In our latest Balancing the Grind interview, we sat down with Glenn Lai, BI Sales Manager at CRIF. Glenn reflects on his journey from the healthcare industry to his current role in business information, emphasising the importance of relationships and knowledge gained along the way.
He shares a typical day in his life, highlighting how his morning routine and interactions with clients and colleagues drive his success. Glenn discusses his perspective on work-life balance, emphasising responsibility and personal satisfaction over strict schedules. He also talks about incorporating more exercise into his daily life and recommends resources that have aided his journey towards balance.
Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?
As I turn 30 this year in 2024, I’ve taken a look back at my career from where I’ve started and where I’m currently at and I’m extremely grateful for every single opportunity I’ve had to meet people from all industries. I first started my career in the healthcare industry where I was the Business Development Director for a biotech startup, Bloommed Group.
I’ve spent 3 years building relationships with hospitals and private clinics in Asia Pacific and created vast opportunities for people to receive top medical treatment in Thailand, Australia and Philippines.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, travel was restricted and I too, felt the burnout from frequent travelling and was headhunted to join an amazing company, Asia Market Entry, that provides Business Development & Partnership services to international SaaS companies in order to help them expand in APAC.
While I was the Business Development Advisor to a variety of tech companies, it has given me insight into a world that I’ve never been exposed to before. It created the opportunity for me to build relationships across the region with various stakeholders in the tech industry, as well as learn from subject matter experts.
Currently, I’m 6 months into the role as the Business Information Sales Manager for CRIF Singapore where I can apply my relationship building skills to work, providing companies with comprehensive business information in order to mitigate risk and make well-informed decisions. I’ve been extremely successful in my role due to the lessons taught to me by my wonderful peers from the start of my career journey, as well as the guidance of my new teammates and regional director.
We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?
Nothing can kickstart my day better than my recently purchased, Breville Barista Express Impress. I make myself an amazing cup of coffee, have my breakfast while browsing incoming emails as well as issues from the previous day.
I always check-in with my clients on how they’re doing, what new issues they are facing and how I may go the extra mile to make their lives easier. Before lunchtime, I always check on my current pipeline, existing conversations as well as follow up on prospects that have an interest in my company’s products and services.
Whenever I’m in the office, my colleagues can always see me walking in and out of the office to the sky terrace to answer phone calls from my clients/prospects, as I prefer to speak with them directly instead of texting/email. Lunch with the team resets my energy level to its maximum again, sharing short stories as well as snippets from our personal lives to build a stronger bond.
Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?
Work-life balance is a heavily used while loosely defined term these days. Once, I met a client who shared with me a piece of wisdom. “For some companies, you’re paid by the hour. For other companies, you’re paid based on responsibility”.
This is something that spoke strongly to me and made me realise that work-life balance does not mean sitting at the desk from 9am till 6pm every day, with the occasional overtime. It’s about fulfilling your responsibility to the company, making sure that everything is in order before I decide to take a break halfway through or stop earlier for the day.
I always make sure that if I work hard, I play hard too. My favourite activity to de-stress is cooking for my family. It’s something that makes me feel like myself again.
Change is constant, and it’s essential for growth. Have you made any lifestyle changes in the past year to improve your work-life balance?
In recent years, the biggest change I’ve made was to increase the amount of exercise I do at home. I spend at least 30 minutes a day lifting weights at home. When I first began, it was once or twice a week. Then, I came across a video of Arnold Schwarzenegger saying “You always have time to work out. Even the President can make time to work out. You make the time”.
We’re always on the lookout for new resources! Can you recommend any books, podcasts, or newsletters that have helped you in your journey towards balance?
In a way, this book has helped me save time. Think Faster, Talk Smarter by Matt Abrahams is an interesting read. Back in the past, it always took me a while to process information and come up with a really good answer to a unique problem statement. In hindsight, I’ve learnt how to better process information, reduce the time it takes to get the job done and close deals, in return, I get more time to relax as I’ve accomplished my goals ahead of the deadline.
Before we wrap up, do you have any final words of wisdom or insights on work, life, or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
You are in control of your own time. No one else, no excuses, just no. You can have most things taken away from you, but how you choose to spend your time, that’s on you. When you’re performing a task that you know you’ll hate doing, you have 2 choices. You can choose to enjoy it, or you can choose to complain and hate it, feeling miserable the whole time.
