BUSINESS JIHAD JOURNEY #2, PART 2: WITH KFC TO PRAGUE - FROM ASIA TO THE WORLD STAGE
Posted On July 6, 2009
I was indeed taken completely by surprise when, on that occasion in Prague, David Novak, CEO, YUM! International, USA, during his opening address invited me up the stage to receive USD300 cash and an oversized plastic dentures set on two feet (that I later came to know was called “the walking teeth”). The surprise was indeed deliberate on David’s part. (After all, he had stated in his book “The Education of an Accidental CEO”: “When recognition is spontaneous, it has even more of an impact. There’s a real power in spontaneity.”)
(Incidentally, when my wife Noorzilah mmsed a photo of me with the “denture piece” to our daughter, Alia, who is studying in Sydney, Alia quickly reminded us of how I always said that I have quite “a big mouth”. She was referring to the fact that I have always been passionate about talking and addressing seminars – especially on the subject related to Business Jihad and Corporate Waqaf. She thought it fitting that I now have a set of David Novak’s oversized dentures “to go along with the big mouth!”).
Anyway, it was indeed heart-warming to read David’s personalized, handwritten note on top of his “walking teeth”.
