Leadership is a craft–an art form whose fundamentals can be learned–but to become an effective leader involves deep self-reflection and the ability to scrutinize oneself. To survive and thrive in today’s intensely-competitive world, successful leaders must be adept as well as proactive. This is especially true in the early education sector, where proactive leadership uplifts the organization by providing the highest standards. Intent on building an international generation of engaged and accomplished young achievers, David Chiem (Founder and CEO, MindChamps) is a leader who is filling the global gap in education through his passion for cutting-edge research and sheer hard work.
The Turning Point
Remembering his first day of school in Australia in 1978, David narrates the thrilling story of his family and the challenges they faced. After fleeing war-ravaged Vietnam, surviving a series of life-threatening situations, and enduring a difficult life in a Malaysian refugee camp, David and his family arrived in Australia as boat refugees. The language was a barrier for him, as he came to Australia not speaking a word of English and he also faced trolling at school – but education was highly prized by his parents, and David’s life lessons and his parents’ advice made him a man with a strong mindset. “My father had always said that, for every one of us who made it, someone died.” David shares. “My parents always said that the one thing no one could ever take from us was our education.”
The inspiration for MindChamps came when David attended the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School in the mid-90s, where the head of the school said: “Congratulations, you’re here because you have talent, but now that you’re here, we’re not interested in your talent. You’re here to learn the craft; it’s the craft that will lift your talents to heights you’ve never imagined.” This speech was the intellectual epiphany that sparked him into thinking about the global gap in the educational system. The system drilled students on what to learn but never taught them the craft of learning. And thus, in 1998, David felt compelled to tell this story to the world and founded MindChamps. He knew that in order to fill in this gap, he had to bring together the experts from ‘the 4 Domains of Education, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Theater to synthesize this revolutionary approach.
Research as a Core DNA
MindChamps was founded in Sydney, Australia as a research center. It has a Global Research, Advisory, and Programme Development team selected uniquely from the 4 Domains of Education, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Theater. This Team is Chaired by MindChamps Chancellor, the award-winning neuroscientist Emeritus Professor Allan Snyder (Fellow of the Royal Society), who researched and coined the term Champion Mindset, which formed the basis for the breakthrough 3-Mind model of education–the Champion, Learning, and Creative Mind. MindChamps has developed its own proprietary, research-based curriculum and intellectual property that has been published into five books by major publishing houses. It is also the only early learning education group to have the world’s first integrated music-in-education program, MindChamps Music. This innovative program is now patent-pending in the U.S.–a status that is rarely granted in the domain of education.
Core Values: The Guiding Compass
MindChamps has five strong values at its core, in this order:
- Heart
- Integrity
- Prosperity
- Growth
- Expansion
These core values are built on an overarching philosophy of 100% Respect, Zero Fear which embodies MindChamps’ ethos of respecting the rights and perspectives of others, and at the same time not being afraid to celebrate what is uniquely who we are. “As we navigate the challenges of the unpredictable future, our core values serve as the compass that guides us and keeps us on the course,” David explains.
ChampionGoldTM Standard
According to David, the success of a franchise is about more than its footprint. Once an organization is caught in the cycle of constantly chasing numbers, it is difficult to escape that rat race – which can quickly erode its core values and sap the soul of the company. At MindChamps, the team was very clear about the values of the company from the beginning, enabling it to build a strong and thriving culture.
MindChamps’ ChampionGoldTM Standard is designed to create excellence by establishing the highest standards for preschools globally. It sharply focuses on the three most important aspects of schooling—the quality of leadership, the quality of teaching and learning, and the quality of the company’s culture and relationships. “At MindChamps, we’ve always believed that the moment we stop learning, we stop teaching,” says David, “therefore, we must always be ahead of the curve, but never be ahead of ourselves”.
100% Respect, Zero Fear
In building a new global education model, David has always believed that respect is very important and that no human being deserves the right to feel superior to another human being regardless of their title, family birthright, or how much money they have behind them. At the same time, we should also never allow fear to limit our potential, especially the fear of being judged or the fear of being wrong.
This inspirational leadership philosophy led him to be recognized and awarded some of the most prestigious business accolades such as the Master Entrepreneur (Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards 2020), Entrepreneur of the Year by the Australian Chamber of Commerce, Singapore (AustCham 2019), Asia’s Greatest Leaders award presented by AsiaOne Magazine & PricewaterhouseCoopers (2018), and many more.
Champion Mindset – An Absolute Necessity
Like all leaders, David has faced challenges in his entrepreneurial journey. Firstly, it was difficult to build trust in people about his powerful idea. Like the story of David against Goliath, David had to face head-on the slow-to-change global education system. Further adding to the challenge, David decided to prove MindChamps’ revolutionary approach in the highly competitive Singapore landscape, where it was up against some well-established players in the education industry. Throughout this journey, he learned the value of the Champion Mindset. “As our Chancellor, Professor Snyder says ‘In the best of times, the Champion Mindset is a valuable commodity,’ and with that wisdom in mind, I was able to add, in the worst of times, the Champion Mindset is an absolute necessity,” says David.
The Champion Mindset enabled David to move persistently forward in the face of skepticism and fierce competition. Not only did he fight setbacks but he managed to turn them into set-ups, adapting and re-inventing to keep the movement growing.
Finding the Right Balance
“For me, the notion of work-life balance is about following your heart – a calling,” says David. “A calling you feel so passionate about, that it’s no longer work. My love for learning and growing gives me energy and helps me to stay balanced.” For David, balance is about self-reflection and growth.
Being A Responsible Franchisor
As a successful franchisor, David has this valuable advice. “We must never underestimate the responsibility that we have when we ask people to invest their life savings in their dream business,” he says. “It shouldn’t be done just because the textbooks say it is a good idea to scale your business.”
According to David, the craft of creating a highly robust and sustainable business model takes years to refine. “As our Chancellor Professor Snyder once said, ‘It is one thing having a great idea, but it is another getting it to the world.’ And since then, I’ve learned that it is yet another thing to be able to sustain that idea at a level of consistency and excellence,” added David.
Benefits of Franchising with MindChamps
As a multi-award-winning franchisor, MindChamps provides numerous benefits to its franchisees:
- The ChampionGoldTM Standard with full training and support to all franchisees
- Comprehensive support from HQ in terms of legal, operations, sales, and marketing
- Extensive compulsory training of over 100 hours and accreditation in the MindChamps Way for teachers, regardless of their prior experience or qualifications
- PR and Marketing consultancy services to assist in center launches
- Comprehensive operations manuals
- The MindChamps Trinity Leadership training–to develop business leaders to achieve more than they believe they can
- Access to world-leading research and a cutting-edge curriculum through MindChamps Applied Integrated Research (AIR). MindChamps is the only early learning education group that has research partnerships with top universities around the world, with findings that are published in major journals
Quote:
“Education is the profession that creates all professions.”
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