Honest communication build trust

"We definitely got played out and taken for a ride by Donald," Minte said matter of factly in her bbm.

Honest communication build trust. It is not so bad to be lied to. The bigger problem is my loss of ability to believe in you.

Who do you trust more, firemen or real estate agents? Librarians or lawyers? Nurses or sales people? The perception is that firemen and nurses care for others by nature or their jobs. But we wonder if the salesperson really has our best interests in mind. Those who are trusted are candid, transparent and authentic.

Leadership is like exercise

Several old acquaintances commented lately that I have lost weight.

Good leadership is like exercise. We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons. It's only when we compare pictures of ourselves over a period of weeks or months that we can see a stark difference. 

The impact of leadership is best judged over time.

Become the leaders we wish we had

"I can't talk to my ex-boss the way I can talk to you," SW admitted, feeling comfortable enough to share after a year of tenureship.

Every single employee is someone's son/daughter. Parents work to offer their children a good life, a good education. Those parents then hand their children over to a company with the hope the leaders of that company will exercise the same love and care as they have.

This is what it means to be a leader....it's like being a parent...to treat people like family and not mere employees. As leaders, it is our sole responsibility to pristine the care of our people, and in turn, our people will care for each other nd advance the organization together. And in doing so, we become the leaders we wish we had.

Raising ACE

I wished ACE "Happy Birthday" 5 minutes before midnight on 6 May. I was 5 minutes away from missing out the chance to wish him on his birthday. That devastated me!!!

When I was a proud new papa holding my little bundle of joy in my arms 15 years ago, it was difficult to imagine that someday that little package of helplessness could be 1.75m, 55kg who would speak chemistry, philosophy and correct my grammatical errors.

Raising a kid is not an easy trip by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure is fun, exciting and tremendously rewarding.

 

How to measure human character

"Steve behaved very badly. He constantly talks down on the wait staff,"CT reported upon arriving back from Shanghai

I had to admit it, but there was a time in my early life that I, too, persistently leave others feeling demeaned and de-energised.

Now, as I know, the difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful is as good a measure of human character. To me, when a person is persistently warm and civilised toward people who are of unknown or lower status, it means he/she is a decent human being.

Holy Trinity of Health

"I don't do any exercise at all," Ping declared. " But I have made a revolution to start exercising."

To achieve big results, we need big energy. We can only achieve big energy through the Holy Trinity of Health: exercise, nutritious food and sufficient rest. We cannot control the pace of technology but we can help our bodies to weather the storms of change.

Work economically

I'd just completed the 7 habits of highly effective people training last week.

It reinforced into me that maximum productivity is not the same as working continuously or working to exhaustion. It is managing time and resources efficiently. 

As a leader, we must understand the essential, and then be able to focus all our resources on that essence.