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. […]
They’re possibilities. Expressions of possibilities, to be exact. When will we stop thinking about our preferences as limitations? Yes, we all have basic preferences, as we are all designed differently, and our different preferences, tastes and inclinations make up for a very interesting and diverse mix. We all have preferences when it comes to clothing, […]
Not what you think. I’m talking about the Grunt, the Digger, the Mudfoot, the Worker, the Labourer, the Crane Operator, the Front Line Salesperson, the Telephone operator, the Chef, the Waiter, the Bus Driver, the Deliveryman, the Farmer, the Fishmonger, the Toilet Cleaner, the Maintenance Crew, the Security Guards. Amongst others. Know any of them? […]
I came across Seth Godin’s post about “Emotional Handwashing” a couple of days ago and it reminded me immediately of the quality of Self Control. Much of the hype about “Be Yourself” is really incontinence that has been given a twisted sort of carte blanche for its expression. “No Fear” is really a manifestation of […]
Some of you would be familiar with Kouzes & Posner’s “Leadership Challenge.” If you aren’t, do look it up. They have concluded from several years of research, still ongoing, that there are five leadership practices common to most, if not all, people. One of those practices is called “Encourage the heart.” At first glance, you […]
You know, the “In” crowd. Insecure. Insincere. Intolerant. Inhospitable. Indecent. Inhuman. Incontinent. Inebriated. Inappropriate. That’s what you will become when you seek to become “special” by joining, or by trying to join, an “exclusive” or “elite” group. I am not saying that we do not pursue excellence. That ought to be a lifelong affair! I […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It is amazing how we often seem to excel at the cognitive level and fail miserably in execution. Or we may ruthlessly succeed at execution also, and fail miserably when it comes to having meaningful relationships. I suspect this is the main reason why we like to analyze, dichotomize and maintain a separation between “work […]
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 […]
Yes it always will. One way or another. For where there is a WILL to love, there will always be a WAY. A parallel truth is what I have written about, which is that there ought not to be a dichotomy between character and competence. Competence is a subset of character. If you have good […]
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 […]
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 […]
You might be familiar with the saying “We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.” As leaders, we need to remember this for ourselves as well as for those around us, and lead accordingly. That saying is true, of course. Our mental and emotional states tend to dictate how we […]
If you happen to be from the Band of Brothers I used to work with, or if you happen to be in HR or equivalent, you might be familiar with the term “Currently Estimated Potential.” It is meant to be an assessment of how far an individual is likely to advance given his performance so […]
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 […]
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 […]
Unity isn’t about same-as-you same-as-you. Unity can be likened to all the different instruments in an orchestra playing the same piece, just that each instrument plays its own special part in it.
I am always amazed at the capacity people have for taking one aspect of what someone is saying and treating it as the entire message. I see this so often on social media that I actually dread participating in certain discussions! We have been told so often to speak up and make ourselves heard that […]
We have all, I suppose, heard of “constructive conflict”. Do you think it exists? When was the last time you had some “constructive conflict”? Did you feel as though you were in conflict with others? It has been said that when you have more than one person in an organization, disagreements are inevitable. Therefore, the […]
I might be attracting the ire of some people with this post, but that’s an occupational hazard. Mind you, I’ve had many pets over the years. Dogs, mostly, but also mynahs, rabbits, guinea pigs, white mice, budgerigars, tortoises, fish, spiders and others I shall not name for the sake of the queasy of stomach. Did […]
Aye, they do indeed. When you look at someone, whether that someone be man, woman or child, what do you look at first? Physical features? Clothing? Shoes? Watches? Pens? Do you look at them overall and form your first impressions? Who among you reading this looks at the person’s eyes first? The eyes have been […]
Great leaders are those who lead by example, who influence others for the better, who inspire others towards excellence and who hold a place dear in our hearts. By the same token, great leaders ought to be great natural networkers, for is not networking about relationships and influence? Is it not about the fact that […]
View the pdf. This is an edited transcript. Hi, this is Elijah Lim – Who’s Afraid Of Hierarchical Orgs? Or hierarchical structures? Now, we’re all quite familiar with hierarchical structures. What it means is that usually there’s someone at the top, he has maybe three, four, two, people directly reporting to him, and each of […]
This is not a word-for-word transcript, but is the same in essence. Business Insider ran an article called “This Chart Shows The Relationship Between Hours Worked And Productivity” on 06 Oct 2013. It purports to show that productivity goes up when people spend less time at work. It’s probably so. I’m just not sure if […]
Download the pdf. This is not a word-for-word transcript, but the essence is the same. I came across a LinkedIn article called “Key Reasons Delegating Is SO Difficult and What To Do About It” on 07 Oct 2013. I’d written something about “Deliberate delegation” before, and this post caught my eye. It seems that the […]
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an oxymoron to me. What is “wealth”? Health? Happiness? Large portfolios? The 5 Cs in great abundance? If you have great wealth and you think that your wealth can be destroyed, you are a very poor man. True wealth cannot be destroyed. What is destroyed, what […]
This is especially for all you positive affirmation junkies out there. I know you’re there – I can feel the hate coming towards me. Pendulums are very useful things. In clocks and other gadgets requiring the services of simple harmonic motion. In a way, they illustrate what life is, continuously swinging from one extreme to […]
The video gives a good illustration of how interconnected we really are. I do not agree with the worldviews expressed, particularly references to evolution, but I thought it was still a good illustration. In previous posts, I’ve alluded to something like this with Spider Webs, 3D Spider Webs, if you will. I think it is […]
The sense of taste is the focus of a billion dollar industry. Although our senses of taste and smell aren’t supposed to be as discriminating as those of many species of animals, many of us still take pride in being more “discerning” than our fellows where tastes and aromas are concerned. We revel in being […]
Authority. You look up and squint so you see it more clearly. You stop in your tracks as it rumbles so nearly. The things that you wish for, you hold them so dearly. Yes, authority has a way of eliciting a range of different responses from different people at different times and seasons. Do you […]
If you are used to me by now, you will know that I don’t mean “Public Relations” in the first “PR.” So what do I mean? Personal Responsibility, of course! If you are a Public Relations honcho and depend on that to pay your bills, lower your hackles and read on! Of course, “PR Campaigns […]
Do you have a good EQ? I think Daniel Goleman didn’t intend to mislead anyone about EQ, but I do think that many people have swung one way or the other. Seems to be the case, as always. When will level-headed thinking prevail? Quite difficult, I suppose, since emotions versus our minds are something like […]
In the post “Lead Measures. Lag Measures. So What?” written on 04 Apr 2013, I talked about what lead and lag measures are. I hope you are taking the initiative implementing lead measures in your daily business! I just came across a discussion on a LinkedIn group called “Automotive Fixed Operations Managers“. The discussion is […]
When Martin Luther King declared “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal”, he inadvertently gave a phrase and a concept for all modern-day Robin Hoods to exploit. Now, I’m certainly no fan of the Sheriff of Nottingham either, but two wrongs don’t make a right. You know by now […]
You are biased. I am biased. They are biased. We are all biased. If you encounter someone coming up to you saying, “My reporting of the case in unbiased” or “I settled the quarrel in a fair and unbiased manner”, you should quickly laugh out loud in his face! There is simply no such thing […]
The word “lebensraum” means “habitat” or “living space” in German and was one of the components of disastrous Nazi ideology. I picked the word up when reading J.F.C. Fuller’s “The Second World War: A Strategical and Tactical History” many years ago and it stuck fast in my mind. All of us require living space, and […]
There is a song called “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by the group Tears for Fears. The title itself hints at people wanting to be the rock star whatever they’re doing and wherever they’re at. Have you ever thought about if everybody were to rule the world, who are the ruled? Harvey MacKay once […]
I came across an article a few years ago describing how composting is on the increase in Java, Indonesia. Artificial fertilizers in the 1970s had boosted crop yields for a short period, but yields dropped after that, and the land was poisoned. A local bank initiated a composting drive, collecting waste from markets and converting […]
Are we led more by Reason or are we led more by Emotion? Someone once said that we are led by both. Reason and Emotion are like two animals hitched together to the same cart. One animal is a Mule and the other is an Elephant. Which do you think is Reason and which Emotion? […]
I keep seeing posts and discussions on delegation, so I thought I’d better post this again, so that people can keep this thing called “delegation” in its proper perspective. Is the word “delegation” a dreaded word at your workplace? If you are a leader, do you know who, what, where, when and why to delegate? […]
Baby Boomers. Gen X. Gen Y. Gen Z. Gen Gap. Gen Repeat Process. Gen ad infinitum. We really love labelling, stereotyping and generalizing, don’t we? Just because some “expert” said that “studies have shown that…”, means we pick up the paint roller and give all and sundry the broad-brush treatment. Does that happen to you? […]
Of course, you can guess my age looking at the title. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can always stare at it in a lecherous manner, meaning go ogle it! If you understand chunking, you’ll know what I’m talking about! Did you have a great pen-pal? I never did, but I have […]
Something I read on Inc. this morning caught my attention. Margaret Heffernan was writing about her observations that the pipeline for female leaders is full to bursting point. She said that, during her interviews with women leaders, she asked the question “So what have you done to help other women?” Those who answered with confidence, […]
I happened to come across an article entitled “The Evolution of Blind Acceptance“, and immediately the thought of corporate conscience came to mind. If you’re familiar with what I write about, you’ll know that one of my lines is “If your business does not give great value to ALL stakeholders, you have no business being […]
This has been in the news recently. First of all, let it be known that I only approve of one form of striking. Which is wear black armbands and continue to work. My idea of a strike. From the Japanese and Koreans, I’m told. Were you forced to sign on the dotted line? Did you […]
I find it hard to believe that so many people find work so onerous. Is it true that so few of us actually enjoy our work? The amazing proliferation of all things to pamper at leisure seems to be a firm testament to that state of affairs. Sad reality is that we often need “…a […]
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