It’s that time of the year, and Singapore’s Budget 2021 was duly delivered yesterday 16 Feb 2021. I’ve been getting myself better acquainted with economics and law recently. Those are two disciplines I’ve never been intimate with, having focused on warfighting for much of my natural life. That’s a big regret for me, but it’s […]
Land use is a topic that comes up time and again in Singapore. It is a great example of scarce resources which have alternative uses. The debate is about who gets to decide how much land is used for what purpose. The current debate seems to involve inputs from more sources with differing worldviews, something […]
Time and again, the press in Singapore laments about people not returning their food trays to the tray collection point after having their meals at hawker centres and food courts. Many schemes have been tried, to no avail, to get diners to return their trays. This is a symptom of a deeper issue, of course, […]
I was having a conversation with someone working with the Singapore Kindness Movement this morning. Nothing profound or philosophical, just what his typical day was like, how he got started and so forth. He had left his previous job because he felt that the management there didn’t do what they were supposed to be […]
I just saw what I typed for the title. That’s a new meaning for V.E.T. – Value Expression Therapy. Make your bed, do your dishes, clean the bathroom and come see me after you’re done. That’s what V.E.T. entails, for me. In Channel News Asia’s “Commentary” section on 18 Jan 2021, a line caught my […]
There have been concerns recently that the workings of the “International Order” ought to be aligned with the “Rule of Law”. That means an agreed-upon system and set of rules governing how all nations ought to conduct themselves in their dealings with each other. That of course begs the question about what this “Rule […]
This title may come as a surprise to some of you reading this. Then again, I’ve always declared myself, and continue to aspire to, lifelong learning. Core values, universal, non-negotiable principles, don’t change unless there is some life-changing event, but their expressions and manifestations do. What ought to happen is not a replacement or change […]
In many of the leadership classes I’ve conducted, I’ve often asked participants the question “What’s the difference between legal and ethical?” More often than not, I get blank stares or frowns accompanied by stammers, most of which seemed to attempt to assert that the legal aspect of things ought to emerge paramount. So I ask […]
I saw yet another of these kinds of advertisements on the side of a small van today. One can only wonder at the mindset which encourages them. Save Manpower with tech? What does that mean, reduce headcount? Listen to the language. Headcount. Scalping? Reduce manpower costs by investing in technology, or expand people’s capabilities and […]
A song by Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides Now”, came to my mind as I was mulling over this post. The chorus goes: I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down and still somehow It’s cloud’s illusions I recall I really don’t know clouds at all The other two choruses are similar […]
Originally wanted to have this on the site itself, but wasn’t able to do it. So, embedding here from YouTube.
We seem to be more concerned with the success of sellers than the success of buyers. Look at the plethora of sales courses, supporting software, apps, tricks and treats, secret sauces and so forth that all claim to make us better sellers. I don’t see the same kind of enthusiastic support for buyers, though. Perhaps […]
This is an edited transcript. Hi, Elijah Lim here. Title of this very random blog – HDSM, How Does Size Matter? I was reading a post on Facebook, I think, about people discussing the fact that Singaporeans do not rise to very high positions in MNCs. Multi-National Companies, international companies and the like, because […]
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I happened to read an article on co-working spaces this morning. Long commutes are bad for employees’ mental health. I agree. If I conduct an in-person workshop or other event overseas, I would arrange to be staying in the same venue as the event. After all, if I’m working long-term in Mauritius, why fly there […]
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The singer Diana Ross sang “Do you know, where you’re going to?” many years back, and I’ve played short snippets on my boombox during outdoor team building events to ask people if they actually knew where they were going, in a fun sort of way. It certainly increased the stress levels of the participants, but […]
The story of the elephant tied to a stake which it could easily break free of is well known. It is used by some as an illustration of how we can break free from ideas and beliefs which tie us down unnecessarily. I don’t think that is a true story, and there are some others […]
I’ve both seen and heard this going around, and after a while, it started to pique my curiosity. I hadn’t paid much attention to it because I thought I knew what it meant. An example would be security personnel manning the X-ray machines at airports, ports and other entry/ exit points. After a while even […]
“Don’t Judge Me!” Heard that before? Said it yourself? What does that phrase mean? I’ve heard a few people saying that to me before, and this is what I think it means. Justification You know that what you’re doing isn’t right, that it’s not in line with what you really know and believe, deep down […]
Or Collaborative Individual Action Most of us would have seen videos and photos of whales and wolves hunting together collaboratively. We would also have seen bees working together to keep the hive running smoothly, seemingly without instructions but perfectly coordinated. Perhaps we wish that our workplaces would function similarly. Do we remember that people are, […]
There is a song by Dan Fogelberg called “The Leader of the Band.” One of the verses goes like this: My brothers’ lives were Different For they heard another call One went to Chicago And the other to St. Paul And I’m in Colorado When I’m not in some hotel Living out this life I’ve […]
A parent in the school principal’s office was inquiring after her son. “Is he trying?” she asked expectantly. The principal smiled at her sardonically, “Ma’am, your son is the most trying boy in the school.” In the Armed Services of any nation, Training Safety Regulations (TSR) or their equivalent ensure that no harm comes to […]
George Orwell’s Animal Farm springs immediately to mind. Look it up if you don’t know the story. What started out as a sort of odyssey towards a “new normal” for the animals lost its bearings and turned from the glorious liberty of Animal Farm back to the dreadful drudgery of Manor Farm. It was as […]
States, organizations, large corporate entities, medium size companies, perhaps even smaller businesses, are all afflicted by an almost uncontrollable tropism towards exercising more and more control, enacting more and more laws and regulations, producing more and more Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and so forth. They can’t help it. That’s how they are. Therefore, stop blaming […]
“It’s ONLY an exercise! No need to get so serious about it!” Heard that sort of thing before? Ever said it yourself? How do you respond if you hear such a phrase, or smell the same attitude in the air? I get extremely irritated, my trigger finger starts to twitch, and I start reaching for […]
The Chinese character romanized as Tao or Dao means “The Way”. It came to my mind this morning and the phrase “Triggers And Overrides” appeared before me. Triggers are of course basic, natural, archetypal responses to thoughts about discernible events. Emotions are triggered by the thoughts, spawning more thoughts and actions including speech, physiological and […]
How do you respond to criticisms or to negative feedback? Or to challenges and “hard questions, for that matter? Do you slink away, disappear into the carpet, stutter apologies profusely and crawl away to lick wounds in some cave? No? Oh, you go toe-to-toe with your denigrator and give back as good as you got? […]
“Don’t work hard, work smart.” “You have to work hard to get ahead.” “Lazy people are more likely to become successful.” “Multiple Streams of Income.” “Make Money with No Money.” Do those statements sound familiar? Do you swear by any of them? Perhaps you don’t. Perhaps you believe in the quality of Diligence and have […]
This is a quote taken from Lao Zi, and he is of course the founder of the Taoist persuasion. There are a great many other quotes attributed to him, of course, and he is also known as the author, by and large, of the “Tao Te Ching”, which is the basic text of Taoism. Well, […]
Yes, Singapore’s Foreign Worker Problem, which really isn’t a Foreign Worker Problem at all, but a Fallacy Of Entitlement Problem, and which happens to be our biggest FOE, the enemy of our continued success. Yet another round of discussions, debates, assertions, suggestions and other uselessly sanctimonious vows to improve the lot of Foreign Workers, whether […]
Many governments around the world are acting to protect jobs, to varying degrees of success, that I can see. Protecting jobs is laudable and necessary, especially in times like these, during a pandemic. When you think about it, it’s actually throwing the spotlight on something many governments, corporations and companies have been trying to do, […]
I saw this on LinkedIn’s “Today’s news and views” column just now. Does the farm industry need workers only now? Hasn’t there been a shortage of farm workers, just like healthcare workers, even from more “agrarian” times? And, speaking of “agrarian”, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve heard people, whether in […]
I was once asked to deliver a talk to some undergraduates on “How to Ace the Interview”. I told the person who asked me to do it that I don’t focus on “Acing the interview” but I focus on “Acing Yourself”. I think the undergrads liked the talk, and there was a line of students […]
I was passing someone talking on his cellphone and heard the phrase “…but I’m not an expert, so I’ll leave it to the experts…” Having some of my own business to mind, that’s all I remember hearing before I was out of earshot. We’ve all heard this being said in one form or other and […]
When we read books or attend courses or learn a thing or two from the sagely erudite, have you ever been confused by apparent contradictions from the same source? What about apparent contradictions from similar but different sources? Take these four passages, three from “The Illustrated Art of War” and one from “Genghis Khan and […]
Translators have always been in demand because there are many languages in the world, and we all desire to trade and raise our value, or riches, together. That is our espoused view. The truth is that we wish for everyone to grow richer, but we wish that we ourselves will grow richer faster than everyone […]
Transcript, slightly edited. I’m Elijah Lim. The poster that you saw at the beginning of this video is pretty typical of posters that have been going around for the longest time and which say things like if Plan A fails don’t worry there are 25 other letters in the alphabet and of course the poster […]
Everybody loves sales? We should all bargain for what we want to buy? How about waiting for next season’s sale? All of us love such things, or so we are told, or so we have been trained. Of course, no one wants to pay too much for anything. After all, it’s our hard-earned money, isn’t […]
Service Excellence means Do What You Said You Would Do. It’s NOT Service Recovery, either!
Some years ago, someone told me of a new way of teaching students at a certain establishment. There would be no textbooks and very few lectures. Students were to deliver presentations at the end of each day, and the lecturer would then summarise and give inputs as well as grade each student’s work for the […]
I was reading about Brexit and Charles de Gaulle’s Last Laugh on Geopolitical Futures when this came to my mind. George Friedman talks extensively about the “crisis of the exporters” which basically says that the seller is actually slave to the buyer. In other words, if your buyer can’t buy, you’re in trouble if your […]
Yes, with a question mark. Not being an American, I have never paid much attention to Black Friday. I never thought it would figure much in Singapore, but it apparently has to some degree. Today’s local newspaper had a four-page spread featuring Black Friday sales at Robinsons. It caught my eye because Robinsons started out […]
In class this morning, I told the participants something they have seldom, if ever, heard. That is, we need to learn from our successes. Yes, I know that we have all been admonished by the poster people that we don’t learn from successes, we learn from failures. Yes, I get that, and that is obviously […]
Most of us hear about not staying in our comfort zone, but to move out and try whatever it is we’re uncomfortable with. There is truth in that, of course. Just remember that something which doesn’t portray the whole truth isn’t truth, it’s deception. And what is deception? Get this – 99% truth! I’ve already […]
I’ve had quite enough of being told to “Go down to their level.” Stop this nonsense. The only reason you go down to “their” level is to raise them up to yours. And the only reason you raise them up to your level is to raise them higher than yourself. One of my favourite quotes […]
Are you worth your salt? Well, ARE you? Do you receive your salary, your pay, your commission, your fee, with great satisfaction, knowing that you have delivered much more than the pittance you received? I hope you do. As one wise man once said “There are two tragedies in life. The first is not getting […]
Google yielded 1.2 million results when I typed “talent shortage” just before writing this post. The IT sector is currently complaining about a “shortage of tech talent” which, even if available, is seen to be “expensive.” Really? What are all our ICT graduates doing, then? When I actually started reading a few posts and articles […]
Confused? Really? There used to be a television series called “Lost in Space” which first aired in the mid-1960s. One of the characters was the “B-9, Class M-3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot” usually known only as “Robot.” The Robot is memorable for two phrases: “Danger, Will Robinson!” and “Does not compute!” It is […]
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