Chief Executive of the Year shares his experience on resilience and the power of self-change
By JOSEPH WONG
After being crowned Chief Executive of the Year at the StarProperty Awards 2025: Realtor Edition, Kommons Realty managing director Wong Yau Long shared his lessons on resilience and growth with colleagues and industry friends. His win is a testament not just to individual performance but to a powerful strategy of resilience, collaboration and a deep commitment to redefining business in a fast-evolving market.
The award recognised Wong’s decisive leadership in navigating post-pandemic challenges, culminating in the strategic merger and subsequent rebranding that laid the foundation for Kommons Realty’s future success.
The strategic merger: A blueprint for resilience
Wong’s leadership was most notably defined by a strategic decision to combat shrinking profit margins and talent attrition in a competitive landscape. The solution was not merely to compete harder but to collaborate smarter.
"One of the greatest challenges we faced was the attrition of people and declining profit margins in an increasingly competitive and fast-changing market," Wong explained. "We made the key decision to actively groom and attract talented individuals while investing heavily in technology to enhance overall productivity."
This led to the successful merger of his former agency, Cornerstone Xstate, with Kith & Kin Realty in January 2025. The move allowed the integration of resources, leveraging complementary strengths and establishing a unified, scalable platform.
"Following the merger, we rebranded ourselves as Kommons Realty—marking a new chapter driven by collaboration, innovation and shared growth," he said. This strategy bolstered the company's financial foundation, secured healthy cash flow and positioned the new entity for long-term sustainability. Underpinning this approach is strict financial discipline: "We set a non-negotiable margin benchmark and we evaluate all activities against it. If an initiative does not contribute to higher sales productivity or an improved client experience, it is not encouraged. This financial discipline ensures that resources are channelled into activities that create real value, strengthen our competitiveness and maintain healthy cash flow for the business."
A people-first philosophy
Wong firmly believed that in today’s fluid market, retaining talent goes beyond salary. It requires genuine support for professional growth and a positive culture.
Kommons Realty has adopted a flexible approach, introducing work-from-home options and flexible hours, complemented by investments in AI tools to support continuous learning and enhance efficiency, he told StarProperty.
"Our project leaders are carefully selected and fully empowered to run their departments and projects. I do not believe in micromanagement. We have clearly established our vision, mission and core values, which serve as the guiding principles for every leader. Their responsibility is to align with these principles. We reinforce this through weekly meetings and structured tracking to ensure clarity, consistency and accountability across the organisation," he stated.
He credits his personal commitment to growth as central to his success. "Learning helped me to grow faster than the market. Only through learning can I chase and keep up with the changing market, gain knowledge to be competitive and steer the organisation into opportunity."
Leaving a lasting legacy
Looking towards the future, Wong’s roadmap is focused on two main pillars: Technology and People. On technology, Kommons Realty has embedded digitalisation and automation into its sales processes using e-forms, e-signatures and digital inventory lists to increase speed and accuracy. The firm has also innovated new business models, such as the Effective Business Unit and LUXE, to maintain its competitive edge.
The legacy plan centres on people. "We have started our investment in building a robust People Management System—a full spectrum of attract, recruit, grow, performance manage, reward and retain," Wong detailed. This 1-2 year roadmap is designed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the company beyond his tenure. Additionally, the firm is committed to sustainability, actively reducing plastic waste in all corporate activities to positively impact the environment and community.
The three lessons of a champion
During his acceptance speech, Wong shared the three most important lessons he learned on his journey, offering profound advice to the industry leaders in attendance:
- Stay hungry for growth: "First, the business environment today changes faster than ever. Competition is fierce — if we don’t move fast enough, we’ll be taken over by others. That’s why we must always stay hungry for new knowledge and skill set. Improve by 1% every day. Whatever you do today should be better than yesterday; whatever you do tomorrow should be better than today. The key is to keep progressing and keep growing."
- People are the core asset: “Second, people are the most important asset in any organisation. Success is never achieved alone. Everyone in the team is unique — our role as leaders is to see that potential and help them grow. The key to building a winning team is to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. When you have the right people, they will figure out what to do — you don’t have to worry about them.”
- Lead by being a role model: "Third, to be a good leader, the first person we must change is ourselves. It’s extremely difficult to change others. Leadership is about being a role model — we can’t control people but we can influence and inspire them through our own actions.”
While Wong’s victory as the Chief Executive of the Year is a powerful affirmation, he also acknowledged that the recognition tonight is not his alone but the result of his team’s collective effort. “To my wife Carol, thank you for your constant support and for taking care of everything so I can focus on work. To my partner Kenny, our management team, leaders and every team member — thank you for continuously raising the bar and setting new standards in our industry,” he added.
Wong’s journey provides a powerful blueprint for the industry, proving that strategic mergers, relentless investment in talent and continuous self-improvement are the definitive hallmarks of effective modern real estate leadership.
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