Your Imagination Is Your Limit — Lunch with Daniel Weinberg, Senior Partner and Head of Corporate Strategy of Optiver APAC

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures.

Daniel is the Head of Corporate Strategy at Optiver APAC, overseeing strategic decisions in the Asia Pacific Region for the multinational proprietary securities trading firm. He is also a member of the Derivatives Advisory Committee for the Singapore, Hong Kong and Korean Stock Exchange.

Our lunch session gave us a chance to know Daniel not just as a successful businessman, but also an avid reader and stalwart believer in Karma. Here are some of our takeaways from the meeting!

Is there a life motto or philosophy that you live by?

I’ve got two in fact. The first one is ‘Never let someone who doesn’t have the power to tell you yes, tell you no!’. The second one and also the one that I insist on living by,

‘Your imagination is the limitation!’

Too many people think with prescribed limits and rules, that creates a ceiling for them and gets them stuck. Don’t do so, also don’t let anyone tell you no, there is always a solution, it’s just about using your mind and maybe changing the game. When you look at somebody and think that he is amazing, what he might have done was, simply doing something that others would have said was impossible. He simply thought out of the box, so don’t be limited by your own imagination.

Is there a habit that improved your life?

Yes! I read a lot and about a lot. Though I mostly devote myself to non-fiction. I really like reading about people, their experiences, what they learned and what great things they’ve done. I continuously look for good books and if I ever come across one, I just read it. There’s a book that I enjoyed a lot this year, ‘The Billionaire Who Wasn’t’. It is about the two main founders of DFS, one who became a well-known billionaire and the other one who nobody knows about, giving away most of his wealth. It was a very inspirational story.

Is there a lesson unrelated to your career that you would like to teach?

Karma. If you do something good, you earn credit, if you do something bad you end up in debt. Karma always comes back for you!

Treat everyone the same, and be good to everyone. That’s the lesson.

You never know who is the guy who is sitting next to you. Remember Karma’s a bitch and she knows where you live.

Thank you Daniel for raising 95 volunteer hours to ChinaVenture, Bishop Hall Jubilee School, AIESEC Hong Kong and more!

These awesome photos are brought to you by Tony Lau from Freehunter — an online marketplace for reaching freelancing talents in Hong Kong!

For more amazing opportunities, visit Time Auction to volunteer and meet inspiring mentors!