Command and control management no longer works. The manager-coach is emerging in the West. Asian managers are well positioned to fast track their careers by incorporating key Western learning, while simultaneously honoring Asian cultural values. Don't reinvent the wheel, read WK's informative, honest, accessible and practical handbook. It will excite and inspire you, especially when it comes to giving and receiving feedback. Empowering Asian Mindsets through Coaching affirms that a 'coaching approach' is universal and I thoroughly recommend it to you.

Belinda Merry (MCC), Australia
President International Coach Federation Australasia (ICFA)

Coaching is increasingly viewed and accepted as a leadership process, enabling leaders and managers to achieve superior results at the workplace and at home. Concurrently coaching is an emerging profession, especially in the Asia Pacific Region. Not withstanding the above positive trend, there unfortunately is a dearth of Coaching books authored by Malaysian coaches for Malaysian and other Asian clients. Fortunately WK Leong's book "Empowering Asian Mindsets Through Coaching" is filling the void. The book is handy and practical in nature; it encapsulates coaching principles , concepts, models, complemented by real life case studies, good humored illustrations, anecdotes and stories. WK Leong is an experienced and versatile coach; he is one of a small number of coaches in Malaysia with a PCC ( Professional Certified Coach ) professional designation awarded by the International Coach Federation. For those who aspire to scale new heights in their professional and personal pursuits. I commend this book to you.

Foo See Luan (PCC), Singapore
President of the Asia Pacific Alliance of Coaches (APAC)

"This book highlights the power of coaching and how its application can bring about great change in business. The relationship between coaching and the huge economic growth and change in Asia is most timely and apt. Leong captures the power of coaching though his eight coaching mindsets. Each mindset supports the process of change and demonstrates how the old, dictatorial practices are no longer aligned with change and growth. Instead he provides new insight and tools to support the manager of the future. Well done Leong!"

Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland MCC, CEO
International Coach Academy, Australia
Chair on the Board of Advisors for Worldwide Association of Business Coaches(WABC)

"Those who write books have this ability to crystallize their experiences as well as experiences of others and draw from them general points that make the reader think differently, look at things from a different angle. In a nutshell they make the reader "click". For that reason I would like to thank Wai K Leong for this great book and his professional approach throughout the chapters. Coaching styles should be adapted to cultures, races, mindsets, etc. The broad principles are the same but the execution paths might differ. Walking on a trail knowing your environment helps you reach your destination faster and you will be less exhausted at the end! Dealing with people is a passion, if you do not have it, you better work alone! If you have that passion, read this book, it will help you make use of your passion effectively. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did."

Dr. Magdi BATATO - Executive Director
Nestle Malaysia Berhad

"Wai K has captured explicitly the challenges one faces in empowering Asian managers and leaders. An understanding of Asian culture and context, myths and realities is essential for an individual to begin to change their own and other mindsets. This book provides a backdrop and real advice on coaching for empowerment in Asia"

Lynn Roslan, Vice President Human Resources
GlaxoSmithKline, Asia Pacific

"A must read book for those who strive towards excellence. The practical approach and relevant examples goes beyond coaching for Asian mindset and indeed it is applicable globally as it touches on universal approaches. For those who have passion to develop talent & leading the organization or team will find this book very helpful."

En. Wahab Abu Bakar, Group Human Resource Director
Nestle (M) Bhd.

"This is a well structured, easy to read and invaluable guide to one of the most important but usually neglected management skills. The author is an acknowledged expert and this book provides practical pointers that any manager will find useful to develop themselves, as well as their teams."

Adrian Groom, Head of Human Resource
HSBC

"This book de-mystifies the coaching buzzword that is being widely referred to in the Western and HR world. The book does much to provide a detailed and yet accessible account of truly understanding the Asian Mindset in order to initiate and inculcate an effective coaching culture in Asia."

Junaida Abdul Hamid, Head of Human Resources
Allianz General Insurance Bhd.

"Of the several key roles of an effective manager, the role as a student as well as teacher/coach has assumed greater significance in our fast changing and competitive world. This book is a timely, well thought out and practical guide to any Asian Manager still wanting to stay green and growing."

Richard CM Wong, Chairman & Chief Listener,
TEC Asia Centre

"It's an excellent checklist and a know-how manual for performance coaching. This will transform the workplace environment and will motivate and equip the team members to think and strive for excellence. It's indexed and written in a clear, systematic manner that give you quick reference on what and how to do. Wai has successfully laid out the A to Z of coaching in a concise manner and each process of learning is further enhanced with a summary in the form of "nutshell". This is a survival kit for those who intend to get into the field of performance coaching. His book makes it possible for anyone to go into coaching; making understanding the science of coaching easy; and with constant practice on the science as laid out in his book, you will perfect the art of coaching."

Amos Yap, Head of Agency Training
CITIC Prudential, China

"This book is a good reference for expatriates and Asian managers who want to learn how to bring out the best from their Asian colleagues and team members. It provides a lot of real-life examples and illustrations. I find this book easy to read and with good references and footnotes. I would certainly recommend it to any one who is serious about elevating performance through the coaching approach."

Kenny Tan Y.T., Managing Director
Pall (M) S/B

"Empowering Asian Mindsets through Coaching is a book that provides valuable tips and serves as a helpful guide to set-up a coaching mindset and improves leadership skills. It is clearly a must read: "The number one challenge our Asian Leaders describe today is finding and shaping the leader of the future". The biggest gap organizations face is the ability of executives to coach and develop people to become those leaders. Leong's book provides highly relevant and cogent answers to help leaders in organizations face this challenge. The book is comprehensive yet thoroughly pragmatic; the book "breaks" new ground in applied coaching practices for leaders."

Rosaline Arockiaraj, Head of Organization Development
Astro Bhd.

"The book is a pleasure to read with simple to understand analogy and practical tips that you can easily refer to. Any manager who is serious about coaching should find this book a real gem."

Jennifer Mok, Human Resource Manager,
Multinational Company

Wai K Leong has produced an outstanding book "Empowering Asian Mindsets Through Coaching" for senior executives and managers in the Asian region to adopt a coaching mindset necessary to achieve sustainable high performance in today's global, multicultural and multitasking working environment. With great clarity in layout and subheadings as well as illustrative examples of coaching dialogues, he walks the reader through a very sound positive approach to working with employees and clients, an approach that is reminiscent of appreciative inquiry. His piece of work is both profound and practical to handle many coaching situations.

Abu Bakar Hussin, Certified Business Coach,
University Malaya

"In the context of the corporate world in Asia today, there is a fundamental shift towards a "Performance-Driven Work Culture". The focus is now on tasks rather than the human resources that deliver the outcome. Striking a balance between the two is vital to an organization's success. Wai K. Leong has captured the essence of how this balance could be achieved through coaching. This book is an extremely useful tool for Asian managers, as it helps them focus their leadership style and role on developing the individual. Now, that is empowering!"

Jeffery Koit, Head of Human Resource,
Group Asset Management, CIMB Group

"A lot has been said about Coaching in the workplace; however I find the book by Wai K Leong easy to understand on the importance of Coaching. It takes us step by step on the process of Coaching in the workplace covering all the elements that a Manager-Coach need to only to know but also to apply in the daily life. The book clears all the misconceptions that Coaching is tedious and time consuming; A book that should be read all personnel who are performance passionate"

Pachiappan Muniandy, Head of Organization Learning & Development
Lafarge Malayan Cement

"Wow! Empowering Asian Mindsets through Coaching is a book that every manager should read. Adopting the coaching approach through this book is simple and easy to apply. With the many examples of how to use the coaching approach found in the book, every manager can become an instant Coach and an effective leader!"

Tan Khar Hoay, Head of Corporate Human Resources.
WorldFish Corporation

"A must read on coaching book that is helpful, simple to read and understand. Wai K Leong has used many of his actual coaching encounters as an example for the reader's to follow. He shows us the true path to coaching through the application of easy step by step way to a powerful coaching mindset from the coach and coachee's perspective. Empowering Asian Mindsets through Coaching is a coaching book for everyone who is interested to apply the important coaching techniques to improve on their management style."

En. Rosli Rahmat, Regional Director
HSBC

"There are good books and there are great books. This is a great book; like the PC, this book is a definite must have for any manager who wants to master the art of coaching. Extremely practical, insightful and downright honest...heaps of easy to use techniques that can be learned and mastered"

Kenny Tan, Head of Organization Development,
Bursa Malaysia

This book takes you through an in-depth understanding by asking oneself a lot of self awareness questions thus challenging perspectives and paradigms. It also shows how you are able to assess the readiness of people to be empowered using the power of coaching. When coached we discover habits does not empower us and we discover personal drivers that we can leverage on to excel in our endeavor to achieve our goals. As a professional, certified coach, W K Leong has through this book committed to help you identify what is really important in your life, guiding you to discover hidden opportunities both in your career and personal life. The enthusiasm, dedication and passion he brings to coaching, inspires, motivates and empowers people to achieve their life long goals. Coaching is all about moving behavioral values where a great deal of work is needed to bring about a desired result. I have always regarded problems as opportunities to do better, gain experience and learn more, just to be a little bit smarter and perhaps "street wise" on how to handle life issues and situations. Leaders who create opportunities by engaging with people in open and value led conversations will always bring the best out of them through empowerment thus opening the door to transformational change.

Devi Kousala, Human Resource & Admin Manager,
B. Braun

"The power of this book is in the completeness in which the issues of coaching are dealt with. From understanding the mindsets on coaching to the paradigm shifts and the inner game that coaches need to manage, this book also puts together succinctly both the process and the steps that need to be taken to develop a high performance organization through coaching. The strength of this book lies in Wai's ability to put together his experience as a coach to highlight the impact of coaching. The examples and anecdotes provided further insights into the power of coaching."

Kok Pooi Chen, Head of Human Resource Management,
SMIS Corporation

"This book provides refreshing ideas and true to life account of unique situations which contains a lot of specifics on what to say and how to handle different coaching situations. I would definitely recommend this book if you are a manager or a leader or hope to be promoted to the role of a leader. If you want to be a successful leader in your workplace, community or family unit or wherever, this is your "how-to" manual. Empowering Asian mindsets through COACHING is a self-actualization manual that is meant for Asian managers who wants to be a successful leader. Asian leaders today have many challenges when it comes to guiding and influencing the performance of their team. The need for quality, service and effectiveness in organization is creating a demand for employees who not only have to think but also to act and feel like responsible partners in the enterprise. Now more than ever, leaders need to inspire their teams with enthusiasm to deliver quality products and service. Empowering Asian mindsets through COACHING deals with the challenges faced by Asian managers in coaching. In this book Wai K Leong provides helpful resources with a section on 100 powerful coaching questions from his years of experience, research and observations as a coach and trainer."

DN Leong, Director of Operations
ON Semiconductor

I am totally convinced that this book has created a breakthrough for the Asian corporate culture when managers have fixed belief and mind set about coaching their team members to improve work performance. It is written with many practical and useful methodologies and Wai Kheong has helped to clear many doubts about coaching in the Asian manager's mindset (the myths and coaching mindset blocks). This is a book that every manager must have, if one were to aspire to be an outstanding manager, who is also a great coach to his team members!

Carol Yip, CEO & Founder, Author of "Smart Money-User" book
Abacus For Money

A very practical, well illustrated and easy to read book for every Manager who wants to be an effective coach. And every Manager should be one. Wai K has written this book with sound and intimate knowledge of Asian management culture and this adds a level of insights which makes the book a highly recommended reading for Asian Managers. Wai K, I must compliment you for a very well written book on a subject matter which is so important to today's Managers. It is really easy to read as it is well illustrated with examples etc which bears out the depth of your personal experiences in this field.

U Chen Hock, General Manager (Personal Financial Services).
HSBC

"Brilliant! A must have for those that have little knowledge about coaching. Really, I find myself glued to the book and is fantastic that is comes with simple and easy to understand explanation. You made coaching easy to understand and put into use."

Mabel Lee Choy Yee, Head of HR Development.
Allianz General Insurance Malaysia Bhd.

"Congratulations! What an amazing feat for an amazing book. I foresee a garden full of carrots and feel very proud on behalf of you, the "Sifu" master. I've read your amazing book more than once since I bought it at the end April'08 and presented the second copy to a friend as a gift. This is a fantastic way of sharing practical coaching tips. I wish I had this book as my guide 10 years ago when I became the leader of a group of executives. I would have been able to handle the team more effectively & efficiently rather than going through a really bumpy road, learning through experience. What an awesome way of powerful communication skills, mindset changes & practical advise in this fabulous book to help the Asian Managers step into the spotlight of unleashing creativity, driving innovation & developing high performance teams. Cheers to you once again, Wai K! Hope 29 August 2008 will be a smashing success. :)

Yap Po Poh, ASEAN Performance Development Manager.
Nestle Nutrition