Syndicated Interview: Chiew Chong, Author ofLife on Planet WWF

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Chiew Y. Chong was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents. He was educated in Kuala Lumpur at a Jesuit-run high school. After high school he left Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Asia to study Accountancy. Once qualified as a chartered accountant, Chong began a career that led him to hold senior financial positions at multinationals across Europe and Asia.

In 1991, Chong left his corporate career path and, almost accidentally, moved over to the WWF, which lead to a two-decade-long career as Financial Director at WWF, one of the world's largest conservation organisations. Life on Planet WWF compiles a group of anecdotes that covers his time at one of the world's largest conservation organisations.

In the interview below he discusses a huge range of topics from his corporate background to his views on conservation and on to the few times people have asked about his wrestling credentials.

Life on Planet WWF is published by Troubador for international release on September 28^th2015.

1) Why did you decide to move to the NGO sector? 

"I actually did not consciously decide to move to the NGO sector. In 1991 I had left the multinational where I was working (my decision, I left at my request as I wanted to participate in the ‘handshake' payouts since the firm where I was with at that time downsizing) and after a few days at home, I was bored*.

So it was not a case of my having any strong urge to join the environmental movement that made me join WWF. At least that was not the case initially. It was also by co-incidence that I happened to drive past the WWF offices when I saw the WWF flag, and then made a note to contact the WWF.

When I was hired, my intention was to stay a year or, at a maximum two. However, having joined, I then found I discovered a whole new world, and it was THEN that I decided to close the door on the corporate sector for good.

*Page 5 ofLife on Planet WWF

‘However, when the third week began, I felt something was missing. Things did not seem right. My days had become long. They blended monotonously - one day merged into the next. Each day was like the one before - dull, with no special attraction. There was no "colour". When I met friends for dinner or drinks during the weekends, they buzzed with excitement, glad that the weekend had arrived. But I could not relate to those feelings. Too much free time was not good for me - I absolutely had to find something to do.'

2) Where have you most enjoyed working in the world, pre-WWF and with WWF? 

After qualifying as a chartered accountant in the UK, I left for Malaysia. There I worked for Harris Corporation, a US multinational. As a newly qualified accountant, I enjoyed it, as it was very exciting. At the beginning we were only four people in rented hotel rooms, inclusive of a secretary. In the space of only a few years, the factory was built and we were a few thousands and I was the Director of Finance. It was very interesting and enjoyable to work for a rapidly expanding firm. In this case it was like working for a ‘start up' that became a large company very quickly and with not many hitches as head office was financing everything. I was very young in those days, and I also enjoyed the regular trips back to head offices in Florida. I remember well my US boss, Gary Richard. Gary told me that I was the company's youngest country director of finance, and that being the case it might be an idea to try to look older - how about a moustache he said. I agreed, and in those days I sported a moustache.

The other thing I recall well was that big business can sometimes behave interestingly and that big business is not always necessarily efficient. What do I mean by that? Our facilities/factories were in a free zone, and we had many neighbours, also US multinationals. One was Texas Instruments (TI), and the other was Hewlett Packard (HP). From my office window I could see, every morning, one of the TI employees raising 3 flags. First he would hoist the Malaysian flag. Then up came the stars and stripes - and the lone star of Texas then followed this. It was kind of strange and interesting to see the lone star flag being hoisted in the hot sun, in Malaysia, thousands of miles from Texas.

The other interesting neighbour was HP. They too, they built a huge factory. I saw it being built. Then when it was all finished, we learnt that no one would come. The company had a change of mind, so that was my second early-days exposure to big business...

I also enjoyed working at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in Geneva, where the European headquarters were. It was very exciting to work in a company where the annual growth rates were in the 30s year after year, and this being a company that started in the proverbial garage in the U.S. These were pre-internet days, and companies such as DEC were the then days equivalent of the fast growing Internet companies of today. It was very exciting to work for a rapidly growing and wealthy corporation.

Couple of examples as to how wealthy the company was:

• One morning I looked out my garden. I felt that one corner needed some trees. I made the necessary phone call, and when I came back from work, two tall trees were there. We were all very well paid, so money was not an issue.

• One of my positions at DEC at one time was ‘European Marketing Controller', which meant CFO for the European marketing division. One day, my boss, the European marketing manager told me that we were renting a large boat in Geneva for an evening dinner cruise - with music. Costs even in those days, was some USD 40,000. I asked, ‘who's coming?' (I meant clients). ‘No clients, it's for our division's office party,' said my boss.

All in all where I enjoyed working most was at WWF. Which is why I stayed over 20 years there. I used to say to friends, ‘There is no job on earth where I can be with bankers on Monday, and with field workers on Wednesday - London on Tuesday and perhaps Africa the following week...' The sheer variety of people and work activities made it very interesting. It could mean finance in terms of accounting, investments, project finance, helping in fundraising. The list of varied activities was long.

3) What skills did you have to develop when you moved from the corporate world to WWF?

In the corporate world I found that we were often specialists talking to one another. Thus I might find myself in a room full of finance persons - we would speak the same language, have attended similar schools and would be reading more or less the same newspapers and magazines. In that sense communications can be much faster.

At WWF, because the nature of the ‘business', persons I interacted with can be very different. So I had to develop much of the ‘soft' skills - how to listen more actively, how to try to convince, how do I explain x y or z to someone who is not necessarily technical trained in finance, etc.

For example, one ‘skill' I learnt at WWF was to listen, and that there is often not a need to argue with someone over every word that he or she speaks.

4) Can you name a few moments from your time at WWF?

When I first visited field projects in Africa, there was a time when I was trekking to see a project linked to elephants. There was a moment that I recall well. We were trekking through the hot forest. I felt relaxed. This was until I came across a board nailed to a tree truck. On it was written,

‘In case of elephant attack, stand behind a tree and keep still'...

Another moment I recall well was when I newly launched a WWF sponsored investment fund, the Living Planet Fund, and when my secretary called me in Singapore. It was night. As I looked at the Singapore skyscrapers and the evening skyline, I heard her say,

‘We received another 2 million.'

5) How do you think more people can be encouraged into working at NGOs and do you think more corporate people would benefit charities?

In my view, one important factor is the salary levels. Of course nobody joins NGOs to become rich. But, having said that, I have seen cases where NGOs pay salaries as per market rates, less a percentage, particularly in the case of senior management - this is fine and correct in my view. However, I have also seen other cases where salaries scales are substantially below market rates (for similar skills and qualifications) - and in these cases I feel that it is a false economy as the NGO is only able to attract less able employees. Whilst someone may not need a high salary if working for an NGO, the employee nevertheless has to earn more or less market rates of pay, as he/she needs to pay rent, mortgage, and all other normal regular expenses, which are priced at market rates.

I do think more corporate people would benefit charities. In corporates, efficiency can be seen in terms of the bottom line. If a manager messes up in an area, be it sales, too many expenses or whatever, the numbers show on the bottom line, and the sanction is there - likewise the praise if the results are positive. Persons from corporates are more trained to think in terms of results.

In the environmental sector, it is more difficult to measure efficiency. For example, it is difficult to assess the success of how many elephants were saved, versus how many should have been if we had been more efficient. Or, how much should have been spent to save x elephants versus how much was actually spent.

6) What are your views on conservation and environmental issues?

I think it is a losing battle. That is the case up to today. It does not mean that we should not fight the battle. We can, and must fight it, but as we do that, we should bear in mind the ‘big picture'.

Some of my opinion of this subject:

a) Level of resources dedicated to environmental matters:

• WWF has worldwide close to 1 billion USD of annual revenues. This is a substantial amount if one compares this with the general perception of a ‘charity'. However, in relative terms, this amount is very small. It is very small compared to the size of the mission.

• And to emphasize this, bear in mind that WWF is ‘one of the largest environmental conservation on earth'. One of the largest, and yet revenues are not exceeding one billion USD.

• As a comparison, whilst there is one WWF and a few other NGOs, there are very many large corporations

• And as a comparison on impact levels, we can take a ‘look' at just one corporation. Like WWF, it has 3 well-known initials - IBM.

• For the year 2014 IBM revenues were 93 billion USD and pre tax profits were 20 billion USD.

• And this is only one corporation, there are many more

• My point is that the level of resources dedicated to environmental matters are miniscule by comparison to revenues in the corporate sector, or for that matter, what some nations spend on armaments.

b) False sense of security

I can debate that having NGOs like WWF is in certain cases, not good for the environment. This would be when persons think, ‘Oh, WWF is there, so they will take care of things', not realizing how tiny are the resources being deployed on environmental matters.

c) What then:

I strongly feel, that given the size of the problem, there can be a proper solution ONLY if governments are WHOLE-HEARTEDLY behind and doing all the necessary things for the environment. As it is, most governments pay lip service, saying all the right words most of the time, but with insufficient actions/resources committed to the cause. Whilst progress has been made in understanding environmental issues, we are far from what should and needs to be done.

I fear that ‘man' will only do what's needed only after ‘the horse has bolted'. This seems to be the pattern of human behaviour, to fix things afterwards - but the problem of course is that certain things are not fixable ‘afterwards' - if an animal goes extinct, or when global warming goes beyond the ‘too late to fix' level.

d) Save the earth:

Of course when things go all wrong, the earth will still be ‘OK'. Sometimes I hear the phrase ‘save the earth'. The earth does not need any saving, it will be fine. It's more a matter of trying to keep the earth inhabitable for mankind...

7) What was one of the projects/trips/meetings that you were proudest to be a part of?

When we were able to launch a WWF-sponsored investment fund, the Living Planet Fund. We started the fund from zero, with a few million of seed funding. WWF is now no longer involved but the fund lives on, under its new name of One Sustainable Fund. The fund is now approaching 100 million Euros in fund size.

8) What led you and your family to settle in Geneva?

We were living in Asia. As my wife is Swiss, every year she returned to Switzerland to be with her family. After a while I concluded that if I did not want to spend the rest of all my life's yearly holidays in Switzerland, that I'd better move out of Malaysia, and go to somewhere nearer to Switzerland.

I contacted my US company's head offices and was offered jobs in France, Germany and Florida but the company had no operations in Switzerland. I tried to look for a job in Switzerland whilst based in Asia, but that was an impossible task. In the end I decided that we just packed our bags and we headed for Switzerland. And when I arrived, I found that there were two companies interested in sending me back to Asia - with expatriate benefits.

9) What are your views on wildlife conservation?

Wildlife conservation is a real challenge. I can cite you some examples- including two examples that have sobering numbers.

a) Elephants:

In 1800, which is approximately two centuries ago, there were 26 million elephants. Today - less than a million.

Tigers:

In just over a century, 97% of wild tigers have been lost. 3,000 are still remaining but for how long?

Turtles:

There is only so much land on this earth, and as we know, human population growth (and economic growth) leads to conflict over environmental matters. To try to address this, there are many areas where WWF work with local communities for environmental conservation, but in the long run, it's a difficult battle.

Example of working with the locals:

In Terrenganu in Malaysia, some locals are allowed by the authorities to harvest turtle eggs, this being part of an age-old tradition. WWF Malaysia's turtle programme has various features and one of them is the buying back of such eggs, which are thus saved from the frying pan and are hatched instead.

Another angle:

Now the same example turtles, from another angle. I saw some of the hatched baby turtles heading out to sea. We were at a secluded beach. But then, I asked myself, what would they find, these turtles, when some of them return in 40 years time to lay eggs - will they find the same beach, or will they find a sea front hotel?

10) Do you feel that the environmental movement is achieving its goals?

In my view, up to today, not yet. Some goals achieved, yes, like for example raising awareness of the dangers, the risks, etc. However, in terms of combating issues and reversing trends of environmental damage, the answer is not yet. I fear that we (all of us) may end up doing something eventually, but only when it's too late.

11) Do you find the NGOs world different from the corporate world?

Yes, I do find it different. There's more talking going on in the NGO world. On the whole, there are more people who want to make statements and sometimes this means that some meetings will last longer than it need be.

Too much suspicion of whatever is new. I find that in the NGO world there is more suspicion on anything that's new.Any new idea is looked upon with greater emphasis from the angle of what might go wrong. This then results in less motivation for anyone to come up with any new ideas/proposals. By contrast I sometimes saw an exaggerated behaviour of the opposite (positive thinking) in one of my previous corporate jobs, whereby at times a silly idea might be proposed, but the meeting participants, all wanting to be positive, would not criticize the new idea.

12) When you joined the WWF in 1991 were you aware of what you were getting into?

When I joined in 1991, my image of WWF was that it was a small charity, and that it had a small shop selling panda stuff toys and the like near the Geneva railway station. After I joined, I found that it was not at all as I thought. Instead of being a small charity, I found that it was not necessarily a charity, but rather a foundation. A foundation with charity and/or tax-free status in some countries, and a registered charity (like in the case of the UK) in others.

And I also found that instead of a small charity, it was in fact rather big (but still ‘small' compared to large corporates) as it had a presence in 100 countries, almost a billion USD in revenues and a well-known reputation.

I had intended to stay a year, at a maximum two. In the end I stayed over 20.

13) In your experience do people confuse WWF with the wrestlers?

That happens quite often.

The most common use of the organisation's name is in the form of the three initials "WWF". However, this can at times give rise to confusion. Often, these initials are confused with the WWF of the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment. I have myself experienced often such confusion.

‘Oh, so you work for WWF! My ten-year-old son - he just loves watching your programmes. He's a great wrestling fan,' said the man sitting next to me on the plane.

‘I see, WWF,' said the UK customs official when I arrived at Heathrow Airport. ‘Which one: the wrestlers or the environmental group?' he asked. ‘Do I look like a wrestler?' I replied and he laughed.

But of all the harmless mix-ups I have encountered, the one I like best is when I received office mail addressed to "WWF, World Wine Federation".

14) I understand your book is a mixture of real life anecdotes and WWF related information within the appendices. Can you tell me one short anecdote?

Sure, there was this case of a locked safe in Youkadouma in Cameroon.

‘What happened?' I asked, as I entered my colleague's office at WWF Secretariat in Switzerland. I'd been told robbers had attacked the Youkadouma project office.

‘Do you know the details?'

‘The raiders came one night, three of them. Apparently they tied up the guard. Then they tried to open the safe - but couldn't, so they left.'

‘So there was no burglary?'

‘No, not that night - but they returned the next evening. This time they came with reinforcements and they carted off the entire safe...'

15) Why did you write this book? What prompted you to do so? How is this book different from other ‘memoirs'?

I used to tell colleagues or friends what had happened, events, anecdotes. Often I received feedback comments that I should write a book. Then one day I decided that I would do just that, write a book, and this is that book. I have read many books of memoirs about executives who have worked at corporations. Memoirs about people who have worked at non-profits are less common, and in that sense this book is different.

16) What skills do you think you were able to develop at WWF?

I think a non-profit is a very good place to develop soft skills: communication skills, etc. I had to develop these skills, as it's easier to convince people at corporates who had similar technical skills. At WWF I had to deal with a whole range of persons, and hence communication and convincing skills had to be developed.

17) Where actually are you from?

I have a Swiss passport but actually I'm from Malaysia. My grandparents emigrated from China during the 19^thcentury. They were farmers and had left due to wars and starvation in China. They were part of the millions who left China for south east Asia at that time.

My grandfather arrived in Kuala Lumpur, and his first job there was as a labourer. I have great respect for the work he did, toiling outdoors under the hot tropical sun. The second generation, my father's generation, had a less tough time. My dad was a businessman. Then came the third generation, my lot.

I have to admit, it was relatively ‘easy' for us, as we were sent to school. To the US, to Canada, to Australia - in my case, I came to study in the UK.

18) Was WWF founded in the UK?

WWF was founded in Switzerland in 1961. At times people think that it was UK founded, or part of the U.N. But no, it's a Swiss foundation. But British people, including Julian Huxley, a British biologist (and the Observer newspaper) did play an important role in the founding of WWF.

"Julian Huxley, a British biologist, was the first Director General of UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Before he founded WWF, Julian had already played an important role in the founding of another influential conservation organisation. This was the IUCN - the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

When Huxley first visited East Africa in the 1930s, he went with the intention of encouraging the creation of national parks. He made a return trip in 1960 with the intention of briefing UNESCO concerning the state of nature conservation in East Africa. During his second trip, what he witnessed alarmed him. The teeming wildlife he had previously seen no longer existed. In addition, he found that the intensive hunting of the larger fauna was seriously threatening certain species with extinction.

Upon his return to Great Britain, Huxley decided to alert public opinion whereupon he wrote numerous articles in The Observer newspaper. Many readers responded, including Victor Stolan, a businessman. Stolan advised Huxley to found an international organisation - not any organisation but one influential enough to raise sufficient funds to effectively contribute towards the combat for the preservation of bio-diversity. To ensure that the organisation so created would be effective, Stolan further recommended that Huxley contact eminent scientists to co-found the organisation and thus was sown the seeds for the founding of WWF.

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