Never Say Die

"If you want something in your life, you have to keep at it. There will be obstacles and challenges along the way. Every time you fail or do something that does not meet your standards, try again. If you fall down 20 times, go for 21. You may not be able to do exactly what you want in life but there are different ways to approach your dream.

If you are in the middle of a crisis, do not panic. Take a deep breath and stay calm. You may be in a tight spot but if you keep your cool, the situation can be resolved. In life, when you feel lost, don’t be ashamed to ask for help.

If you want to develop your skills to their greatest potential, you too will have to work hard, overcome difficulties and doubts and push yourself beyond levels you may have achieved in the past. You can do it. You can make it happen. The choice is entirely yours.

I believe that the true meaning of success in life is to use your talents and abilities, your gifts to better not only your life but the lives of others."

Tan Sri Ani Arope, former executive chairman of TNB

Back In The High Life Again

Leaders have an obligation to set compelling example by incorporating a set of values, attitudes and practices not only at work but in their personal lives as well.

The majority of the current leaders in our political and sports arenas are unfit to led us. Change is imminent. It is time for us, the silent majority to spearhead the change.

There are many very capable leaders out there who could do the job but were sidelined due to various factors. Are you one of them? Unsure? You are one of them if you possess these key traits:

1) Practice what you preach
Simple but yet difficult to comply. If you preach work life balance, but then always require staff to work long hours. If you promote ‘promote from within’, but keep recruiting from outside! There goes your credibility!
CEO of Renault, Carlos Ghosn said “I personally believe the best training is management by example. Don’t believe what I say. Believe what I do.”

2) Walk the tightrope
People look up to leaders for directions. The difference between a leader and a boss is that leader leads, clearing all obstacles along the way while the boss simply drives where he is told to go. Leaders require sound judgment and ability to make tough decisions.

3) Be a good follower
The Greek philosopher Aristotle said ‘He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander’. The best way to learn is to be a good follower and to benchmark against those whom we aspire to be. Good followers usually make the best leaders.

4) Treat your people as assets
Jack Welch, GE ex CEO said “A leader’s role is to impart vision and a healthy corporate culture, build great people and teams and show them how to lead.” A good leader should intervene, coach, mentor and influence his people to perform at their best. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.”

5) Assess yourself regularly
Leadership is an ongoing process of learning and refining management styles. Stay ahead of the game and be highly adaptable to changes. Take responsible when things go wrong and turn the spotlight on people in good times. JFK said “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

C'mon guys, stand up and be counted.

Integrity & Ethics

In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities : integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. - Warren Buffet

Integrity or the lack of it is making this world a lousy place to live in! Then there is also the lack of ethics. Think melamine, collapsed schools etc.

According to Concise Oxford Dictionary:
1)Integrity - the quality of having strong moral principles.
2)Ethics - the moral principles governing or influencing conduct.

Example of someone with low integrity but good ethics could be a politician who does not possess innate moral values but outwardly campaigns against corruption and other vices as an obligatory gesture to remain popular. (Sounded very familiar!)

On the other hand, someone of high integrity but poor ethics might be a cult member who passionately believes in his entity ideology to the extent that he would kill for their so-called justified cause. (Equally familiar!)

Another food for thought.

What is legal does not necessarily mean ethical.
Example - as an employer, you always give all your employees only what is minimally required under Labour law.

Ethical does not necessarily mean legal. Example : You rush a dying a person to the nearest hospital but exceed the speed limit.

Any thoughts on the above?

*adapted from the latest issue of MIM magazine.

ps will be a away for a week, so no update till 25 Nov! Ciao!

Top 10 Ways to Unlock Your Leadership Potentials

The following story is based on Toastmaster, July 08 issue.

The trainer asked his audience :
"Did the Wright brothers ever quit" "No" shouted the trainees.
"Did Walt Disney ever quit" "No" the same reply.
"Did Lance Armstrong ever quit" " No" it got louder.
"Did Tom McKester ever quit". There was a confused silent. Finally a trainee asked "Who in the world is Tom McKester" Nobody heard of him.
The trainer nailed it " Of course you have never heard of him - that's because he quit!".

There is no mystery in leadership. Leaders are both born and made!

lesson #1 One simple and yet vital aspect of leadership is the ability to persevere.

Lesson #2 Be a good listener, don't just hear noises. Listen, add values and convey empathy.

Lesson #3 Maintain good attitude 247, even in very tough conditions.

Lesson #4 Go extra mile. Give more, do more, offer more.

Lesson #5 Be a problem solver not a problem spotter.

Lesson #6 Up, up and away concept. Strong leader adds values and lift people up. Live and let live. Not live and let die

Lesson #7 Give your all - total commitment. No half - half!

Lesson #8 Be open minded, like a beginner's mind

Lesson #9 Practice what you preach

Lesson #10 Pay it forward - make the world a better place for everyone

pic - 1st step taken - being born into this world, next step - to be made into a great leader! Second To None!

Toxic Leader

Learned a new definition courtesy of June issue of Accountant Today.

Toxic leader is defined as someone who is motivated by self interest, has an apparent lack of concern and negatively affects organizational climate. They glory in turf protection, fighting and controlling rather than uplifting followers. They often are destructive leaders who focus on visible short term accomplishments and succeed by tearing others down. They often take hasty decisions and can change directions suddenly without any apparent rationale.

Wow! What a timing especially in current political shambles. So many candidates in the running for the Toxic Leader of the year award.

Let me relate this to a study by the Gallup Organization. Over a million employees and 80,000 managers were surveyed. A book called First Break All The Rules was published. It came up with this finding: If you're losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them. Often, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people - in the form of better pay and better perks - in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue." If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving people away?

Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money and more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to happen to good people everywhere. A Fortune magazine survey that nearly 75 per cent of employees have suffered at the hands of difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-stripe suit in the next one.

Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees.

So are you a bad leader at home, in the workplace, in your community? If yes, start the detoxification process now!

pic - future leaders!

How to Spot a Future Politician

Recently a telemarketer tried to sell an English course/program to my wife. After the initial introduction, the musketeer was getting uncomfortable and asked if they could converse in mother tongue! Huh? My wife could not wait to relate this story to me.

Aiyah! how la to sell if Malaysian English also cannot speak! Die la like that!

Trust me, this musketeer will graduate to become a politician puppeteer! Read on.

Our Tourism Minister launched Visit Malaysia Year programs after programs and lectured the citizens to take inbound holiday - Cuti-cuti Malaysia but would be seen holidaying everywhere except on our own shore!

Our Education Minister kept changing the education policies and charged that the policies are to create better leaders but would enroll his children in private and international schools.

Our Health Minister boasted that we have one of the best infrastructure with many brilliant specialists but would quietly go for his check up and operation overseas.

Now 1 plus 1 = 2, go figure out why I rate this chap a future politician!

pic - another politician in the making. For a start, he is learning how to pose as an orator and how to salivate!

Career Crossroad

When do you know if it is time to move on to another job?

Some are reluctant to change jobs. They prefer to stick to the same, old routines - the comfort zone - than risk facing the unknown.

Ask yourself and your boss the following questions when you are in the crossroad:

What are the goals and objectives of the organisation?

Are you given the chance to grow and have a career path? Does the company have a strategy to keep good people? Do they care?

Does the company encourage you to learn and multi-skill so that you are motivated?

Are you happy with the environment? Are you happy to go to work? Are you constantly motivated by your superiors? Are they good role models? Are you being appreciated?

Are you living in a comfort zone that prevent you from getting to the next level? Have you planned your career path? Have you discussed this with your superiors?

If you are good, apply for other positions and see if any of the successful organisations shortlist you for interviews. The corporate world is always ready and willing to hire good employees.

In the opinion of business etiquette experts, enterprising employees have to manage their own career development. They call this process “self-managed development”.

condensed from an article by DATIN T. AMPIKAIPAKAN

pic - ah! my comfort zone!

Tough Decision No Cincai

A group of children was playing near two railway tracks. 1 still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train is coming. You are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train and sacrifice only one child. To save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. However have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community and politics the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined and sacrificed. No one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use. They should have run away if they heard the sirens. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

What's right isn't always popular and what's popular isn't always right.

Source - forwarded mail.

Sex and Religion

Gotcha! Got your attention. A must read, 2 forbidden subjects!
According to Gandhi 'The lower part of us is still animal'

According to Chief K.Sri D 'The sex impulse is the most dynamic force in human nature'.
We need the strength to develop self control and self discipline. Not a must but celibacy is good if one wants to perfect one's spiritual development. However for a layman, sex should be given its due recognition. Take the middle path, neither repressed nor exaggerated!

Make Love Not War.

Shoulder To Cry On

Stress, depression, suicidal tendency, mental breakdown, family breakup and the list goes on. I am sure all of us have either gone through a phase in our life that sucked or known someone that were feeling down and out. In the current dog eats dog world and survival of the fittest, we are definitely going to see an alarming rise in this phenomenon.

What should we do? Mentally and spiritually, we have to be strong to ride this storm. Many will take refuge in religion and pour out to the loved ones and friends. However they are also those who could not figure a way out but took the easy way out.

Learn to let go. Don't cling on the past. Move on. Be Present. Saviour the living moment. Contentment is a bliss. The fact that you are reading this 'crap' is that you have Internet access, meaning you are more privileged that many that do not even know when is their next meal.

Don't Worry Be Happy.