I feel incredibly blessed to have an opportunity to spend time with him and my mom.”
Kim has developed what he calls a keystone habit of preparing for the next day at 10 pm. “It takes a lot of energy to switch from planning mode to execution mode throughout the day, so having a specific idea of how I’m going to fill each minute helps me with efficiency. Planning at 10 pm also ensures that I’m ready to unwind and hit the hay for a full night’s rest.”
He believes that the key to keeping one’s momentum is building good habits. “I find my habits falter when I’m focused on the activity instead of the fact that I kept the habit going. So if I can’t do a full workout in any given day, I’ll drop and at least do a set of push-ups to ‘keep the momentum’. If I can keep the habit going, I find it usually leads to full workouts, whereas if I lapse the whole thing falls apart.”
Kim relies on an internal assessment of his performance. “The external signals of success will come and go, and often sit out of our control. For me, I know I’m performing well when I feel the flow.”