Positive inspirational quotes mean well. You just need to know the meanings undergirding them, and be familiar with the environment in which they were formed. They are good to have in front of your face when you’re dirty, cold, wet, tired, hungry and miserable. They’re nice to remember when you’re reeling with a bloody nose from […]
Are you someone who is constantly “Thinking out of the box?” Is your organization known for “Out of the Box” thinking and innovation? Why? Do simple re-conformations and incremental improvements represent “breakthroughs”? How often do genuine “breakthroughs” occur, anyway? While you’re pondering that, has anyone realized what the “Box” actually IS? You know what Russian […]
I had a rather refreshing conversation with a younger person this morning. It was refreshing because he was giving off good vibes about his developing and sustaining good relationships with his clients as well as his suppliers. He was able to provide details about how he went about doing so, and how he visualized growth […]
To be given a mandate is to be authorized to make decisions and take action in line with the intent of the authority giving the mandate. The nature of the mandate is very important. It needs to be clear, unambiguous and guided by universal principles. It needs to empower the one to whom it is […]
Excellence is really an everyday thing, just like being a champion is an everyday thing. I used to say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Sweat the small stuff.” Now, in the interests of those who don’t appreciate verbal nuance, I say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Do the small stuff”. Of course, what the phrases […]
There is an old song which goes “Killing me softly with his song…”, to which the title of this post alludes. The song describes how the writer went to hear a singer and was struck by how the singer seemed to describe her feelings and inner tormented being with his song. She wanted the singer […]
I am always amazed at how people will argue endlessly with each other over “which method works better” or even “which is the right method” instead of taking a step back, recognizing the doctrine from which the methods sprang in the first place, and then exploring fresh ways of approaching the situation in question. We […]
If we eat, work, stretch and exercise proportionately, growth takes place. If we sit on the couch, drink beer and eat potato chips whilst watching TV and playing all sorts of fun and amusing games, growth occurs as well, just that I am not sure whether you would welcome such growth. We grow muscle, become […]
We are enamoured of highly-sculpted bodies, rippling with high-definition muscle. Even couch potatoes secretly wish they could all be like that to some degree. We may not all want to have the huge muscle mass, but most, if not all of us, would certainly like a well-toned, fit and healthy look. We want to be […]
Your organizational culture can be described as how you habitually run things around the place. If your culture is one of excellence, it will be reflected in the spirit in which work is executed and the manner in which people treat each other. If there is any level of toxicity, that will be reflected in […]
There was a Puma ad that said basically the same thing some time ago. What do I mean when I refer to “half measures”? Our society is prone to taking action, regardless of whether the action actually makes sense or otherwise. Regardless of what the reasons for the actions might be, besides the cop-out one […]
Standardization. The rallying cry of optimization maximizers. In today’s innovation-centric environment, this might sound a little ho-hum to you. Which way are you inclined, optimization-centric or innovation-centric? Think you can’t have both? Think again! Really, this economics of exclusion has gone deep into the bones. Manifests in all areas of our lives, doesn’t it? Anyway, […]
People love fireworks. Stunning, beautiful displays of harmless power. Well, harmless if fired as intended. We also like sparks. New beginnings. Picturesque showers falling from new buildings under construction. Cute little babies, kittens, puppies, tiger cubs. We love the playfulness and wonderful, latent promises of future potential. Just a spark fires the imagination. Now, wouldn’t […]
Sure. Like, how can you be prepared for things you don’t even know will happen yet? How can you be prepared for eventualities that you still have no clue about? Exactly. If you have read the original “Scouting for Boys” by Robert Baden-Powell, you would probably be able to answer that question. Since all of us […]
In a time when even the written word can be made to be untrustworthy, the spoken word which goes forth from our mouths tends to be undervalued, despised and ignored. How sad. How much more worry and anxiety trying to ensure that reams of “legalease” are drafted in order to protect our own interests. How […]
I came across an article about “Why Apple Employees Never Wanted To Have Lunch With Steve Jobs” on Business Insider Singapore this morning and wondered how many times the same thing could be said about ourselves. Ourselves being in Steve Jobs’ shoes, so to speak. Apart from the fact that I strongly advocate us having […]
A daughter ran away from home and went to live with her boyfriend. After a few days, she called home. Her mother answered and she announced, “Mom, we’re engaged!” Her jaded mother replied, “In what?” That would be our response as well if someone announces that they’re busy at work or business. Busy-ness is normal. […]
Some of us might have heard of the “Third Side” and the “View from the Balcony” as well. While this postulates a good way of resolving conflicts by bringing in neutral (hopefully) and objective (pray) mediators, ensuring that the process of resolving conflicts includes as many helpful perspectives as possible is just one application of […]
We hear of it all the time these days. Email, from being a handy communications channel, is now seen by many as a dreaded, insidious intruder. I’m not one of those many, as you can tell. Stop it! When are you going to grow up? Calling email a menace, labelling it as passe, is akin […]
Have you ever made any decisions that you regretted later? Of course, I have, too! Do you then fall into the rut of not making any decisions for fear that the decisions you make might also turn out for the worse? Happens to all of us, too, doesn’t it? Intuitively, we know that indecisiveness is […]
Not what you think. I’m talking about the Grunt, the Digger, the Mudfoot, the Worker, the Labourer, the Crane Operator, the Front Line Salesperson, the Telephone operator, the Chef, the Waiter, the Bus Driver, the Deliveryman, the Farmer, the Fishmonger, the Toilet Cleaner, the Maintenance Crew, the Security Guards. Amongst others. Know any of them? […]
Have you ever led a group of people, all of whom depended on you to take them to wherever you all happened to be going, and all of you got hopelessly lost because you either didn’t know the way well enough or got confused and took a wrong turn, perhaps? Have you ever had to […]
Would you agree with that statement? Of course you would! Great salespersons are always the rock stars, aren’t they? More pay, more incentives, maybe not so much more benefits, but which great salesperson needs those, anyway? You see books about great salespersons, you might have attended courses about selling like one of those great salespersons, and […]
In this day and age of Lean, Six Sigma and a general frowning upon anything seen as superfluous, redundancies are remarkably reprehensible and classified in the same category as refuse. How dare I even bring the matter up, the Efficiency Experts would exclaim! Haven’t I gotten it into my thick skull that that’s how our […]
Pruning. Painful. Cutting away. So that new abundance may grow. Pruning is essential in so many spheres of life, not just in agricultural practice. One may prune branches, roots, remove excess foliage, even take away some initial fruit, in order that more fruitfulness may come to pass. Pruning must be conducted circumspectly, not too much […]
Refers to the pursuit of being The Hub of All Spheres. It’s good to aspire to be a hub, a centre of excellence, quality, research, resources, craftsmanship, production and so on. The real question is “Why?” Why do you wish to be a Medical Hub? A Conventions Hub? A Life Sciences Hub? Is it because […]
I was reading a post about supply chains all over the world needing to beef up their risk management programs in order to lower the risk of sub-standard parts making their way into the manufacturing system. The “Supplier Ethical Data Exchange”, or Sedex, was mentioned as one of the ways of driving ethical business practices […]
I call it the, you guessed, “Two-Thirds Rule”, and it’s measured in thumbs. With all the hoopla about burnout, work-life balance, need for white space and related others, I thought I’d share this for your benefit. Some people say life is a marathon. Some say it’s a series of sprints. I say it’s more like […]
And Personal Assistant, Gatekeeper, whatever you wish to call that person by. In an interesting activity involving marshmallows and spaghetti, it was found that groups comprising just CEOs fared rather poorly compared to groups comprising both CEOs and their PAs! Conclusion? CEOs cannot function well without their PAs? I hope not. Those who are such […]
Our old washing machine had died, and I was taking its body to the scrap metal dealer near our home. My son and I were pushing it along on our trolley. After we crossed the road to get to the scrap metal dealer, we had to negotiate a staircase downwards. Without thinking, we were about […]
Children play. Adults play. We all play. Why, play tell? Well, it’s fun, of course. It stretches the imagination. It helps us to unwind. It helps us acquire and maintain certain skills, especially psychomotor skills. It helps us to develop strong, meaningful relationships. At its most basic, child’s play is actually preparation for thriving later […]
I once knew someone higher up the ladder who made it a habit of saying “I leave it to you” when assigning tasks to others. That might sound like fun, except it isn’t, especially when you haven’t a clue what resources have been given and what sort of free play you have. It doesn’t help […]
That’s something along the lines of “Four legs good…two legs baaad!” Think about it! I’m not saying that we should avoid quantity-based businesses or reduce quantity for the sake of reducing quantity. What I am saying is that large volumes, quantity businesses, may have a greater tendency to have very thin profit margins. Therefore, even […]
Those who have been to planning sessions of varying types and levels know that I am talking about Vision, Roles, Rules & Relationships, of course. Of the four, Vision talks about a picture big enough that it probably won’t be fulfilled in our lifetime, but might be possible for the next generation. Or it could […]
I wish more people would become more comfortable with the term “strategy.” It would certainly make the job of leaders a little easier. Strategy is not a big word, neither is it a big concept. It is not found in the mysterious depths of a crystal ball and you don’t need tarot cards for it. […]
I once made a terrible mistake while driving. I saw a “No U-Turn” sign and thought that I saw a “U-Turn” sign instead. Since I thought I saw a “U-Turn” sign, I proceeded to execute one, and narrowly avoided what could have been a rather nasty accident. Did my eyes trick me? No, they functioned […]
The Theory of Constraints is something that caught my eye recently. I was indulging myself in a STRATFOR video in which George Friedman was postulating that due to the unchangeables of geography, historical baggage, human behaviour and time in history, peoples and nations may aspire to things lofty and noble, and not arrive at where […]
That’s because the basics ought to be an integral part of our workplace, indeed of our entire life. What ARE basics? Are they not the very building blocks of our existence? Since when have we ever needed to “Go back to basics”? They just went missing from your daily routine, that’s all! If you have […]
As Week Six of 2014 opens, take a little time to reflect upon the mindsets that characterize you. What is your default mindset? Are you happy with it? Are there things which you’d like changed? Do you need to grow in certain aspects? Here are a few Magnificent Mindsets which I trust will be something you […]
Many people writing in the online literature seem to advocate that, in marketing and in negotiation, it is ok to lie in order to get the sale, or get the project or get the contract. They might not say it so explicitly, but things like “over-promising” so as to “get the sale” and then “worry […]
There was an occasion more than ten years ago when I was red-faced at work. Literally. My colleagues noticed that my face seemed redder than usual. In fact, they said that my face was unusually red, and asked if I were having a fever or some other ailment. I didn’t feel sick at all. In […]
Do you believe in surrounding yourself with people who are smarter or better than you at least in some way? Good for you! That shows that you are secure, mature and probably smart in your own ways as well! Intuitively, we all know that surrounding ourselves with people better than ourselves in some aspect or other […]
The Simple Truths clip on “212. The extra degree” came to my mind, but in a different way. I had actually written to them some time ago to say that I didn’t quite agree with the whole concept, since the clip neglected to take the latent heat of vapourization into consideration, but I was okay […]
Have you heard that successful people take action? Yes, they certainly do! As I was pondering on this yesterday, the letters “SPCA” flashed across my mind. “Successful People CHOOSE Action”! Am I just playing with publicity? Absolutely not! So, what’s the difference? None. It’s not about whether there is a difference, it’s about going a […]
Being a thermal leader isn’t all about hot air. It’s actually a great thing if you’re leading a team of eagles. Or perhaps any type of bird that knows how to use thermals in order to stay aloft for very long periods of time without getting burnout. Thermals are what many land-based birds, particularly raptors, […]
Whether you’re at the helm of a large enterprise or running a relatively small business, you’re probably enjoying being in the thick of things, making decisions, calling the shots, encouraging your people to greater heights and exploring ways you can add value to all your stakeholders. Well, you might not be the boss, so to […]
“I’m serious”. “No, I’m not”. “Yes, I am”. “What ARE you really saying?” “Well, research has shown that people who exercise three times a week are twice as likely to die suddenly as people who exercise five times a week”. “Egg white has nutrients you don’t know about yet”. Welcome to the strategic art of […]
Most, if not all, businesses want to have growth. If you don’t have growth, you won’t be in business for very long. How is it that some business have grown, or at least, seem to have grown, but have gone bust in the end? The answer, my friend, isn’t blowing in the wind. It’s right […]
Lego? Why not? Your equipment happens to be blocks of different sizes, shapes and colours. Using just a few different types of building blocks, you could construct almost anything you fancy. This is mind-boggling when you remember that Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) controls everything about how we are made, and is made up of chains of […]
You might just get it, of course. What is your strategy over the next few years? Decades? Centuries? Am I crazy, you ask. No, I don’t think so. Strategy is always forward-looking, and is not so much an expression of long-term goals as a manifestation of WHO you are, WHO your organization IS. In other […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.