Category Archives: Entrepreneurship

Specialization? Diversification? Do you mean Improvisation?

Some people call for specialization. Our companies, our businesses, aren’t specialized, aren’t differentiated, enough, they say. Yet others call for greater diversification. We need to expand our repertoire in order to traverse the bumpy terrain of the business world effectively. Which is right, you might ask, and of course it is both. Businesses do not make […]

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Disruption? So what, Leader?

A comrade of mine recalled an incident when he was training cadets. It happened to be an offensive operations exercise, and the cadets had fared very badly. During the main debrief, which was of course after all the After-Action-Reviews (AARs), “Hotwashes”, or what I personally have come to disdain as “Hogwashes” and so forth. When the […]

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If You Need External Funding, Do You Have A Viable Business?

I have the military to thank for this concept. That is, when you’ve been assigned a mission, you are expected to assume that all resources necessary for the successful prosecution of the mission have been allocated. If you request for more resources, that request is always predicated on the assumption that it will accelerate the […]

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Wannabe Entrepreneur? Try Intrapreneurship First!

Tired of your job? No one appreciates how wonderful and valuable you really are? Sack your Boss and become an entrepreneur? Sure, do that! But before you do, you might like to consider the following intrapreneurship qualities: 1.     Are you REALLY good at your current job? Ask your co-workers. Not directly, ask around […]

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Rated PGA. Post-Grants Action Advised.

There has been a spate of increases in grants, as in funding, as in monetary, being given by the Singapore Government in recent years. Of course, they are meant to encourage Singapore companies to become more productive, more entrepreneurial, more organized, get more research work going, and a host of other things besides. The amounts […]

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The Intrapreneur State

Intrapreneur is actually the same as entrepreneur except it operates within the framework of a larger organization that the Intrapreneur does not own. I think that most of us are born with an entrepreneurial mindset already embedded within us. Tragically, this is eroded by the time we get to school and start working, and is replaced […]

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“Asymmetric” Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

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 […]

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A Growth Essential: Value-Based Business.

I have been saying that if your business does not deliver genuine value to all stakeholders, then you have no business being in business. If you find that you have a great need to implement some sort of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Responsibility (CR) policy, then the very nature of your business should […]

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Be “Gooded”. Not Bested. Success, not Perfection.

“The good is the enemy of the best”. What is your definition of the “best”? It is the same question as “What is your definition of success?” As usual, people seem to be divided into two or more camps about this. One camp says that we should always go for what is best all the […]

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Dominate your market? Exploit your Niche?

Heard these statements somewhere at some time? “Dominate your market!” “Grow rich in your niche!” How about “Attracting your customers” and “Woo your buyers”? “Make it juicy for people”? While brand posturing, marketing and selling are of course very important, how many of you believe, really believe deep down inside, that your goods and services […]

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Facts are facts. Not reasons.

“Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point.” ~Blaise Pascal~ (The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.) I came across this quote by Blaise Pascal in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time several years ago. There is a pretty good explanation for what Blaise Pascal meant on the Helium website, written by […]

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A comment on the 212 movie

Simple Truths has a movie called the 212 movie. It is about how a difference of one degree (Fahrenheit, in this case) makes all the difference between no power and steam power. When I was with Lifeskills Enrichment, I wrote a blog post (now defunct) to expand on this concept. My stand was that the amount […]

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? What is that?

Are you familiar with “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”? What is your view of it? There are many terms and viewpoints that have sprung up around the concept, the more ubiquitous ones being “Creating Shared Value (CSV)”, “Triple Bottom Line (TBL)”, “Corporate Moral Responsibility (CMR)” and quite recently “Corporate Responsibility (CR)”. All the concepts seem to […]

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Farmer or Hunter? Environmental Influences.

It has often been said that business relationships ought to be nurtured based on a “farming” approach instead of a “hunting” approach. I was wondering how much our environment influences our decisions in that regard? Would an environment that actively encourages agriculture tend to generate more of a “farming” mindset? What if the environment is […]

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DO-er or WISH-er?

I was reading Alan Weiss’ book “Thrive”, and was musing on what he said about WISH-ing your life away. It struck me that a fundamental difference between a DO-er and a WISH-er is that DO-ers Develop Opportunities and that WISH-ers Willfully Inflict Self Harm So, are you are DO-er or are you a WISH-er? Be […]

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Under-promise and over-deliver? What is that?

I used to sell for a couple of retail investment establishments, and I was always told to “under-promise and over-deliver”. That sounded logical at the time, but in hindsight, seems a little self-defeating. Firstly, I couldn’t promise whatever the company didn’t promise, and I certainly wasn’t in any position to deliver anything, since the investment […]

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Right Choice, Best Choice

How concerned are you with making right choices? What do you base your decisions on? How do you decide which career to embark on, what hobby to pursue, what financial instruments to invest in, where to go for your next vacation, and so on? In this post, I am not talking about making ethical choices. […]

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