Thinking and thinking

I have been thinking a lot the last few days on the upcoming meeting for our team. We usually spend one day reviewing our operations and plans. The second day is reserve for training and development as well as team building activities (politically correct term for fun). It is hard work to think. So much easier to do.

I have toyed around several ideas. I reviewed what we have done in the past 4 years of meetings. I have to figure the temperament and capability of each member, figure out the topic, work on the format, think of the workload, etc, etc.

It is so much easier to be a professor or teacher. It is a fixed topic to teach and once the material is prepared, you can use it over and over again. I have to think of the makeup of team members, feel their personalities, assess their abilities to learn and absorb the lessons, watch the group dynamics and make sure the subject matter relevant to our business. Lots of preparation just for a few hours presentation.

Destiny

What is my destiny? What am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to do?

Will I be rich? Is rich a good measure of success? Is material wealth a healthy pursuit? Why did I not volunteer? Why do I donate?

Life is a cycle. Baby, toddler, kid, then of to school, work, get married, have kids, watch kids grow, get old, sick and infirm, by then 3rd generation is out and cycle goes on and on and on....

Hot Weather

Weather is getting hotter. Is it unseasonally hot? Last month, according to the meterological dept, Singapore received two and half time the usual amount of rain in the same period. I just read in Economist (British magazine) that in the highland of South America, wild animals are dying as the ice is receding.

Boarding pass

Do you know you can now print your own boarding pass when you do internet check-in?

The problem with the Singapore Airlines system is you still have to go to the counter to get the boarding pass you print at home endorsed. The counter staff is supposed to check your passport. So what is the point? Nothing really change except you now pay for the paper and printer ink. It also befuddles me that counter staff has to check the validity of the passport and then we pass immigration. Is Singapore Immigration counter and computer system that screw up to allow people with expired passport to pass?

Busy, busy, busy

It seems like there are lots happening right now. Work, Work, WORK! Emails, issues, trips, it seems like this is peak period.

Manila, here I come!

School Holidays are over

Summer school holidays are over. 4 weeks seems to go fast. On reflection, we have done lots too. B1 did his NUS High Camp, we go to Darwin for holidays, watch movies as a family(in the theatres), out for meals in resturants, even a couple of not-so-good days in KK Hospital. I must say it is good to get back to the routine life. Expenses are high too during school holiday.

I guess the boys are ready for school except for B3. B3 told me he will cry just like he is going to a new school. It is interesting... he says he also cries when there is a new teacher. If I extrapolate this behaviour into adulthood, change must equal stress. As a kid, he can cry to let out his feelings. For adults, it is not acceptable to cry. We know humans are reluctant to change. It bring us into the feared unknown. It is something that starts from young. My son is just one data point. Still it is a good indicator.

Now it is back to the same old, same old. This is kind of relaxing...

A Happy Booklover

I was very tied up and busy with work this week. Hence was unable to keep my promise of writing everyday. It is good to have a breather this weekend.

Why the title is "Happy"? Sammin has sent me a note to let me know that she had adopted my reading idea and work it with her team. As a Booklover, I am very happy to hear this and hope she can get improved performance from her team. She has a huge challenge as English is not the primary language of her team. Not only did she adopted this idea, she gave the credit to me.

Here is her reading list:

Who Move My Cheese
101 Leadership
101 Attitude
Problem Solving & Decision Making
Highly Effective Management
Picking Potential Leaders - Part 2
The Welch Way
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 10 Rules of Sam Walton

Sam Walton is the founder of Wal-Mart. The value of the Walmart's shares his family now owns is worth more than US$100 billion. Here are his 10 rules:

1. COMMIT to achieving success and always be passionate
2. SHARE SUCCESS with those who have helped you
3. MOTIVATE yourself and others to achieve your dreams
4. COMMUNICATE with people and show you care
5. APPRECIATE and recognize people for their effort and results
6. CELEBRATE your own and other's accomplishments
7. LISTEN to others and learn from their ideas
8. EXCEED EXPECTATIONS of your customers and others
9. CONTROL EXPENSES and save your way to prosperity
10. SWIM UPSTREAM, be different, and challenge the status quo

Author: Micheal Bergdahl (ex-Wal-Mart Director of HR)

Monday!

It is Monday morning. I am looking forward to work! Work gives meaning to life. Lee Ioccaca, Chairman of Chysler Corp, in the latest issue of Fortune says that he knows several top executives in Ford Motor(he was the president of Ford before being fired) who retires at 65 and go home. They all died by 68 because they have no outside interest other than work.

It is important to cultivate hobbies and other interest. Fellow blogger, Sze Li volunteers her time to the less fortunate. I enjoys reading and will learn to fly r/c model airplanes when I retires. I will also coach and write. The other idea I toyed around is to own a small cafe. This is a good way to occupy time.

Learning English

English is in vogue now. Lots of discussions and opinions on English standard and best ways to impart English lessons in Straits Times and New Paper. When I was in school, I was proud not to learn English properly. I speaks dialects with my classmates. All my school mates knows languages is not the strength of our school. We were strong in Maths and Science and were very good academically. After all, only the cream of Singapore goes to Raffles Institution. After "O" level, I proceeds to Singapore Poly for Diploma in Electronic Engineering. My English language skills deteriorated as the subjects speaks the language of Mathematics. And the student mix does not help either. Chinese medium students were at a higher percentage. In fact, my Mandarin improved.

I always enjoy reading and one day, my eldest sister brought back at least 100 copies of old Reader's Digest. Her boss was moving house and decided to get ride of them. There is an article I read that I could not forget. This article describes survey that was done on people occupying the top echelon of all professions including chefs, musicians, accountings and those we always know like doctors, lawyers and bankers. The common thread was the vocabulary. A strong vocabulary. The author says he do not know why but speculates that communication may be the key to rising to the top. With a large vocabulary, it is easier to express yourself and communicate well to the other parties. Since then, I become more religious in using the dictionary whereas before dictionary was too troublesome and a waste of time. If there is an unfamiliar word, I thought I would know by the context of the paragraph. This was my misconception.

Today, I always get feedback on my strong vocabulary and I am now working on my grammar. The joy of life is, it's an ongoing learning process.

Lucas was sick again

Last night, Lucas vomits again while sleeping. He was in a bad shape. We showered him and put him back to bed. 15mins later, he starts whimpering for daddy. Then throw out again. This he retches for several minutes. He was so pitiful. He was in such pain and there was nothing I can do. He was sensitive to touch and was seriously distressed. We finally managed to insert anti-vomit suppository for him. Finally, he falls asleep again.

We were lucky. He stirred only once in the night. It is morning now and he is still sleeping. Buddha and Kuan Yin, please help my son to recover.

Great to be home

It is a great feeling to be back home. Although we arrived home on Thursday evening, it is only this morning I feel I am back home. The familiarity and the routines e.g. up in my home office with the tv switch on. The emotions are very positive. This may why man must have a permanent home. It is the anchor. Hence when icons in our country (National Library, Church, Portsdown Road Bohemia and now Seletar) there are howls of protest. The landmarks bring back memories. Without the solid structures, it is hard to recall. Hence less emotional attachment to our country.

Diary

This is becoming my online diary. It is a good way of keeping my memories. B3 was warded last night in KK hospital as he has 2 leg cramps episodes even though his vomiting has stopped. He have IV with 5% dextrose, 20% NaCl and 7.5% K(potassium). He improves. Mum stayed with him in ward 66 bed 15. I returned home to sleep. Was up early and go to hospital immediately to relief my wife. Stayed with B3 and kept him company. Managed to convince the doctor-in-charge to discharge Lucas in the afternoon. He is very happy to go home. We are all exhausted and happy that the ordeal is over. Celebrated by having dinner in a resturant.

Not a good finish to our holidays

6 am, B3 vomited on the bed. We were up since then cleaning up every time he vomits. Have no idea why B3 fell sick as we all have the same food and the 3 boys did the same activities like going to the beach and catching hermit crabs. We brought some live hermit crab back!

After landing, we brought B3 to KK hospital. After anti-vomit medication, he manages to stop vomiting. However he has leg cramps. His calf muscles were in knots. Hence the doctor decide to admit him. It is a long day as we have been up since 4:30am Singapore time and now it is 10 to 2am.

Day three at Darwin

We went through several options. One was to rent a car to go around town and have the freedom to explore further. Cost is fairly high and we have to go to the rentacar office. Another is take taxi to different fishing spots. Going is easy. However we are worried about calling a cab when we need to return. Finally, we decided to take free bus to Causarina Mall for lunch and then to Mirambeena Resort to visit Psychic fair.

The Psychic Fair has different psychic and mediums. There are display of crystals, stones and other paraphernalia. I had a tarot card reading by Catherine Peters. First, I have to choose between two packs of cards. I chose the one nearer to me. It is also older. I have to shuffle the deck and cut the deck into three and put them back again in any order I like. While shuffling, I have to think of all the questions I like to ask. Then put my palms on her palms for about 1 min. Catherine then start putting out the cards and "read" the message. She was very accurate as she starts to answers my questions without me verbalizing them. It was amazing. The reading was for current and immediate future. She gave me some very sound advice.

After that we head back to hotel and go to beach for the evening. We did not catch any fish. Our 3 boys had a great time picking up all the hermit crabs. I also manage to catch a fairly large crab running in the water. It was about 7pm by the time we return to shower. We went for buffet seafood dinner in the hotel. It was a good end to our day.

Happiness and Fulfillment

Happiness and fulfillment will mean different things for different people. Last night, over a vanilla latte, I decided to list down mine.

- Family is growing well and healthy
- Job/career progression
- Ability to effect positive change
- Develop and grow others
- Reward team I work with
- Job Satisfaction
- Worked in US
- Start and maintain a growing business
- My boys grow up responsible and respectful

A day in Darwin

We had breakfast in the hotel. After breakfast, we headed for the City Centre. It is a small town with a population of 200,000. We wandered around town for a while. There are only 3 main streets. After that we bought fishing lines - 3 handcast rolls, extra hooks and sinkers and baits (frozen cuttlefish) and walk to the wharf to fish. We probably spent two hours and no bites. We break for a late lunch of Thai food, Australian style. Then we head for the supermarket to get supplies. And back to Skycity. After changing our swim suits we walk to the beach to the spot where we saw two fishermen catching lots of fishes yesterday. Again, we caught nothing. It is definitely our inexperience and maybe wrong bait or just plain bad luck.

We have a jacuzzi in the bathroom room. B2 and B3 had a wonderful using it. This is the first time my wife and I use a jacuzzi. We put in a spa bomb and a few drops of lavender oil. It is wonderfully relaxing.

Up at 5 am

Was up at 5 am this morning while the rest of my family is still sleeping. I was tired out last night and slept early at 9pm. With one and half hour difference it is 3:30 am Singapore time. This is where internet help past time. I replies to my emails, browse through New York Times and Toronto Star and do an entry to my blog. I do not need to read in the toilet so as not to disturb the rest of the family. Yes, it is a pity that Straits Times.com is no longer free. I feel that it should be made available to subscribers of the paper.

Internet is free in the Skycity hotel I am staying. So we feel this hotel has quite good service. Of course staying in a suite is also expensive. But it can accommodate five of us and therefore it is good value for us.

Darwin seems to be a sleepy town. Yesterday was a public holiday i.e. Queens birthday. Will see how busy it gets during regular day later

Booklover

What is a book lover? Everytime I go to the mall anywhere in the world, I will visit the bookstores, any bookstore that has books in English. Today in Darwin, there are 3 bookstores in Casuarina Mall. The bookstores are small compared to Kino or Borders. The selection is limited. Still there are some books that were different as the readers have different interests. I brow through a couple of books like Getting rich through real estates were written by Australian authors using Australian examples. So a lot of the categories are the same, there are local examples. Hence the wisdow of "Acres of Diamonds" about wealth in your own backyard. Books is a great store of knowledge and entertainment. It is good for relaxation and help past time while waiting for friends, business associates, in the plane, at night in the hotel room, while having a haircut. "Reading maketh a man" says Francis Bacon, a self-made American(who is also a scientist, philosopher and businessman)

2:30AM at Darwin

3 am Brisbane time. We just checked into our hotel in Skycity. It is a nice suite with a king size bed and two sofa beds. The first thing my sons found was a small grasshopper. I thought this is just due to the tropical climate. Next was a juvenile american cockroach. I have to kill it and my wife reported to the hotel. The room was nice with two TVs, huge bathroom and a powder room. The wood furniture is high quality.

Movie World and Sea World

The team and family members spent two days on the theme park. It was a good two days. It was tiring but enjoyable. My Japanese colleague and his family just came up to thank us. This is Japanese tradition. Team building is important. I realise the team building activities we have done so far has strengthened our team tremendously. It build a sense of camaraderie and closeness. A good understanding of each other and the ability to work as one team rather than an individual. This is very powerful and the money is well spent.

Brisbane and Gold Coast

It is good to see the team and their loved ones again. Next couple of days we have team building activities. It is good to regroup. I have no idea when we will do so again with so many changes. Then again, pleasant surprises always happen.

The journey to Gold Coast is long. After 7 and 1/2 hours flying, there is still an one and half hour bus ride. We met B3's classmate and her parents. They took a tour with Chan's brothers and is staying at the Marriot Courtyard, 3 mins from our hotel, the Legend. There is a small kitchenette in the room. So we can microwave or cook some light meals if we want. Weather is cool and comfortable. Sky turns dark at 5:30 pm as it is winter now. Will have to go and get B1 and B3 up as dinner appointment with the group is at 6pm:)

Team Building and Australia

Will be taking a red-eye(night flight) to Brisbane for a four days team building trip. We have an excellent Q1 results. So we are celebrating our success. After that I will be taking 4 more days vacation to do a family team building. It is good to take a break from the office and work. Although we are really to working to rebuild the team morale. The integration to the bigger entity has drained all our energies. We are forced to focus on internal requirements and making sure we cross all the "t"s and dot all the "i"s.

I was working hard to protect the team from the onslaught of all the petty requirements but it is futile. The guy whom offered to help, Jeff R is the same person who decided the merged us into the bigger entity. Not only did I not get the help, the message was clear - tow the line. It is his way or the highway. I just realised Jeff mentioned he was the MD for Japan for 3 years and he was the one to shut down the operation. Jeff is also killing the goose that lay the golden eggs by merging our business to another business who does not understand our operations. I guess if our business start to fails, Jeff will have two on his record. He may not realise that he is the guy who kills business. Who does anyway?

All I know is Jeff R has ambition to come to Asia to work and run a business. Although he understands the theory and philosopy of business e.g. he says it is people who runs the business, he does not realise what his actions and decisions can do. Hence I would rate any business he runs in Asia will get into trouble very quickly. My best wishes to Jeff and his dreams. May his dreams come true. It will be great to have competitors like him!

Reflects

Change is the most challenging part of our lives. Change is positive when driven by us. When change is impose on us the stress becomes negative. Today environment is ever changing and changing at an accelerate pace. The key concept is bouyancy. Go with the flow. When the water become turbulent, let "wu wei" be the state. Wu wei is the tao's way of non-action. Do nothing until we reached calmer water. We can set our directions and move in a coherent manner again.

Lunch with Jeffrey

Jeffrey is my course mate in a management seminar. We were "partners in crime" when it come to challenging the professor. We meet occassionally for lunch to share and advice each other on business. When it comes to knowledge in business and reading widely, I would take my hat off to Jeffrey.

We have our intellectual discussions as usual. One of the key questions is "How does one turn knowledge in dollars". Both he and I knows a lot but we are not converting our knowledge in wealth. Both of us added wealth to our employers while we are paid for our time. I have toyed around with different business ideas but never executed them due to my golden handcuffs. Jeffrey shared with me his ideas. Hey, we are very very similar. Maybe we should joined hands and be partners in a future business venture. Training and Coaching? Or Management Services to SMEs? Buy a struggling business and turn it around? How about buy a small business and grow to it certain size and take it public? Ideas are useless unless they are translated in action and results. Will continue stay in touch with Jeffrey. One day the tipping point will happen and we both become wealthy instead of making others wealthy.

Hamburger

We planned to try out one of the more expensive burger joints after the mid-year exams. So when the Sunday Times had an article on the assessment of the different burgers, I requested my boys to keep the papers. Unfortunately, we could not find it. So we have to settle for Carl, Jr. Two hamburger meals plus a chicken salad and fries cost $32. The bacon cheese burger is quite good. The Sante Fe Chicken burger is not as good. Salad is ok. We are at Marina Square location and it is crowded. For the price, I would say it is good value for a hamburger meal. The only issue I have is the drinks are huge and free flow. My kids are loaded with sugar and have to go to washroom numerous times in the next hour while we wander about the mall.

Questions

Life is a series of questions...

Why are we here?
What is the purpose of life?
Why are there so much suffering?
Why must people fight with each other?
What is love?
Why must there be a lifecycle i.e. why do people marry and have kids?
Why must we work?
Is making money that important?
Without money, how can one live?
Is there life outside earth?
What is life?

Team Building

Team building activities work with family as well! Supernanny recommends spending quality your kids just to play, walk or other social activities. Bringing my eldest, B1 out for a movie has improve our relationship. He is more open and willing to take up more responsibility. At work, we do regular team building events and it always bonds us at a team and the bond strengthen after every event.

Good Business

Good Business by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Mihaly is a Professor of Psychology in Claremont Graduate University in California. He is the author of "Flow". Flow is similar to nirvana in Buddhist terms. Flow is the joy when you are doing something that makes you forget about time. It is synomous with Happiness. Nirvana is bliss. Hence the similarity.

In Good Business, there are several examples of well business person and how they deal with issues. For example, Sir John Templeton would pray. He prays a lot. He prays while driving. Jack Greenburg CEO of AIG describes on of the strategies for change - "Another thing I've learned is that you don't make an important decision when your own mental attitude isn't in a healthy state. Because you're prone to make a bad decision. You've got to make sure you're not too tired or not down, you're not depressed - whatever the words are - because it affects your thought processes."

Good Business must have a vision. However vision alone is not enough. It has to be translated into the operating practices of the institution. "Walk the walk". There must be respect and trust in the members and also concerned personal growth of its members.