Taking Credit....Sharing Credit

The strong take from the weak and the smart take from the strong.
- Pete Carril, former Princeton basketball coach



I met 2 young executives who have just over a year or so been employed in a Malaysian blue chip company.They look and sound dynamic, passionate in what they do, supremely confident of their abilities and very much in love with what they do for a living. They are also, as they mentioned it a few times in our conversation, very thankful for being able to work for this company which is known for above market compensation and employee benefits.

Yet, these two guys came up to me with a real and burning issue. Their manager, it seems, is taking all the credit for the team's work AND is not playing the right kind of leadership role (in comparison to his predecessor). I think you can already see that there are 2 issues here. One is of a manager taking and not sharing enough credit and the other is of a team that is hankering to 'the good old days'.

OK. Lets look at issue no.1 : Bosses taking all the credit. I may be biased here but I am from the school that says 'make your boss look good'. As I pointed out to these young gentlemans, organizations by their very nature, are hierarchical.They have been so for the last 2000 years since the first Roman generals organized their armies to go to war. Each layer in this hierarchy is intended to make the layer above look good and the layer below feel good. The responsibility of executives is to ensure that their manager achieves all his targets and objectives. The responsibility of the manager is to ensure that his boss achieves all of her own targets and objectives.So it goes on and on right to the very pinnacle of the hierarchy.

A manager is supposed to manage. The rest are supposed to execute the resulting strategies and approaches of that 'managing'. If a manager's value and leadership is measured by how much he gets his hand dirty; we have got it wrong. Yes, we do want managers to manage'by walking around', to 'manage by example' to manage 'by objectives'. Agreed. But, they are to manage first and foremost. Period.

Now you see why sometimes when a particular manager is away, the whole department seems to come to a standstill waiting for his return? He has been doing a wonderful job...except managing others to do what they are supposed to do FOR him.

Now, as for taking and giving credit, it is a question of value. I remember during my early days in the world of consulting and corporate training, my boss/mentor often used my creative output when dealing with clients without once giving credit to me. I used to be a little upset about this ( a lot actually) but then I realized he gave me the credit that really matters to me at that point of my development....pay and reward. He also often gave me the credit I craved by giving me the freedom I need to design a particular program the way I see fit. He never questioned my approach or methodology. So, even if he had given all the credits to me in front of the client and stopped there, I am the looser. He knew when, how and what kind of credit to give. I am eternally grateful for that.

But that is not to say that there aren't managers who hoard credit and praise. These are weaklings. They will not go far and even if they do they will never have that one element of true greatness : Trust.

Issue no.2 is all too human. We have a tendency to hate the moment and hanker for the past. An effective manager is not the same as a 'nice' manager. Expecting a new manager to have the same style as the previous one, regardless of how nice and/or effective the previous was, is a game with no winners. Can you imagine what would have happened to GE, if everybody there started comparing Immelt with Welch and keep going back to 'the good old days'? Just look at what is happening in Malaysia. Get the picture.

For all you German fans : Prepare to cry tonight!

Russia Wins!

"...and one brilliant coach beat eleven excellent players. When you play under such a great manager, we play a totally different game." ...Andrei Arshavin.

Russia 3 Holland 1.
Remember that score people.

Brilliant tactically! That is the only thing that needs to be said of yesterday's game. Gus Hiddink once again proves that having 11 great performers is only one side of the story, the other is the tactics. For me tactics/strategy is not to win games but to bring together the strengths of 11 great players into synergy. When this is done, winning takes place naturally.

Holland will rue this day. It will assemble another great team for another go at another major trophy but I don't think they will do any better than this time. Holland loves her self too much. She loves her total football just too fanatically that she often fails to understand that such strengths do not work on all opponents.

Total football is a tactic whereby when a player moves out of his position, another takes over that position and consequently the structure of the team on-field is kept intact. This is a fluid system whereby no player (except the keeper) has a fixed outfield role. Adaptability and flexibility is the name of the game. First invented by Jack Reynolds of the famous Ajax Amsterdam team and later refined by Rinus Michels also of Ajax it became synonymous with the great Dutch teams of 70s,80s and 90s. . Johan Cruyff later brought it to Barcelona.

Total Football (Totaalvoetbal, in Dutch) works well: only when your opponents gives you space. If your opponent closes you down and chases every ball and every pass and every throw, you had it. Russia did exactly that. Every team that has defeated Holland while using this system has done that. Of course for a team to counter that, it must have a tremendous amount of energy which the Russians had. Thanks partly to Andrei Arshavin's suspension for the first 2 games. He, as the live-wire of the team had that extra contribution to make. Hiddink, him self a Dutch with strategic acumen second to none capitalized on it. In fact his controversial decision back in Russia to include Arshavin in the team has paid off handsomely.

Marco van Basten will helm Ajax next season. Another Dutch team will be formed and once again the bulk of that team will come from Ajax. Long live Totaalvoetbal....although you may never win anything.

Russia will be waiting for either Spain or Italy.

I will bet on Russia to go all the way.

In the beginning there was the Word……..


Isn't it amazing what words can do? They excite, anger, pacify, caress, demand, and do a host of other things to us humans. As Eminem sings "...words are a mother%$#@*@, they can make you hate or make you love...". They certainly do. The words of one man heralded the birth of the Civil Rights movement which was influenced by the words of another; a frail man from India whose frailty vanishes the moment he begins to speak. The powerful and guarded words of Deng Xiaoping opened the floodgates of China's modernization. Similarly a former statesman of our's is going around spewing
words of racial venom. Powerful, these words can be! Ask Obama, he knows. Hilary Clinton knows it too albeit a little too late.

My closest friends know how crazy I am about football. They also call me crazy for supporting Aston Villa FC for the last 24 years. Don’t you dare say Aston who? I follow all the major leagues and tournaments. During the last few World Cups, I turned my living room into a mini World Cup corner. I do the same for Euro and recently even for the Copa. But for this Euro……nothing much.

I realized that up to now, all my World Cups and Euros and Copas have been ‘celebrated’ with people who in one way or another are also into them. We talked, we shared…we teased…we predicted…we lamented…we commented…we defended daily about the goings on. The commonality between all these : words. They excite! They create energy and this is what that moves us to take actions.

This time around, I find there is a lack of words shared about the Euro in my social space. Hence, there is no excitement. Sure, I catch some of the more important games but the ‘celebration’ is just not there. The event is there and is grander than the previous ones but I am not as connected to it as I would like to be. I am not as 'moved' to be into it.

Now, how many managers and leaders use words to inspire and motivate their people to greater achievements? How many use words to demoralize and belittle the very people through whom they are supposed to achieve? I mean think about it, we launch a grand new idea for the company or the department but fail to inspire our people to get excited about it. Why? Our words were just not inspiring enough. We simply fail when it comes to using words to transfer the passion from our hearts to the hearts of others. Some of the best company annual dinners that I have had the privilege to attend have been those where the CEO/GM gave a passionate, honest and inspiring speech. Most times, managers expect their people to get excited on a project using their own devices. Sorry, it does not work that way. Someone has to evoke that excitement and commitment with carefully chosen words of wisdom, encouragement and motivation. Most of all they must be words of honesty and integrity.

I think it was IBM's former CEO who once said that the single most important competitive advantage of IBM is its managers' ability to coach. Now, how do managers become effective coaches? Through words. Jack Welch often spoke of inspiring people and he himself often did; through sharp no nonsense and sincere words.

So, lets choose our words carefully for they have great powers. And, since we are talking about the power of words, the following may make the point more succinctly :


A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.
He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.'
There were only a few coins in the hat.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.
He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up.
A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.
That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.
The boy recognized his footsteps and asked,
'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'
The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what u said but in a different way.'
What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'
Do you think the first sign & the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Hard Times Are Coming...

It was the best of times....it was the worst of times...

Today, we as a nation are on the brink of greatness. With one simple and swift movement we can quantum leap this beloved nation of ours into the holy grail of developed status . With just one quick change, we can become the catalyst for the development of this region to its fullest potential. We can become the driver. Singapore can finally take a break and enjoy the ride instead!

Whats going for us right now? Let me list that :

1. We have the infrastructure. Vietnam is the new blue-eyed boy of investors but boy, do they have a long way to go for their infrastructure to be in place. Besides, only the most ignorant of politicians and policy makers will ask us to compete against Vietnam. Why should we? Vietnam is doing what we were doing in the 70's! We have moved up the scale. And, don't even dare to compare us with Burma!

2. We have an educated work force. Forget about their inability to deliver a decent presentation. Also, forgive them of their poor command of the English language: we didn't raise a whimper when the nation's leaders sent the language into oblivion. They are however, intelligent, hard-working and hungry for success. I know as in my previous life in the academia, I came across many, many of these gems. Many of them are now in Singapore and Australia (!).

3. Our two most important cultural,psychological and historical partners India and China have awaken.They are blazing their ways into world economic superstardom. We can easily take a ride with them. We just have to leave our hang-ups behind.

4. Europe is renewing, Asia is awakening and the United States is stagnant. That is just perfect for us. Lest others forget, let me remind you guys that Malaysia has many friends in Europe, Asia and Africa. Remember the axiom 'everything being equal, people buy from friends'? Well, I think its time to test that.

5. We ARE a materialistic society. That is good you know as that is what drives the economy. We buy more, we use more, and we create more.

6. We are right smack in the flattening of the world. We have always been a bridge between the east and the west. When Europeans started to sail around the world, they flattened the world in some ways and guess where they stopped to rest and re-stock? So, we have always had a role to play in the gradual flattening of the world. We need to seek out our new roles in the latest round of world-flattening.


7. We are no.3 in business process outsourcing. We are one of the largest trading nations. We have one of the biggest maritime fleet. We have some of the most iconic structures (ask the branding guys and they will tell you how poorly we are using these to our advantage), we still have one of the largest rain forest reserves in the world, we still a substantial oil reserves ( remember how 20 years ago they said we will run out of oil in 20 years time?.

8. And finally, of course we are behind Maldives in FIFA world ranking! Hey, it could be worse...so who cares.


So with all the above what is that "...one simple and swift movement we can quantum leap this beloved nation of ours into the holy grail of developed status . With just one quick change, we can become the catalyst for the development of this region to its fullest potential."? My list would be the following; I would like to hear yours too.

1. A change in mind-set towards China, India and Africa.Don't watch too much CNN.
2. True and fair talent attraction and retention strategies.
3. De-politicization of education.
4. Political will to bring back the English language into prominence.
5. Focus on racial unity.
6. Empower institutions of higher learning.
7. Better branding of our strengths
8. Outsource our football to the Maldives!

Cheers everybody.

The Starbucks Generation

The Starbucks Generation is a term coined to describe a new breed of people. Amazing isn't it? An entire demographic segment has been identified with a product; in this case the Starbucks Coffee. But, that's for another day. What I would like to examine here is : Who is this Starbucks Generation?

The Starbucks generation is supposed to elude to the new generation of people who have the following characteristics :

1. Constantly on the move.
2. Constantly connected.
3. Constantly networking with others.
4. Constantly yearning for better, bigger, faster.
5. Constantly spending.

There you are...the Starbucks Generation.

This is the generation that is supposed to do business at the 'speed of thought'. They are addicted to every tiny bites of information and as a natural extension of that, the Internet. They are obsessed with career development. They, if a friend of mine is to be believed, have nothing but their careers. They are are in love with themselves and their careers. They are apolitical with a devil may care cavalier.

The implication: How do we, the non-Starbucks Generation manage them at our work-place ? Will the tried and tested methods suffice or do we have to update ourselves with new skills and attitude? The jury is still out.

By the way...any good place for tea?

Cheers.