In their own words
What leaders say after working with this practice.
We have asked a number of leaders — with their permission — to describe the engagement in plain terms. What follows are their accounts, lightly edited for length.
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Leaders engaged
7 yrs
In practice
4.8
Average rating
3
Engagement formats
From those who have engaged us
Reflections from leaders
Zainuddin Azman
Managing Director, Klang Valley
I had expected something like coaching, with frameworks and exercises between sessions. It was nothing like that. The sessions were simply conversations — but better ones than I have most of the time. By the fourth or fifth meeting I found I was thinking more clearly about things I had been avoiding for months.
Leadership Companionship — March 2025
Roshini Lingam
Senior Partner, Professional Services
The Reflective Letter format was ideal for the question I had — I did not need a six-month relationship, I needed a thoughtful outside view on one particular situation. The response was careful, honest, and said one or two things I genuinely had not considered. Worth every ringgit.
Reflective Letter — April 2025
Fairuz Hassan
Chief Executive, Shah Alam
Our senior team had been working around a set of relationship issues rather than through them for about two years. The Team Conversation process was straightforward — no gimmicks, no forced bonding. The half-day itself was tense in places, but productive. We left with things said that had needed to be said.
Team Conversation — February 2025
Michelle Wong
Regional Director, Petaling Jaya
I came to Pendara at a particularly uncertain point — a new role, a team I did not yet know, and a board I was not sure how to read. Having a fortnightly session where I did not need to perform or present was more useful than I expected. It gave me a steadier centre to work from.
Leadership Companionship — January 2025
Kaushik Sanjay
Founder, Technology Company
I requested a Reflective Letter about a parting message I was writing for a long-serving employee I had had to let go. The response helped me see the situation from a different angle and the letter I eventually sent was significantly better for it. A modest fee for something that mattered.
Reflective Letter — March 2025
Nadia Ibrahim
General Manager, Subang Jaya
The initial conversation was more useful than I had anticipated. I went in uncertain whether I needed any of the three engagements, and came out with a clearer sense of what was actually weighing on me. I eventually did proceed with the Companionship engagement, and I am glad I did.
Leadership Companionship — February 2025
Longer accounts
Three engagements in closer detail
Case — Leadership Companionship
A new MD navigating an inherited team
The situation
A recently appointed MD inherited a senior team that had been close to the previous leadership. Several members were openly skeptical of the new direction.
The engagement
Six months of fortnightly sessions, most held in person. The leader used the sessions primarily to slow down and think, rather than to plan. No agenda was set between sessions.
After six months
The leader described having made two difficult personnel decisions more clearly and with less regret than previous experience would have suggested. The team dynamic had shifted — not dramatically, but noticeably.
"The value was not in anything specific I was told — it was in having somewhere to think out loud without consequence."
Case — Team Conversation
A partnership group with unspoken fractures
The situation
A professional services partnership of five had been managing around a longstanding disagreement about the direction of the firm. It had never been addressed directly.
The engagement
Individual sessions with each partner over three weeks, followed by a facilitated half-day. The half-day focused on three questions the team agreed in advance were the most difficult ones.
The outcome
The underlying disagreement was not resolved in a single afternoon — that was not the aim. But the partners came away with a shared account of what the disagreement actually was, which was more than they had previously managed.
"We left with things said that should have been said two years earlier. The atmosphere in subsequent meetings was different."
Case — Reflective Letter
A question of tenure and succession
The situation
A long-serving CEO was considering whether it was time to step back. They were not ready to discuss this with the board and were not sure whom they could speak to candidly.
The engagement
A single written exchange. The leader wrote a careful letter describing the question; we responded with a considered reflection over twelve days — taking rather longer than the stated ten business days, for which we apologised.
What followed
The leader did not make a decision on the basis of the letter — nor was that its purpose. They described it as having clarified what the actual question was, which had been less clear than they realised.
"I was not expecting to be challenged in the reply — I had expected reassurance. The response was more useful for not being that."
Get in touch
Contact details
-
Phone
+60 3-5544 8127 -
Email
[email protected] -
Address
Block A, Setia Avenue
Persiaran Setia Avenue
40170 Shah Alam, Selangor -
Office Hours
Monday – Friday: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday: By appointment only
Professional affiliations
- ◆Member, Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM)
- ◆Listed provider, Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp)
- ◆Registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM)
- ◆Compliant with Malaysia's Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA)
- ◆Recognised by the Selangor Human Resources Office as a local SME provider
Your turn
The first conversation costs nothing.
If something in what you have read here speaks to where you are, we would welcome a brief note. The initial conversation is unhurried and carries no obligation.
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