In a time when even the written word can be made to be untrustworthy, the spoken word which goes forth from our mouths tends to be undervalued, despised and ignored. How sad. How much more worry and anxiety trying to ensure that reams of “legalease” are drafted in order to protect our own interests. How […]
I came across an article about “Why Apple Employees Never Wanted To Have Lunch With Steve Jobs” on Business Insider Singapore this morning and wondered how many times the same thing could be said about ourselves. Ourselves being in Steve Jobs’ shoes, so to speak. Apart from the fact that I strongly advocate us having […]
A daughter ran away from home and went to live with her boyfriend. After a few days, she called home. Her mother answered and she announced, “Mom, we’re engaged!” Her jaded mother replied, “In what?” That would be our response as well if someone announces that they’re busy at work or business. Busy-ness is normal. […]
By the time we become seasoned drivers of motor vehicles, we have reached the stage of unconscious competence. A few of us might proceed to stunt driving and find ourselves back at the conscious incompetence stage all over again. Those who persist and survive go on to conscious competence. If they persist some more, they […]
I keep coming across posts and articles that talk about how contentment in your workforce is a dangerous thing, that it doesn’t lead to good business results. To which I say that if you have a workforce that is not content, you’re going to lose them pretty soon! What many people actually mean to say […]
Some of us might have heard of the “Third Side” and the “View from the Balcony” as well. While this postulates a good way of resolving conflicts by bringing in neutral (hopefully) and objective (pray) mediators, ensuring that the process of resolving conflicts includes as many helpful perspectives as possible is just one application of […]
We hear of it all the time these days. Email, from being a handy communications channel, is now seen by many as a dreaded, insidious intruder. I’m not one of those many, as you can tell. Stop it! When are you going to grow up? Calling email a menace, labelling it as passe, is akin […]
Have you ever made any decisions that you regretted later? Of course, I have, too! Do you then fall into the rut of not making any decisions for fear that the decisions you make might also turn out for the worse? Happens to all of us, too, doesn’t it? Intuitively, we know that indecisiveness is […]
I mean, like, what’s the actual temperature we’re talking about? What, exactly, ARE “Introverts” and “Extroverts” anyway? Who decides who gets to be cool, who gets to be warm, and is anybody ever “hot”? We have been pussyfooting around with the cult of personality for far too long. We have replaced commitment, dedication, diligence, physical […]
I like using this line when asked for a writeup about myself: “Contrary to popular belief, he does not drive a yellow school bus and is not a walking encyclopaedia.” I DID drive an old yellow Volkswagen minibus at one stage, and people would say in jest that it was a yellow school bus, which […]
They’re possibilities. Expressions of possibilities, to be exact. When will we stop thinking about our preferences as limitations? Yes, we all have basic preferences, as we are all designed differently, and our different preferences, tastes and inclinations make up for a very interesting and diverse mix. We all have preferences when it comes to clothing, […]
Not what you think. I’m talking about the Grunt, the Digger, the Mudfoot, the Worker, the Labourer, the Crane Operator, the Front Line Salesperson, the Telephone operator, the Chef, the Waiter, the Bus Driver, the Deliveryman, the Farmer, the Fishmonger, the Toilet Cleaner, the Maintenance Crew, the Security Guards. Amongst others. Know any of them? […]
One of the unhealthiest appetites we develop as humans is the appetite for amusement, for entertainment. The word “muse” means “to think”. “Amuse” means “not to think”. Entertainment today is largely amusement. If any creativity is involved, it is largely in the domain of the crass and grotesque, disguised thinly as wit. People have become […]
Yes, they do. They start off unplanned. Nobody sets out to build empires, they just happen. The better emperors remain longer than others simply because they know about human nature. They know that humans all have a will to dominate, one way or another, and so they play with this and other characteristics to “destabilize […]
Have you ever led a group of people, all of whom depended on you to take them to wherever you all happened to be going, and all of you got hopelessly lost because you either didn’t know the way well enough or got confused and took a wrong turn, perhaps? Have you ever had to […]
I came across Seth Godin’s post about “Emotional Handwashing” a couple of days ago and it reminded me immediately of the quality of Self Control. Much of the hype about “Be Yourself” is really incontinence that has been given a twisted sort of carte blanche for its expression. “No Fear” is really a manifestation of […]
I suppose you would be familiar with the phrase “Selling yourself short”. That is a misnomer. People don’t sell themselves short, they BUY themselves short. Think of the goods and services you’ve bought over the years. What percentage comprised goods and services you were actually glad to have paid for, and would in fact have […]
Would you agree with that statement? Of course you would! Great salespersons are always the rock stars, aren’t they? More pay, more incentives, maybe not so much more benefits, but which great salesperson needs those, anyway? You see books about great salespersons, you might have attended courses about selling like one of those great salespersons, and […]
That language known as English is just, well, quirky. If a judge is unjust, the result is injustice. If the judge is just, then whoever deserves it would be getting his just deserts. When you think of the words “just” or “justice”, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do the words […]
Some of us prefer certain foods over other types of food. Still others eschew meats in favour of fruits and vegetables. Many today are warned against starch, and there are some for whom meat is the major portion of their daily diet. The saying that one man’s meat is another man’s poison seems to be […]
In this day and age of Lean, Six Sigma and a general frowning upon anything seen as superfluous, redundancies are remarkably reprehensible and classified in the same category as refuse. How dare I even bring the matter up, the Efficiency Experts would exclaim! Haven’t I gotten it into my thick skull that that’s how our […]
I am often asked whether leadership is an art or a science. My reply has always been “Both”. Recently, I have had a rethink and now, if anyone asks me that question, I will answer unhesitatingly “Art”. In Singapore, where the worship of the intellect is second only to the worship of mammon, such a […]
Pruning. Painful. Cutting away. So that new abundance may grow. Pruning is essential in so many spheres of life, not just in agricultural practice. One may prune branches, roots, remove excess foliage, even take away some initial fruit, in order that more fruitfulness may come to pass. Pruning must be conducted circumspectly, not too much […]
Some of you would be familiar with Kouzes & Posner’s “Leadership Challenge.” If you aren’t, do look it up. They have concluded from several years of research, still ongoing, that there are five leadership practices common to most, if not all, people. One of those practices is called “Encourage the heart.” At first glance, you […]
There are many analogies we could use in life. One is that of using thermals to soar above the madding morass of the unnatural state of things we call common. Another is a sense of hard work, labouring, being determined, pushing endurance to the limits, until breakthrough is achieved. There is a danger of overusing […]
Choices, choices, choices. Some we love to have, others we wish we didn’t have to make. Life is full of them. This or that. Now or later. Cake or cookies. Us or them. Innovate or optimize. Profit or value. Lead or follow. (Or get out of the way). The list goes on. In the previous […]
We live in an age of instants. Instant coffee, instant milk, instant music, instant weight loss, instant gratification. “It’s now or never!”, “Last chance to win great bargains!”, “If not now, when?” are phrases we are bombarded with constantly every day. Our culture predisposes us to act first, ask questions later. We are constantly encouraged, […]
I’ve written previously about how you ought to make your CEO redundant. Now, guess what? Yes, YOU! In fact, if you aren’t hard at work making yourself redundant if you happen to work for me, I will fire you the next chance I get! Huh? What gives? Remember what I said about two-thirds? If you […]
No one doubts the necessity of research, testing and experimentation. The reliability and validity of hypotheses, assumptions, long-standing ideas, and even some so-called “facts” need to be tried time and again to ascertain their veracity. This is particularly so when worldviews expand and frameworks grow to encompass more and more of the known universe. Yes, […]
You know, the “In” crowd. Insecure. Insincere. Intolerant. Inhospitable. Indecent. Inhuman. Incontinent. Inebriated. Inappropriate. That’s what you will become when you seek to become “special” by joining, or by trying to join, an “exclusive” or “elite” group. I am not saying that we do not pursue excellence. That ought to be a lifelong affair! I […]
All of us want the best for ourselves. We want the best for our people. We want to leave a legacy that says we did our utmost, we were great guys, we were the most inspiring influence for future generations. We want our people to remember that we gave them the most benefits, the highest-value remuneration packages, […]
Refers to the pursuit of being The Hub of All Spheres. It’s good to aspire to be a hub, a centre of excellence, quality, research, resources, craftsmanship, production and so on. The real question is “Why?” Why do you wish to be a Medical Hub? A Conventions Hub? A Life Sciences Hub? Is it because […]
Makes no difference who you are. Sweet dreams, just as you please, for who am I to risk debris? It seems to me that what many people call dreams are shattered again and again, yet we dream on, desperately clinging on to the hope that one day, that dream would become real. After all, we’ve […]
Trade routes have always been a key feature of international relations. Since sea routes are still the most economical form of transport, nations are inevitably concerned with keeping them open, and keeping them safe. Where possible, nations will also try to have shortcuts so that the cost of transport goes down. The Panama Canal and […]
So how do you get BIG? Being big means that you tend to affect those around you. You cannot help it, you are simply too big to avoid it. Size does matter. Does it mean, then, that the big fish will continue to eat up the smaller fish? Does it mean that the smaller fish […]
What do leaders actually do? No, they don’t lead, they just ARE. Telling someone to “Go out there and exercise some leadership” is probably one of the dumbest things you can do. Anyone told that sort of thing can go out there and exercise surely some semblance of leadership, and it may pass off as […]
No, I haven’t gone bananas. Not yet, anyway. You might be thinking “DESIRE dilemmas? Who needs dilemmas, who wants to ever be caught in a devil and deep blue sea kind of situation?” Well, of course nobody wants that. We gravitate away from pain and towards pleasure. No, we don’t WANT dilemmas, thank you very […]
I was reading a post about supply chains all over the world needing to beef up their risk management programs in order to lower the risk of sub-standard parts making their way into the manufacturing system. The “Supplier Ethical Data Exchange”, or Sedex, was mentioned as one of the ways of driving ethical business practices […]
Offended? Why, are you an imbecile? Labels like “imbecile” and “moron” evoke feelings of contempt and damnation and most sensible folk would rather avoid their use. Which is exactly why I use them, since I can hardly be classified together with “sensible folk.” People don’t like to be called “imbecile” or “moron” and take offence […]
I call it the, you guessed, “Two-Thirds Rule”, and it’s measured in thumbs. With all the hoopla about burnout, work-life balance, need for white space and related others, I thought I’d share this for your benefit. Some people say life is a marathon. Some say it’s a series of sprints. I say it’s more like […]
You know what the Peter Principle is. The presupposition, which, I suppose, is at least based on some measure of observation, that in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Since people as a whole tend to fall back on the “tried and tested”, managers would tend to promote people […]
And Personal Assistant, Gatekeeper, whatever you wish to call that person by. In an interesting activity involving marshmallows and spaghetti, it was found that groups comprising just CEOs fared rather poorly compared to groups comprising both CEOs and their PAs! Conclusion? CEOs cannot function well without their PAs? I hope not. Those who are such […]
Ah, the domain of the sacrosanct, because it is OUR private life! Nothing to do with the entities we happen to helm, because it is OUR private life! In this world, where the levels of fairness and justice can truly be said to be remarkable, NO ONE is entitled to have a private life. Only […]
Our old washing machine had died, and I was taking its body to the scrap metal dealer near our home. My son and I were pushing it along on our trolley. After we crossed the road to get to the scrap metal dealer, we had to negotiate a staircase downwards. Without thinking, we were about […]
Helen Keller was certainly right, and she lived by that quote. Security is something that we naturally look for, for without security the business of everyday life becomes rather difficult, if not impossible, if the environment is highly insecure. Life seems quite secure these days, if we look at the statistics about increasing life expectancy, […]
It is often quoted that people won’t remember the words you said, but they always remember how they felt instead. Concepts like the Platinum Rule have become common knowledge, and we strive to give each other “memorable experiences.” At least, we strive to do that for our customers and clients. We all ought to continue […]
Yes, you read “without”, not “within.” I have been told that one way of getting people interested in what goods and services you have to offer is to tell them all the great stuff they can have without the sweat, inconvenience, effort or similar sacrifice they don’t want to make. It facilitates living the Philosophy of […]
I suppose you know enough by now not to nod your head. To me, compromise is never good. This is because I sense that the word “compromise” seems to have more of the implication of “Cheating-On-My-PROMISE” than of the sense of “…to abide by an arbiter’s decision…” I would suggest that the following terms be […]
I saw a LinkedIn post the other day vilifying what it referred to as “stretch goals” in organizations. I can’t find it now, or I’d put the link here. Well, whether people choose to refer to “stretch goals”, “quantum leaps” or whatever new terminology comes along, I know one thing for sure – I always […]
That is not an oxymoron. I happened to read Bob Sutton’s post on LinkedIn, about leaders needing to get out of the room, and was immediately reminded of another post I’d written, “Leaders Need To…Lead, Follow And GOOTW!” This then led me to think of the quote by Mary Anne Radmacher which I see quite often, […]
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