Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year 2009

As the economy turning worst next year and the greater demand for competetive skills in the job market, we have little control over this situation. As Stephen R. Covey said, thats not our circle of influence, work on your circle of influence, something we can control and take initiatve for ourselves.

There are more needs in terms of re-evaluate our skills and experiences for challenging year of 2009. Perhaps learn new techniques, new exposure, new methodology and go-back to school would be the choice for next year.

Nevertheless, remember we are able to take control of ourselves, we can do so. Do not wait and worry about things too much. There are more things we can do to overcome the challenge ahead. I will post some great contents beginning of year 2009 for our great benefits.

Taking the opportunities here, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and have a great holiday.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

When times are bad, prepare for good times

I came across this piece of article talk about what to do during bad times and good times. It is an article speaks the truth from a personal experience from an entrepreneur in his industry. There's a lot of learning from this article as it is happening in Singapore our neighboring country.

He has vowed to shave costs rather than jobs. And the man twice voted CEO of the year is putting his money where his mouth is.

Starting next month, Liew Mun Leong will take the deepest pay cut of 20 per cent as president and chief executive officer of property and hospitality giant CapitaLand Group. Last year, he earned S$6.49 million, mostly in bonuses.

The company-wide salary reduction exercise of 3 to 20 per cent will affect mainly management and executives. Non-executives, typically earning below S$2,000, will be spared.
This is the same thing which happened at CapitaLand during the past two recessions in 1997 and 2001, when Liew also implemented a salary freeze and led management in taking a “significant pay cut”. No one was laid off then.


The 62-year-old CEO notes recent retrenchments here and decries them as “morally wrong”. He feels “very sorry” for those asked to go.

“When someone is retrenched, they lose their livelihood, their ability to support family, send children to school, pay their mortgages. There's lots of suffering,” he says. It rekindles memories of how his late father Liew Luen Pong was laid off when the British began pulling out of Singapore in 1963.

The young Mun Leong was then 17 and doing his O levels at Queenstown Technical Secondary. He and his three siblings, his housewife mother and grandmother depended completely on his father, who earned S$100 a month as a lathe machinist for a contracting firm working on the British bases.

Home was a rented room in a terrace house in Serangoon, where seven of them crammed into a single bedroom. After his father got fired, he remembers how worried they all were. “No work, no money,” he sums up grimly.

“I feel it more because I went through this myself. Maybe that's the difference between a CEO who has suffered through this and someone who hasn't. I'm from the proletariat,” he says, not without pride.

For him, salary cuts for the majority are preferable to letting a minority go. “I believe in the theory of common happiness and common misery. In good times, give bonuses. In bad times, take a salary cut. If the cost savings of retrenching 100 out of 1,000 employees can be obtained by a wage cut, you achieve the same objective. It's a better way of maintaining viability, even at the expense of more people. It saves some jobs.”Besides, he believes retrenchments carry an insidious cost — in loyalty dividends. They also erode management's moral standing.

“From our perspective, loyalty between company and staff is a two-way street,” he says. “Unless the company is loyal to its staff, they cannot be loyal to the company. “You cannot treat people as dispensable items — in good times, we want you; in bad times, we don't want you. Our staff are an asset on our balance sheet and we must treat them as such.”

But many are asking: Does all this wage-trimming and cost-shearing apply to still-profitable companies? After all, CapitaLand recently posted a Q3 net profit of S$419.4 million, although that was 25.6 per cent lower than last year. To that, Liew says: “Even if a company is profitable, cost management is important to set discipline. Not just to save money but to drive awareness that we need such discipline.”

The key, he says, is consistency in managing people, with the same rigour that companies manage their balance sheet. That means constantly pruning poor performers and foraging for fresh talent to plant. “During bad times and good times, I still hire and fire. During bad times, I will still hire those who are good. During good times, if you're not doing well, I will still fire you,” he says.

“We manage our people the same way that we manage our balance sheet. If your balance sheet management is weak, in bad times, there's no way to save it. It's bo kiu (a goner in Hokkien).
“The same goes for human resource management. Talent management is about being rigorous but not ruthless. You cannot manage with one style during good times and a different style during bad times. If you are consistent, good and bad times, people will stay with you.”He says he learnt the importance of “disciplined aggression” from the past two financial crises in 1997 and 2001.


When the former civil servant who was trained as a civil engineer took over Pidemco Land in 1996, it was a euphoric time. The Government was urging overseas investment. Other property players were bingeing on land in Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. Tender prices shot sky-high. “We were invited to invest in glamorous projects which everyone was jumping into but we did not commit to any,” he says. He did his sums, ignored taunts of timidity, sat it out and let the fever overtake others.

Then the Asian Financial Crisis came, prices tumbled and he charged in. In 1998, he picked up freehold Furama Hotel in Hong Kong's Central, then a toxic asset nobody wanted to touch, for HK$1.8 billion (S$355 million), half what the owners had paid. In 2001, he took over the derelict Raffles City Shanghai project, “a big hole in the ground” abandoned by DBS Land. Today, the swanky mall is worth twice its investment cost of S$300 million and commands one of the city's stiffest rentals.

Crises, he learnt, are the best time to “build up your relative combat power”, provided you do not get swept away yourself. He arrived at this operating principle: “In good times, prepare for bad times. In bad times, prepare for good times.”He observes: “The property sector is full of powerful personalities with large egos. They are super-charged when they see a good piece of land. They buy the land and hope the bank will lend them money.

“I go the other way. I ask: 'Can we afford it?' People are often surprised at our growth rate. They think we're very aggressive but we're very disciplined with investment criteria, risk assessment, budget allocation.” He still personally scrutinises investment papers, blueprints and design details of housing projects, down to the type of taps used. To conserve liquidity, his standard injunction to employees is: “If you invest S$1, get me S$2. If you want to invest S$1 million, make sure you bring back S$2 million.”

That has been realised. Over the past two years, the group has monetised more than S$9 billion of assets, double the S$4.4 billion it invested over the same period. “This S$2-to-S$1 formula actually worked,” he says, sounding amazed.

In those better times, he was flayed for needlessly selling the family jewels, including Temasek Tower, Hitachi Tower, Chevron House and, before that, the Raffles Hotel. But it pared down CapitaLand's debt-to-equity ratio, making it one of the lowest-geared property companies here just as the credit crunch hit.

Today, some think his nick-of-time divestment was wildly intuitive. But he confides: “In all honesty, I had no premonition the crisis could happen. I just thought it was a good time to raise some cheap money. It was a contrarian thing to do, which needed guts.” As a result, CapitaLand is now sitting relatively pretty with a healthy balance sheet and cash hoard of almost S$4 billion. He fears that many other companies, less disciplined in managing debt in good times, will soon be imperilled.

“I read this article on how you're damned when you're due. When you're due for refinancing, the bank will likely not extend your loan of S$100 million and ask you to find your own money. If you can't get it, you're staring at foreclosure,” he says. “It's become a liquidity game. If you want to borrow money from a bank today, you must have more money than you want to borrow. “A lot of companies have not realised this yet. You need to look at surviving not just 2009 but the next three years — 2009, 2010, 2011 — unless the banking system recovers before that.

During the Great Depression, the banking system was down for 10 years.” The only upside, he says, is that since the global financial system collapsed so fast, it may revive just as quickly. “In the modern world, with the support of information technology, more sophisticated monitoring tools, better trained central bankers making a coordinated effort, things will recover hopefully faster.”

Meanwhile, quoting US economist Paul Romer, he says: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” He does not know when the meltdown will end, but he sure knows what to do with it.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Views in Shanghai from 23rd-28th November 2008

Regal International East-Asia Hotel

Heng Shan Road another view


Heng Shan Road


Another angle from The Bund



Pudong District View from The Bund



The Bund view towards Financial Square






Nanjing Street shops..

Famous Nanjing Street





Another angle of Nanjing Street

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Shanghai Trip 23rd November

I was in Shanghai again!! Seemed albeit awkward feeling after many years back since 2002. Yes it was 6 years back. The last time I visited Shanghai was further internship spending few weeks in Shanghai. I was attached to Microsoft then. The excitement was there those days.

However this time I travel with few other colleagues with mixed feelings. The only difference would be I'm a visitor this time. Nevertheless, it does not matter much. Several staffs I met here in Microsoft GTSC Shanghai was still around. Many others left for seeking greener pasture in other organizations.

I touched down Pudong Airport and it was just like similar size and shape of KLIA. The last time it was in HongQiao airport and similarly compared to our Subang Airport. The overall experience travel from Pudong Airport to Hotel was a bit shocking. We took a van which I believed was privately run and although the cost was reasonable one. The driver was driving recklessly and he almost go against the right path including taking in the bicycle and motorcycle track.

Fortunately we arrived safely and sound at our Hotel, Regal International. Our hotel was located 15 minutes walk to Microsoft office location which at Metro Tower,XuJiaHui District. At the hotel, I was kind of exhausted but perhaps of my nose block since before I depart the day before. Most likely I was having throat infection that resulting my nose uneasiness. The hotel policy required us to block about RMB2500.00 for my 5 night of stay as deposit but refundable. It was strange but since it was meant for other minibar and others spending relevance, I gave in.

The night did not went well as raining started since 4p.m. We originally plan to take a walk for dinner. Unfortunately, we ended having dinner in the hotel. The hotel charges for dinner was quite costly about RMB250.00 per person. In addition, the hotel charge us for internet access at RMB 2.00 per minute. After few minor dissapointing, I think we enjoyed our dinner after all.

I reminded them to sleep early and get up early tomorrow to avoid traffic congestion and others.

To be continue....

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

November 4th, 2008

The upcoming 4th November will be the ultimate turning point for global economies turmoil as well as future Malaysia economy direction. The reason being said after 4th of November, the United States of America will have his new President come January 2009.

With the current global economy crisis, there is a new fresh leader required to steer the current challenges ahead. In addition, much to be discuss currently how either Senator Obama or Senator McCain will take the country ahead. As the largest economy super-power, U.S is clearly looking at ways to overcome current economy recession once the new President announce immediate measure. There is a say, "When America start to sneeze, the other countries will start to catch the cold"

The implication of current policies that lead by Bush administration did not help much either. Therefore, I would say America desperately need a change in the current administration. It seemed that Senator Obama may take the lead vote after trailing in the campaign with Senator McCain. Both are strong leaders in my opinion, but what matter most would be how the next President will take immediate action once step into the Oval office.

Clearly, Senator Obama has a lot of advantages here. He has received numerous support from various people. He worked from the ground-up approach in getting the necessary support. It is a different approach that will soon receive lots of votes, especially from the middle-class people. In addition, he has plenty of experience people surrounding him such as Senator Biden and of course the duo Clinton's which play a major influence in America-know-how.

It would be an interesting chapter and history for America to have their very first black American to become U.S President. The influence will spread across to all other countries within their allies such as UK, Australia and others. The Asian superpowers such as China and India will welcome this change too. I don't see any major difference opinion from Japan, though they are the 2nd largest economy in the world. As a result, I see more benefits rather than disadvantages.

On the sideline, our Deputy Prime Minister Najib recently garnered the most votes to become the next President of UMNO (the largest political party in the country). This ultimately set him a path to become the 6th Prime Minister in coming March 2009. However, it is not an easy task for Najib at all.

He is still being linked to the scandal of assassination of Mongolian women case which received major attention in the country. While still being related to the incident, as a Finance Minister, the revealing RM5Billion borrowed from EPF to be channel through ValueCapital as part of capital injection to the money market did not work well.

He will reveal more economy measures in the parliament today. Although he enjoyed massive support from his party, still many people will need to look at his leadership capability. The ability in announcing measures for us to weather further global economy slides downward will proof himself a comfortable seat in the few years in the administration. Though we still yet receive direct impact due to economy turmoil, we still not be able to isolate ourselves as our economy still open to the market.

Whatever it is, the 4th November announcement of the next U.S President and the package economy measures in our country will be the deciding factor the direction of our ship is sailing towards....



Thursday, October 9, 2008

Economy, Political & Climate Crisis- What do we do?

As we know that the global economies are going down the hill. News from all kinds of channel, CNN, Herald, Economist and many others were reporting it every single day. All kinds of fear, uncertainty and further unknown information will affect us soon. 

The U.S government was worried that the USD700 Billion may only be temporarily measures. A greater disastrous event maybe waiting to, next come 1st quarter of 2009. Fed Chairman Bernanke & Treasury Secretary Paulson were in the midst to bail out as many financial institutions after the AIG rescued. Following-up on that, the Fed Chairman may continue to cut rates from 1.5 until 0.5 before coming Christmas to stabilize the situation. 

In addition, Bush is running out of time to salvage the big mess. On the other hand, all eyes on upcoming November Presidential Election that put both McCain and Obama in tremendous pressure to gain back confidence among Americans. Various debates have been scheduled in coming weeks for both candidates to address the country the most challenging time. At this moment, it is being tipped as Senator Obama will have to inherit the mess from President Bush once he stepped down from the Oval office. 

Slashing more interest rate follow by various negative sentiments, brought down various country stock markets in UK, Germany, France, Italy, Holland, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore as well as Australia. The impact is so great that 1 AUD today equivalent RM2.34 compared 2~3 weeks ago (1AUD=2.84). The UK Pound Sterling fall until RM5.92 at 1 Pound. New Zealand already announced they are in recession. In addition, announcement from Singapore which they will report lesser forecast growth in 2009 at moderate 3%. 

The political crisis in Pakistan & Georgia continued to drive further uncertainty for the people that from the low and middle class income. The world 2nd largest economy, Japan also face the dilemma after resignation of their leaders Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda. The next Premier of Japan will face tougher hurdle as well. 

China is currently facing the largest milk powder scandal ever in the history causing more than 40,000 children hospitalized due to excessive contained of melamine that resulted in many babies died from kidney failure. The Leaders in Beijing already ordered the company to be close for further investigations. Legal actions have been taken on the CEO of the company that claimed to sell more than 3/4 of milk powder consumers in China. Districts and Provinces Chief Health Officer are being terminated simultaneously. More products from China, especially food are being investigated thoroughly from time to time. 

Thailand is facing turmoil of Leadership where a military coup has been declared after several died due to bom-attack in Bangkok. Many protested in the street to ask the Prime Minister, Somchai to step down before another violence incident occurred. 

Back home in Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdullah, decided and announced to hand-over his Presidency of UMNO and Premier to his successor and deputy Najib by coming March 2009. It is expected we will have a little direction on what will the country heading. Due to the global economy crisis, Malaysia still not able to escape much as high oil price, commodities, interest rate is causing further hardship for low and middle class income. The inflation rate is all time high at 8% and probably will further increase until 10%. The only question would be how Najib will do weather the current situation after taking over a Finance Minister portfolio. 

A global weather climate is getting more unpredictable as the sea water keep rising every single day from the Antarctica. We have received many weather reports that show more iceberg is going to melt this year compare to last year. Hurricane and storm will not only happen on Mexico Gulf but also Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China is getting very frequent. Temperature in summer increases rapidly and causing many dry seasons than expected. It happened in Australia where their government imposed conserving more water rule. 

It is all this challenging items that we are facing now and few years later will stay. The impact causing further hardship in our life, work and relationship. Things will change from time to time, and it won't stay still, maybe several big companies earning and growth. More importantly we need to continue develop our self both mind-set, tool-set and skill-set. 

So vital that if we keep doing what we are doing things now will not work as we expected. Being agile and flexible are the keys to stay competitive for ourselves. Acquiring new skills, knowledge and experiences are some of the areas we could do in order to stay marketable to weather current challenging time. Coaching, I consider one of the methods could help us to restore, resolve, clearing doubt, actualize and unleash our new talent and potential. As a result, much it could help us to stay on top of everything without fear or anxiety. 

Well, what are you waiting for? get coached or learn to be a coach, you will never know it would turn out a new and remarkable journey for each of us.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Well-Formed Outcome: The Pattern

I have mentioned on the previous posting that I will continue to add-on the pattern. The pattern will be guideline to serve us better in terms of development.

1. State the outcome in positive terms

  • Where are you now? (Present State)
  • Where do you want to be? (Desired State)
  • What do you want in that desired state?
  • What do you want to positively achieve or experience?
  • What are you going toward?

2. Specify the outcome in sensory based terms

  • What will you see, hear, feel, etc, when you have it?
  • What steps or stages are involved in reaching this outcome?
  • Have you used all of your senses in this description?

3. Identify the Contexts of this desired outcome

  • Where, when, how, with whom, etc. will you get this outcome?
  • In what context or contexts is this outcome appropriate?
  • What are the most fitting and appropriate contexts for this outcome?

4. Identify the steps and stages involved in reaching this outcome

  • What are the steps involved in reaching this goal?
  • What are the stages involved?
  • Is this goal chunk down into small enough bits so that you feel that each piece is do-able?
  • Does the size of this outcome seem overwhelming  to you at all?

5. Self-initiated and maintained

  • Is the outcome something that you can initiate yourself and maintain?
  • Do you have it within your power and ability to reach this goal?
  • Is it within your control?
  • Can you initiate the actions to get started?
  • Can you maintain those actions or is it dependant upon what someone else needs to do?

6. Identify the resources you will need to achieve this outcome

  • What resources will you need in order to get this outcome?
  • Who will you have to become?
  • Who else has achieved this outcome?
  • Have you ever had or done this before?
  • Do you know anyone who has?
  • What prevents you from moving toward it and attaining it now?

7. Evidence Procedure

  • How will you know that your outcome has been realized?
  • What will let you know that you have attained that desired state?
  • How do you know when to get out?
  • When exactly you will be there?
  • When will you feel satisfied>

8. Make sure the outcome is compelling and motivating

  • Is the outcome compelling?
  • Does it pull on you?
  • Will it get you up out of bed in the morning?
  • How much do you want this?
  • How much do you feel this as compelling from 0 to 10 if 10 is absolute?
  • How much do you need this to feel motivating?
  • What would make this really sparkle?

9. Quality Control the Outcome to ensure is balanced and ecological

  • Is this desired outcome ecological?
  • What will you gain through it?
  • What will you lose?
  • Is it achievable?
  • Does it respect your health, relationships, etc?
  • Are there any parts of you that object to actualizing the outcome results?

10. Put the outcome on your time-line in your future and try it on

As you have come this far... allowing yourself to imagine a time and place in your future when this will become real to you....by naturally moving towards there.....in your mind....and be there....fully experiencing it...fully embrace it.... and enjoying it....every single piece of moment....that's right, and as you do notice that it's like when you reach this goal...this achievement....Notice how it feels, what things would look like, sound like...what your world like now, how are you moving through it....and enjoy this....allowing yourself to see for yourself....checking it out on the inside to see if this is what you want.....and being aware of how you might want to edit....amend it....modify it and make sure that it really fits.....

In coaching usually coachee are being asked on the outcome. Without an outcome, we have no agenda or frame to coach to and so are doomed to merely having a nice chat! To create a true coaching session, we have to get an outcome statement from the client.

Enjoy all the steps of the pattern stated. If you need me to walk with you on this for a free session, you can comment on this post or send me an email that published in this blog. I'm more happier to welcome you with my open heart and mind in order get you achieve want you really want ultimately.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Well-Formed Outcome

I have not been doing blogging for a while as busy designing and deliver a program that meant something for my client. I wanted to write about coaching related topics and knowing I have been stayed out for quite a while this is an opportunity. I will start off with a title as mentioned above. What is Well-Formed Outcome by the way? It sounded like a jargon that came from some where from no where. 

It is the most simplified and easy process of getting from where you are now to some where you want to go. To proceed with well-formed outcome, both coaches and coachee will gauge the distance and differences between present situation and state to desired one.

Where do we want to go?

How can we get there?

What stop us?

What's in our way?

Some of these questions will guide a clear picture in moving away from aversions and toward desired outcomes. This pattern or model uses the key the key components for effectively creating  and reaching a desired outcome. It is all about visioning the outcome. It also allows us to do several important things:

  • By it we hand over responsibility to the client for his or her own plans and life.
  • We set up milestones to measure and confirm progress
  • We set up a directional frame for coaching activities.
  • We set up a process that gives us and the client a leverage for change.

Of course besides doing what mentioned above, we need to identify criteria that defined for a well-formed outcome.

1. Stated and represented Positively- State what you want not as what you do not want. Represent what you will be doing and thinking. Create a movie in your mind of life beyond or after the challenge or problem.

2. Sensory based- Based terms in hearing and now so that your internal movie will be close and immediate. Benchmark the specifics in see-feel-hear actions and behaviors.

3. Contextualized- Describe the contexts of the outcome, when, where, with whom, how often etc.

4. Actions steps and stages- Represent the outcome in terms of processes, the specific steps and stages and behaviors which will

5. Self initiated and maintained- Described the processes and behaviours that within your own control, that you can initiate and maintain.

6. Resources specified- Describe the resources you will need to achieve your outcome, how will you do this?

7. Evidence Procedure- Identify an evidence procedure that will let you know when you have achieved your outcome.

8. Compelling- Describe the outcome in language that you find compelling and motivating. Use the client's actual words and language.

9. Ecologically balanced- Describe your outcome in a way that you recognize as balanced and ecological for all the contexts and relationships of your life.

10. Forecasted in a time frame- Locate on your time line.

I will continue to elaborate further on The Pattern of Well-Formed Outcome in my next posting.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Coconut Water & Viral Fever

I was down with viral fever which originated from my throat infections. I had this long history problem of throat infections but always thought using western medicine to suppress it. Infact, it got me nowhere better than it supposed to be. The viral outbreak recent also could be due to chikungunya that similar like dengue which started from high fever or fever on/off symptom.

After spending 2 days at home with little results, I return to work in a still little under the weather feeling. At this point of time, I realized I could not stick on to anti-biotic and paracetamol to keep the fever in control. I remember about some articles about chikungunya outbreak and began to search some of the information. Finally, I found the solution that worth RM2.50 ( USD 0.75). Yes, compares to the medical bill I visited in private health care worth more than 30 times of RM2.50. It is to consume coconut water. I bought 3 and drank one of them. As a result, I awake the very next morning as a brand NEW of me. I could not believe it. I only thought it works when I was infected chicken pox but never came across in my mind about such as viral fever.

There are benefits about coconut water as the matter of fact which amazingly open-up my eyes. During 1941- 1945 in the Pacific War, both conflicting parties regularly siphoned coconut water directly from the nut to give emergency plasma transfusions to injured soldiers.

Coconut water now joins the pantry's medicine cabinet. Coconuts are anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-microbial. The lauric acid in coconuts is also used to heal digestive tract disorders such as Leaky Gut Syndrome. According to ayurvedic belief, coconut is carminative: meaning that it helps to prevent intestinal gas, aids in removing toxins and increases the digestive tract's ability to absorb nutrients. Coconut balances acid levels and flushes toxins out. Ayurvedic considers coconut a natural stress-buster.

The calming, cooling benefits of coconut water relieves burning sensations and hot flushes and "restores emotional stability in menopausal women". Keeping the body cool and its proper temperature (directly after consumption you might notice this). This property of coconut water also makes it an excellent choice for liver problems, hepatitis or inflammation. Since it regulates the functioning of the intestine, the coconut water propitiates to the user a smoother and pretty skin. Coconut water can also be used directly on the face, for skin hydration. Coconut water has been used for re-hydration and as a health and beauty aide in tropical regions around the world for centuries.

More Coconut Water Health Benefits at a Glance:
  • Low in Carbohydrates
  • 99% Fat Free - Contains No Cholesterol
  • Low in natural occurring sugar
  • Contains organic compounds possessing growth promoting properties
  • Cures Malnourishment
  • Effective in the treatment of kidney and urethral Stones
  • Natural drink for feeding infants suffering from intestinal disturbances
  • Excellent oral re-hydration medium, an all natural isotonic for all ages
  • Re-hydrate naturally, free of added sugars or chemicals
  • More hydrating to the body then water
  • Lower arterial pressure
  • Relieve spasms and stomach pain
  • Ease burns
  • Natural diuretic
  • Presence of saline and albumen makes it an excellent drink in cholera cases
  • Maintains the human body's natural fluid levels
  • Can be injected intravenously in emergency cases
  • Helps in carrying nutrients and oxygen to cells
  • Eliminate swelling in hands and feet
  • Normalize the intestinal function and raise metabolism
  • Heal damage induced by antibiotics and toxins in the digestive tract
  • Boost poor blood circulation

Coconut Water is said to be more Nutritious than whole milk because it does contain less fat and no cholesterol. Moreover, healthier than orange juice containing much lower calories. It contains lauric acid which is present in human mother's milk making it a better alternative to process baby milk. When coconut water is exposed to air, the liquid rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, and begins to ferment. Therefore, it is best consumed as soon as you open the young coconut.

A young coconut has different properties than a mature coconut and has not fully reached its maturity. Young coconut meat is softer and more like gelatin and contains approximately 1-2 cups of coconut water (not to be confused with coconut milk) in each young coconut.
Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks. Even more than a banana! It has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200 mg.Coconut water has been 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars.Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg, in comparison to sports drinks at about 39mg. (Note-Data is based on a 100ml drink)


It is a delicious refreshing and most importantly healthy alternative to popular electrolyte energy sports drinks found today in supermarkets. It's high in electrolytes and potassium with fewer calories and no artificial additives. 8 oz of Gatorade has 63 calories while the same serving of coconut water has just 46 calories.

Well, as much as I could share about coconut water benefits, I recommend to those for prevention purpose and down with viral fever.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Paradoxical about Experiences



I read an article from Linkage Inc. by Morgan W. McCall, Jr lately about experiences and individual development planning. It begins more or less by quoting School of Hard Knocks teaches lessons learned only 'in the trenches" which there was no substitute. It is being said that experience, the best teacher yet years of experience do no predict expert performance or executive effectiveness. Professor McCall highlighted this article is to take stock of where we are today in our knowledge of the role of experience in developing leadership talent and to suggest where we might go next in our quest for wisdom.

Tons of questions appear in our mind such as "What puts the fire in experience or makes an assignment challenging?" "What specific lessons are learned from playing with fire?" Who are the ones with the most potential? How do you spot them? How do you make sure the talent get the experiences they need? How do you prevent them from coming out half-baked, mildly singled or burned-out? Is variety more important than repeated trials? How much does the timing matter? From the questions that fire out, it is very much acknowledging effective leaders have been different in terms of personalities and behave in different ways, and they can be equally effective if they are able to meet the demands of their environments.
It is essential and critical that organizations do what they supposed to create a context supportive of developing leadership talent.


Five Leverage Points to Create context that supports learning from Experience.

Point 1: Identifying Developmental Experiences
Gather people who know the organization and have them identify developmental projects, start-ups, turnarounds, bosses, etc. It is much straightforward these activities as part of the development can be further enhanced with further changing one nature of job. The benefits a pool of potent experiences is demonstrably loaded with potential learning, not all of the lessons are equally valuable to the organization. It's tougher to have everyone to have all the of the available experiences. From there, we would be able to address problems on looking for experience staffs. In the long term, it takes into account of the potential to learn from the experiences and become hopefully the leader in one day.

Point 2: Identification of Potential
The model that we used today often distracted researchers and practitioners from developing practical, realistic and sophisticated approaches to understand leadership. It has become too destructive when it comes to identifying leadership potential. Apparently, all leaders, executives and managers denied on value of everyday experience. The useful approach would be assuming that different people have different sets of attributes that they bring to situations and there are different ways to manage the same situation effectively. Over time, one would expect that the potential of individuals could be assessed via in the progress of ability to meet the challenges as leadership jobs on learning from experiences. Organizations could seize the opportunity by managing the identification of leadership potential such that those with most potential at a given point in time have access to the experiences they wanted.

Point 3: The Right Experience at the Right Time
Assuming a reasonable pool of high potential talent and a rich selection of strategically relevant developmental opportunities, it would seem we've found pig heaven. However, most organizations need to view results and that given the opportunities without appropriate experiences does not yield short-term results. The simplest way is to send someone to a program than to offer up a talented person for an assignment in a different part of the organization or risking sacrificing results if a developmental candidate selected.

Point 4: Increasing the odds that learning will occur.
If we are intent on throwing people into fires-even the right people into the right fires at the right time-then it behooves us to do what we can to insure that they learn what we threw them in there to learn. We have plenty of tools to measure and help managers to learn. Just name it 360-degree feedback instruments, internal/external coaches, educational programs of shape and size, books with full of development advice, motivational speakers and many more others. No doubt each mechanism introduced can be extremely powerful. The issue is with all these resources available still so many managers manage to maintain mediocrity. Bottom lines, bosses are so important to development and so few are very good at it- it requires significant wisdom to assist to unleash their potential. Sometimes, we figured, perhaps boss who needs the coaching more than the person being developed! That translates at a minimum a person who wants to develop needs the information tools and opportunities to do so.

Point 5: A Career-long Perspective and a Focus on Transitions
Most organizations often position time and resources are always limited and development of talent as important as it is not the first priority. They often think business profits and revenue would be the main focus, but they forgot if there are no experience, capable and talented candidates the results will stays stagnant. Often most people suggested allocating all resources in one place with the greatest potential impact would be any business strategic choice. It is about our careers and being present at key transitions, connecting what we know about effectively using experience for development with the individuals. Size of an organization would differ in terms of workforce, making a focus on individuals challenging as the number of employees grows larger but more or less knowing what need to be recorded would be critical.


In conclusion, taking leadership development seriously means using experience wisely to help those with sufficient dedication and desire to learn the craft, obviously not a simple task.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Journey of Life Together

It is about a story that could be very inspiring for individuals like you and me. Whatmore as a Father of myself, tears will start running as I watch the clip. A Story about Dick & Rick....

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.




Friday, August 8, 2008

080808 @ 8 p.m


I find the above date and time very auspicious. As the Chinese believed, it is going to be a day meant all for great things to come. I guess this date has been the moment of all people waiting for.....

The whole world is talking about subprime mortgage crisis, the debt that the entire U.S folks facingFed Chairman movement on the possibility slashing interest rate, Freddie & Fannie on facing uphill tasks bailing out the actual figure of non-performing loan, the presidential elections coming November, oil price movement affecting the NYSE/ Nasdaq will not be over and shall be continuing even after next year.

Locally, we are having political and economy turmoil. The ruling government currently is getting weaker each day by day. The Prime Minister in fact has no idea how to overcome the political issue and what more the economy condition that reflect high inflation and high oil price.Opposition is seizing the opportunity to reject the present government in hoping to take over the office by September 16th. In addition, the opposition well known figure which dubbed the prime-minister in waiting facing the second time of sodomy charges. Not too sure is political conspiracy but one thing for sure, too much drama about it and forgot to look at the whole picture about our country development which in stand-still.

For whatever reasons, even with the issue and conflict raised in Tibet which cause The Dalai Lama criticize the Chinese Government, there has to be something to overcome the actual needs for the Tibetan. All they want is some form of freedom or autonomy which I find realistic as one the place very rich in spiritual culture. Seeing The Dalai Lama posting in on his website about promoting the biggest event held in Beijing today proof things can be further negotiate and compromise. Furthermore, the Chinese government has just settled down their hefty effort in recent earthquake rescue and recovering at Szechuan Province, still indeed they have done a remarkable job.

Seeing from the perspective of all these issues, I rather change the title this post as "Our Iceberg is Melting". Well, the whole world has changed and indeed one of the changes would be best reflecting as "Our Iceberg is Melting". Nevertheless, I rather discuss separately on the topic in another posting with further information in "A sense of urgency" soon. Leaving all the differences and contradictions aside and at this point of time focus on peace, unity and harmony. Yes let's divert the attention to the land of "Great Wall of China" tonight.

In the meantime, as an Asian ethnic living in Asia regions, I still feel proud and am exciting to welcome the very first Olympic that will kick-start in Beijing tonight at 8 p.m. So sit tight, relax and enjoy the opening ceremony celebration with full of colorful events arranged. I felt 8th August 2008 is just right to have the Olympics after all.




Wednesday, August 6, 2008

My Daughter, Yee-Shuen 1 Year Old

She finally decided to go for Pen, Pen means potential being a scholar, luckily her or unluckily me.

Still being too shy to choose....or can't figure out which one suits her....

So many commentators asking her to choose, still can't decide huh....

Let the game begin....an opportunity to determine your own destiny...do your best sweetie...

Of course you're excited today, your birthday sweetie, lot's of Uncles and Aunts around, what a crowded day, don't you think so? Anyway you don't really care rite?

Monday, August 4, 2008

Our Iceberg is Melting

I was recommended by my wife on such a subject as mentioned above over an email invitation in a seminar sometime ago. I did not pay too much attention how impacted of such a topic to us in our life. Being a curiosity person, I succumbed to this book as one of the latest change capability materials that ever written.

This is one of hottest book written by John Kotter about change management by illustrating penguin as the object in facing change. I have customized some slide from slideshare courtesy forwarded by one of our fellow blog friend John Spence about such a link. I then decided to present this topic from the book via slide as below: Happy Reading!


Friday, August 1, 2008

Staying Competitive during economy downturn


I have came across many people asking me in surviving the turbulences of economy challenges particularly to some business owners feeling hopelessly about it. I asked questions to lift them up as a coach, giving them some ideas and making their brain run wild for a moment. I told them there is no silver bullet out there except for lots of hardwork and determination. Then I accidentally read through one of the articles by John Spence, a well known consultant to some of the Fortune 500 companies. He stated 6 key strategies for success even if the economy downturn is expected.

After reading through, I felt it is an excellent piece of article to tell some of my business owner friends about it. I believed the advice highlighted is refreshing but practical and something do-able. The best part of it, most of the key strategies relevant for an organization stay competitive no matter what circumstances it be. Here goes he mentioned:

1. Measure key drivers relentlessly: when times are uncertain and the pressure is on, you need to become a fanatic for watching your critical factors very carefully. Cash flow, accounts receivable/payable, margins, inventory, G&A, vendor relationships, strategic partnerships, employee performance… whatever the most important drivers of business health are in your organization, need to be watched by the entire management team - all the time - and managed to the penny. I am not saying slash budgets, only that you need to watch them closely and make prudent business decisions based on real numbers and facts not fear or guessing. Those who panic will perish, those who are prepared and disciplined will thrive.

2. Create a solid “Survival Plan”: I had the pleasure of attending a talk by a top economist this past weekend and his professional forecast… for the foreseeable future (10-14 months) things are going to be really tough. His prediction was a growing recovery start in about Q3 of 09. That means for the next year or so it is NOT going to be business as usual and your “normal” business plan will likely not be adequate to get you through these turbulent times successfully. You and your management team need to sit down and create a strong and realistic strategy, based on the hard truth and solid evidence, for how you will position your company to come out of this recession (or near miss) on your feet. You will probably need to make some very difficult decisions and might have to take some drastic actions, the sooner you realize, admit and act on this, the better chance you will have of being one of the survivors.

3 Own the Voice of the Customer (VOC): your customers are what drive your business success - period. I cannot stress strongly enough how incredibly important it is to build strong, trusting partnerships with your customers and listen, listen, listen to them. Your customers will tell you and your team everything you need to know about how to survive and thrive if you will simply ask good questions and listen. Robust, open and honest communications with your customers is absolutely essential. Talk to them, survey them, take a top customer to lunch every week and make sure they are very happy with your products and services - and if not, why (then fix it immediately!). Your customers are the key to your future - they pay ALL of your bills - they should be the center of your universe.

4. Be “Professionally Aggressive”: Also on the subject of customers - you simply cannot sit and wait for them to come to you. You and your team MUST have a high sense of urgency in meeting customers where they are. This means refining and refocusing your marketing efforts (not cutting them out!). This means looking for new ways to add value and increase your appeal. This means delivering the highest quality product possible, with consistently superior customer experiences, following up superbly and then asking for referrals. Customers today have higher expectations then every before. They demand quality + value (not lowest price) + excellent personalized service…and they want it right now! This is incredibly hard to deliver - but for those who can, you will be a winner in this down market and dominate when the market recovers.

5. Top Talent: a close second in importance to customers are your employees. Without loyal, motivated and highly skilled employees - you have no way to keep your customers delighted. It must be the goal of the entire management team to foster the best possible working environment in your organization so that you can attract, keep and grow top talent. I am not talking about paying people more, hosting pizza parties every day or installing rock climbing walls - I am talking about making your organization a truly great place to work. Here is a solid law of business: Happy Employees = Happy Customers and Happy Customers = Business Success. Now I know this sounds simplistic, but I can overwhelm you with hundreds of research studies and mountains of data that clearly show a direct link between employee satisfaction and increased profitability. If you devote a lot of time and attention to getting the best possible people you can on your team - then work very, very hard to keep them happy, motivated and excited - they will make it a successful enterprise. Hammer them constantly, pressure them, threaten them, stress them… and all of the good ones will eventually leave - and ONLY the ones who cannot get a job someplace else will stay!!!

6. Disciplined Execution: all of the great ideas in the world are useless… if you do not effectively implement them. The goal is to build a highly agile organization, with a performance-oriented culture, that is focused on only a handful of Key Result Areas. Kill all bureaucracy! Refuse to tolerate mediocrity in any form. Be ruthless in eliminating any waste of time, money or effort. Cancel any meeting that does not deliver significant value - so that your talented people instead spend that time on doing important work, motivating employees and building strong relationship with customers. The two most valuable things you have are how you use the “Time and Attention” of your top people, so everyone on your management team needs to develop a total disdain for wasting even a single minute of time on non value-added activities.


The key strategies then summarized at below:-

1.A sharply focused, clearly communicated and well-understood strategy for growth.
2.Flawless operational execution that consistently delivers the value proposition.
3.A performance-oriented culture that does not tolerate mediocrity.
4.A fast, flexible, flat organization that reduces bureaucracy and simplifies work.
5.Talent = find and keep the best people.
6.Key leaders show commitment and enthusiasm for the business.
7.Embrace strategic innovation.
8.Master the power of partnerships - with customers, vendors, strategic alliances and employees.

To all my business owner friends out there. It is time to kick some ass and work on it.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Brain Drain Problem

It is an extremely important topic to discuss about for today posting. As we know our country economy and political turmoil, there is a hidden issue that will become a major challenge in our country. Yes Brain Drain issue! I have been hearing from all people that I knew wanted to migrate or seeking to transfer, desperately.

I asked why? Most of them said to me, they can't see the future to stay longer in Malaysia. It is very disheartening to hear such a remark from a truly Malaysian. A country should be working towards vision 2020 with great economy and political stability, Malaysia apparently not heading the right path.

According to one article by Datuk Dr. Toh Kin Woon, president of International-elected (ARTDO) Asian Regional Training and Development Organization, many talented workers are going overseas to work rather than seeking greener pasture locally. At a press conference after announcing an upcoming Penang Productivity Lecture 2008 to be held on August 8th, Dr. Toh mentioned the country is well aware of such a problem and there is uphill task to train more skilled, knowledge-based workers.

We all know on the other hand, quality of our education, especially tertiary level, universities could not be improved much. Reason being very little autonomy was given to universities chief in allowing more freedom and room to improve the creativity and competitiveness on each graduates. Politics and bureaucracies are the main culprit. Clearly, from what he said, a change required in the quality of the universities in order unleash the graduates highest potential.

The whole country apparently experiencing shortage of knowledge-based and skilled workers. If the issue not being addressed quickly we may need to "import" higher wages foreign workers in fixing it. Most talented, skilled and experienced workers prefer to work outside of country which provide more opportunities and higher wages, example Singapore. The numbers of this brain drain are increasing every year and it could be very alarming to the nation.

There are many foreign companies wanted to establish research and development facilities in our country and preferably highly capable, skilled with post graduates qualifications. If they do not find any of them here, do you think they would pursue their ideas?

On the other hand, we will end up most jobs will be offered to foreigners like Thais, Indonesian, Filipinos and many more. Malaysia will be run by these peoples one fine day.

It is going to be huge impact to our economy in medium to long term. What would the government do now?

Monday, July 28, 2008

What is Coaching actually


Courtesy from: Dr. L.Michael Hall
While coaching is conversation, coaching is not warm and fuzzy chat. Nor is it teaching, training, or advice giving. It is not being an expert in a domain-specific content. Coaching is about facilitating through questioning, giving feedback, and operating as an expert in process or structure about how we run our own brains for more effective performances. Coaching is distinct from the following professional fields. It is not consulting, mentoring, counseling or therapy, training or even a hypnosis session. If it is clearly falling into these categories, what is it?

Training
As a skill-based process the skill of training is that of teaching, educating and drilling a person through a process where he or she is enabled to perform the new skills.


Mentoring
Mentoring as a process of focusing on a particular skill, knowledge, or experience, the skill involves giving advice, guidance, and sharing one's own personal story. In mentoring, there is an unequal relationship, senior mentor passing on specific information to a younger and less experienced person.


Therapy/Counseling
Therapy focuses on problems, their sources, the symptoms that result from those problems, how people are broken and dysfunctional, diagnosis of such disorders. The skill of therapy is that of healing hurts, re-parenting, and bringing resolution to personal pain.

Consulting

Consulting involves the skill of giving advice and using one's own expertise in a given field to inform a client what to do. While consulting can be facilitative, it also involved procedures and expert knowledge and skills.

Hypnosis

Seemed like a dangerous tool. Using gestures, words, and tones hypnotically enables us to induce a person into a hypnotic state for accessing new resources. Hypno-therapy for health, psychology and self-development involves the skill of speaking and communicating to induce trances.

The Coaching Dance

The distinctions between these professional modalities does not mean that a coach never engages in them nor does it completely eliminate these functions. There is a plce for consulting, training, mentoring, counseling, doing therapy, hypnosis and etc. The critical point is knowing when and how to step in and out of the coaching role.


When to Consult
In coaching, we first consult to develop a coaching contract with clients. We do not start coaching from the beginning of our contact with a new client or potential client. Prior to coaching, we consult with people showing the benefits and values of coaching. We engage in an explorative needs analysis and then make suggestions and may even begin the process of helping the client develop a well-formed outcome about being coached.


When to Train
We use training and mentoring when a client lacks the necessary models, knowledge, and skills. Shifting to these functions enable us to provide the models and skills and then to shift back to coaching them.


When to Counsel or Perform Therapy
It will be when is the boundary? Is it merely when a client feels sad or down? Is it when a client remembers something from the past? Is it when we address a problem? The answers to these questions are not simple.Therapy and counseling usually focuses on and addresses therapeutic issues of thought-emotion which undermines a client's ability to be in the moment, assume responsibility, an operate from a position of power and optimism (ego-strength)

With coaching, memories and emotions will emerge, new experiences arise and sometimes a client will become unresourceful in a way that is best dealt with by shifting from coaching to counseling. Without some form of criteria for where to create a boundary between these, this can seriously challenge a coach.Where and how we draw a line? The following criteria may give some good pointer: 1) There is the need to heal past hurts and traumas, 2) The client needs to increase ego-strength first in order to face what is, 3) The client needs to own his or her own person and to completely step out of any vestiges of a victim mentality, 4) The client needs to be reparented and so is highly susceptible to transference and counter-transference issues.

The Style of Coaching Dance
As a way of interacting with people, coaching is a collaborative relationship designed to facilitate higher level performance.
Personal and relational: It's a collaborative relationship that involves a working alliance that aims to empower the client.
Facilitative and supportive: The coach supports and facilitates top-notch behaviors in service of a desired outcome.
Solution and goal-oriented: It aims at developing the client's skills and finding better solutions to things. It is not remedial or therapeutic.


I shall share more information on my next posting coaching perspective in Meta Level namely Meta-Coaching.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Who is She by the way..


Let me share with you in today posting about someone and she be revealed in the end of this posting for our learning purpose.

She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to unmarried parents. She later explained that her conception was due to a single sexual encounter that her two teenaged parents had; they quickly broke up not long after. Her parents were unmarried teenagers. Her mother, Vernita Lee, was a housemaid, and her father, Vernon , was a coal miner and later worked as a barber before becoming a city councilman. Her father was in the Armed Forces when she was born.

After her birth, her mother traveled north and she spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee who was so poor that she often wore dresses made of potato sacks, causing the local children to make fun of her. On the other hand, it was her grandmother who taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When she was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way.

At age six, she moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, due in large part to the long hours Vernita Lee worked as a maid. She has stated that she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, when sexual abuse was being discussed.

Despite her dysfunctional home life, she skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend
Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin. Although she was very popular, she could not afford to go out on the town as frequently as her better-off classmates. Like many teenagers at the end of the 1960s, she rebelled, ran away from home and to the streets. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but the baby died shortly after birth. Also at that age, her frustrated mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. She became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation.

She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. At age 18, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college. That she chose a career in media did not surprise her grandmother, who once said that ever since she could talk, she was on stage. As a child she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property. She later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself."

Working in local media, she was both the youngest
news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars there as well.


She then was called "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by
CNN and Time.com,"arguably the most influential woman in the world" by the American Spectator,"one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century" and "one of the most influential people" of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 by Time. She is the only person in the world to have made all five lists.

At the end of the 20th century
Life listed her as both the most influential woman and the most influential black person of her generation, and in a cover story profile the magazine called her "America's most powerful woman".Ladies Home Journal also ranked her number one in their list of the most powerful women in America and senator Barack Obama has said she "may be the most influential woman in the country". In 1998 she became the first woman and first Black to top Entertainment Weekly's list of the 101 most powerful people in the entertainment industry. In 2003 she amazingly edged out both Superman and Elvis Presley to be named the greatest pop culture icon of all time by VH1. Forbes named her the world's most powerful celebrity in 2005, 2007 and 2008 Columnist Maureen Dowd seems to agree with such assessments:

Her influence reaches far beyond pop-culture and into unrelated industries where many believe she has the power to cause enormous market swings and radical price changes with a single comment. In 2005 she was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of
The Greatest American. She was ranked #9 overall on the list of greatest Americans.

Her reach extends far beyond the shores of the U.S., where 49 million U.S. viewers see her talk show weekly. The show airs in 117 countries around the world “from Australia to Zimbabwe”

Indeed an amazing snippet about her biography. Her success was phenomena. Who is she actually? She is the most well known women in this decade, Oprah Winfrey.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Career Talk- Snippets


In this posting, I will discuss about career in a little broader scale. There are 2 snippets I would like to share with you about what I found today. Interestingly, both snippets/articles related to career for individuals. Firstly, I would like to share about survey results I read from Kelly Services International that stated:

Many Malaysians regret career choices

There have been concerns about Malaysian on their education and regretted the career choices made. The survey widely conducted by one of the most known recruitment firm Kelly Services. The survey outcome revealed that almost two-thirds (66%) of the respondents said, if given an opportunity, they would have study something totally different after leaving school, while one in eight said they choose the wrong career.

The career survey findings indicated a high level of concern about career choice and direction. It was mentioned, many people in the workforce do not believe their education properly prepared them for working life and quite few have regrets about the direction that their job has taken them. The global survey sought views of 115,000 people in 33 countries including more than 2000 Malaysians.

Malaysia ranked 20th jointly with UK in quality of the Malaysia education system. It was stated the merely 45% satisfaction rate which slightly lower than the global average 49%. The highest level support for school education countries came from India with 69% saying it prepared them well in working life. The survey also further discloses, regrettably someone who discovers that they are in wrong career turn out not as productive as they could be. According to Kelly Services, it is important that people do not react or set up false expectations in evaluating their study and career choices.

In conclusion, it has become a norm that most employees to have several changes in the course of their career life. So for those still who still dissatisfied with their career to do something positive about it.

Quite a useful piece of news to tell us our education system was not aligned in developing our nation to realize their potential and talent. Having said that, I would like to recommend another article in MSN website about:

LayOff Proof by Joe Turner

While on the job, do you feel the hot breath of an economic downturn blowing down your neck? With all the turmoil in the economy, it's easy to get fixated on doom and gloom, but you don't need to panic. Here are five steps to help increase your "employee value" and avoid that pink slip:

1. Make money or save money?
The private sector economy has become extremely bottom-line oriented. Employers categorize employees into one of two distinct groups:
1. Those who help make money
2. Those who help save money

Which one are you?

Even if you feel far removed from the corporate bottom line, start thinking of yourself as a mini profit-and-loss center rather than just an employee.

For example, an administrative assistant handling incoming client phone calls helps to create a solid bond with those clients and strengthens the sales link with the company. In that way, she helps to make money for the company. This same individual is also skilled at answering questions that would normally be directed to her boss or other employees. She saves time and, therefore, saves money for her company.

Collect specific examples of the benefits that your company gains from your work and the specific or unique way that you accomplish your duties. Write these down and use them as selling points during your next performance review.

2. Become indispensable
Don't hide away in your office or cubicle. Look around you. Take notice of those roles, projects or activities that seem to be getting a higher level of attention or involvement from management. If you're not already a part of a critical project, then find ways to become more involved in these activities. Ask to be transferred to a critical area. Otherwise, volunteer for extra duties to support these activities. You'll be viewed as an employee who goes the extra mile while inoculating yourself against expendability when the pink slips get handed out.

3. Better to manage or produce?
When considered for a promotion from a production job to a junior manager role, think about how that could play out in a worsening economy. It may be to your advantage to keep your hand in production, as junior managers tend to be among the most expendable when a company downsizes.

4. Dust off your Rolodex
The time to cultivate your network is now, not when you need a favor. Make a list of friends and colleagues you haven't spoken with for a while. E-mail them or, if your relationship is deeper, invite them for coffee or lunch. Reconnect with a few people every month until you update your whole list and weed out irrelevant contacts. Use this opportunity to get reacquainted with contacts and catch up on events in your industry and market. Don't forget to share what you know as well.


5. Educate yourself
Increase your "profit value" to your employer by continually updating your knowledge and skills. Ask your immediate supervisor or HR department about continuing education opportunities. Some companies offer tuition reimbursements.

Another resource is the local chapter of your professional association, which often provides continuing education to members. Professional associations are also valuable sources of current information on your industry.

Update your résumé
While this won't really help keep your current job, if all else fails and you find yourself looking for a new job, it's a good idea to rewrite your résumé before you need it. When you create that new résumé, sell your next employer on how you've been an asset to your current employer. Give examples of how you've helped to either make money or save money for your previous employers. Focus on the benefits you can offer your next employer


In summaries, continuing building competitiveness for ourselves is what the article mentioned. We tend to forget that by staying in a job and hopping to another will gain us. As the matter of fact, with economy situation everywhere in this world, anyone and at anytime can lose a job and a career too. The way we continue in upgrading our skill, experiences and qualifications will stay long in our job and career.