Is he the next Obama?

He has established himself as an entrepreneur, speaker, author, scholar, and community servant.

A "serial entrepreneur", he also previously launched four socially responsible business ventures.

First, selling compact discs and cassette tapes out of his dormitory in college and using the proceeds to fund high school outreach activities, where it later evolved into his second venture; a firm committed to providing the highest caliber training and development for emerging and seasoned professionals.

Third, he co-founded a multi-disciplinary consulting firm that specialized in the unique needs of inner city communities. And fourth, an organization with a mission to ensure that affordable housing was equipped for the 21st century by implementing innovative, sustainable, broadband network and telecommunications solutions.

A sought after public speaker for corporate, youth and community groups, he has been featured on nationally televised programs such as The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, and CNN, as well as featured in Parade magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe.

He holds five academic degrees including the last, where he made history as the first African-American ever to receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University.

He is also a published writer and academic scholar, where he is currently co-authoring a book with his Rutgers roommate and business partner, tentatively entitled, Black Faces in White Places, which chronicles their experiences as African Americans who have successfully navigagted predominantly white institutions.

He maintains an active involvement in community service and is a national spokesperson for Autism Speaks, the National Black MBA Association (Gold Key Access events), New Jersey Reads ("Change a Life Through Literacy" campaign) and Junior Achievement of New York (Groundhog Job Shadow Day program).

And, of course, he is the winner of the Apprentice Season 4.

His name?

Dr. Randal Pinkett.

Key Lessons on "Change Management" from Barack Obama

Given the results of the recent U.S. presidential elections, leaders of organizations (both private and public) can draw three key lessons from the President-elect Mr Obama's election campaign about change management.

We've all heard the phase, "people are resistant to changes". The converse is true, on the contrary. People DO NOT resist changes. They resist the uncertainty that changes bring about. People know that some changes are good. But what they fear are the uncertainties.

So, the three key lessons that one can learn from Mr Obama are: clear communications about these changes, the plans behind how these changes will unfold, and how each individual are involved in making these changes happen.

But before we discuss in detailed about these three key lessons, let's examine the underlying systems and structures that must be in place. To bring about successful change management, the organization's existing systems & structures and processes & policies must be re-examined.

Henceforth, the systems & structures and processes & policies must support and/or reinforce the outcomes of these changes. For instance, if you want more cooperation amongst your staff, you will need to identify current systems & structures and processes & policies that do not support or worse, run counter to cooperation. If you want more creativity than the systems & structures and processes & policies must allow for creative efforts to exist, if not flourish.

This is only, but at one level. And this level is what most consultants or corporate management experts will recommend. We offer another level, where the key lessons are drawn from the successful campaign for presidency by Mr Obama.

The level that we've discussed above is an "external" level. Meaning, at the organizational level, these systems & structures and processes & policies can do to reinforce, support, acknowledge, and encourage the behaviors that bring about the desired outcomes of the "change". However, though external factors can succeed, it can also be implemented but staff still feel disengaged or worse, disenfranchised.

This is where the internal factors become so critical that, we believe, even if those external factors are not present, with a strong internal desire for this "change", "change" can still happen. These internal factors address the very issue of "people resist changes" directly and effectively.

First, "changes" must be communicated clearly to staff. As changes often, though not always, require a shift in mindset, it must be communicated in such a way that it creates a vivid picture of the outcomes for the staff. People need to know what will these changes bring about, what are the benefits and what might be the pitfalls.

As long as the benefits outweigh the pitfalls, as well as the current situation, people are gonna want in. Mr Obama made it clear that with him as the Commander-in-Chief, he will work to bring about the changes, that will not only benefit the people but will bring the people out of this current mess.

So, one of the best ways to communicate such changes, spell out the plans ahead, and give examples of how each individual can be involved is to use a technique that Walt Disney had employed when creating his famous Mickey Mouse cartoons. That technique has allowed the Walt Disney Company to capture the imagination of millions of people over many generations.

The technique that we are talking about is the "story-boarding" technique. The "story-board" technique allows you to build up the "story" from where we are currently to where we want to be. Masterful usage of this technique has allowed its users to build their stories to a climax, where the listeners become totally inspired, as in the case of Mr Obama. Essentially, it progressively shows how we, as an organization, can do this together.

There is a six-step process that you can follow to help you design your own "story" in communicating the "changes", which you want to bring about. Let's examine these steps in greater details in our next discussion.

*Note: Of course there are some leaders who do this at a subconscious level, meaning they do it without knowing that the principles are essentially that of the "story-board" technique. Thing is, if it is subconscious then the ability to re-create the same desirable outcomes then become opportunistic.

The Hardest Part (Chapter 2)

So, how do we get to motivate our folks at work, so that they can become self-motivated? Ideal situation is when they do not need supervision, instead they need directions, they need resources, they need supporting structures and systems to help them do their work. In other words, you/me as the manager/leader just do that and get out of the way.

I believe it all comes down to four areas; namely body, mind, heart, and spirit. You see, until we know that someone else is engaging us in all four areas, we'll never really feel appreciated. We can be paid a huge sum of money, but our opinion is not wanted, our passion is not needed, and we are asked to 'dig a hole, then fill it'. How's that for motivation?

So, how exactly do we engage another in the body, mind, heart, and spirit realms? When it comes to body and mind, these two can be external motivational factors. Recognition for their contributions, rewards, benefits, and compensation; these are all external motivational factors. Rules and regulations, policies to abide by, adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) are also external motivational factors. If you've been following our discussion, you would quickly point out that the first group of external motivational factors are "towards", while the second group are "away".

So, for internal motivational factors, these are more to do with identifying the heart and spirit realms. Heart will include their passion, their conscience, their feel good factors, their feel bad factors. For instance, John C Maxwell preached about giving someone a reputation to keep. That is like saying, "well, I know that you are a responsible person, and you will do this to the best of your ability; won't you?" of course you've got to mean it. Don't use it as an emotional blackmail apparatus or it will backfire faster than you can spell "emotions". So, if you mean it, the person will definitely do his best. Because he is internally motivated away from being irresponsible or internally motivated towards being responsible.

Whether it is away or towards, it all depends on the individual. For someone it can be motivated towards, while for another it can be motivated away.

Finally on the issue of 'spirit', I don't mean it in the religious manner. It is more of the purpose of the person. For instance, when working with schools and teachers, we always link it back to the very reason why they came into this profession. Once we are able to help them link whatever they are doing to this particular reason, and here we are assuming they do it for benevolent reasons, it almost always lead to a more meaningful outcome.

Now, don't you want to know that whatever you do, your deeds are viewed as a force for good? Don't we all want to leave a legacy behind where our offsprings and generations after us will and can benefit from it? If you want that, so do your co-workers, your supervisees, your business partners, your associates, your parents, your children, your spouse, and everyone else.

The Hardest Part (Chapter 1)

You know, for some people, they'd always see the negative aspects of things. Even if the situation is a good one, they'll almost able to find faults with it. Then, there are those that no matter what happens, they'll always be optimistic about it, be it good or bad.

One way to tell which type they are is to listen to their language patterns. Some clues include, "looking on the brighter side of things", "happy problem (whatever that means)", am sure you can think of some more.

Anyways, we're not saying which type is better, as both has their good points and their bad points (talking about the two types, there's the third that are both; where President Truman asked for a one-arm economist). How so? Well, for a start, in certain situations we want to be able to uphold some principles we hold dear, while in others, we'd rather move away from those principles.

While it seems obvious, it is not always so. For instance some people might want to be rich (externally motivated towards) but don't do a thing because it is in conflict with their internal motivation factors like having to work hard so as to become rich, where that is in conflict with an internal value of wanting to spend time with family and friends.

As such, these people struggle all their lives (until they find a solution) and yet lose both; wealth and family. Sad huh? Well, what's worse is their need to find a solution (or compromise) to their issue. It is a dilemma that they need to overcome. Want this, but cannot afford to lose that.

Talk about hardest part.

Motivation - Towards or Away? Internal or External?

For most of us who are in a managerial position (or even as a parent), there is a common question on our minds. How do we motivate our staff (or children)? Of course there are some individuals who are self motivated. They will do the work to the best of their abilities, whether with or without supervision. However, this group is small. And because of them being self motivated, this group will rise above the crowd and usually become very influential in their field.

Hence, the question begs, how do we get the vast majority of people in your organization to be like this small group? I believe before we go out and start putting in place checks and measures or change our compensation and benefits systems, we need to first understand how it works, motivation that is, on people.

If we were to categorize motivation, I suggest looking at it from four-quadrants. If you take a piece of paper and draw a big box and further divide that big box into four smaller boxes, you would name quadrant one (top left hand corner box): (external - away); quadrant two (top right hand corner box): (external - towards); quadrant three (lower left hand corner box): (internal - away); and quadrant four (lower right hand corner box): (internal - towards).

Now, let us examine each quadrant. For quadrant one - externally motivated away, it would be situations where one is afraid of external forces from happening and hence wants to avoid it. It could be, one is afraid that he might be fired if he fails to perform at work and hence does his best to avoid that from happening.

Quadrant two - externally motivated towards, it could be situations such as one is motivated by that promotion and hence does his best to gain that promotion.

Quadrant three - internally motivated away, could be when one believes that he should perform to the best of his ability or otherwise they may see themselves as irresponsible people and because they do not want to be associated with being such, hence they will do their work to the best of their abilities.

Quadrant four - internally motivated towards is where one believes that he is a responsible person and hence wants to live up to their identity so, they will do their work to the best of their abilities.

Now, the time is some people believe that being motivated away is not good, whether internally or externally, because once they found out that, for instance, as long as they do their best (whatever their best may be and that in itself is subjective) they will never call themselves irresponsible (internally) or that they know that they cannot be fired no matter what they do (externally), they will continue into their current state. While that is true in itself, as an organization we will have to organise our resources in such a way that it will deliver the desired results.

That is why, in any organization (good ones that is), there will be rules and regulations (external - motivated away) and rewards and recognition schemes (external - motivated towards). Hence, the organization is creating an environment that either supports, encourages, or acknowledges these desired behaviors or it will have policies that govern how individuals should behave or suffer the consequences.

However, while these systems and processes are good, there cannot be too many rules and regulations or it will be too stifling an environment nor can it be too relaxed where everyone gets away with anything. Alternatively, there cannot be an ever increasing numbers of reward schemes or recognition platforms as it is not sustainable.

Hence, designing such systems and processes is not only an art, not a science; it should also be formulated in such a way that people find it too stifling or too relaxed.

Therefore the solution is to really identify the internally motivational sources of each individual and work with them accordingly. This will be the topic for our next discussion.

Change - We Need It

Many decades from now, we will be discussing at the dinner table, about these chain of events that we are witnessing right now.

Let's face it, the world is currently going through a systemic change that have caught some of us by surprise. We might not have anticipated the collapse of Lehman Brothers, or the successful bid for presidency by Barack Obama, or that Lewis Hamilton will be the youngest black driver to emerge an F1 champion.

Sometime back, if you were to ask me what is a constant, I would have responded "change", like everybody else. Well, for a fact, I have always subscribed to that point of view that while change is necessary, it should not be change for change sake.

Change, can however be stressful for many people, as change is something that is out of our circle of influence. Of course when we try to control something that is outside our circle of influence it inevitably cause us stress. If in doubt, try controlling your teenage children. Certainly you can try, using threats, bribes, or even your authority; you may win the battle but lose the war. In other words, you may succeed in getting them to do what you want, but that relationship is strained. Same goes for supervisor-supervisee relationships.

Change, can also be fun, exciting, and even rewarding for others. That happens when they choose, rightfully, to control their own attitudes and actions towards change. In other words, they choose to embrace the changes and respond to that, based on their Triple A approach; attitudes, abilities, and actions. However, even for this group of individuals they are only responding to the changes, or in a word, reactive. They watch things happen and then choose their Triple A approach and respond to it.

How one can really benefit from change is to first accept the fact that change is a constant, change is here to stay, and change will be a part of our lives. Following that, one can also anticipate the change; then choose your Triple A approach to it.

Finally, there is also a small group of individuals who not only anticipate, but 'make' 'change' happen. For this small group change can be really rewarding, not necessarily only financially but also rewarding in terms of relationships, achievements, emotionally, and spiritually.

How can you and I be part of this small group of individuals, so that only can we embrace changes, anticipate changes, but also create changes? I believe, to do so, we need to embrace another constant in life, and that constant comprises of a list of principles.

Before we discuss in details what are these principles, let us first get an understanding of what are principles. Principles are essentially natural laws. In other words, these principles apply to you and I, whether we choose to acknowledge them, work against them, or even ignore them (at your own peril).

An example would be gravity. You can acknowledge it or ignore it; it will still work on you; unless you are not standing on this planet. You can choose to ignore it, and maintain that attitude that gravity has no effect on you by walking out of the window of a high rise building, only to realise too late that, no one on earth escapes from the pull of gravity. Looking at it from a different angle, natural laws or principles have consequences that you cannot ignore.

As such, principles are the other constant in life that we cannot ignore. So, what might those principles be that can help us become part of that small group that only acknowledge change, but are the ones that make changes happen? We'll examine these principles in our next discussion.

MVV (Part II)

The "body-mind-heart" concept has been widely researched and discussed by many scholars over the last few decades. One of the recent offering presented was the "Hedgehog Concept", where Jim Collins talked about the 3 elements coming together.

He spoke about the need to have passion (heart) and talent (mind) for something that you do, and on top of that, there must be a market for it (body). Once you identify these three elements in your life, according to Collins, you will hit the sweet spot. I disagree.

Because I may have the passion for making lots of money (heart), with a unique talent (mind) for procuring drugs, which incidentally has a huge market for it (body). Now, where does that leaves me??

I believe that even with the body-mind-heart aligned, we will still need the 'spirit' to help us achieve a meaningful and purposeful goal. Or, in other words, with the 'spirit' in check, we will be able to be remembered for the right reasons; to leave a legacy.

One individual who has the body-mind-heart aligned and also left a long lasting memory, although not a good one, is Adolf Hitler. He had the skill, knowledge, and passion to eliminate the Jews and create a superior Aryan race was not only disastrous but also him being remembered for the wrong reasons.

Henceforth, we then propose looking at the body-mind-heart through a different lens, that of Engaged Mastery.
Body, we see it as self-discipline, for skills, for behaviors, and physical needs (such as compensation, extrinsic rewards and recognition).

For mind, we see it as the ability to envisage, hold a vision, the ability to imagine, to first create a goal in your mind, your knowledge, intellect.

And finally for heart, we call it rectitude, values, conscience, the moral compass, the true north, passion. Now, some of you might point out that the Hitler example does not hold, as Hitler does not have values. Hitler had values, criminals have values, the Mafia has values, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) has values; it's just that their values are not aligned to the moral compass, the true north, in one word; rectitude.

So, what about in the organizational context where the body-mind-heart apply? I believe the heart represents the organization's values (as discussed above these refer to be values of rectitude). These values will then guide the staff of the organization of their 'body' or behaviors. In other words, the means to the end, which is the 'mind' or the 'vision' of the organization.

Every organizational values must be translated into behavioral activities to suggest what the staff will do, in order to meet its targets. For instance, a value of 'courage' can be translated into staff giving sincere and constructive feedback to their reports. Another example could be, to be able to take longer than usual to complete a project for a client, if it is in the best interest of the client, even when bosses are demanding faster turn around for projects.

As you can see, the same value of 'courage' can be interpreted differently for different individuals. And the reason why they are interpreted differently is beyond semantics. The reason is because each one of us have a different mindset due to social conditioning, experiences, or up-bringing. And to elaborate on 'mindset', it is essentially linked to our identity of who we are, what's our purpose (leave a legacy), what is our personal mission.

If we embodied the 'identity' of a warrior, then courage can mean defending our country (or feudal lords) with our lives. If our identity is that of a 'people developer', then courage can mean, giving honest but constructive feedback to our supervisees. And should we carry the identity of a 'sales person' paid entirely on commissions, courage can mean acquiring customers in an ethical manner, though it may be slower.

Therefore, it is important that organizations discuss and solicit the views of their staff, especially for global companies. As many of them across different cultures and generations will have differing interpretations. And these values must drive the behaviors (the body) of the staff. In other words, values, which are internal, must be translated into behaviors, which are observable. Only by doing so, the organization can then determine if the current behaviors of their staff is a manifestation of the core values of the organization.

Also, many people says, it is ability or capability that drives behaviors. Or put it simply, the reason why we do something is because we know how to. While this is the case for some cases, such as until we know how to swim do we venture to dive into the pool, it is not so in many cases.

One can say that we all have the 'ability' to murder another person. But the reason why we don't do it (or behave like Hitler) is because of our values. Hence, truly it is more of 'values' (heart) that drives behaviors (body).

Finally, in the context of the organization, the 'mind' is that of its vision. Where it want to be, the goals, targets, objectives it want to achieve. And to add to that, vision is not just some motherhood words put together to impress anyone. Instead, it should be to inspire everyone.

A vision (mind) tells us of where we want to go, the values (heart) determines the actions (body) in which we will take to achieve our vision. Only with these three in place and aligned to our mission (leave a legacy), will we be able to achieve enduring success that our customers not only trust but also respect us.

MVV (Part I)

It is the time of the year again. Time when many schools are now going into the review of their activities in the last 10 months and also a time of reflection.

During this time is also when schools will revisit their mission, vision, and values.

Today, we'll discuss why a clearly defined mission, vision, and values are important not only for any organization but also for individuals.

Firstly, let's talk a little about mission, vision, and values (MVV) from an individual's perspective. Before we can discuss this, we will need to understand that we must always work at all four-levels of a person. Working at just one or two levels will create an unbalanced life, hence the need to work at all four-levels is to enable one to look at a person in a holistic fashion.

So what exactly are the four-levels? They are body-mind-heart-spirit. According to the Principles of Engaged Mastery, these four-levels are self-discipline, vision, rectitude, and leave a legacy. In Covey's language, they are the 4Ls; live, learn, love, and leave a legacy.

Why all four-levels? Let's say, you only focus on the 'heart', and all you do is just to be a good person, someone with the right character, if you'd like, but without the skills (body), knowledge (mind), and purpose (leave a legacy); you will just remain a good person. But others may not entrust you with an important task, even though they know of your good intentions, but you just don't have the skills or knowledge to allow you to complete the task.

Similar examples can be presented for the other aspects, but for economic reasons, we'll just leave it at the example above.

So, how does it link to MVV? And besides, MVV is three factors, but here we're talking about four-levels? Reasons follow immediately.

Mission, at the individual level, is linked to "leave a legacy" or purpose in life. Basically, we're talking about why do we exist. What's God's reason for putting us here on earth. We, I believe, are all here for a purpose, whether you believe it or not, we do have a reason for our existence. The reason may not be obvious but it is there. It can be as simple as to be here to bring up my children to be good and responsible people (for a mom) or it can be as huge as eradicating poverty (for Mother Teresa).

The reason must be uncovered. It will reveal itself to you, but you must do the work of uncovering it. Without this purpose, we'll basically just live day-to-day and then wonder what happened?

In the context of an organization, the purpose of the organization's existence can be found in its mission statement. So for those of us who are serious about this, know that a mission statement is not some lofty words we put up to impress our staff, stakeholders, investors, or customers.

In the private sector context some people think businesses exist to make money. Its like we live to eat (as opposed to 'eat to live'). True, when there's no margin, there's no mission. No matter how good your intentions are (just like the examples we discussed above), without a strong offering and a sound strategy, you will be out of business in no time. But making profits being the only purpose can be disastrous, for everyone.

Unless, we follow the Japanese, as Mr Inamori mentioned that profits, in Japanese kanji characters mean "mouke", which is made up of two others, "shinjiru" meaning "to trust" and "mono" meaning "people". I found this to be really interesting as it offers us a different perspective about "profits". He said that, the more customers can trust us, the more business we'll have. Having said that, he believes that it should be more than trust. The business must earn customers' respect.

And to be able to earn customers' respect, we'll need to look at the other three areas of 'body-mind-heart' at both the individual and organizational perspectives.

Till then, let us reflect, today, on our 'mission' in life, what is our purpose and how do we want to 'leave a legacy'.

What's with a Brand?

What comes to mind when you think of hamburgers, sports apparel, diapers, tissue papers, and luxury leather goods? Your answers might very well be; McDonald's, Nike, Huggies, Kleenex, and Louis Vuitton.

These are essentially brands that we are all familiar with. Also, we do pay a premium for these products as well. So what is it with 'brands'?

Well, for a start, brands represent quality that we can trust. For instance, McDonald's around the world taste somewhat the same. Hence, whether we order a Big Mac in New Zealand, China, or Malaysia; we are certain that the taste and quality would not differ by much.

On the same note, we pay a premium for a Louis Vuitton bag because it communicates a sense of quality, class, and, in some parts of the world; status symbols.

Why does Nike pay Tiger Woods huge sums of money to wear its clothes and use its clubs? Because Nike understands that Tiger Woods, being the world-renowned golfer, wins at most competitions he played. Hence, viewers of those golf tournaments will associate Tiger Woods with winning, and hence will also associate what he wears with the feel-good feeling of 'winning'. Therefore, you and I will pick up a Nike apparel because we want to also be associate with this feel-good feelings.

In other words, brands facilitate the manner in which we do business with them. For a brand that we trust, as in the case of McDonald's, we can order a Big Mac overseas without much hesitation because we know the quality of the food. For a brand that we associate good feelings with, we almost always choose that brand like in the case of Nike and sports.

And because of the trust we have in the brands, we do business with them faster, we will also do business with them more, we are likely to also recommend them to our friends, we would mind less when paying more for its products, and finally, we also feel good doing business with them.

Just like products, I believe that individuals can also benefit from branding. Especially in this new economy, where individuals have more choices available to them now more so than any time in history, the individual who are able to successfully brand themselves in a manner that others trust, they will find, just like we mentioned above, people would want do business with them more, people would spend less time thinking about whether or not to do business with them, people are also likely to recommend them to their friends, and even if people had to pay them more for their services, they might mind less, and finally, people also feel good doing business with them.

Before we talk about how should one go about branding ourselves, let's look at some critical elements about branding.

First, for a brand to be trusted, it must deliver the value that it promised consistently. That is one of the reasons why companies that understands the worth of their brands will do anything to defend it.

Second, for a brand to have enduring success, it must stay relevant. For instance, in the early days of cellular phones, people would go for a Motorola. But these days, Motorola is finding itself having to fight for its survival in the cellular phone market.

Third, for a brand to be associated with feel-good emotions, it must understand the concept of conditioning. What it means is that, consumers must be able to link the brand to a certain positive emotion automatically.

Finally, for a brand to be able to command a premium for its products, even where the competition offers a lower price, it must be respected. In other words, you value the worth of the brand.

Next, we will discuss how individuals can use these same steps to brand themselves so that they can enjoy enduring success in this new economy.

Triple A

Often times, the response I get from the teachers we interact with, about what's really an important element they look out for in a high potential candidate; one common answer is "attitude".

According to the Princeton definition of "attitude", it is a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and disposition to act in certain ways.

While attitude is important, if not critical, I believe that there are also other factors involved. Because one can have a positive attitude towards certain things and still get it very wrong. For instance, I was once asked, why is it that there are people who have the right attitude but we still do not entrust them with certain tasks? I'm sure if you have been a manager before, you would have had a similar experience.

This, I believe, is because in any endeavor, we must adopt a Triple A approach, which is Attitude, Ability, and Actions. While attitude tops the list, because we need to have the right values, the right mindset, right habits; we'd also need to have the right ability and take the right actions.

To illustrate, identifying the right abilities is crucial as otherwise, we will always be using the same technique or tool for every problem. Additionally, the right actions are also just as critical. It doesn't matter what your attitude and/or abilities are, but if you take the wrong actions (running east looking for a sunset) it will never allow you to reach your goal.

So, how do we identify the right attitude, ability, and actions?

Would you make the switch (Singtel vs Starhub)

This is going to be a first for me, though it is a discussion on 'personal' issue, it is seen through the lens of 'engaged mastery'.

Due to the recent announcement of the technical recession, several issues have been raised and one of which is the increase in fixed-line telephone subscription and call charges from January 1, 2009. To be fair, Singtel states that it has withheld any increase in charges for the last 18 years.

With regards to whether the hike should be effected now, I think it depends on whose perspective you view the issue from. For instance, as a Singtel shareholder, one would ask "why haven't the charges been revised until now?"

If from the perspective of the consumer, one might ask "if Singtel can not revise their charges for the last 18 years, why now especially that we are in a technical recession?"

With that, we will stop our discussion here about the price hike and instead focus on the comparison of a Singtel line and a Starhub digital voice.

Based on Singtel's information on the revision of the subscription and call charges, here's the facts of the increase. The $10 increase per annum works out to a 10 percent increase of the subscription ($107/year to $117.70/year). Singtel shows it is an increase of 83 cents a month, which if expressed in terms of percentage, it is still an 10 percent increase.

As for call charges, the increase is from 0.7 cents to 0.8 cents; or a 14.3 percent increase. Of course this depends on whether you are calling during the peak or off-peak hours (there is a slight change in the definition of peak and off-peak but it has little significant impact on the revision).

To entice customers to save the trees and make payments promptly (through GIRO); Singtel is offering a one-off rebate of $10 which works out to the entire year's subscription price hike. So, there's some consolation here.

A check with Starhub reveals that it is offering free Digital Voice service to anyone who is (1) a Maxonline or Cable TV subscriber and (2) porting their current fixed-line phone over to Starhub. It also offers free unlimited calls both in-coming and out-coming (valid till 31 Dec 2010) and free monthly subscription (valid till 31 Dec 2010). Based on Starhub's website, for non Maxonline or Cable TV subscribers the monthly subscription would be approximately $9.80 (before GST), which is some 18 percent higher than Singtel's fixed-line monthly subscription. Of course there is a one-off $89.88 fee for its hardware should you decide not to port your phone number.

Just like to ask my friends two questions:

(1) With these basic costs comparison, would you make the switch (that is if you haven't already).

(2) If you are already using Starhub Digital Voice, are you able to use it (a) for faxing purposes and (b) with multiple handsets?

What do you do when you don't achieve your goals?

What do you do when the goals you set, you failed to achieve them? There are usually one of two responses. Either we quit setting goals altogether (these stuffs don't work as well as they say it will) or we change the way in which we set them.

The first option is direct. No more goals setting for me. The second option deserves a little more explanation. Before we talk about changing the way we set goals, let's not forget the quote by Einstein, "to keep doing things the same way and expect different results is insanity". So, what exactly are the things we need to change?

To begin, let's draw a semi-circle and write the word "environment" above the line of the semi-circle. Next, on the left of the word "environment" draw an arrow with the head pointing to the top of the page. And on the right of the word "environment" draw another arrow with the head pointing to the bottom of the page.

What this symbolizes is the following; some people believe it is the environment that affects us. For instance, some of us may point to the fact that our current environment caused us to behave in a certain way. Some usual responses include, the economy is not doing well so we have less orders or my spouse doesn't trust me to do anything.

On the other hand, there is also a small group of us who believe that it is us that shape our environment. For instance, courtesy begins with me is a good example. Regardless of what others do to me, I will always be courteous to them. Or I will always respect and trust my friends regardless.

A parallel we've drawn in the school's context is the concept of rewards system and demerit points system. Some believe that values are caught and not taught and hence, we will reward students who demonstrate good behaviours. While others believe that everyone is good, until they show otherwise.

The former is akin to guilty until proven innocent, while the latter has the same principle as innocent until proven guilty. It creates a very different world. One tends to see everyone as good, while the other tends to view everyone with suspicion.

So, what relevance does this has to do with goal setting? Very much, I believe. If we believe its the environment that shapes us, then we have very little control over what can happen, and we end up feeling stressed. However when we believe it is us that shape the environment, then the only thing we need to control is ourselves. That said, mastery over self is but one of the most challenging things in life. Indeed, as there is no greater mastery that the mastery of self.

Once we understand this concept, of us being in a position to shape the environment; we will also need to understand that the only thing we can control is ourselves, and hence self-mastery must be the mother of all goals to be achieved. I'm not saying it is easy, I've spent many years and sometimes still find myself struggling to defeat the greatest enemy of all, myself.

Now, so you might think that once you have achieved self-mastery you will be able to achieve any goals! Why, that is but only half-truth. Achieving self-mastery is only one part of the story here. The other part of the story is to do with the environment. You might think, hey, you were just saying to achieve any goals we need to have self-mastery. Now you are telling me there is more to it??

We need to understand that as we work on our self-mastery, we can be a force to shape the environment. However, we also need to understand that as the environment is a function of many other influences, we cannot not ignore the happenings around us in order to help us better able to formulate winning strategies to achieve our goals.

Intention, Decision, and Action

On the second day of the IAF Congress 2008, we had the honour of being trained by Christian Tissier Shihan. One of the main take-away from his session was the idea of having your Intention, Decision, and Action being aligned.

Simply put, if your Intention is to go from point A to point B, and while you are at point A with your uke holding on to your hand; the only way you can arrive at point B is to 'bring' your uke along; using a kokyu-nage technique.

Just like during our NLP training, we were encouraged to set our intention for the day at the start of each class. The main reason for doing so is so that during the course of the day, we can be more aware of our surroundings and circumstances so that we don't fall back to our old habits.

For instance, sometimes when being snapped at, we may react in an angry manner. So, if we'd set our intentions at the start of the day to be patient, seek to understand then to be understood. Then we may remind ourselves under such circumstances to respond according to our intentions set at the start of the day.

Hence, according to my interpretation of Christian Tissier Shihan's "Intention, Decision, and Action", it means that after we set our intention, if our decisions and actions are aligned to our intention, we will have a higher probability of achieving our goals.

Which brings to mind an interesting application of this Aikido concept to our daily lives. We all set goals to achieve certain aims in life, be it professional, personal, and/or in our relationships with people (let's just call it "people" for parsimonity reasons). And what actions we take will determine whether or not we will achieve our goals. Of course the basic assumption here is that our goals are not evil by nature. (It can be though, but that's a different topic altogether)

But what determine our actions is basically our decisions. Our decisions are in turn largely determined by our conditioning. For instance one can set a goal to get at least 6 hours of sleep daily so that he can rise early in the morning and not feel tired and also not having to rush to go to work. But because of his conditioning (i.e. he has been sleeping late for a long while now) he may still go to bed late (action) and hence still get up late the next morning (results).

So in order for him to really decide (decision) to go to bed early, and to have him actually do it (actions), he will need to re-organise his routine or change his habits or working style (conditioning) so that it is possible for him to retire early.

So how does one go about this "conditioning" exercise so that his decisions and actions will help him achieve his goal? The answer is through setting your intentions right at the start. In other words, to make a promise and keep it. We can start with small promises so that we don't feel overwhelmed or have too big a promise that sets us up for failure.

Perhaps we can start by setting our intentions everyday before we start our day, so that we can be more aware of our schedule and the need to go to bed on time. So, why don't we try for the next 7 days by starting each day by setting our intention to decide to take some small actions so that we can achieve our goals be it in the personal, people, or professional realm?

The Crossroads in Life

Have you ever been in a crossroad situation? I mean, you come to a point where you have to decide which path to choose. And each path has its glory and also its dangers. It looks as if either is just as good or as bad.

Sometimes the crossroad situation is a lot simpler, as in whether to go to a play or not. But the fact remains that, whichever path you choose can lead you to very different results.

Some people you speak to, they might even say, well, what can I do, I have no choice. Or they may even say that under current circumstances they have no choice but to do this, or do that.

In actuality, sometimes it is because they choose not to choose. Or in other words, because they allow the environment to act on them (the boss, spouse, colleagues, clients, friends, family) and decide for them what they should do, and in turn, they choose not to make a different choice.

As a result, they claim that they have no choice. Yeah, you may say its semantics or its a matter of perspective. Truth is, never had there been a better time that the availability of choices is larger than ever.

There are actually 4 quadrant of choices, its either you leave it (walk away), live with it (putting up with it), change it (try to control others or the situation), or change self (deal with it). My sense is in this new economy, where the consumer are better informed, they have the mobility, they may even have the skills, and information is readily available; the ability to 'change self' is becoming more important than ever before.

Changing self is not just about re-inventing yourself. Changing self is also about taking full responsibility for your actions. Changing self also requires certain skills set such as the ability to anticipate the impact that current (or even future) trends have on your circumstances.

The ability to change self is an idea whose time has come. And increasingly so in today's environment where new rules are being made, paradigms are shifting, and the world is getting (or already) flat.

But one may ask, what are the necessary skills for changing self? I believe it goes beyond just skills set, but it also involves the mind set.

The mind set will involve individuals seeing themselves to be able to make better choices, but to ensure that those choices are the appropriate ones; they need to be able to take personal responsibility and lead themselves. This is a fundamental shift from the previous paradigm where only people with formal authority are considered leaders. Now, everyone has the ability to become a leader, but first and foremost they must have self-leadership.

With that fundamental shift in paradigm now they can look at the skills set that are needed. 4 fundamental skills set include, the ability to anticipate; the ability to translate information into use; the ability to win with people; and the ability to find purpose in what they do.

So, how do you now choose?

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.

Today is a gift

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present." So say Oogway (or the Wise Turtle) in Kung Fu Panda.

One of our associates just gave me a 'gift' recently (Thank you, Jacq!). At work, we have always subscribed to the concept that everyone is a leader. And by our definition of a 'leader', we mean to say that anyone who is able to influence our thoughts, decisions, actions, or words is a leader. Provided that the influence is done with integrity, and of course in the context of our work, be aligned to our mission.

Her idea of the 'gift' is that, leadership may be quite daunting for some. As she works with youth, some challenged (or being inappropriately labelled), it is easy to see why she proposed 'gift' rather than 'leadership'. The thinking goes like this, we are endowed with different 'gifts'. Of course over the course of our lives, there may be moments that feeling gifted or a leader is the last thing on our minds. As a result, in her work with youth, she's coaching them to discover or re-surface the gifts that these youth have but may have some how 'lost' it.

We totally agree on that point. At the same time, we would also like to bring together several concepts by other scholars and practitioners to amalgamate the concepts and decipher it into practical steps that we all can use.

Now, the concept of the 'gift', is aligned to the Hedgehog Concept presented by Jim Collins, where interest alone is not enough. For instance, you hear people talking about, if you do what you love, the money will follow. Well, this is only part of the story. As you'll recall our previous discussion on having but just one strategy? Doing what you love alone may be good, but good is the enemy of great!

Hence, we must find that something which not only we are interested or feel passionate about, but we must also be good at it. Which means, while it is aligned to your interest (positive emotions well up when you do something you love), it must also be something that you are good at, almost naturally (technical competence). Of course the sweet spot is where the above-mentioned two criteria fit with the third, which is it must be something that people will pay you to do.

The full story reveals itself when you look at not only these three components, but when you bring in the fourth. Those of us who are familiar with Covey's work, will recall Habit 7: Sharpening the Saw. You see, in Habit 7, we look at the physical, mental, emotional, and spirit.

Drawing the parallel between Covey and Collins is as follows. What you are passionate about = emotional; genetically encoded = mental; what others will pay you for what you do = physical. Hence, using this parallel Covey has one additional and in fact, an extremely important component, which is "spirit".

This is where your conscience lies, where the sense of rectitude surface. Where it allows us to discover what might it be that will get us to do 'the right thing'. And when you find it, this is your 'gift', the 'gift' that once opened, will give you the strength to step up and lead with moral authority. So, my friends, what might your 'gift' be?

3 Questions

I need your help with 3 questions:

1) What is the most important thing to do?

2) When is the best time to do it?

3) Who is the most important person in the world?

Part III

For those us who have children, you might be interested in the following example, set in an educational context.

Let's say little Johnny has been taught a new and effective way to learn certain content he was taught in school. However, because little Johnny has been so used to 'memorizing' the content, rather than 'understanding' the content and let's just say that 'memorizing' has served him well in the past in terms of test scores.

Now, given that he's been so used to (path of least resistance) 'memorizing' and that this technique has brought about good results (positive emotions due to parents' acknowledgements or his class mates now look up to him); what are the chances little Johnny will take up this new and effective technique?

Well, certain things must happen. For a start, this new technique ought to be more fun and exciting (positive emotions). It must allow him to do even better during tests (better outcome which reinforce the positive emotions). It must give him more confidence (further reinforcement of the positive emotions). Besides, it must be 'easy' to apply or else he'll go with the path of least resistance and fall back to the old style (if in doubt, try brushing your teeth from this moment on using your other hand - meaning if you've always used your right hand, now use your left - unless of course you are ambidextrous, then it would be easy). And unless parental support is there to help little Johnny adopts this new method, it is very likely he will revert to his previously known technique, where he is comfortable, good at, and even brings about good results.

So, as one can see from the above, there are a whole host of factors that need to be in place to help the child learn better. And besides, bearing in mind that as Maslow said, "he that is good with the hammer tends to think everything is a nail". Hence, anyone who's been in the corporate world these days would readily recognise that we'll need more than one strategy to succeed, or in my words, to win. We simply cannot rely on just one strategy that might have worked well in the past to continue to perform just as well.

To paraphrase Einstein, to tackle new level of challenges, we'd need a different level of thinking. Put it differently, with the current level of thinking, we cannot hope to solve a more challenging level of problem. So, to get little Johnny to adopt the 'new' technique would require so many factors to be in placed, can you imagine the multitude of factors that must be in place for us, adults, to adopt a 'new' strategy?

Of course, this is further complicated by the structure of the systems in which we operate in (supporting environment), the number of times (or even years or decades) that using the 'old' technique had brought about good or even promising results (experience), how that made us feel about ourselves or how others saw, felt, or thought about us (positive emotions), and of course how we have become 'programmed' to think or execute in a particular manner (path of least resistance).

Part II

Let's take a moment to examine what causes us to think differently. As in the example quoted in our previous discussion it could be because the person whom we're supposed to meet has always been late. Or it could be because this person has never been late before, which caused us to be worried. Hence, it can be a result of our past experiences with this person that caused us to think one way or another.

But what if, we have never met this person before in the past, and do not know enough about this person to make that kind of 'judgement'? What if this was a first date? Well, some of us might just walk off. Some of us might start thinking, maybe he/she really doesn't want to meet us, which could lead to some level of self-doubt. Or some of us might be furious and think, this person really had the audacity to stand me up!

So, in this other situation, where we do not know enough of this person to make such judgements, how do we arrive at such a conclusion? Or think in such a way? Well, it could be for some of us, we have had the experience of being stood up.

Or, it could have been our friends who shared with us their experiences of being had. Either way, the way in which we think can be based on past experiences or through other sources such as from watching movies, reading books, or merely through the experiences of others.

Ok, so in actual fact, how we think can be shaped by past experiences of ours or through the experiences of others. In other words, our thinking can be shaped by the external environment. And the reason why, when we are caught in similar situations, we will almost subconsciously think that way because of the path of least resistance.

Let's just say, we've had previous experiences of being had, and the next time a similar situation occurs, we'll almost automatically think that way. And if we experience more and more of such experiences, we'll just jump to that conclusion.

That's the reason why, for some people, the moment they hear investment, they'll tell you, be careful, because you might lose money. When asked how did they arrive at such a conclusion, reasons may range from, "I've tried it in the past, and I got burnt" to "my uncle lost a lot of money in the stock market". Both situations created a negative emotions for them and as a result, they decided to stay away from it and also advised you to do the same.

Case in point is where, you previously got scald by a boiling kettle and the next time you see a kettle, you'd be extra careful. This is because you were burnt, hurt, and it was painful (negative emotion) and that experience stayed in your mind and probably replay it the moment you see the kettle. As a result, what's happening is in fact your subconscious mind working.
As your subconscious mind does not forget anything and it reacts everytime in a consistent manner each time a similar situation occurs.

Besides, what you subconscious mind is doing is protecting you. Imagine even you were badly burnt the last time, you didn't learn your lesson and you touch another boiling kettle and got burnt, and it happened again, and again, and again...

Well, unless you are suffering from amnesia, you'd most probably remember the last incident and be careful the next time.

Some of you might be familiar with the concept of the "path of least resistance". In other words, we are so used to reacting in a particular manner when faced with a certain situation. So much so that it becomes effortless. Or put it differently, we almost don't even need to think that when X happens, Y will be our response. Imagine like whenever you see the face of your landlord, you'd just want to avoid him. Or, some of us would be familiar with this. Whenever you see that particular person in the office, negative emotions just well up, so much so that you just want to turn and walk away.

Now, of course there are situations where like when you see the love of your life, everything just turn out right. *smile*

imagine, if you can re-train your mind to react in a certain positive manner whenever you need to give an after-dinner speech.

We'll continue with this, with a focus on children and also in the context of your professional life.

Thoughts + Emotions = Actions

Did you ever had an experience where you were supposed to meet your loved one, say, at 7pm for dinner. You were there at 6.55pm and the other person has not arrived. What was your reaction? Well, for most people, no problem. 7pm, and the other person still has not arrived. What then was your reaction? For some, still no problem, while others, they start having, in NLP terms, a change of state. Meaning, they start getting worried or edgy. 7.30pm and still no sign; most will start having a major change of state.

Of course, in today's context, we will most probably send an sms to the other person and find out where he or she is. Let's just say, you called or sent numerous sms-es but still no response. What happens now?

Some of us might get really worried while some might be furious. So, why do some of us get worried while others get furious? It could be because this person you are meeting is always either on time or early. So we may start thinking, could this person be involved in an accident? Those of us who are furious may react this way because there has been past instances where this person has been late and he or she never bothered to tell us or inform us. Or maybe this person just didn't care or worse, this person may be out with someone else?

So, from this simple illustration we can see that based on similar, if not same, situation we can all react differently. And the reason why we react differently is because of the way we think about things. For those of us who think that, this person might be involved in an accident; we feel worried. And for those of us who think that this person didn't care, feel angry. And how we will react to that person when he or she finally shows up (that is if we waited for this person anyway, or that this person actually shows up) depends greatly on how we felt!

Say, if we felt worried, some of the things we might say include; "thank God you are alright! What happened to you? Are you ok?" For those of us who felt angry, might say, "there you go again, making others wait for you", or "where the hell did you go?", or "you really have the nerve to have me waited so long".

So indeed how we will react to situations really depend a whole lot on how we think. As we think thoughts of concerns, we feel worried. On the other hand, thoughts of how irresponsible this person is, makes us feel angry. And hence, this will lead to different response to the person when he or she shows up. Of course, how this person will react to your response is the topic for another discussion.

Today, we will like to just reflect on why we will think different thoughts. Because when we are able to change our thoughts (or think in a different manner) that will lead us into a more resourceful state, that will lead us to better results, as results are a consequence of our actions.
So, "thoughts + emotions = actions".

Time to hear your voice

How would you define the term, "Leadership"?

Please do share with me your definition here.

Thank you.

Visionary & Pragmatic

Recently during a business discussion, an associate of ours remarked pointedly that I was being pragmatic. In truth, there are equal numbers of people that labeled me as visionary as there are pragmatic. As I mentioned that it is possible to be both pragmatic and visionary; some rolled their eyes.

In a sense, many a great leaders in successful Fortune 500 companies are, like what I described, both visionary and pragmatic. In fact, there is one particular leader who is not only visionary and pragmatic, but also a fierce critic at the same time, well, almost.

Just to see if you can name him. He created a cartoon character and named him, Mortimer. It was said that he wanted to re-create a miniature live stream railroad which he named, Carolwood Pacific Railroad. He was reportedly turned down by more than 100 financiers to fund his dream project. He also once said that "dreams offer too little as collateral". At the same, if not for his dream, the world would never know the "happiest place on earth". And his middle name is Elias.

Got it? Yes, he is none other than Walt Disney. Of course Mortimer was renamed Mickey. And the "happiest place on earth" is Disneyland. It was the television studios that funded his dream and some said that the railroad never existed in his childhood home town!

If you study about Walt Disney, you will find that many years later, Robert Dilts, one of the pioneers of NLP, would develop a model of the strategy used by Disney. And this model used the three viewpoints or perspectives employed by Disney. Essentially, Disney had a wonderful imagination. He was a dreamer (visionary) to begin with. Think Disneyland. Then he would ask himself, how can I manifest those dreams in the real world? By now taking on the role of a realist (pragmatic), he would then examine the plan to manifest the dream by looking at the resources, money, time, information needed to make this plan a reality. After that, he would adopt a critical stance and question if people will buy into his dream, is it exciting enough, is it compelling, or would people even bother?

Therefore, while most people usually take one stance or at most two, Disney played all three roles at different times to ensure that any project would be clearly thought through before it was being launched. So much so that some of the close associates of Disney said that sometimes they really didn't know which Walt is coming to work today. Hence, Disney's model of creativity has clearly demonstrated that it is possible to not only be visionary and pragmatic but also being critical too, all that in one person. So next, we will talk about how with each perspective or viewpoint, we can, being the same person, develop different thoughts that create different results.

My wish for Singapore's 43rd Birthday

In celebrating Singapore's 43rd Birthday, I will like to discuss a concern brought up by Banyan Tree Holdings Executive Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping recently at the Global Leadership Congress that our schools focused too much on technical education and not enough on character development. While I beg to differ on this point, I do agree that schools can definitely do a lot more in the areas of character development to nurture the development of personality, which is the foundation of leadership.

Back to the metaphor of the compass and map, a good leader is someone who not only has a BIG vision, knows how to navigate using the map, but she must also have the moral courage that is guided by the compass. In this respect, teaming moral courage to live by those values and the technical competency to reach the vision, only then will she fulfill her mission.

I am of the view, since we work closely with schools, that schools do pay sufficient focus on academic results, or in Mr Ho's words; technical education. Many a times, we hear that teachers are finally rewarded or acknowledged for their delivery of results. As such, it is no wonder that technical education remains the main (not sole) emphasis of most schools, and their leaders.

From another perspective, it is also not easy to balance rewards and recognitions with the character development component. One can argue that development of characters and personalities take time and the benefits cannot be seen immediately. Just like, how do we reward my teachers then for how they have developed me while I was in school for nurturing me to be a good and responsible citizen now?

Of course, there can early signals that may indicate that one child will be a good and responsible citizen or even a good leader, while another will become a menace to society. I am not an expert in this area, but did Mas Selamat shows signs of a terrorist while at school and should his teachers be punished for what he has or intend to do now?

I believe you and I can see the flaws in the argument above but instead of focusing on the negatives, let us zoom in on the opportunities instead. First, I will like to categorically state that schools have done or have spent some efforts in character development of the child. No school leaders whom we have spoken to, have insisted that academic results were their only focus, or at least at face value. Many schools, if not all, would have programmes that aim to mould the right character in our students. Whether those programmes have been effective is something we need to examine. Also, whether the teachers have been given proper training to mould the child in the area of character development is another issue we need to study.

Finally, even if the schools choose to strike a balance between character and competence, do the parents share the same view? Or will the parents view academic results as the only yardstick that schools should deliver? And to take an extended view of that argument, do universities here give sufficient emphasis to character development in their enrollment criteria? Do future employers also look into the area of character development in their prospective employees?

I think the answers to the above are all "yes". Which brings to mind the African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child". Everyone in the community or the society at large has a role to play. Not just the educators, but parents, friends, uncles, aunties, employers, colleagues, politicians, government officials, and the list goes on. Each one of us has a role to play in 'raising the child'. And let us not see this child as your child, or my child, or somebody else's child, lets see this child, the next child that you come across as our child, the child of Singapore. And together we can all help to nurture this child, whether it is in the area of competence or character, lets put our efforts together to raise this child to the fullest of his or her potential. For only if this child can realise his or her potential, to become a leader in his or her own right, will we, as a nation have the realise our country's potential.

And my final request to all schools is that, let us not see student leadership as leadership development for the select few. Lets not narrow our definition of leadership to just leadership by title. For leadership is not a title, but action. Hence, lets define leadership as leadership by choice, for we can put a compass and a map into the hands of every child so that it can guide them towards their vision while living by the right values so as to fulfill their mission.

Compass and Map

The idea in which I proposed recently, the metaphor of someone with a compass and a map as a "leader" appealed to many whom I have spoken to.

The compass signifies the mission and the values of the person. Armed with both a mission and also a set of values, this person now has a "true north" that guides her actions. Meaning to say, whether she will or will not participates in certain activities will be guided by her "true north", or in other words whether these activities are aligned to her mission and values.

The map represents the path she would take to arrive at her destination. That destination would be her vision, her end in mind, or what she would like to create. That vision will also need to be aligned to her mission and values. Or put it differently, in other to fulfill her mission, she will need to reach her vision. Of course the underlying assumption here is that a leader would have a vision, for the Bible says, where there is no vision, the people will perish.

So, the idea that the map is not the territory means that even with the best laid plans, she might have to change course or navigate around some 'mountains' and 'rivers' to reach her destination. That is not to sound pessimistic but rather to be realistic and pragmatic.

The fundamental flaw in this concept lies in the lack of involving others. As an Afghan proverb puts it succinctly, "if you think you are leading but no one is following you, then you're only talking a walk". This was why we discussed about the issue of BIG dreams in "A Game for Two".

In other to enlist the help of others in achieving our vision, that "end in mind" must be BIG, in the sense that others can participate in, and participate meaningfully too. If it is just to enrich ourselves, often times we will be taking a walk. Or even when people join us in that journey, very likely they will not be in your company for long.