Business Manager & Business Leader

Recently, I've observed some people on how they perceived & run their businesses.
Initially, any business venture is hungry for profits and cashflows as to keep their neck above the water from being drown with a loss. Upon the survival mode, it is time to switch gear to a growing mode. While growing it, we have to build a strong foundation on supporting the growth with systems, principles and teamwork. Once the compass is define with mission, cultures & values and a leadership team is formed, it is time for exponential growth, which is multiplication! Eventually, sustainability is the key to continue growing and maintaining the business without losing its essence and the original "why" that it exists in the first place.
It can be summarized as:

Creation --> Survival --> Growth --> Support --> Multiply --> Sustain

The summary is short but the process may take a decade!
That's why a business manager can only grow a business linearly.
While a business entrepreneur will grow it exponentially.
What is the difference?
One stand for profits. The other stand for something bigger than profit!!
One keep on taking. The other keep on giving.
One is looking on the short term. The other is building a legacy.
One is developing followers. The other is developing leaders.
One is working on people's weaknesses. The other is discovering people's talents.
One is thinking about greed. The other is thinking on creating values.

When a slight change of mindset & direction occurs, it will create a big impact when we stretch the time frame 10 years down the road. In anyway it is, there is no right or wrong. It is the heart & mind of the founders itself. I personally respect either business managers or business entrepreneurs because it takes guts to create something and to walk a journey separated from the crowd. But the way to create a business and the way to grow it needs a different mindsets & skillsets.

Imagine if every entrepreneur creating businesses to create values, the market will be a better place for all!!
I feel grateful and wish to thank all the business creators out there. Whatever it is, a big THANK YOU for driving a nation forward and to create jobs for people.

Dear Business People, you are the Hero afterall!

Under Sycamore Tree

A friend of mine created another new blog under the webpage of http://undersycamoretree.blogspot.com. A very interesting and relevant blog within a fast-paced future, telling us to look into ourselves again and figure out the North that we are pursuing.

At times, it is hard for us to figure out what do we really after. But one of the way is to discover our in-born talent, hone it into a consistent strength, spice-up with skills and passion.....there we have it....PURPOSE. It is like beginning to do something and just flow with it without deep analysis. As we do it, our purpose will emerge and as time goes by, it is clearer to us whether to stick with it, tune it a little or add on to it.

It is really easy to start with what we like or what we are good at.

For example, another friend of mine who loves photography, just started a casual hobby called the 30 Days Project in Facebook and I assume the idea was emerged out of his interest in snapping some good picture with different angle and color effects. He just started it, stick with it and he is going to complete it. Who knows, maybe down the road, his interest may lead him to his lifelong purpose of becoming a travel-journalist as he is also good in writing skills and love to enjoy life as well!

I've got another friend who was good at doing marketing, branding and pretty interested in training as well. She has done this for almost 10 years and she is exploring other alternatives recently that got her in a potential career that she is looking for. And she is really good in what she is doing.

The first example is of someone with what he likes and the the second example is of someone with what she is good at.

All we need is a little spark to begin our exploration in our purpose. Think about it under a sycamore tree!

The first step will lead to a thousand miles.....

Deathbed

The other night, I've watched a tv show until midnight and it is called "Tuesdays With Morrie". It was an eye-opener and I believe this show will surely enlightens and awakens some people's purpose in life.

Morrie is a professor and an old man who fully live his life and lots of time, see the good in people and circumstances. He always gave wonderful wisdom of life to the students around him. Unfortunately, he was struck by a disease (I forgot what is it called...) and the virus is attacking his whole body from bottom up. But before he died, he met up with one of his students, a sport journalist, who was extremely dedicated to his work until he take life for granted and was in a dilemma on his life compass. After 19 years of not seeing each other, Morrie somehow help this man to look at life differently and to cherish what really matters instead of speeding through the journey all the time!

The whole show talked about how to live a life that we truly wanted and bless the people around us. Very often, we are after glamorous careers, great ambitions, make more money, get a big house and if possible, drive a Ferrari! But Morrie talked about how often that we stop and look at what we are after and says, "Wait a minute, is that what I really want in the first place?"

To make it more interesting, Morrie organized a "living funeral" for himself! What a great idea that breakthrough conventional pattern of dying! Yes, it is more meaningful to see our friends and family before we have our last breath and listen to what they have to say about us just before we die. What's the point of letting people compliment and praise you and you are not around to enjoy it.

I wish there are more tv shows that add values to us instead of negative dramas for whole year long.

Luckily, these are some of Morrie's quotes that I managed to jot it down while watching this show;

1. Never make money by using people.
2. Love always win.
3. Love is the only rational act, just let it come in.
4. We must love one another or die.
5. When we learn to die, we learn to live.
6. Forgive everybody everything.
7. Death ends life but not relationship.

Hope some of these quotes do give you a second thought and help you to discover your life compass.

Imagine that you are dying soon (well, everybody dies....it is not a touch-wood thing!), what do you really want to do and who do you want to be on your bedside during your last breath?

Sense of Purpose

Over the years, upon reading some books, I'll write my Purpose or Mission statement.
Well, it might be a good way for me to review, change and grow accordingly.

Lately, I've just changed my Purpose Statement to a Purpose Question.
Short and simple. Easy to remember.
Personally, I feel a Question is more dynamic, provoking and stimulating than a Statement.

Example of a statement which sounds,
"To be the leader in the industry and achieving outstanding results of innovation & growth at all time."

Turn it to a question statement instead....
"How can we be the leader in the industry and to achieve outstanding results of innovation & growth at all time?"

Wouldn't it be better? Coz it sounds like provoking our thoughts all the time on how to achieve it better. And questions will help trigger us all the time to think forward.

In whatever we do, let's not forget to do Alignment & Balancing from time to time. Most importantly, "service" our mind regularly and don't wait until the stage of Overhauling of our brain nerves only to realized the importance of Renewal & Regeneration!!

5 Major Bosses

The common chronologies in our life were:
- got born
- learn how to walk, talk & eat!
- go to school
- then go to bigger school
- if didn't drop out, then go to another bigger school called the college / uni
- graduated.....if can...
- find a job
- earn money
- if risk appetite is high, invest or do business or businesses....
- earn more money
- find a partner
- got married & have kids
- sigh......tired to talk about it, you know the rest of the stories.....finally, we are buried 6 feet under!

Besides targeting the highest Maslow's hierarchy of needs which is Self-Actualization & Significance, money is kind of orbiting our lives all the time.
And whatever we do, is like ....we are serving 5 major "bosses" in our life all the time!

Our 1st Boss: The Real Boss!
Of course the one who pay our salary.

Our 2nd Boss: The Government!
This is due to the existence of the 1st Boss. Of course in the name of nation-building, we pay tax.

Our 3rd Boss: The Bank!
Due to climbing the ladder of needs, we buy car or cars....then a house to put it in of course! Then a major portion of our money goes to the bank.

Our 4th Boss: Spouse / Family!
Our parents took good care of us, of course we will take good care of them as well. We buy them good food, nutrition ranging from birdnest, ginseng......all the way to super-multiple-variable-awesome-vitamins!
Then we spend time with them and if possible, bring them for a holiday! Hopefully, we serve them well.

Our 5th Boss: Children!
We feed them, bring them up, pay for schooling all the way until their life is sort of settle down & steadily earning a decent income.

At the end of the day, what's left?
A small-teeny-weeny portion of time & money left for us to do what we like....if there is anything that we like afterall. Sounds a bit sad huh?
No wonder people talks about setting Goals & Mission in life.
But most of the time, nobody plans to fail, just fail to plan.
I've once heard a prominent business person said, "Unhappiness is caused by Comparison."
Hmmm, quite true in a way. Some people compares negatively while some compares excitingly.

After knowing such a small portion of resources left for our ownself, we really have to cherish great moments with friends & family. Whatever we want to do, let's try to do it. Succeed or Failure is one thing but at least we don't regret trying it out.

For those who want to say "Thank You", say it.
For those who want to say "I'm sorry", say it.
For those who want to do things that's never done before, do it (I'm referring to the right thing!).

At the end of the day, we want to Live a Non-Regrettable Life.

Mr. Honda

Most of us drove or sit in a Honda car before, but do you know that Mr. Honda is one of the most persistent man ever.

In 1938, Mr. Honda had a little workshop and he developed a special piston ring concept and thought of selling it to Toyota Corporation. He is so passionate and dedicated in his work until he slept in his own workshop and pawned his wife's jewelleries to continue in his business research!

Finally, he completed the piston ring technology and presented it to Toyota. You know what.....he got rejected! It was due to the reason that certain standards were not met.

Then Mr. Honda continued to study for another 2 years to deepen his knowledge. After another 2 years, he eventually got a contract with Toyota.

We would thought Mr. Honda lived happily ever after.......

But at that time, Japanese government was gearing up for war and it was really hard to get concrete to build factory. Did Mr. Honda quit? No, he created his own concrete, then built his factory & get the job done!
What a true winner!

But....another bad episode happened!
During the war, the factory was bombed twice, destroying major portion of the factory.
Mr. Honda didn't dwell on it. Together with his team, he picked up gas cans that the US fighter had discarded and positively said, "This is a gift from President Truman!" Now he used that as the raw materials for the manufacturing process.
Talking about innovation, creativity & persistency, we can't beat Mr. Honda....!

What we didn't know was after the war, it followed by an earthquake!!
Most of us would have quit but not Mr. Honda.
Challenges after challenges, he persisted until he secured a long deal with Toyota.

But after the war, there was petrol shortage. Therefore, Mr. Honda couldn't drive his car to even buy food as he used to. Instead of putting himself in the corner facing dilemma, he thought of ways to go above it or under it or around it.....and finally he had a breakthrough!
He attached a motor to his bicycle to get around......
The neighbours saw it, like it and of course asked Mr. Honda to install it to their bicycles as well and they called it "MOTOR RIDE". The so-called "business" was so good until it ran out of motors!

Guess what? Mr. Honda set up a small factory producing motors. But, he has no capital....
Therefore, he appealed to almost 18,000 bicycle shops for his great invention and finally got 5000 of them to pay an upfront capital to fund his factory. Then he found out another problem.....the motor was too big & bulky!
He re-designed and created a scaled-down version of it and called it the Super Cub, exported it to baby boomers in US and ....... THE REST IS .....HISTORY....!!!

Anyone felt tired reading it? Not to mention the person experiencing it and solving endless problems & challenges that got in the way.

Now, when you see a Honda on the road......what do you really see? A CAR or a DREAM?

A Unique School

2 days ago, I went to a property forum entitled Rethinking Property, organised by BFM radio station. There were 3 prominent speakers.

It was an eye-and-mind-opener! One of the speaker that striked me the most was John Hardy, the founder of Green School in Bali, Indonesia.

I do not know there is such school that existed.
My first impression was .... yeah, another school teaching about green stuff, recycling waste, saving energy, blah blah blah...etc.
It is much more than that. Of course listening to the founder himself talks about his vision of creating "Green Leaders" in the future who cares about what happens to the world, put my grasshopper mindset in the backburner!

John Hardy & his wife Cynthia sold off their jewellery business to set this green school up.
The whole school was made of bamboo! No air-conditioning, but natural flow of air and no toxic building material but "organic" material. What a building!

The students can learn basic skills such as reading, writing and I like the fact that they focus more on the practical side instead of boring-standard-Teach-N-Go-curriculum like most school did. They even learn art & music and most importantly, interaction skills.

All of us are Rice-Consumers but the students learn to be a Rice-Producer!
They plant, grow & harvest their own paddy & vegetables.
There's no computer software of any kind that can do a better job in teaching children about the Law of Sowing & Reaping than planting with their own labor, knowing that "If they don't work, they don't eat" principle still exist in 21st century!

Moreover, they get to interact with students from all over the world. They learn, adapt, communicate & build projects together. It reminds me of the word GLOCALIZATION instead of GLOBALISATION.
What a great example of a local village with global society in it.

In my opinion, the skills & the talent that the students potentially build up with will enable them to be more holistically balance in the aspect of mental & emotional strength.
I can't imagine our future generations are still following the status quo of going to a typical school and scoring all the As that their parents dreamt of and expect them to have the adaptability and competitiveness in the global marketplace!
It is not the sole issue of competitiveness but also the morality & respect that we need to nurture the future leaders.

Well, be sure to check the website and find out more at http://www.greenschool.org.
Thumbs up and a big salute to John Hardy, Cynthia and the team that run that place.

Types of Teacher

When I was in primary school, I can recalled a daily routine of greeting our teacher,
"Se....laaa....mat Paaa....gi Cikgu!"
Upon 30 minutes of teaching, we'll happily said,
"Terrrr....rima Kaaaa...sih Cikgu!"

Teacher plays an important role in moulding the student's mind. Not just equipping them with skills but programming their mindset to believe who they are. At times, who they believe who they are, are not who they are suppose to be.
Therefore, the journey of our potential is an on-going question.
It depends on how we look at ourself and how other people influenced us.

I came across a few types of Teacher; it can be our Boss, our Manager, our Parents, our Siblings, our Colleagues....etc

An Average Teacher tells,
A Good Teacher shows,
A Great Teacher demonstrates,
A Superb Teacher inspired......Which one are you?

An Average Teacher likes to use the word "YOU". "You do this", "You do that", "You are not suppose to do this & that", it is "You, You & always You".

A Good Teacher says "I" or "Let me...". "I can show you that", "Let me guide you on that", etc...
A Great Teacher leads through "Let's do it!"

A Superb Teacher says, "YOU CAN DO IT, I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

Nothing beats the belief that others have for us. It is the fuel that burn us to move forward innovatively & with commitment. Words are powerful; it can MAKE us or BREAK us.

Becareful on using our Tongues. We can curse someone or bless someone with it.
Perhaps we can read the book entitled "How to Use Our Tongue for DUMMIES!"
Does this book exist? I don't think so.
Perhaps YOU ARE THE WRITER!

Purpose of Building A Business

A typical journey that one would go through is studying, graduating, got a cert, go get a job!
After changing jobs for awhile, we realized no matter how many jobs we have changed, we are building something that doesn't belongs to us.
Finally when we reach a boiling-point, we'll say, "That's enough, I'm gonna start my own!"

That is where one more business is being born!

I've came across through reading, listening & association on why certain people started a business. I know there are many reasons but I observed a few highlights.

1) PASSION

Some people turn hobbies into a business. Eg. of housewives turning hobby of making cupcakes into a business. Pet lovers turning passion of loving animals into a pet-store. Natural therapist turning a desire of helping & curing people into a business. Donald Trump, turning his extreme passion for developing buildings and making deals into an empire. Rich Devos has great compassion empowering people doing their own business through starting Amway. Car-Enthusiasts turning car modification into a business.......and the lists goes on.

A business with PASSION is being run differently by the owners. It is more meaningful and lively!
A business that solely filled with the purpose of profitability doesn't create much value for employees to have any sense of belonging in the long run!

TLC - Truly Loving Company, embarked on a journey of selling toiletries with the purpose of donating most of the dividends to charity. It was started by a woman who was too tired of climbing the corporate ladder and wanting to do something meaningful instead.

J-Co Donuts....initially people queueing up like crazy in Pavillion DAILY, to buy donuts. Like refugees queueing up to get their rice! It was started by an Indonesian hair stylist, due to his crazy liking for donuts!

Passion can really drive a business into greater heights.

2) CREATION & INNOVATION

Another group of people started business because they wanted to turn ideas into reality.
When "Uncle Lim" first had an idea of building a resort home up in a hill, he was having around RM300 million and at that time, it was more than enough to have a comfortable retirement. Why does he take the trouble to plot a place called Genting Sempah and eventually build an entertainment hub? And he almost died 5-6 times in the process of building it as he visited the "dangerous" site daily!

Despite being a billionaire and having more than 200 companies, why does Richard Branson build Virgin Galactic and make space travelling a reality? In fact people have been making reservation 1 year before it was launch!

Talking about technology; we can't runaway from iPhone, iPod, iPad...& whatever in future that starts with an "i". Do you think Steve Jobs have created a new world of how we can "enjoy" technology?

A true Malaysia-Boleh hero, Datuk Tony Fernandes, creating a budget airline where "Everyone can fly!"

Whatever it is, any process of turning Ideas or Creation into a Reality or a Business, gives much satisfaction to those who have completed the journey!

3) SOLVING PROBLEMS

Think about it.....what kind of business that is created and doesn't solve any problems?
F & B business is to solve hunger problems....
Computer business is to solve inefficiency problems...
Financial consultation is to solve financial problems...
Maid agency is to solve helper's problems...
Interior designers is to solve home decoration & renovation problems...
But sometimes PASSION in starting & running a business overruled the LOGIC of creating a business.

4) PROVIDING JOBS

Well, this would be a macroscopic level of starting a business or businesses and helping a nation to grow! That is more on a Free Enterprise concept where wealth is freely created & distributed through the channel of capitalistic investment.

It is sort of a "Father" that creates a roof of employment for people especially for developing nation.

Malaysia is a good hub that provides job for foreign workers and thanks to the entrepreneurs who take the risk to start from nothing to something. People that developed this vision when they started a business is reaching the Self-Actualization level of achievement.

Some people thought buying a Ferrari is a waste of money. Why not donating the money to 3rd world countries?
But can you imagine how many jobs that Ferrari has created and empower individuals to feed their family through their dedicated effort?

5) PROFIT GENERATION

Eventually, we can't be doing a business that we like, passionate and solving other's problems without profits.
In which I had friends who actually think we should not make money out of friends if we do business with friends.
How naive! Imagine going to a friend's cafe and insist of paying only the cost price of foods & beverages everytime!

Well, money is not good or bad but it depends on how we use it. Money is also a measurement of how good we tapped into our potential and use the available resources. It can help turn Dreams into Realities as well.

We can't be adding values to our employees without profits.
Team-Building needs money.
Employee-Development needs money.
Salary & Bonus needs money.
Company's annual dinner or trip needs money.

As Jerry Mcguire said...."SHOW ME THE MONEY!"

In conclusion, how the management or business owners run their business depends on the mindset of creating the business in the first place. Whether the top management is greedy or generous, feeling insecure or fully delegating, money-oriented or people-oriented will eventually increase or decrease employee's retention.

If a company has a Vision, Culture, System, Values, Branding, Positioning and Growth, it will not only attract Talents but retaining them as well.

LOVE MONEY & USE PEOPLE......NO, NO,NO....
LOVE PEOPLE & USE MONEY instead!