The hotel tycoon warns against one major character flaw to avoid

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Ho Kwon Ping, 72, is the executive chairman of Banyan Group.

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Starting a business is not for the faint of heart, and many who dare to take a chance share one trait: self-belief.

That’s according to the hotel’s founder and executive chairman, 72-year-old hotel tycoon Ho Kwon Ping. Banyan GroupA hospitality company with a portfolio of nearly 80 resorts and hotels in 22 countries.

Listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, the company generated revenue of approximately S$328 million (about $240 million) in 2018. 2023.

Ho is also the executive chairman of the food and beverage manufacturing business Thai Wah Public Company as well as the founding chairman of the Singapore Management University.

He attributes his success in part to being stubborn from a young age.

“Reliability and self-confidence go hand in hand. If you’re not assertive to some degree…then you’re going to be a risk-averse person,” Ho said. CNBC do it. “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to be a little bit stubborn. You need a little bit of self-confidence.”

‘Know where the line is drawn’

But there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and while the former is essential to starting and running a business, the latter can be a “recipe for disaster,” warns Ho.

“My wife said I’m the most optimistic person she knows because I fail at everything (but) I still pick it up and keep going, so you have to have confidence. It becomes arrogance, so you have to know where the line is drawn,” he said.

Create your own fantastic PR, but never believe a word of it.

Ho Kwon Ping

Founder and Executive Chairman of Banyan Group

One of the common misconceptions about modesty is that it can cause companies or founders to “overextend” or take on more risk than necessary, but business conditions are not always favorable.

As an entrepreneur, he said, “you always have to be prepared for the worst, because when things are bad, no one is going to help you.” When starting a new project or business, rather than thinking about how much money you can make, you should think about how much they can lose, he said.

“Never be too arrogant to think yourself great,” he said. “The saying I use is … create your own fantastic PR, but never believe a word of it.”