No turning back

"We need to decide prices for next year," Mark said to me.

Making decisions, of course, is a big part of running a business.

Whatever the situations, at work or in personal life, I've found that following a few simple rules keeps me from getting bogged down by the dozens of puzzles, queries and opportunities that land on my lap every day.

Be willing to make a decision. Not everybody finds this easy. I almost always handle every piece of paper that comes across my desk only once. As promised by time management gurus, this small act of self-discipline has amazing effects.

Doing your homework always helps too. But the truth is, doing your homework only gets you so far. You also need to listen to your heart. Heart is not "winging it". It is experience speaking.

17 months ago, I had (a) an improved employment contract and (b) a new job offer both at the same time. What did my heart tell me? Let's just say, I have had 17 months of job satisfaction at my new job.

Whatever it is, at the end of the day, don't waste time regretting, revisiting, or ruminating over what might have been.
To jump or not to jump?... that is the question

Jades made the decision

Jolene made the decision...with a helping hand from Nadeem and the watchful eye of Stephie

Elly was decisive with Grace's help and in Titin's presence

Danger + Opportunity = Crisis

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity - John F. Kennedy

I know as much Mandarin as JFK and I do know that opportunity exists within a crisis situation, but when we lose heart in a devastating crisis, we will be blinded by our own emotion.When we can endure the unendurable, the opportunity for a better alternative surfaces and reveals itself.

When God closes a door, he opens the window.

Celebrate heroes

"You can buy 11 Robinhos but it wouldn't be a team, would it?" SAF was quoted in this morning's papers.

To be a hero, create and celebrate heroes.

It's an old-fashioned idea, but a simple thing that makes business sense.

I like to bring top-performing heroes into the spotlight. Tell their stories. Publicly celebrate the approach they take and the results they achieve.

A strategy is nothing but words on paper. I can write the best business plans, but on its own, it will never get me nor the organization anywhere. The rubber hits the road when the people in my team brings that strategy to life.

Chloe - winner!

Perception is reality

"I'm honest" "You're direct"

People may have misperceptions about you, but in their eyes, it is the real thing.

So often in life, as my ex-Area Managing Director told me, it's not what you do, it's the way that other people intepret it that matters.

I watched Sex and the City on dvd recently. The four friends in the show distinctly represent the four different types of personality: Charlotte (the caring one), Samantha (the driver), Miranda (the professional), Carrie (the adapter)

Over the last four years, I'm very conscious that I can easily make a wrong impression. I now try to adapt the way I behave to leave the impression that I want, get on well with people and gain respect of friends and colleagues.

Creativity - the difference between a hard worker and a successful executive

New Business Development with Creative Mindset. The plaque sits on my table. This was an award bestowed upon me by Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts in my past life.

To understand the full impact of creativity, we've got to turn the clock back. Kids can teach us something about risk and fear of failure. Kids will build nine different versions of sand castles in one day and not stop until something tells them they finally got it right.

We all know how many seeds there are in an apple. We will never know how many apples there are in one seed.

MBWA

Management by walking around , Tom Peters suggested.

I went to call upon a business associate at Mediacorp with Marie, our sales and marketing manager -golf yesterday.

I make it a habit to block out time to be there with the customer and my team. It is critical to stay abreast of all the activity in your business. I take a segment of time each day to devote to making myself highly visible throughout the business.

The process is positive for everyone, complimentary and upbeat. It heightens the satisfaction of the people in my team, and build their self esteem. In addition, they will want to do a better job.



hari raya client visitation

Yesterday's Best is Today's Minimum requirement

Kaizen.

That's what the Japanese call the process of continuous improvement. It doesn't matter what you call it, as long as you do it. Getting better - continuously - is absolutely necessary if you're going to survive.

I always set high standards for myself and contantly exceed them.

I have to do these sorts of things to stay ahead. It's just like sports. Premiership winners that stand still rarely repeat for a second, third or fourth year.

So I set high goals and keep raising them once they're achieved. If I don't, someone will blow right by me while I'm telling myself what a great job I have done. But realistically, I know I can't make huge changes overnight. I make small improvements, but I make them continuously. The process never ends. While I do celebrate success, I don't celerate for too long.

Good enough never is.

My boss, Mr Ramey accepting an award for the "hotel with the best revenue growth"

The portrait of a successful person

We all watched in awe last month as Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt swept the medals at the Beijing 2008.

A study of 120 of the world's top artists, atheletes, and scholars concluded that drive and determination, not great natual talent, led to their extraordinary success.

This, I believe is the meaningful definition of a successful person: one who has an inspiring dream or goal and moves towards it.

How many wealthy but agonizingly unhappy people do you know or have read about in your life?

Successful people aren't born with better genes, or blessed with better looks. Successful people are engaged in doing something about what they want to make happen in their lives.

Tiger and ACE

Schumi?

The real McCoy: Liz Mitchell (of Boney M fame) seated centre

Attitude is everything

I brought my parents for dinner at KFC recently.

Colonel Sanders was living out of the back of his car and seldom knew how he was going to get by from day to day. Besides that, most people thought that at his age, he should be retiring instead of starting a new business. One thing he knew - was how to make the best fried chicken in the world. His attitude was that success for KFC was only a matter of time.

People with negative brighten the whole room when they leave.

When I hire, I look for A.S.K. - attitude, skills and knowledge. Atittude is first.

Know what you're talking about

"We assign accounts according to industries because we want you to be a specialist in that particular industry," Shirl explained to a candidate at a job interview.

Why?

Because you have to know before you crow. It's that simple.

Well, think for just aminute about your own family doctor (GP). Why do you consult him or her? It's because he's an authority on all your medical needs. When you feel sick, you go to him /her, confident that he/she can solve your problem.

Become an expert on everything connected with your business - and as much as possible, an expert on your client's business as well.

Footprints in the sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”

-Mary Stevenson

This poem inspired millions. I am one of them.

The sun does not always shine. No matter how much I try, how much I persist, there will still be days and weeks and months when everything I attempt results in frustration and failure.

Adversity is with us from birth to burial. It terrorizes the employee struggling to keep his job, the father struggling to feed his family, the sales person hoping to sell his product, the soldier leading others into battle.

But there is a higher power that we all should believe in, and when you do, any time of adversity can be transformed into a triumphant turning point. Confornt someone with dark horror and the person will impulsively say, "Oh My God!"

Whenever I am struck down by any terrible defeat or frustration, I always inquire of myself, after the first pain has passed, how can I turn the adversity into good. Those adversities can make me a better man or a bitter man.

I choose to be a better man.

If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen

Tomorrow is my 12th wedding anniversary. Last evening, Clark chirped, "I still can't figure out women."

Most women like men. They want us and they want to get along with us.

Women are caring. They're listeners. They discuss each other's problems. Men talk about sports. That's it. Sports or their jobs.

In terms of basic needs, personalities, habits, etc I think men and women are more alike than different. However, when it comes to dating, sex and some marital expectations, men and women are more different than alike.

Could men make little adjustments and get big results? After all, we can no sooner change our ways than the leopard can change his spots.

If we could, these are probably the three areas:

Talking. Or to use her favourite word for it, communication. In essence, women talk and men don't. Or if we do, we interrupt her with some solution to the problem that she has placed before us. Women need to talk...it makes them feel connected. Listen and let them vent.

Feelings. Women show emotions; men hide emotions. And she's more sensitive to the feelings of others. Whereas we are not as sensitive, especially when it comes to her feelings.We blurt and we hurt.

Romance and intimacy and relationships. She wants attention. She wants time together. She wants affection, both pgysical and verbal. She needs the emotional security that comes of our constant reassurances.

There you go. Invaluable advise. 12 years of cummulated wisdom. You can wave it off as silly or sexist. You can ignore everything. But then what will happen?

You'll be the guy sleeping on the sofa.

The level 10 sales superstar

"That boy's a born salesman. He's got the gift of the gab," a senior citizen mumbled to my dad a long time ago.

Wrong. I wasn't born a salesman. Nobody's born a salesman, or born engineer or born lawyer. We are either born a boy or a girl. Have you ever heard a doctor telling the mother in the delivery room, "congratulations, you have a pilot"?

Why is it that some people succeed in sales, while others, who work just as hard, seem to go nowhere? What does it really take to succeed in sales?

Sales is an extremely attractive profession - if one has what it takes. There's the "ceiling's the limit commission/incentives, personal freedom, recognitions and advancements. So then, why is there a problem recruiting ands retaining highly productive professional-level salespeople?

It takes a special kind of person to succeed in sales. Firstly, salespeople have a different way of looking at the world. They sense opportunitis when others fear rejection. "NO' are not signs of discouragement; they are something to be changed. More than anything else, salespeople must believe in themselves.

Succeeding in sales has to do with what is inside of that individual. When push comes to shove, no one can give a salesperson the desire to succeed, the ability to bounce back from rejection. It all comes from within.

Be grateful for the gift of life

We all remember 9/11/2001

Turmoil and violence, death and pain. People acting more like savages than loving citizens of the world. We seem to be making little progress toward redemption. Everywhere on our planet, it seems, there are tears and sobs and cries of despair and grief. Is this what our world will continue to be?

Being on top in life once meant climbing to the top of everest, the corporate corner office, achieving recognition from the world around us. Now, for many, it just seems as if the journey from breakfast to bedtime without the loss of anything or anyone we love is all we dare hope for.

Therefore I always greet each sunrise with a thank you prayer to my Creator - for this priceless gift of a new day. Consider those who greeted yesterday's sunrise who are no longer alive today. Whenever I flip through the obituary pages in the papers, I ask myself "why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others, far better than I, have departed?"

11 Sept 2001

Love after marriage

"What happens to the love after you get married?" William asks me.

Every married man I know would like his wife to be happy in her marriage. many of the husbands I meet feel that they have sincerely tried, but have been unsuccessful. Some blame their wives, others blame themselves.

When we were dating, we were in love. That "in love" led us to the altar because we wanted the feeling to last a lifetime. Unfortunately, all research indicates that the "in love" evaporates over time.

Most of these men are fairly intelligent people. With all the books and communication workshop available these days, why is it so few couples seem to have found the secret to keeping love alive after the wedding?

Some break up at almost the first sign of trouble; others aftre many years, even decades of marriage. Other cling together forever when clearly there is no love.

But remember this: most things worth having are gained through a great deal of effort and concentration. It is a tall order, perhaps the most difficult thing I will ever do, but I keep this mindset. Do it right and it most likely be by far the most rewarding. Learning to handle love and the problems that comes with it will make you a stronger and more confident person, as well as benefiting your relationship.

12 years of marriage...Sept 14, 2008

Trade show selling with significant ROI

"To Paul, Thank you for the opportunity to serve. Great working with your team," signed Orvel Ray Wilson in a postcard. Orvel is an internationally acclaimed author and speaker on sales, marketing and management. And so we got to chat about trade show selling....

For sales people, whether you usually sell in a showroom, retail store, customer's office or over the phone, you'll need a different set of skills to succeed at trade show selling.

Consider these differences. At shows, you have an opportunity to talk to people who are usually unreachable. Then there's the peer-pressure effect that you don't usually have during a one-on-one sales call. And you can reach lots of people in a very short time.

The average visitor spends 6 hours visiting exhibits and spends time in an average of 17 booths. Over 80% of buyers have buying influence, yet only less than 10% of these buyers were called on by salespeople prior to the show.

Your approach is critical. It is really not difficult. Get it right, and sales will soar.

I only choose to exhibit at shows that are right for the organization. Some of my peers exhibit because (1) they've always gone to this show (2) they're doing an educational session (3) they'll get to see all their friends (4) they want to train their new salespeople (5) the show's in Bangkok.

I always work the press and parties for extra impact. I hit the floor on opening day full of enthusiasm and maintain my momentum throughout the show. I work on relationships. When you consider the economic power of repeat and referral business, the relationship is more important than a single transaction.

Jeffrey (left), Cassandra (middle) in Seoul

STB booth at BITF in Busan, Korea

What goes around, comes around

Jim Cheah Vice president & Senior Country Manager, Malaysia & Brunei - Mastercard International
Steve Ong CEO - ING Funds
Christo Diamandopoulos Development Manager, Limitless LLC
Jeffrey Gan, Ron Drake, Zain Puteh

Just to name a handful of the mentors I was fortunate to have in my career spanning 22 years. I wouldn't be where I am today, without them. Nowadays I mentor others. The world is round and God is great.

Here's the good news: successful people enjoy being mentors. We seek out students. We love to help them.

Why?

Because we feel good to share just how we got to where we are, and even to be able to give the student a boost. We mentors want to be remembered fondly by those who follow our advice and go on to be successful themselves.

Furthermore, it boosts our egos and allow us to share and teach, which is what I love to do. And when they go on to achieve big things and become successful, it gives me great pride to know I had a hand in their success.

Fasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfaster

"It's not the big that eats the small, it's the fast that eat the slow," my ex-SVP once told me. "You have to be faster than your competitors."

Being faster doesn't mean out of breath faster. It means being smarter.

"Sales is not a sprint, it is a marathon" A top insurance trainer was overhead saying. We aren't interested in premature ejaculators that managed a single brief burst of speed. The goal is to achieve speed and maintain velocity.

Here's my take on this: in order for decisions to be fast and correct, they should be made as close to the action as possible. If it's a sales issue, the decision should be made by the sales person/sales manager.

We should hire the best people and then get out of their way. The worst thing we could do is to micromanage them. We hire entrepreneurs and let them do their own thinking. I like to empower my managers to make decisions and support them. Sometimes a wrong decision may be made. It's ok to make mistakes - but don't repeat them.

Different strokes for different folks

"Life's not fair," Yin moaned.

Sister, have I got news for you: If life was fair, we'll all be earning the same salary. So get use to it.

While it's important to treat everyone with fairness, the key to good leadership is recognising that different people require different handling. Some ...you got to kick their butt, other...you got to kiss their butt, and some...you got to wipe their butt. Whereas one may respond to urgency, another may be more motivated by pressure. Some are motivated by bonuses and perks, others by flexible work schedules, still others by power and achievement. The key is knowing which is which.

There is a need to tame the green-eyed monster, though. dealing with jealousy and claims of unfairness are all part of the parcel when you treat individuals differently.

What's really important though, is that everyone should know they are valued and that their individual contribution has importance. I try to let them know I respect and care about them equally. I set specific goals with each.

Treating your team members differently isn't playing favourites - its' playing smart. It's recognising that each person is an individual with specific needs and dreams.

Different players require different handling in a winning team

Women at work

I work in a women infested team.

A recent survey showed that men prefer to work with men - 52% stated outright that this is the case where only 17% of women want to work with just women.

Here's a little secret: women make terrific co-workers, just like guys but different from guys. They enjoy making others look good as well as themselves.

Unlike men, women are more inclined to hold back unless they have something useful to contribute. It would be useful to ask their opinion when you know they have an important perspective.

It is easy to develop rapport and friendships with most male colleagues, so too it is possible with women.The more you know about each other, the more you can understand each other. If we are between meetings, I always try to have lunch or a drink together.

Oh, another thing: never ever feel castrated when a woman rather than a man does better.

Shirley, Jades, Leticia

Jades, Esther, Joan

Women, women everywhere

The 24/7 worker may not be the super achiever

"My daughter who works as a sales professional comes home later than the karaoke GROs", a father was overheard murmuring.

If...you spend so much time at the office or on the road that when you come home, your nine year old asks your wife "Who's he?"

If...you work all the time but never enjoy it or feel fulfilled.

If...you rationalise by saying,"That's the price of success"

If...you work 24/7 to boost your career, but you can't get past a plateau

Then you have clung on to the myth of giving 110%.

Don't get me wrong. I am not against honest labout...but being exceptional is not about being everything and everywhere.

There's a cure: change your thinking. Being an exceptional performer depends also on how refreshed you feel, how energized you are, how confident you must be, and not just how hard or how many hours you've worked.

The super achiever

Hold on tight to your dream

A dream is a feeling.

It is a feeling that makes you click, turn you on, excite the hell out of you. You cannot wait to get out of bed to continue pursuing your dream. This kind of dream I am writing about gives meaning to your life. It is the mother of all motivators. A dream need not excite anyone else on the planet. One person's dream can be another person's nightmare.

A dream is not a goal. When you chase dreams, goals are steps you take to get there.

Your dream should be yours, and not your mother's or your father's or your husbands or your wife's, but your own.

One thing I do know: perseverance plays a big role in making your dreams come true.