The Learning Performance

Our Heritage

2010-06-15T11:05:00.001+08:00

Back from 5 days of family trip to Kota Kinabalu. Besides the family get-togeher and the inevitable mixed bags of joys and tears, I really want to tell you how much Sabah & Sarawak has to offer in terms of eco-tourism. And it one of the best in the world.

We spent a night in Kundasang, at the foothill of Mt Kinabalu. The scenery is breath taking to say the least. The soaring Mt Kinabalu in the mist is alluring sight, and the stories & folklores of the land complete the romanticism. You can't help but fall in love.

It is just wonderful. Go there and you will be thrilled.

Overcome self-doubt & fear

2010-06-07T16:46:00.001+08:00

In my training sessions, I've seen it over & over again. It does not matter how "tough" ones (male or female) look, there is a corner of his/her being that is hidding in a grey area with a sky-reaching fence and a blazing warning sign:- "dare you enter!".

That is self-doubt & fear.

It may be physical or spiritual or just plan imaginery.

Regardless, in many occasions, I've managed to help these individuals to over the self-doubt & fear. The tools I used are actually quite simple:
- through self assessments to understand the nature of the self-doubts & fear
- gradually build up confidence in the individuals
- building capability
- getting group dynamics help the individuals

A very typical example. In a outdoor team building event, a seeminly healthy young lady just couldn't get herself to try out the flying fox (by the way, despite what some purists think, team building event is wonderful training event to build teamworks). To cut the story short, after a series of exercises, and getting supports from the whole team, we managed to push & convince the lady into getting into the gears, climbing up the platform, getting hook into the fyling fox line, and woosh, off she went. And amazingly, afterwards, she wanted to go for the second round! Self-doubt and fear totally overcome.

Archieving greatness has not been trademarked by anyone. Everyone is entitled to do that. Just believe in yourself.

Enterprise Business Architecture Project

2010-06-07T16:20:00.001+08:00

Last couple of months, I've been engaged in a Project Manager Cum Consultant in a project. The project entails study of enterprise business requirements with the aim of formulating an enterprise business blueprint for implementation of an ERP systems.

It is very interesting engagement. The PM role is pretty much straight forward. The exciting part is engaging top leaders of the company and business managers to align company vision, mission, KRA/KPI, from corporate level to SBUs. Invariably and not too unexpectedly, there was some discrepanies between what are said at the top level, and what get understood at the lower levels. Alignment of this nature is paramount importance within an organisation, and it just cannot be taken for granted that mesaages are being cascaded down concisely and pertinently, in ways to drive the organisation forward as a totally coherent unit. At certain point in time within the planning horizon, a self assessment must done to see if the alignment is very much intake as intended.

Destructive Innovation

2010-02-17T18:57:00.001+08:00

Just got back from three days of holiday in Bangkok. There has been a gap of 10 years or there about since my last trip to Bangkok. Despite what have happened politically over last few years, I could see Bangkok has progressed quite noticeably. This is post-1997 era. Development-wise, I noticed better transportation systems (MRT & BTS, lots of taxi!). There is just some kind of energy in the every fabric of the city. Even the English is well received, and guess what, even the taxi drivers could communicate in English, although very basic at that.

I guess that is what happen when to survive and progress, you have to be good. When the risk and rewards systems s purely based on how good you are, that is based on merit, things happen.

We definitely need that kind of concept. As an individual, as an organisation, and as a country.

New Decade, New Millenium

2010-01-22T15:52:00.002+08:00

So, how do you feel now that it is 22 days into 2010.

Shrugging off whatever sh*t (for lack of better word) that had happened last year, I do feel a bit of excitment and hopeful, to be honest. After all, it is a start to something, whatever something that might be, guess I would only know by the turn of next year.

Hope is a state of mind. It gives a positive vib, and put energy into your being. Thought things are stil looking kind of bleak, and the power-that-be (especially in the political areana) still going on putting misery into commoners such as you and me, I always has a serene realisation that it will turn alright in the end. It helps, like me, believe in God whom is soverign over everything.

New decade. New millienium. Let's has a new start.

When business not going well, what do you do?

2009-11-17T17:24:00.000+08:00

In this time of troubles, keeping businesses afloat is invariably the only thought most businessman has in mind. How to survive through lean time? This remind me of the so-called good old days. The good old days were good:- great in fact as compare to these days. I remember the mid 90s to even early year 2000. We were not worry about not having business, we were worry about anything less then 30% margin. You remember those time?

But like everything else, good times do not last. I believe that time has changed, and the way to do businesses, or to run businesses, is vast becoming an art of science, with myriads of technology thrown in, and thus substaintally different from, say 20 years ago. What I meant is this. If you think you can do the same thing today as you did 20 years ago and think that still work for you (yes 20 years ago you might have made tons of profit doing that ways), then you are into a rude shock.

It is just not going to work anymore.

It is a matter of math really. 20 years ago, your profit margin might be say (conservatively) 30%. Nowsaday, in most industries, that has been slashed down to 5% or less due to intense competitions. A wrong decision that swings margin of error of 5% would not have done much damage when margin is at 30%, but would immediately put you in a lossing proposition at margin of 5%. You can't just take thing for granted anymore.

Each step is full of unseen traps that could trip you and send you to oblivion. Just look at those failed American companies!

So what do you do?

Let start with a mindset change. Trust me, gone are the days you can start a business in the garage and becoming like Bill Gates or Steven Job.

Equip yourself with tools and technology available and leverage those things. To do this, you've to be open minded. Unlearn, and Learn. Learning is a life-long process.

Move ahead. Like standing along a railway track, if you don't move, the train will pass you by.

Take Charge of Your Life

2009-11-04T14:58:00.002+08:00

What does it mean. It means:

Learn ways to examine your surroundings and decide how to go from there.

· Set goals and attain what you REALLY want.

· Understand your personality and build your own beliefs and achieve what you want.

· Communicate better with people and learn how to accept responsibilities.

· Work better in a team and contribute without expectations.

· See the world in a different light and answer the question “Why am I here…?”

Malaysian Breath Centre - First in Malaysia

2009-11-02T13:47:00.001+08:00

This is the e-commerce website I've been busy with for the last 4 months. It was finally launched first week of October. Malaysian Breath Centre is the firts such centre in Malaysia to treat bad breath of halotosis. This website provides information bad breath, what it is, what it is not. The clinic (now located in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah) offers bad breath treatment program, products to treat bad breath.

If you think you have bad breath and as a result, you love life or career suffers, do take a look at this website. It is all you need to know how to handle this personal care problem.

IL DIVO RISTORANTE ITALIANO SDN BHD

2009-11-02T13:16:00.003+08:00

Sometime it is a touch of privilege to be involved in a consulting engagement that is entirely in different industry:- in this case Italian food business. IL DIVO RISTORANTE ITALIANO is located in Ampang (see url link above), and the Director called me in to help in putting the business into gear, and being profitable. It has been three months, and we've put in place a system to ensure smooth operation, improve services delivery, improved products, and capture data to know how the business is doing. And most importantly, free up the owner to do what he is best at:- cooking execellent Italian cuisines rather then botted down with paper works! Still have a bit of work to do, but we're on our way.

It has been fun. Do drop by to the restaurant. The food is great. Your host Vincenzo, a typical flamboyant Italian, with his booming voice is a fun guy too.

Successful Team Building In Genting

2009-11-02T13:08:00.002+08:00

The sessions was held on 23rd, 24th & 25th October with a customer all the way from Johor. We take care of all things possible, including coach transfer. It was great to see that the Team benefited tremendiously from the 3 days session.

Twitter For The Tweeple - Part 1

2009-05-20T21:38:00.002+08:00

What is Twitter? Well, where have you been.. LOL? Twitter would have to be the fastest growing site on the web today. It is taking the internet by storm and there are around 10,000 new users per day signing up to participate in this internet revolution.

Twitter is best described as a micro blogging platform. You are limited to 140 characters each time you do an update, which initially, may seem a small amount. However, as you become more experienced, it's just amazing what you can fit into 140 characters.

That said, Twitter is much, much more than that. It is like one huge global chat room, but then again, it doesn't have to be. It all depends on how many people you follow on Twitter. If it's in the thousands, then your “Tweetstream” will be running fast and furious with everything that's coming in. If you are only following a few hundred, or even less, then things are much easier to keep up with.

Twitter is also a great way to meet new people online, particularly those with similar interests to you. I will show you how to do this more as we progress thorugh this report.

How To Set Up

Setting up on Twitter to have your own account is easy, but there are a few things that you should be aware of when organizing your account. This can apply even if you already have an existing account too, so consider these tips and it can improve your entire Twittter experience.

The first thing to do if you don't have an account is go to http://www.twitter.com which is the home page of Twitter. You will be asked to either login or register. If you don't have an account, then of course you will need to register. So let's go through the registration process and explain it all here.

Registration

The Twitter screen will ask you for your first name and last name and will then check this is entered correctly. A green tick will appear next to the box.

The next box asks you for a user name and this is where you need to give some thought to how you are going to represent yourself on Twitter. You should remember that you can set up more than one account on Twitter, but you will need a different email address for each one.

Now this is where the thinking bit comes in. The first account you register should always be in your own name if you can get it. Naturally, common names like JohnSmith (there are no spaces in usernames) will already be taken. However it is possible to get variations on your own name such as John_Smith, or John_Smith23 or some variation like that. You can only use an underscore in a username. Hyphens are not permitted in the field.

It isn't absolutely critical that you register your own name, but I would advise you do if you can, particularly if your name is an unusual one. I'm sure the last thing you want is someone else impersonating you on Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter.

If you wish to register a business name, then you can do that of course, but make your you use your own name in the sign up process so you are identifiable and connected with the business name you register. The concepts and reasons for operating under each type of registration will be discussed later.

You are now asked for your email address. Email addresses are linked to accounts and you will only be able to use your email address once. For every account you register, you will need a different email address.

The last thing to do is to fill in the Captcha letters and then click on Create My Account.

The next screen will ask if you want to add any of your friends from the popular web based email programs. You can do this later if you wish.

The next screen presents a short list of people who Twitter asks if you would like to follow. Choose some if you like, but I wouldn't bother. I prefer to find my own friends on Twitter.

When you click Finish, you will then be taken to your very own Twitter account. You are logged in and ready to go!

Your Settings

Next thing we are going to do is fill out our settings and this is very important on Twitter. You will find the access to this at the top right of the screen, fourth link from the left.

On this page you will notice there are some tabs across the top. For the moment we will concentrate on the Account tab.

The information you entered on joining is already entered here, but now it's time to pad this out so people can find you on Twitter and you also make yourself an interesting person to be followed. People will use the information you enter here to make that decision, but much of what is entered is also searchable on Twitter and through various third party applications.

One thing to note is that you can change your username at any time on this screen. You just have to enter your password to do so. Although it can be done, it can confuse your follower base, so I wouldn't recommend doing it on a weekly basis.

First of all change your time zone to your own and then move onto the one line bio.

Your Bio
You have 160 characters here to “sell” yourself. Take some time over it and do it well. Don't simply enter a bunch of keywords as they appear totally uninteresting to people, although they may get you found. Use keywords by all means, but start your Bio with the words “I am” and then describe yourself. So you might put for example:-

I am a keen gardener and hiker who also has a passion for the outdoors, internet marketing and affiliate marketing who also loves social media.

Now that description is only 143 characters, so you could still get some more keywords in the bio. No doubt you can see the ones that are there which are gardener, hiker, internet marketing, affiliate marketing and social media. Using these terms in your bio will have you coming up in search results when people are looking for other like minded individuals to follow. As you can see, it is worth taking some time to get the bio right.

Balance of Screen
Enter your web site name or blog here if you have one. Make sure you include the http:// prefix to the address.

Your location is next and is also important so people can search and find others in their same area. It will also be important to you if you are chasing rankings on Twitter as users are ranking by their locations.

Protect Updates
This is included if you want to have a private account and you have to approve followers. NEVER turn this on if you intend to use Twitter to meet new people. They just couldn't be bothered requesting permission to follow you unless they know you personally.

You can now save your settings, but note here that there is also a link to delete your account should you ever wish to do so.

Devices

You can enter your mobile phone number here if you want Twitter updates to your phone. Personally, I can't think of anything worse, particularly if you have a couple of thousand followers.

Notices

You can have Twitter “nudge” you with a text to your mobile phone if you haven't updated in 24 hours. What a pain!

The Replies function is an interesting one and will determine what tweets you see that are prefixed with the @ symbol. This is how you direct a tweet to a particular individual. There is a great help screen explanation on this, so go there to make your decision.

The rest of the notices are self explanatory. It is worth noting that the Direct Messages possibly needs a bit of explanation though as to what they are if you are new to Twitter. If you are following someone and they are following you, Direct Messages can be sent that won't appear in the Twitter timeline. They are essentially private messages between two people. If you are an infrequent user of Twitter, it may be worthwhile to switch on receiving notifications by email so you can respond. Otherwise leave it off as it will just fill up your mail box with more clutter.

Likewise, the notifications that you have a new follower just adds to your email and I would leave it off unless you like the buzz of being told someone new has followed you.

Picture Tab

This is really important. When you open this page you will see the small avatar on the screen which is the default for Twitter. If you want new followers, putting a photo of yourself here is imperative. If you are running the Twitter account for your company or business, then your logo is ideal. But just put something so you can be identified in the Tweetstream by your followers. The graphic is often more important than your name when people are scanning Tweets and you will stand out for yours.

Design Tab

Here you can change the background of your Twitter page from the default. Twitter provides a number of alternatives that you can select or you can upload your own background. You can also change all the colors if you wish. Again, whatever you do, just change it so you are not running the default. It shows you have taken some time setting up your account.

A note here worth mentioning is that with the plethora of Twitter client applications out there, many people don't even look at your web page anymore. Still, it is one component of your presence on Twitter and is worth doing well. Later on I will show you places where you can get a more professional background than those offered here.

Well, that's it for the setup. The last thing to do now is to click on Home at the top of the screen and send your first Tweet. Something like, “Hi, I've just joined Twitter and am looking forward to meeting interesting people” is a good first one to send. Just type it in and click the Update button.

Next Week: Twitter Clients Applications

Life Mapping: A Vision of Success

2009-05-16T14:39:00.000+08:00

Success is more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life. Similar to a map, you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route.

Origin: Who you are

A map has a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now. Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, “Hi, I’m Jean and I am a 17-year old, senior highschool student.” It does not tell you about who Jean is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon introspection, Jean realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose, and that wars were destructive to human dignity.

Destination: A vision of who you want to be

“Who do want to be?” this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you would have a clearer idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Continuing Jean’s story, after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, she decided that she wanted to have a life dedicated in serving her fellowmen.

Vehicle: Your Mission

A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. It can be analogized to your mission or vocation in life. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself. Bases on Jean’s self-assessment, she decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a medical doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellowmen as a doctor in conflict-areas.

Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude

Food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you also bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you need to gain along the way. This two-fold assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. Jean realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills on medicine so that she could become a doctor. She knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something she wanted to change.

Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives

Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the travel time. Thus, in planning out your life, you also need to have landmarks and a route. These landmarks are your measures of success. These measures must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master’s degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master’s degree is two years. Going back to Jean as an example, she identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor’s degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medicine by the age of 27; earning her specialization in infectious diseases by the age of 30; getting deployed in local public hospitals of their town by the age of 32; and serving as doctor in war-torn areas by the age of 35.

Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes

The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes thus; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.

Stand Up! Be A Leader

2009-04-27T15:51:00.002+08:00

To be a leader, it is a choice.

When organisational goals are not being acheived, may be you feel really frustrated becuase of that, then its time for you to stand up and do something about it.

Take the leadership role.

Some people believe that great leaders are made, not born. Yes, it may be true that some people are born with natural talents. However, without practice, without drive, without enthusiasm, and without experience, there can be no true development in leadership.

You must also remember that good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their natural skills. This takes a commitment to constantly improve in whatever endeavor a person chooses.

First of all, let's define leadership. To be a leader, one must be able to influence others to accomplish a goal, or an objective. He contributes to the organization and cohesion of a group.

Contrary to what most people believe, leadership is not about power. It is not about harassing people or driving them using fear. It is about encouraging others towards the goal of the organization. It is putting everyone on the same page and helping them see the big picture of the organization. You must be a leader not a boss.

First of all, you have to get people to follow you. How is this accomplished?

People follow others when they see a clear sense of purpose. People will only follow you if they see that you know where you are going. Remember that bumper sticker? The one that says, don't follow me, I'm lost too? The same holds true for leadership. If you yourself do not know where you're headed to, chances are people will not follow you at all.

You yourself must know the vision of the organization. Having a clear sense of hierarchy, knowing who the bosses are, who to talk to, the organization's goals and objectives, and how the organization works is the only way to show others you know what you are doing.

Being a leader is not about what you make others do. It's about who you are, what you know, and what you do. You are a reflection of what you're subordinates must be.

Studies have shown that one other bases of good leadership is the trust and confidence your subordinates have of you. If they trust you they will go through hell and high water for you and for the organization.

Trust and confidence is built on good relationships, trustworthiness, and high ethics.

The way you deal with your people, and the relationships you build will lay the foundation for the strength of your group. The stronger your relationship, the stronger their trust and confidence is in your capabilities.

Once you have their trust and confidence, you may now proceed to communicate the goals and objectives you are to undertake.

Communication is a very important key to good leadership. Without this you can not be a good leader. The knowledge and technical expertise you have must be clearly imparted to other people.

Also, you can not be a good leader and unless you have good judgment. You must be able to assess situations, weigh the pros and cons of any decision, and actively seek out a solution.

It is this judgment that your subordinates will come to rely upon. Therefore, good decision-making is vital to the success of your organization.

Leaders are not do-it-all heroes. You should not claim to know everything, and you should not rely upon your skills alone.

You should recognize and take advantage of the skills and talents your subordinates have. Only when you come to this realization will you be able to work as one cohesive unit.

Remember being a leader takes a good deal of work and time. It is not learned overnight. Remember, also, that it is not about just you. It is about you and the people around you.

So, do you have the drive and the desire to serve required of leaders? Do you have the desire to work cooperatively with other people? Then start now. Take your stand and be leader today.

Leadership

2009-04-26T17:22:00.001+08:00

In about.com, here is the definition of leadership:

A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.

Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.

In business, leadership is welded to performance. Effective leaders are those who increase their companys' bottom lines.

In the current state of economic turmoil facing the world over, effective leadership is needed more than ever.

Think Not What Cannot, But Think About The Possibilities

2009-04-24T16:38:00.002+08:00

I'm back!.

Life been good. I'm enjoying the hectic and bustle of life, and the challenges that faced me. I feel great that I'm the overcomer.

The possibility of great things happening to you and me is real. Stay in a positive frame of mind.

Getting Back Into The Game

2008-06-10T21:29:00.003+08:00

Sustainability is the single most difficult thing to do, in anything. Take me for example, the last post was on Feb 26 2008. I've kept at it for best part of 2007 and early 2008, but stamina just wasn't there. So, I tapper off and eventually faded into oblivion.

Well, that is life. Nothing last forever. Good health, good fortune, successes never seem to last at all. Sportpersons could perform at the peak for a while, but soon, that will be gone. Just like the four seasons, just like death, these are inevitability.

My point is this. Look at the other of the coin. The bad, the not so good, the ugly, won't last forever too. Just like spring time after the winter, just like life after death, after a while, you'll be back.

I'm back.

Blog for Living? Guess Not

2008-02-26T21:59:00.002+08:00

Gosh, my last blog was almost 6 weeks ago. I wonder how could anybody blog for a living, part time. But I suspect the writer in me has not awaken yet. May be one day.

The latest happening in this land of "boleh" is none other than the election fever. Been watching fairly closing the American's party nomination battle going there too. The contrast is telling. I don't know, election here in Malaysia is pretty much a foregone conclusion, so no prime time viewing pleasure. In US of A, the excitement seems to be going on for quite a while. And winner and loser seem to change from States to State. A little bit of suspense and a little bit of soap opera, thus make good viewing.

Or is there just that kind of cynicism prevailing here. Say and un-say.

I reach for my remote control every time I see any self-professed esteemed politician speak his/her mind, of lack of it.

Gosh, my last blog was almost 6 weeks ago, ah, I think I was making couple of points here, but it may get lost in the translation. However, in this land of "boleh", who knows.

And I do know who I'm going to vote, just in case you wonder.

Tour De USA

2008-01-10T14:30:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday (5/01/08) flied into Seattle, began my 15 days Tour De USA. I'm on a consulting engagement for a furniture exporting company. Seattle is my stop to acclimatize, and boy, did I needed that! It is winter. Wet winter. Coming off sunny Malaysia, it is a shock to my system. But, my brother took me to The Summit, and the snow play was exhilarating. After two days in Seattle, I took Amtrak down to Vancouver, Washington. Weather is just the same. Wet, cold and miserable. A flu coming down does not help the matter either. Will be here till friday, and off to Florida on Friday. Hear the the weather there is balmy, in the 70s. Looking forward to that. After Florida, will be off to New York. Friend told me there is USD20 cheese cake somewhere at Time Square is not too bad. Perhaps it is something to look forward to.

What a start to 2008.

2007 - Year To Remember

2007-12-27T17:39:00.000+08:00

Closing up 2007. It has been a year to remember...to forget. Like Charles Dickens said:"It was the best of time, and the worst of time." There has not been many occasions to celebrate.

Successful business person has midas touch. As a business consultant, I preached that one should not left things to chance. Planning is essential to minimize surprises and increase chance of successes. But life can be crude sometime, even an excellent plan can fail. That sucks even dark matter energy out of anybody, and left with a battered soul searching and looking that flickering light at the end of tunnel. But when you're down and out, that light at the end of tunnel could well be a coming train! And somehow, you're not surprise the double knock-out punch too!

The hight light of my 2007 is my first eBook. Well, have not sold any copy yet, but at least I did something I always wanted to do.

And I set up couple of website. Well, not making a dime yet, but I've gain lots of internet marketing knowledge.

So, things are not all that bad.

Stay positive.

Looking forward to year 2008. There is an "8" inside there, so can't be too bad...hopefully.

If you've been reading my post, I wish you a successful 2008.

ComputerSecurityCare.com

2007-12-17T23:45:00.000+08:00

Have been rather busy in larking around the cyberspace looking "money making", "profit pulling", "auto pilot" kind of instant riches. Well, I can tell you, I've increase my knowledge about internet marketing, but not my wallet! In fact, I've spent quite a bit of money on buying ebooks, affiliated program, etc, signed up countless opt-in list, and have not make a dime!

Can't figure it out.

Well, not true. In my search, I've got myself a website providing computer security information, news and tips. I view it as knowledge portal. And I've fun so far doing it.

The url is: www.computersecuritycare.com. The contents is ever fresh, so do check it out for your consumption.

I'm shall you'll find it useful.

Market my eBook

2007-11-30T19:41:00.000+08:00

Now I'm an author of an ebook, that is a great feeling. Even though the sales has not been going through the roof, in fact, far from it, but at least I've done something that I've always wanted to do.

Now, come the marketing part. Of course, apart from setting an eBook store, http://www.my-ebookspace.com , I've found out that I need a minisite to market my ebook. You see, it is quite a complicated affair to self publishing. You can go to me ebook store, there you've find many ebooks , videos that definitely will help you along the way. Under the Software section, there're even have eBook publishing software to turbo-charge your publishing ventures. Good Luck.

Oh, the minisite that I'm talking about is http://www.fifthsynergy.com. Please take a look. There is a free gift there for you if you sign up the opt-in.

Training Provider's Guide to Start As a Freelance/Independent Corporate Trainer

2007-11-20T22:36:00.000+08:00

Finally, I've written my ebook. Here is what is offer

Stop Struggling Trying To Find Ways How to Start as a Freelance/Independent Corporate Trainer!

You Can Now "begin your training career with a clear guided direction"...

And Starting Being a Trainer…Realised Your Ambition

Dear Friend,

I’ve quite a number of people approaching me to enquire about how to start as a freelance / independent corporate trainer.

So, I decided to write this eBook to show the ways.

We will start off with answers to the most important parts of why training is a good career.

Then you’ll know

- How to go about getting yourself started;

- Understand the role of trainers;

- Differentiated the differences between adult learning and children as learners (extremely importance, many trainers made serious mistakes by not understanding this concept);

- Keys to effective adult teaching and delivering effective training;

- Designing training programs, developing Course Work Book, writing Course Outline, writing Session Plan;

- Marketing your training programs based on marketing mix of 4Ps + 1;

- Write your Profile that sells;

…………….and much more in 92 pages of book……………

or click here or cut and paste this link in your browser:

http://www.my-ebookspace.com

You’ll find the book under “Training Resources”

You get specific questions answered, like how to write your power pact Profile that sells, how to developed your training programs, with step by step methodology and with templates provided, how to handle your emotions, and etc.

Here Are Just a Few Of The Questions You Will Get Answers To Instantly:

Q. What are training programs that are popular and sellable?

Q. How can I pick an area for my training program?

Q. How to write my profile that sells?

Q. How to design my training program (5 easy steps)?

Q. How to write course work book?

Q. How to market my training program (there are 3 ways)

Q. How to prepare myself?

Q. How to handle myself emotionally?

Go ahead and grab this invaluable resource and begin your training career with crystal clear ideas.

Trainer Start Up Guide

2007-11-16T14:02:00.000+08:00

I've a lot fellows approach me and discuss how to start as corporate trainer. I've always given advice, but then, I thought, why not write an eBook on the subject?

After spending 3-4 weeks writing it (still a bit of editing to do before release and make tons of money, God willing...), then I was thinking, how to sell it?

After 2 months of research, I decide to set up an eBook website to sell my books (and up-coming books) and other ebooks.

The result: www.my-ebookspace.com.

It has been fun. Now, I know quite a bit about internet marketing. Like everything else, some are goods, some are real gems, and some are bad.

Leaving Behind Legacy

2007-11-02T08:33:00.000+08:00

In the news today:" Former world tennis No 1 Martina Hingis said today she had tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon this year and announced she was retiring from the professional tennis."

I think this is very sad. Regardless of the circumstances, truth or lie in whoever's part, the legacy MS Hingis now leaving behind does not do justice to what she has brought to her sport.

Life is tough sometimes, a single mistake can undone fortune and fame built up through years of soil and toil.

How often we've seen this in corporate world too. A company can be very successful, but certainly, it just gone.

Final analysis invariably point to the judgments and decisions that the leaders have made. It is not easy to consistently making best decisions. But, informed decisions are good and well sometimes.

Second career for Baby Boomers

2007-10-29T09:45:00.000+08:00

If you were born after WW2, you belong to the generation of baby boomer. from 1950s to the 21st century, technology, medical, and host of advances happened. The increased in knowledge has been happening in break-neck speed. We've enjoyed the ride.

80 Million across America belonged to baby boomer generation are set to retire, or already have retired. I've just found out retirement management or retirement planning is becoming a hot topic.

If you're falling into this category, the top question on your mind is whether you can retire with secured financial backing.

Regardless of your answer, the second question should be what you're going to?

Stay idle? Definitely no.

You've invaluable knowledge and experiences, why don't you share it with younger generations?

Be a trainer is a good option.

As a training provider (Adaptive Training & Consulting, www.atc.com.my), in fact, I've lots of inquiries from friends, friends of friends, how to start off as a freelance/independent trainer. I've given them advises, road map. Last couple of weeks, I decided to put pen to paper to write a eBook on the subject matter. I hope to give all interested potential trainers an excellent starting points en route to a reward second career.

Stay tune

Family Business - How to Let Go

2007-10-24T08:43:00.000+08:00

My customer's partner has a furniture factory, and has been in the business for the last 20 or so years. The company is making money, no doubt, but the business climate is getting more and more cloudy these days. Competitions, uncertainties, escalating costs, and myriad of other issues cropping up every day, and never seem to end anytime soon.

The business is run by brothers, unfortunately all of them lack any formal qualifications.

Blood and sweat and good fortune can take you somewhere, but the road has a dead end.

This is the dilemma facing by family businesses. At this point of time, the brothers know that they lack capabilities and capacities to run the business, but how to let go?

I don't think letting go is the main issue. The issue in the mindset of the family owners. Human are basically territorial. We build fences around our house, we put up boundaries to stake our claims. Letting outsiders into our cycle of comfort zone would be a frightening experiences. The family owners need to change their mindset by:
- Have a clear succession plan.
- Setting business goals and targets
- Put in monitoring and control systems
- Setting clear role and responsibilities, including the owners themselves
- Build effective leaders, managers and workforce
- Empower and delegates
- Sit back and enjoy

The missing part in the above plan of attack is to bring in professional managers. With right qualifications and concrete incentive plan, the owners can be ensure of, with certain degree of comfort, that the business can go on.

Fresh blood and professionalism is needed to get family business out of doldrum.

Just look at Microsoft, Dell, and Apple, HP, GE. These are come of the well-known corporations run by professional managers, after the founders/owners let go the reigns.

Hanging on would just be hung.

Oil Price and You

2007-10-22T12:08:00.000+08:00

Now that oil price has reached US86 per barrel, and I've seen some "experts" have predicted to go up to US100 per barrel.

This is an external event that you and me cannot control. So, there is no point in spending our energy in worrying about it. We should be focused and spend our energy and resources in looking at our business strategy, and see
- what implications has high oil price on my business? For example, the weak US Dollars
- what opportunities are there to capitalise on. For example, the soaring gold bullion price
- what tactical plan should I have to stay competitive, or stay in business

If you have done a business plan in the beginning of the year, you probably has a clear strategy to executive by now. However, if you still very much in reactive mode, then may be is about time to put planning into your business psyche.

Better late then never.

At Time of Winning, You Fail

2007-10-16T18:36:00.001+08:00

I love rugby. This love affair started when I was study in Auckand, New Zealand. Of course, I support the All Blacks.

I love rugby even though I don't play the game. I guess some of us are arm chair sportsman. We (at least I'm) haboured a dream of running onto the playground in an All Black jersey, doing the Haka, and beat the hell out of the other team (especially the Aussie!)

Sadly, All Black (AB), the World Cup favorite, lost to France in the quarter-final 2 Saturdays ago.

The Team purportedly is the best prepared team in the recent AB history. They cooked up a strategy based on rotation, re-conditioning, and a few other concepts that you could write a thesis on.

But, they forget the most important aspect of playing the game. To win. Especially to win the tournament that is matter in every four years.

Let me ask you a basic business question.

When customer come asking about your product or services, at that customer touch point, at that moment in time, is your people ready to win or would fail miserably.

When your business is down, don't ask your sales people. Ask yourself as the leader of your company whether you've prepared your people to be ready to make the winning a inevitable outcome rather than accidental success.

But then again, even the best prepared team, the odds-on favorite like AB can still lose it all at the crucial moment. At the time winning, fail.

Which means, that is no guarantee to success.

But if you can do something to improve your chances of success dramatically.

Fish Story Part 2

2007-10-01T20:37:00.000+08:00

The 16 fishes have the tendency of being shy. Sudden movement, or sound would immediately set off a furry of activities, sending them into hiding. They would hide behind the artificial reefs made up of small pieces of woods and pebbles and 16 pairs of fishy eyes would stare out at you. It never fail to crack me up!

Gradually, over a period of 2 months, something amazing starting to happen. Once a day, around 7pm, similar movement would only attract them to you, rather than send them into hiding.

Because it is the feeding time.

Natural instinct has led them to learn that at this particular time, food is coming. Their behaviour changed to suite that.

If fishes can learn, and change their behaviour in accordance with the acquired knowledge in order to do what is needed to improve their livelihoods, what more to say about us human?

Companies that do not have designed human capital improvement strategy is robbed off opportunity to become high performing companies. They are effectively failed to realise their potentials.

Continuous learning helps to inspire, improve and transform.

2007 'Forbes' 400 richest Americans

2007-09-22T20:43:00.000+08:00

To make the annual list of the richest Americans, one can't be just a billionaire. The net worth of those at the bottom of the Forbes 400 is $1.3 billion.

Forbes says 82 billionaires did not make the list this year.

Rank	Name	Net worth ($ billion)	Up/Down/Even/New/Returnee	Age	Hometown	Origin of Wealth

1	William Gates III	59.0	U	51	Medina, WA	Microsoft

2	Warren Buffett	52.0	U	77	Omaha, NE	Berkshire Hathaway

3	Sheldon Adelson	28.0	U	74	Las Vegas, NV	casinos, hotels

4	Lawrence Ellison	26.0	U	63	Redwood City, CA	Oracle

5	Sergey Brin	18.5	U	34	Palo Alto, CA	Google

5	Larry Page	18.5	U	34	San Francisco, CA	Google

7	Kirk Kerkorian	18.0	U	90	Los Angeles, CA	investments, casinos

8	Michael Dell	17.2	U	42	Austin, TX	Dell

9	Charles Koch	17.0	U	71	Wichita, KS	oil, commodities

9	David Koch	17.0	U	67	New York, NY	oil, commodities

11	Paul Allen	16.8	U	54	Mercer Island, WA	Microsoft, investments

12	Christy Walton & family	16.3	U	52	Jackson, WY	Wal-Mart inheritance

12	Jim Walton	16.3	U	59	Bentonville, AR	Wal-Mart

12	S Robson Walton	16.3	U	63	Bentonville, AR	Wal-Mart

15	Alice Walton	16.1	U	58	Fort Worth, TX	Wal-Mart

16	Steven Ballmer	15.2	U	51	Hunts Point, WA	Microsoft

17	Abigail Johnson	15.0	U	45	Boston, MA	Fidelity

18	Carl Icahn	14.5	U	71	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

19	Forrest Mars Jr	14.0	U	76	McLean, VA	candy, pet food

19	Jacqueline Mars	14.0	U	67	Bedminster, NJ	candy, pet food

19	John Mars	14.0	U	71	Arlington, VA	candy, pet food

19	Jack Taylor & family	14.0	U	85	St Louis, MO	Enterprise Rent-A-Car

23	Donald Bren	13.0	U	75	Newport Beach, CA	real estate

24	Anne Cox Chambers	12.6	E	87	Atlanta, GA	Cox Enterprises

25	Michael Bloomberg	11.5	U	65	New York, NY	Bloomberg

26	George Kaiser	11.0	U	65	Tulsa, OK	oil & gas, banking

27	Charles Ergen	10.2	U	54	Denver, CO	EchoStar

28	Edward Johnson III	10.0	U	77	Boston, MA	Fidelity

28	Ronald Perelman	10.0	U	64	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

30	Philip Knight	9.8	U	69	Beaverton, OR	Nike

31	John Kluge	9.5	U	93	Palm Beach, FL	Metromedia

32	Pierre Omidyar	8.9	U	40	Henderson, NV	Ebay

33	Rupert Murdoch	8.8	U	76	New York, NY	News Corp

33	George Soros	8.8	U	77	Westchester, NY	hedge funds

35	Jeffrey Bezos	8.7	U	43	Seattle, WA	Amazon

35	James Goodnight	8.7	U	64	Cary, NC	SAS Institute

37	Donald Newhouse	8.5	U	77	Somerset County, NJ	publishing

37	Samuel Newhouse Jr	8.5	U	79	New York, NY	publishing

39	Dan Duncan	8.2	U	74	Houston, TX	energy

40	Stephen Schwarzman	7.8	U	60	New York, NY	investments

41	Philip Anschutz	7.6	D	67	Denver, CO	investments

41	Sumner Redstone	7.6	U	84	Beverly Hills, CA	Viacom

43	Harold Simmons	7.4	U	76	Dallas, TX	investments

44	John Menard Jr	7.3	U	67	Eau Claire, WI	home improvement stores

45	Leonard Blavatnik	7.2	U	50	New York, NY	Access Industries

46	Eli Broad	7.0	U	74	Los Angeles, CA	investments

47	Steven Cohen	6.8	U	51	Greenwich, CT	hedge funds

48	Eric Schmidt	6.5	U	52	Atherton, CA	Google

49	Robert Rowling	6.4	U	54	Dallas, TX	oil & gas, investments

50	James Kennedy	6.3	N	59	Atlanta, GA	Cox Enterprises

50	Blair Parry-Okedon	6.3	N	56	Australia	Cox Enterprises

52	David Geffen	6.0	U	64	Malibu, CA	movies, music

52	Charles Johnson	6.0	U	74	San Mateo, CA	Franklin Resources

52	Samuel Zell	6.0	U	66	Chicago, IL	real estate, private equity

55	Micky Arison	5.8	U	58	Bal Harbour, FL	Carnival Cruises

56	Steven Jobs	5.7	U	52	Palo Alto, CA	Apple Computer, Pixar

57	Robert Bass	5.5	E	59	Fort Worth, TX	oil, investments

57	Henry Kravis	5.5	U	63	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

57	George Roberts	5.5	U	64	San Francisco, CA	leveraged buyouts

57	Charles Schwab	5.5	U	70	Atherton, CA	discount stock brokerage

57	James Simons	5.5	U	69	East Setauket, NY	hedge funds

62	Rupert Johnson Jr	5.2	U	66	San Mateo, CA	Franklin Resources

63	Robert Holding	5.0	U	80	Sun Valley, ID	energy, resorts, ranching

64	Min Kao	4.7	U	58	Mission Hills, KS	navigation equipment

64	Ralph Lauren	4.7	U	67	New York, NY	fashion

64	Patrick McGovern	4.7	U	70	Hollis, NH	IDG

64	David Murdock	4.7	U	84	Los Angeles, CA	investments

68	William Cook	4.5	U	76	Bloomington, IN	medical devices

68	Lester Crown & family	4.5	U	82	Wilmette, IL	investments

68	William Davidson	4.5	U	84	Bloomfield Hills, MI	glass

68	Edward Lampert	4.5	U	45	Greenwich, CT	investments

68	Paul Milstein & family	4.5	U	85	New York, NY	Emigrant, real estate

68	Gordon Moore	4.5	U	78	Woodside, CA	Intel

68	Stephen Ross	4.5	U	67	New York, NY	real estate

68	James Sorenson	4.5	U	86	Salt Lake City, UT	medical devices, real estate

76	Henry Ross Perot	4.4	U	77	Dallas, TX	computer services, real estate

76	John Sall	4.4	U	58	Cary, NC	SAS Institute

78	Joan Tisch	4.2	U	81	New York, NY	Loews

79	Leonard Stern	4.1	U	69	New York, NY	real estate

79	Steven Udvar-Hazy	4.1	U	61	Beverly Hills, CA	International Lease Finance

79	Ty Warner	4.1	D	63	Chicago, IL	Beanie Babies

82	Leon Black	4.0	U	56	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

82	Ray Dalio	4.0	N	58	Greenwich, CT	Hedge Funds

82	Ray Hunt	4.0	U	64	Dallas, TX	oil, real estate

82	Herbert Kohler & family	4.0	D	68	Kohler, WI	plumbing fixtures

86	George Lucas	3.9	U	63	Marin County, CA	Star Wars

86	Stephen Wynn	3.9	U	65	Las Vegas, NV	casinos, hotels

88	Bradley Hughes	3.7	D	74	Malibu, CA	Public Storage

89	Richard DeVos	3.6	U	81	Ada, MI	Alticor

89	John Simplot & family	3.6	U	98	Boise, ID	potatoes, microchips

91	Riley Bechtel	3.5	U	55	San Francisco, CA	engineering, construction

91	Stephen Bechtel Jr	3.5	U	82	San Francisco, CA	engineering, construction

91	Ronald Burkle	3.5	U	54	Los Angeles, CA	supermarkets, investments

91	Stanley Druckenmiller	3.5	U	54	New York, NY	hedge funds

91	Kenneth Hendricks	3.5	U	66	Afton, WI	building supplies

91	Bruce Kovner	3.5	U	62	New York, NY	hedge funds

91	Richard Rainwater	3.5	U	63	Fort Worth, TX	real estate, energy, insurance

91	Ira Rennert	3.5	U	73	New York, NY	investments

91	Daniel Ziff	3.5	U	35	New York, NY	inheritance, hedge funds

91	Dirk Ziff	3.5	U	43	New York, NY	inheritance, hedge funds

91	Robert Ziff	3.5	U	41	New York, NY	inheritance, hedge funds

102	Haim Saban	3.4	U	62	Beverly Hills, CA	television

102	Richard Schulze	3.4	D	66	Edina, MN	Best Buy

102	Dennis Washington	3.4	U	73	Missoula, MT	construction, mining

105	David Bonderman	3.3	N	64	Fort Worth, TX	leveraged buyouts

105	Matthew Bucksbaum & family	3.3	U	81	Chicago, IL	real estate

105	Paul Tudor Jones II	3.3	U	53	Greenwich, CT	hedge funds

108	Edgar Bronfman Sr	3.2	E	78	New York, NY	liquor

108	Charles Dolan & family	3.2	U	80	Oyster Bay, NY	Cablevision Systems

108	Harold Hamm	3.2	N	61	Oklahoma City, OK	Continental Resources

108	Peter Kellogg	3.2	U	65	Short Hills, NJ	investments

108	Leonard Lauder	3.2	U	74	New York, NY	Estee Lauder

108	Ronald Lauder	3.2	U	63	New York, NY	Estee Lauder

114	Gary Burrell	3.1	U	70	Stilwell, KS	navigation equipment

114	A Jerrold Perenchio	3.1	U	76	Bel Air, CA	Univision

114	Carl Pohlad	3.1	U	92	Minneapolis, MN	banking

117	Lee Bass	3.0	E	51	Fort Worth, TX	oil, investments

117	Sid Bass	3.0	E	64	Fort Worth, TX	oil, investments

117	Kenneth Griffin	3.0	U	38	Chicago, IL	hedge funds

117	Henry Hillman	3.0	E	88	Pittsburgh, PA	industrialist

117	Richard LeFrak & family	3.0	N	62	New York, NY	real estate

117	T Boone Pickens	3.0	U	79	Dallas, TX	oil & gas, investments

117	Thomas Pritzker	3.0	U	57	Chicago, IL	hotels, investments

117	Mitchell Rales	3.0	U	51	Washington, DC	Danaher Corp

117	Donald Schneider	3.0	U	71	Green Bay, WI	trucking

117	John Sobrato & family	3.0	U	68	Atherton, CA	real estate

117	Patrick Soon-Shiong	3.0	D	55	Los Angeles, CA	generic drugs

117	Steven Spielberg	3.0	U	60	Pacific Palisades, CA	movies

117	Donald Trump	3.0	U	61	New York, NY	real estate

130	Victor Fung	2.9	U	61	Hong Kong	distribution

130	Richard Kinder	2.9	U	63	Houston, TX	pipelines

130	Melvin Simon	2.9	U	80	Indianapolis, IN	real estate

130	Clemmie Spangler Jr	2.9	U	75	Charlotte, NC	investments

130	Ronda Stryker	2.9	U	53	Kalamazoo, MI	Stryker Corp.

135	James Coulter	2.8	N	47	San Francisco, CA	leveraged buyouts

135	Maurice Greenberg	2.8	E	82	New York, NY	American International Group

135	Amos Hostetter Jr	2.8	U	70	Boston, MA	cable television

135	Pauline MacMillan Keinath	2.8	U	75	St Louis, MO	inheritance

135	Cargill MacMillan Jr	2.8	U	80	Wayzata, MN	inheritance

135	John MacMillan III	2.8	U	79	Hillsboro Beach, FL	inheritance

135	Whitney MacMillan	2.8	U	78	Minneapolis, MN	inheritance

135	Craig McCaw	2.8	U	58	Seattle, WA	McCaw Cellular

135	George Mitchell	2.8	U	88	The Woodlands, TX	Mitchell Energy

135	Marion MacMillan Pictet	2.8	U	75	Hamilton, Bermuda	inheritance

135	Penny Pritzker	2.8	U	48	Chicago, IL	hotels, investments

135	Steven Rales	2.8	U	56	Washington, DC	Danaher Corp

135	T Denny Sanford	2.8	U	71	Sioux Falls, SD	Banking, credit cards

135	Leslie Wexner	2.8	D	70	New Albany, OH	Limited Brands

149	Ray Dolby	2.7	U	74	San Francisco, CA	Dolby Laboratories

149	Barbara Piasecka Johnson	2.7	D	70	Monte Carlo, Monaco	inheritance

149	Roger Penske	2.7	U	70	Birmingham, MI	cars

149	Anthony Pritzker	2.7	U	46	Los Angeles, CA	hotels, investments

149	Daniel Pritzker	2.7	U	48	Marin County, CA	hotels, investments

149	James Pritzker	2.7	U	56	Chicago, IL	hotels, investments

149	Jay Robert (JB) Pritzker	2.7	U	42	Evanston, IL	hotels, investments

149	Jean (Gigi) Pritzker	2.7	U	45	Chicago, IL	hotels, investments

149	Karen Pritzker	2.7	U	49	New Haven, CT	hotels, investments

149	Linda Pritzker	2.7	U	53	St Ignatius, MT	hotels, investments

149	David Rockefeller Sr	2.7	U	92	New York, NY	Standard Oil, banking

149	Glen Taylor	2.7	U	66	Mankato, MN	printing

161	Mark Cuban	2.6	U	49	Dallas, TX	Broadcast.com

161	John Pritzker	2.6	U	54	San Francisco, CA	hotels, investments

161	J Joseph Ricketts & family	2.6	U	66	Omaha, NE	TD Ameritrade

161	Wilma Tisch	2.6	U	80	New York, NY	Loews

165	Leonore Annenberg	2.5	U	89	Wynnewood, PA	publishing

165	Edward Bass	2.5	E	62	Fort Worth, TX	oil, investments

165	Charles Brandes	2.5	U	64	San Diego, CA	money management

165	William Conway Jr	2.5	N	58	McLean, VA	leveraged buyouts

165	Daniel D'Aniello	2.5	N	61	Vienna, VA	leveraged buyouts

165	Jim Davis & family	2.5	U	64	Newton, MA	New Balance

165	Malcolm Glazer & family	2.5	U	79	Palm Beach, FL	sports teams, real estate

165	David Gottesman	2.5	E	81	Rye, NY	investments

165	H Wayne Huizenga	2.5	U	69	Fort Lauderdale, FL	investments

165	Ann Walton Kroenke	2.5	D	57	Columbia, MO	Wal-Mart

165	Theodore Lerner	2.5	U	81	Chevy Chase, MD	real estate

165	Mary Alice Dorrance Malone	2.5	U	57	Coatesville, PA	inheritance

165	Michael Milken	2.5	U	61	Los Angeles, CA	investments

165	John Paulson	2.5	N	51	New York, NY	Hedge Funds

165	Peter Peterson	2.5	N	81	New York, NY	Blackstone Group

165	Robert Rich Jr	2.5	U	66	Islamorada, FL	nondairy creamer

165	David Rubenstein	2.5	N	58	Bethesda, MD	leveraged buyouts

165	Lynn Schusterman	2.5	N	68	Tulsa, OK	Oil and gas

165	David Shaw	2.5	U	56	New York, NY	hedge funds

165	Evgeny (Eugene) Shvidler	2.5	U	43	London, United Kingdom	Millhouse Capital

165	David Sun	2.5	R	56	Fountain Valley, CA	computer memory

165	John Tu	2.5	R	67	Fountain Valley, CA	computer memory

165	Oprah Winfrey	2.5	U	53	Chicago, IL	television

188	Bennett Dorrance	2.4	U	58	Paradise Valley, AZ	inheritance

188	Gordon Getty	2.4	U	73	San Francisco, CA	inheritance, oil

188	William Randolph Hearst III	2.4	U	58	San Francisco, CA	Hearst Corp

188	Martha Ingram & family	2.4	D	72	Nashville, TN	Ingram Industries

188	John Malone	2.4	U	66	Parker, CO	cable television

188	Frederick Smith	2.4	U	63	Memphis, TN	FedEx

188	Mortimer Zuckerman	2.4	D	70	New York, NY	real estate, media

195	Thomas Barrack	2.3	U	60	Los Angeles, CA	Colony Capital

195	Charles Butt & family	2.3	U	69	San Antonio, TX	supermarkets

195	William Hilton	2.3	U	79	Los Angeles, CA	hotels, casinos

195	Carl Lindner Jr & family	2.3	E	88	Cincinnati, OH	investments

195	Henry Nicholas III	2.3	U	48	Laguna Hills, CA	Broadcom

195	Nicholas Pritzker II	2.3	U	63	Chicago, IL	hotels, investments

195	Edward Roski Jr	2.3	U	68	Los Angeles, CA	real estate

195	Henry Samueli	2.3	U	53	Newport Beach, CA	Broadcom

195	Robert E "Ted" Turner	2.3	U	68	Lamont, FL	cable television

204	Franklin Booth Jr	2.2	U	84	Los Angeles, CA	Berkshire Hathaway

204	Phillip Frost	2.2	U	70	Miami, FL	Ivax

204	Barbara Carlson Gage & family	2.2	U	65	Minneapolis, MN	Carlson Cos.

204	Tom Gores	2.2	U	43	Beverly Hills, CA	leveraged buyouts

204	Jess Jackson	2.2	E	77	Healdsburg, CA	Jackson Family Wines

204	H Fisk Johnson	2.2	U	49	Racine, WI	SC Johnson & Sons

204	Imogene Powers Johnson	2.2	U	77	Racine, WI	SC Johnson & Sons

204	S Curtis Johnson	2.2	U	52	Racine, WI	SC Johnson & Sons

204	Helen Johnson-Leipold	2.2	U	50	Racine, WI	SC Johnson & Sons

204	Winnie Johnson-Marquart	2.2	U	48	Virginia Beach, VA	SC Johnson & Sons

204	Omid Kordestani	2.2	U	43	Atherton, CA	Google

204	E Stanley Kroenke	2.2	U	60	Columbia, MO	sports, real estate

204	Nancy Walton Laurie	2.2	E	56	Columbia, MO	Wal-Mart

204	Alfred Mann	2.2	E	81	Los Angeles, CA	inventor, entrepreneur

204	John Marriott Jr	2.2	U	75	Potomac, MD	hotels

204	Marilyn Carlson Nelson & family	2.2	U	68	Minneapolis, MN	Carlson Cos

220	S Daniel Abraham	2.1	U	83	Palm Beach, FL	Slim-Fast

220	John Anderson	2.1	U	90	Bel Air, CA	investments

220	Neil Bluhm	2.1	U	69	Chicago, IL	real estate

220	John Catsimatidis	2.1	R	59	New York, NY	Oil, real estate, supermarkets

220	Phoebe Hearst Cooke	2.1	U	80	San Francisco, CA	Hearst Corp

220	Archie Aldis "Red" Emmerson	2.1	U	78	Anderson, CA	timberland, lumber mills

220	Austin Hearst	2.1	U	55	New York, NY	Hearst Corp

220	David Hearst Jr	2.1	U	62	Los Angeles, CA	Hearst Corp

220	George Hearst Jr	2.1	U	80	Los Angeles, CA	Hearst Corp

220	James Leprino	2.1	U	69	Denver, CO	cheese

220	Richard Marriott	2.1	U	68	Potomac, MD	hotels

220	Clayton Mathile	2.1	U	66	Dayton, OH	Iams

220	Aubrey McClendon	2.1	U	48	Oklahoma City, OK	Oil

220	John Morgridge	2.1	U	74	Portola Valley, CA	Cisco

220	Ernest Rady	2.1	D	70	San Diego, CA	banking, insurance

220	Phillip Ruffin	2.1	U	72	Wichita, KS	casinos, real estate

220	Jon Stryker	2.1	U	49	Kalamazoo, MI	Stryker Corp.

220	Tom Ward	2.1	U	48	Edmond, OK	Chesapeake Energy

220	William Wrigley Jr	2.1	U	43	Lake Forest, IL	chewing gum

239	Herbert Allen Jr & family	2.0	E	67	New York, NY	investment banking

239	Frank Batten Sr	2.0	U	80	Virginia Beach, VA	Landmark

239	Alan Casden	2.0	U	61	Beverly Hills, CA	real estate

239	David Filo	2.0	D	41	Palo Alto, CA	Yahoo

239	J Christopher Flowers	2.0	U	49	New York, NY	investments

239	B Thomas Golisano	2.0	U	65	Mendon, NY	Paychex

239	Joshua Harris	2.0	N	42	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

239	James Jannard	2.0	U	58	San Juan Islands, WA	Oakley

239	James Kim & family	2.0	U	71	Bryn Mawr, PA	microchips

239	William Koch	2.0	U	67	Palm Beach, FL	oil, investments

239	Leslie Lampton	2.0	N	82	Jackson, MS	oil and chemicals refining

239	Thomas Lee	2.0	U	63	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

239	Harry Macklowe	2.0	N	70	New York, NY	real estate

239	Margaret Magerko	2.0	E	41	Belle Vernon, PA	84 Lumber

239	Joseph Mansueto	2.0	U	51	Chicago, IL	Morningstar

239	Bernard Marcus	2.0	U	78	Atlanta, GA	Home Depot

239	Frederik GH Meijer & family	2.0	R	87	Grand Rapids, MI	Supermarkets

239	Charles Munger	2.0	U	83	Los Angeles, CA	Berkshire Hathaway

239	Sheldon Solow	2.0	U	79	New York, NY	real estate

239	Jerry Speyer	2.0	N	67	New York, NY	real estate

239	R Stanford	2.0	N	57	St Croix, VI	Stanford Financial Group

239	David Tepper	2.0	U	49	Chatham, NJ	hedge funds

261	John Calamos & family	1.9	D	67	Aurora, IL	mutual funds

261	Paul Foster	1.9	N	50	El Paso, TX	Western Refining

261	Thomas Frist Jr & family	1.9	U	69	Nashville, TN	HCA Healthcare

261	Donald Hall	1.9	U	79	Mission Hills, KS	Hallmark

261	Jon Huntsman	1.9	U	70	Salt Lake City, UT	chemicals

261	Michael Jaharis	1.9	U	79	New York, NY	pharmaceuticals

261	George Lindemann & family	1.9	U	71	Palm Beach, FL	investments

261	Thomas Siebel	1.9	U	54	Woodside, CA	Siebel Systems

261	Albert Ueltschi	1.9	U	90	Vero Beach, FL	FlightSafety

261	Jerry Yang	1.9	D	38	Los Altos, CA	Yahoo

271	George Argyros	1.8	U	70	Newport Beach, CA	real estate, investments

271	Amar Bose	1.8	U	77	Framingham, MA	Bose

271	William Connor II	1.8	U	57	Hong Kong	supply-chain services

271	Edward Debartolo Jr	1.8	U	60	Tampa, FL	shopping centers

271	L John Doerr	1.8	U	56	Woodside, CA	venture capital

271	Kenneth Fisher	1.8	U	56	Woodside, CA	Money management

271	David Green	1.8	U	65	Oklahoma City, OK	Hobby Lobby

271	Jorge Perez	1.8	E	57	Miami, FL	condos

271	Michael Price	1.8	U	55	Far Hills, NJ	investments

271	Kavitark Shriram	1.8	U	51	Mountain View, CA	Google

271	Pat Stryker	1.8	U	51	Larimer, CO	Stryker Corp

271	A Alfred Taubman	1.8	U	83	Bloomfield Hills, MI	real estate

271	Theodore Waitt	1.8	U	44	San Diego, CA	Gateway

271	Sanford Weill	1.8	U	74	New York, NY	Citigroup

271	Arthur Williams Jr	1.8	U	65	Palm Beach, FL	insurance

286	Edmund Ansin	1.7	U	71	Miami Beach, FL	Sunbeam Broadcasting

286	Louis Bacon	1.7	U	51	London, United Kingdom	hedge funds

286	Bharat Desai & family	1.7	N	54	Fisher Island, FL	Syntel

286	Louis Gonda	1.7	U	59	Beverly Hills, CA	International Lease Finance

286	Michael Krasny	1.7	U	54	Highland Park, IL	CDW Corp

286	Igor Olenicoff	1.7	U	65	Newport Beach, CA	real estate

286	Stewart Rahr	1.7	U	61	New York, NY	Kinray

286	Wilbur Ross Jr	1.7	U	69	Palm Beach, FL	leveraged buyouts

286	Walter Scott Jr	1.7	U	76	Omaha, NE	construction, telecom

286	Ernest Stempel	1.7	E	91	Hamilton, Bermuda	insurance

286	Dean White	1.7	U	84	Crown Point, IN	billboards, hotels

297	John Abele	1.6	D	70	Shelburne, VT	Boston Scientific

297	Peter Buck	1.6	U	76	Danbury, CT	Subway

297	Robert Day	1.6	U	63	Los Angeles, CA	money management

297	Fred DeLuca	1.6	U	59	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Subway

297	Wesley Edens	1.6	N	45	New York, NY	Fortress Investment Group

297	Thomas Friedkin	1.6	U	72	Houston, TX	Gulf States Toyota

297	Alan Gerry	1.6	U	78	Liberty, NY	cable television

297	Marguerite Harbert	1.6	U	84	Birmingham, AL	inheritance

297	Stanley Stub Hubbard	1.6	U	74	Lakeland, MN	DirecTV

297	Michael Ilitch	1.6	U	78	Detroit, MI	pizza

297	Irwin Jacobs	1.6	D	73	La Jolla, CA	Qualcomm

297	Brad Kelley	1.6	U	50	Nashville, TN	tobacco

297	Randal Kirk	1.6	N	53	Belspring, VA	New River Pharmaceuticals, Third Security

297	Nancy Lerner	1.6	U	47	Cleveland, OH	inheritance

297	Norma Lerner	1.6	U	71	Cleveland, OH	inheritance

297	Randolph Lerner	1.6	U	45	Cleveland, OH	inheritance

297	Billy Joe "Red" McCombs	1.6	U	79	San Antonio, TX	radio, oil, real estate

297	Richard Peery	1.6	R	67	Palo Alto, CA	real estate

297	Bernard Saul II	1.6	D	75	Chevy Chase, MD	banking, real estate

297	Phyllis Taylor	1.6	E	66	New Orleans, LA	Taylor Energy

317	Dennis Albaugh	1.5	N	57	Marco Island, FL	pesticides

317	Roland Arnall	1.5	D	68	Holmby Hills, CA	mortgages

317	John Arnold	1.5	N	33	Houston, TX	Hedge Funds

317	John Arrillaga	1.5	R	70	Palo Alto, CA	real estate

317	Ronald Baron	1.5	N	64	New York, NY	Money Managment

317	Andrew Beal	1.5	N	54	Dallas, TX	Beal Bank, real estate

317	Carl Berg	1.5	U	70	Atherton, CA	real estate

317	Arthur Blank	1.5	U	65	Atlanta, GA	Home Depot

317	Peter Briger Jr	1.5	N	43	New York, NY	Fortress Investment Group

317	Barry Diller	1.5	U	65	New York, NY	InterActiveCorp

317	Israel Englander	1.5	U	59	New York, NY	hedge funds

317	John J Fisher	1.5	U	46	San Francisco, CA	Gap

317	Gerald J Ford	1.5	D	63	Dallas, TX	banking

317	James France	1.5	E	62	Daytona Beach, FL	auto racing

317	Robert Friedland	1.5	U	57	Singapore	mining

317	Christopher Goldsbury	1.5	U	64	San Antonio, TX	salsa

317	Alec Gores	1.5	U	54	Beverly Hills, CA	leveraged buyouts

317	Timothy Headington	1.5	U	57	Dallas, TX	oil, investments

317	Jeffrey Hildebrand	1.5	U	48	Houston, TX	Oil

317	Jeremy Jacobs Sr	1.5	U	67	East Aurora, NY	sports concessions

317	Joseph Jamail Jr	1.5	U	81	Houston, TX	lawsuits

317	Hamilton James	1.5	N	56	New York, NY	Blackstone Group

317	Jerral Jones	1.5	U	64	Dallas, TX	Dallas Cowboys

317	Vinod Khosla	1.5	R	52	Menlo Park, CA	Sun Microsystems, venture capital

317	Jerome Kohlberg Jr	1.5	U	82	Mt Kisco, NY	leveraged buyouts

317	Marc Lasry	1.5	N	48	New York, NY	Hedge funds

317	Thomas Marsico	1.5	R	52	Cherry Hill Village, CO	mutual funds

317	Robert McNair	1.5	E	70	Houston, TX	energy, sports

317	Gary Michelson	1.5	U	58	Los Angeles, CA	medical patents

317	William Moncrief Jr	1.5	U	87	Fort Worth, TX	oil

317	Michael Novogratz	1.5	N	42	New York, NY	Fortress Investment Group

317	Daniel Och	1.5	N	46	New York, NY	hedge funds

317	Trevor Rees-Jones	1.5	E	57	Dallas, TX	Oil

317	David Rich	1.5	N	62	Jackson, MS	non-dairy creamer

317	Marc Rich	1.5	E	72	Meggen, Switzerland	commodities

317	Steven Roth	1.5	U	65	New York, NY	real estate

317	Marc Rowan	1.5	N	45	New York, NY	leveraged buyouts

317	Tamir Sapir	1.5	D	60	New York, NY	real estate

317	Fayez Sarofim	1.5	E	78	Houston, TX	money management

317	Herbert Simon	1.5	U	72	Indianapolis, IN	real estate

317	O Bruton Smith	1.5	U	80	Charlotte, NC	Speedway Motorsports

317	Peter Sperling	1.5	U	47	Phoenix, AZ	Apollo Group

317	Joseph Steinberg	1.5	N	63	New York, NY	Leucadia National Corp

317	Todd Wagner	1.5	U	47	Dallas, TX	Broadcast.com

361	James Clark	1.4	U	63	Palm Beach, FL	Netscape

361	Jamie Dinan	1.4	N	48	New York, NY	Hedge Funds

361	Roy Disney	1.4	U	77	Los Angeles, CA	Walt Disney

361	Richard Egan	1.4	U	71	Hopkinton, MA	EMC Corp

361	Robert Fisher	1.4	U	54	San Francisco, CA	Gap

361	William Fisher	1.4	U	50	San Francisco, CA	Gap

361	Leslie Gonda	1.4	U	87	Beverly Hills, CA	International Lease Finance

361	Bruce Karsh	1.4	N	52	Los Angeles, CA	money management

361	Robert Kraft	1.4	U	66	Brookline, MA	New England Patriots

361	Anne Windfohr Marion	1.4	U	68	Fort Worth, TX	inheritance, oil

361	Howard Marks	1.4	N	61	Los Angeles, CA	money management

361	Robert Naify	1.4	U	85	San Francisco, CA	movie theaters

361	Nelson Peltz	1.4	U	65	Bedford, NY	leveraged buyouts

361	Leandro Rizzuto	1.4	R	69	Sheridan, WY	Conair

361	Patrick Ryan	1.4	R	70	Winnetka, IL	insurance

361	John Sperling	1.4	U	86	Phoenix, AZ	Apollo Group

361	Hope Hill Van Beuren	1.4	U	73	Middletown, RI	inheritance

361	Charlotte Colket Weber	1.4	U	64	Ocala, FL	inheritance

361	Margaret Whitman	1.4	U	51	Atherton, CA	Ebay

380	Stephen Bisciotti	1.3	U	47	Millersville, MD	outsourcing, football

380	Timothy Blixseth	1.3	U	57	Medina, WA	timberland, real estate

380	John Brown	1.3	U	73	Kalamazoo, MI	Stryker Corp.

380	S Truett Cathy	1.3	U	86	Atlanta, GA	Chick-fil-A

380	Glenn Dubin	1.3	N	50	New York, NY	hedge funds

380	Frank Fertitta III	1.3	N	45	Las Vegas, NV	casinos, Ultimate Fighting Championship

380	Lorenzo Fertitta	1.3	N	38	Las Vegas, NV	casinos, Ultimate Fighting Championship

380	William Gross	1.3	U	63	Laguna Beach, CA	bonds

380	Michael Heisley Sr	1.3	U	70	Jupiter Island, FL	manufacturing

380	Thomas Hicks	1.3	R	61	Dallas, TX	leveraged buyouts

380	William Kellogg	1.3	E	64	Menomonee Falls, WI	Kohl's

380	Michael Moritz	1.3	N	52	Mountain View, CA	venture capital

380	Julian Robertson Jr	1.3	U	75	New York, NY	money management, wine

380	Barry Rosenstein	1.3	N	48	New York, NY	Hedge Fund, Jana Partners

380	Richard Scaife	1.3	U	75	Pittsburgh, PA	investments

380	Walter Shorenstein & family	1.3	R	92	San Francisco, CA	real estate

380	Herbert Siegel	1.3	E	79	New York, NY	television

380	George Steinbrenner III	1.3	N	77	Tampa, FL	New York Yankees

380	Henry Swieca	1.3	N	50	New York, NY	hedge funds

380	Kenny Troutt	1.3	U	59	Dallas, TX	Excel Communications

380	Roger Wang	1.3	N	57	Nanjing, China	retail

Retaining Younger Workers in the Workplace

2007-09-12T09:38:00.000+08:00

You've hired them. Now how can you keep them around?
From: FastCompany.com | June 2007 | By: Cam Marston

Things aren't always what they seem. If I could give you one bit of advice on dealing with the latest generation of employees to come under your management, it would be to remember those words…things aren't always what they seem.

If you are like most business leaders, you've no doubt noticed a trend in the way employees behave in recent years. Most likely you consider it a negative trend - too much entitlement, not enough loyalty, no work ethic, only interested in themselves, and on and on. But I challenge you to consider that perhaps these are not negative trends, just different ones. Things aren't always what they seem.

To better understand who your employees are and what drives them to succeed, perhaps it's easiest to understand who they are not. You. That's right. They may even be your offspring but in the workplace they bear little resemblance to the "you" of yesteryear. Gen Xers (born 1965-1979) and Millenials (born after 1980) are operating in this world with a completely different perspective. Their definitions of loyalty, time and success are often quite different from yours. Rest assured they do recognize all of these concepts and value them in very important ways. The key to your organization's future success is understanding how the Millenials view the world and using that knowledge to motivate them in a way that works. Here's a hint: meet them where they are and they will achieve your underlying goals; try to force them to fit your definitions and they will run for the door every time.

So let's take a look at some of the pervasive myths about our youngest generation in the workforce and discuss why these changes are happening and how you can tailor your workplace to meet the needs of you, your employees and the company.

Myth: Younger generations have no work ethic.

Reality: Younger generations have a self-centered work ethic. This is not necessarily the negative that it may seem at first. Millenials are dedicated to completing their task well. They have not been raised in a way that demands them to look around and see what should be done next. Instead they ask "what is my job" and go about figuring the best, fastest way to complete that task. Then they consider themselves done. This is a key differentiator between your employees and yourself.

The younger they are, the more your employees view their jobs as "something to do between the weekends." For most, early employment has nothing to do with a career path; it is a way to earn money to have fun in their free time. And that is okay. When you understand what motivates your employees you are better able to set mutual expectations for success. Instead of being frustrated that your youngest employees are not interested in climbing your corporate ladder, embrace their true motivation - reliable spending money - and use it to your advantage. When you tell an employee, "I understand this is not your lifelong career, but to earn the paycheck every week, here is what I expect …" they are much more likely to respond than if you try to motivate with promises of promotions and titles down the road.

Understanding that being at the job isn't as important to Millenials as completing the assigned task also opens up new opportunities for motivation and reward. Younger employees are very likely to respond to offers of paid time off. A leading retail organization has recognized this new way of thinking with its Working Hard Card: When managers witness an employee rising to a challenge, exceeding expectations or otherwise giving 110% they can hand the employee a Working Hard Card on the spot. Each card is worth a set amount of paid time off to be used at the employee's discretion. It is a simple strategy that rewards employees in the currency they value most - their time.

Myth: They don't want to put in the hours to get ahead.

Reality: They are willing to put in the time to do the job, however they are uninterested in "face time." Gen Xers and Millenials view time as a currency. While Baby Boomers tend to see time as something to invest, the younger generations view it as a valuable currency not to be wasted. These are the generations that demand work-life balance and paid time off. They want to get the job done, then put it behind them and enjoy life.

Boomer managers have a tendency to lose the interest of their Millenial employees by looking too far into the future. Millenials live in timeframe based on right now. Their world has proven that nothing is a guarantee - from nationwide layoffs to war to soaring divorce rates, they have decided that there's not a lot you can count on. As a result they are not interested in promotion plans for five years from now. They don't even want to know what will happen at the end of the summer. Life is uncertain. To reach the Millenial employee and reduce turnover, make it certain.

Tell your employee that you have a plan. Take pains to ensure it is in a timeframe short enough for them to envision. Be prepared to fulfill your promise - once fooled, forever jaded. This approach feeds into their reality, while simultaneously building trust and buying you more time. Reward small successes along the way, string these milestones together and you will soon realize longer tenures among your staff.

Myth: They have no respect for authority.

Reality: They have great respect for leaders and loyalty. But no, as a rule they don't respect authority "just because." For the younger generations, every ounce of loyalty and respect must be earned. But when it is earned, it is given fiercely.

In fact, loyalty to the individual is the number one reason Xers and Millennials stay in the job, especially during the first three, tenuous years. Dissatisfaction with the boss is the number one reason they quit. So in order to increase retention, managers must take a flipped view on leadership - it is no longer enough to hire the right people and show them the way, now you must BE the right person to win their affection. Sounds a little touchy-feely for the workforce, yet the faster leaders understand this new relationship, the sooner you will see the reward in the way of increased retention.

There is one big caveat to the "be the person they want you to be" approach to leadership, however. Millenials have a tendency to seek tight bonds - they want a boss who is close, caring and aware. And you can be all that. It is very easy to cross the line between "boss as advocate" to "boss as friend." That is a slippery slope. It can be especially tempting in situations where managers and employees are close in age. When activities outside of the office become too regular, too casual or largely social in nature, it is time to examine how this will affect your role as a leader. What Millennial need most out of a boss is a guide, not a social life.

Myth: They don't want to grow up.

Reality: They really don't know how. The youngest generations in today's workforce are facing a delayed adulthood. They are getting married later, having children later and just generally facing the "real world" later. This isn't the result of a mutated maturity gene, it just is. And if we are being completely honest, Boomers had a lot to do with why it's happening. First, as parents, Boomers had a tendency to coddle their children and use their own good fortune to make sure their children didn't experience adversity. Second, as career models, Boomers demonstrated the toll of working long hours and "paying one's dues" in a way that made their children less likely to follow in their footsteps. Millenials today look at the corporate ladder and think, "there must be another way."

My advice to you - don't waste time wishing they were different. Don't spend your energy comparing today's youth to the desires and drive you had at age 18. These employees are not a reflection of you, nor are they an earlier version of you. And again, that is okay. Your task is to take this new understanding and use it to reposition how you interact with, motivate and reward your staff.

Take attire for instance. Your 18-year-old self would have gladly donned whatever uniform was necessary to fit the company mold. Be it pressed khakis and a tie or a specific corporate uniform, fitting in was part of the package. Today's youth wants to stand out. They want their individuality to shine through even when required to provide a consistent standard of service and performance. Balancing corporate needs with individual desires takes some creative thinking.

Home Depot is one company that has addressed this dilemma at a very basic level - company uniforms. They simply require that all employees wear a standard Home Depot apron. Be yourself underneath (within reason) and show the customer that you are on the Home Depot team with this bright orange apron. Is there a standard that you can adopt to accommodate individual preferences? Something to think about.

Not all change is bad.

As we've discussed, the myths surrounding today's young employees are not always what they seem. Attitudes toward work, life, loyalty and respect have all changed, but each is still considered valuable. In fact, some of the demands made by today's youth are creating positive benefits for employees in every generation. Flexibility and respect for the individual, as well as the organization, are good for everyone. Loyalty from younger employees, once earned, is long-lasting. The adjustments you make to accommodate the changing attitudes of today's youth will be returned to you tenfold with decreased turnover, improved morale, and measurable business results.

And when the frustration mounts, just remember things aren't always what they seem. Open your mind to the possibility that there is a benign, generational reason for the disconnect between what you want and what your employees are providing, and you may just find room to create a shared vision of success.

Why Didn’t I Think of That?

2007-09-11T17:44:00.001+08:00

By Erich Joachimsthaler
IESE Insight

They say that love is blind but so is success; or at least success, even in the most innovative companies, can blind you to what you need to do to stay ahead of the competition. Where, for example, was Sony looking when Apple outflanked it with the iPod? Neither market dominance nor traditional methods of market research guarantee that you won't wake up one day with a rival's new product on the market and wonder, "Why didn't we think of that?"

In the book "Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Find and Execute Your Company's Next Big Growth Strategy," IESE collaborator and the founder of Vivaldi Partner Erich Joachimsthaler shows how to avoid the sort of complacency or inward thinking that can have you upgrading the latest model of your Discman when your customers have all moved on to MP3. It is a case of thinking outside the box, but in a specific and structured way that takes into account and captures the ecosystem of demand.

The author illustrates his argument with case studies of companies as diverse as Sony, Starbucks, the film distributor Netflix and Procter & Gamble, among others. He also draws on his 20 years experience as a marketing consultant.

Outside in
The approach is the reverse of the typical outlook, where you look at your existing customers and think, "What else can I sell them?" It contrasts the thinking that, for example, piles onto a laptop functions, memory and processing power when perhaps all the customer wants is a simple and fast way of downloading files. The outside-in approach implies looking away from the existing modalities of your business, its products and its forecasts and looking at what people want and how they live. In terms of listening to music on the move, the iPod is simply a technological advance on the Walkman. But in terms of how people control what music they listen to and their self-perception as consumers of music - not to mention as iPod owners - it is a quantum leap. The mistake is to continue seeking needs to fill and holes to plug, providing better versions of the same old product. Differentiation, especially for market leaders, can often absorb too much or all of the energy needed to innovate and break out of the mould.

One part of the solution is observation, which is how the Sony Walkman originated, from watching how young people live, their routines and especially how they use their leisure time. Another part is listening to consumers. But listening or observing consumers alone is not equal to understanding them. The outside-in approach means that the key is to map what consumers really do first, not just what they say they do. Joachimsthaler recommends reconstructing the daily life of people into episodes or rituals using a methodology that was pioneered by Nobel Prize Laureate Daniel Kahneman of Princeton. Joachimsthaler and his company, Vivaldi Partners, have applied this methodology of finding the hidden or unarticulated needs and wants of consumers in over 50 studies on behalf of his client companies. The ultimate goal is to have customer advantage as a central tenet of the organization, ensuring that innovation is not a one-off, "we invented that" proposition that in due course blinds the company to changing consumer needs and trends.

The outside-in philosophy is based on a demand-first model, which in turn derives from the pursuit of customer advantage. This entails:

Understanding the complexity of the changing ecosystem of demand and identifying opportunities for innovation.
Applying that knowledge to create new opportunity spaces by seeing what cannot be seen by consumers and innovating across their behaviours.
Rethinking the company's core business with the objective of designing transformational experiences.
Establishing processes that ensure that companies do not lose sight of why and for whom they exist.

Starbucks provides a classic example of the outside-in, demand-first perspective. Howard Schultz, the proprietor, saw the possibility of creating a space in American lives similar to the space that going for coffee occupied in the lives of Italians and other Europeans. The coffee itself was not the point; the point was the idea of a space - both physical and social - where people would devote a piece of their day to having coffee, the sort of place that the almuerzo occupies in the Spanish morning routine. Starbucks strategy was unusual, concentrating outlets so close together in target areas that they competed against each other, to their mutual benefit. The idea of this coffee moment was developed by having Wi-Fi access in outlets so that customers could log on, download music and, in digital terms, make themselves at home.

Beyond the Box
Companies invest vast sums and put great faith in market research, focus groups and consumer questionnaires. This data can be of enormous importance in terms of modifying and developing existing products, and certainly the consumer must be listened to, but it is also vital to see beyond what consumers think they want, to anticipate demand. As Henry Ford remarked, "If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me they wanted a faster horse."

Companies need to break out of the idea of a world divided between existing and potential customers and the obsession with collating information from existing customers. Furthermore, brand loyalty only lasts as long as the brand is perceived as a winner. To innovate, it is also necessary to think beyond the industry, because competition these days may come out of left field, as with Apple, which only now is a player in the mobile phone market with the iPhone. Companies also need to escape the limitations created by roles and divisions between, say, marketing and technical people. Everyone needs - if not to change - then at least to adapt his or her perspective, and not retreat into a job description. The head of marketing needs to look at things from the point of view of the technical director, and vice-versa.

What lies at the core of this argument is the idea that competitive advantage needs to be replaced with customer advantage, in order to break out of the closed circle of competing on the same ground to look beyond to what people want. Surveys show that people spend only 15 percent of their lives as consumers, in the sense of actually purchasing goods. The rest of the time, they are just living. Innovation and growth depend on coming up with products that enhance people's lives and their sense of themselves, based not just on face values, but that actually use values.

One Billion, Three Hundred Million: The New Chinese Consumer

2007-09-09T22:14:00.000+08:00

From:www.bettermanagement.com
Knowledge@Wharton

One billion, three hundred million customers: It's a number that has captured the attention of every company in the world that wants to do business in China, hoping to market everything from toothpaste to financial services to luxury cars. But once multinational companies get past the excitement of imagining the opportunities offered by the world's largest consumer market -- growing richer and more status conscious with each passing year -- there is the sobering thought of figuring out how to go about unlocking the secrets to selling to all of these people. Who are they? How much money do they have? What do they want to buy? What motivates their purchases? What are the peculiarities of the Chinese consumer?

Experts at Wharton, the Boston Consulting Group and elsewhere say China's consumers are at a crossroads. They are embracing new economic ideas and habits, and devouring goods that have long been unavailable, unaffordable or forbidden. At the same time, they are part of a consumer culture and an economic system that remain quite different from those of developed countries. In broad terms, there are multiple Chinas -- the old and the new, the urban and rural, dirt-poor peasants and multimillionaires, a land of freedom and authoritarianism whose world outlook and savings and buying preferences reflect the traditions of both East and West.

A Country of Extremes
China is rapidly urbanizing but it is still a "country of extremes," says Hong Kong-based Hubert Hsu, vice president and leader of BCG's consumer goods and retail practice for the Asia Pacific region. China is home to 1.3 billion people, but only about 400 million are in urban areas. In urban areas, incomes have been growing at the same rate as GDP -- about 10% annually, adjusted for inflation -- in recent years, while incomes of rural people rise only 1% a year. Says Hsu: "It's a land of haves and have-nots."

Wharton marketing professor Z. John Zhang agrees. "The distribution of income is very uneven," he says. "There still is a tremendous difference in wealth between people in the city and the countryside. Even within cities you find huge disparities in income. This is a phenomenon you can't lose sight of if you're selling consumer goods. You have a billion customers, but they're not all the same."

If China is a country of extremes, it is also a "country of contradictions," notes Harjot Singh, ad agency BBDO's strategic planning director for China. Consumers want products that are practical and work well, but they also covet brands that convey images of success. "Functionality of products still commands a premium," he says. "Yet Chinese consumers also want products that make them unique."

"It's difficult to generalize overall about Chinese consumers," says Joseph Wan, director and vice president of BCG in Hong Kong. "Companies are only beginning to realize the differences among consumers. In terms of geographical segmentation, most companies are pretty good at understanding that consumers in the western versus eastern parts of China are different. But there are so many intricate nuances that it's almost impossible to generalize -- and things can change so rapidly."

At the same time, a strong middle class is emerging. BCG estimates that there are 25 million to 30 million middle-class households in China, compared with 8 million affluent homes. "More people are moving into the middle class every year than into the affluent class," according to Hsu. "In general, the growth in middle-class incomes has been one of the key drivers behind the growth in a lot of consumer categories: color TVs, beer, mobile phones, personal computers. These are categories that enjoy high penetration in China."

A BCG report published in December 2005 -- titled "Wealth Markets in China: Exciting Times Ahead" -- shows that wealth in China is highly concentrated. Less than one half of 1% of Chinese households holds more than 60% of the nation's personal wealth. Among these rich households, about 70% of the wealth is held by households with more than $500,000 in assets under management.

In all, 1.59 million households have $500,000 or more in assets under management, according to the report, prepared by BCG consultants Tjun Tang, Thomas Klotz and Thomas Achhorner. Some 250 million households have $100,000 to $500,000 in assets under management, and 527 million "non-wealthy" homes have less than $100,000 in assets under management.

In recent years, the richest Chinese have gotten richer -- a trend that shows no sign of abating. "There is a polarization of wealth taking place," says Tjun. "The Chinese say, 'the two poles are separating.'"

But, significantly, the report also notes that the non-wealthy households are not getting poorer. Since 1999, households with assets under management of more than $5 million have grown from a 14.3% share to a 16.6% share of China's personal wealth. During that same period, non-wealthy households have accounted for a steady 36.6% of all wealth.

"China is going through an economic boom period and that's driving a lot of consumer behavior changes," says Hsu. "And this boom has been going on for 25 years now."

Since 1980, Chinese GDP has been growing 10% a year, on average, after adjusting for inflation. Per capita income in China has grown by a factor of seven during this period, a pace greater than that enjoyed by Japan in the quarter century following World War II. Still, it is important to note that most Chinese are very poor, and even many working couples strain to make ends meet, according to Wharton management professor Marshall Meyer.

"At the top, there's a lot of wealth," says Meyer. "Folks engaged in entrepreneurial ventures, particularly ventures where they connect MNCs (multinational corporations) with the large state enterprises, have been able to make money. But the average family probably feels like the average family in the U.S. -- less well off today than a few years ago. Now, people are optimistic in China, but there's a tremendous squeeze on family budgets, and the squeeze is due to medical and education costs and the skyrocketing cost of housing. Combine these with the need for families to save for retirement. Under the one-child policy, you've got an inverted pyramid with one child supporting four grandparents, in principle. People have to sock away a lot of money for retirement. And returns on savings are extremely low in China, so people have to sock away more."

Middle-Class Growth
Nonetheless, the growth of the middle class is good news for companies selling in China. The Chinese middle class numbers 25 million to 30 million households, according to BCG. BCG defines the "middle class" as those households with an annual income of $4,300 to $8,700. "Mass affluent" households are those with incomes of $8,700 to $11,600. "Affluent" households earn at least $11,600 a year.

Middle-class Chinese are both savers and spenders. Since China's financial-services sector remains relatively primitive, and consumer credit is still virtually non-existent, consumers squirrel away money for long periods of time so that they will have enough to purchase the highest quality products and services they can afford.
Noting that the personal savings rate in China represents a whopping 50% of GDP, BCG's Hsu calls China "a culture of extremely frugal people. They've gone through hard times, starting with the Cultural Revolution [under Mao Zedong] in just the last generation. Most never went to university.

On the whole, Chinese have more money than ever before. But because the days of harsh poverty are not that far behind them, many middle-class consumers insist that products be practical in nature and function well, according to Hsu.

At the same time, however, people are beginning to look beyond the functionality of goods. Middle-class and affluent consumers spend much of their discretionary income on items that will help them rise in stature compared to their neighbors. "Incomes have increased so much that some people have already taken care of their basic needs," according to Wharton's Zhang. "Their aspirational level is much higher now. They're looking to consume things that are not entirely necessary. Yet the Chinese are also frugal and will reject products they see as impractical or of low quality."

Some of the most popular products among the middle class and affluent are color televisions, mobile phones and personal computers, according to BCG consultants. Providing schooling for children is also vital. "Education is always a priority, since Chinese couples can only have one child [by government decree]," Zhang notes. "Parents are always concerned that they don't spend enough to give their kids a head start."

People with the means to do so also tend to spend a lot on real estate, an outgrowth of the importance that the Chinese, in what is still a largely agricultural nation, have always placed on land. It is not unusual for wealthier city dwellers to have multiple apartments or houses, Zhang says. Affluent Chinese also enjoy traveling in Asia and around the world. China has become one of the largest tourist-originating countries in the world, adds Zhang.

Eye-Opening Behavior
Hsu says a visit to a middle-class Chinese home can be an eye opener into the idiosyncratic behavior of consumers. "You see amazingly insightful things -- where consumers trade up and trade down. Actually, they do both at the same time because there are not enough dollars to go around. A couple with a child will spend a lot on that child. If you go into homes without kids, you see that people spend their money on products that make them feel and look good or give them social status. It can be clothes, mobile phones, fragrances or skin-care products. They don't spend money on products their friends and neighbors can't see. They may not be willing to pay premium prices for brands like Windex window cleaner or Kiwi shoe polish.

"It's important for companies to segment consumers and understand where they're willing to trade up and trade down," Hsu says. "Chinese consumers are experimental. They will pay a premium price for a new brand to try it. But if it's not better, they won't buy it again."

Instead, the buyer will go back to using his or her local brand of laundry soap or dish detergent. Brands like Safeguard soap and Tide detergent are national brands, and they are so popular now that they dominate their share of the market. But many local brands exist in China, especially in less cosmopolitan regions where many of today's city dwellers grew up. In local or regional markets these homegrown products offer consumers choices that can compete strongly with global brands.

Companies must also pay attention to how the Chinese shop. "For some items they go to the store more often but spend less, and vice versa," says BCG's Wan. "It's a very complicated picture. The rate at which they adopt certain products will also change by demographics, and they have different behaviors across price points and brands."

By way of further explanation, Wan echoes Hsu's comments about the unpredictable, ever-changing way in which Chinese consumers trade up and trade down. This is one key difference, by and large, between Chinese and American consumers and it is the kind of behavior that can make life challenging for corporate marketers. Says Wan: "A Chinese consumer may say, 'I can trade down on my car.' He may decide that a car is no longer important, even if he is making more money than he ever has before. If he has additional savings or income, he might decide to buy better kinds of wine [to impress other people] and spend less on a car. He is balancing his portfolio, so to speak. This happens all the time, across demographics and incomes."

Selling to the Affluent
Some MNCs, such as Procter & Gamble, General Motors and Carrefour, have had success in penetrating China's mass market. But makers of luxury goods have yet to fully exploit China's growing affluent class.

"There is no way that luxury companies are paving the way in China in terms of penetration," according to Hsu. "Because luxury-goods companies are not doing a very good job of presenting their products in China, customers go to London or New York to spend money. In China, a lot of these companies give what I call a 'constrained offer.' If you go into a store, the amount of merchandise is a third of what you see in same store in New York or Hong Kong. Of course, luxury-goods companies are glad people are spending money in New York, but they can't target them and get information on them or send them brochures and so forth. They're missing opportunities."

Hsu estimates that there are at least one million Chinese with access to $1 million in cash. He adds that Bentley sold more cars in China than any other country in 2004.

Even though practicality still reigns when it comes to product choice among Chinese consumers, the emotional and social benefits derived from shopping, so well known to Western consumers, are growing in importance, says Singh, the strategic planning director for China for BBDO. The growth of the economy is changing "the way people look at buying brands and the way they look at themselves as people with money," he says. Even in the years immediately following the economic liberalization begun by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, people viewed money exclusively as a means of security and a "protector," giving little thought to luxury. In recent years, however, Chinese have come to see that money can be an "enabler" and that economic freedom means, in part, the "freedom to be wooed by brands."

Many Chinese citizens, especially the affluent, "have become extremely aggressive, demanding, high-maintenance consumers," explains Singh. "Instead of controlled consumption restraint and denial, there is much more affluence. There's this need to seek some form of expression by buying brands and wearing them as a badge."

But Singh puts a different twist on the need by affluent Chinese to buy brands. Brands are important -- not necessarily because people need the esteem and want to stand out, but because they actually want to fit in with everyone else who buys brand-name goods. This has led to a form of anxiety heretofore unknown in China. "It's been called 'consumptive anxiety,'" says Singh, who defines the term as the need for people to buy products so as "not to be left behind."

Citing the work of Helmut Schutte, professor of international management at INSEAD in France, Singh notes that the "hierarchy of acceptance and belonging" is inverted in China when contrasted with the West. "The higher-order needs in China are still collective rather than individualistic. Everyone in China wants to conform to standards in a way that gives them social acceptance. Therefore, symbols become important. People want to subscribe to success. For brands to make a dent over here, it's no longer a game about creating esteem, it's a game about creating popularity."

According to Singh, some of the most popular luxury brands in China -- not only in the largest, so-called "tier one" cities like Shanghai and Beijing, but also in tier two cities in the interior of the country -- are BMW, Giorgio Armani, Rolex and Louis Vuitton. "Vuitton is trying to open a least three stores a year in China," says Singh. "The number-one brand of clothing is Armani, and not just in the tier one cities."

De Beers is another popular brand. Its diamond engagement rings are big sellers, even though the concept of Western-style engagement prior to marriage does not exist in China. A De Beers ring is not a gift from a man to his fiancee; it is a symbol of love and commitment. "People understand that wearing those engagement rings gives them 'face' outside [the relationship] -- acceptance and validation."

Another well-known brand with an unusual image in China is Procter & Gamble's Oil of Olay. Oil of Olay, the top advertiser in China, is an aspirational brand, not a common drug-store brand as in the United States. "In the West, Oil of Olay is about telling women to love their skin," Singh notes. "Here, the ads say, 'Oil of Olay will get you a handsome husband.'"

What makes China a complex challenge for marketers is the need to position products so that they are accepted by the largest number of consumers yet are still differentiated, according to Singh. Oil of Olay does just that. "The number-one challenge in this market is to achieve consistency of brand communication, yet permit sufficient flexibility to meet specific needs of individual markets within the bigger China market. For different targets there are different products and for different products there are different tasks."

Beginning in December 2006, foreign financial services companies will enjoy some of the most exceptional business opportunities in China, and Chinese institutions will be pressed to respond to the competitive pressure. That is when the Chinese banking industry will be fully liberalized, allowing foreign institutions to serve individual customers in businesses using the renminbi.

In the report "Wealth Markets in China," the BCG authors say China represents the second largest wealth market in Asia (after Japan), with $1.44 trillion in assets being managed for wealthy people. BCG projects annual asset growth among the wealthy of 13% over the next several years, with assets under management reaching $2.63 trillion by 2009. "BCG expects foreign banks to create some tough competition in the wealth-management market, as they enter the retail market and attempt to cherry pick the most attractive customers," the report states. "Unless Chinese banks can respond, there is a real and significant threat that many wealthy customers will be lured away by the highly evolved products and services that foreign banks can offer."

Straddling the Fence
As China's economy continues to grow, consumerism will become more prevalent. But it will not be a smooth transition from communism to capitalism. Wharton's Zhang, who was raised in poverty in China, lived much of his life under an authoritarian regime and says those days are far from completely gone. Chinese citizens today straddle a fence dividing the old times from the new, and are never certain where freedom begins and ends.

Says Zhang: "When I was a boy, [China] was a totally different world. Everybody grew up wearing exactly the same clothes and doing the same things. Now there is more wealth in the country and aspiration is high."

"The country is moving very fast," he adds. "Never in my dreams could I imagine that a country this big with this many people could move so fast. It's astonishing to me, and probably astonishing to most people in the world."

Additional Information:

All materials copyright of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Knowledge@Wharton.

Using KPIs to Keep Performance Improving

2007-09-09T21:18:00.000+08:00

By Mike Toten
WorkplaceInfo

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used by organisations both to measure individual employee performance and to measure overall organisation performance.

This article covers their use for individual employees, while a future article will cover their use for overall organisation effectiveness.

The Importance of Being SMART
The acronym of SMART frequently appears when commentators discuss KPIs. It means that KPIs need to be:

Specific
Measurable
Agreed to
Realistic
Timely

More recently, there has been a trend to turn SMART into SMARTA, by adding the requirement that KPIs be 'Aligned'.

This is an important addition, particularly where KPIs are also used as an organisation-wide measure. Each component of SMARTA is explained in greater detail below.

Specific
KPIs need to be specific to the individual job and if possible expressed as statements of actual on-the-job behaviours.

You need to go beyond terms such as 'work quality', 'job knowledge', 'standard of customer service', 'accuracy' and so on, which are too vague to be of much use.

Other 'specifics' an indicator needs to achieve include:

explaining clearly to the employee what he/she has to do in terms of performance to be 'successful';
having an impact on successful job performance, that is distinguishing between effective performance and ineffective performance; and
focusing on the behaviour itself, rather than personality attributes such as 'attitude to customers'.

Measurable
KPIs must be quantifiable to a large extent, that is based on behaviour that can be observed and documented, and which is job-related. They should also provide employees with ongoing feedback on their standard of performance.

Some degree of compromise may be necessary, however, to ensure you 'cover the field' regarding job performance.

Some aspects of performance are easy to measure, such as financial and work quantity measures, and it may be tempting to prepare a list of KPIs that focuses mainly on these aspects.

If the more subjective but still important aspects are overlooked, such as people management skills or customer service levels, employees will be unlikely to pay as much attention to them.

Agreed to
Always remember that performance management needs to be an open, two-way communication process. KPIs that are imposed on employees without genuine prior consultation are risking failure, the best you can usually hope for is some level of 'compliance'.

If you can’t involve employees directly in developing the KPIs, at least try to obtain their agreement before imposing them.

It is essential that employees clearly understand the KPIs, and that they have the same meaning to both parties. Also, consultation is more likely to result in standards that are relevant and valid.

Realistic
Several points are relevant here:

The employee must have a significant degree of control over achievement of the KPI.This is not the case when there are issues such as insufficient resources to do the job, 'lemon' products, bad organisation reputation, IT problems, etc. Make at least some allowance for such problems where they occur.
The KPI must be realistically achievable. If it is set too high for the prevailing circumstances (such as an ambitious sales or production target or deadline), not only will it be irrelevant but if action is taken against the employee for failure to achieve it, legal issues may arise, such as an unfair dismissal claim.
Also make allowance for the realities of the work environment. Most jobs are clogged, to varying extents, by routine administrative tasks that take time. Nor is every aspect of most jobs predictable or assessable. The prevailing circumstances described above also have an impact.
KPIs should emphasise the nature of the job as well. If the outcome of the job is its most important aspect, emphasise actual results. If the process is most important, focus on actual behaviour and performance methods. If what the employee 'is' on the job matters most, focus on personal aspects, such as management style, interpersonal skills, 'team player' attributes, risk-taking, etc.

Timely
KPIs should have an appropriate time frame.

It should be possible to collect the relevant information either 'as it happens' or within a short time afterwards, otherwise it will lose its relevance. This is also another argument in favour of keeping the process simple.

Aligned
Individual KPIs need to be directly linked to organisation goals and objectives, or overall organisation KPIs where they are used.

They need to reflect organisation culture and values, by indicating the types of behaviour and performance the organisation will recognise as 'successful' and reward employees for.

As outputs of the performance management system, KPIs also need to be in alignment with other HR-related functions, including training and development, recruitment and selection, rewards and recognition, and career planning.

Scope of KPIs
Even with the SMARTA parameters described above, the scope of potential KPIs is very wide. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but provides an indication of the range of issues that can be adapted to KPIs:

Work quantity, productivity, work quality, time (eg deadlines, response, delivery, turnaround), revenue, return on investment, consistency/reliability, safety, environmental impact, use of resources, cost-effectiveness, management style, turnover/retention, promotion of diversity, workplace relations, training and development, communication.

Training required
Training of participants – both those who appraise and those who are to be appraised – has been shown to be influential to the success of performance management activities.

The training process should cover the steps involved in researching, identifying, developing and communicating KPIs, using the SMARTA principles.

There is a range of commercial providers, products, seminars/workshops, etc available for those who require assistance.

Malaysia Budget 2008 - Con't

2007-09-07T18:18:00.000+08:00

To promote family values and financial security, the Government proposes full stamp duty exemption be given on the transfer of property from husband to wife. In cases where the wife wishes to transfer property to the husband, the same exemption applies.
The Government will continue to assist the disabled. In this regard, the Government will increase the disabled workers monthly allowance from RM200 to RM300; and provide special assistance of RM300 per month for eligible persons taking care of the disabled, who are bed-ridden and patients suffering from chronic illness. It will also allow tax deduction on renovation costs in the work place incurred by employers for the disabled to encourage the private sector to hire more disabled workers.
Beginning financial year 2008, public listed companies will be required to disclose their employment composition by race and gender, as well as programmes undertaken to develop domestic and Bumiputera vendors.
sum of RM6 billion is allocated to the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) in 2008.
In line with this, the capacity and efficiency of PDRM will be enhanced with the recruitment of 60,000 new personnel over the next five years. Investigating officers and assistant investigating officers will be supplied with an additional 2,000 national cars and 1,600 laptops. In addition, 1,900 motorcycles will be provided to increase police presence. PDRM will also set up a Mobile Forensic Unit in each police contingent.
The Government will install a larger number of closed circuit televisions linked to police control centres. To assist the private sector to enhance security at their sites, in particular at factory premises, Accelerated Capital Allowance over a year will be given for the purchase of security and surveillance equipment.

Malaysia Budget 2008 - Con't

2007-09-07T17:35:00.000+08:00

To promote a culture of life-long learning among Malaysians, the Government proposes tax relief of up to RM5,000 on education fees be extended to all post graduate studies
To ease the burden of home loan repayment, the Government will allow EPF contributors to make monthly withdrawals from the balance in Account 2. The scheme will be effective 1 January 2008 and is for the financing of one house. This is a major move, which will benefit 5 million active EPF contributors. This scheme will enable contributors to own better houses than they could otherwise afford as well as lessen their monthly financial obligations. This scheme will make available up to RM9.6 billion annually for the purchase of houses.
In addition, to promote healthy lifestyle among Malaysians, the Government proposes that individual tax relief of up to RM300 a year be given on the purchases of sports and exercise equipment.
The Government will encourage more mothers to provide childcare services at home. These home-based services will provide job opportunities for housewives to operate these centres and, at the same time, enable more women to join the workforce. For this purpose, the Government will provide an initial allocation of RM10 million to NGOs to provide training to housewives in baby and childcare.
A sum of RM4 billion is allocated to implement several projects to improve the quality of life in Sabah. Among the major projects are the construction of Jalan Kota Marudu-Ranau, Sandakan Northern Ring Road, upgrading of Jalan Kota Belud-Langkon, provision of rural health services, hospital facilities, low-cost housing, electricity and water supply, as well as upgrading of roads and railway.
A sum of RM4 billion is provided for the implementation of development projects in Sarawak. Among the major projects are construction of Jalan Kota Samarahan-Gumpeh, upgrading of Jalan Kuching-Sibu, provision of rural health services, Universiti Putra Malaysia, IKM in Bintulu, electricity and water supply projects, sewerage as well as replacement of Batang Lupar Bridge in Samarahan.
To further promote tourism activities in Sabah and Sarawak, RM200 million is provided under the Tourism Infrastructure Fund, managed by Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad. Priority will be given to tourism projects which leverage on the rich natural endowments of Sabah and Sarawak.

Efforts will continue to be taken to improve the income and standard of living of Bumiputeras in Sarawak, including Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau and Melayu, as well as Kadazan-Dusun, Melayu, Bajau and Murut in Sabah. For this purpose, a sum of RM800 million is provided for Sarawak and Sabah. Among the programmes to be implemented, particularly for the low income group, include housing, skills and entrepreneurship training, water and electricity supply, roads, as well as pre-school education.

Malaysia Budget 2008

2007-09-07T17:06:00.000+08:00

Reported from The Star:

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tabled the Budget 2008, themed "Together Building The Nation and Sharing Prosperity", in Parliament on Friday.

Abdullah, who is also Finance Minister, said the budget is focussed on three main strategies: Enhancing the nation's competitiveness, strengthening human capital and ensuring the well-being of all Malaysians.

Following are highlights in Budget 2008 tabled:

Single-tier tax system, effective from the year of assessment 2008. Under a single-tier tax system, profits are only taxed at the company’s level and dividends received are exempted from tax.

Further reduction of the corporate tax to 25% in 2009.

Effective 1 January 2008, private valuation of property will be allowed for purposes of assessment in stamp duty payment. This will enable the transfer of property to be executed pending the final valuation from the Valuation and Property Services Department.

All professionals and consultants to be subject to service tax.

To encourage more public listed companies to undertake M&A, stamp duty exemption will be extended to 31 December 2010.

To further stimulate the property sector in particular housing, the Government proposes that a 50% stamp duty exemption on documents of transfer be given for the purchase of one house of not more than RM250,000 per unit.

The active participation of students in co-curriculum activities, such as uniformed bodies, associations and clubs as well as sports, is important for character building and developing leadership qualities among students. To ensure every student has the opportunity to participate in uniformed activities, the Government will provide a free uniform for one activity for school students from families with a monthly income of RM1,000 and below.

The examination fee for Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia and the annual fee for primary and secondary schools will be abolished. Beginning the 2008 school session, the Text Book Loan Scheme will be provided to all students, irrespective of their families’ income and with no restrictions on the number of eligible children. With this, 5.7 million students will benefit from this Scheme compared with 4.5 million students currently. With these measures, schooling in Malaysia is now completely free.

The Government recognises that a number of primary and secondary schools have been funded and well managed by trust and charitable bodies. To support their efforts, the Government proposes that these schools be given income tax exemption. This exemption will benefit particularly Chinese and Tamil schools, as well as religious schools.

Tiger Woods - First Billionair Golfer

2007-09-06T12:04:00.000+08:00

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
September 4, 2007

If you are lucky, you have an employer who offers some percentage of matching contribution for your individual retirement account. If you are really lucky, you have a guaranteed pension plan.

If you are Tiger Woods, or any PGA Tour pro, you redefine what others consider lucky.

Woods, the world's greatest golfer has the world's greatest employer funded retirement package. How great?

Path to a billion
How Woods' retirement plan could possibly reach $1 billion, even if his production falls off, and he doesn't make the top 70 in some years.

Year	Assumed retirement fund compensation
2007	$123,100,000
2008	112,900,000
2010	95,000,000
2011	87,200,000
2013	73,100,000
2015	61,500,000
2017	51,800,000
Total	$604,600,000
Plus interest	114,700,000
Plus other plans	300,000,000
Total	$1,018,700,000

If Woods keeps winning at his current rate, enjoys a nine percent annual return and captures just seven FedEx Cups in his career, he could reach $1 billion in retirement payouts courtesy of the PGA Tour Inc.

Yes, a billion. As in a thousand million. As in $1,000,000,000.

As in, if the PGA right this moment started handing Tiger a dollar bill every second of every minute of every day, it wouldn't reach a billion until 2039.

Even without this retirement plan, Woods is well on his way to becoming the first American billionaire athlete. He might accumulate several billion. In 2006 Forbes reported he cleared $100 million in on- and off-course revenue.

But even if he found a way to spend every last penny of that fortune and his own personal retirement savings, he might have $1 billion coming to him after he turned 60 thanks solely to the contributions of the PGA. Golfers are independent contractors and not employees of the PGA. But the governing body, in lieu of a traditional pension, offers contributions based on a number of performance variables to a retirement fund that each player controls.

Since turning pro at 21, Woods has been collecting the contributions and watching them grow. Back in 2001, Golf Week estimated he might one day retire with $300 million. But with the new FedEx Cup funded deferred compensation plan, what was an astounding figure might now be the richest retirement payout ever.

All the 31-year-old has to do is keep winning, most notably the annual FedEx Cup, which in a combination of season-long success and a four-event "playoff" pays the winner a $10 million contribution to his tax-free retirement account.

Woods can't touch the money until he's 45 and would be a fool to do it before the plan forces him to at 60. If it generated a nine percent annual return (the assumption for all calculations in this article) for 29 years, the magic of compounding interest will turn the original $10 million into a cool $123.1 million.

With investing, the caveat is always that past performance does not guarantee future results. But when it comes to Tiger Woods and golf, there is less fear his dominance will subside. Woods will win. For the foreseeable future, he could win the FedEx Cup any year he commits to doing it.

Which means he could make the $1 billion retirement account projection look Newt Gingrich conservative.

"When it came to figuring out the plan, Tiger was the last person we thought about," said Joe Ogilvie, the tour pro who helped implement it. "For Tiger, $10 million is a rounding error."

Ogilvie was motivated to help the ordinary touring pro, the one who might only clear a couple hundred thousand and last on tour just a few years.

The old pension plan – where the PGA donated money based on a formula of cuts made and place on the money list – was already considered the best in professional sports. According to Golf Week, in 2006, the average payment was $195,000 and Woods received $510,800. While that paled next to his total earnings that sum is worth $6,853,298 when he turns 60. He also received more than $100,000 in other bonuses.

That plan alone was so staggering that it required some political maneuvering to avoid IRS rules that apply to most high-end retirement plans. The PGA Tour is a non-profit and according to the Wall Street Journal, a line was slipped onto page 598 of a 650-page 2004 tax bill that would have adversely affected the plan. It offered "an exemption for any plan 'established or maintained by an organization incorporated on July 2, 1974.'"

Guess which date the PGA Tour Inc. was incorporated?

But then, Ogilvie and the Tour board took it to another level. Parts of the old plan remain, but now the FedEx Cup will donate $35 million into players' accounts each year. While the $10 million for first and $3 million for second are the eye-popping numbers, everyone in the top 70 receives at least six figures.

As it stands, even journeyman players should finish with tens of millions in deferred compensation.

"The key is the money can accrue tax free," Ogilvie said. "Clearly from a financial standpoint this is much better. You want your money accruing for as long as possible."

Actually, clearly isn't so clear. At least with golfers. Most didn't like, understand nor care about the idea of deferred compensation. If he won the FedEx Cup, Phil Mickelson complained that he should get the $10 million immediately.

However, just the $3.5 million Mickelson would save on immediate federal taxes would be worth nearly $26 million when he is 60 years old.

Woods, for his part, wondered if he'd even see the money. "I may be dead by the time my retirement fund comes around for me to be able to utilize it," he said.

Mickelson, who currently leads the Cup (Woods is in third), said Tuesday he would skip the third event (and thus essentially take himself out of the running for what might be a deferred $73.1 million) in part because he wants to take his kids to school and watch them play soccer.

Some would say you can't put a price on spending time with your children, but few of them had $73.1 million in mind when they said it.

Not to be outdone, Woods skipped the first event of the FedEx Cup, which is the only reason he hasn't already all but clinched the championship. Since Woods is six years younger than Mickelson, his $10 million would be worth around $123.1 million when he turns 60.

So you can add another record to his career – he has to be the first man in history to risk $123 million so he didn't have to play golf.

Ogilvie, however, was unconcerned by the complaints. "We acted in the best interest of everybody," he said.

Ogilvie has an economics degree from Duke and if he wasn't such a talented golfer (he's earned over $1.1 million this year), he'd probably be working on Wall Street. To him, the "Power of 72" is not shooting par at the U.S. Open, but a mathematical truth. His post-golf career will assuredly be in finance.

While the other golfers might not be as smart as he is at this, they were smart enough to elect him to the Tour board where he and other players were able to help create this plan. What they came up with was a groundbreaking idea.

"Absolute genius," said Steve Yellen of Morgan Stanley in El Paso, Texas. His group handles a number of professional athletes, coaches and golfers, including Rich Beem. "This is the best plan I have ever heard of. Not just in sports, but in any industry."

So how does Tiger end up with a billion?

First off, based on the old plans, Woods already had an estimated $300 million in post 60-year-old payouts coming to him according to Golf Week. However, those plans have changed and now will generate less money.

On the other hand Golf Week was estimating using an eight percent annual return. Three separate financial planners we spoke with said nine percent was more than reasonable for Woods since even though the PGA funds the account, he controls it. That means he'd have constant, high-level attention paid to making it perform. He'd likely do better than even the Standard and Poor's average of 11.3 percent.

In the end, our planners, under orders to remain conservative, stuck with nine percent and believe that the original Golf Week estimate should hold up at about $300 million.

The new plan is where the big money is, however. The FedEx Cup has confused fans and players alike. But competitively everyone agrees that since the title is based on mostly consistent, year-long dominance, for the foreseeable future, Woods should win it anytime he wants. He barely wants to this year and he's the heavy favorite anyway.

So let's say Woods were to play at a dominating level for the next, say, decade. He will probably go far longer, since top players routinely compete into their mid-40s and Woods is (and likely will be) in the kind of phenomenal physical condition that should defy the aging process.

But for arguments sake, we'll have him drop off around then. Let's even argue that he doesn't finish in the top 70 in any year he doesn't win (although a second place in, say, 2009 is eventually worth $31.1 million to him). In reality, Woods will be high in the money, if not the winner, for a long time to come.

So how many can he win?

"I think seven is very reasonable," Ogilvie said. Fine, seven it is. We'll fan it out over the next 11 Cups, which means an estimated approximate retirement worth of:

2007: $123.1 million
2008: $112.9 million
2010: $95 million
2011: $87.2 million
2013: $73.1 million
2015: $61.5 million
2017: $51.8 million

That totals up to $604.6 million when he is 60.

At this point, according to PGA Tour spokesman Bob Cook, Woods would have to start making withdrawals that would empty the account in five years. The payments are made monthly based on a yearly recalculated number. The decreasing money, however, will continue to accrue interest during the 60 months and will earn an estimated additional $114.7 million, according to Morgan Stanley's Yellen.

That gives Woods $718.7 million in FedEx Cup money alone. Add on the $300 million in payouts from the other, original pension plans and you have $1,018,700,000. And this is a number Woods can easily shatter in any number of ways – more victories, longer career, better investment performance.

So there's your $1 billion. All from an account Woods never had to contribute a cent too. Woods was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but he's long maintained he pays little attention to his PGA retirement.

Of course, if the billion doesn't hold him over, he always has Social Security, which for someone Woods' age will kick in at 67 in 2042. How much will that be worth?

"Probably about $2,066 a month," Yellen said.

So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Why Chinese must not have English Name

2007-08-29T09:30:00.000+08:00

Take a break. have a laugh to dispel the gloom. It worked for me.

Anne Chang (Mandarin)- Dirty
Anne Chin (Mandarin) - Keep quiet
Faye Chen (Mandarin) - Dusty
Carl Cheng (Hokkien) - Buttock
Monica Cheng (Hokkien) - Touching your buttocks
Lucy Leow (Hokkien) - You are dead
Jane Tan (Mandarin) - Fried eggs
Suzie Leow (Hokkien) - Lost till death
Henry Mah (Mandarin) - Hate your mum
Corrine Tai (Hokkien) - Poor fellow
Paul Chan (Mandarin) - Bankrupt
Nelson Tan (Mandarin) - Bird laying eggs
Leslie Tong (Mandarin) - Rubbish bin
Carmen Teng (Hokkien) - Leg hair long
Connie Mah (Mandarin) - Call your mother
Danny See (Hokkien) - Squeeze you to death
Rosie Teng (Hokkien) - Screws and nails
Pete Tsai (Hokkien) - Nose droppings

Macy Koh (Cantonese) - Never die before
Michael Tan (Cantonese) - sell chicken eggs

Annie Kok – Any penis

Steve Kok – Stiff penis

Harry Kok – Hairy penis

Fish Musing Part 2

2007-08-25T17:53:00.000+08:00

I made east corner of my house to be the formal dinner room. It was a great idea at the design stage. But as most of the stories of joe & public go, the execution part is the problem. We've ended out leaving the space empty as it is. However, our kids and visiting kids love the area. Partly because it opens out to the patio and garden beyond. They have unimpeded space to run and play.

The only problem, and may it is only in my mind, is that, it remains "empty" and dark most of time. No good for chi!. So, I decided, after much struggle and musing over, to setup a fish aquarium there.

It wasn't a spur of the moment decision. My office is in Bandar Puteri, (Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia). The Chinese hawker store I do my lunches and occasional breakfast each day has an aquarium shop couple of doors before it. when I walked past the aquarium shop, invariably would stop and look at the fish displays. The fishes seemed to beckon me each time, cried out and ask me to take them home! So, one day, I just gave in to the calls and temptation.

Actually, the deciding factor was the price. It goes to sure that as in business, you need:
- Strategic location
- Advertisement/placement of your products
- Customer service mindset (imagine the shop owner has been rude to me even once, would I have bought?)
- Pricing
- Ease of doing business. In this case, the shop offer credit card payment option.

The fishes I got are called "parrot" fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_parrot_cichlid), or "feng shui" fish in Chinese (see above). Under the advice of the shop, I bought 38 fish (good omen in Chinese, again). After couple of days, the fish started dying, and by the end of first week, half of them was gone. Retrospectively, we reckoned is the water quality problem (the installer directly piped water in from the main water inlet). Imagine that, the water quality in Malaysia is so low to the extend that fishes can't even survive in it! After a thorough cleansing of the fish tank and all things in it, we used the filtered water. Now the fish live happily ever after.

Oh, the kids love it. We setup a roster to feed the fish and it (roster) is following diligently.

Adaptive Leadership

2007-08-22T21:27:00.003+08:00

For some reason, I've not touched on this topic about leadership.

What make a good leadership, excellent leader, or a bad leader?

Famous leaders on biblical proportion (literally!) the like of Moses and Joshua, all have had divine interventions along the ways in their undertakings. In modern day speaking, God was their "Consultant". They are guided, and as long they follow the guidance (in this, from God The Consultant), they succeeded in even the most impossible tasks, including crossing the Red Sea.

The point is this. Good leaders are guided by a set of principles. Excellent leaders internalized those principles, they walk-the-talk. Bad leaders, on the other hand, are lacking of one or many traits of leaderships characteristics or competencies.

Good news is, leadership can be trained. Organisations wanting to build sustainable business need to have excellent leaders.

Captitalism & Driving Habit

2007-08-18T16:43:00.000+08:00

Seattle is a beautiful green city. I just love the look & feel of the pine trees, and smell of the crispy summer air. Bellevue, one of the two major centres (the other one is Seattle) has only about 150K population. It is spacious, with millions of trees spreading as near and as far eyes can see. 40KM out town, the local resident thinks that it is "far", and thus you can get pretty decent real estate price there. Building of houses are limited to clear the areas of land on needed basis. You need council's permits to cut down trees above certain age.

You got feeling of orderly around this place. Driving around, you would notice that all traffic rules are adhered to. Nobody just simply cut in & out of lane, driving on hard shoulder, etc. Speed limit seemed to be followed. We took a trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon. If you've been to LV, you would know that there is basically nothing outside of LV, only Nevada barren desert landscape left, right and in front of you. While passing through an interchange, the driver actually slowed down to 30M/H, as dictated by the speed limit, even though there wasn't a single car (or a living being) within 2 Km radius!

One hates to think what a Malaysian driver would have done. And then again, as compare to cities like Medan, Malaysia is considered not so bad after all.

Capitalism makes what America the superpower today. But, I'm sure there is a cosmic kind of design that drive the relationship between the advancement of civilization to driving habit/manner of road users, including motor vehicle drivers.

Interesting, indeed.

Beauty and the Beast

2007-08-06T03:29:00.000+08:00

Spending last minutes of July 2007 at 30,000 feet above sea level. I flied into Las Vegas in the early morning of Monday. The mind blowing experience was none than seeing the Grand Canyon up close and personal. The introductory documentary en route said Grand Canyon is God's sculpture. I would say it is so true. Next time, if you happen to be in LV, Grand Canyon is a must-see. Just pick up a brochure at the hotels that you're staying, and the tour info is there. It costs USD180 (tax included) to do the trip, and it takes 12-13 hours. On the way there, you will see the Hoover dam as well. LV is a desert town. Few miles out of town, the land is barren and very brown, quite amazing.

There are so many hotels in LV. All the famous hotels the like of MGM Grand, Caesar Palace, Bellagio, Venetian, etc, are all along this Strip. All the hotels have casinos, and other theme based attractions, all out to get your money. The shows are plenty as well.

LV is reeked of money and man-made pleasure, devoid of any characters and soul. I couldn't wait to get of the town. My next stop (and at the time of writing) is San Fransisco. Now, SF, to me, is the most beautiful city the world. But that is another story.

Fish Musing Part 1

2007-07-19T15:41:00.000+08:00

Does fish feel pain? Here is a story produced verbatim. This constitutes Part 1. There is a point to this story to follow.

"By Rajeev Syal in London
February 10 2003

Anglers rest easy. Fish cannot feel pain, the largest study into piscine neurology has concluded.

An academic study comparing the nervous systems and responses of fish and mammals has found that fishes' brains are not sufficiently developed to allow them to sense pain or fear.

The study is the work of James D Rose, a professor of zoology and physiology at the University of Wyoming, who has been working on questions of neurology for almost 30 years. He has examined data on the responses of animals to pain and stimulus from scores of studies collected over the past 15 years.

His report, published in the American journal Reviews of Fisheries Science, has concluded that awareness of pain depends on functions of specific regions of the cerebral cortex which fish do not possess.

Professor Rose, 60, said that previous studies which had indicated that fish can feel pain had confused conceptional - responding to a threatening stimulus - with feeling pain.

"Pain is predicated on awareness," he said. "The key issue is the distinction between nociception and pain. A person who is anaesthetised in an operating theatre will still respond physically to an external stimulus, but he or she will not feel pain. Anyone who has seen a chicken with its head cut off will know that, while its body can respond to stimuli, it cannot be feeling pain."

Professor Rose said he was enormously concerned with the welfare of fish, but that campaigners should concentrate on ensuring that they were able to enjoy clean and well-managed rivers and seas.

Despite the findings of Professor Rose's study, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has invested heavily in an anti-angling campaign, said: "We believe that fishing is barbaric. Of course animals can feel pain. They have sensitivity, if only to avoid predators.""

Medan Relfection

2007-07-15T21:52:00.000+08:00

Medan, the third largest city of Indonesia.

To most Malaysian, Indonesia means HAZE. You might want to follow this link for a hilarious parody of this subject matter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozHZXoq2cvE.

But Medan is something else. The traffic conditions is pure amazing. Take the worst traffic situation in KL, multiply that by factor of ten, that is just about close to what I'm talking about here. I would not be able to survive 1 KM of driving in this madden city.

Food is nice, but expensive. A bowl of noodles would you back at least RM10 equivalent.

Most glaring is the economics divides between the haves and haves-not. The haves are seemingly 99% Chinese, and they shamefully flaunt their wealth, with gigantic opulence houses, big cars and Rolex watches. No wonder they have racial tension not so long ago. For Malaysians that do subscribe to NEP, may be should try to live in Medan for a while, and see how things go there.

But, like in every cities the world over, there are gems in Medan, experiences that you can enjoy. Be open-minded, and takes things as it come.

Family Business

2007-07-15T21:12:00.000+08:00

I was posed a question by Father, the CEO on how to get his Sons, Second in Command, to work as a team, not as father-son, but professionally. Quite obviously, evidences of generation gap is glaring, and over-powering them so much so that common sense has become not so common.

It is a challenge. And the same challenge permeate almost all family business.

How often have we heard analysts mentioned that so-and-so companies are successful, and invariably, the word "professionalism" is highlighted. I think, that is the key word.

Professionalism means a few things. First of all, professionals have a winning mindset, and strive to WIN at all costs. Just look at professional athletes, the like of Tiger Woods in golf, Roger Federal in lawn tennis, and all the top performers in their respective fields.

Secondly, professionals set asides own differences, embrace the common vision and objectives, and having the internal locus to achieve what are expected of them. This is evidence in team sports like basketball, soccer, and rugby.

Thirdly, professionals knows about Team Work. None of them think that they are bigger then the team. Just like in the human body, each body part (examples, the ears, eyes, hands, legs, etc) has its functions, and must play its part unselfishly.

Fourthly, professionals improve themselves through continuous learning.

Fifthly, professionals inspire others, by leading by examples, by encouragement, by results.

Lastly but not the least, professionals run things via transparency, accountability, and integrity.

If a family business is run professionally, by professionals, the hanging dark cloud of "family business" would be dispelled and over time, become a non-issue. It will then be just business.

"Winning" - Jack Welch

2007-06-26T17:13:00.000+08:00

What can you say about a book with the infamous Jack Welch (JW)'s face on it? Anything other than positive superlatives spin would immediately put you in the minority corner, probably with someone holding a hammer on your head, and say to you: "what?"After all, this is JW, the legendary retired CEO of General Electric, a man credited with the turn-around/successes of GE, and the one associated with Six-Sigma concept.

What? Exactly. The best thing about the book, that is attractive enough for mere mortals to actually pick up and read it, is the face of JW. I guess if one would put Paris Hilton's face on it, would have the similar if not have more impact. By the way, at the time of writing this blog, Paris Hilton has just gotten out of jail, a book with her face (or any other part of her anatomy) and the word "WINNING" beside it, may be an instant best sellers! Wouldn't it be ironic.

Back to the "Winning". Of course, this book is not actually written by JW himself only. Suzy Welch was the co-author. The book is supposed to be a collections of management wisdoms and also ideas from questions asked by numerous participants in JW's seminars from all over world. I must say, it is readable (may be having Suzy Welch as the co-author helped here), not too intense, not very theoretical, never throw you any obscured data from some dubious research done by certain self-confessed Phd pretenders or professors , and most of all, never mentioned Michael Potter. It is a light bedtime read, when one get too tired of general genres. In fact, I read the book as my bedtime read.

The problem with bedtime reading is that, you don't expect to remember anything after you've read the material. In this case, I do remember two things:
1) Strategy can never be perfect. Execution is the key
2) Learning organisations tend to have better successes in their business.

Would I recommend this book to anyone. Of course I would! One must at least read the contents, first couple of pages, and may be last page, enough to claim that one has read this book. It make good small talks during business functions. Throwing JW's name around, and stating that you've read his book, would instantly attract admiring if not appreciative perception from your audiences. It goes to show that you're in the loop.

Now, where is that book with Paris Hilton face on it?

Adaptive Legacy

2007-06-13T18:29:00.000+08:00

One of my friends met his untimely dead 5 years ago. I said untimely dead because he was at the peak of his business career. The business ventures he setup have started to bear fruits at the time, and he spectacularly chose to pursuit other out of this world adventure. He was a larger than life, charismatic character, live his life to the fullest, always on the edge, extreme in every things. His legacy would always remind in our hearts and minds.

Since then, every morning when I read The Star, or other newspapers, invariably I would read the Obituary column. Every picture, every obituary, tells a story. The story of legacy that the passed-on person left behind.

Is he/she going to heaven or hell?

Did he/she die young or have had a full life?

Is he/she die as a lonely person? Lonely meaning with no spouse and/or kids.

Is he/she a prominent person? Normally, this can be seen from the size of the obituary column. For some unknown reason, the more "prominent" a person was, the bigger, or more column/frequency the obituary.

For a ripe old age fellows, the number of children, grand-children, and even great-grandchildren. This has always blessed my heart when a old fellow passed away that have lived a full & rich life.

Or, names listed that have deceased spouse. I could feel for the fellow if he/she has deceased descendants.

This is a legacy a person's life left behind. So, what is your legacy? We don't need to die to leave behind our legacy. That is terminal as dead can be fatal. In our professional life, as a manager, or a leader, we need to access at all times what would be our legacy when we left the company we work for. What would your "Obituary - resignation" say about you? A good leader, a devil, or somewhere in between.

We've choice to leave behind a good legacy. Lives that you touch, a kind & encouraging words here and there, a commitment or promise come good, people that you nurture, successes that you're part off, and many moments when you could've been angry or bitter but chose not to.

So, what would be yours?

Adaptive Politicking

2007-05-24T17:24:00.000+08:00

Politicians, the world over, are a special breed of people. They are liars with immense sense of responsibility and integrity. They can tell you a complete untruth, and firmly believe that it is for your own good. Case in point:- the Iraq War. President GW Bush stands firm and still believe it was the right war to fight, even though those around him have reckoned otherwise, and American soldiers are dying by dozen every other day.

You might not think highly of politicians. That is actually alright with the politicians. In fact, I don't think politicians ever thought about themselves. To them, thinking is for the weaklings, for the commoners, but to do is not their err; they have God-given right to achieve greatness, and they are not going to achieve that by mere thinking.

So, with a great sense self-importance, deep sense of righteousness, tremendous desire to do good for mankind in general, and with a conception of integrity (or lack of it), politicians are determined to bring utopianism into this miserable world, to establish morality, peace and prosperity to a world of decadence, wars, and poverty. Invariably, they fail flat on their face.

Just ask Tony Blair.

However, if politicians manage to put their mind (a contradictory in terms!), they can achieve some undeniable greatness. They may not have any great mind or intellectuals to speak of, but somehow they do possess an immense good sense of timing. Lately, in this Boleh-land of ours, our politicians have re-defined the meaning of "bocoh" ("leaking"). Beside ascending themselves to popularity stratospheres, the politicians concerns and couple of other, also manage to help call on god's hand in that, one after another, Government buildings started to have collapsing ceilings, burst pipes, and guess what, water, water, everywhere! When it leaks in this Boleh-land, it really LEAKS!