BrandTalk

The response was overwhelming. There were more than 180 attendees. Mont Kiara was the place to be. Smartly dressed up in office wear. Senior Managers, Junior Executives, Brand Managers, Advertising Managers, all eager to listen and learn.

The audience was attentive. I spoke for about 45 mins. The length of time of just right as the audience were getting edgy for sitting for so long. The feedback from one was sum in one word "Brillant!".

I want to thank my audience for coming and listening.

Sorry....

I am sorry I have not been updating my blog in the last few days. It was crazy time with work and preparation all clashing together. I feel I am pulled in many directions. This is an adenaline rush. I will be travelling every week for the next 3 weeks. So I am looking forward for a vacation in December.

LongKang Fishing

LongKang is hokkien for drain. We decided to be a tourist for a few hours.

After brunch, we drove to Neo Tiew Road where time has slow to the 60's. Low rise, messy factories, junk yards,...bring back memories of Singapore when I was growing up. Today, we have tall and shiny buildings with bright indoors lights and cool temperature be it malls or offices. Hawkers stalls are now regular shaped in concrete or stainless steel and not wicker baskets and makeshift wooden shelters with canvas tops.

We stopped at a fish farm. There were gigantic fishes on display, stingrays, live shrimps and crab. Fishing ponds was well patronize by anglers. For the kids, there was longkang fishing. Bring back the memories of yester-year when drains were full of guppies and other small fishes. The charge to "rent" a small bucket and a net half the size of a dollar for 30 mins is $2. The fishes were fast and it is next to impossible to catch them. We have tried many strategies to corner them by the fishes always escape. Finally, the farm owner added some fishes and the odds turns in my sons favour. B3 caught 9 and B2 caught 7. I guess it is the survival of the fittest. The fishes that were caught were freshly put into the longkang. The fishes who were free are survivals and are impossible to catch. They are ultra fast in escaping and knows to hide under the bridges on top of the longkang.

As Darwin says it is the survival of the fittest. After a while only the fishes who manages to escape many chases stay free.

Rank #1

My blog is ranked #1 out of 10. At least it is better than zero. Only Google get 10. Yahoo is 9 and MSN is 8. The good thing is I am not at the bottom. I must improve my readership to so that I can improve my ranking. There is nowhere to go but up. Hurray, up and up we go.

It is easy to check. Click on this: http://www.checkpagerank.com

AGM on the Estate

We have our 2nd Annual General Meeting tonight. And all the resolution were passed. It was a positive meeting for all the pending decisions.

I have tummy upset due to bad food I have eaten against the advice of my Wife. It is very important to listen to The Wife's advice. Otherwise it can be pure suffering. Good thing is she is a fantastic nurse and gave me the right medicine to settle my stomach. I took Po Chai Pills and it was not effacious. She gave me two Lactofort pills and one hour later, I felt so much better.

She is my lifesaver!!

Brand

What is brand? and why brand? How to brand and build brands. These will the questions in my head for the next few days. I must mull over brand and branding the next few days.

Palm Beach at One Fullerton

Sea...food. Crispy sotong, black pepper crab, deep fried chicken in peking duck style, kangkong in belachan and braised pork with bun. Mmmm! great food and great company. Final touch was pumelo in mango juice.

The sea breeze is cool and right across the bay, numerous cranes in the construction site of the Integrated Resort or Casino. The Merlion spray sea water continuously. It was a wonderful evening with my colleagues from Australia.

Modesto, the Italian Resturant

This resturant is in Orchard Parade Hotel. The pizza are good. Spagetti is alright. The tiramisu is ok. Overall I would say it is above average. It is definitely premium price and popular. For the appetizers, the garlic bread is the best. Bruchetta is so-so and deep fried calamari rings is ok. If you are a pizza lover, this is one place to try.

Hua Ting in Orchard Hotel

I had dinner with my colleagues in Hua Ting. The food is of high standard and tasted good. All diners agree the food is good. The resturant overflow to outside. It is full while we were having our meal. We had Peking duck, ma-po tofu, beansprout with salted fish, pork rib with tea leaves, ee-fu noodles and yang chow fried rice.

Together with drinks, it is abotu $60 per head. Price is a little steep. However, I will recommend this place to celebrate occasions in the family like birthdays, anniversaries, mother's day, etc.

Change and Change Management

I wonder about organisational change and change management. Change is the only constant feature in organisations today. Ability to cope with change is one skill all of us must have, even entreprenuers as the world is changing fast. I attended a coach session where the coach equates ability to cope with change with bouyancy in canoeing in fast moving river. The key is to stay afloat in the changing conditions of the water. It is not responding or resisting to the changes. Nor is it about changing with the changes. Bouyancy is keeping afloat and staying up and bouncing along turbulent water. Values must be steady as change occur.

So in many ways, some things change and some stay the same. The sameness anchor us and keep us sane. While we respond to change by changing our habits, attitudes or behaviours.

Yummy Chicken Rice

I brought my colleagues to the chicken rice stall in Margaret Drive. The tasty and quality is still good. My colleagues are very diplomatic with regards to the taste. So I have no idea which is their preference. I love this stall in Margaret Drive most as I grew up in the neighbourhood. They have tasted Boon Tong Kee and ChatterBox. I feel the standard in ChatterBox has dropped and the price up. I will not bring any of my guest to ChatterBox anymore. The chicken rice there is slightly above average hawker stall in term of taste. Just for the ambience, the price is too high.

Boon Tong Kee is good but price is quite steep compared to Margaret Drive. The other place to try next time will be Pow Kee if it is on weekdays. I will not want to go Serangoon Garden on the weekend. Maybe Toa Payoh roast chicken is another possibility. Any other recommendations from my friends?

New Book by Gary Hamel

Gary Hamel has a new book on Management. The problem with PageOne is all the books are wrapped with plastic and so I was unable to browse. It is hardcover and price at $52. So I will wait for the 20% discount before buying. This book discuss the Future of Management. How the current ways of management will not serve for the future. I think it will be a good book as he is quite futuristic in thinking.

The Complaint - FEEDBACK requested

My Wife read this blog last night while I was blissfully in dreamland. Her impression is I write like a single man. I only wrote about my boys or buying milk powder for B3.

I like to get feedback from my readers. Do you get the impression after reading my blog that I am single? Please put give me your feedback in the comments.

Goddess of Mercy

Since last Sunday, I wanted to go to temple in Queen Street for regular "fix". It is uncomfortable for me if I do not visit and put in my regular donation. I am glad the whole family went. B1 was in school for his homecoming and joined us after lunch in Bugis Junction. So before going home, I brought B1 to pray as well. I realised our kids just follow our actions. I think back of the time when I was a kid and watching my mother pray. My father was an atheist. I grew up not comfortable praying especially since I find little comfort in burning of paper money. When my mother make me pray, I just go through the motion without understanding why or how.

I grew up worshipping science. My ambition as a student was to be a scientist and work in Bell Laboratory. Thomas Alva Edison was my hero. I wanted to be an inventor like him. Somehow as I grew older and start working, all my childhood dreams and ambition fad. Early in my career, climbing ladder was important. Then the priority change to earning more money especially after marriage and kids come along. Along the way, hard knocks in life make me realise life is not just having a job or earning a living.

I find prayers and regular donations are helpful to lift spirits and heal the soul. Maybe I am getting wiser with age. Maybe I realise there are more to life than material wealth. Or maybe I have no worries on basic needs that I am free to pursue higher needs. Whatever it is, I always feel much better after praying. So it is a good day today just praying to Goddess of Mercy.

Retail Therapy

Women go shopping to relax and relieve stress. I do too. I go to supermarket. Buying fruits, snacks(I am a munchies monster), milk for my boys, milk powder for the baby of the family and some sundries like floor cleaner, disinfectant and soap powder for the household.

After spending three quarter of an hour and feeling the pain of paying out my hard earned money, I actually felt better. Is spending money the way to feel better? Or is it the acquisition of hard tangible objects?

Maybe it is the fact my sons and I will get to enjoy a few mins of bliss eating snacks, I do not know....

Activities can be Rewarding

Well, it is a busy day. I have done lots of work. At the end of the day, it felt good with a satisfying sense of accomplishment. I realise just doing lot of activities can be rewarding too. Many things cannot be measured, however we know it when we see it.

For example love. How does one measure love? The number of hugs or preparing the favourite food. Maybe kissing and necking or taking care of the physical needs of sick or stricken. These are physical manifestations can be seen and measured. However, it does not really measure love. For love cannot be measured with an instrument or observation.

Activities like collections can be measured and the more the better. So the means can become the ends. Instead of results which is the end, we practise more activities.

Baby is coming...

My good friend, Kate will be having her baby soon. It must be unnerving and exciting at the same time as this is her first pregnancy. From a male perspective, I always think it is a wonderful to have the baby. From a female perspective, carrying the baby for nine months, the labour pains, sleepless nights to feed and care for the baby, it is lots of stress and work.

This is why mother's love is the greatest. Mum does everything to ensure baby is protected, in a safe environment, fed, clean, grow well and be responsible kid and then adult. The role of mother is critical to the future to mankind.

My tribute to all Mothers.

Work Life Balance

Have work, have life
No work, no life
Life is work and work is life
Life is meaningless without work
Life is meaningful with work
Work is paid and some time not
Homemaker work 24/7 and never paid in money
Only paid in the far future
Work, work, work, let's all work.

Gourmet Butchery in Parkway Parade

There is a gourmet butchery in Parkway Parade. The meats looked interesting. There are different cuts and price is at premium. Beef, mutton, pork and chicken seasoned or fresh. Some are threaded in a stick or kebab.

We bought baby back ribs and cajun chicken breast. The customer before me bought hundred and twenty dollars worth of meat in two handcarry bags. My ribs is $17+ and breast was $1.80. We barbeque at night for dinner and the ribs was excellent, very juicy and seasoning at the right touch and not overpowering. The breast was dry and taste average.

The boys were out with me to do the bbq and I feel like a role model teaching and showing my sons the ways a father should be. We had fun.

Is it a Public Holiday today?

I am not sure if today is a public holiday in Singapore. This is the disadvantage of working from home. There is no public holidays. For sure, it is a National Holiday in Malaysia as our office is closed today. Both B1 and B2 have no school today but B3 school bus came to pick him up. This mean NAFA kindergarden has school as usual. For newcomer to my blog, B1, B2 and B3 are my boys from eldest to youngest. B1 is in Sec 3, B2 in P6 and B3 in K2.

The easiest thing to do is to call up the office in Singapore to find out. What the heck! Work gives meaning to life. Don't worry whether if it is a public holiday. Just work. Or as Nike puts it "Just Do It".

A Good Day

Morning, woke up with no alarm... a real good start. Off to Chomp Chomp for breakfast with youngest boy and Wife. After breakfast, I bought muffins at the coffee shop and takeaway noodles for B1 and B2. Then it was off to Takashimaya to my favorite book store Kinokuniya. There are always new books there. The range is also enticing. It is much better than any library. Now Kino has some benches to allowing browsers to read in a more comfortable manner than sitting on the floor. Among the superstores, Kino is the least friendly to shoppers. Borders has comfortable sofas as well as benches.

After Kino, I went to Funan Center for lunch. It looks like the profile of Funan is changing. It used to be purely computer related business. Now, I see V Hive, Times Bookshop and other non-computer related business coming into the mall. The F&B has improved with more franchises like Ah Kun and Delifrance. I am happy to see Polar is still operating in the same store at ground floor. Times has 2o% discount for Hari Raya. The store is quite big with good selection.

Book business is quite competitive now. Times and MPH has frequent discount at 20% level. This is a lot more attractive than 10% for Kinokuniya or Borders. It is good for both the consumers like me and the book retailers. Consumers get better selection and competitive price. Kino, Times and Borders gains with the market size expansion as consumers purchase more. This is a win-win situation.

Brand Building

Brand is a long term investment. It takes decades to build the brands we know. I like the article in HBR on Long Term Management of Brands by Leonard Lodish and Carl Mela.

Companies routinely overinvest in promotions and underinvest in advertising, product development, and new forms of distribution. As a result, powerhouse brands have been weakened, often beyond recovery.

Two contrasting examples were used to illustrate the key managing brand. A pickle manufacturer sell through Wal-Mart and experience huge increase in sales through low price. The next effect is the overall margin drop as sales in Wal-Mart cannibalized other channels. When the pickle manufacturer asked Wal-Mart for price relief, Wal-Mart refused and the pickle manufacturer has to file for bankruptcy. Whereas when Footloose a shoe retailer cut Nike orders by $200 million to protest the terms Nike had places on prices and selection, Nike cut its allocation of shoes to Foot Locker by $400 million. Sales at a competitor of Foot Locker increase and in the end Foot Locker acceded to Nike's term.

Nike maintain strong relationships with a variety of retailers and invested in brand equity whereas the pickle manufacturer allow the channel to own the brand and end-customers.

Lucky Prata

Curry fishhead, bryani rice, curry mutton, chicken tikka and roti prata. The mutton was a tad salty and the fishhead was too spicy for us. Bryani rice was good. We want to try the naan but it was not available as it is Hari Raya and the chef is off.

Lucky Prata is at Lucky Plaza and was featured in Straits Times before. I still prefer the mutton bryani in Northpoint, Yishun.

Late night out!

Exams are over for both boys. Finishing work late, we go to the mall late. Friday night is busy. Traffic in CTE going to town is slow going. Everyone is on their way out just like us at 8pm. We decided to go to Plaza Singapura since it is quite some time we were there. Plus, Times Bookshop has 20% discount during Hari Raya. Long queues line the entrance of all the resturants. Good thing is food court is not so busy and there were seats. So we had our typical Singaporean fare.

Night is lively on Hari Raya Puasa's eve. Traffic is very heavy when we head home. The mood is festive. It will be a good holiday weekend.

Vegetarian Dinner

After a long day of book reviews and training on Influencing Skills, we finished with a vegetarian dinner as we have a colleague who need to be a vegetarian for the day. We went to a resturant that serves vegetarian food and had some wonderful dishes.

Finally, our meeting is over and while the meeting is long and exhausting, it also strengthen our team's resolve to increase our effectiveness and improve our financial results.

Buffet Lunch One World Hotel

We had buffet lunch and what a spread! Japanese, Chinese, Indian, local Malaysian and Italian cuisines in their separate stations. The selection was amazing and for someone like me who like to taste everything, it is hard to resist the temptations. The food was fabulous and dessert range is sweet and mouthwatering. Small servings of chocolate banana cake, blueberry crumble, cheese cake, carrot cake, mango moose, chocolate moose and more! Cookies (5 different varietiess), ice cream, ice kachang and the healthy fruits.

Oh! I forgot the salad. I must say "can't complain". A few of the items were just average. I had satay and it was good, the ice kachang is excellent as I get to choose the ingredients and also add syrup to my personal taste.

I will give this lunch 4 and half spoon.

Catching Up with Colleagues

I managed to have some time to catch up with some colleagues. It is good to talk and get to know my colleagues better. We are also working at ways to improve and taking baby steps to towards excellence.

Royal Bintang is a nice hotel. Only complaint I have this time I am put on the smoking floor. I also received gifts from two of my colleagues from China. One brought tea and the other gave me roasted chestnuts.

Good Day

It is a good day. Plenty of work done and getting ready to go to KL. It is good to see everyone again. I know every one is excited and getting ready for a big "pow-wow"(meeting in Canadian language). It will be a roller coaster ride and we all have to work hard for the next few months. We will be doing a book review and training on Influencing Skills.

It will be fun!

People and more People

Yesterday, I was just commenting on the crowds in all the food centers and resturant. Downtown Shenton Way is just full of people. Walking about is stressful. It is avoiding knocking into someone or if my attention is distracted by something e.g. food, someone will knock into me. If it is a man, usually he ignores the bump. A woman will glare at me even if it is her fault. I am exhausted after a short trip of paying attention so that I stay in one piece. No wonder it is stressful to live in the city.

IKEA Resturant

It seems like everyone thinks it is a good idea to have dinner in IKEA. It is madness in a mad house. The queue is long and service slow. Food is ok, probably above average. Carry own food and serve yourself yet popular. The nasi bryani mini set meal is below average in taste. My wife loves the meatballs spagetti which is why we ate there.

Singapore is crowded everywhere on the weekend. Car park is a problem, long queues for meals in all resturants, food centres are just a mess. This is sign of a buzzing and booming economy. People are queuing up to spend. Our population increase has our F&B infrastructure bursting at their seams!!

Doer, Teacher and Consultant - Random Thoughts

There is a saying "Those who can do, those who cannot teach and those who can't even teach, consult." "Teaching is a noble profession" some say as the future leaders are in their hands. "Consultant borrow your watch to tell you the time."

All these sayings are true depending on the context. I want to be a teacher and a consultant. I love to see people improve and increase their effectiveness.

Dreams, when will they come true? Or am I living my dream and not realising?

Hot Weather

We are not alone in having hot weather. In Canada, they are experiencing the warmest Thanksgiving in 150 years or since records were kept. It is very hot and humid for us like living in a gigantic sauna. In Canada, the hot weather is welcome. Everyone is very happy to have 30 celcius temperature at this time of the year. Most of the time the temperature at this time of the year should be in the low teens during the day. I remember seeing snow falls at this time of the year and giving a startled look out of the office. Bruce McGillvray, VP of Sales saw my look and asks "What the matter, K? Have you not seen snow before?" He asks, surprised by my stunned look at that time. I politely responded (after all he is the big boss) "Of course but not so early in October" Right now we can do outdoor meal. I missed life in Canada.

To read more about how much the Canadian welcome the warm weather, click here: http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/264103

Niece P

I also notices my favorite niece P has not dropped by for some time. Maybe she is not logging in from SMU anymore. I enjoys seeing traffic to my blog. I must say that I am proud of a niece in studying in a prestigous university. I am the "study type" (bookworm sound derogatory) and so she is doing the right thing to keep her uncle in his good book and brimming with pride.

Exhausted!

I was tired and slept early last night from overwork. I remember the link my fellow blogger, Goh Sze Li has on a Customer Service Manager who died of stress and overwork in HP. Sze Li is now very busy with her work as a school teacher and do not blog as regularly. She is still visiting my blog and leaving me encouraging comments.

Back to my state of mind and body. While work is fun, too much can make a person feel drained. I am at a heighten state of stress for some time now and too much adenaline and caffeine makes me feel good and charged up. However, I hit the wall last night and instead of writing a piece for the day, I just go to my very inviting bed, curled up and move to dreamland almost immediately. After a long night of rest, it is still insufficient. Balance is something I need to achieve. The hot weather does not help. It is very warm and hard to concentrate in the afternoon.

I resolve to recover well for next week when we have a team meeting and I am conducting training.

The Lost World

Since it is so low cost at $5.85, I decided to buy a copy of The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. MPH has Wordsworth Classics at an amazing price. Far better than Kino or Borders! I read the story before a long time ago when I borrowed from the library.

I read the first few pages again and find the words and description outstanding. Now I understand why re-reading a book can bring in different perspective and give additional pleasure. I think after so many years of living life, experience broaden my outlook and improve understanding. Maturity plays a part. The opening is on a beautiful woman and how he want to propose to her. Reading the story when I was in Secondary School, I probably skipped this part or did not understand the description of the feelings by the author. I was enjoying the later chapters unfolding the excitement and thrills of adventure in an exotic jungle.

Work and work

It is back to the grind. Work is crazy. It is non-stop from morning till late in the evening. My ears are burning since my head is on the phone the whole time. Calls keep coming in. Work does give fulfillment. It is exhausting when load is heavy yet at the end of the day, there is a sense of satisfaction.

I love my work!

The grass on the other side of the fence is greener

In my estate, there are few towkays. I always tell them it is great to be like them. They have a great lifestyle with lots of freedom and have staff that they can call on in an emergency. They also send staff to their home to fix up their house.

Working for a company no matter how high level you reach and how much authority you have, you will not have this ability. In Ceylon, the saying is "It is better to be the head of a chicken than to be the backside of a bull."