His portrait hangs on the hallowed “Hall of Fame” walls of the Singapore and Hong Kong offices of insurance giant AIA.

Every year, only a selected few – the crème de la crème – of top veteran financial services consultants are given the honour.

Lawrence was inducted into the AIA Hall of Fame in 2004. His two grandchildren took the opportunity to pose next to his portrait.

If a young Lawrence Leong had been told that he would eventually be a top gun in insurance sales, leading teams of over 200 agents over the years and speaking to thousands in overseas conferences, he might have laughed in disbelief.

After all, Lawrence had grown up stuttering and stammering since he was six years old. He had no idea where the stuttering came from but the speech disorder made him acutely conscious of himself.

Lawrence receiving his coveted Hall of Fame portrait from Mark S O’Dell, former Executive Vice-President and General Manager of AIA when he was inducted into the AIA Hall of Fame in 2004.

“My low self-esteem took a further plunge when I failed my PSLE. That magnified my deep-seated fear that I was not good enough to succeed in life,” said Lawrence, now 73.  

As a result, he withdrew further into his shell. Even among close friends, he kept to himself and avoided talking as he was too embarrassed to speak up.

“I had no friends growing up. It was understandable – who would want to spend time with a guy who hardly talked?” he said.

In his mind, he had no friends, no hope and no future.

Nonetheless, he put in his best effort to study and retake his PSLE exam. Though he fared better this time, his results were still not good enough to enrol into the neighbourhood secondary school that he could walk to from home.

Lawrence (extreme left) was a committee member of the St Andrew’s School Christian Fellowship, where he came to know and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour in Secondary One.

In a strange twist of events, he was somehow posted to a much better school – St Andrew’s Secondary School.

“I was rather disappointed as the school was further away and I had to spend money to take the bus. But going there turned out to be life-changing for me,” said Lawrence.

It was at St Andrew’s that Lawrence heard about Jesus and received Him into his life.

A silent worship leader

As Lawrence attended church and grew in faith, others saw potential in him. Though he continued to stutter when speaking, his pastor asked him to lead a youth group and he was voted as president of the youth fellowship at the then Jubilee Presbyterian Church.

At a young age of 23, he also became an elder in the church and was tasked to chair the entire church service, including leading worship.

Lawrence (wearing a tie) at a Youth Fellowship meeting in Jubilee Presbyterian Church.

Whenever he led worship or prayed on stage, the problem of his stuttering intensified. Occasionally, he was not even able to utter a single word.

“It was as though my tongue was suddenly tied in a knot,” said Lawrence.

Of course, it was not long before members in the congregation began noticing this and things became very awkward. People started passing negative remarks and attributed his inability to speak to “spiritual attacks by the devil”.

The remarks were hurtful and demoralising for Lawrence, but instead of withdrawing from others as he used to, he persevered with serving in church. Believing that God can heal him, he began to fast and pray for his healing.

Lawrence leading worship at Jubilee Presbyterian Church. He stuttered constantly and could not utter anything on stage at times.

Limited by his speech disorder, Lawrence was hesitant to look for jobs that required much interaction with people. In 1971, he was delighted to land a job of being a storekeeper with Malaysian Airlines where his task was to manage the distribution of duty-free items.

“I absolutely enjoyed my time there as I was often alone in the store. It was a perfect haven for an introvert who stammered,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lawrence continued to fast and pray for healing from his speech disorder for periods of one week at a time. After doing so several times, he gradually noticed that he was stuttering less frequently.  

While leading worship in church one Sunday afternoon, he suddenly realised a change.

“I was no longer stammering and could articulate clearly on stage. God answered my prayers and healed me when I was 25 years old,” he said.

After Lawrence was healed, his late sister who was then working in 3M Singapore encouraged him to apply for a sales job with her company.

Although Lawrence was no longer stuttering and had even begun to believe that there was hope for his future, a career switch to sales – a job that required the gift of the gab – seemed ridiculously far-fetched.

Called into an industry of “talkers” 

“It was daunting but after my healing, I wanted to take on any challenge that came my way,” said Lawrence. “I prayed and felt the peace to apply for the position and amazingly, despite my lack of sales experience, they gave me the job.”

His job as a 3M sales representative was to promote and sell its copier machines. Besides making regular servicing calls, he also had to make at least 10 door-to-door cold calls a day. Despite being healed of his stammering, he continued to have great anxiety whenever he had to converse with people he knew, not to mention cold prospects.

But the hand of God was with him. He had a capable and encouraging supervisor who supported and guided him. Over time, prospecting became less daunting and he developed a “thick skin” when faced with rejections.

One of his biggest accomplishments at 3M was securing a business deal with the Embassy of Philippines in Singapore. He beat all his competitors to win the deal – not by his persuasive skills – but by being able to relate to the man in the street. In this case, how he looked out for the office boy.

James Choa was Lawrence’s mentor, trainer and coach during his time with 3M Singapore.

During the product demonstration, while many vendors tried to impress with their product, Lawrence specifically requested for the office boy to be present. He knew that the boy would be using the copiers the most and wanted to familiarise him with the machine and to teach him basic troubleshooting skills.

When the time came for the company to decide which machine to purchase, the management asked the office boy for his opinion and Lawrence got the deal (despite his copier not being the cheapest) because he had paid attention to an employee often overlooked by others.

“God’s favour was on me. It was a big account,” said Lawrence.

Subsequently, his confidence grew and he moved on to another job where he supervised a team of sales staff. But there were no career advancement prospects.

Peter Goh (left) recruited Lawrence into the AIA insurance industry.

One day, his wife’s friend – an insurance manager who was looking for people to join his team – asked her if she knew anyone who was unhappy in his job.

Immediately, she replied: “My husband”.

The friend – Peter Goh – arranged to meet Lawrence. But it took more than one meeting to convince him to come on board.

Lawrence in his first office at AIA when he was appointed as an agency manager in 1984.

Lawrence’s wife was then pregnant with their first child and it was risky to forgo a stable income with another mouth to feed.

His wife, however, nudged him to take the leap of faith and he decided to try it out part-time first. Although he was juggling two jobs in the first six months, he managed to close several life insurance sales to meet AIA’s targets.

That bolstered his confidence enough for him to join the insurer full-time.

Lawrence and his wife Moyra with Dr Anthony Compolo, professor, author and spiritual adviser to President Bill Clinton when he was a guest at a GAMA Singapore meeting.

However, Lawrence’s mother did not have the same confidence in him or the industry. 

“I remember my mother refusing to accept the allowance I gave her because, to her, being a financial services consultant was as good as not having a job,” said Lawrence.

Lawrence did well in the line, as he was trustworthy. Many family members and friends who knew him bought policies.

He qualified for the Million Dollar Club every year for three consecutive years, following which he was promoted to become an agency manager who could recruit other financial consultants to join his team.

Aide Iskander, the former Singapore soccer captain, was a member of Lawrence’s team.

Lawrence’s wife, Moyra, joined his team as his first consultant.  

One of his former prominent recruits include former captain of Singapore’s national football team, Aide Iskandar, who joined his team for three years.

Glorifying God in the marketplace 

“My vision in building the agency was to glorify God in all that we do,” said Lawrence.

“Our guiding principles include conducting business with honesty and integrity to help people live healthier, longer and better lives.”

Lawrence conducting an agency meeting.

An example of his honest dealings was not offering unmerited discounts.

It is common in the industry for some agents to offer prospective clients “discounts” to policies, forking out the difference from their own pocket. The practice is illegal and could result in the licenses of agents being suspended.

“I cautioned my fellow consultants to refrain from doing such practices. Over the years, clawback of commissions from my team members due to misrepresentation of policies is also unheard of. Our persistency ratio – which tracks the number of policies still in force over a period of time – is high at above 90%, indicating that our customers trust us and are satisfied with our service,” said Lawrence.

The strict ethical conduct he held himself and his team members to included not submitting cases that were not genuine.

In order to meet certain qualifying criteria for year-end targets, some agents had their family members or friends buy policies to help them meet their quota for the year in order to receive incentives. When January came around, they would help clients cancel the policies that were not genuinely needed.

Other ways some consultants tried to “beat the system” included getting their clients to buy five policies of $20,000 each instead of one $100,000 policy that may have suited their needs better, in order for the consultant to meet his or her sales target.

Others would tell their clients that it was not necessary to declare certain health conditions.  

“Can we do what is right and still be successful in a competitive world that emphasises the bottomline?” asked Lawrence. “How do I honour God and allow my staff to find meaning and purpose in their work and yet run a profitable business?

“These are some of the common questions raised as I coach others.” 

AIA Christian Fellowship

In 1997, Lawrence co-founded and chaired the AIA Christian fellowship with a few other believers. In their regular meetings, they encouraged each other to be living witnesses for God through ethical practices and by sharing the love of God with others.

Their first monthly meeting was held at the now demolished Garden Hotel at Balmoral Road. The fellowship lasted for 10 years after that.

Lawrence with invited guests at an AIA Christian Fellowship anniversary dinner celebration.

In his decades of being a financial consultant and director, Lawrence tried to integrate his faith into the daily rhythms of work.

He started agency meetings and planning seminars with prayer, often crediting God in his event speeches.

Lawrence opening the AIA Christian Fellowship meeting with a prayer.

He shared the Gospel with some of his agents and led them to faith. With clients’ consent, he would pray for those who were sick and visit those with new homes.

Over the years, Lawrence’s influence enlarged as he grew as a leader and a speaker.

Lawrence (right) was a guest speaker at a GAMA convention in Hong Kong in 2004.

Apart from being a director with AIA, he was also the president of GAMA (General Agents and Managers Association) Singapore which was later renamed Financial Services Managers’ Association Singapore (FSMA).

He remained in its board of governors till 2019. He also travelled to various countries – Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Florida – to speak at industry conferences.

Speaking at a GAMA meeting in Orlando, Florida, in 1997.

Beyond the industry, others also recognised his leadership capability.

He became the chairman of the parent-teacher association in his daughter’s secondary school and also chaired the Thomson Hills Estate Association where he lived. He is also the chairman of Good Gifts City Church, where he worships.

It took him, however, some time to figure out his leadership style.

“Servant leadership” that backfired 

He tried to practise what he thought was “servant leadership” – a leadership style where the goal of the leader is to serve and help others exceed their performance standards.

Insurance companies usually enforce minimum standard guidelines for consultants. Managers would have to decide on whether to retain or terminate consultants who failed to meet the minimum standards.

Lawrence often gave leeway to underperforming consultants to allow them a chance to prove themselves. This created huge strife within his team where he was perceived to be a soft and biased leader with double standards, tolerating under-performers while driving the better ones to achieve higher sales targets. As a result, a number of team members left his team.

Later on, he realised that being a servant leader did not mean foregoing standards or boundaries.

“What I was doing was wrong. A team without clear boundaries and work guidelines would only create confusion for the members and eventually lead to low productivity and unhappiness,” he said.

After this episode, Lawrence began to take on a firmer approach in managing his team. He started pushing himself and the underperformers harder at work.

He walked the talk in pursuing lifelong learning by getting his Master in Business Administration (MBA) at the age of 55, decades after he first failed his PSLE.

He and his team achieved many company awards in those years, but they also came with a cost.

The wake-up call 

On the morning of March 3, 2007, Lawrence felt an extremely sharp pain in his left chest. He had been experiencing chest pain and discomfort occasionally, but put the symptoms down to stress and fatigue. It turned out to be a heart attack. And he needed surgery to insert a stent in his blood vessel.

“I was so focussed on achieving my goals that I temporarily lost sight of why God has called me into this business in the first place. I was so blinded by my ambitions that I did not allow myself to slow down, until God had to intervene,” said Lawrence.

“My mentality slowly changed.”

He learnt to leverage on economies of scale for greater efficiency, co-founding Round Table Partnership by combining his agency with four others.

He also delegated what he could and invited his son to join his team. His son, Timothy, and his wife are now leading their own team, taking after his parents’ footsteps.

Lawrence passing the baton to his son Timothy (next to him) upon retiring.

In 2022, after 41 years with AIA, Lawrence chose to retire to refocus his time on other assignments that God has in store for him.

Patrick Teow, former CEO and Wong Sze Keed, current CEO of AIA Singapore, presenting a Long Service Award to Lawrence.

“I have to be very selective with my time because I want to leave a legacy. Every day, I wait upon God to show me what He wants me to do,” said Lawrence.

Lawrence and Moyra with their children and grandchildren.

These days, he and his wife prioritise conducting marriage mentoring workshops for younger couples. They also hope to step up in mission work.

“Who would have believed that a young man who used to stutter would one day stand before thousands of people to teach and speak?” marvelled Lawrence.

“It is nothing short of a miracle and it is my privilege to serve and work with Him.”

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