Time To Get Scared

I think I'm going to be physically sick!

As if the current crop of bad news about the current state of our country’s political (if you can call it that) state isn’t enough to make you reach for a bucket to vomit into, now we have to read about politicians being arrested for graft which among others include sexual favors.

But this isn’t the half of it of course. Politics aside, we now have to deal with people wanting politicians to resign and be elected just so they can sell more cempedak (like the jackfruit) fritters. What of little girls who are brutally murdered and yet, one year on – nothing has changed. What about those who want us fly the Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian Flag) upside down? For goodness sakes – are you stupid or what? Aren’t there enough problems already? It makes me want clutch my chest in anticipation of a cardiac arrest.

If you not scared at the stupidity and lackadaisical attitude if certain people, you should be. More than ever now is the time to be aware of your surroundings and what’s happening – because if you’re not you’ll be sucked into it.

I don’t know about you, but I stopped taking news at face value a long time ago – a very, very long time ago. With everything I read, I make sure I do so with more than a pinch of salt and I make up my mind to make things better for those I love and care about so I’ll not be like those who claim they love and care for the country and Her rakyat (people) and then do the opposite.

Shame on all you power mongers. If you think for one minute that we are going to take it, you’ve got another thing coming. We are not as gullible as you think – some of us just want to think we are. It’s a high noon showdown on September 16. But there will be no country and western gun slinging show. But what might happen is a long-awaited revolution – and if things go as many would like it to, it looks like things might just change for the better.

It is clear that there are some politicians who do not trust us to think for ourselves. We’ll we’re smart and you politicians ain’t seen nothing yet. The tables have turned. It’s you who should be scared – would you like a bucket?

Differentiate Or Get Lost

Heard of Jack Trout? He’s the marketing guru known for delivering practical guides for businesses on developing powerful differentiation strategies. He wrote a book co-authored with Steve Rivkin titled Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition which builds upon a very simple premise: To survive, or at least out-perform, one's competitors in this era of killer competition, a company must differentiate itself from the competition.

If you are happy where you are and want to stay that way while the rest of the world evolves, more power to you and you can begin the process of being kicked out. However, if you are smart you’ll realize that differentiation is the key to staying in the game, good for you.

The first thing you should do is stop being afraid by living in someone else’s shadow and letting them take all the credit. If you know you’re good at what you do and there’s no one else like you – claim it. Take the first spot and say you are number one at something – if you keep your mouth shut and then see your ideas being stolen or used by someone else, then you deserve it.

If you are a business owner please start taking some pride in your products – why be common when you can be different. Talk to your team and listen to them. Just because you are team leader, it doesn’t mean you know everything. And do you really know everything about your company? You can differentiate yourself by looking back on your company’s history or legacy. There are also many other companies that have impressive histories you could learn from.

Instead of trying to run your business like a headless chicken without focus (or maybe you think having focus means to stick to the same business plan forever), it’s time you considered differentiating yourself by focusing on a particular market specialty. Your failure to be different will lead to your company be eaten alive by the competition. If you want to be quiet – then get ready to fail as everyone else around you gets more successful. That’s as different as it’s possibly going to get for you.

If You Think You Work Hard, Work Harder

I'll be working over the long holiday. In fact, if I'm conscious, I'm working. You could argue, "I work weekends and pull all-nighters. I’m the first to come in and the last to leave. My phone is always on, I’m always connected with a BlackBerry, iPhone…” or whatever other gadget. Sorry. Even if you're a workaholic, you're not working very hard at all. Sure, you're working long, but "long" and "hard" are now two different things. This is what hard work is:

It's hard work to make difficult emotional decisions, such as quitting a job and setting out on your own.

It's hard work create a new system, service, or process that's mind-blowing.

It's hard work to tell your boss he's being intellectually and emotionally lazy.

It's hard work to tell senior management to abandon something you know isn’t going anywhere

It's hard work to make good decisions with less than all of the information required

Today, working hard is about taking apparent risk. Not a crazy risk. An apparent risk is something the competition (and your coworkers) believe is unsafe but that you realize is far more conservative than sticking with the common opinion.

Richard Branson doesn't work more hours than you do. Neither does Bill Gates or Jack Welch. None of the people who are racking up amazing success stories and creating brilliant items are doing it just by working more hours than you are. And I hate to say it, but they're not smarter than you either. They're succeeding by doing hard work.

There are a precious intelligent few who are realizing that this temporary recession is the best opportunity they've ever had. They're working harder than ever -- mentally -- and taking all sorts of emotional and personal risks that are bound to pay off. Hard work is about risk.

It begins when you deal with the things that you'd rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to jump over this hurdle, find your way out in the dark, bulldoze through obstacles. And, after you've done this, to do it again the next day.

Look, the riskier you hard work appears to be, the safer it really is. It's the people having difficult conversations, inventing remarkable products, and pushing the envelope who are building a recession-proof future for themselves.

Let Me Tell You Why You’re Stupid, Sick & Poor!

Many years ago, The New York Times ran a poll regarding income mobility. About 80% of respondents believed it’s possible to start out poor in America, work hard, and become rich, others agreed their children’s standard of living would be much better than their own while 46 % said hard work is essential for getting ahead in life. This is what I think.

The poor are in the situation they are because they are too scared to work hard enough. It’s perfectly simple, though ruthless to some but:-

You don't have savings? You don't have health coverage? - Should have worked harder.

You job pays you five ringgit an hour? - Your IQ is too low anyway.

No education? No food? One or more kids? - Who's fault is that?

Let’s be honest here about life: Shit happens.

You lose your job – and you didn't earn enough for savings: - It’s your fault

Unemployment runs out and savings is spent: - Your fault for not emergency planning

Employer refuses you unemployment: - Your fault

Fresh out of college and haven't found anything: - You should not be so fussy and greedy

One of your kids get sick: - Who told you to have kids?

Parental care: - Your parents should have worked harder

I have 2 jobs but don't make enough for insurance or to save anything: I bet you did something in your life to be in that place

If you don't have money, then just get a job. It doesn't cost money to get a job.

D24 – The Meaning of Good Quality

The first thing that comes to mind at the mention of D24 is durians. I love durians. And I mean I love durians. Growing up, durian season was an event by itself in my family – we would purchase large amounts of durian only to spend a lot of time opening it up.

We believed that the more durians bought meant that the chance of getting good fruit was higher. How wrong we were. Later as a young adult, I began to see that quantity does not mean quality.

I realized that it’s a whole lot better to pay a higher price for one good durian which will yield tasty flesh rather than get a whole lot at a cheaper price only to get pricked repeatedly by its thorns and have all that energy put into opening it go to waste.

It’s not just about numbers but about quality. What’s the point of boasting that you have a company of a 100 employees when ¾ of them are useless? It’s better to stick with 24 whom you know are really good and won’t prick you repeatedly.

That Lying Fat Girl

I like fat people and I am pretty meaty myself. And there is absolutely nothing wrong about us being fat or whatever people like to call fat people. However, there is a huge problem when you are fat and also a big liar – and now that I think about it, she’s quite a moron as well since she thinks we wouldn’t find out about her lies – or that we knew what was going on, but allowed her to come around in her own time. I’m writing about a disgusting and lying fat girl named..

Geraldine Sarah

You see, here’s the thing. When she joined us the promises she made about giving her very best could literally move the earth – and that’s without her walking. Being the person I am, I enjoy giving young people (she’s 25 years old) an opportunity – which is what she said she wanted.

Sarah, I’m sure you’ll read this so this is what I have to say: “You will be immortalized in my upcoming book, “You’re stupid. Let me tell you why”. You can laugh about what you did thinking you pulled a fast one on us - but did it ever occur to you that I always knew what was going on? Perhaps you can refer to this link and refresh your memory http://ernie-chen.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-know-everything-and-youd-better.html

For your information, Sam was not sad, as a matter of fact she was very happy with your dismissal or resignation as you’d prefer to call it since you were hopeless and didn’t add any value to the team or company but instead was an inconvenience that we had to put up with.

And believe me, I was in tears of joy when I finally found out that you were gone I took the whole team out for dinner that night to celebrate about the fat (and I mean literally) being cut away. Continue living in denial and think you are good at your job when you suck at it. You are stupid because you couldn’t appreciate being a part of a team that was tough but who would have also dropped everything to help you if you ever needed it. You’re stupid because you think you’ll be happy because the job is easy and the people friendly – but what you’ve given up are people who will be honest to you about your best and your worst. So continue being stupid.

We will be first to admit that we make mistakes in hiring people that promises us the sky but believe me, it will catch up with all those liars.

Love Me, Or Hate Me – I’m The Brand You Will Never Forget

To be loved is a great thing – to be hated is also great thing because this means that you have a certain place in their hearts and minds of those either love or hate you. It’s like Cola – you either love it because of how fizzy it is or you hate it for the reason that when it goes flat, it tastes awful. And the worst kind of Cola is the kind that’s neither fizzy nor flat –the sort of drink that leaves you unsure as to whether it has gas or not – or even if it’s Cola to begin with.

This brings me to the inevitable point that the worse brand is the one that sits on the fence and does not have an opinion at all. I decided a very long time ago that my job is not to please everyone, but do my extreme best for a selected group of people whom I know is deserving of this. To those of you who don’t like me or even hate my guts – Thank You because you are helping to make my brand of “It’s either you love me or hate me” work supremely well. Those of you who love me, keep on doing it because in turn, I will continue to meet and exceed your expectations.

The LOTUS Gangster and the Food They Serve

We kicked off the Great Orange Charity Drive – Paint For Change on Saturday August 9^th at Rumah KIDS in Klang. After sweating it out scraping, painting and cleaning up – having great fun doing it as well, we decided to go to a nearby restaurant to have some lunch. The tables we set up in a long row and being ATCENians, we’re a nice lot who never make unnecessary demands of other people and are just happy to be in each other’s company.

At the restaurant, we helped arrange for more tables and even passed the food around which incidentally was fried rice and fried chicken only in name because it sure didn’t taste like it should. Everything went great – we really were having a good time at lunch until it was time to pay the bill.

Look, we are not calculative when it comes to food, but when we are served a plain plate of bland fried rice at RM4 and some over-marinated chicken priced RM4.50; I think it’s quite justified to seek clarification. This is when we met the LOTUS gangster, excuse me, manager named Kanthan who went out of his way to be as rude, unpleasant and threatening as he possibly could be. This said, we have decided to boycott LOTUS and hope you will too. Unless you like being served by gangsters and getting cheated of your hard-earned money.

Dr. Mahathir Inspires Me

About two weeks ago, I attended a dinner event hosted by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad where he spoke about Business Trends for Malaysia Moving Towards 2020. Watching him speak confirmed what I already knew – that this is a man I find truly inspiring. As far as I’m concerned, Dr. Mahathir does not inspire me because he was my PM for over 20 years. I do not find him inspiring just because of his brilliance or that he’s more often than not, right. Neither do I find him inspiring because he is a respected leader.

Dr. Mahathir inspires me because of his tenacity, courage and strength but more importantly because of his interest and desire in wanting to make Malaysia better for Malaysians. He may not always have the right answers and his views have ruffled more than a few feathers in the past. But what makes him such an inspiring icon is the fact that he has continuously and consistently striven to do better for the country. You may disagree, and you may not even like him – some of you may even think he’s a dictator.

Personally, I don’t think that’s too bad because just like every family or organization that needs someone to steer it to a better direction – it’s not uncommon to dislike the person who has to do this dirty job. But remember this – the next time you walk around KLCC and land in KLIA or have people tell you how wonderful this country is – come to terms that it’s because of him that we have the Malaysia that’s on the world map.

Cutting Away The Fat

In an organization, doing well does not necessarily mean that it is hale and hearty. In order to make sure that your company stays healthy in every sense of the word, you must look into cutting out the fat that is clogging up its arteries. If your company isn’t doing well, then you’re simply asking for it by not cutting away the fat which will lead to a massive cardiac arrest and the eventual death of your company. What I mean by fat is everything that holds you or your company back from moving forward to bigger, better things. It can be the people or the wastage of resources. If you do not recognize the rubbish that needs to be thrown out, it can and will result in serious health issues for the entire team as well. Take a moment to evaluate the fat that is in your company and get rid of it. Make your company trim and muscular, lean and strong – like a well trained athlete – focused and well conditioned in every way. If you have fat and choose not to do anything about it – then go ahead and drown it in. It’s literally your funeral.

Serving With Your Heart

When was the last time you did something with your entire heart? How many of you sit in your big spacious offices and think that you’re just too good for anyone else? Or what about those of you who think that the tea lady in your office is there to clean up after your mess that you are just to damn lazy to take care of on your own? How many times have you passed by the cleaner in your office, apartment block or even your helper and thought that they are below you? So what if you pay them – it doesn’t give you the right to think that you own them and treat them like they owe you a living.

These people – the newspaper vendor, the man who sells you chicken rice and the lady who makes sure that your block is clean everyday know what it is to serve with their hearts. They do what they do and never expect anything in return, only that you feel good about what they’ve done – for YOU. I am fed up of hearing people grumble about the amount of work they have to do when they should instead be grateful that they are alive to do it. This is especially true of the customer service industry and those in hospitality. Imagine the irony of being in a business which is all about service, but then they suck at it big time because the way some of them answer the phone is as if they are zombies.

Then you have those with such long faces that could rival that of a horse. They walk around with a huge chip on their shoulders moaning and groaning about everything and acting as if the world owes them something. I feel sorry for people like this who will forever live their lives (if you can call it living) being sad, unhappy people focusing on the bad when they can do so much more by serving those they should be serving with every bit of their heart.

Those of you who think you are “great” and want to live in your dream world forever thinking that you should be served, get off your high horse before someone pushes you off it and you fall down in great embarrassment in front of everyone.

Money vs. Effort for Charity

If you think giving money and lots of it equates to charity, you’re wrong – giving only money is not good enough as it does not go a long way. Yes, of course, you will be thanked for it – but what after that? Nothing. Your money will go into the buying or paying of something, and then that’s that – more often that not, it does not bring with it the experience of having made a difference. The act of giving money alone is easy. Think about it.

Which would you prefer to do:

1. Give RM100 to a charity home or a poor family?

2. Drive to a grocery store, select the items carefully that will fit into a RM100 budget and then send it to the home or family that needs it?

Most of you will pick the first choice because it’s easy – and this shouldn’t be the way. If you want to do something, do it with all your heart, or don’t bother at all. Don’t do it just because you think you can buy karma points with the money you give. It’s worse that way because your intentions are selfish.

Today, charity is more than just almsgiving (distribution of money) – it has evolved into assisting the poor and needy in kind as well, by giving your time and effort to make a difference. For your information – especially all the stingy people reading this, you don’t have to split with your hard earned cash that you want to take to your grave with you.

Charity also means spending time with the old, the sick, the dying, the poor, the orphaned and just about anyone you think might need you. Charity has become experiential as it always should be. For instance, if you visit a children’s home – talk to them, play with them, laugh with them.

And if you visit an old folks home, listen to them, ask them for advice and listen, don’t just hear what they’re saying. And don’t pretend. They may be old, but they’re not stupid and blur like you are for thinking you can get away with pretending. Don’t be a fake.

Just last Saturday on August 9th, we visited Rumah K.I.D.S in Klang for the Great Orange Charity Drive – Paint for Change. We spent half a day painting the exterior of this home and the children were really happy that the walls looked brighter (we painted it with a color named outLOUD Orange sponsored by Nippon Paint Malaysia).

There was a certain individual on the home’s committee who wrinkled their nose at the effort we had put in – and didn’t hesitate to voice out that she wanted repaint one window pane – we were there at time. If you do something charitable and you get losers like this trying to make you feel small, forget it. Remember that you are doing it for the children and for those who really need your help.

Keep on doing what you do and make it an experience for yourself and for those you visit. It’s not difficult to make someone happy and do something charitable. It’s a question of whether you want to or not.

Not So Professional After All

I am a member of the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers (MAPS). I cannot resist it and must quote from their website in the About Us segment: (as taken from “The aims of MAPS)

• To uphold and enforce actively high ethical standards and professionalism by all members in the speaking business.

• To provide members with the resources and guidance in order that they can contribute to the performance, productivity and profitability of organisations.

This is why I couldn’t help myself and am compelled to share with you two of its aims. Two Saturdays ago, I attended a MAPS meeting – I was nominated as Vice-President for Education & Training and thought it would be interesting to see how they manage and run things – considering that everyone in it was professional and all.

What I experienced that Saturday was somewhat shocking – and that’s putting it mildly. This is what I encountered – there were literally two separate camps – very much like the political camps we have. Both these camps were doing their best to dominate the Executive Committee who didn’t look like they wanted to be there at all.

There were others who were doing a bit of campaigning in trying to get as many people on their side as possible – shades of a mini general election were playing right in front of me – it was arresting to tell you the truth. It was almost like watching a B grade horror movie – it was bad, but you couldn’t take your eyes of it and was curious to find out who was going to get slashed next.

The President elect had his own team, but the Pièce de résistance * was when he abruptly got up and left when the people he wanted on the new committee were not elected. The way he did it was both disrespectful and unceremonious – like a child deprived of a candy bar, he sulked, picked up his belongings gave an excuse that he wasn’t feeling well and skulked away to the sound of many jaws dropping open.

This is what I realized that day – that it was nothing more than a gathering of adults behaving like spoilt brats. They didn’t come across as wise individuals who wanted to “…uphold and enforce actively high ethical standards and professionalism…” neither were they able to “…provide members with the resources and guidance…”

There were a few good people and you could see how uncomfortable they were at the fiasco taking place. What the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers need to know is this: in order to gain respect, you must first respect yourselves. It cannot be demanded and it has to be earned – just like the titles you carry – earn it and you will do yourselves proud.

In case you’re wondering, in light of how unprofessional everything was, I declined the nomination and left early.

* Pièce de résistance is a French term (circa 1839), translated into English literally as "piece of resistance", referring to the best part or feature of something (as in a meal), a showpiece, or highlight.

You’re Fired As A Client

Every once in awhile I come across people and organizations who never fail to amuse me and prove to me how dimwitted they are. I mean, are they clueless about how stupid their actions and words make them appear, or is it that that they just don’t care?

On July 23rd, my team and I conducted a teambuilding session for this company called EIG. We didn’t want to take on the job because it was an incredibly busy month and we would only have a week to prepare for it.

However, after they pleaded and stressed how much a teambuilding activity was required, we agreed – and at a discounted price as well because the amount initially quoted was not within their budget. We also agreed to proceed without the usual 50% as we thought the time spent quibbling over 50% would be better spent organizing the event. I believe I forgot to mention how many people it was for – more than 500 employees of EIG for team building. This is the value we consistently work towards to create for our clients.

As usual, we do great work and the event wrapped up about 30 minutes earlier because they also had their annual dinner that night and the caterers were already moving in with their trucks making the area even more chaotic – what with over 500 people fresh from an adrenaline rush running all over the place.

It was stated in the Sales Order given to EIG that 100% payment must be received upon completion of the event. We didn’t receive payment because according to someone named Kim (Group Functional Head of HR), the payment was ready but it was in her office and she couldn’t find the keys to it. We kept our promise of delivering a branded experience but she broke her promise.

This isn’t the end of course. When payment was requested a few days later, Kim informed us that EIG now wants a RM3, 000 discount further even though they had a great time (She even invited our whole team on stage after the event to get all the people to applaud us for a job well done) – so what does this say about EIG? I think I should also mention that EIG wanted a team building event for their staff, but didn’t want the activities to be strenuous because they didn’t want the staff to sweat since the annual dinner was on soon after! While Kim was withholding the payment, she had the audacity to ask for the edited video and cd with pictures. You have got to be pretty stupid to be asking such a stupid question.

I’m Chinese myself – so let me just say this: EIG’s business style is typically Chinaman – they squeeze you for every little bit of what they pay you and more and then expect to build a long tern relationship with their vendors. They are really stupid, because what they don’t realize is this – they may like to think of themselves as clients, but Kim and EIG, did it ever cross your mind that we too might be your clients? I guess not. So what did we do in the end? We wanted to cut our losses by not having to deal with such idiots ever again by giving RM3, 000 discount and finally received payment on August 8th – just in time for the Olympics – 17 Days after the scheduled payment date. So to Kim and EIG, this is what I have to say:

We never wanted to work with you – we did you a favor

We don’t want to work with you in the future – because you are highly unprofessional and unethical

We are not interested to deal with you any further - because you don’t deserve us as your honorable service provider

We will never work with you again because Kim & EIG – YOU ARE FIRED as a client.

It’s A Jungle Out There

You’ve seen the ads I’m sure – the ones with celebrities cautioning the public that it’s illegal to buy, sell or trade wildlife? It goes: “When the buying stops, the killing can too” – and this is with reference to animals that live in the wild – the jungle , ocean etc – we are urged to protect and not kill these creatures.

But as you already know, we are also living in a jungle and everyday is test of survival skills. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier blog, I feel that the government has been spoon feeding certain individuals and while doing so, also killing them.

We assume that the poor should be helped – as they should. But are we helping them in the right way or is just easier to give out food and money so you won’t have to engage in ensuring that they are able to provide and fend for themselves and their families in the long run?

If we keep on doing this, they will never learn survival skills which are so necessary. Don’t for a moment misunderstand me. I want to help the less fortunate and I want to help them make something of themselves and not just see them live on hand outs and charity forever.

Keep on doing this and the tables will be turned. Very soon certain quarters will become so dependent on receiving help that another campaign has to begin: “When the protection stops, the killing can too” – because that’s what happens when you go over board with trying to protect someone.

Look at the oil hike and so many other items that were subsidized before and not now – it’s the poor that’s suffering because of all the coddling. What can, and are you going to do about it?

Malaysia – A Failed Country & Nation?

The year 1973 is the most important year in the 20^th Century. I have three things to point out and I’m going to leave it at that and by the time you get to end of this blog, you’ll find out why 1973 is a year to be reckoned with.

1. In 1973, a 1.3 L Japanese Car was priced at RM7,000. Today, it’s priced at RM60,000 – that’s a 8.5 times increase in case you’re wondering.

2. In 1973, a double storey house was priced at RM43,000. Today, it’s priced at RM300,000 – and that’s just for starters.

3. In 1973, a general worker with a professional degree holder earned RM1,000. Today they earn RM2,000 – just twice more than they did 35 years ago.

In my opinion, 1973 was a very important year because it’s the year I was born – from the time I learnt to crawl, later walk and run, 35 years have passed and the country has not shown the kind of economic progression it should be able to show for.

You don’t need to be math genius to see that there’s something very wrong with these numbers. The price of everything has increased but salaries remain virtually the same. Still want to be an employee and leave your fate to the hands of your employer and the government? For once, I hope you answer in the negative.

YOU BETTER DIE AT 66

A couple of years ago, I attended a talk by EPF. During the talk, we were reminded that the Malaysian retirement age is 56 and that whatever savings we would have dutifully set aside in EPF will NOT last us more than 10 years – and that’s with careful financial planning and living moderately.

Now let’s just say you earn an average of RM1,200 a month after retirement, this would mean that after retirement you’ll be given a pension allowance of about RM600. Please take out a piece of paper and list the things you’ll be able to get for RM600 today. This value will decrease in the coming years. What do you think you’ll be able to afford then? Haven’t thought about it have you?

PLEASE WAKE UP!

You have to start leaning new skills and ways to generate more income for yourself because neither the government nor anyone else is going to ensure that you are well taken care of in your later years. Think having children will help? Dream on. Most of them will be happily doing what they want to do and in any case, do you really want to depend on someone else, family or not?

You have to start learning new skills and ways to generate more income for yourself right now. You must leave your employee mindset behind and become an entrepreneur and forget completely about living one day to the next.

Look at what you’re spending your money on right now. Is there anything that you don’t really need but spending a lot of money on? Cut that away and learn to live simply but comfortably.

And don’t kid yourself into thinking that you’re fine as long as your house and car are paid for and that you have life insurance. You still need to survive. You can’t eat your house, car and insurance policy if you are hungry. Stop taking easy and start busting your behind so you can relax in the years to come. Hard work won’t kill you but an empty stomach will.

Tabloid Trash Disguised

Tabloid: A newspaper of small format giving the news in condensed form, usually with illustrated, often sensational material. In summary form; condensed. Lurid or sensational. (From tabloid journalism, from Tabloid, trademark for a drug or chemical in condensed form.)

Is it just me or do you also feel that virtually everything that appears in the local newspapers is tabloid journalism disguised as something newsworthy? Almost everyday there is some kind of scandal or another in the newspapers. Sure sex, scandals, lies etc sells but for it to be sensationalized in supposed leading national newspapers? It really leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth.

Even if you are going to sensationalize something, please do so with some journalistic integrity. As far as I can remember, isn’t journalism supposed to be all about the truth – or at least the quest for it? The standard of reporting today, to put it bluntly, sucks.

Is this the fault of the journalist who can’t really string ideas and sentences together or perhaps it’s the fault of the editors who insist on a certain kind of “writing” style. Or maybe, just maybe it’s the people who own these newspapers or at least have shares in it that dictate what should and shouldn’t be printed.

What’s the big deal behind all these scandal reports? Is it because they concern leaders? I don’t think so – because to be a leader, one has to be able to lead and I don’t see any leadership skills being showcased do you?

Frankly speaking, the repeated stories are getting old and boring and to hear the same rubbish over and over again is doing nothing to salvage whatever that’s left the subject’s reputation. All supposed leaders of the nation open your eyes and ears to the fact you are just being used as fodder for news and gossip. Do you like it? Does it bring you some kind of enjoyment?

And it’s quite disgusting that those who are in the position to change the face of Malaysian journalism aren’t doing a thing because they are too lazy to resurrect honest to goodness investigative journalism and resort instead to scandalous stories to sell their papers.

Instead of focusing on these people in so-called leadership positions, why not instead focus on those who need to be heard like the children, the poor, the weak, the raped, and the abused among others? You should ask yourself what more can you do to highlight this problem and bring about change. Of course it can be done. You’re just too damn lazy to do something about it because you’ve gotten comfortable and complacent.

What you trying to prove by giving attention to those who don’t need it? You would rather cover another ministry press conference then pick up a press release about some good news and good work being done. Even when you do pick it up, you give it a measly two paragraphs hidden in some obscure corner of the newspaper.

Give attention instead to the faceless – now this is something worthwhile. These people are real and there are no lies, no scandals. It’s time that you started focusing on what’s real and forget all the other rubbish that we really don’t need to hear about.

Principally Family

Principle: To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill.

Mention principles to most people today and they’re most likely to think you’re speaking about a headmaster or headmistress. As far as I’m concerned, to have principles is to live to the fullest of our potential. This may be a big challenge, but once you are able to accomplish it, it means you are fit to enjoy all you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

The “Meaning of Principle“, is not about defining the word by using the dictionary, but about finding out what it means to each of us personally in a way that would positively make us more conscious of the people around us and not be such selfish individuals.

More often than not, the formation of principles begins at home, with family. And it’s also during this time that some families decide that having principles means:

1. Spend as much time with the family because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

2. You must make time for family functions because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

3. You must come home in time for dinner because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

4. When a family member is in hospital, your life has to come to a standstill because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

5. If you have relatives from abroad down for a visit, you must entertain them because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

6. Never mind if you’ve been late for work or been taking a lot of leave to run errands for your father, mother, brother etc because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

7. If you are married you must follow your relatives back to their home town regularly and meet the other relatives you’ve only seen once in your entire life and who really don’t care if you’re dead or alive because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

8. You must run back to see your family when they say they miss you because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

9.You must quit your job if you work long hours and get a “normal” 9-5 job which will eventually turn you into a mindless zombie without goals or aspirations because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

10. If your father’s-brother’s-daughter’s-husband’s-uncle’s-wife is unwell, you must take leave because FAMILY COMES FIRST.

Ridiculous? Not really – I’ve heard it all before and I suppose if you think about it the situation is pretty nonsensical. Just because it’s family, it doesn’t mean you have to drop everything and run to them. Recently, I had some Malaysian turned American relatives visit me. They stopped by my office, I bought them lunch and came back to the office after that. I cannot stop my daily dealings just because a bunch of people flew a couple of thousand miles for a visit.

Family is family and that’s all well and good, but once you let them run your life, you will begin to resent them if you haven’t started already. You have to decide what’s best for you right now. Family can love you – but that’s not going to pay the bills and get you to where you want to be.

If you want to think of me as a cold-hearted, arrogant individual – I really don’t care. Because what I’m telling you is very real. And if you want to live in denial – go ahead, more power to you. Those of you who want to change, go find out what having principles means to you and stick to it – don’t do it to please anyone.

Also, if you take a look a winners and leaders, you find that these people always follow and implement their principles to the final ground, and we clearly see that they never fell sorry along the path that they have decided to walk on.

What A Tertiary Joke

I want to share something funny with you – it’s *slapstick humor and there’s nothing intelligent about it. Now, this joke took place last Saturday July 26th to be exact at a “leading” local university – University Malaya. I was told that there would be about 400 students who will be attending talks concerning specific areas of business and accounting. When we told them we could offer our services in the area of motivation, they accepted this readily enough.

We put a lot of work into this talk which new material had been designed to suit the needs of these 400students. Titled Winner’s Mindset, this talk for your information I had agreed to do for FREE as part of our give back to society. FYI, I charge and get paid up to RM60,000 a day for my talks. Now that I’ve established this, let me continue.

My team arrived at the university a good hour before the scheduled talk and proceeded to set everything up. We are so good at what we do and take so much pride in it that we never do anything half heartedly. It was not just the talk we had planned on giving. As part of our value add to UM (for something that’s already free), we brought along our video cameras to record these students in order to put them up on our recruitment website to help them get a jobs.

To top it all off, we were ready to give them a free subscription to our confidence website where they could network with a very motivated community and make something of themselves. The talk was scheduled to begin at 9am. When I arrived shortly before that, all ready to put on a great show for 400 students not a single one turned up. I left of course and decided that the morning would be better spent servicing my BMW.

Later I found out that the individual responsible wasn’t very apologetic either. And so on Monday, a call was made and an explanation was requested. If you want to know what’s the joke, read the letter attached. You know why I call it slapstick? Because from the letter you’ll see how kelam-kabut – chaotic they are colliding all over the place without any focus on what’s important at the time.

University Malaya take note – there are many organizations who are complaining about your students and your university. You lack of care and concern and your tidak apa attitude is very worrying. Is this how you shape lives? Remember that you are in the business of education – if your own faculty and staff behave so badly, how on earth do you expect your students to be any different? Please be aware about the less than pleasant reputation that UM is garnering of late and for goodness sakes do something about it.

*Slapstick: A **boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes.

** Boisterous: - Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

Survival Of The Fittest

Whenever I conduct motivation sessions, I get the participants to discover what they really want and what they need to do in order to move closer to that desire. There is no deep, dark secret to this that has been guarded for centuries – if you want to get ahead you must first believe that anything is possible and take action.

Many times, people die to their dreams and aspirations because they don’t know what they want. Survival Of The Fittest is all about identifying your goal or prize and just going for it. How you get to this thing that you want badly is about being fit physically, in your mind, heart and soul. You will die if you have no passion, desire and belief.

This is applicable to anyone - you can be a student, parent, business owner, and conglomerate among others; if you aren’t strong in all the areas mentioned plus a strong cash flow – where applicable, you will be the first one to go and I’ll be happy for you because since you didn’t put in the effort, you then deserve to die. Brutal? Perhaps. But these are my thoughts – how can these people who moan and grumble and just refuse to put in any effort expect to make it.

Here’s another news flash. Stop mooching off people and using them as a security blanket. You are nothing but a parasite sucking the life out of those who are trying to make it. So it’s either to buck up and start preparing for the The Survival Of The Fittest with a clear goal in mind, or just shrivel up and die trying because it’s quite obvious that’s what you do well.