We have all heard versions of “Clone yourself”, “Make copies of yourself” and the like. At the same time, we have been told to make our businesses “scalable” and therefore more profitable for ourselves. Making many copies of “I, Leader” seems to make much sense, for if the Mark I, Mark II and Mark ad […]
Yes, I’ve been referring to the organismic company for a while now. And yes, I’ve been coming across posts and articles talking about how to make “Industrial Age” companies more organic, how to have better Job Descriptions, how to have more flexible Organization Charts and how to better tap on the vast Knowledge Bank that […]
At this writing, the question of whether the Scots go their own bonny way has yet to be decided. Ironically, as I took in more news on the subject, the song “When a child is born”, popularized by Johnny Mathis, sprang to my mind. What happens when you think of a child being born? Do […]
Everybody wants to rule the world. Everybody wants to be an author for the same reason. The word “author” refers to someone who has authority vested in him or her by virtue of the fact that he or she is an expert on the subject, has at least some degree of experience in it, has […]
But of course! Please stand in front of me. Now, bend forwards at the waist until your body forms a right angle with the trunk of your body horizontal and your derriere facing me. Ready? Prepare for the first kick. Say “Thank you!” Prepare for second kick. Say “Thank you!” Repeat process until inertia and […]
“Say what you mean and mean what you say” seems to have lost its meaning for at least some people these days. Whatever proceeds forth out of your mouth is no longer valued as what will be done, what has been agreed upon. Saying “You have my word on that” no longer holds water for many […]
If Abraham Lincoln had been a Singaporean, he might have said something like “……that the systems of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth…” In a previous post, “A Fort Means A Lot. A Last Stand It Is Not“, I said that forts are meant for area domination, not […]
Many of you reading this are investors. You put your money in various instruments, and you of course do it with a view to reaping financial rewards in the short or long term, depending on the nature of the investment. You probably view investments as a good way of making your money grow much better […]
Probably yes, whether you’re male or female. Before we go further, let’s establish a few things. 1. When you put men and women in stressful environments and make them work together and be dependent on each other for long periods of time, they will soon cease to act as working professionals towards each other […]
Recently, a few friends of mine had some sort of discussion about the Kra Canal and its implications for Singapore. A not-so-recent article on the subject was shared, which I thought still quite relevant and can be found here. I found that pretty interesting because I’d written a little something about it in a previous […]
It’s hard to write when your head is stuffed, so this will be a short post. Probably. I find that more and more people are asking me for referrals, regardless of how well or how little I know them and their businesses. In a way, that is a good sign. It means that the spirit […]
Outstanding! Are you tired of trying to be different, trying to “stand out from the crowd” and trying to be “outstanding”? I have good news for you! Stop that nonsense! Your body is comprised of between sixty to seventy trillion cells. That alone makes you unique! So, why do you try so hard to “stand […]
Never Fail? Do you fear failure? Do you know people who say things like “I never fail, I only learn”? Well, I respect where they’re coming from, and I also know that language controls communications and controls our thoughts. It is not only a tad hypocritical to say that we never fail, it actually causes […]
I suppose you are familiar with terms like “Unleash your true potential”, “Awaken the Giant Within”, by Anthony Robbins, and many other similar ones. Have you ever stopped to think about who leashed you in the first place? The illustration of the mighty elephant being held to one spot by a frail stake in the ground […]
Conflicts at the workplace are often attributed to “personality differences”. Probe a little more and you get “personality weaknesses” that accompany “personality strengths.” So, when deploying your people, it is “wise” to deploy them according to complementary “personality strengths” in order to compensate for “personality weaknesses.” How convenient. Take two aspirins and see me in […]
Yes, all that talk about people buying because of emotion isn’t right. People don’t buy on emotions, and people don’t buy on impulse. People get sold, plain and simple. After that happens, people don’t justify their purchases logically, either, they just appear to be logical while reasoning away what has now hit them as having […]
The concept of “There is no second chance in life” appears to be quite deeply rooted in society. It is manifested in various ways. One of them was that if you as a young student went to one of Singapore’s Institutes Of Technical Education (ITE) then you’re done for. “It’s the end!” as some people […]
Communities of Practice? A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession. The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger 1991). Just because there’s a community doing it doesn’t mean it’s […]
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 […]
Blind faith in the immutability of the bell curve spawns quite a few fallacies, of which the title of this post is one. It prompts us to prefer “dumbing down” instead of “raising up”. Of course it does, it’s much easier to dumb down, gravity is in your favour! If we raise people up, that […]
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 […]
For domestic chickens, a chick hatches after a 21-day period of incubation. The chick has to peck thousands of times at the shell before it emerges. It is a slow, laborious and exhausting process, and by the time the chick pops out of the egg, wet and tired, it has probably pecked at the shell […]
One of the buzzwords today is “empowerment.” We want our people to have greater autonomy, have more say in making decisions that affect the company and generally having higher stakes in the company’s future success. So, we get lots of advice about how to get out of the way, lead from the rear, let people […]
With apologies to Jane Austen. Consigning other people to hell as we define it, thinking less of them than we ought to, and thinking better of ourselves in the same manner, are all manifestations of pride, of prejudice, and ultimately, a sign of utter powerlessness. Contrary to popular misconception, power does not corrupt. Powerlessness corrupts. Power […]
One of the effects of Unconscious Competence is Unconscious Power. Power is the ability to do work, to get things done, to influence people to live at a higher level of consciousness. From that point, your Unconscious Power and Influence can help people into living at higher levels of unconsciousness. I once learned to operate […]
“But then, we might be speaking…a phrase too far…” Positive speak can literally be taken too far. Just look at the poster above. It talks about being a winner or a learner, never a loser. Now, because most people have brains but are reluctant to use them, this poses the real danger of simply being […]
Somebody remarked the other day that he had ordered a meal at a McDonald’s Drive-Through. When he reached the payment and collection counter, he noticed that he had been given a Senior Citizen’s discount. Nobody had asked to verify if he was, indeed, a Senior Citizen and qualified for the discount. Puzzled, he wondered how […]
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 keep coming across posts and articles that talk about how contentment in your workforce is a dangerous thing, that it doesn’t lead to good business results. To which I say that if you have a workforce that is not content, you’re going to lose them pretty soon! What many people actually mean to say […]
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 […]
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? […]
One of the unhealthiest appetites we develop as humans is the appetite for amusement, for entertainment. The word “muse” means “to think”. “Amuse” means “not to think”. Entertainment today is largely amusement. If any creativity is involved, it is largely in the domain of the crass and grotesque, disguised thinly as wit. People have become […]
Yes, they do. They start off unplanned. Nobody sets out to build empires, they just happen. The better emperors remain longer than others simply because they know about human nature. They know that humans all have a will to dominate, one way or another, and so they play with this and other characteristics to “destabilize […]
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 […]
I suppose you would be familiar with the phrase “Selling yourself short”. That is a misnomer. People don’t sell themselves short, they BUY themselves short. Think of the goods and services you’ve bought over the years. What percentage comprised goods and services you were actually glad to have paid for, and would in fact have […]
Choices, choices, choices. Some we love to have, others we wish we didn’t have to make. Life is full of them. This or that. Now or later. Cake or cookies. Us or them. Innovate or optimize. Profit or value. Lead or follow. (Or get out of the way). The list goes on. In the previous […]
Trade routes have always been a key feature of international relations. Since sea routes are still the most economical form of transport, nations are inevitably concerned with keeping them open, and keeping them safe. Where possible, nations will also try to have shortcuts so that the cost of transport goes down. The Panama Canal and […]
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 […]
Ah, the domain of the sacrosanct, because it is OUR private life! Nothing to do with the entities we happen to helm, because it is OUR private life! In this world, where the levels of fairness and justice can truly be said to be remarkable, NO ONE is entitled to have a private life. Only […]
Yes, you read “without”, not “within.” I have been told that one way of getting people interested in what goods and services you have to offer is to tell them all the great stuff they can have without the sweat, inconvenience, effort or similar sacrifice they don’t want to make. It facilitates living the Philosophy of […]
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 […]
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 […]
There seems to be a trend towards people gaining from “the wisdom of crowds” at the moment. While I certainly appreciate the advice and inputs of people who really care about me and about what I do and stand for, I am not too concerned about what the majority of people think or say. Many […]
I really miss when spades were called spades. Circumvention is, unfortunately, a skill which I think all of us wish secretly we could disinvent. If you’re a leader worth your salt, you’d know what I mean. If we paid each of our people what they are truly worth, the income of the rainmaker would not […]
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