Overseeing personal brand

Beckham is the highest paid footballer in the world. It's official.

David Beckham is a legend, and legend sells. For Beckham, the potential is enormous. There are probably at least 30 countries where he is a household name, and a similar number of products he could put his name to.

So it is with overseeing our own personal brand. In every area of a leaders' private and public life, it requires a 24/7 commitment. indeed, it is probably the most demanding form of man management there is.

Official teen

ACE turns 13 today. Thirteen.

It is normal for children to want assurance that they are loved. Hence I write this now for him.

To Alexander Charles Er...I've always loved you because you are our first and last miracle. You sustained us streetfood years: the first apartment in Kuala Lumpur furnished in early poverty...our first mode of transportation (our Hyundai Coupe)

You wore new and had unused grandparents. You were the original model for unsure parents, uncles, aunties, granduncles, grandaunties trying to work the bugs out.

You were the beginning. The first baby in the Er family for 20 years.

Toughness in negotiation

"After consultation and review, we revised the honorarium as follows: Per day: $1000," Merla wrote in her email.

What do you do when the person you are negotiating with hits you with you'll have to do better than that? Do you cave in or do you refuse to panic?

Toughness in negotation is not about aggressive stances or contests of intimidatory toughness. The toughness I refer to is of the only worthwhile and long-lasting kind - tough in resolve. Not to give in easily. Not to lose heart. Not to wilt under intimidatory pressure.

Personal downsizing

"We have just completed our divestments of our units in Japan and Malaysia," Hwee Liang of ExxonMobil announced. Focus - a book by Al Ries shows with an overwhelming number of case studies that it's the narrowly focused companies that are the big winners, those that focus on core products and get rid of extraneous, energy-wasting ventures.
Just as corporate America pursues its strategy of diversifying in order to grow, I now realise that what I call "personal downsizing"is the only way to help keep us focused on what we do best.

Going forward, we need to regain control by eliminating those things which distracts us from our goals. Our game plan is a program of "planned abandonment". We will look at everything that's on our plates and decide what must be cleared in order for us to make a significant contribution in the rest of the year that lies ahead of us

Boardgames as education

Playing monopoly and "Game of Life" are a very important part of my kid's education.

The Game of Life teaches him to get good grades so he can get a good job in order to earn money.  In Monopoly, he learns that he not only have to earn money, he needs to have a plan what to do with the money. he can't win the game by earning the $200 each time he passes "GO". He needs to buy one green house, and then another, until he has 4 green houses. The  convert the green house into a red hotel.

Hence, from the 2 games, he learns he needs to have 2 plans in life....one plan is how he plans to earn money. The 2nd plan is what he plans to do with the money after he earns it.

Get up, get over it and get going

2 days ago, Ryan Giggs urged his Manchester United team-mates not to beat themselves up over Wednesday night's shock defeat at Wigan.

Each time I find myself envying what successful people have achieved, I recognize that they have probably gone through many negative experiences that I could not see on the surface. I think this from my personal experiences: a lot of failure goes into success.

Today, at 47, I understand the incredible distance I have journeyed because I have turned mistakes into stepping-stones for success. I always got back on my feet, got over it and got going.

CMO

There are a series of ads in the Straits running a contest to rename job titles, offering $50 Starbucks vouchers to the winners every week.

We sales leaders should have a new title...CMO : Chief Motivation Officer

It's a mistake to assume that everyone in our organization is motivated only by money.

The way I see it, the ultimate goal is to achieve business results - the financials are real and measurable - and there is no doubt that aligning people with purpose is the way to do it.

Motivating and inspiring people is an integral part of our business strategy. A motivated team aligned around a common goal will take our business to the next level. And even better - it's fun!


A motivated team = a happy organization
Motivation = energy + productivity + profit