On 17 Sep 2014, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam spoke about the need to adopt “meritocracy through life” at the official opening of the Lifelong Learning Institute, which aims to raise competencies in citizens, among other things. I was flicking through the news when this caught my eye. It caused me […]
Have you ever been encouraged to “fire your Boss”? Have you thought about “firing your Boss” yourself? I wrote a little bit about this in “Wish You Could Fire Your Boss? Why? So You Can Take Over?” a while back, and I’d like to expand on this a little more. Think of all the reasons […]
Everybody wants to rule the world. Everybody wants to be an author for the same reason. The word “author” refers to someone who has authority vested in him or her by virtue of the fact that he or she is an expert on the subject, has at least some degree of experience in it, has […]
Pacers. More people use them than perhaps we think. And I’m not only referring to pacers of the cardiac sort, but anyone, thing, or system that nudges us along, maintains a viable tempo and generally keeps us on track. Pacers are regulators. They help us get to a certain optimal norm, at least for a […]
But of course! Please stand in front of me. Now, bend forwards at the waist until your body forms a right angle with the trunk of your body horizontal and your derriere facing me. Ready? Prepare for the first kick. Say “Thank you!” Prepare for second kick. Say “Thank you!” Repeat process until inertia and […]
“Say what you mean and mean what you say” seems to have lost its meaning for at least some people these days. Whatever proceeds forth out of your mouth is no longer valued as what will be done, what has been agreed upon. Saying “You have my word on that” no longer holds water for many […]
If Abraham Lincoln had been a Singaporean, he might have said something like “……that the systems of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth…” In a previous post, “A Fort Means A Lot. A Last Stand It Is Not“, I said that forts are meant for area domination, not […]
You’re hiring again? Great! Always good to hear of expansion and increasing business volumes. Just a minute – what did you say you were hiring? You DID say you were hiring? Hiring employees? Why are you doing that? You must be wondering what I’m talking about by now. After all, there are employers and there […]
Depreciation. The idea that assets continue to have intrinsic value which decreases over time. Is there infrastructure, IT or otherwise, that you are dying to get rid of but aren’t doing so because they are in the closet and “have not been fully written off”? Why is that so? Is it because at the back […]
John Hope Bryant wrote a post on LinkedIn, “Ride or Die“. It talks about a manifestation of the Pareto Principle where 20% of your workforce does 80% of the heavy-lift work. That looks very alarming to me, don’t know how you feel. Yes, having ADHD workers is not a very good thing. ADHD – Actively […]
I’ve been reading and hearing about people lamenting the fact that their leaders “aren’t strategic enough” for a long time now, and this seems to have been rising to a crescendo. So I thought I’d weigh in with a few pointers. I’d like to say right off the bat that I don’t view strategy and […]
And by that I mean genuine leaders. Leaders whose basic interest is in improving the lot for themselves and for others around them. Leaders who believe that it is one of their fundamental duties to grow so that they in turn can grow others along with them. Leaders who aspire to make others “Greater Than […]
Many of you reading this are investors. You put your money in various instruments, and you of course do it with a view to reaping financial rewards in the short or long term, depending on the nature of the investment. You probably view investments as a good way of making your money grow much better […]
I came across a post asking “How does the successful CMO prepare for the Board meeting?” I was rather intrigued and asked the writer three questions. 1. At Senior Leadership level, is there such a thing as a “cost centre?” 2. Does the Leadership Team answer the Board’s questions about marketing ROI as a […]
Probably yes, whether you’re male or female. Before we go further, let’s establish a few things. 1. When you put men and women in stressful environments and make them work together and be dependent on each other for long periods of time, they will soon cease to act as working professionals towards each other […]
Recently, a few friends of mine had some sort of discussion about the Kra Canal and its implications for Singapore. A not-so-recent article on the subject was shared, which I thought still quite relevant and can be found here. I found that pretty interesting because I’d written a little something about it in a previous […]
It’s hard to write when your head is stuffed, so this will be a short post. Probably. I find that more and more people are asking me for referrals, regardless of how well or how little I know them and their businesses. In a way, that is a good sign. It means that the spirit […]
Outstanding! Are you tired of trying to be different, trying to “stand out from the crowd” and trying to be “outstanding”? I have good news for you! Stop that nonsense! Your body is comprised of between sixty to seventy trillion cells. That alone makes you unique! So, why do you try so hard to “stand […]
Say “Love” in this day and age and what comes to the hearer’s mind is spelt “S-E-X“. Come on, now, surely we have better minds than that. Still, it does seem to be so, from all I have been observing. “Sex” is a subset of what we understand as “Love”. “Love” encompasses quite a few […]
Do you feel as if everything is happening all at once, that the sky is falling on you and you can’t find the energy to do anything? Well, try this. First of all, tell yourself, “Stop it!” No, you are not overwhelmed, you just need to regain focus. Once you feel a little bit more […]
The TSA was birthed in the US because of concerns over the changing security landscape. However, a different TSA had already existed long before that – the Terminally Self-Absorbed. This is a class of people for whom Self has taken the preeminence. This class has been growing, and is the main reason why I find […]
You might think you’re getting paid too little for what you do, and what you contribute. On the other hand, if you’re really honest with yourself, you might actually admit to the fact that you’re really being paid far too much! How do you think you ought to be paid? By virtue of good pedigree, […]
Never Fail? Do you fear failure? Do you know people who say things like “I never fail, I only learn”? Well, I respect where they’re coming from, and I also know that language controls communications and controls our thoughts. It is not only a tad hypocritical to say that we never fail, it actually causes […]
Positive inspirational quotes mean well. You just need to know the meanings undergirding them, and be familiar with the environment in which they were formed. They are good to have in front of your face when you’re dirty, cold, wet, tired, hungry and miserable. They’re nice to remember when you’re reeling with a bloody nose from […]
Why? That’s the first question I ask. If you have as a reason personal ambition, I would tell you to get real and go take a running jump, we don’t need such self-seeking people in management. Well do I recall the day when, while I was still in Active Service, I happened to meet two […]
I suppose you are familiar with terms like “Unleash your true potential”, “Awaken the Giant Within”, by Anthony Robbins, and many other similar ones. Have you ever stopped to think about who leashed you in the first place? The illustration of the mighty elephant being held to one spot by a frail stake in the ground […]
Are you a Boomer, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z or whatever it is they call them these days? Is that how you want to be remembered, how you want to be defined? Do you allow others to label you and even take on those labels for yourself? More than that, how do you want […]
Conflicts at the workplace are often attributed to “personality differences”. Probe a little more and you get “personality weaknesses” that accompany “personality strengths.” So, when deploying your people, it is “wise” to deploy them according to complementary “personality strengths” in order to compensate for “personality weaknesses.” How convenient. Take two aspirins and see me in […]
Yes, all that talk about people buying because of emotion isn’t right. People don’t buy on emotions, and people don’t buy on impulse. People get sold, plain and simple. After that happens, people don’t justify their purchases logically, either, they just appear to be logical while reasoning away what has now hit them as having […]
How important is networking to your business? To your career? Do you go to networking events? Do you still go to networking events? Do you network actively at events not specifically designed for networking? With whom do you network? How do you network? I hope you know the answers to all those questions, and that […]
Are you someone who is constantly “Thinking out of the box?” Is your organization known for “Out of the Box” thinking and innovation? Why? Do simple re-conformations and incremental improvements represent “breakthroughs”? How often do genuine “breakthroughs” occur, anyway? While you’re pondering that, has anyone realized what the “Box” actually IS? You know what Russian […]
The concept of “There is no second chance in life” appears to be quite deeply rooted in society. It is manifested in various ways. One of them was that if you as a young student went to one of Singapore’s Institutes Of Technical Education (ITE) then you’re done for. “It’s the end!” as some people […]
I had a rather refreshing conversation with a younger person this morning. It was refreshing because he was giving off good vibes about his developing and sustaining good relationships with his clients as well as his suppliers. He was able to provide details about how he went about doing so, and how he visualized growth […]
Of course I made that up. Of course I made that up just to get your attention. There is much talk about constant change and the need to be adaptable. There is little positive action in that regard. Here are two for you to chew on. Grow. I’m a growth maniac of sorts, I talk […]
To be given a mandate is to be authorized to make decisions and take action in line with the intent of the authority giving the mandate. The nature of the mandate is very important. It needs to be clear, unambiguous and guided by universal principles. It needs to empower the one to whom it is […]
Excellence is really an everyday thing, just like being a champion is an everyday thing. I used to say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Sweat the small stuff.” Now, in the interests of those who don’t appreciate verbal nuance, I say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Do the small stuff”. Of course, what the phrases […]
Communities of Practice? A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession. The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger 1991). Just because there’s a community doing it doesn’t mean it’s […]
There is an old song which goes “Killing me softly with his song…”, to which the title of this post alludes. The song describes how the writer went to hear a singer and was struck by how the singer seemed to describe her feelings and inner tormented being with his song. She wanted the singer […]
Blind faith in the immutability of the bell curve spawns quite a few fallacies, of which the title of this post is one. It prompts us to prefer “dumbing down” instead of “raising up”. Of course it does, it’s much easier to dumb down, gravity is in your favour! If we raise people up, that […]
Links in this post lead to video clips. I’m not talking about the desire to become rich and famous or becoming known as a “Great Man” or as a “Great Woman.” I am talking about growing so much as a leader that others around you know it for a fact and you become top of […]
I am always amazed at how people will argue endlessly with each other over “which method works better” or even “which is the right method” instead of taking a step back, recognizing the doctrine from which the methods sprang in the first place, and then exploring fresh ways of approaching the situation in question. We […]
If we eat, work, stretch and exercise proportionately, growth takes place. If we sit on the couch, drink beer and eat potato chips whilst watching TV and playing all sorts of fun and amusing games, growth occurs as well, just that I am not sure whether you would welcome such growth. We grow muscle, become […]
We are enamoured of highly-sculpted bodies, rippling with high-definition muscle. Even couch potatoes secretly wish they could all be like that to some degree. We may not all want to have the huge muscle mass, but most, if not all of us, would certainly like a well-toned, fit and healthy look. We want to be […]
For domestic chickens, a chick hatches after a 21-day period of incubation. The chick has to peck thousands of times at the shell before it emerges. It is a slow, laborious and exhausting process, and by the time the chick pops out of the egg, wet and tired, it has probably pecked at the shell […]
Your organizational culture can be described as how you habitually run things around the place. If your culture is one of excellence, it will be reflected in the spirit in which work is executed and the manner in which people treat each other. If there is any level of toxicity, that will be reflected in […]
There was a Puma ad that said basically the same thing some time ago. What do I mean when I refer to “half measures”? Our society is prone to taking action, regardless of whether the action actually makes sense or otherwise. Regardless of what the reasons for the actions might be, besides the cop-out one […]
In yesterday’s post, I talked about being careful to empower only the right people. Enabling people is helping them in terms of ongoing character development. This is highly intensive, requires investing of your time and energy, and your attitude needs to be right. You empower people because you want to treat them well as people. […]
One of the buzzwords today is “empowerment.” We want our people to have greater autonomy, have more say in making decisions that affect the company and generally having higher stakes in the company’s future success. So, we get lots of advice about how to get out of the way, lead from the rear, let people […]
With apologies to Jane Austen. Consigning other people to hell as we define it, thinking less of them than we ought to, and thinking better of ourselves in the same manner, are all manifestations of pride, of prejudice, and ultimately, a sign of utter powerlessness. Contrary to popular misconception, power does not corrupt. Powerlessness corrupts. Power […]
Standardization. The rallying cry of optimization maximizers. In today’s innovation-centric environment, this might sound a little ho-hum to you. Which way are you inclined, optimization-centric or innovation-centric? Think you can’t have both? Think again! Really, this economics of exclusion has gone deep into the bones. Manifests in all areas of our lives, doesn’t it? Anyway, […]
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