Leadership Traits of Mrs Anastasia Liew
Mrs Liew takes pride in what she does and make sure that her products are of good quality since day one. She would buy fresh ingredients such as pandan and coconut rather than stint and bottled pandan essence or packet coconut milk for the cakes she sold to supermarkets in the 1970s. The efforts she put in paid off as people are willing to buy even though the cakes cost 45 cents more compared to the market rate of 30 cents. The company has used technology to replace some of the baking process which is still able to maintain the traditional taste. For example, Japanese encrusting technology is used to produce a thinner and even crust on its pineapple tarts, and air-mixers and depositors are utilised for sponge cakes. Custom-made revolving ovens and a rotating-steaming conveyor system were also installed for kueh lapis and kueh salat respectively. She always ensure that the quality of her products are consistent and investigate thoroughly should there be complaints on the food. For example, earlier in 2009, some customers complained that the butter she used in her premium pineapple tarts, which use a blend of top-grade butter from Australia and Holland, tasted too strong. She realised that the butter’s standard had dropped and immediately changed it. Furthermore, Mrs Liew does not allow her employees to be lazy and use short cuts. Even though she would tell them off, she is more than willing to show them the right way to do things when they make mistakes, for instance when the cake moulds were not cleaned up to her standard. She rolled up her sleeves and showed the workers how to do it.
Besides showing patience to her employees during work, she also trusts her employees by giving the heads of certain cake departments the recipes for products and putting them under their charge. Although Mrs Liew’s good faith was being betrayed a few times by her previous employees, she is still willing to place her trust in her employees. Her soft-hearted nature is what touches her employees when they encountered difficulty in their personal lives, for example, paying off their home loans or emergencies. She gave the money to the workers loans that are interest-free and they were repaid bit by bit through monthly deductions from their salaries. When busy festive periods end, Mrs Liew often rewards her workers by celebrating with them. During festive season such as Chinese New Year, she would invite her employees to her house and cook a feast for them. People usually describe her as an unassuming person who is able to relate to people from all walks of life.
Most importantly, Mrs Anastasia Liew has patience and strong perseverance to help her overcome all the challenges that she had faced before becoming successful today. These challenges had made her feel like giving up many times, especially during the first few phases when she first started out. Besides her business, she had to find time to interact with her children, who were very young at that time, and take care of the business. Every day, she could only sleep four to five hours and it was very tiring for her, both physically and mentally. However, it was her passion which motivated her and allowed her to press on. There was one occasion which she remembered vividly that tested her perseverance. It was an incident that occurred before Chinese New Year. As the process of making Kueh Lapis required huge effort, doing each layer one at a time, more time and manpower were needed. Furthermore, there were many undone orders. Mrs Liew asked the workers to work overtime and help out but they said that they were tired and wanted to go home and rest. However, there was one staff who was willing to stay back and helped out. With just both of them, they tried their best to complete the order. In the end, Mrs Liew wept while doing the Kueh Lapis as the orders were to huge and she was upset that she could not complete them on time. Fortunately, there were some considerate customers who understand her plight and agreed to collect the Kueh Lapis after their reunion dinner.
In addition, as during the initial years, her staffs did not report for work consistently and only turn up for work when they felt like it. Mrs Liew was quite vexed with their working attitudes and had to deal with store, both the front and and kitchen, herself and manage the store with little help from her staff. Despite the tough situation, she tolerated and pushed those negative thoughts to the back of her mind and bear all the problems, which shows that she is not a person who is easily defeated.