Running At His Own Pace

One might assume that success came easy for someone like Ong Tze Boon, but he reveals that it was anything but. It took a lot of personal sacrifice, determination, and some wrong decisions along the way to get him to the finish line.

- Anton D. Javier

When I found out we were featuring Ong Tze Boon on this issue’s cover, the first thing I did when I got home was to dig for my copy of Haruki Murakami’s memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

While Ong is known for being the Group Executive Chairman of architecture firm Ong & Ong and the son of Singapore’s fifth president, Ong Teng Chong, and architect Ling Siew May, he’s also an avid runner. Not only does he pound the pavement every day before the sun rises (weekends included — “Each day is the same,” Ong exclaims), he has also traversed some of the most challenging landscapes all over the world.

As I flipped through the book, which helped me gain insights into the mind of a runner, a particular line caught my attention: “Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself… In long distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.”

Something clicked. It made me want to find out how the 53-year-old elevated himself, given that he’s a vision of success — growing a modest Singapore-based firm from 60 to 1,000 employees across seven countries is no easy feat.

Portfolio: Given your accomplishments over the years, how did you elevate yourself and how was running instrumental on this journey?

Ong Tze Boon: Publicly, most people would know that before the age of 30, I had to take over the practice. At that time, I already lost both my parents and that set me up to sink or swim. So I spent 10 years just figuring out to swim.