Founder and Chairman of Business Networking International (BNI) Dr Ivan Misner has a podcast titled “Peach Wine and Networking” (Episode 253) that illustrates how the development of good business relationships must be allowed to take its course, and not be rushed. You can listen to the podcast here. This morning, before writing this article, I […]
The Seattle Times published an article on 13 Apr 2013 titled “Myers-Briggs personality test embraced by employers, not all psychologists“. You can read the article here: http://bit.ly/15ibPXo I am not a certified MBTI administrator, meaning I cannot administer the tool nor interpret the results of the assessment. I am a qualified DISC trainer, but that’s beside […]
It was Mark Twain who said “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society”. Was it only dress he was talking about? Does what we wear define us, or do we wear whatever expresses our quintessential selves? If our workplace has a dress code, does that inhibit our creativity? If […]
An old song has a line which goes “It’s hard for me to say I’m sorry…”. Does that happen to you? Do you think you’ll be seen as weak if you truly say you’re sorry? Actually, to me, yes, if you say you’re sorry, you’re a sorry weakling. Do you know why? Well, it’s because […]
Intrapersonal Intelligence is listed as one of Howard Gardner’s “Multiple Intelligences”. With all the talk about “flatter” organizations, self-directed staff and learners, and connectedness amongst and across organizations, it is time to start looking at organizations as living organisms, if you haven’t started to yet! Some people already have, of course. For instance, there has […]
Do you look forward to meetings at your workplace, or do you dread them? This is regardless of whether you just attend them or you actually convene and chair them. For those who dread meetings at your workplace, why? If you say that they are a waste of time, how did they turn out to […]
We all seem to forget that terms like “fluid”, “rapid”, “high rate of”, are all relative terms. Since they are relative terms, what is rapid to one may not be rapid to another. What seems highly fluid to one might be all in a day’s work for another. If you get to spend a week […]
What comes to your mind when you think about a great leader, perhaps one that you admire a lot? List down all the adjectives that come to mind. Is “love” one of them? Do you think I am asking a strange question? Why or why not? This is one of those times when you perhaps […]
Roots. Unseen. Unattractive. Not in the limelight. Highly essential if you want good plant growth and, ultimately, good fruit. For every leaf above ground, there are probably hundreds more roots and root hairs working tirelessly to absorb the nutrients so vital for overall plant growth and ultimately a great harvest. Do you want to have […]
I have Hazriq Idrus of “The Speaking Factory” to thank for this blog post. Last night we had the 85th APTS meeting at The Plaza, Beach Road. Hazriq was one of the speakers and he spoke on “STAGE-Play!: Creative & Theatrical Games for Trainers & Workshop Leaders”. The main thrust of the talk was in […]
Yes, “Who are you?”, not “How are you?”. We greet each other with “How are you?” so often that if we get the reply “Just terrible!”, we’d probably respond with “That’s great! Have a nice day!”. This is an example of an inanity, and it needs to be erased. We indulge in inanities so much […]
How essential is IT to your business? Pretty much, I take? Well, whether you run a small business or a large enterprise, IT is definitely part of your outfit in one way or another. I would just invite you to consider – is it a servant or has IT become your master? Do you make […]
I commented on a comfortable article on Forbes and noticed that the whole comment doesn’t appear in LinkedIn and Facebook. So I thought I’d post it here. I’d encourage you to read the article, too, I think it’s a good one by Margie Warrell. Hi, Margie, great article! Agreed with what you say, and can I […]
I came across this great article by Brooke Allen on Quartz, which was featured in LinkedIn Today. You can read the article at the link, and I strongly recommend that you do! http://qz.com/77020 The article reminds me of a short clip by Simple Truths called “The 100/0 Principle“. Write and tell me what you think!
Most of us know that we can bring a horse to water, but we can’t force the horse to drink. Ah…but we can salt the oats! What does that mean? Well, for those of us who aren’t used to horsing around, oats are what horses get fed. Besides the green, green grass you see in […]
I saw some news online today that reminded me to get the message out – when the majority of the planet is in dire need of help, should we be wasting resources on our own selfish fancies? The news reported that a Dutch reality show was seeking volunteers for a one-way trip to Mars. If […]
On social media, and in email messages, I have noticed that many people tend to simply share what others have written. While this is good and certainly appreciated, I wonder if you would like to increase your own Visibility and Credibility while doing this good deed? Adding your own views and comments to something that […]
One of the talks I have delivered, and will be delivering this Saturday, 27 Apr 2013, centres around how to make the right decisions. We need to be thinking about things like this every so often, and determine if we are truly who we say we are. Some people call it congruence. Well, I had […]
Are you perplexed? Run into some things that are too complex for you? Even the dictionary has gotten the words mixed up! Well, not to worry, it’s pretty simple, really. Just as contentment is not the same thing as complacency, complexities are not the same as complications. Complexity involves the integration of things and systems […]
A lot of people live much of life on the World Wide Web. Does that make them spiders? What would you call a 3D web? Imagine, if you will, a web in three dimensions. From your position at the centre of your web, you have strands of non-sticky silk, perhaps the toughest biological material on […]
Have you made out your will? That’s something we all need to do, regardless of how much or how little we think we have in terms of assets.What about making a W.I.L.L. as in “Walk In Lifelong Learning”? It is a pity that so many who seem to be so highly educated want to have […]
There was a boy who lived in a village several years ago. His father had died, and the family was very poor. One day, one of the other children at the village school stole the only notebook that he had. Feeling sad and angry, the boy was passing by a stall selling fruit on the […]
Have you heard of Pedigree Pal, the dog food company? Sometimes I think that dogs eat better than some humans I know of! Yes, indeed, Pedigree Pal, for those of distinguished pedigree, of course. How qualified are you for what you’re doing, and for what you’d like to be doing in life? Do you feel […]
There seem to be more advocates for open-plan offices than for closed and/ or mixed plan offices. Amongst all the arguments in favour of open-plan offices, ease of collaboration and a greater degree of creativity seem to be at the fore. Well, if that is so, then many offices resemble Tactical Operation Centres, and I […]
Derek Sivers says that leadership is overrated. Excuse me, Derek, I differ! There is no first follower if there is no first leader! Leadership is a package deal. Not only must a leader be bold enough to stand alone, if need be, but he must also be influential enough to inspire others to towards a […]
Be honest. Are you sufficiently at peace with yourself, are you “centered”, do you walk with your head held high, and does your stride say that you have a purpose in life? Or do you live waiting for someone to come up to you and tell you that you’re ok, that they believe in you, […]
I was meeting two people at SingPost (Singapore Post) building when I had a sensation of something under my right foot. Thinking that perhaps something had gotten under my right foot, I looked down. Lo and behold, but the sole of my right shoe had decided to detach itself somewhat from the rest of the […]
I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. Margaret Thatcher If it had not been for the Falklands Islands Campaign, codenamed “Operation Corporate”, I would probably not have remembered Margaret Thatcher the way […]
People like to say that life is like a marathon. We’re in for the long haul, so space yourself out, don’t get burned out! Others say that’s not true at all, that life is really a series of sprints. Rest at the right times, flat out when appropriate. What’s your view? I think life is […]
Those who have been in active service with the Forces will know this to be a low-level tactical formation. I guess some people have also thought it was a battlefield tactic! Such people contribute greatly to the horrors of war. Training our people and getting them thinking two levels up has always been a priority, […]
When working with Kenneth Kwan, pictured below, I was introduced to the concept of “Lead Measures” and “Lag Measures”. While the concept was not totally new, I had not articulated it in the manner described heretofore. So, what are “Lead” and “Lag” measures? They have to do with goal setting. While some may argue that […]
Are you familiar with the terms “pedagogy” and “andragogy“? “Pedagogy” is supposed to be education which is centered on the needs of the child, and “andragogy” is supposed to centered on the needs of, you guessed it, adults. You think so? I don’t! We have taken terms to the extreme. That is part of the […]
“If you see your brother standing by the road…. with a heavy load… from the seeds he’s sowed…” so the song goes. It goes on to exhort us to “try a little kindness…” Sounds good? Would it help your business to be perceived as kind and benevolent? An enterprise people can’t do without? Intuitively, we […]
I came across a few articles in various forums discussing what might happen if automation were to increase to the nth degree, sentiments to that effect. What would happen to employees? Would unemployment also rise in tandem? Well, do you remember the hue and cry over Y2K? Did anything untoward happen? Not that I recall. […]
The importance of networking, both online and in-person networking, has been highlighted in a few forums recently. If you’re still not sure why you ought to be networking seriously, you might like to take note of these two points: 1. Networking is NOT for selling your products or services, it is for developing RELATIONSHIPS with […]
Do you grow vegetables? We do, in the narrow corridor fronting our very urban apartment. We grow them in pots because there’s no space otherwise. We can’t grow very much, of course, but we grow the vegetables in order to get some hands-on experience. There are some things you can learn from growing your own […]
Yes, you read that right. Do you know people who are like that? People who never seem to get anything done and yet claiming to be “creative”? People who can tell you all about how to do your job better, but who can’t even remember the main decision from the last meeting? If you have […]
The title should read “In today’s Severely Distracted environment, you really have to be Special Delivery! We are a distracted people. We allow small disturbances to take away our focus and our attention from more important issues. We allow the unimportant to edge out the important, like relationships. We think that gadgets and social media […]
Are you an innovative person? Is your organization innovative? What, in any case, IS innovation? Well, I think most of us would agree that innovation is introducing change, organic or otherwise, that would help make things better, faster, smoother, more efficient, more effective, more user-friendly, more cost-effective, or a combination of the above. We hear […]
Did the Titanic hit the iceberg and sink because she was not aware that there were icebergs in the area she was in? Definitely not. Radio messages relayed by Morse code were being sent from ship to ship reporting icebergs in the very area that the Titanic was sailing in. Why the messages were largely […]
A few assertions about fairness and justice. They may not seem fair to you at first sight. Think about them a little, don’t worry about dictionary definitions. Are they actually played out in real life? Fairness focuses on rights. Justice focuses on what is right. Fairness is based on perceptions. Justice is based on principles. Fairness focuses […]
Thomas Malm’s blog of 09 Feb 2013 mentioned silos and synapses, and immediately sparked off this post. When “silo” is thrown your way, what comes to your mind? Do you have negative feelings? Well, “silos” and structures resembling “silos” are actually pretty essential in many instances. If our esophagi (gullets) and tracheae (windpipes) didn’t function in […]
Motivate your staff? Or inspire them? Can it be both, at different times answering to different needs? We are told we can’t motivate anyone, we can only set conditions that appeal to what they prefer to be doing, and they’ll motivate themselves. Well, that’s good for a start, but I do think we need to […]
The word “try” has been vilified by many as being symptomatic of a lack of self-belief, lack of commitment, and a few other things. I think it has been used too often by too many people as a cover-up for NOT trying. Sure, they “tried”, but they certainly didn’t “try” hard enough and/ or weren’t persistent […]
There are many discussions online that seem to serve very little purpose. They are dysfunctional discussions. They seem to have gone on like forever, and continue their meandering path with little or no fruitfulness as a result. Perhaps Sam Walter Foss’ “The Calf Path” says it all too well. People tend to imbibe other people’s […]
From Wikipedia, [Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly.] I don’t know about you, but I have often discerned hints of “Hey, no fair!” when I come across articles in journals or in the news talking about “Asymmetric Warfare”. Instead of whining about our competitors not behaving as […]
Yes, you read that right. This has actually happened, and apparently on more than one occasion. A Grumman test pilot by the name of Tom Attridge somehow managed to do that while testing a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger on 21 Sep 1956. It happened while he was test-firing four 20mm cannon. After firing two bursts, Attridge actually […]
FUN! Oh, yes. And that is what girls just wanna have, if Cyndi Lauper is to be believed. Do you like having fun? Are you doing a face-palm movement in response to that question? Let’s have some serious play with the word. Looking up the word “fun” in the etymology dictionary, we see that fun […]
We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom that we need to be specialized in something, be very good at something that only we can do, or we won’t get much attention and we won’t get much market share. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been known to be highly unconventional. I am not […]
We would usually only ask if a lady were expecting if she happened to be a close relative, a close friend or perhaps a workplace colleague. Of course, all of us would be expecting a bundle of joy to be delivered and inquire as to the date and probably give lots of advice as to […]
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