Turning Big Words Into Small Words

In the corporate world, it is quite common to see big jargon being used to describe big things.
Especially during the stage of conceptualization & strategic planning.
Here I am, using 2 big jargon right on!

Let's see what are some of the big words & there are tonnes of it out there;
Authentic, Branding, Performance, Efficiency, Growth, Attitude, Cosy-Environment, Cool, Impeccable Service, Quality, Management, Values...etc.

I can see few reasons here;

1. Because the Big guys up there only know the Big words to describe the Big things OR
2. Because the Big guys up there need to show the Big picture using Big words OR
3. Because the Big guys up there don't know how to break the Big words into small words!

The most extraordinary and skillful person are those that are able to Think Wide, Talk Big & Act Small.

Due to personalities or talents labelling, some people are good in the big picture but pretty lousy on the details while some vice-versa.

As much as personalities & talents are an inborn factor, I truly believe we can adapt & learn to be both at a certain level due to the reason that 30% of it are natured 70% of it are nurtured.

In order to truly get things implemented, we need to describe Big words followed by Small actionable words as well. We just need to break it down by asking What & How. First the Why, then the What followed by How.

Simple!

Okay, examples...

I want to be Authentic. 

What is authentic to you then? Perhaps being original & truthful. 

How to be authentic? Say what you mean and mean what you say and your thoughts, words & actions are aligned.

I want Branding. 

What part of branding that you want? Awareness, Impact, Promise?

Let's assume awareness. 

How to have brand awareness? Perhaps out of 100 people, we want at least 70 people knowing our brand.

What if it is brand impact.

How to have brand impact? Perhaps out of 100 buyers, we want at least 70 people using or portraying the way that we want them to.

What about brand promise? Perhaps out of 100 items sold, 99 of it are of good quality and without any defect.

I want a Cosy-Environment.

What is Cosy? Relaxing, Cool, Neat & Comfortable.

How to have a Cosy-Environment? Perhaps warm-white lighting, air-condition at 22 deg Celsius, jazz music & lavender aromatherapy.

The challenge in the corporate world is to find those that can think in Big words and act on Small words. Very often that we have people that is one-sided. Meaning they think & talk Big but delegate to the downliners to break it down to implement it. Depending on the experience & creativity level, sometimes the downliners may have a hard time figuring out. That is the beginning of Communication Breakdown.

On the other hand, we have people who keep thinking about the details of what to do & how to do without explaining why we need to do it. Those are the warriors that are being equipped with Kungfu to save the world without knowing why they need to save it in the first place. 

Hence, we have to be the Flip-Flopper manager or leader....being able to flip from the Big words to flop to the small words.

If someone can do it, you can too.

Our Inner Ear - Subconscious

Psychologists talk about expressing our problems and stress out. Some people channel it out through yelling, doing exercise, going through some form of therapies or sharing it with friends. Most commonly, we'll choose to share it with a buddy or someone older than us, perhaps lending us a pair of listening ear or some advice.

But I've tried before sharing some burden or stress with friends and the more I shared, the more negative I became! Because when we share, we are the first person to listen to it through our inner ear again & again until it is impregnated into our subconscious. As opposed to what psychologists talk about, the more I think about it and speak about it, the more I magnify the situations. The worst thing is the negative wind is now blowing to our friend who listen to us. Suppose he or she is having a great time and suddenly being striked by "Down-Syndrome" because of us, sharing unnecessary gossips or  negative stuff!

In conclusion, what shall we do? To share or not to share?
To share, we might experience a short sense of relief.
Not to share, we might explode one day!

In my opinion, we should talk it out and share it with 2 conditions;

1. Share with someone positive that we can trust.
2. Share with the mindset of solving it.

The first condition is to enable us to have a sense of relief and acknowledgement of someone knowing what we have gone through. The second condition is to help us to block the on-going flow of negative "chi" to ourself and to others. Eventually, if we let the negative air floats around, it will be cancerous! Until the extreme of someone committing suicide or doing something extreme and harmful without any conscious effort of curing it.

Life is only once.
Let's try our very best to minimize mental pollutions and contaminants in order to live with abundance.

Last Minute Appreciation

Yesterday was the last day of one of my colleague working in our company. All the staff basically had a great lunch in an Indonesian Restaurant... grilled chicken with vege plus iced lemon tea.
Of course that is not the point!
After all of our stomachs are filled, we shared on how each of us felt working with this lovely and capable lady. Finally all the good words are shared and all the compliments started pouring out from our hearts. Collectively, we mentioned that this lady is extremely patient in handling difficult tasks and great at multi-tasking, very kind-hearted and did all of her jobs with a great big smile!
I am pretty sure all of us will miss her presence.
On the other hand, I felt another sad part of this event.

How come most of the employees are only appreciated verbally only at the moment of farewell?
Why all of a sudden, heartfelt and touchy words were uttered during the last day of a person?

Is it we are too busy chasing KPI, figures and troubleshooting daily challenges?
Perhaps we are too focus on the maximum use of our time for a high-level of productivity?
Maybe it is a norm in our Asian culture of not being expressive?
Or we just simply forgot?

I think one of the way to really bring out the best in people is through sincere compliments, words of acknowledgement and appreciation. We use our mind for management and we use our heart for appreciation. Basically, we use both.

Why not begin with the culture of "A Compliment A Day, Puts All The Negative Away".

Focus

Everyday, we tend to focus on many things surrounding us. Some matters while some are mere interruptions.
I've just talked to a friend lately while he was having some difficulties in his job. At that moment, the more he shared with me, the more negative he became. Because he was focusing in the bad stuff while sharing with me. The very first person that listens to it is himself! Again & again & again....

Repetitions will anchor the programming in our mind, either positive or negative, truths or lies, it will stick!

So how do we control or maintain our focus so as to keep the main thing, the main thing?
There are 3 factors;

1. The words that we speak.
2. The way that we speak.
3. The types of questions that we ask.

The words that we chose to communicate will affect how we see or perceive a situation. Words can lead our thoughts. Not the other way round.
I do succumb to negativity at times. But the moment I realized it, I switched station! From NM (Negative Modulation) to PM (Positive Modulation). The faster it is, the better its going to be. Perhaps practising it down to seconds or microseconds!

The way we speak will emotionalise it. And emotions can create a drive forward or a pull backward. Try saying the same sentence with different emotions, you'll get it.

How do we ask questions to ourself will determind our direction of focus. Ever heard someone says,
"Why is this happening to me?"
"Do I look like a loser?"
...instead of...
"How can I do better?"
"How can I win?"
"What can I do to move forward?"

Feel the difference?

Ok, let's practise to control our Focus and use it for the betterment of life.

By the way, I'm down with flu & a bit of soar throat while writing this. But I choose to focus on what I can do and what I want to do instead of dwelling in the sickness zone!

Sales ---> Marketing ---> Branding

Most of the business started off with the focus of Sales.
That is where we gather "bullets" to support in the long run. The basic resources to sustain a long term business are Cashflows & Profits.

Most of the time, Sales & Marketing goes hand-in-hand. Of course Marketing involves Product, Promotion, Place (the right location), & Price structure. But I think another 2 more P's are more important.....PEOPLE & PASSION!

From Marketing, it moves to Branding where it involves Promises, Meanings, Commitments & Emotional Attachments.

Well, I can see some businesses making a transition from Product Differentiation to Emotional Association. I guess both are as important.

But sometimes I like product differentiation and got confused on emotional association, trying to figure out what kinds of emotion that an ad trying to portray.
Example:

• Nissan's tagline of SHIFT.....hmm.....Shift on what? Thinking? Trend? Technology?...etc
• Seiko: EXTEND OUR LIMITS....hmm...Putting Daniel Wu doesn't really portray that...
• McD: I'M LOVIN IT.....after their concept change on the exterior....I've got it!
• Milo: From MINUM MILO ANDA JADI SIHAT & KUAT....to PLAY HARD, LEARN HARD.....telling us to enjoy life to the max?
• Nike: JUST DO IT.....of course the Swoosh does make us feel confident & instill sort of a sportmanship spirit into us! But I guess the most important factor for Nike is most of the well-known sport players wear it! That is a great exposure...
• Nokia: CONNECTING PEOPLE.....hmmm...of course that's the purpose of a handphone.....perhaps CREATING COMMUNITIES instead? But I think iPhone already successfully doing it!

Of course there are some who have personally branded themselves: Lillian Too, Joey Yap, Donald Trump, AirAsia --> Tony Fernandes, Virgin --> Richard Branson, Apple --> Steve Jobs ....etc.
But I got a little confused when I see the same brand ambassador carrying multiple brands such as Amber Chia or Eric Leong. I do respect their entrepreneurship & passion in helping certain brands to be more outstanding but eventually I'm a confused-kid looking at those ads!

Anyway, consumer's purchase is always boiling down into a simple formula of:
Emotion + Reason = Purchase!

Most of the time, we buy things EMOTIONALLY & then justified it LOGICALLY!!

I've had ex-colleagues who bought a LV bag, working as an executive in a company.....so, tell me bout it!! Don't tell me they need a new handbag because the old one has broken & accidentally bought a LV!

Well, branding is a very interesting field afterall. It enlivens a name created from nothing to something.
I have to admit that I do love certain brands......
As the saying goes....

Factories manufacture PRODUCTS, Consumers buy BRANDS.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm not sure the origin of Valentine's Day and whether Valentine is the founder's name. Who cares?

Some people perceived Valentine's Day as a day created by large corporation mainly for business generation & profit taking.
Some even thought that it is just another day. What is so special about it.....the earth still spins the same way!

To me, why not just merely enjoy it instead of thinking on the negative side of it or having too much analysis on the origination. It is beautiful and lovely to have such a day for couple to rekindle their love, for new couple to strengthen their love and most importantly, for secret-lover to reveal their secret!!

It can be a reason, an excuse or a purpose for us to do something or express our hearts out!

I'm married since 2002 and 2nd of October was the day that my life was coupled with another partner, Anne.

We used to enjoyed, argued, teased and supported each other and fortunately, until today!
I think these are the reason that we sustained our marriage and relationship.
Well, a calm sea will not make a skillful sailor! A calm relationship will not make a steady couple either.

Remember those days when we first met our secret lover, ideal guy or gal where our hearts pumping at 50kHz and our blood travels at 180km / hr!

We can't sleep, eat, study and think well whenever "he" or "she" is not around. We miss that person every minute, every hour and every day!

We used to wear an "angelic" or a "gentlemanic" mask all the time, speaking and behaving gently, well-mannered and acting as a YES man or woman! Sometimes to the extend of gently "lying" to our partner saying that:
..."YES, it is convenient, I'll fetch you..."
(You wanted to say: "Why not take a bus, then LRT, then take a taxi lah!")

..."YES, what a beautiful dress..."
(You wanted to say: "Don't waste money lah!")

..."YES honey, you are still slim..."
(You wanted to say: "Fatty bom-bom, curi jagung! Eh, sign up Marie France lah")

..."YES dear, it is delicious..."
(You wanted to say: "Better don't cook, next time order pizza ok!")

Well, it was those "Gentle-Lies" and Mask that actually keep a relationship interesting.
Time will dilute those interesting moments. Opening our mask and telling unnecessary "truth" will hurt a relationship sometimes. You might not agree but it is true.

Imagine on the 4 examples statement above, to be replaced by the bracketed statement!
You are just looking for trouble!
Well, HONESTY is a must in a relationship, but it must be coupled with RESPECT.
Tell the truth, but find the right way and the right time to communicate.
It will save you from unnecessary war!

As the saying goes, Make Love, not War!

Happy Valentine's Day.

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!