asking the right questions

i spoke to a wise consultant today and asked him to share his experience in consulting.

He said that one important aspect of his work is to ask the right questions. Not always giving the right answers.

This is indeed both art and science. i appreciate this wisdom.. though i've learned this from Anthony Robbins.. but this conversation definitely reaffirmed my belief.

Blessings.

positive energy management

It's timely to remind myself of the power & importance of
energy management.

Each of us has finite energy each day. We must, therefore,
make full of this precious energy to do good & useful tasks.

Apart from doing good, we should focus on energy management.
Create more positive energy while mitigate negative ones

1. Focus on things that matter most.
2. Don't dwell on negative thoughts. Replace them
with positive ones immediately.
3. Take care of physical, mental & spiritual energies.

Blessings.

Feels like heaven - Fiction Factory

Heaven is closer now today,the sound is in my ears
i can't believe the things you say,they echo what i fear
twisting the bones until they snap,
i scream but no one knows
say i'm familiar, cold to touch
and then you turn and go
Feels like heaven, feels like heaven
See how we planned for saddened eyes
and tears to pave the way
i fought the fever as i knew,
my hair it turned to grey
study your face and fade the frame,
too close for comfort now
we can recall the harmony
that lingered but sent sour
Feels like heaven, feels like heaven
You wanted all i had to give
see me, i feel, see me, i live, woh-oh
Feels like heaven (heaven is closer, heaven is closer)..

Decision making

Decision making is both an art and science. There're methods to adopt but in the end, in business, it's the leader's wisdom, 6th sense and experience to decide the next course of action.

i now believe that, in most cases, or 80% of the time, there's a reason for making certain decision. While the remaining 20% i would say that it's intuitive, gut feel or simply personal preference.

A great leader would listen to everybody, then distill them with his or her own ideas before deciding. And it's difficult to say what is a good decision or bad decision - it's judgmental. And only time or history can tell, maybe. I would say that no decision is worst of them all! 

So, regardless how difficult it is, you must learn to be firm and make a decision when time is up! And of course, if there is no urgency to make one, dont! Dont force yourself to make decision when there no need to.. another wisdom i've learned.  ;-)

Strategic Options Evaluation

As a continuation of my earlier blog on Making Strategy, i missed out the importance of evaluating the strategic options. This is an important step in deciding which strategic options to use.

Strategic options may use a scoring system (range from -3 to +3) to measure against the issues/opportunities it would resolve or take advantage of. This method is based on relativity in scoring. The results are deliberated and top scoring options will then move on to the next stage of evaluation.

The second round entails measures (i) risk & returns, and (ii) manpower, financing & time. Here, scoring will use High, Medium & Low as accuracy is not essential. No option will be eliminated. Here, it's trying to find synergy and causality among the options.

Finally, the options are packaged into strategic thrusts or themes for manageability & ease of communication.. giving each thrust/theme an interesting or inspiring title.

From here on, use balanced scorecard to implement the strategy. ;-)

mulist team

This picture will mean a lot years on when we look back to the good old days of building mulist regardless of the outcome of this dare-to-dream venture. i will never forget this adventure.. especially those who embark this journey with me. must thank Shinni for taking this picture of us too! ;-)

Iron Man

The Iron Man movie is really great! Great story, great actors! must watch!!

Official website

TVB "Ah Wang" tv series - "Life made simpler"

This is my favourite Hong Kong TV Series.. It's inspiring & reminds me to be good and to try to live a simpler life! ;-)

Eye of the Storm

Practice Being in the
"Eye of the Storm"
commit to staying clam.
U will enjoy yourself more.

Squid, Cuttlefish and Octopus

This is embarrassing. Till now, i cant differentiate squid, cuttlefish & octopus.. and their differences.. ;-(

Finally, pushed myself to investigate and i'm now quite enlightened! ;-)

All these 3 sea creatures have 3 hearts! and 8 arms! They are also considered smart too! And not all their 'brain' are located in the 'head'.. some are spread on their arms! That's why their arms are as smart.. amazing..

I cant bring much justice to them.. will just have to let other websites enlighten us more ;-)

Wikipedia: Squid, Cuttlefish and Octopus.

Perspectives, complexity

A dice has six sides. But the world we live in has numerous sides.

Numerous perspectives. Therefore, we have to be alert and be able to think & see from as many perspectives as possible. 

This world is complex. But we always tried to see things in simpler ways.

That's why we invented matrix, formulas to make things easier for us to see.

Yes, these things work but within constraints. For example, gravity formula will not work on moon. 

Nevertheless, we do need them. And yes, i love matrix. But i know it's limitation. We must be aware and conscious of them. Otherwise, we will fail. 

And fail men shall be.. thru greed, pride and great ego. So be humble, honest & caring instead. We always think we are tough. We are strong. Look at the people around us and you will also see how weak we can be. We break our bones easily. Yes, we can be tough in our mind.. thru mind practicing/training. Ignorance has no excuse, however. 

So how shall we live this world? Thru wisdom, knowledge of this world, meditation & true compassion. Yes, we still need those simplified tools. But we need to know their limitations.

Blessings.

Singapore Crab Beehoon

Making Strategy

i think i strike gold. after years of studying, getting my MBA, reading tons on mgmt, i finally completed my understanding on making strategy.. of course, practice makes perfect.

in a nutshell, there're basically two big steps - strategy formulation and strategy implementation. Strategy implementation usually uses balanced scorecard to assist. Strategy formulation has tons of tools to assist as well.. such as PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, scenarios planning, issue-based to strategy making. But these tools only provide insights to strategy making. 

The ultimate strategy formulation still depends on the leaders and senior mgmt to figure it out. It's here, where i always felt that there is a missing step between formulation & implementation. It's the strategy definition, or the art of articulating that strategy so that it is easily understood by everyone in the organization that matter most.

What's the use of having an excellent strategy where nobody understands, and therefore, no one knows how to implement them!

And i found the answer via Harvard Business Review April 2008 publication on Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?

In the article, in a nutshell:

• MISSION: Why we exist
  
• VALUES: What we believe in and how we will behave
  
• VISION: What we want to be
  
• Strategy: What our competitive game plan will be.
  
• Basic elements of strategy statement are OBJECTIVE=ends, SCOPE=domain, ADVANTAGE=means
  
• BALANCED SCORECARD: How we will monitor and implement that plan

Strawberry Chiffon

My darling did it again! ;-)

This time she baked something so simple yet so delicious.. Fresh strawberries were used.. the cake is a little soggy, however.. forgiven since it's a first attempt.. 

this will be an excellent tea break item during friends gathering! 

baked chicken & carrot porridge

i will try this one of these days.. ;P

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 deg C.
2. Marinate diced chicken meat (skinless) & carrots with dark soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt & pepper.
3. Bake for 20 mins.

Cook porridge as usual.. Serve with the baked chicken & carrots sprinkled on top.

Simple. Healthier. Mmm.. wonder baked chicken how it taste like.. ;-)

Old coffeeshop changing hands

The only coffeeshop below my flat has just been sold for $5mil to a food court operating group.. hope the food varieties will improves though it's unlikely.. as we all know food court food standards.. and their prices wont be cheap.. sigh.. and with inflation we just have to manage our expenses.. ;-(

Manage to capture some shots of the old coffeeshop just weeks before it was closed for renovation! ;-)

Happiness in a nutshell

"The principles of happiness can be
learned in a nutshell.
But not the journey of happiness.
It has to be experienced."
- Kenneth Woo

Calmness & Numbness

Dont know why.. this morning i just had a realisation!

I noticed that some people are so 'calm' when even things seems to be screwing up.. And they actually think they are 'calm'..

i think they're more numb than calm.. they lost their senses to know that things are not looking good.. that's the difference between a good leader and a so-so one! ;-)

Reason and Excuse

There's a thin line between reason and excuse. It's an art form to turn an excuse into a good reason. An experience & wise person will be able to tell the difference, however.
So, develop oneself and dont rely too much on disguised excuses.. someday somehow people will see thru u.. ;P

Time to go

Chorus
Standing on the rooftop
Feeling breezes blowing
Against my face
And I know it’s time for me to go

There’s a time for everything
A time for memories
Lessons for history

As we gather one last time
To share our victories
Rejoice this life that’s free

[repeat Chorus x3]

notes: i wrote this as a farewell song.. putting the pictures in this video will help me remember them whenever i revisit this blog page.. i will miss some of my colleagues.. they're genuine nice people.. too bad i dont have the pictures of all of them.. Yup, in the end, as one of them says "Life will go on.." sad but true. Let's keep it in memory lane while we move on.. ;-)