Cover True mentorship starts at home. This Father's Day 2026, prominent business leaders reflect on the humbling moments they realized their fathers’ quiet guidance was the ultimate masterclass in career success. (Photo: Getty Images)
True mentorship starts at home. This Father's Day 2026, prominent business leaders reflect on the humbling moments they realized their fathers’ quiet guidance was the ultimate masterclass in career success. (Photo: Getty Images)
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It is a universal rite of passage, usually arriving with a mix of affection and mild irritation: the moment you stop, sigh, and admit your father was right all along. For Father's Day 2026, Tatler looks at the simple paternal wisdom that eventually catches up with us all.
We spend our youth thinking we can ignore our fathers, only to spend our adulthood quoting them. It is an inevitable—and welcome—turnaround for most of us. No matter how many accolades you accumulate or how high you climb, there comes a humbling moment when you simply have to admit: Dad was entirely right. Paternal guidance rarely arrives as a grand, sweeping monologue. It works more like a slow-burning privatisation of wisdom, waiting for the precise moment of professional friction to finally click into place. Ahead of Father’s Day 2026, prominent voices from the Tatler community look back at the stubborn home truths they finally had to concede to.
The degree she didn't want
Above CEO of Stratford Finance Limited, Angelina Kwan leverages a formidable background in financial regulation and compliance to lead across Asia’s highest-stakes markets.
Above Angelina Kwan with her father and legal insipiration, Hiram W Kwan
CEO of Stratford Finance Limited, Angelina Kwan leverages a formidable background in financial regulation and compliance to lead across Asia’s highest-stakes markets.
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Angelina Kwan's father was an immigrant who, with help from the GI Bill, won a full scholarship to the University of Southern California and became an immigration lawyer. He spent his career helping members of Hong Kong and the wider Chinese community start new lives in the US, often working for free, and took particular pride in the deportations and family separations he managed to stop.
When it came time for Kwan to choose her own path, her father pushed her toward his alma mater and a law degree, certain it would open doors. She pushed back. Having watched how hard he worked, she wanted no part of it, and chose accounting and business instead.
"Well… my work in accounting and business led to quite a bit of legal work," says Kwan, now CEO of Stratford Finance Limited. She went on to earn an LLB at Manchester Metropolitan University and a Master's in Law at Harvard, credentials that later opened doors at the SFC and HKEX. "Dad was totally right about the law degree, and the people you can help by knowing the law. I miss him and wish I could have learned more, and wasn't so stubborn."
Kindness over visibility
"My dad was a man of few words, but one lesson he lived by was that people will always remember how you treat them," says Tim Yap, the entertainment industry veteran known for staging Manila's biggest events. Years into a career built partly on visibility, Yap had a clarifying realisation. "The opportunities, friendships, and goodwill I enjoyed weren't built solely on visibility or success. My dad was right — kindness, sincerity, and genuine relationships are what truly endure."
Read more: 7 biographies and memoirs about fatherhood that explore family, identity and legacy
The value of failure
Above Managing Partner, Asia for Hauser & Wirth, Elaine Kwok shapes the region's contemporary art landscape by constantly testing creative boundaries and redefining limits.
Managing Partner, Asia for Hauser & Wirth, Elaine Kwok shapes the region's contemporary art landscape by constantly testing creative boundaries and redefining limits.
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"My father used to say, 'Failure is good. If you're not failing, you're not reaching far enough,'" says Elaine Kwok, Managing Partner, Asia at Hauser & Wirth. "Looking back, I realise he wasn't just comforting me — he was teaching me that frustration and failure aren't signs you're on the wrong path, but proof you're testing your limits. Now I know Dad was totally right: failure is frightening, but making peace with this fear is essential for growth."
Don't waste my money and your time
Above President of Soroptimist International Limited, Puan Sri Siew Yong Gnanalingam drives impactful global advocacy through a lifelong dedication to the highest level of excellence.
President of Soroptimist International Limited, Puan Sri Siew Yong Gnanalingam drives impactful global advocacy through a lifelong dedication to the highest level of excellence.
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"My father had a mantra: don't waste my money and your time," says Puan Sri Siew Yong Gnanalingam, President of Soroptimist International. "In whatever you choose to do, don't just succeed — make sure you reach the highest level. That has always forced me to think deeper about my decisions."
Read more: This Father’s Day, read these 5 books about the father-daughter dynamic
Show up
Above Co-founder of The Culture Story and Family Office for the Art, Ning Chong has built a dynamic career championing regional creativity and the vital importance of showing up.
Above Ning Chong with her father
Co-founder of The Culture Story and Family Office for the Art, Ning Chong has built a dynamic career championing regional creativity and the vital importance of showing up.
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"One of the best things you can do in life is to show up," says Ning Chong, co-founder of Family Office for the Art and The Culture Story, recalling her father's words. "If you don't make the effort to show up, you don't experience life. Things have a way of happening or coming through when you show up and meet someone who can help you." It is advice, she says, that proved indispensable in her working life.
