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.

Management Philosophy

What is my management philosophy?

First criteria is Attitude and Aptitude. Attitude and aptitude are built-in to a person. I will always pick on with right A&A rather than experienced person with all the right skills but with the wrong attitude. Right Attitude is "can do" or "willing to do" Aptitude is the ability to learn.

Team spirit - all of us work as a team. We celebrate our successes together and share our failures.

Buddha says "I can point the way, you have to walk the way." This is what I adopt as my leadership philosophy. If needed, I will do the work myself to show the way.

Always do the right things first, then do things right.

Internet and TV

I am up at 4:30 am. Turn on the computer and TV. It is a good way to occupy myself if I am up in the middle of the night. I start to think what I did when I first travel to US and experience my first major jet lag. What did I do then? I can remember in US it was easy, there more than 50 channels and CNN was new. I was impressed by the CNN who report news all the time without commercials. I marvel the fact I can put a cup of water and it freezes overnight. Everytime I was out of the hotel, it is like walking out into a giant deep freezer. It was the first winter for me.

When I return to Singapore, what did I do when I am up? We have only two channels then. English and Mandarin, in tv language Channel 5 and Channel 8. Programs end at midnight. No TV or Internet. I must be reading to past time. It must be hard to past time twenty years ago. Maybe it is just a habit change with the technology change. I remember always bringing reading material on every time I fly. Nowaday, reading material is only required when I fly in domestic flights in USA. Singapore Airlines has a wide range of audio visual options.

Internet is the first thing I use when I am up. I will check emails, update my blog, read news, etc. Jet lag become easier to deal with today.

Cabin Fever

Our boys were starting to have "cabin fever". A term my wife use to get me out of the house. Cabin fever is a common term used in Canada when the winter is long and you get tired of staying at home. We have to pick one of the malls as our city-bred boys has no desire to go to Botanic garden or other nature parks. I decided on Marina Square as there are plentiful carparks there. I was surprised car park sign states "FULL" at the entry points. We try our luck anyway and did get a lot after circling for maybe 5 mins. Not bad!

The place was busy. We walked over the Suntec City's Toy R Us and it was full of people too. It seems like everyone is out to the malls. "Must be school holidays" I thought. After reading Sze Li's blog, her observation is better. It is the Great Singapore Sales!

Another Road Warrior

Sitting beside me on the way back from LA to Singapore was Min Liang. Min Liang was very interesting. He is a young lawyer who is now a venture capitalist. He made his fortune during the dot fever. He studied in the top school in Singapore. He now makes money through computer games and computer peripheral. "Computer games is now a much bigger market than movies today" he says. He continues to share with me the successes of others he know on the high tech arena. I had a different view. There are a lot more failures. Just like smokers who love to share the people they know around them who live to a ripe old age of 80 while smoking like a chimney. I used to sell equipment for Lung Function test. Going to the hospital department that used my equipment, I can see all the people with lung problems.

However, on reflection, I realise he is right. I need a paradigm shift. The world has changed. I am rooted on the world I grew up on, too negative and focused on the failures rather than success of the new model. I should open my mind to the new opportunities. The old way may not sustain for too long. It is time for renewal.

Breakfast with another old friend

Life is a series of meals...this morning breakfast with another friend. He is a little impatient. He likes me to be more decisive. I was taking a long time to mull over this decision. Well, US is quite far and tremendous change for the family. Although there are push factors, the pull factors are not strong enough for me to decide to drop all we have in Singapore and relocate to US. It is nice to have the option. However, there will be a lot of work. Work that I enjoys. I love to share with my friend all my glories and successes. I am very proud of my team and their performance.

What should I do?

Dinner with an old friend

Had dinner with an old friend last night. It is nice to catch up again. Every time I come. Will meet with another for breakfast tomorrow morning. I am beginning to feel like a global citzen with friends in different part of the world and mum in Canada. Living anywhere in the globe should be available to everyone not just the rich and famous.

NUS High

We just received news that B1 has passed his written test and selected to attend NUS High selection camp. This is a very pleasant surprise. The test was very challenging and B1 was very upset after the test. Now, he regain his self-esteem.

My wife was very worried and was anxiously waiting for the results. Now she is happy and we are celebrating this moment. Next hurdle will be the camp. Life is a series of hurdles. Hurdles with right amount of challenges that stretches our capabilities and increases our competency.

It is wonderful to write about this. I love my wife, B1, B2 and B3.

Work Environment in USA

I have been going around the different offices to meet with different people. The office environment in US seems quite diffent yet the same. All offices contained books. A few books caught my attention. Good to Great is ubiquitous. It must be because KC is one of the good to great company during the reign of Darwin Smith. Another constant theme is books on meetings. "Death by Meeting", "Get the Best out of Meetings", etc. It seems like meeting is a way of life here. Big corporation work by going to meetings. The more the layers of hierachy, the more meetings needed to communicate through the chain of commands. Middle managers become the communication pipeline and the glue that keep the organization together.

Sleepless in Altanta

Slept at 5 pm local time and was up at 10 pm. This is the part of travel that is not so fun. The programs in the cable is not interesting. I had read the Wall Street Journal and now making tea. There is nothing outside that is open. It is me and the hotel room.

Had a meeting with Randy yesterday. I was very frank and honest with my opinion. He has his take and views as well. As he says, we agree to disagree. I guess I made my point and he agrees with that.

WSJ has an interesting article in the MarketPlace section. Headlined "The Commuter CEO", this article highlight the trend of CEO who refused to move to the company's headquarter and commute to work. The companies used their corporate jets and paid for the apartments. The companies current have commuting CEOs are ConAgra, P&G & NCR. "Some experts say that in the age of the BlackBerry, the CEO's whereabouts are increasingly irrelevant." quote from the article. I couldn't agree more. I live in Singapore for the last four years, while my office is in Kuala Lumpur. It has worked well. We have improved our business and growing both sales and profits. My management is philosophy as Jim Collins put it succinctly "Get the right people on the bus and wrong people off the bus."

With the right attitude and aptitude and clear priorities and processes, the business will run well. Time may be right to figure out a new business model for the global enterprise.

Road Warriors

While waiting for my flight to Altanta, another fellow passenger from SQ drop by the McDonald at the gates. She works for UPS as a Business Development Manager. It was good to have company for a while. Santha Koh is a mother of 4, two boys and two girls. She has to travel an average of one week per month. China is growing at the rate of 8 to 10 times in Sales. Therefore she now visits Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai regularly. Today transient meeting like this in the airplane or airport is very common. We split when we arrived in Altanta. I have to go to Hertz to pick up a car while she pick up her checked lugguage.

At the airport in LA

I have 5 hours to kill while waiting for my flight to Atlanta. There is no internet in Bradley Airport. America, the no.1 economic power in the world, the leader in technology and…no internet in the airport? No wonder Changi Airport has been voted the best in the world by travelers.

On the way to LA, I was watching the show Jerry McGuire by Tom Cruise. In the show there is a statement in the changing room “It is better to have a positive anything than a negative nothing.” This reminds me of my current boss whom you can only talk positive stuff. Any negative viewpoints or remarks will invite his wrath and poor perception. This seems to be a typical American values. I recall an ex-colleague who lived in America for a couple of years. His version is "How are you? Everything is great! would be the standard reply even if the person's home roof has just collapsed, his wife is divorcing him... Yeah, everything is great!" They have been taught by all the positive thinking gurus. If you have a positive mind, everything will turn positive. It does not matter if your behaviours, actions or lack of action is causing everything around you to react negatively. Think positive! Laugh and the world laughs with you and cry, you will cry alone.

Good Times

Kino is having a 20% discount for this week. I had a good time browsing the store. I noticed there are a few men using baskets like a grocery stores. One had a whole basket full of Financial books. I noticed another group of three men buying books like "Learned Optimism" and other books on Psychology. It seems like reading is alive and well!

I bought 3 books. "Passion and Purpose" is about finding out the patterns that shape my work/life. "Choice Theory" is on personal freedom. "Built to Last" is on companies that has lasted a long time. I noticed the books I acquire reflects my state of mind. I think I am searching for meaning in my work...

Blessed Schizophrenic

My wife just reminded me of a saying which tickles our funny bone...

"When God see you, you are blessed. When you see God, you have schizophrenia."

Home Work

There are lots of benefits of working from home.

1. There is no time wasted on commuting
2. No commuting saves energy
3. No need for office wear - another saving
4. Watch TV or listen to music while working increases productivity
5. Flexibility to run errands during office hours
6. Exercise at any time instead of going to California Fitness Club during lunch time
7. Time for thinking and reflecting
8. Take a nap if you are tired and sleepy...
9. Avoid office politics (avoid and not "no")

There are drawbacks too.

a. No social interaction with colleagues
b. Hours are irregular. Studies have shown people who work from home spends more than at work than people who work in office
c. Need discipline
d. No grapevine i.e. not tap into office rumours
e. Very lonely

Spending the last 4 years working from home, I must say this will be the way of future. With today tools, you can work anywhere in the world. Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin works in his swimsuit in an island he owns.

Sleepless

I will be sleepless next week with a short trip to US. The time is exactly 12 hours difference with Singapore. So day is night and night is day! I have learnt not to worry about sleep or looking or feeling sleepy during the meetings or dinner. Good thing is my hotel will be directly opposite the office.

Work give meaning to life. In one of the books I read many years ago, a futurist predicted that work will be reserved for the privileged as machines will take over all the mundane chores. I hope that day will never come.

Olivia Lum - Hyflux

Olivia Lum, CEO of Hyflux was featured in Discovery channel. Olivia grew up in a small town in Malaysia. It was her school principal who advise her to come to Singapore as he told her that she should go far as the opportunities are abundant. She came to Singapore by bus with 10 dollars in her pocket. She went through school and unversity. She took Chemical Engineering course and all the time she think of business. Her first and only job was with Glaxo. She raised more than a million dollars with her professors and other venture capitalists. China was the place where she gain her success. In Singapore, the NEWATER project vaulted her into big time with the media attention and international recognition. She is tenacious and has indomitable spirit.

She did extremely well in business. A model entreprenuer. I think the only thing lacking in her life is family. She probably feels her life is full.

Words

Words... words don't easy to me... I was thinking of the lyrics of song that describe my feelings every time I have to update this blog. Writing is a discipline and take time and efforts to write, edit, rewrite again and again. Henry Mintzberg, one of my favorite author of books on Strategy and Planning says all his papers go through numerous iterations. Then a stroke of inspiration can help. He gave the example of his award winning article "Crafting the Strategy". He had considered many titles for this article when it dawn to him the parallel of Strategy development to pottery making his wife was describing to him as she was attending pottery making classes then.

While on the computer, my TV was on and this saying was flashed in Channel News Asia and I thought it make a lot of sense. So I am sharing it.

Learn to be calm and you will always be happy. - Paramahansa Yoganada

Reflections

I was reflecting back on my jobs. There seems to be a pattern. After I stablised and do well, I seem to desire for change. I have this innate need to seek new challenges. I was doing very well in one of my previous job before I decide to go to Canada to be nearer to my mum. The company was turnaround from loss to profit and is growing well. I could have stay until today as what my successor has done. In Canada, I had two different jobs. I think I broke the record of getting promoted after 5 months in my new job. Now I am back in Singapore and it looks like I am itching to move again.

Do I have a restless spirit? Will I die with an unfulfil dream of being an entreprenuer? Should I let go and go with the flow as my ex-colleague, Grace Wong suggested? What is my destiny??

Managing Oneself

This is my summary of one of Peter Drucker's book. We are all knowledge worker today.... Peter Drucker basically has very sound advice and we just need to answers the right questions.

Knowledge Worker

- Have to place themselves where they can make the greatest contribution
- Learn to stay young and mentally alive during a fifty-year working life
- Learn how and when to change what they do
- How to do it
- When to do it

New Demands

- Who Am I?
- What Are My Strengths?
- How Do I Work?
- Where Do I Belong?
- What Is My Contribution?
- Have to take Relationship Responsibility
- Plan for the Second Half of Their Lives

What are my Strengths

- One cannot build performance on Weakness
- The Feedback Analysis – whenever there is a key decision or action, write down what one expects will happen. 9 to 12 months later feedback the results to one’s expectations
- Concentrate on one’s strengths
- Work on improving your strengths
- Intellectual arrogance causes disabling ignorance
- What not to do
- Waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence

From Competent to Star…

- How Do I Perform?
- Am I a Reader or a Listener?
- How Do I Learn?
- What Are My Values?
- Where Do I Belong?
- What Is My Contribution?
- It is not “What Do I want to Contribute?”
- Nor “What am I told to Contribute?”
- It is “What Should I Contribute?”
- Where and How Can I have results that make a difference?


Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter Drucker.

Re-organization

Just received news from my boss as well as another colleague that the unit we are in has been reorganised into a Global Organisation. Who knows, I may be changing boss from US to Australia. Next week, I am supposed to go to US for a "career discussion" trip. I was not too optimistic about my career. It seems like I have hit a glass ceiling(read another entry under Bad Boss, Mar '06). With this change, things may turn out interesting. The trip is still not firm yet and may not happen with all the upcoming changes.

Will be posting progess report...

Required Readings and Book Reports

We were on the topic of giving books to read and then making it compulsory. I told this story during the party last night that I made everyone do a presentation on the books I gave them...a book report. Initially, I just gave my colleagues books to read. It was an encouragement of reading habits and continous self-development. However, I made everyone do a presentation because one of my sales manager told me in a disparaging manner that she will let me know when she read it. I do know not everyone enjoys reading or learning. I did not realise my ex-colleagues was probably thinking what a self-serving person I am to force others to read.

I want to use this blog to clarify my stand further. I actually stop book presentations after feedback from my team and move to self-development and self discovery. We did personality tests, IQ tests, Communication Styles, Management Styles, etc. Basically, everything I was taught during my days in Baxter Canada where I was under Executive Development scheme for High Potential and Retention Risk Managers.

I like to go on record that it is up to the individual to learn or read or NOT to as they wish. My only caution for my team members who make it clear that they have no wish to learn further is not to expect huge growth in income and they must be able to adapt to the changes the company is undergoing. Carol Cheong in Isuta is one who told me she is happy doing what she is doing and after she told me, I stopped asking her about when she is going to take a course.

I also have two ladies who worked for me in Contracts Department in Baxter Canada who said they are past 60 years old and have no wish to go to "school". My response was as long as they keep adapting to the changes the company is making, it is fine with me. However, if they stopped, please do not be surprised if they are layoff. They are fine with that too.

Hopefully, I turnaround some negative impressions...

Positive Glow

This morning, I am still enjoying the warm and positive glow aftereffects of meeting old friends and colleagues. I am still a social animal. I am an introvert. Usually, I read or visit bookstore my favorite activities after discharging my responsibilities as a father and husband. All this activities come after work has been done.

It is good we have decide to organise another gathering in a couple of months. I really enjoy this home. The birds are active and chirping. Sounds like I am camping in the wild! Yes, for the diehard, wild in the city boy context. I do not mean the jungle in Pahang. A trek in Macritchie reservoir will be considered "wild". Maybe close to nature would be a better description:)

Ex-Ohmeda Party

We host a party for ex-Ohmeda colleagues. We had a wonderful time catching up with each other on the news and talking about old times and sharing the good, the bad and the evil. Nicholas Ong was the best devil. The rest was teasing me that since I have 3 sons and he has a daughter, luck may have it that one of my sons may marry his daughter. He will make my life miserable. My counter is if any of my sons has his daughter as a girlfriend, they can live together but not get married. This is modern day. Marriage is a thing of the past. We all had a good laugh.

There is a consistent theme. The lower level employees feel that it is easier for Managers to get jobs. As a Manager, I always thinks it is easier for the lower level employee to get another job. The stress of globalisation is impacting all levels. The Technical Support Manager is looking for a job now. It is getting tougher and tougher for everyone. Stress level is high everywhere. I am thinking of what I can do to help. Also may be it is good to start businesses and be successful and teach it so that as jobs moved out or get reduced, people can be independent. I now know three men who are not working and two actively looking for work.

Vesak Day

Now I know why the moon was round when I was up the air. I had window seat this time because the flight from Shanghai was full and I check in late. I prefers aisle seats. I was tired of reading and the inflight movies were not very good. When we were about an hour from Singapore, I looked out of the window and saw the moon. I wondered why the moon look the same size since I am now 30 thousand feet nearer to the moon. At first the moon looked full, then I looked carefully and notice a little shadow on the rim on the southwest side of the circumference. Today is the fifteenth day, the moon will be full.

The temples will be extremely busy today. I do not like crowds so may not go to pray today. Maybe I will go tomorrow since Terence(B1) has music lessons in Sophia Road and Queen street is just right there. Yes, my regular temple is the Kuan Yin Temple in Queen Street.

No entries from Tuesday to Thursday

I was travelling to ShenZhen on Tuesday and then to Shanghai on Wednesday. Had a busy schedule together with the Business Development Manager for China interviewing candidates for Sales positions in China. Hence did not keep up my promise for writing every day. We interviewed 4 in SZ and 7 in Shanghai. We will giving a firm offer to 3 candidates - one for SZ, one for Shanghai and one for Suzhou.

China is a fast expanding market. We will be busy for many years to come. Business opportunites are in abundance. If I can figure out what I can do on my own, the chance of success will be high.

Business Development Manager, Sung Sung, is very committed lady who delivers. She has great adapability and she is a consummated networker. I have no doubt she will go far in the company.

Claypot Rice

Right beside the temple with Giant Buddha is a coffee shop that specialises in Claypot Rice. It's been a while since we had claypot rice. We used to make our own when we were living in Canada. When we moved back to Singapore, we gave our claypot to my mother who is still living there. I just called her to check. The pot had broke and she has thrown it away. Earthen pots are ready low cost. The pot we passed to her cost like 7 bucks. Anyway, back to the rice. The wait was long but worth it. The rice is very tasty. We ordered sambal kangkong, steamed minced meat with salt fish, Hakka fried pork belly and onion omelette. The meal cost $49.80. Good value for good food.

This meal also bring back memories of the past like living in Canada and when we first were married. We used to eat clay pot rice for dinner in a hawker centre near our home in Commonwealth Close. That was in 1988. Today the hawker center has been rebuilt and is a lot brighter. I do not know if claypot rice is there anymore. Singapore keep progressing and landscape keep changing. The place I grew up has been renewed and change. As one writer in Straits Times lament, we cannot go back to where we grew up and find the trees we climbed or the places we hung our clothes. We no longer have the anchor as the old places continued to be torn down for newer building. We can no longer travel back to our ancestral homes to refresh our memories of childhood times. Yes, it can be difficult. Emotional bond has been weaken by the physical changes.

Boring Blog

I have been asking my friends to visit my blog. One after visiting my blog asked who would visit my blog and why. I read my blog and it is not very interesting as it is a diary for me. Sze Li has a more interesting blog with pictures, commentaries and other nice tidbits.

Like Dan Brown, I will slog on and on until my writings become more interesting. As Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki says it is important to sell. Authors are successful when they have bestsellers. It is not best writers or best writings that determine success.

Election Day

Today must be exciting day for our politicians! Who will win? Who will lose? It will be like exams jitters waiting for the count this evening and the final results.

They must act confident and cool all the time before the results are out. I bet they are all jelly inside - shivering and quivering. My best wishes for all our politicians and good luck!!

Is it a line or is it the phone?

My sister-in-law has a good deal on cellular phones and phone line packages from M1. B1 have been wanting a new phone for long time. My wife has promised to get him one provided he fulfil certain obligations. Meanwhile, I am reading this book "Why we do what we do" on understanding Self-Motivation and just learned that giving rewards for doing things is less motivating than doing it for intrinsic reasons. Hence my position was to get rid of the strings. Unfortunately, when it come to implementation, I told B1 to choose a "free" phone that come with a contract. He was very disappointed and angry. I explained to him rationale and logic. I was worried to give him something that will make him keep up with the Jones(Lims in Singapore context). This may start a value or behaviour to keep expecting and demanding more and more material things to satisfy his desires. He has a complete shutdown. He does not want a phone anymore. He thought we have no intention of giving him the phone and just keep lying to keep him happy for a while.

We have a threesome meeting i.e. B1, Mummy and Daddy and have the issue clarified. I was wrong in my assumptions and unfortunately (for me) Mummy is right again. He only wanted the phone. The line was secondary. So we agreed to get him the phone. He just have to fulfil some conditions. He is still not very happy with this whole episode and I am very uncomfortable. Home life can be challenging and complicated...

Is my passion teaching?

I have been toying around the idea of giving training and coaching for a living. I know I always enjoyed learning and teaching. I reflect back all that I have achieved in my career. As I climbed the corporate ladder and move from doer to working through others. Work through others is very difficult at first. The temptation to do it myself is always there. Micro-managing i.e. telling people how to do and checking every step of the way. Over time, I grows and grows. I first learn to manage and then to lead. Today, my joy is seeing people grows under my watch. I am very proud to say many who worked with me before consider me their mentor.

I learned different techniques. One of my favourite is leadership by example. The other is story telling to get a message through. I have turnaround two businesses that were making losses to profit. People in my team grew in their capabilities and earnings. It is very rewarding for me to see my team grow and develop and become leaders in the own right.

Should I be a professional coach and consultant?

Thinking

I spend lots of time thinking and reading. Right now I am reading this book Dharma Moments. This book was featured in Bangkok post. The author right now is jobless because he decided to quit after his boss was fired. His boss was the founder of the Advertising company and this company has been acquired by a bigger company. The author was offered his boss' job. He refused as he felt it is not right for him to take over. He resigned instead. He was the Managing Director. Right now he is figuring out what to do next.

Hmmm! He stick to his principles. He did extremely well following Buddha's Dharma.

My Good Friend

This afternoon, I went to the old Royal Holiday Inn that is on Scotts Road. I cannot remember the current name of this hotel. Anyway, a friend of more than 20 years is back to Singapore for a visit. Mike relocated to Xi An in China for almost a year and is back because his wife is here for a meeting. Mike moved to China as a result of his wife getting a job based there and she is now promoted to Regional position and will be relocating back to Singapore. This is a fantastic progress. I am envious...promoted in less than a year! I am very happy for her and Mike.

Giant Buddha

I went out shopping with my wife today and she need to pick up some items from Race Course Road. While waiting for her, I was killing time by walking around the building. I noticed a group of people standing at the entrance of a temple. I was wondering if there is something happening and decided to take a closer look. As I get closer, I realised from the language spoken, they are tourist from mainland China. Looking inside, I saw this huge statue of Buddha in white. It is the largest Buddha I have seen in Singapore. Sitting inside the temple were two "ang mo" women. There is such an interesting temple and as a Singaporean, this is the first time I come to this temple. Obviously, the tourists know more about this temple than my wife or I.

This temple is right on Race Course Road. For fellow Singaporeans and tourists alike take MRT to Farrer Park MRT station. It is about 300 metres MRT station.

Election Rally

Upcoming election is about the only excitement we get in Singapore, at least for me. Usually our routine is food and shopping. Hence I have this wonderful idea of attending the rally as a family event, like going to Takashimaya or for dinner. The nearest rally near where I live was Worker's Party in Hougang Ave 4. Since the rally starts at 7pm and ends at 10pm, we left immediately after our dinner. The traffic was heavy, very heavy. Carparks were all full. After circling around for almost an hour I gave up as B3 has fallen asleep. There are lots of people going to the rally. The mood is festive. It reminds me of the baseball game I attended in Toronto. Wish my boys had the chance of experiencing the excitement....

Sunday Morning

"Sunday morning, up with the lark. And I think I'll take a walk in the Park. Hey, hey, hey, it's a beautiful day. Ha! Ha! Ha! Beautiful Sunday. This is my my my beautiful day. When you say say say say that you love me. Wowowo mine mine mine, it's beautiful day." At least I believe this is the lyrics of a popular song in my younger days.

Why this come to mind? I was up early and opening the windows and the doors, I hear birds chirping. Sky was just turning light. It's dawn. I am very lucky to live in my current house. Instead of having a garden in my house, my house is in a garden. Stepping out would be the park. It is quiet and peaceful. The swimming pool is like a mirror. The rain has washed everything clean and fresh. There is a lot nature has to offer. I feel connected.

Buddha, thank you for the beautiful morning.

Trainer and Coach

I love the idea of being a trainer and coach. It will be very rewarding for me. I feel like a teacher at heart. I always enjoyed reading and learning. With lots of knowledge, I love to share and teach. I always encourage everyone I know to learn and develop continously. With the globalisation and competition getting more and more brutal and the world become knowledge driven. The way to stay on top is to learn continuously as recommended by Peter Drucker.

The time may be ripe for me to go out and do it instead of doing it while being an employee. Follow my heart, heed my calling...

More Word Play

Sze Li, my fellow blogger has requested for more chiasmus. I am glad there are interests out in cyberspace. So SL, here you go...

"Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind" - Bernard Baruch

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." - Benjamin Disraeli

"It is best to learn as we go, not go as we have learned." - Leslie Jeanne Sabler

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." - Zig Ziglar

"A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver." - Thomas Kempis

"Lust is what makes you keep wanting to do it, even when you have no desire to be with each other. Love is what makes you keep wanting to be with each other, even when you have no desire to do it." - Judith Viorst

"After a quarrel between a man and a woman the man suffers chiefly from the thought that he has wounded the woman; the woman suffers from the thought that she has not wounded the man enough." - Friedrich W. Nietzsche

Supernanny

We are watching this Supernanny show as a family. This show is about kids with bad behaviours and out-of-control behaviours. This episode is about Megan who shouts back, slaps and bites her mummy. Megan is absolutely rude and disrespectful to both her parents. It is actually shocking to see Megan's behaviours. As the show progresses, Megan make takes a long time but finally come around. Then Supernanny leaves after 4 days and a week later, Denise(Megan's mummy) degenerate and start to formulate her own rules. The old pattern behaviours for mother and daughter shouting and fighting with each other start again.

This is where I have to send B3 to bed and missed the last part of the show. Both B1 and B3 watched the show and can compare notes with their own behaviours. My wife and I find that this is a huge learning for us.

Bangkok

I come to Bangkok once or twice a year unless there is an issue with Customer. This time it is a routine planned trip. Then a Customer issue hits. So the timing is perfect! So did the trip cause the issue? Or did the issue happen because of the trip? Coincident? Synchroncity... some time I wonder.

Thinking about my own business

I have been running business successfully. Read all the business books I can buy and understand the theories and practice. Why is it I still do not go into business of my own? It always has been a dream to be running my own business. Imagine the freedom from bosses, hr practices, politics, performance reviews and office hours! The ability to put best practises of management and leadership. I reflect and think. Is it because I am brought up thinking of only working for others, have a good job, climb the corporate ladder? Or is it the golden handcuffs, the steady paychecks and benefits. I am a risk taker. I emigrated to Canada with no job and a couple of person to call and survived. Yet going into my own business is still a dream. How can I translate this dream to reality? I know my capabilities. I know I have the abilities to turn around businesses that have lost money and make them profitable. I have track record of turning around two business now.

So I must take the plunge or regret at my deathbed I did not try.

Never let a fool kiss you

or a kiss fool you. This is the title of a book by Dr. Mardy Gothe. It is a book about Chiasmus. Chiasmus? Do you know what Chiasmus means? Even the most literate people do not know. Of course including yours truly. A few of my favourites...

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Peter Drucker

"He once said that all readers can't be leaders, but all leaders must be readers." David McCullough, of Harry Truman

"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." Anonymous

"Love makes sex better, sex makes love better." Anonymous

Being a booklover my most favourite is an ad for the Boston Public Library "When you read a book, it changes the way you look at the world and the way the world looks at you."

Diary

I resolve to write daily. However with frequent travel schedule, it may not be possible. Still this is a good way to keep a diary.

Today, I woke up due to a dream. I dream that my office was moved without notice. I was walking around in confusion looking for my office. The one female colleague told me I am sitting right beside her. I asked her where are my personal stuff. She replied "you know Charlie Steiner...he does not move anyone's personal stuff when he move offices." Then I asked "where is my name plate?" Right beneath your desk. I looked and it was there! I took a walk around the office and saw a poster that says " secretaries for ?? to VPII" I recall VP II distinctly however I cannot remember the position from what to VP 2. Hence ??. By the way, Charlie Steiner is the maintenance guy when I was working in Canada.

Writing

Dan Brown write every day. He wrote and published several novels before the phenomenally successful Da Vinci Code. Discipline and habit. It is exactly the same as working in the office. Same grind every day....

Tioman

The plane ride was not too bad. It was a Dash 7 with 4 propellers engines. Capacity is 48. The aircraft is noisy and the air pressure and air exchange in the cabin is not too good. I was tired after the ride both going in Tioman and coming home. There are 4 seats abreast. So there is an aisle seat as well as window. Coming into Tioman airport is quite exciting. The airport more like a landing strip and is situated right beside the hill. So the airplane banked steeply bank a couple of time and drop suddenly. It is a little scary looking out of the windows. The trees are so close and right beside you.

We have two days of meeting. My teammates arrived 8 hours ahead of me. So they had fun going for snorkeling. For work, it was motivating. We had a good Q1. We shared our objectives for the year and compared our EQ scores. Team spirits were strengthen. During dinners, we shared our personal stories. Having a young team mean another colleague and I were considered "outdated" in our thinking. The values of BGR (boy-girl relationship) has changed. Good thing is we have a young man in our team who still share our values. It is interesting. As I type out this blog, I just realise it is the men that are conservative. Women are more liberal or liberated nowadays!

Seletar Airport

Will be taking a flight out of Seletar Airport to Tioman this Sat. This will be my first time flying out of Seletar. I always like an aisle seat. This time I will have an aisle as well as window at the same time, I believe. I have taken small planes before in US. It can be very uncomfortable and I am not talking about the seat. The ride is very bumpy and it is very easy to get airsick in this kind of plane. The plane ride is approximately 30minutes. So I do not expect it to be too bad unless the weather decides not to cooperate.

Taj Palace

The hotel I am staying in New Delhi. It is getting old. It is still a good hotel. Delhi bring back the memories...the same is the same, the dry dusty air, cars are still Maruti and Ambassador, hot during the day, the list goes on and on. By the way, Maruti is Suzuki 850cc car and Ambassador is a old British made car.

The exhibition I am attending has quite good turnout and there were a lot of interest in our products. It looked like there is good potential for our business. Half the visitors were from govt companies. So the next step is to see if we can convert interest in sales. Looks like I will be coming to India more often....

India, here I come

I will be leaving for India tomorrow. It's been a long time since I last visited India. Probably more than 10 years ago. So now I am a little apprehensive. India has progress significantly since. I recalled India was the land of contrast between the rich and poor. There were no middle class that I could see previously. The people I knew and come in contact with were businessmen. They are rich, very rich. However out in the streets all I can see is poverty. Beggars everywhere.

I remembered India because it was the first time I flew in an airplane at the age of 25. Two years later, I have probably gone around the world. I remember a two or three weeks trip where I flew to US and then Europe before returning home.

Will record my impression of India again upon my return on Friday.

Rising Sea Level

My biggest worry reading all the news about glacier melting from Greenland to Arctic circle and Antaractica is sea level will rise. My house is near the sea. Maybe one kilometers from Sengkang river mouth. During high tide I can see the water level in the canal rising high up when I drive past. If the water is two feet higher, the road leading to my house will be under water. Scary thoughts. All my hard work and savings will be gone when the sea level rises.

Should I live in a highrise? If the sea level rises, instead of having a car, we will have a boat and travel from one high rise to another. Today, rain was very heavy. The front porch could not drain fast enough. So water level reach my living room. My youngest son was very excited and had a great time playing in the rain while I worry about water damage. I wish I am a child again.

Slow Weekend

This is a slow weekend. Saturday is always busy with running around sending our boys for tuition. Eldest his music lesson, B2 has Chinese in EduPlus in the morning and then English writing in the afternoon. Today, I just stayed at home to read the newspapers, surf the net, listen to music and watch a couple of DVDs. Usually, I skip around the chapters instead of watching the movie from start to finish.

It pours earlier and my front porch garden is flooded. A lot of moisture must have come down in a very short time. I am writing and yawn away... it is a sleepy day...zzZZZ

NUS High

Attended a talk in NUS High. This is the new school NUS is experimenting on Secondary School education. The school is very interesting as it offers program similar to Universities in North America. They have a core curriculum, electives and enrichment. So students get to choose what they like to do. I am very impressed. The only challenge is my son. He is very sulky during the whole presentation. Teenager! I am having the challenge of my life with him. It is very painful, nothing seems to be right. I think we are trying to do our best for him. In return, we get abused. Maybe I am the trigger?

Sons

Today, I realise my eldest was yelling and giving trouble to the youngest causing B3 to be cranky and crying because I was the root cause. I yelled at him for waiting at the wrong place for me to pick him up the moment he enters into the car. The reason that it was the wrong place? I had a near miss with a van who turn right into my path. The moment of truth hits and I apologise. After that everything go back to normal.

So reflecting my son's behaviour is my behaviour. "You reap what you sow" is so true. I have to watch my own behaviour so that my sons grows up with the behaviours that is respectable.

Bad Boss

I have trouble sleeping last night. It is a regular cycle. Every year around this time, I will have a bad spell of insomnia. This pattern started three years ago. What does the title has to do with insomnia? Performance review and pay increase! The last two years I was not satisfied with my PR and PI. They were well below my expectations. This year my company has change the system in order to recognise high performers. We have multi-rater feedback(360 feedback) and a forced ranking system of high performers, solid contributors and need to improve.

I heard stories of 360 feedback and how others can sabotage you. So I was a little concerned. I was not satisfied with the old performance system either. My boss just write it up on his way to Asia. He use only the negative things he see and hear. This year with 360 feedback, my performance review was good. In fact my boss has to use the comments that were in my 360. He however still insist to rate most of my leadership skills "meeting expectations" even though there were a couple which should have been rated "exceptional".

With "calibration" i.e. forced ranking and rating from 1 to 9 with one being why are you still in the company to nine you have exceptional leadership skills and exceeds expectations, I received an eight. My boss thought it should be 7. He gave me a merit increase that is below the average(midpoint) of range allowed. Clearly, this is to signaled that I do not deserve even the midpoint of the increase. I was very discouraged to say the least.

Considering I have grown the sales and profits significantly i.e. profit grew by 100% annually for and Sales by more than 30% for the last 3 years, it is a strong signal he thinks I am not valuable to him. I have to re-consider my career option.

Love for Books

I call myself a booklover. A lover of books? I always enjoys reading. I used to go to MPH. It was the largest bookstore 20 years ago. I always buy many books during the MPH Book Bang! Then there were 10% discount. Today, Times and Kinokuniya gives you 10% discount if you become their member. Competition is a wonderful thing.

Before Borders come to town, I love to go to Borders and Barnes & Noble in US. MPH in my younger days had the best selection until Borders arrived in Singapore. Then Kinokuniya decides SuperStore is best way to be competitive. Since then the book scene has changed. All smaller bookshops are gone. There was WordShop and other specialised bookstore that no longer exists today. Another place where the selection is broad and the books are free is the library. All hardcovers to boot. Even library today has modernise and has books that are "good bad books". That books that enjoys popularity but not considered literary works.

Times has changed. It is the best of times.

Japan

Does the environment impacts our behaviour? I just return from Japan for my annual visit to see my Customers. One of the feedback I get is I am now more Japanese. I no longer say no and objects like American. Instead I apologise and says we will investigate and get back to them. I have no idea this was their impression. My first visit to Japan was four years ago when I was still living in Canada. I had spent 3 years there. I was new to this job and was planning to move only just before the new year so that our boys will start school in Singapore. It is interesting to get this feedback as I am not aware this was the impression I was giving to my Japanese Customers. Fours years in Asia, I have become more Asian again. I will always speak Singlish. In the last two years, I started to use dialect more frequently. Over time, the environment has impact on my behaviour...I have become more Asian again.

Developing Leaders

This morning I spend my time in a Hewitt seminar on developing leaders. Two companies present their case. Hearing success stories add a lot more faith at least for me. There were lot of data and studies to support the leadership development program. At lunch during I had an interesting lunch partner whose job is Human Capital Development with a local company. He is of the opinion after collecting data from his own company successful leaders and interviewing them is let nature takes its course. When asked, the successful leaders all have the same answer. They enjoys developing others. It is not something they do because they have to! The key is it is part of the leader's manifestation, his DNA so to speak.

Two books were recommended. One is Double Digit Growth and the other, Talent Pipeline.

Baby on my lap

Was thinking on what to update when my youngest son request to sit on my lap. He is the baby of the family. It is a nice and warm. I am very lucky to have 3 boys. We are all at 3rd level in our home. This is where my home office is. Just last week, all the boys have to do their studies in the library just behind my office. Now I have plenty of company during the evening and at night. I usually work in the evening and now we work together as a family. Mum is coaching no. 2 right now. We number our boys, eldest B1, middle B2 and B3 for the youngest. Reprimanding become a lot easier as I get their names mix-up every time I am ruffled.

Tonight is good as B1 is sitting on the floor just beside me reading, B2 in the room with Mummy coaching him on his homework and B3 on my lap while I write this blog and listens to music. Sigh! how I wish it is always this peaceful.

Korea

Travel today is so common and it seems almost everyone travel for work and for pleasure. Well, I was up in Seoul last week for three days. I had meals with my customers and my colleagues. This is why losing weight is such a huge challenge and gain weight is as easy as ABC. The biggest regret I have is my lack of talent for language skills. I have a hard time picking up Korean, Thai, Tagalog or Japanese. I do not spend time on other language other than English. It will be good to understand other Asian languages even if I don't speak them. The good and bad thing is all my counterparts learn English. So they speak to me in the language I am comfortable with. Still there are lots missing when they discuss things in their own language and then tell me I should know. It is the filter that I regret.

Reflections

It seems like blogging is getting to be tiresome. My fellow bloggers whom I got to know and write are giving up or on the verge of giving up. I have stopped blogging for a while as well. My postings has been getting infrequent. It is not the lack of interest. The key reason was there were upheaval in the office. Now I have reconcile with the inevitable, I am back. Another reason is it is hard to be disciplined. I recall being admonish by my English teacher for not keeping a diary. My wife bought a book "No Sweat" published by Straits Times to help student with GP paper. I read it first. It has articles from Straits Times columnists and they are first rate. We do have gifted writers and journalists in Singapore. Reading articles by Janandas Devan requires powerful vocabulary and a dictionary by the side. I have to check the meaning every two to three words. I wonders if I could even attain one-tenth the abilities of these talented writers.

Write Dreams

Dreaming about being an author. Publicity of successful authors are abound - J K Rowling and Dan Brown. Both have attained worldwide celebrity status and of course financial success. Business books of proliferating. I buy them. It is getting harder to keep up reading them all. I always dream to be an author and a teacher. Maybe one day I will attain my dream. It is a challenge to write. I love teaching and coaching. So I have incorporate this in my work and it is very rewarding to see people develops and grows.

Chinese New Year

I want to wish everyone good health and good wealth for the new year. I have not updated this blog for sometime now. It has been busy at work and frankly was too lazy to update. Now I will make a new year resolution to update this blog more frequently.

One of my favourite blogger, Janice Wong has stopped. She found her new love in life and is exploring new dimensions after proving she could write and has published a book as well. My best wishes to her. I have not visited my other favorite blogger, Sze Li for some time too. She is starting in her career and have a bright future ahead of her.

Have a slow and easy first day. Brought my kids to visit their paternal grandma who is here to escape winter in Toronto and then to their maternal grandparents after for lunch. My eldest was concerned his hongbao was too little and keep pestering me to visit. Good thing is my sisters will be coming tomorrow....

Boxing Day

It started a good day. We had relatives over for lunch. My wife cooked mee siam. It was excellent. I had no idea she can cook such good mee siam. We had a good time with her family. I volunteered to send her cousin and aunt home. Her cousin was going somewhere else instead of home in Pasir Ris. So we decided to drop her off in Compass Point MRT. Immediately after I dropped her off another vehicle swerved right in front of me. My front right lights were broken.

Sigh! This is a boxing day I will remember. Will need to figure what to do next....

Kota Kinabalu

We went to KK in Sabah with everyone in the office and their family or significant other. There are a total of 17 including 6 kids. We had three days of exploring and trying out different activities. It was an excellent cap to our very successful year for the team. We went to Mt KK national park, Poring hot springs and flea market. I almost completed reading the book Only Paranoid will Survive by Andrew Grove.

The highlight of the trip was the canopy walk. I was expecting a wooden bridge where we can stop to see the life in a tree top. Boy! was I wrong. It was a rope suspension bridge using aluminium ladders and a narrow plank. The side was nylon netting. The bridge sways and wobbles with every step. Looking at the plank to take your next step means looking right down into the forest. Talk about acrophobia! Good thing I read the notice before stepping on the bridge. It says the rope can withstand 10 tons and nylon netting 5 tons. Still while walking and seeing holes in the netting strike fears. I was very proud of all my kids and my wife. They walk right through. I was amazed by the husband of my colleague who has to carry his two sons through the three bridges. He was walk through the bridges three times and twice with a kid on his arm and using the other arm to balance himself.

My youngest son, Lucas was very brave. He was right behind his mother putting his arms around her waist. I am so proud of everyone, my team, their family and my family! This is an adventure.

A good day

Back to my routines. The stress and joy of work. The progress in my reading. The calm in my work environment. Today is a good day. I wish everyday is like this calm, peaceful, no politics, no staff issues, just work and making things happen. Will more change be coming? Weathering change, being buoyant during time of great change is key to surviving and thriving.

Waiting for an answer for an email I sent to an old friend. Will my prayers be answered? I am very blessed. I believe I will thrive. How? I do not know. I will continue to pray for my team to do well in the upcoming changes.

Reflections

My mum is here to visit. She arrived Changi airport at 12:45pm. She look healthy and happy. She is full of life. I am very happy to see her in this state. She is on wheel chair and has difficulty walking. Her cheerfulness bring cheer and joy. She has also gain weight. She will be living with my younger sister who is recovering from breast cancer. I hope she has a good time here. She brought letters and food from Canada. I do miss Canada. It is winter now. I like the spacious house we use to live and I love the fireplace. It is nice to look out of the window when it snow. This are good memories. The negative is winter is long and shoveling snow before going to work can be a drag. Summer is great. We have summer hours which mean we work longer hours from Monday to Thursday and take Friday afternoon off. Many time we can take Fridays off. A three day weekend. We can go fishing, drive up north, explore the rest of Ontario. Lifestyle is different from here. We have only shopping malls in Singapore. Would be nice to live in Canada for a while...

Manila

Back to Manila. It is a city full of good looking people, traffic jams and jeepneys. The food is good(as usual from a Singaporean). Crossing the roads take bravery and courage. Makati is like our Orchard Road. What I like about Manila is the range of bakery - Goldilocks, Red Ribbons, Saint Cinnamon, French Baker, etc. Even Breadtalk is here. I find the bakery here offers a nice range of breads, pastries, cakes... dare I say even better than Singapore. I loved the ensaimada buns with cheese, butter and sugar...mmmm yummy! I will buy some and bring back home.

I am up early this morning. Had my swim, did a little meditation and pray for help in the office. Do I feel much better.

Lousy week

I have a hard time coming up with the title for this message. My feelings are in a turmoil. My division looks likely to be "integrated" into a bigger team. Looks like the small team that work for me will be gone. It is sad because I had spent time and energy building up this team. We have so much synergies and we are a high performing team. We grew our sales by more than 30% year on year for the last 3 years and profits doubled this year and the year before. 4 years ago when I join, we were doing over US$2 million in sales. This year we will have more US$2 million in operating profits. It is an achievement that makes me proud. We have 7 in our team when we started four years ago and today we have on 6. We have done more with less!!

I had dinner with a colleague last night. YP suggested I should start and do my own business. I have demonstrated my capabilities and why am I working to enrich shareholders? Very good point. Most people around me make the same observation. I have to reflect why. This is the 2nd time I have turn around a company that makes losses into profit and continue it profitable growth. I wonder why I am too scared to make it our on my own. YP asked how much does it cost to register and start a business in Singapore. I told her money is not the issue.

Why? Why? Why?? Why am I afraid to start? Why not keep all the profit for myself? Why not work in a company I own? I can now train and develop my staff. Recognise and reward them base on my own philosophy instead of someone else. She knows I love to train and coach. Start a consulting company, she says.

The time has come. The fork in the road is coming up fast. It is time for me to take the road less travelled.

Ex-colleagues and friends

Today, I have visitors. One from US and the other a bosom friend of her come over to visit. Both are ex-colleagues of mine since 1989. Long time ago. We catch up with news and talk about anything and everything. Shared our current job responsibilities, family. our aging parents, etc, etc... We have a wonderful time. I wish we can do this more often. We are all so busy with our lives, kids, work, exercise, relaxation, entertainment that we forget friends are the social glue to our lives. Mei and Chris are wonderful friends. I really their efforts to stay in touch and continue to touch my life.

Reviewing Work

I was reviewing my piece on Work and realise it reminds me of that some men would say the same things about women. The one etch in my mind is "Women! Can't live with them, Can't live without them." Probably the same holds true from the women's perspective!

Work

What is work?
Work help fill the time
Work give meaning to life
Work keep one occupied
Work is fun
Work is stress
Work is hard to live with
Work is hard to live without
Work is bring you up
Work is bring you down
Work bring joys and provides for the family
Work is love
Work is also pain
Why work??

Books, books, more books

Yes, I have not updated this blog for some time... after reading Janice Wong's reason for not updating was that someone make her upset. I realise my reason(or excuse rather) is laziness. Janice did not wish to write so that she may regret later. I was just "busy".

I've been going to the bookstores and the proliferation of titles is amazing. Many times, I wonder how to keep up with my favourite pastime - reading. I love management and leadership. There so many titles nowaday. I enjoyed Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, Henry Mintzberg, Gary Hamel, ... the list goes on and on.

I used to read a lot about occult, astral travel, Edgar Cayce, meditation, buddhism. Recently, Dalai Lama is in my reading list. I live to read. Call me a bookworm.

Bangkok

I love to browse bookshops and book stores. In Bangkok airport, there are lots of bookstores. Although the selections are not wide, they do carry interesting books. If you like Buddhism, there are lot of books on Buddhism and Thai monks. If you can read Thai, there are plentiful of titles by monks. Obviously, Buddhism is widely practised in Thailand.

My business partner and friend, Sammin, a very capable, young and pretty lady is a devoted Buddhist. She just visited a temple who house AIDS victims, all kids. She does donations to help repair temple's roof, build school, repair and maintain rundown temple. I respect her a lot. In my opinion, she is doing good deeds and maintaining good karma. She is another model for me to emulate.

My Model...someone for me to aspire to.

I have an interesting passenger right beside me on the way back home from Shanghai yesterday. He is rather old and I notice that he shakes a little. He was sitting by the window and I had aisle (my favourite row). He was already seated when I arrived. We made eye contact and he smiled at me and I reciprocate. After the plane takes off, he took out a catalog from his brief case and started to sketch out chairs. Up in my head, I thought he may be Danish. Just back from Copenhagen, I now know that Denmark is famous for the chairs and chair design.

I cannot recall what was the first comment he said to me. However there a few key points I remember and I think he is send by God to me. He is a Swiss and speaks German and Italian(mum's Italian) He is 65 years old and he start his own business at 40 years of age. He started with 10,000 swiss francs and 6 chairs. He has been to North Pole by Russian helicopter. South Pole by Russian Icebreaker ship, been to Sahara desert two years ago...

Why do I think he is godsend? At 40, he started his own business. He learn about chairs by visiting exhibition. He first imported chairs from Italy because that is the language he can speak fluently. He learn English by watching television and talking people like me! He taught me so much and show me the way. His father is still alive and 91 years. He says until today his father still do not believe he could make so much money selling chairs!! He tells me he has Parkinson disease (now I know the shakes). He recommended I should go to Mana Mana in Bintan. He says it is like paradise. Small huts on stilts just right on the sea. He flew Singapore Airlines a lot.

He showed me the price list of his product. One cost 230 Swiss francs. He told me it cost him only 40 francs. He does not make all the profits as the retail makes 40%. Still pretty good profit! He tell me that you must be first. Then you can make product for one dollar and sell for fifty. He just introduce a new series of chairs made from Seagrass. He is the first to bring this product to Switzerland.

I asked for his name card so that you know it is real. His name is Erwin Hauser. He has showed me that it is not too late to be an entreprenuer. Thank you! Mr. Hauser.

Copenhagen - day 3

Took train to Helsingor and then by bus to museum of Technology. History of technology is right there in front of you. Old aeroplanes, old telephones, early batteries, early experiments with electricity, old apparatus. It is educational for kids except my boys do not seem to be interested. We then visited Tivoli in Copenhagen. For Singaporean in their forties and fifties, they will know what I mean....Tivoli reminds me of Great World. Rides, pay to have 3 balls to throw and get a prize if you score three direct hits, rifles with moving targets, duck fishing, etc. Tivoli also have musical fountains, roller coaster, bungee seats just like the one in Clarke Quay. We also visit the Design Center and Planetarium. Good thing we pay for the Copenhagen card i.e. train and museum fares included, though not all museum. We are a little disappointed as the museums have little exhibits and mostly Danish explanation. Not sure if you will get value if you pay to get in to see. Singapore time 2:07am

Land of expensive meals

Would you believe a McDonald meal cost S$20? A resturant meal cost average S$50 per head... A hot dog is 20 konors or S$6. I guess there are lot of BYOs (bring you own). We are lucky. My wife has read up and is ready. So she has prepared snacks, instant noodles, instant porridge, rice, etc. The challenge is with 3 hungry boys the food run out fast. We are only in day 2 and our supplies has run down quickly. Food from supermart is not cheap either. 10 eggs cost 20 konors - S$6 more expensive than during chicken and eggs ban when Malaysia had bird flu!

No wonder Copenhagen retain the honor for the most expensive city in Europe. 12:05am singapore time.

What time is it?

Time for packing and off to airport for a holiday in Copenhagen. Will be blogging the holiday trip on my return. Good Bye.