Through Thick and Thin

Rodney Yee, Managing Director, Panweld Sdn Bhd

Rodney is enamoured with his Vistage group as they have helped him through the good and bad times in business and personal life.

For a decade, Rodney Yee has shared his ups and downs with his peers in his Vistage Group. They have helped him through thick and thin in his business and personal life. He reveals that they were there for him when his business struggled through the economic crisis and when his marriage was on the rocks.

Rodney is among five persons in his group who have chalked up 9-10 years membership in Vistage. He joined the then TEC (now Vistage) when he was 28. The trained accountant, with a passion for cars, is a second generation business owner who took over from his father (the co-founder of Panweld back in 1975). He started in sales, became executive director two years later and progressed to managing director in 2003.

With a turnover of RM10m in 2008, Panweld Sdn Bhd provides expertise in paint finishing and coating systems, and solvent recycling. The company undertakes turnkey projects which require complete pre-treatment, dry/wet paint shop systems and coating machines. It also holds the agency for a wide range of paint shop maintenance products and welding products. Major customers are in the automotive market.

Rodney recalls that he and the company went through major transformation, coping with the economic crisis in 1998. ‘I had to piece the business back together, increase cashflow and manage costs. It was good in the sense that it forced me to look at every line in the company’s books’ he notes.

He was fortunate that several members in his Vistage Group were also second generation business owners, in their late 20s and in the same business predicament. ‘I had peers to compare notes with,’ he reminisces. They helped each other to solve operational and strategic problems. Rodney points out that presenting his strategic plans for his company at Vistage meetings has been a good practice. ‘Putting it down on paper is a helpful exercise, you feel committed and your fellow members will hold you to it,’ he explains.

Rodney affirms that learning never stops. He notes that the older members in his Vistage Group extend help to newer members. ‘You also grow through someone else’s experience,’ he adds. His Group organizes a SWAT team whenever any member has an urgent issue. They assemble in his office to help him process the issue and seek solutions.

Speaking from experience, Rodney highlights how the quality of personal life flows into business life. He is immensely grateful that his Vistage Group was there for him, throughout his emotional turmoil. ‘They know me when I was single, later married, then divorced, and now I am getting remarried,’ he declares. His group gave him a lot of support as he struggled with his marriage breakdown. Amazingly, through a Vistage member, he was introduced to another life partner. He has found happiness in an impending second marriage. ‘A happy personal life makes your business life easier, ‘ says a beaming Rodney.