Khoo Kheng-Hor

Khoo was born in 1956 in the Penang state of Malaysia. He received his formal education at St. Xavier's Institution before leaving for Singapore in 1974, to continue his pre-university education at St. Joseph's Institution. After completing his studies in 1978, he worked as a journalist with The Star in Kuala Lumpur until 1980 when he joined Malaysia's largest sugar refinery, Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Company Berhad, as a personnel manager.^[4]

To help him in tackle the numerous challenging tasks he faced in Malayan Sugar then, his future wife, Judy Hwang, gave him some notes of her translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War from Chinese to English, as he is not conversant in Chinese. Khoo immediately took keen interest in the military treatise and began to learn and apply Sun Tzu's teachings into his work. Throughout his professional career, Sun Tzu's Art of War was his indispensable guide.^[2] Khoo married Judy, a former Taiwanese singer in early 1982.^[4] In 1983, he moved to Kuala Lumpur as sales and marketing manager. When Asian sugar baron Robert Kuok was invited to turn around the ailing Multi-Purpose group of companies in 1987, Khoo joined them as administration manager at Magnum Corporation. In 1989, he left Magnum to head the personnel and administration department of Metroplex Holdings Berhad, where he later became the general manager within just four months, managing The Mall shopping complex. Khoo initiated a series of management and sales policies that enabled The Mall to secure the 'Best Shopping Mall' award for two years in a row.^[5] In the same year, he began writing his first best-seller; War at Work – Applying Sun Tzu's Art of War in Today's Business World, which was a collection of memoranda based on Sun Tzu's Art of War he wrote to his managers at The Mall.^[4]

From the early 1980s, Khoo tried to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from various universities, but all of them rejected his application as he did not possess a first degree for admission. Khoo only had two professional diplomas – a Diploma in Administrative Management and a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance from ACCA.^[4] He finally received an unconditional offer from the University of Stirling after he impressed the visiting Director of the MBA programme showing how he managed the award-winning shopping mall.^[4] In 1989, accompanied by his wife, he left Malaysia to pursue his MBA studies in Scotland and graduated with Distinction in 1991. Instead of returning to Malaysia, he went to Singapore again to seek better opportunities there and was offered the job as Director of Operations for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).^[6]

In early 1994, Khoo was retrenched from KFC as a result of an ownership change. He said:

Months before leaving my office, I had already looked around for another job, but unfortunately, top jobs are hard to come by. I felt like a rōnin then. It occurred to me then that if no daimyō wanted to employ me, then I would be my own little warlord and employ myself.^[7]

From his home near Outram Park, Khoo set up Stirling Training & Management Consultants Pte Ltd, a training and consultancy firm, which assisted clients in planning and implementing strategies, and motivating their executives through his proprietary "Management: The Sun Tzu Way" programmes. He ran the company with his wife, who handles all the accounting and administration. Half of his time was spent elsewhere, conducting management seminars for businessmen and employees of multinational corporations. Khoo also lectured part-time on Strategic Management for Singapore Institute of Management's external degree programmes.^[5] In early 1999, he co-authored with Nigel Munro-Smith, a lecturer at RMIT University in Australia, to produce a book titled Reader Friendly Strategic Management that brings out the essentials of strategic management for beginners.^[8]

In 1999, at the age of 43, Khoo decided to 'hang up his sword' (as described in his own words) to live a quiet and leisurely life in Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, with his wife and their "four-legged son", Bandit, a Yorkshire Terrier to this very day.^[4] When asked on his decision to live in the mountains, Khoo said:

Life is more than work, work, work or just making money. I don't want to be like the preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes who lamented that he looked on all labours that he had laboured to do, and he beheld only vanity and a striving after wind. We may not be very wealthy but we have made enough to live by since we do not subscribe to a lavish lifestyle. So why not have time to do the things we like to do for a change?^[4]

As a consultant-trainer to the Singapore Police Force since 1995, Khoo has taught many police officers in Singapore how to use Sun Tzu's principles of "Generalship" to be effective leaders and team builders. In 1997, he was sent for intensive training and thereafter appointed as honorary Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in recognition for his contribution to the police force of Singapore.^[4] On 1 July 2009, Khoo was promoted to the honorary rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police for his long years of service to the police force.^[9]