‘I NEVER really consider myself a success until today, frankly,” said Lim Kok Hin, president and CEO of Canon Marketing Philippines Inc. (CMPI) in an e-mail interview with the BusinessMirror.
“Life for me is one long learning journey. But I realized very early in life, even before my education was completed, that no one owes me a living. I had to make things happen to survive,” Lim said.
Lim is the newest executive of CMPI, having received his recent assignment only on July 1, 2014. He said he joined Canon at the age of 23+ after graduating from the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. And at 25, he was already a sales supervisor in Penang Island West Malaysia.
Prior to his new post, the 30-year Canon veteran held several management positions at Canon Malaysia from 1991 until 2006, when he was promoted as senior director of Business Imaging Solutions (BIS) at Canon Singapore Pte. Ltd. He became the vice president of the BIS group for Southeast Asia in 2011, with overall responsibility for the sales and marketing of business imaging hardware and software solutions across 18 countries, which include subsidiaries in India, Malaysia, Thailand, and a representative office in Vietnam. In addition, Lim also served as the head of CSPL Domestic Business Operations and was in charge of the overall growth, sales, marketing and services of the Consumer Imaging and Information Products and BIS groups for the Singapore market.
The Malaysian-born Singaporean executive holds a degree in Economics from the University of Bradford in the UK. For all his accomplishments, he said, he learned not to depend on anyone.
“I learned that when I want something bad enough and I give my best shot, normally I can get it. On the contrary, when I thought I failed to get something, when I soul search and become very totoo with myself, I would realize that I did not want it strongly enough. I was just hoping, by luck, I can get it,” Lim said.
One of Lim’s greatest achievements with Canon was spearheading the launch of The Ambition Gap in 2010. He said the program enables both individuals and companies to become more productive through opportunities provided by technology, such as the reliable Canon products—from professional cameras to industrial printers, among its wide portfolio.
“Thanks to effective and efficient tools, one can finish work easier and faster. With this, employees can do more yet work less,” Lim enthused.
Since his appointment last year, he said he has challenged Canon Philippines employees to go home one or a half hour earlier than their official time off.
As top executive of Canon in the Philippines, Lim is in charge of a company with a work force of more than 600, whom he calls his colleagues. He said he enjoys working with younger colleagues whom he advices every now and then to enjoy their work and add value to the things that they do.
Today’s millennials have it easier in some ways and more difficult in other ways, Lim said.
“As a whole, Generation Y may be better off and can afford more trappings in life but they need more knowledge than us just to get by in life,” he said. “I think, we have higher EQ and they may have higher IQ. Our pain threshold is higher, but their challenges in life may be tougher and more competitive.”
That’s why he admonishes the young generation to never stop learning, to be curious and to always want to be better. “The day you say you know it all is the day you start to become irrelevant. I read somewhere that everything you learn today, in six short years, it all becomes irrelevant. So keep versioning yourself up, every year if possible. Just like most software!” Lim concluded.