Are you excited about (prepared for) the changes ahead?

To be honest, I am indeed very excited about how things will work out in the next 18 months. The circumstances surrounding the global financial markets are indeed worriesome for many and fearful for some. Also, this wave of bank failures will consequently have its effects on businesses and also on consumers like you and I.

I've always marvelled at the availability of the credit markets, which allow for many consumers (and more so for companies) to purchase more than they could afford at the time of the purchases. Also, it provided companies and businesses to go about their day-to-day activities. Additionally, with the credit markets, it also allowed companies to do more businesses than they could otherwise.

Just take for instance, not everyone can purchase an automobile and pay off for it in cash at the time of purchase (whether it makes financial sense even if one can afford to its another matter altogether). So, imagine without credit markets (like in China until only some time back), anyone who wants to buy one will either have to save up until he can afford one or dismiss the idea altogether.

With that, everyone suffers, in the sense that automobile companies will see slow sales and the consumers would not able to afford one until much later. Which is why, with any emerging economy, the financial industry is a good barometer of the economy (and also a good instrument for exponential growth). Of course, there is good credit and there is bad credit. Both consumers and the lenders must abide by certain sound principles or the situation can grow ugly, like it is now.

Against this backdrop, though we cannot be sure if McCain or Obama will be the one cleaning up this mess, we can be certain that the financial market will change significantly after this saga. How it will change is anybody's guess. But change it will be. Maybe it is coincidental, or maybe these guys have great foresight. The Obama-Biden duo certainly led the wave for the need to change.

Of course, given the brief description about the instrumental role financial institutions play in an emerging economy, or for that matter, any economy; this financial meltdown will have not only a multiplier effect on the economies, it will also have many spillover effects on other areas as well. In other words, not only will businesses be affected, the way regulators perform their roles will also be very different. In fact, it will have such huge impact on every single person or entity that deals with a financial institution.

I don't know about you, but everyone I know has dealings with financial institutions, be it a big or small way. As such, if there are changes in the ways financial institutions operates, it will definitely affect you and me, it's no longer a question of 'if', but 'how' or 'how much'. To add a different perspective, after this saga, the way people perceive financial institutions will also change. As there may be those who suffered loses or had their suspicions confirmed. Either way, there will be an impact, where magnitude is the only question.

So, why am I excited? In this new environment, economic rules will change. And chances are, when these rules change, those not aware (or refuse to acknowledge it) of what these new rules are will see themselves falling behind. Its not a question of what can the government do, but what can you and I do in this new economy, to take charge of this situation. And with these new rules, it will take not only a new mind-set or paradigm; but also a new skill-set and tool-set.

Its like you were invited to a game of tennis, and you know the rules well. You've been in competition and won some important games. So, you arrive at the court with your gear and shoes. But when the game got underway, suddenly your opponent is playing tennis but not by hitting the ball with a racquet but kicking it with his feet. Instead, he is using the rules of football in this game called 'tennis'. Of course, you can revolt and walk out of the game, saying to yourself, I don't believe this! And the next time you go to a tennis match, you see that's how people play 'tennis' now! And those people who were once good are now struggling (that is if they still choose to play). Those that are excelling in the game are those who are adaptable, they are able to understand 'tennis' using rules from 'football'. And they have also picked up new skills such as how to kick the tennis balls. Also, they have changed their shoes to give them better power, precision, and speed.

This is exactly what will happen when the dust settle, and the new rules are being spelt out for the 'new economy'. And the bellwethers of this 'new economy' will become 'leaders' when they understand these new rules and choose to adopt a different mind-set, acquire a different skill-set, and use a different tool-set. What specifically these three 'sets' are, will be the subject of yet another discussion.

Promises to our Children

I still remember very vividly one particular lesson during my primary school days about "children being the future owners of our country". It was about how, if we bring our children up to become useful citizens, we, as a nation would succeed.

In conjunction with the 2008 Work Plan Seminar, I will like to contribute my thoughts in the area of keeping promises to our children. As we strive each day, as a team of our firm (some of whom are previous educators themselves) to partner School to become enduring leading organizations, we find our work being more and more critical.

Our guiding principle when working with Schools has always been, serve the Schools to the best our abilities so that we can work alongside teachers as they go into the classrooms to make an impact on the children.

Here, instead of pretending knowing how to educate a child, I like to describe how, as a team, we need to keep pushing the envelope so that our vision of nurturing new generation leaders can materialize.

Trust, as defined by Stephen MR Covey, comprises of both character and competence. Hence, our team must strive to live by a certain set of principle-centered values to guide us in the way we conduct ourselves. This set of values, as I see it, comprises of 9 components. It is SERVES ALL. All in all, we ourselves must be a leader to begin with, so that we are able to influence with integrity. To have integrity, we must live by the values of SERVES ALL. It stands for Self-Discipline, Empathy, Rectitude, Visionary, Engaged Mastery, Synergistic, Abundance, Leverage, and Live, Learn, Love, and Leave a Legacy.

In the area of competence, we must strive to better ourselves, acquiring knowledge,learning skills, and developing competencies that are not just relevant but also anticipative. Further, we should not only be able to transfer those knowledge, skills, and competencies into practice, we must also strive to synthesize and create winning strategies that will benefit the Schools.

Having said that, we must also hold in our head a bold yet realistic vision. And that vision is to nurture a new generation of leaders whom we call Leaders In New Economy (LINE). These LINE will go into the classrooms to help their students become useful citizens of the future.

Finally, we must be guided by our moral compass, which is tied to our personal mission statement, where we ourselves find purpose in our work with LINE.

This, will be LINE's promises to our children.

RAP Strategies

How do you deal with it? I mean, in your personal life, when you make plans for the future, what is the approach you take? What about in your professional arena? Or even in your day-to-day activities when meeting with friends? How do you deal with it?

What is it?

Well, do you start taking actions only when things happen? Like, does it need to be when the situation gets bad enough only then will you take action? Or do you take a proactive approach to take the initiative to prevent something from happening? Or do you learn to anticipate what's going to happen and start taking action?

For instance, some people let their savings dwindle to a level that hits them before they take actions. Some may take a proactive approach by looking at how they can 'protect' their savings and start an investment account so that their savings can grow. However, I believe, there is a small group of people who would anticipate what's going to happen to the economy or their jobs, so they start taking actions immediately.

So, how do you deal with it? I believe all of us uses a combination of all three approaches in various aspects of our lives. But the more successful people use the anticipative approach in their lives and that's why they are successful.

Let's look at each approach in detailed. Some of us are more reactive because we may not know enough of the situation we are in, until something happens, then we'll take action. For instance, with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, some people were caught unaware and only when the news were out, then they panic and decide to take some actions to cover their losses. And the reason why they only take actions after the news was out was because they didn't understand what they are in for.

In another scenario, someone may take a proactive approach to investment. That means, even while they are comfortable, they will take the initiative to speak with others, read up, and then draw up an action plan to grow their savings. While this approach is good, it may be limited to their own skills in terms of research and analysis.

However a savvy investor will look at what might happen in the next few days, or weeks, or months. Like Oei Hong Leong, who anticipated that AIG might be bailed out and hence their shares will recover, bought the shares at a low and made a tidy sum in the turn around. Though many may say, well, he has the market knowledge but it is too risky. Or is it?

We will continue to discuss how you too can learn skills to develop or enhance your ability to anticipate...

I Have A Dream

As we live through the various era like the industrialized age, the information age, and now the knowledge age; I cannot help but see signs of things to come.

In the industrialized age, the thinking or the paradigm was, if you can manufacture something better and faster that met the needs of individuals and organizations, you'd win. You'll capture market share, drive the competition out of business, and dominate the market. Think light bulbs.

Then came the information age, where if you knew something that others don't and are able to get it to the market faster then the competition, you'd win.

Now, in the knowledge age, where information is abundant, the one who'd win is the individual who is able to use the information to create something that meet the needs of individuals and organizations.

In the knowledge age, something that was previously not available becomes readily available. Something that was only made known to a privileged few, is not wide-spread. Incidentally, the people who operate out of this environment will also understand that information is no longer king. But knowing how to use the information in a manner that is effective is also crucial.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, everyone is a leader in his or her own right. Where every single individual has an unique skill that is highly sought after by the market.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, everyone will have the opportunity to fully express him or her self in a manner that is aligned to their personal mission. They will be doing meaningful work and will be highly recognized. If they are not, they are free to move to another environment that allows them to.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, organizations will fully benefit from the availability of services where they can pick and choose that will serve their needs in a way that is tailored to those needs.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, governments will recognize and acknowledge the value of these individuals and engage them in meaningful ways to serve the needs of their constituents.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, students become teachers and teachers learn from their students. Where students will teach each others and the role of teachers will be to facilitate and guide the students within principle-centered guidelines.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, employees and employers switch roles. Where the employers will simply be a provider of infrastructural support and become an administrator for their employees. It will be the employees that decide the pay packages of their employers.

I have a dream that in this knowledge age, families and communities become an even more instrumental unit of society, where their members can contribute in ways that allow their families and communities to engage in meaningful endeavors that serve the bigger purpose.

In this knowledge age, where there is no lack of technical competency in whatever areas you can imagine, where if there is a need, there is a free agent somewhere that will be able to serve those needs.

As individuals in the knowledge age are all leaders in their own rights, meaning they are able to influence with integrity and their values are aligned to that of the larger society, so what is the one thing that will allow one individual to set himself apart from others?

The difference that makes the difference

I've always asked, what is a framework? Why are frameworks useful and how can we be trained to design a framework that helps us.

One of the most powerful frameworks I use is that of the neurological levels of change, or as I've called it, the "circles of influence". Those of you who are familiar with Covey's work will remember the circle of influence as quoted in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

I do see many circles, not just one in which we work within. Many of us already apply it subconsciously. Of course the danger of subconscious level is that we do not get the outcomes consistently. In other words, sometimes we get the results we want and sometimes we don't.

It even frustrate us, especially when others look to us for solutions when they know that we have achieved some success in the past, but we don't or can't replicate it over and over again. Or worse, we become 'lucky'.

So, what is the difference that makes the difference? I believe is the combination of three factors, which are frameworks, interdependency, and strategies. We can take someone else's strategies to apply it to our situation. But unless the circumstances are exactly the same, then the strategies might work. However when the situation changes, we become lost, and worse still when we try to apply the exact same strategy over and over again, we find that after a while we just give up altogether.

So, if strategies aren't important then why is it that people spend millions engaging consultants to help them? I believe a good consultant will be able to tell the difference of the applicability of one strategy in a situation but when the rules changes, they'd recognize that there would be another more appropriate strategy.

However that is not good enough unless the consultant has a whole suite of strategies that he has previous experience with that he can, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of the hat, quickly identify the appropriate strategy for the situation.

But what happens when a totally situation arises? Or when the rules have changed, hence whatever strategies that were formulated in the past just doesn't work anymore? For instance, if you had in the past been successful selling your wares via advertisements placed in the newspapers. But assuming now, where only a small percentage of your potential customers read the newspapers, do you think applying the same strategy would work? Even if you advertise more and learnt positive mental attitude would that help? The answer is obvious.

So, a great consultant is one where she understands the principle of interdependency and also have the ability to formulate new winning strategies that are not only ground-breaking but also work! In order to do that, she must also have a good framework to help her.

For instance, if she was engaged as a consultant for the business in the example quoted above, she would take into account, the interdependence of the habits of the potential customers. She would also adapt from various sources and use a principle-centered framework to help her design winning strategies for her client. As a result, the client not only get to capture market share but would also most likely become a dominant player in the market, in other words, become an enduring leading organization.

So how does one select a framework that can do that? Any framework is as good as the assumptions that underpin it. For example, if you chose a framework, you'd need to make sure that you understand the limitations of it. Or put it differently, understand the basis in which the framework was developed. So go further than just the workings of the framework but ask yourself in what circumstances would this framework fail? Even principle-centered frameworks can fail if certain conditions were not met.

Given that, examine closely those conditions and once you've understood these conditions and also its interdependency, you then design the structures and systems to support these conditions. Or in a different context, be able to tweak the underlying conditions of the framework so that it would bring you the results that you want. Only then, will you be always able to formulate winning strategies for the new economy.

PM in LO part 2

Personal Mastery has been a favorite topic of mine, both professionally and personally. I understand that the journey of personal mastery is not an easy one, but when we embark on it, many fascinating things happen. For one, we become more aware of ourselves and some may even in the process discover themselves. Their life's mission, their hopes and dreams, their aspirations, and also their disappointments.

I read with interest, a religious newsletter today, which talked about changing the mindsets of others. On another occasion, a Head of Department asked how does one change another's mindset. Before we even think of changing anybody's mindset, we ourselves need to understand two things. One, what is our own mindset, and two, how do we know if our own mindset is accurate?

Your mindset is just as good, or as erroneous as mine! You may insist that your view is very bit correct (seeing the old lady), while I may verify that mine is in every sense most accurate (seeing the young lady). We can argue and you'd like to change my mindset and I would very much like to change yours so that we can both see the old/young lady!

This is where the phrase, "the map is not the territory" comes into play. You see, when you have a wrong map of the territory, it doesn't matter whether how you change your attitude or behaviors, you ain't going to get there. Let's say for instance, you have a map of Los Angeles, whereby you are in New York trying to get to Manhattan, will having a positive Attitude get you there? Or will changing your behaviors such as driving faster, or changing vehicle get you there, to your target? The answer is obvious.

So when you have the wrong map (mindset), changing your attitude or behaviors won't get you to your target. Instead if you got yourself the right map, then changing your attitude or behaviors would make a difference!

Now, how does this relates to personal mastery or even to a learning organization? First, you need to examine your mindset to make sure it is ARE (accurate, relevant, and engaged). The first two, we have already explored, i.e. accurate would at least lead you to your targets. Relevance is also important as having a map that is out-dated, though still accurate but very accurate in an anachronistic fashion is also not helping. But what about a mindset that is also engaged?

You see, by having an engaged mindset, one will first have an awareness of his current mindset. Until you are aware of your current mindset and the belief that it is just as accurate and relevant as the next guy, you will want to make sure that you listen to the guy, as he may bring in some insights for you. He may have some areas that are accurate and relevant, which you can then update yours and make yours even more accurate and relevant.

Besides having an engaged mindset, you will also understand the law of interdependence. That is how we behave will impact on how others will respond to us. When someone is rude when talking to you, chances are you will find that you'll be impolite as well. If you say your spouse doesn't give you attention, is it because of how you much attention you have given? Interdependence is also clear in an organizational context. Because we feel that someone cannot be trusted, we will give him less responsibilities. And because we gave him less responsibilities, he may feel less engaged and as a result become less enthusiastic. And when we see the lack of enthusiasm, we then prove to ourselves that he is incapable. And so the vicious cycle goes.

As such, a person with an engaged mindset will first understand the principle of interdependency. And as such, will take an approach such as first to understand then to be understood. With that, he will listen, rather than judge or make assumptions about another person. Before he thinks of 'changing a person's mindset', he will remember the self-discipline of practicing empathy so as to understand this person's mindset, to see how accurate, relevant, and engaged. After that, he will share a vision that is relevant to both and that is the right thing to do, where they will seek synergistic and win-win solutions for all. They can then leverage on each others' strengths and along the way think about how they can learn from each other and also from others along the way, so that they can continually make sure that their mindsets and also that of the organization can learn, improve, and move to the next level.

That is why personal mastery is so important in a learning organization!

Putting First Things First

As I started using the FranklinCovey Planning System, there were a few things that I struggled with. One was, how do I even formulate my own Personal Mission Statement. What constitute a Personal Mission Statement? Secondly, it was the 3 Habit of putting first thing first.

The whole concept is really seductive. You plan your week according to your highest priorities. Based on your personal compass (another tool that I struggled with), we would identify our Big Rocks. These Big Rocks will have a "Sharpen the Saw" dimension and also the various roles (or responsibilities) that you play. For the "Sharpen the Saw" dimension, you'll see your live as one indivisible whole; working on the physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. You'd identify the Big Rocks in those 4 areas, like physical: running 3 times a week or getting at least 6 hours of sleep; social/emotional: being aware of the triggers that cause disempowering emotions; mental: reading "systems thinking", and spiritual: review and reflect on personal mission statement and values daily.

Once you've done that's move on to the different roles in your life. Your responsibility as a spouse, friend, consultant, project manager, etc. In each of these roles, identify the Big Rocks, or the one thing if you did this week that will have the maximum impact in those areas of your life. Then, you'd schedule those Big Rocks in your weekly planning so that they don't get 'lost'.

The idea is, if you have a bucket, and you need to fill the bucket with Big Rocks, small stones, pebbles, and water; you would put in the Big Rocks first, so that the bucket would not overflow.

Now, the challenge I faced was, yeah, you have all these big rocks, but I have meetings to attend, reports to write, proposal to present, emails to reply to; how do I fill those big rocks? Of course the thinking was, just fill in those Big Rocks first, and schedule the rest of your tasks around it. But the issue is, these reports, proposals are all urgent AND important! How do I get the Big Rocks (i.e. the important but not urgent stuffs) in with such a tight schedule?

Oh, this doesn't work as well as it say or claim it would. So how do we get this to work? Simple actually! Currently we might be overwhelmed with issues, meetings, reports, and emails. The simple idea is to allocate 20% or 30% of your time for big rocks. Over time, mind you this won't be easy or fast, you will find ourselves working within the quadrant 2 or on the things that are important but not urgent. These are the things that you put first.

PM in LO

Sometime back, I have always asked the question of, what might be the relevance of personal mastery skills in the context of a Learning Organization?

The answer came to me recently when I examine closely the concepts of systems thinking. Well, in a nutshell, systems thinking is nothing but thinking in an interdependent fashion. In other words, our reactions might cause another person to act in a particular way, which in turn will reinforce our perceived response to that very same person.

For instance, some of us may know of someone who is consistently late for appointments. As such, over time we may even show up late for our appointment with this person. And as a result of our response that person thinks, well if he's going to be late, then I might as well take my time.

Another way of thinking in an interdependent fashion is to look at the eco-system, where the extinction of one species may cause a reduction of food for another and hence result in the latter species dwindling in numbers, which in turn will cause yet another species' survival be threatened.

Just like in chaos theory where it was said that the flapping of the wings of a butterfly might cause an earthquake in another region.

This, in summary is systems thinking. It is a way of thinking in an interdependent fashion, where the systems and processes you implement in one area can, and will, have impact, beneficially or otherwise in another area.

So, where does personal mastery comes in? Before we get into that, let us use a 4-level approach to view things from a systems perspective. And let's use the term TEAM to help us along. TEAM is the technique that LINE Consulting - Singapore has developed for their training of educators. TEAM stands for targets, efforts, attitude, and mind-set. Let's look at each in detailed.

Let's say you have a target you want to achieve. The first thing that most people will think of is, what do I need to do in order to achieve the target (efforts). So once you have decided on what needs to be done, do you just go out and do it? If you do, then you probably already have the right attitude and also the right mind-set.

Hence, using TEAM as a way to think about things allow us to go deeper than just the surface. It goes beyond looking at things from a programme or event level. Say, if the enrichment programme this year is not helping us meet our targets, doing a review of the programme might help in some ways, but it might not solve the problem especially if our issue at hand is deeper than it seems.

To be continued...

Leadership is a 9-letter word

Some time back when I did a review of my personal mission statement and values; I came to the realisation that my personal mission statement and values (PMSV) should be something that excites me. More importantly, it should also challenge me. If there are no challenges, that I would just remain in my comfort zone. In other words, I would just continue doing what I always been doing and hence there may be little or no improvements.

As I started to ask myself, what really excites me, and what really keeps pushing the envelope for me, I arrive at only one-word; leadership.

Many of us think that leadership is by title, meaning, only when we are in a formal position of authority then we become this position called "leadership". While I beg to differ, I also need to convince others that leadership is by choice and not title.

By leadership, I mean to say, someone who is in a situation where she can influence others. But of course we have also discussed that while influence is good, being an enduring leader requires us to be able to influence with integrity.

In other words, with conscience. As we influence others, it must be for a higher purpose, or influence others to achieve a greater aim that is beyond ourselves. Say, if we want to influence others, but our goal is so as to make us rich, we may be able to do so but only in a limited fashion.

But if the goal is for a purpose that is beyond us, that is for a good cause, something bigger than us, then not only can we not do it alone, we would also be able to attract others to us and bound by a common goal.

Next, we will discuss the 9-letter word, or phrase, to be exact.