Aviers Lim, CEO of GasHub, Has Evolved & Molded His Mindset with Every Book He Read

For the past 26 years, Aviers Lim has been the CEO and founder of GasHub, a Singapore-based energy company looking to provide a viable and integrated solution for increasing generation efficiency, reducing the utilities cost of the end user and making sure carbon emissions are substantially lower.

In our interview, Aviers Lim wrote about the books he would recommend to others, what advice he would give to youngsters in search of their true passion, and how reading is a “mental retreat from the day’s work”.

What’s your favorite book and why? Business and non-business, if possible.

One Good Trade by Mike Bellafiore. Not exactly a business related book but to me the concepts and lessons highlighted within are highly relatable in the business world. These include the value of patience in striking at the right market timing and also reading the price tape which equates to understand the flow of the market your business is in in order to better deal with it and grow as a business.

Was there a moment, specifically, when something you read in a book helped you? Can you tell me about it?

It was when reading about standard oil and the Rockefeller family that it helped guide my thought towards directing our business model as such and to focus on Liquefied Natural Gas as our future.

What books had the biggest impact on you? (perhaps changed the way you see things, dramatically changed your career path)

In a small way, each and every book has various levels of impact on myself, moulding my mindset over time together with the evolution of my business which happened over a span of a couple of years.

What books would you recommend to youngsters interested in your professional path? Why? (no number limit here)

• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
• One Good Trade by Mike Bellafiore

The above two to learn to take advantage of opportunities and constantly balance between growth + guaranteed success.

In addition to those 2, I would recommend biographies of Elon Musk and Satya Nadella.

I’m interested in finding out more about your reading habits. How often do you read? In what format?

I try to set aside half an hour a day for reading. If there are no particular areas of interest at the moment I will go with the flow that the author has set.

How do you make time for reading?

I usually regard reading as a mental retreat from the day’s work.

Do you take notes or have any other technique for conquering the torrent of information?

Yes I do take notes when the information gets a bit overwhelming, however one important thing I do is to review and mentally summarise at the end of it in order to have a better overview of the information and also if possible categorise it.

How do you choose what books to read next?

It is determined largely by the areas of interest relating to our business and also recommendations from friends and associates.

Do you prioritize the books recommended by certain people? Is there anyone that you consider a book-recommendations guru?

There are certain business associates I do look up to more in their book recommendations but none that I consider a book recommendations guru.

What book are you currently reading and what are you expecting to gain from it?

I am currently reading Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, he is a visionary.

Most successful people give the advice “follow your passion”. What would you recommend to someone who’s very young and not yet aware of their passion? Where should they begin their professional journey?

Be open to try out whatever comes your way. You may take a year or even 3 to find your passion, but at the end of it all you will definitely have gained a wealth of experience especially from different fields.

Do you have an example of a mistake you made while building your business?

One thing I learned is that it is all about timing. Being the pioneer in the fuel cell industry within Singapore did not guarantee success as the market timing and conditions were not favourable, components were too costly, businesses were not ready to commit to green as readily as they are now. Thus the reason for our focus on the Liquefied Natural Gas sector together with the Government’s push for it and the global greener movement.

Do you have any models to separate the noise from the signal and make sure the decision you’re about to make is the right one? Even when you don’t have all the necessary facts.

I will first try to find out what others think of it and their reasons why in addition to my own research about it. But in the end it can only really be ascertained by trying it.

Links where you can follow Aviers Lim or find out more about his projects:

• Follow Aviers Lim on Twitter | LinkedIn
• GasHub.com.sg – official website
• GasHub’s Facebook page

All books mentioned by Aviers Lim in this interview:

• One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading by Mike Bellafiore
• The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton Christensen
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
• Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by Satya Nadella, Greg Shaw, Jill Tracie Nichols