The Sun is out today

Finally, the cloud cover breaks and direct sunlight streams down. Clothes can dry and my solar powered watch can be recharged. It is warmer as well. Weather is occupying my mind nowaday. Our local paper is reporting all the freak weather phenomenon around the world like drought in Australia, floods in China and Britain. Is the the improvement in communication or is the weather pattern really changing?

Miss Potter

Miss Potter is the author of Peter Rabbit, stories for children. The movie is about her life. She always loved to write and tell stories about animals. She draws and colour the animals beautifully. She became very successful and can afford a "Gentleman's Lifestyle". In England, the class system is very clear. The aristocrats who have all the money, land and status by birth. The rest are working class or peasant. Miss Potter was born into a rich family and fell in love with the publisher of her books. Her parents threatens not to give her any of the money should she marry this "tradesman". So she went to check her financial status and found that she could not only afford a country estate, she could buy farms and have very comfortable living for the rest of her life. Very much like JK Rowling.

Her father make a deal with her to stay away from this tradesman for a few months by sending her to the country and she still insist on marrying him, he will allow it. She fell in love with another man in the countryside and marry him instead and her mother object to this marriage as well. It is hard to change a woman's mind! (As you can see with both Miss Potter and her mum.)

Full Moon

The moon is simply gorgeous tonight. It is full and the sky is clear. It is very nice to see the big round face of the full moon. We went to the temple today and now I know why it was so busy. It must be the 15th on the lunar calendar. I am glad our family went to pray to the Goddess of Mercy at Queens Street. This temple is where I like to pay homage most. We had brunch after praying and then adjourn to Suntec City where the boys roam about the mall while I read at the Gloria Jean Cafe. It is a relaxing Sunday....

Intelligence plus Character

Intelligence plus character. That is the mark of true education. Martin Luther King.

Stomp the Yard is a movie about character building, integrity and intelligence. It is a movie on black dancing, university education, team, fratenity and tradition. The ending with the quotation from Martin Luther King sums it all. I was surprised that I find this movie interesting. I am not interested in ghetto dancing but a friend recommended. Maybe I am getting older and more penetrating when it come to movies. I always enjoy movies as an entertainment and never delve further than the exciting action scenes, humorous bits or uplifting music. Now instead of just being entertained, I also look beyond the storyline and go into the deeper level of subtle messages the director intended. It seems like literature class. I am becoming a student of modern literature!

The Sun is Gone

This week our Sun did not shine. Yes, the Earth still rotates and night still turn into day. The cloud cover is quite complete and direct sunlight has not stream through the cloud cover. The tap water is cold. Is this regular or is this a change? Is there small change part of the bigger change? Weather is know to be unpredictable. Is this normal weather pattern?

Butt aches, Calf aches, Shoulders ache...

B2 is in P6 and will have his Nafa test in a couple of weeks. I have no idea what Nafa stand for, maybe National Aerobic Fitness Assessment. I have no idea why the name has to be changed all the time. During my time, it is called IPPT or Individual Physical Proficiency Test. Anyway, I am training him up and man! I am the one who needs to be trained. Every part of my body is aching all over. My buttocks aches, thigh and calf mucles ache, shoulder aches due to chin-ups, any where there is muscle, it is aching. Good thing I have the Philips Infrared Heater. It is great for sore and aching muscles. The heat penetrates deeply into the muscles and warm them up. This increases the bloodflow and is very effective in reducing aches.

I swim regularly but running is a lot more strenous. Running should be more effective in reducing weight. However, it is not so nice to breathe all the exhaust from the cars. I think I will stick to swimming.

The reason for reading Charles Handy

I notices the price tag on Beyond Certainty was in Chinese. My bookmark is the stub of my boarding pass and it shows Taipei. I realised I bought Beyond Certainty in my trip to Taipei and checking the entries in May 10, I probably bought it at 1010 bookshop. I usually give books by Charles Handy in Kinokuniya a miss because the titles do not sound interesting to me. Also it is right beside my favorite guru, Peter Drucker.

I am glad I bought Beyond Certainty and there were many articles (this book is a collections of essays) I like and was summarize in my other entries in May and June. I like the article "When Arithmetic Doesn't Count". It describes very aptly the weakness of having too many accountants.

"If you can't count it, it doesn't count." He articulates well. Some of his best and cleverest and wisest friends are accountants. Their quality is not at issue. What is at issue is what they count. Accountants were trained, and still largely are, to be auditors first and foremost - society's inspectors, conditioned to look backward rather than forward, to be cautious in their estimates, to shun risk, and to count only what the can put their finger on and cross their hearts about. It is a way of thinking entirely appropriate for auditors but not always best for the leaders of growing business.

This has describes so well some companies I know that I decides to read his other books. I am now on the Empty Raincoat. Harvard Business published it as The Age of Paradox. It is very interesting concept he expounds.

Weight is UP Again, sigh!

The Sydney trip is terribly fattening. The fight against weight creep is a losing battle. I need to be losing weight and not battle. Cutting down food intake when tempted by delicious and tasty food is an uphill battle. I resolves to bring my weight back. It is at a lucky number now - 88:)

Monday!

The radio seems to think Monday is the toughest day of the week to pass. I think this is really bad as it sends a message to the masses that work is a drag. It is not true. Most of us want to work. Anyone with all the idle time and need not work will soon find themselves wasting away. Statistics clearly shows that many people die within the first 24 months of retirement. The survivors will live for a long time after the first 24 months. The reason is idleness. Those who survives found new work or different work or play to occupy their time productively. Nowaday, the nature of work has changed. No more 9 to 5. More part-time and "early" retirement or 2nd career. The change in the way we work is clearly shifting. The old ways are going the way of dinosaurs. The Free Agent Nation and books by Charles Handy describes the upcoming changes....

Animal Farm Syndrome

I have not read Animal Farm by George Orwell. My son had it for his literature last year and I bought the York Notes to help him out. I was distainful of such notes during my school years. Now I know they are very helpful as they gave the right perpectives and delve into "behind the scenes" of the author's mind or intent. I remember in Secondary 2, my English and Form teacher of Alfred Tan, while Animal Farm was not our reading list, we had a discussion about it for those who have read or is familiar with the work. One classmate (and I have brilliant classmates) gave a summary on the story which about a farm and how the animals revolts against humans and then the pigs were elected to be the leaders of the farms. The pigs began to act and behave like humans.

Well, I enjoy being an observer and the "fly on the wall" in a conference room. It is interesting to note that in the room, participants would criticises their "human owners" before and proceed to think, act and behave like their precedessors. In figuring out how to get things done, different controls or directives or prescriptive measures were suggested. I call this the Animal Farm Syndrome. The cycle tend to repeat itself. Seems like they do not have any fresh ideas to lead or direct.

Injection of new blood is important to an organisation. Coming in at the right level, the new blood will bring fresh perspectives and do things in a different way. Promoting from within will bring out the "fly in the window" syndrome. The new leaders think they can do a better jobs than their precedessors by vowing not to do what was done to them and proceed to do exactly the same things by trying harder.

Yes, flying harder towards the light will not bring the fly out into the open....

Jetlag

Although it is only a short trip of 4 days in Sidney, the two hours difference in time has an effect on my body. I am sleeping earlier and waking up earlier. I wonder how the steward and stewardess cope with the constant change. Maybe the trips are so short that there is no routine for them to adjust. Or the timing for the trips are disruptive anyway there is no routine. I remember once my sister-in-law arrived Seoul on the night before I leave for home. She arrived at 11pm and called me and want to go to Namdaemoon or Dongdaemoon or one of the "moons" that I can't remember now. It was freezing and late. I was already sleeping and told her to go to bed. So I declined. The next morning, I saw her in the airport at about 8am. Her flight was slightly later than mine but she had to be in the airport earlier. I asked if she did go to the place she said. And she did until 4 am! She still look fresh and gorgeous. It must be the make-up or she is young and does not need any sleep.

Titles of Books by Charles Handy

British author has a different way of expressing. Even the titles are quite unique. Tomorrow is the last day of 25% discount by PageOne. So I acquire a few books by Handy. He has quite a number of books. After reading Beyond Certainty, I was very interested to get more of his views and ideas. The books I acquired today is:
The Elephant and the Flea
The Age of Unreason
The Empty Raincoat
Myself and other More Important Matters

From the titles will you think they are on business or management?

Teh Halia

Break my fast with teh halia this morning. It is good to be back. Last night, I drove around just to feel at home. Me and my boys ended up in Serangoon Gardens. It was half past ten and the place was full of life. Chomp Chomp was very crowded with late night diners, coffee shops full of customers. Coffee Bean and Wine Bar nearby was full of young men and women drinking and talking. Socialising and watching each other is a favorite pastime and girls are dressed well with nice makeup. Makes me feel young at heart too!

Home Sweet Home

Tonight is the last night in the hotel. I am looking forward to going home tomorrow morning. Sleeping in my bed, eating the home cooked food (if you consider tingkat or catered food as home cooked), being with family and in comfort and safe zone - home. Yes, it is a always good to go home.

I remember the first time I emigrated to Canada. We were very poor and was unable to come home for the first 3 years. It is really tough to try out new life in a new country. I was very excited to come back to Singapore after 3 years in a totally "ang mo and HK place". The most welcoming voice was a SQ stewardess saying "welcome" in Singlish. I felt at home already. I remember going outside for lunch waiting SQ to fly past in her approach to the Toronto Airport. Unfortunately, SQ stopped all flights to Toronto due to Air Canada worried about competition.

By the way, I did visit the book stores. Borders is here and there is an Australian chain Dymocks and Angus & Robertson. With the exchange rates, the prices are much higher than at home. So I did not buy any.

Thai Food

There is many Thai resturants in Kirribilli. We went to one that can take credit card since none of us has any cash. The food was tasty. I was not hungry after eating a pack of potatoes chips. Ya, not the best way to lose weight. I had 4 different appetitizers and stir fried chicken with vegetable. We had good company, good conversation and good food. Life is good.

Gloria Jeans Coffee

My new favorite coffee joint, Gloria Jeans has plenty of store here in Sydney. Like they says, if you drive a new yellow volkwagon, you will start seeing many yellow volkwagons on the road. Funny, isn't it?

Moroccan/Turkish Dinner

Last night, we have dinner in CBD or central business district of Sydney. I think the resturant name is Cot (I usually do not remember name of resturants). The meal was excellent or beautiful in Australian terminology. It is interesting as Australian describe food as beautiful or gorgeous. I have not heard delicious, tasty, good, mouthwatering or even yummy. My Aussie colleague tell me it is describing the mental state inside rather than the food.

So my collegeau from China, so how would you describe a beautiful woman? Would a woman feels that she is tasty rather than good looking? Points for Australians to ponder about.

Dinner in Manly

We had dinner in Greek/Italian resturant in a town called Manly. Manly is a tourist town with beaches. It was dark and freezing. So I did not notice much. The food was good. I had sirloin steak medium well. The steak tastes very good. It is very plain and the beef has subtle flavours and is delicious.

We go to ferry terminal at the Opera House and take about half an hour to get to Manly. It is nice and steady and a good way to travel. We should have water taxi in Singapore.

To Sir with Love

On the way down to Sydney, I watch an old movie, To Sir With Love by Sidney Poiter and Lulu. Now as I am writing, it is a wonderful... To Sydney, By Sidney it rhymes! This movie has a lot of sentimental moments for me. It always evoke a lot of emotions and my feelings well up from inside of me. While watching the movie, I also realise I love Goodbye, Mr. Chip as well. It seems like I have an affinity for movies on teacher. The other classic is Sound of Music.
Teachers instill values, transmit learning and change outlook of life to students.

A psychic once told me I was a teacher in my past life. I love to teach and train. A teacher by heart, I enjoys developing people and improving their skills and capabilities. With such strong emotional as I watched the movie (I was moved to tears when Mr. Thackray, the teacher was so touched by the students farewell gift - a song) The lyrics go like this:
The time has come for closing books and long last look...
How do you thank someone who bring you from crayons to perfume
It isn't easy but I will try...
I would rather give you my heart...

Yes, the students want to give their hearts to their beloved teacher. This is the best gift!

Sydney

It is nice to come to Sydney again after more than two years. It is really cold here. I have come Sydney a number of times before. This is the coldest I ever experienced. The airport was very quiet when we landed. For an international airport, it is not so busy. Taxi fare is expensive. It cost me A$50 from airport to hotel. Aussie dollar has gain strength as well. 200 sin dollar yields only 127 Aussie dollars.

I took a walk to Kirribilli. Nothing much has changed. So it is like coming home.

Ahead of Times at Work

Reading Charles Handy's Beyond Certainty - The Changing World of Work, I realise I am way ahead in my thinking at work. This is causing tension and angst in an organisation steep in tradition and conservative thinking. I will reproduce Charles Handy's insights. I can say we have been there and done that!

In Chapter 35, HOW DO YOU MANAGE WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE THE PEOPLE?
Insight 1
The choice of people becomes more important than ever. One bad apple ruins the batch. Recruitment, placement, and promotion become key managerial priorities. An interview may no longer be enough. I suspect that we shall see more probationary contracts give people time to be sure.
This is how we hire new members of our team. They come in as a temp and will be converted to permanent only when we are satisfied that she or he fits the teams and produces good work.
Insight 2
How many people can you know well enough to trust? Probably not more than 50 at most. Organization units must become small and more stable so that people can get to know each other over time. Teams are now the fashion, but for teams to stay together the team have to be flexible enough to tackle a range of tasks. Trust, therefore, leads to a demand for constant updating and re-education.
We invest in training and education of every team member. Training is not limited to job related responsibilities only.
Insight 3
Trust is fueled by talk. E-mail, voice-mail and every other sort of mail are essential if out of sight is not going to mean out of mind. But hi-tech needs to be balanced by hi-touch. Video conferences work better when the participants are friends not strangers. Virtual organizations make a point of meeting together, not necessarily in offices or in office time, so that they can know each other personally as well as electronically.
We hold regular gathering that is offsite. We get to know each other personally as well as know the family of each team member.
Insight 4
The vision and values stuff really matters. If there is no common goal, people put their own goals first. If, however, those who are out of sight think that they are only working to make some anonymous shareholders a bit richer, they are unlikely to do more than they need to. There has to be more point to their work than that, and many hi-touch meetings of the group will be concerned to reinforce the mission and goals of the organization in order to win the commitment of its people.
Our values is very clear. We invest in our team members to improve and increase our capability and our Customers are number priority. Making things happens for the Customers and responding to their needs are the key purposes of our team.
Insight 5
Trust is tough. If people let you down, you cannot afford to trust them anymore. Virtual organizatons require loyalty and good performance. They reward results, but they have to punish incompetence and repeated failure. If they don't, they will have to reinstitute inspections and controls. Do not expect a guaranteed job for life from an organzation based on trust. The security has to be earned.
We help team members to move on when he or she does not meet performance expectations. Feedback is candid and improvement is expected. Otherwise timeline to move on will be set. Two members had moved on in our team attesting our practice of Insight 5.

Like it or not, the times are changing. More of us are going to have to run organizations that we cannot see and learn the ways to do it.
Since Oct 2001, I have managed the team based in Kuala Lumpur from remote. From Oct 2001 to Dec 2001, I manage from Toronto and Jan 2001 to today, I lived in Singapore who the operations stays in KL. Our performance and results are clear indications that the future of work in Charles Handy's vision has arrived.

Teach Your Children Well

I am reading Charles Handy's Beyond Certainty. In the chapter, Teach your children well, Handy summarise a study done on the education and development of Arab executives where nearly 200 executives were identified as notably successful and interviewed at length. The results is universal.

The top factors in order of importance:
1. Good education - 91% of executives had a degree or a diploma
2. Exposure to early role models - what the father does is always the best predictor of what the son will do.
3. Early responsibility - little jobs and bits of responsibility in one's youth help to build self-confidence, the willingness to make decisions and to stand the consequences which some people learn too late in life.
4. Ethics and Values - hard work and integrity, loyalty and honesty.
5. Self-development - an active inquiring mind, the urge to seek out opportunities for learning or for study, push oneself into new situations or risk mistakes, suffer rebukes in search fo experience.
6. Training - nine days per executive per year
7. Problem-solving culture

Success starts young...

Feedback from Niece P

Niece P notices I am not writing as often thinking I may be on trips. She is right. I am tied up and then get exhausted by all the activities required at work. Sometimes, it is the mood to write as well. Write is hard when face with an empty page. Although I am not as wordy as my fellow bloggers BT and SL, I will continue the discipline of writing everyday whenever and wherever I am. Sometimes, I may miss a couple days. China does not allow blogs, so I cannot update the blog whenever I am in China.

Please keep coming. I will keep writing....

Spirits Uplifted!

I have no idea why. I feel so much better being busy. I am working and working non-stop recently. A lot of the work have no clear returns. Yet, I feels good. I know I am a workaholic and is addicted to the adenaline of pace of activities. Maybe it is because other people in my peer group are in the same boat. Other colleagues have similar observations about our work culture. Maybe it feels good just to gossips or nottry to change something that is impossible to change.

I know I am feeling good because I recognised what I cannot change and now flow with the system and processes. It is great not to feel frustrated anymore. I attained samsara in the corporate world. It is peace and tranquility...

Reading

My reading has been put on the backburner recently with the dramatic increase in workload. Paul Cohello, the author of Alchemist was featured on Sunday Times and he reads a lot. He gave his books away. I strongly recommend Alchemist. It is a very interesting read and mythical as well.

Happy

Happy-go-lucky.
If you are happy, you will be lucky.
Lucky you mean a happier you.
Go lucky, be happy.
Let's all be happy and lucky!

Blogspot is Dysfunctional

Blogspot is not working properly, at least for me. The cursor refused to go to the Title. It disappeared when I try to put it up there. So now I cannot type in the title of my entries. Yet sometimes, it work ok. Frustrating!

BBQ Night on Saturday

My sisters dropped by for barbarque dinner on Saturday. I was busying cooking up a storm. I loved outdoor cooking. It is important to have a good stove. I have a heavy cast iron grill. This give my meats a professional looking grill lines. The burnt like that you get in a resturant. The meats were succulent as the juices were sealed in once the meats were seared by the hot grills. Mmm, yummy! It is nice to have family over and cooking is therapeutic as well.

It does take up a lot of time as I spend the day buying groceries and preparing the meal. It was a good day.

Chronic Headache

Seems like my headache is becoming chronic. I wonder if it is the weather. Low pressure cause migraine and maybe my migraine is returning...

Chirpy is Well Again

Chirpy is in good shape. He has totally recovered. Chirpy keep falling into the water as he think or pretend to be a kingfisher. The trouble is he has not caught any fish except almost drowning himself. We have to save him everytime he falls in. He will be like a drown rat standing on the flower pot of the water lilies waiting to be rescued:)

My Apologies for Not Updating my Blog

The last few days was busy at work and preparing for meetings and dealing with all the emails...you know all the traditional excuses. Partly, also no mood to write. I am just back from KL.

I ate something that my body did not agree with. I woke up at 5am in the morning with a royal headache and sweating profusely in a cold airconditioned room. I vomited gastric juices and it tasted terribly bitter and sour. YUCK!! Thought hard about the food I ate the night before. I think it may be too much durians or the sweet sour crabs or fried chicken wings or maybe the satay. Whatever it was, the resturant go into my blacklist of "NO GO".

The trouble with enjoying food is it come back to bite in the night or the next day. So far I have bad experience in China and Malaysia where I get really sick due to food.

Donuts at Vivo City

We were lucky today. The popular donuts shop usually a perpetual long queue and super long wait. We were third in the queue! We had half a dozen donuts, plain, sweety cheese, cheese, chocolate with nuts, almond and rich chocolate. The whole family take a bite of each type so that we can all taste the different flavours. The donuts tasted good. However I am not sure if it is worth the wait. Half a dozen cost $6. Sharing the donuts foster a our family togetherness. The donuts was kind of lunch for us. The boys were were fooling around with each other the rest of the day. They were laughing and enjoying each other company. The simple act of sharing goes a long way in promoting harmony and joy of brotherhood.