Leaderless Organizations?

Leaderless Organizations? Maybe a little less 'leadership' may not be such a bad thing after all. Here is why.


Lee Wei Lian wrote in the The Edge (20th October 2008) that he is amazed at how countries like Japan and Switzerland seem to continue developing and breaking new grounds in all aspects of human endeavors despite their politicians and their politics.

It got me thinking.

Japan has experienced numerous leadership changes at the highest levels and not all through the ballot box. The Americans too outwardly seem to be obsessed with their Presidents. Malaysians probably can identify with the drama of American presidential elections as we too are a nation of people obsessed with politics and its players. But, we are not going to talk about politics today but rather about the world of business.

Are we too preoccupied with business leaders rather than getting on with the business of business? Can a successful business be run like the way Japanese society seems to govern it self? Despite constant leadership changes and scandals the Japanese society, as pointed out by Lee Wei Lian, is a highly developed and evolved society. So are the Americans and western Europeans to a large extent. Can an organization too be like that? Can the employees of an organization make strong central CEO leadership irrelevant and grow and prosper without C-level 'worship'? Is that good?

Organizations need strategic directions and these may change as dictated by market conditions and technological shifts. Not all in an organization are gifted or skilled to provide these strategic directions. So, lets give this one to the CEO.

But, what after that? Do we still need the CEO to drive the business or do we need a group of employees who now take the cue and go on with the business. Take for example, the American’s space technology and their dominance in planetary exploration. JFK gave them a dream and a target. That's it. The rest was all about the American people : The scientists, the researches, the thinkers, the teachers, the man on the street. They made it happen. They made it happen despite the assassinations , the defeats, the changes, the scandals, the downfalls, the successes, the failures of their presidents and politicians. They only needed a direction from their politicians and then they hit the ground running and as no president had ever since indicated that they should stop this adventure, at any given time there is probably 5 or more American ‘eyes’ flying past or are exploring the most distant celestial bodies in the galaxy.

Why can’t an organization be the same? Why do we need constant CEO interventions? Why is this one position so critical to organization’s success? Is that the way it is supposed to be or is it as Lee Wei Lian says of our society, “ We in Malaysia have somehow been brought up to believe that politics is the be-all and end-all of our country’s success”.

So, lets assume that an organization can indeed be like the self governing and self-directed societies that I have used as comparisons above. What shape should the organization be and what type of employees should it have? Firstly, I think the way forward for future organizations is to become ‘Remote-Networked’ Organizations. I am going to call these as RMOs (no pun intended and remember I am the first to use it!).


Can this happen? I wonder...

I am always amazed at the eloquence of how British football pundits write about the beautiful game. I suppose other European football writers write in equal eloquence but since the only European language I know is the Queen’s English, I follow the musings, ranting and analyses of English football writers who often times not only rant and analyse the EPL but also other European and international competitions. So, I rarely miss the Saturday edition of the NST as it has a special section dedicated to EPL news.

Last Saturday was no different and I was not disappointed. The centre piece was about the plight of Newcastle United. This once proud club with its imposing St James stadium where some of the EPL’s biggest stars earned their stripes is now languishing both in league ranking and also popularity. In fact, the events unfolding at this club is akin to a seriously mis-managed corporate organization. The cast is headed by its billionaire owner, Mike Ashley. Another example is Tottenham Hotspur owned by another billionaire in the form of Joe Lewis. The highlight of his and his gang of businessmen-managers of the club is that Dimitar Berbatov headed to Manchester United while Robbie Keane packed his bags and left for Liverpool.

The common threat running in both clubs (and also a few other EPL clubs) is that their owners don't seem to trust their managers enough to allow them to do what they need to do. So, they appoint a ‘director of football’ who is nothing more than a changing-room spy who reports back to club owners who are probably golfing their days away somewhere else. This reminds me of the laments of many a manager in today's corporate settings who don't feel trusted enough by their leaders. Well, I have blogged before on the Economics of Trust so lets not get into that again here.

Back to the EPL, the irony is that the EPL seems to slowly prove that in the future, football clubs can become a profitable business even if the club is languishing at the bottom of the table. Ask Levy, if you can find him on his yatch somewhere in the Mediterranean, as Spurs, despite languishing at the bottom of the table will announce a huge profit this year which is expected to be far higher than even last years’s profit of 27.7 million pounds. It seems that the business of football will soon become business in football.

Finally, I also learnt a gem of a thought from Mohamed Hammam, the chief honcho of the AFC who in his call for Sepp Blatter not to overstay his welcome in FIFA said that “ The more you stay, the longer you are in power, whether you like it or not and no matter who you are, the less evolution there can be. You create statutes to save you”.

Pele said that football is the beautiful game. I think he meant that in more ways than one.

Oh by the way, my club, Aston Villa is finally showing some of its latent quality. The loss to Chelsea last week was not something to be embarrassed about. The Villains will prove a point or two this season. In Martin O'Neil Villa has an astute manager who has an uncanny ability to bring out the best from any player. Though, I still feel they need to get at least one high profile striker....maybe Henry! One would dare to dream.

In the meantime, the Merdeka Tournament is up next. For those of you of a certain age and generation, you remember the good old days when the Merdeka Tournament was a big thing. Well, the good times are not back yet, looking at the invited teams but at least its still alive. So, get excited and be prepared to be disappointed. I find that's the best strategy to wake up for work the next day when it comes to the national team.

As for Villa fans (all 5 of you out there!)....Viva Villa!

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi vs The Wolves of Putrajaya

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi : The Best Prime Minister We Could Have Had. That will be how we remember him. Not now, not soon. But surely one day.

For those of you who visit www.firstcoffee.blogspot.com , you will know that I rarely touch on political issues except during certain critical times. In my almost 3 years of blogging, I have probably wrote something related to politics in less than 5 postings.

Now, is one of those critical times. This is one of the times when one needs to make a stand even if that means nothing in the bigger scheme of things. But, ,make a stand one must as that is the least one can do in this maddening era.

At last….finally…the wolves have retreated back into the dark sinister forests from which they had emerged since March 8, 2008. But they have retreated in victory and their prize is the head of the man who could have been the best prime minister this country could have had.In their wake we have a wasted land bathed in hate,suspicions and fear. They drew blood. Oh yes, they drew much blood. Blood of the innocent and the principled. Datuk Zahid was the first. Abdullah followed and there will be more.

The sheeps, the people of this country, sighed in relief when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced his decision not to contest for UMNO’s presidency and thereby effectively relinquish his post as the Malaysian prime minister. We thought this will at last bring some semblance of sanity to our political landscape. History will judge our assumption wrong.

I must say that the people, us, have erred.
Did we realize that there were in fact two packs of wolves making our lives miserable these last year or so. One is the opposition and the other is from within UMNO it self. The former was visible and we could hear them snapping at our heals. The latter was among us, or more precisely among the majority of well meaning UMNO members. This pack was led by the master Wolf himself, Mahathir Mohamed. A great man once said that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men do nothing. We have done nothing and we have helped sow an evil seed in this nation and we will reap its foul returns in the years to come. We have given new life to those original ‘divide-and-rule’ con-artists who have paraded themselves as statesmen and nation builders. Yes…it was not the British that employed the divide and rule tactic it was those from among us. Now, they have awaken. We will be divided and they will rule us.

Politicians are politicians just as wolves are wolves. The few non-wolves in some of the political parties and administrations today will not last long. Wait and see. Do we seriously think that a man who has dedicated his life to fight for the rights of the underprivileged can continue to serve the prince of wolves, Anwar Ibrahim? Can the scion of Abdul Razak overcome the surrounding wolves in the form of UMNO divisional war-lords constantly emboldened by Mahathir and his scions? They, despite their sincerity and good intentions will not be able to protect us. Only our collective wisdom can save the day.

In allowing Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be cowed into ‘resignation’ our wisdom has failed us. Or is it our will that have deserted us?

There is probably a whole new generation today in Malaysia. This generation is not one distinguished by age but one differentiated by it’s weltanschauung and its believe that this nation can be more than it is now. This is the generation that has swept away 50 years of widely accepted truisms in many aspects of the Malaysia psyche. I reckon, since I am also a member of this generation, there is now a new awakening taking place which will probably be realized sooner than any of us might dare to believe.

This is the awakening that the post of our nation’s Prime Ministerhip is far too important to be decided by two men or a group of men (and a woman). There has to be a better way of doing this while maintaining the status quo as enshrined by the constitution and the sacred social contract as has agreed upon by our founding fathers. UMNO members has to find a better, more enlightened way, of deciding their supreme leader as their choice affects the entire nation.

In the form of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, UMNO had within its grasps a man with a form of servant-leadership qualities that could have given this nation a soul and which would have leap frog us into a mature developed nation. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi could have been the best Prime Minister we could have ever hoped for in our nation’s quest for a deserved place among the most modern and progressive Muslim majority nation on earth. It is devastating, at least for me, that UMNO (and the rest of us) have missed this chance and this man is being hounded by those from within and without.

What has this man done wrong?

He could have very easily continued the legacy of his predecessor and basked in the glories that would have surely followed. He could have announced mega projects after mega projects which would have kept the wheels of our inflated economy spinning and with it the existing bands of political and business warlords would have continued with their death grip on this nation. He could have erected a memorial for his predecessor and kept running back to him for advice. He could have made his predecessor his ‘minister mentor’. He could have been a ‘care-taker manager’ for the previous regime.

More importantly, he could have continued to stifle freedom of the press and extent his tentacles into the deepest recesses of the judiciary. He could have continued to stifle civil voice. He could have continued to aggravate relationships with our key partner nations to divert attention away from his own shortcomings. He could have done so many other things that could have avoided the situation that he is in now. He could have, simply put, continued with the old.

But, he refused to ‘continue’. He wanted to change.

Who has lost out in this change? The nation? The BN? The government of the day is still the BN and everything we see and enjoy today is the product of the BN government. The people as a whole thank only the BN for the good tidings in their lives and of course blame the BN for the bad fortunes that seem to visit them every now and then. But, having a stronger opposition is not a misfortune that the people in general are blaming the BN or the Prime Minister for. It is the people who have decided for a little change and this ability to dream about a vastly different direction of how this nation should move forward is a direct result of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s magnanimous leadership style and his courage to take on entrenched parasites in our national institutions.

So, this change that is sweeping the nation now is a bane to only the old guards, the bourgeois and the political and economic cronies of the previous administration. It is a pain only to those who can flourish in a closed, racially divided and ethically corrupt environment. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi struck at the heart of the cancer that is eating away national institutions and structures.

The next question that begs to be asked is: What will his successor do differently as be different he must. Otherwise why the rush to change the leadership in the first place? If Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s style of leadership is to be rejected than what is the alternative? A return to Mahathirism? God forbid!

I shudder at the thought of where the nation is heading. I emphatize with Rear Admiral ( R ) Tan Sri K. Thanabalasigam who was the first local navy chief and the one and only non-Malay navy chief. In his column in the NST recently he wrote : “ I have never seen us more divided than we are today, except perhaps immediately after May 13”. I did not experience that dark day my self but being a student of History in my undergraduate days and for having the privilege of being tutored by some of the best History professors in USM I can say here that the real and unvarnished truth about May 13 is still hidden from mass view. For the students of un-biased History, you will know that just as now, back in 1969, there were two packs of wolves, one from the opposition and one from deep within the labyrinth of UMNO’s feudal war-lord driven political structures.

The wolves are out…..again. Brace for their onslaughts.

Grapes & Bombs: Focusing on What Works

I once read a speech purportedly given by Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. He lamented Indian media’s penchant for bad news. He asked why Indian media can’t emulate their Israeli counterpart. It seems, during one of his trips to Israel (this must be during his nuclear-bomb making days!) there was a series of bomb explosions in Tel Aviv and its surroundings areas. The headlines of a major local newspaper the next day screamed about the success of a Israeli man turning a desert land into a grapevine! The bomb attack made it into somewhere in the middle pages.

This story came to my mind when recently a fellow consultant shared some articles on Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The basic tenet of AI is simple and profound all at once. Essentially, AI postulates that we should focus on the positives rather than the negatives…...on the grapes not the bombs! Say for example, a senior executive team goes on a retreat to brainstorm reasons on why there is a high rate of turnover in their organization and spend days on it. What will they find? A hundred reasons why people leave. But, what does that solve? What if, says AI, they focused instead on why people stay in their organization even seemingly despite the fact many others are leaving or are planning to leave?

I suppose that changes the whole dynamics at how one looks at organizational challenges. By beginning an inquiry from the positives is definitely more empowering and energizing. In the case above, the executives may find the following reasons (positive) as to why there are still loyal employees in the organization:
1. The company looked after them during the good times
2. Working for the company has a prestige factor attached to it
3. The company has a good history among the local folks
4. The company takes people places (or used to), etc

On the contrary, if the executive team had begun their soul searching by asking the question why their people are leaving in droves, they may have found out that :

1. Over the years the company had forgotten how to look after its people
2. The company’s merit based compensation has been corrupted
3. The company’s behavior in the market place is no longer aligned to its vision and mission
4. The company’s policies and procedures are outdated, etc


Both ways, the executive team would have found out some answers but the quality of their brainstorming will vastly differ. By focusing on the negative, we give life and energy to the negative. By focusing on the positive, we give life to the positive. All said and done, people are more energized by the positives than the negatives. It is the things that work that matters in an organization. People leave an organization not because of the things that don’t work today but because of the things that used to work but aren’t working anymore. Find these things and mend them and we can keep our people; or at least we can make them stop and think that we are sincere in taking their views into account.


There is a company I know which is a house-hold name. It used to attract young talents in droves. Now, it is shedding its work-force faster than its HR can recruit. As expected, the management team has been identifying all the reasons why the company is loosing people (especially the younger ones) but the problem still persists. I asked one of the managers what made the company attractive previously and the key message that I got was that it used to be a creative company with sufficient room for people to experiment, make mistakes and learn. Today, after years of double digit growth, the company has become complacent and risk-averse – which means creativity and innovation are no longer a prime quality desired from its employees. Herein the solution! What this company needs to do now is to make it more creative, dynamic and mistake-tolerant. Why? Because, it worked before.

An interesting parallel could be made here in relation to Proton’s gradual turn-around. Take away all the technical and financial lexicon, what essentially has turned around Proton is that it went back to what works. In this case making a fuel efficient, quality, people oriented and affordable car (Persona and the new Saga). The other 20 reasons why Proton was failing is immaterial. All it needed is one example of something that used to work.

As for Abdul Kalam, he can take comfort in the fact that one of his most illustrious countrymen, billionaire Vijay Mallya said recently that “In any situation there are positives, and even though you cannot gloss over problems, you really need to build on the good parts…” Mallya was referring to the fact that his Force India Formula 1 team is yet to win a single point with only 3 mores races left in the season.

May the Force (that works) be with us!

In the Company of Great Women!

The following is a list of the 10 most powerful women in business as listed in http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0809/gallery.women_mostpowerful.fortune/index.html which listed 50 most powerful women in world business.

I thought I am quite well read as far as business is concerned until I read the whole list. My goodness! I am such an ignorant fool or at least an ignorant fool who assumes too much. Other than PepsiCo, Sara Lee, Kraft Foods, Avon and Harpo which I knew were helmed by women, I was totally (but pleasantly) surprised to see women behind the success of such great companies like Xerox, GE and IBM. These giants have women helming some of their most profitable businesses.

Interestingly from the list of 50, only two are blacks ( Oprah and Ursula Burns, President of Xerox) while Marissa Mayer of Google is the youngest at 33.

It was also reported that if the much anticipated ‘change’ of leadership from Anne Mulcahy to Ursula Burns takes place, it will be the first ever (I mean the first ever since Adam bossed around Eve) that a woman-to-woman CEO leadership change will take place.

OK…now for the list of the 10 greatest for 2008 with a little description of why they should be on the list. All information are quoted (sometimes verbatim) from the website as indicated above.


1. Indra NooyiChairman and CEO
PepsiCo (PEP)

Nooyi has moved swiftly to offset slowing beverage sales in North America by expanding the international business, which now represents 26% of revenues
2. Irene RosenfeldChairman and CEO
Kraft Foods (KFT)

Warren Buffett recently upped his stake to 9% so that should mean something. I think.
3. Pat Woertz
Chairman, President, and CEO
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Woertz's $70 billion "supermarket to the world" ranks ahead of giants like PepsiCo and Intel on the Fortune 500.
4. Anne MulcahyChairman and CEO
Xerox (XRX)

A tough business climate sent Xerox's stock back to its 2006 levels, but Mulcahy is widely lauded for pulling off a full-scale turnaround since taking over in 2001.

5. Angela Braly
President and CEO
Wellpoint (WLP)

No really sure why she is on the list. The analysis given was not rosy.

6. Andrea JungChairman and CEO
Avon Products (AVP)

As part of a three-year extreme makeover, Jung trimmed management, invested $100 million in research facilities, and tripled ad spending. In China, Avon has doubled the number of direct-selling reps to 700,000. Hmmm…maybe the Communist Party should worry more about the Avon Army than the Falun Gong.



7. Susan Arnold
President, Global Business Units
Procter & Gamble (PNG)
No idea why she is here too.
8. Oprah Winfrey
Chairman
Harpo

Need I say anything more?
9. Brenda BarnesChairman and CEO
Sara Lee (SLE)

Barnes has spent three years on a cost-cutting tear, shedding underperforming units that accounted for 40% of revenue..
10. Ursula Burns
President
Xerox (XRX)

She is on the list because….well…because its Xerox.

The Great American Bail-out!

" In our nation's history, there have been moments that require us to come together across party lines to address major challenges.This is such a moment"

George W. Bush
US President


The 'moment' that Bush is referring to is the US$600 billion that Uncle Sam has commit ed to in its efforts to bail out some of the most illustrious names in American (world) finance.

As far as I can see, the US government has nationalised Freddie Mac, Fannie May and AIG. I guess 'bail-out' is a more politically palatable term than 'nationalization'. Lehman Brothers have been wiped out and there is more to come....not necessarily in America but also in other parts of the world. In a way, I am glad this has happened as even in bad cases like this, the sooner the better. It is good for all of us when our policy makers are forced to witness market forces debunking their propagandist economic projections and analysis. Remember the 'de-coupling' theory swirling around the last couple of years in major conferences and business publications? Well, if that's true, why are we so worried about the American economy? Aren't we supposed to be well on our way to become independent of American economic hegemony? There were some in the so called 'think-tanks' who would have us believe that the new holy grail of economic prosperity is India and China. These two countries are economic giants but as the way things stand now, all economic roads do lead to Washington not to New Delhi or Beijing. India and China are economically self sufficient countries whose domestic consumption can fuel their major industries. Not us. We still need the world and this world catches cold when the USA sneezes.

The troubles of American economy will illustrate the fact that as in greatness so will the effects of American 'power' be felt in its decline. If it is a decline.

The prudent step forward for us is to re-visit our economic fundamentals and have a vision for the next 50 years vis a vis India, China and as I have said many times before, Africa too. We need to stop deluding our selves that we can be free of American economic influence. America is not in decline....yet. Its fundamentals are just too strong for that to happen any time soon.

So, the message that we need to send to our decision makers is : Cut the crap. get down to work and give us the hard facts. I would rather work with a truthful bad news than a false good news. And, as Tan Sri Jawhar of ISIS has commented recently,it's time for the everybody to become part of the solution.

On another note : The latest annual report by Interbrand, Coca Cola is the most valuable brand for the eighth year. Financial players like Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have dropped places while Honda has improved.

Well, life should be just fine when Coke is still around!

Anwar Ibrahim : Lessons for Change Agents (?)

What do you do when you have to bring a tremendous change into your organization and the odds are heavily stacked against you?

You do the Anwar thing!

First you say something so grand that nobody takes you seriously. You repeat it now and then to keep it hot. Of course it will become the butt of jokes and there will smirks when you pass by the office water cooler. In fact, your old office sex scandal will be rekindled to cast doubts on your grand plans.

While the rest are doubting your ability to bring about that grand change of yours, don't loose heart. Work silently behind the scenes to influence key stake holders. Remember, in any organization these are not necessarily from the top ranks alone, they can also be from the lower ranks. Talk to them, cajole them and gain their confidence. Sometimes there are enough silent dissatisfaction with the goings on in your organization that you can have enough ears to listen to your change proposal. Getting them to listen to you is a fantastic start because you know that if only they listen, you can convert them to your cause.

Next, you wait for a opportune moment to blast into your organization’s radar. This may be in the form a company strategic retreat or town-hall (in the case of Anwar, it was the general election). Once again state your grand change plan. There will still be those who doubt you but you also have a band of change coverts now. Your doubters may even taunt you with words like ‘Lucy’, ‘Back seat’ and ‘doggy’ which are all somehow related to your alleged office sex scandal. Don’t despair as with more heads nodding to your favour, an amazing transformation will take place! Your idea will not sound so preposterous anymore! ‘Lucy’ will slowly fade into the background where she deservedly belongs.

Now, you are ready to move to the next stage : A personal victory to reinforce the fact that you can make the change happen. Anwar did that with Permatang Pauh. You have to find your own Permatang Pauh. It can be a 20 minutes meeting with your group CEO or your Tan Sri Chairman. Make sure that as many people hear about your little ‘success’ even if the CEO just said that he appreciates your pro-activeness and nothing else. But be smart; tell your CEO that you would like to speak to him again during his next visit for a more refined presentation. Plead with him to give you a chance. All the better if your wife used to work for him as his PA. Remind him what a good job she has done for him. Only a dumb CEO will not make the connection between a good PA-wife and a would be change agent-husband.

With this little but hugely meaningful victory, you state your change plan with more boldness. You increase your confidence meter a little more. The only difference is, this time you say to all and sundry your change plan’s time frame. Nothing gives purpose more life than dates and numbers. State it as if it is already happening. Let your doubters loose sleep over these dates and numbers.

Now, this is when your distracters will decide that they have had enough of you. They will try to derail you by ensuring that the CEO’s next trip coincides with your planned trip to Taiwan for a conference on new agriculture technology although your company is the motor lubricant industry. Anyway, you know best why you need to go there.

But you are too smart for that childish trick because you have already developed enough change agents who will be able to present the more refined change plan to the CEO with as much passion and conviction as you can. So, off you go happily to Taiwan.

Once you are back from Taiwan...

NOTE : As the Anwar saga has not ended, his continuing lessons to us will have to be put on hold while the story unfolds. Will keep you updated.

IBM CEO STUDY 2008 : Enterprise of the Future!

IBM’s 2008 CEO Study revealed some surprising and not so surprising insights into the goings on in the minds of CEOs. Its quite an impressive study : 40 countries, 32 different industries with 19% of the companies with more than 50,000 employees and 22% with less than 1000 employees. It involved 1130 CEOs and public sector leaders. It is a study with sufficient breadth and width.

The not so surprising finding is that the CEOs are all in unison in voicing the need for their organization to successfully undergo effective change. The surprising finding though is that 75% of the CEOs admitted that their organizations’ approach to change is on a ad hoc basis! There is more, 8 out of 10 CEOs said that they are expecting their organization to undergo substantial change in the next 3 years. Two-thirds are implementing extensive innovations to their business models. More than half of the CEO sample said they plan to drastically change their organizations’ capabilities, knowledge and assets with 71% planning to collaborate with others to get some of their operational work done (read outsource).

The CEOs have also identified 3 factors that they deem will provide the greatest impact to their bottom-line : Market factors (48%), people skills (48%) and technology (35%).

Finally (these are only some of the findings, there are more actually) 66% of the CEOs plan to use M&A as their expansion and global integration strategies.

The study have also identified the kind of enterprises that can survive the future. These enterprises with the following characteristics:

1. They are hungry for change
2. They are innovative beyond customer imagination
3. They are globally integrated
4. They are disruptive in nature
5. They are more than just generous; they are genuine.


Basically, the successful enterprises of the future will those which are continuously changing and looking for opportunities to change the way they do business and the products and services they offer. These continuous change is also reflected in the way they interact with customers and how they keep delighting customers with innovative services and customer experiences.

The successful enterprise of the future will also be globally integrated because more and more of them will have a global footprint. This global footprint will not stop them from being nimble in changing and adapting to local and regional needs. In fact they will disrupt their competitor and their industry by continuously changing the way the game is played.

The successful enterprise of the future will do all the above while maintaining a sense and purpose of genuine ownership of the environment in which they function in and the people whom they serve and also for those who work for them.

And, Guess what? This IBM study also set out to understand the differences in response between those CEOs whose organizations are out performing their rivals financially and those who are under performing financially. The verdict : The former is braver, more nimble, more change welcoming and more daring in changing the status quo!

In summary, the major findings of the study can be listed as below ( I am taking the following verbatim from the report) :

1. Organizations are bombarded by change, and many are struggling
to keep up.

2. CEO s view more demanding customers not as a threat, but as an
opportunity to differentiate.

3. Nearly all CEO s are adapting their business models — two-thirds are
implementing extensive innovations.

4. CEO s are moving aggressively toward global business designs,
deeply changing capabilities and partnering more extensively.

5. Financial out performers are making bolder plays.


NOTE : Some quotable quotes from the study :
1. The consumer’s concept of quality will no longer be measured by only the physical attributes of a product — it will extend to the process of how the product is made, including product safety, environmental compliance and social responsibility compliance.”
Victor Fung, Chairman, Li & Fung

2. “ Simply put, we want significant share in markets growing faster than others, which for us is more than
25 percent.”
Ron Logue, Chairman and CEO, State Street

3. “ We have seen more change in the last ten years than in the previous 90.”
Ad J. Scheepbouwer, CEO,KPN Telecom

4. “The key to successful transformation is changing our mind-set. For large companies, it is easy to be
complacent — we have to change this. Our company culture must have a built-in change mechanism.”
Masao Yamazaki, President and CEO, West Japan Railway Company

5. “ In a growing market, strong product functionality is most important to customers. However, in a mature market, we must also appeal to customers’ feelings and emotions. It’s critical to find the ideal balance of both.”
Motoki Ozaki, President and CEO, Kao Corporation

6. “ We must redefine our value proposition to customers.
Information and advisory content are becoming even more valuable than traditional drivers.”
H. Edward Hanway, Chairman
and CEO, CIGNA Corporation

Global Leadership

Was Henry The Navigator a global leader? The great Khans of Mongolia and the Vikings? I suppose its difficult to view them as such. It is much easier to provide modern examples of who is a global leader and what makes global leadership. Today, we use corporate chieftains as examples of global leaders. Carlos Ghosn, Welch, Immelt, Bill Gates, Tata, Carlos Slim and a long list of others are viewed as global leaders. From the political elite, some names stand out more than others: Mandela is one of them.

Global leadership is not a 21st century phenomenon. Ever since man realized that the land he is hunting on is much bigger and wider than what his limited senses actually allowed him to experience, he has been dreaming (and scheming) to impact that wider world of his. Man has always thought and acted in ways that were clearly intended to impact the vast horizons beyond his grasp. Some of them tried to impact by physical means while others through their intellect; both religious and secular. So, global leadership has been around for a long, long time. Or at least, some form of it.

The difference today is in its ferocity and magnitude.

The action of one man or woman in one city may have a reverberating effect globally in a matter of minutes. A single spark of idea can open up an entire industry (or put another out of business). The borderless nature of modern day living has made global leadership quality stand out even more both in the private and public sectors. The value of today's C-suite leaders are not measured on merely how much profit they are bringing into the company today but more importantly, how much they can continue to bring in the years to come. The contribution of a city Mayor is expected to last much longer than his tenure. The legacy of a national leader is expected to take the country into a future that he or she may not even be around to witness.

To do these, that leader must have global leadership qualities. Of course, the fundamental leadership qualities such as communication skills, the ability to paint a compelling picture of where the organization is heading and the ability to energize others must be there. Over and above these, I think today's leaders need to have the following skills to become effective global leaders:

1. Able to develop local solutions from a global perspective
2. Able to develop a global connection from local conditions
3. Able to create a win-win space far beyond their control. That's why, I find it hard to put the names of George Bush, Putin, Mitterrand, Churchill next to the likes of Mandela, Gandhi and the Dalai lama as global leaders because the former are those who impacted the world only for the benefit of their country (space). Their thinking was directed to the sole purpose of self benefit (although at many times these were confused with utilitarian motives). In that sense, a global leader is one who thinks of a win-win approach for not only his stakeholders but also of others.
4. Able to have a mindset that is inclusive and exhibit this through their daily actions.
5. Able to synergize cultural differences into unique strengths. Google is doing this in a great way in India because the people currently heading Google India are those who have been exposed to global leadership responsibilities and experiences.

As we progress into the 21st Century, what makes a global leader and what qualities make global leadership will become clearer but it will not become less challenging nevertheless. Managing and leading is up for the next phase of revolutionary development. We may have to forgo some of our previously held notions of what makes good management and leadership.

Or do we?

Rabindranath Tagore : Lessons for Malaysia

I came across these beautiful words by Tagore. It was incorporated by the Petra Group in its advertisement for the Sekhar Foundation which was established in remembrance of the doyen of natural rubber and palm oil research - the late Tan Sri Dr. B. Sekhar. It moved me enough that I had a quick shower and walked down to my mamak cafe to post this.....I was actually planning for a little TV and chat with my girl-friend as tomorrow I will be down in Singapore. Well, the chat can wait. I need to put my thoughts down.

Here is the poem :


" When the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depths of truth
Where tireless striving strectches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
into ever-widening thought and action
into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake".

- Rabindranath Tagore -

Tagore, of course was offering this prayer for his beloved land of India. But, I suspect any one of us can utter the same prayer for our beloved Malaysia as we so desperately need to get "into ever widening thought and action". We are bombarded with a daily dosage of narrow and parochial thinking and arguments. Reason has been sacrificed for the sheer lust for power. Moderation has taken a back seat to unbridled words of hate. History is being prostituted to serve the needs of the corrupter. The roots that bind us have become the thorns that are bleeding our very souls.

While the nation's polity is sinking deeper into the quagmire of senseless hate speech and counter speech; the state of our economy is at the risk spiraling into the abyss of no return. In the same newspaper (NST) that I read the above poem, I also read Datuk Johan Jaafar's column. I love his writings but I found it difficult to agree with him with his latest piece. The political aspects aside, he wrote that we have to remember the formula that have made us great and that on many aspects we are as good or even better than the west. Well, this is typical of Datuk's generation. Datuk, let me tell you that the west is no longer the bench mark. We also do not believe the Mahathir era's illusion of grandiose. We know that we are being beaten to the finishing line in almost all spheres of educational,technological and economic endeavors. And we are not talking about the west beating us to it, we are talking about China, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Ireland and Mexico (the last 2 was never part of the so called developed west before, but they are pulling no punches now).

The formula that the good Datuk is talking about is the very fomula that has 'educated and moulded' us "...into the dreary desert sand of dead habit". We are singing the same old tune. We are dancing to the same old song. The world, it seems to me, is singing a different song. One that we are tune deaf to.

The entire Malaysian economic thinking is based on the same old tired formula : We make, people will buy". The problem is, others are making what we are making and they are doing one hell of a better job than us. So, where does that leave us? Lets produce more of the same. Or maybe, we should produce 'bio-technology' stuff. Lets set up a bio-engineering hub. For good measure, lets throw in a space technology hub since we had a Malaysian in space. Oh yes, lets also build on our head start in outsourcing (but sorry, we need to scrap English from the education system. Maybe our outsourcing clients will understand our narrow nationalistic needs and switch to Bahasa Malaysia instead!). So here we are with a master plan for various hubs.

WHERE IS OUR NICHE? WHAT IS OUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?

Somebody, anybody....please knock some sense into our politicians before we end up sending students to Vietnam to learn computer technology!


Note : Since my last entry on how Indian and Chinese companies are buying into what used to be their competitors, Tata Power is buying into an Australian power producing entity.

Orbis Unum!

Orbis Unum- Latin for 'one world'.

The age of globalization has given birth to orbis unum. Consider this : In 2ooo, Sony's market capitalization was four times bigger than Samsung's. Just two years later, that margin was erased. And by 2006, Sony's market capitalization had dropped to half that of Samsung" ( The Straits Times (Singapore), August 30, 2008). Indian firms like Wipro, Tata Consulting Services and Infosys are buying out rivals and strategic partners in Europe and the US. Korea Development Bank is set to become the savior of Lehman Brothers, the troubled investment bank. Our very own Petronas has ventured well into the deepest oil producing regions of the African continent. A Malaysian company built the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Mumbai. The list goes on.

The point of orbis unum is is this : Merit thumps everything else.

In a world where boundaries are blurred by interdependent economies and production systems, more Malaysian companies need to wake up to the fact that the modern world owes them nothing. They have to venture out of this safe harbour we call home and get their hands dirty and bloodied in foreign lands. They need to become adventurous, take calculated risks and find niche markets where they can make a difference. The Indians and Chinese and to a lesser extent the Israelis have learnt this well. Today they have practically carved out little kingdoms for themselves. The western world may not admit to this openly but they are now looking at these 3 economies with envy as they have gone and done business with people and nations that the rest of the world had relegated to the footnotes of world economic-politics. They have embraced technologies and ideas that has signalled the arrival of a mini Renaissance.

Orbis unum means competition is based on knowledge. Knowledge that are cutting edge in nature. Knowledge that enhances every aspect of the product or services that we sell. Knowledge that is integrated into every aspect of the business process : Product design, packaging, marketing,etc. In essence, and I have said this many times, it is knowledge that gave birth to orbis unum/globalization and it is through knowledge alone that Malaysian companies will survive.

I visited the Singapore Night Safari last Saturday. The place was great. The proximity to the animals was exciting. But, the real difference was made by the tour guides who were so knowledgeable! The 'products' were there but the knowledge made the difference.

Can we say the same of our Zoo Negara....or our GLCs and MNCs?

Culture of Demonization

It is very troubling to see that we Malaysians have lost our ability to have an objective discourse (or maybe we never had it; we just pretended we did). The instance we hear an idea or an opinion contrary to that of our own, we launch into a litany of personal attacks that seems to have the single minded purpose of demonizing the ‘perpetrator’. As the years go by, we Malaysians have become a defensive lot. We want the world to agree with our point of view but yet we refuse to accept theirs.

This is a legacy of the past. There was a time when we were made to believe that against all odds and contrary to historical facts, we were special. We could do no wrong as long as we bulldoze our way through things. When others don't see our point of view all that we have to do is shout louder and drown out dissenting voices. We are the special ones (apology to Jose). Malaysia Boleh! Over the years we began to believe this myth. We closed ourselves to thoughts and opinions contrary to our own. We became insulated and lost the skill and ability to argue our case in a logical and matured manner. We have lost our poise in victory and grace in defeat. We have become the ugly barbarian of the developing world. Look at the way our democratic social discourse struggling to stake its rightful place in our new democratic landscape. Issues of race and religion are being discussed and debated on a very myopic perspective. Are there not a single thinker in this country who can help us see beyond the obvious and help explore a wholly new thought pattern? Well, tell me if you find one.

We Malaysians are in grave danger. We are breeding a culture of blind acceptance and loyalty to ideas and opinions without first allowing for the winds of opposing views to blow freely into our minds and intellects. We are growing a culture and thinking style so insular that we will become intellectual outcasts. Our competitive edge in the coming years will be our ability to be creative and innovative but this will not come about from a closed mid-set. Creativity and innovativeness are a direct result of an open mind. A mind that is comfortable and at ease holding multiple views (some of which may be opposing to each other)until a coherent association is made between these multifarious views to produce a unique thought or idea.

We need to respect thoughts and differences in thoughts. We need to encourage a culture of independent thinking. We have to tolerate unpleasant discourse and we have to build our capacity to hear opposing views. Most importantly we have to be humble enough to admit that no knowledge is perfect no matter hour holy its source may be as the the bridge between this source and us is only man...mistake and failure prone man.

I wish we are humble enough to admit this.

People Management in Uncertain Times

This is indeed the best of times, the worst of times…..


China is hosting its first ever Olympics. South Africa is feverishly preparing to host World Cup 2010.India recently launched the most number of multiple satellites in one single launch. Google is well on its way to digitalized human knowledge. Lenovo is on the verge of taking over the world of PCs. The human genome project is a continuing success. Cure for certain types of cancer is purportedly just around the corner. Alternative fuel is no longer alternative. Hybrid cars have become a norm.

This is indeed the best of times. It is almost cliche now but I still have to note here that the world has undergone more changes in the last 100 years than in the previous 1000 years. A quantum leap of sorts. We have impacted this planet in ways so profound that we have not even been able to comprehend it all yet. It is mind boggling to read about the kind of cutting edge researches being done to develop technologies that were the stuff of science fiction. It is even more stressful to the intellect to come across concepts, ideas and tenets that have all but challenged all that we use to hold dear. Quantum physics have explored and verbalized some of the most metaphysical aspects of human existence. New age religions are challenging the doctrines of thousand-year old traditions. Space expeditions are throwing up more questions than answers that have forced thinkers and philosophers to continuously reexamine human beliefs. Nano technology have opened an entire new world of possibilities.

And yet, this is the worst of times. World conflicts are ever present. None of the human conflicts that visited our fathers 50 years ago have been resolved. World War 2 ended but is yet to be resolved. New wars are being 'created'....Georgia, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq. The residual impact of World War 2 is all around if only we take the trouble to look deeper. Religious intolerance is growing. The schisms between nations, peoples and communities are so apparent that genuine brotherhood is difficult to come by today. World resources and financial markets are all but in the hands of a small group of elite shadowy hands. The manipulation of commodity prices and stock prices are just beyond the comprehension of the vast majority of people. The divide between the haves and the haves not have grown. The fight for our minds and hearts are waged on all fronts; political parties, religious bodies, corporate maneuverings, social institutions and everything else that exists today because they all have one thing in common : They are all tied to the world’s economic super highway. That's the truth. Whether it is 3M, Selayang General Hospital or the Tirupathi Temple in India : they are the on the world’s economic super highway. They are all connected but entirely separate at the same time. The other thing that they have in common is that they are all demanding our loyalties.

Our employees bring this muddled state of affairs into the office. Manage it!

The role of a manager or anyone who needs to manage the performance of others need to undergo a total evo-revolution. There will be some things in a manager’s repertoire of knowledge that can undergo evolutionary changes; the type that the manager will have the luxury of time. There will be yet others that the manager will need to change with a revolutionary zealousness where time is a luxury.

I am going to focus on the latter and on one particularly critical one : the attitude of a manager.

We are used to the question of who makes a good manager but I would rather ask the question why anyone becomes a manager? The obvious answer is of course that it is the natural growth of people in an organization. Well, that's true. That's why Hitler came to take control of his party and Stalin his. Hitler was energetic, dedicated, passionate, focused, disciplined, believed in the vision and was loyal. So, it was only natural for him to go up the party ranks. What we never phantomed at that time was why he wanted to lead the party? The reason why a person becomes a manager will make all the difference to his or her people management style in this time of uncertainties. If you become a manager as a matter of ‘natural progression’ and thus go about your duties as a matter of duty; you had it.

You have to have the calling to become a manager. I can often see the difference in managers who are there as the natural order of things and those who truly deserved and desired to be there. Their words, actions and behaviors are a reflection of their calling in management. I have had the good fortune to work for some of these individuals both male and female.

Times have changed and will continue to change. Technology is changing. The business environment is changing. Social structures are changing (more and more single parents are at the work place), the education delivery system is changing (for example, more and more higher education institutions are going back to a generalist curriculum), work roles are changing, the traditional supply chain is changing, demand and supply is changing, world production patterns are changing. Now, how about your attitude towards those who work for you and with you?

Lets make this a truly best of times for our people through our more enlightened people management style. Our people come to work to make a living BUT more importantly they work to make a meaning out of this lives. Give them that meaning. Start with your self.

Note : At the beginning of the year I made some predictions for the year and among them was that the Beijing Olympics will the be grandest ever and the most controversial one. I can say, my prediction on this has come to pass . Tibet, the French threat to boycott the opening ceremony, the girl who lip-synced for the theme song, the digitally enhanced opening ceremony live telecast, and the murder of an American man have all added to the controversies. The amazingly sleek opening ceremony, the beautiful way how one talented Chinese film director has managed to keep the opening ceremony away from the cliched aspects China, the awe inspiring win of the Americans in the swimming relay event, the ongoing quest of the all-American poster boy, Phelps, the gold medal shooter from India who raised the joy of 1.2 billion Indians, the continuing magic of Lionel Messi, the quest of Roger ‘FedEx’ Federer to win the one medal not in his collection, the first ever Olympic medal for Togo will become Olympics legends. I suspect more examples of the human spirit will be exhibited in the coming days. I hope, that somewhere in these legends, the name of Malaysia will be etched.

Rediscovering Aristotle for Managing Discretionary Effort

It is said that the vast majority of the workforce do not use their discretionary effort for the purpose of organizational improvement. Discretionary effort refers to that extra bit of initiative and energy that an individual has total control over and has within him self or her self the absolute power whether to use or otherwise. Many high performers do not actually direct their discretionary effort and energy towards work related aspects. They do just enough to be at the high performing level but of course there are others who merely get by doing the bare minimum and just stay above water so to speak. We are interested in the former while the latter is a matter for more efficient and effective performance management systems and processes.

Those high performers who direct their discretionary effort and initiative away from the organization should be a cause for concern simply because I strongly believe that the best ideas, process improvements and such are produced in the 'zone of discretionary effort' not while doing the daily job description directed tasks. I suspect that the sheer wastage of human capital capacity and capability when there isn't a critical mass of people using their discretionary effort for the organization can be staggering.I hope somebody will research on this and give us a number for this in financial terms.

It is relatively easy to make a poor performer to become a high performer. There are many coercive and non-coercive tools for this. However, the decision to use any available discretionary effort lies entirely with the individual and there is no organizational tool that can compel her to use it for the benefit of the organization. Or is there?

Enter Aristotle. Yes,I know...can we still learn something from Aristotle in the age of Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey? I think so.

Lets look at the concept of telos. Telos or goal or a final purpose is central to the study of teleology. Aristotle was one of the earliest thinkers who propounded the idea that the behavior of everything in the universe can be understood from the aspect of telos or purpose. He also believed that everything has a natural function (destiny?fate?predisposition?)and it will strive to ac hive an equilibrium between being and doing that function.

Now, what could compel an individual employee to direct his or her discretionary effort for the benefit of the organization? How about a sense of purpose...a telos?
If you believe what Aristotle (and many subsequent thinkers and schools of thought)say about the driving force of motivation than you have to believe that it is a strong sense of purpose that moves people to do things that sometimes even surprise themselves. It is not the everyday 'get-by' screen saver mode kind of work or play but something more. Come August 8, we will see this on the playing fields and stadias of Beijing. The winners are those with a clear telos. They are able to extend that one last bit of effort to the finishing line.

So my advise to leaders and managers : Beyond your existing performance management systems and processes, watch out for your high performers who are not directing their discretionary effort towards the organization. Remember, the goal is to have a critical mass of those who do. There is a winning idea lurking somewhere....give that idea a telos to be voiced.

Conan , Vampire Hunter D & Philosophy

I bought another comic book. A few weeks ago I bought the gorgeously illustrated Conan - The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories. Written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by the legendary Cary Nord, this is a refreshing re-interpretation of Conan the Cimmerian (that's what his real name is). Yesterday I managed to get my hands on the Japanese manga, Vampire Hunter D; adapted and illustrated by the eternally passionate Saiko Takaki.

And to keep my feet firmly on the ground and away from the wild imaginings of the comic world, I managed to get Philip Stokes' Philosophy - The Great Thinkers, for a bargain.

Conan was beautiful. The colour rich and the visual effects brilliantly done. The story line was smooth and one can feel the two opposing ends of Conan's personality at war through-out the stories. One is of Conan the brutal warrior who takes no prisoners and the other a man of passion,love and wisdom. For a glorious two hours, I was taken on a ride to a magical land of warriors and fair maidens.

Enter, Vampire Hunter D. Done in classical Japanese manga style, this is one fluid and intense story with a illustrative style that can be confusing to a novice. The story is straight-forward as far as manga goes but that belies the fact that the illustrations have more to tell than the narration. So, one needs to have patience and an eye for details.

These comics don't come cheap. They are as expensive as some management books but they got my creative juices flowing for the work I need to get done this week. That was worth it.

A quick preview of Philosophy; remember the phrase 'change is the only constant'? Well, it was the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus who said 'permanence does not exist in the universe,only the permanent condition of change'. Over the centuries his words have resonated within those who have tried to make sense of the changes that they have witnessed all around them. For the unthinking mass, change is a nuisance but for the enlightened, change is an adventure.

I will share more on Philosophy in my next entry. Have a great week ahead everybody.

Australian Lessons : In More Ways Than One

It is good to be home! Despite the fact that I have a deep aversion to any sort of 'nationalism', it is always nice to be 'home' even if it is nothing more than a comfort zone. In fact, I felt at home the moment I boarded flight MH122....see MAS, I am still loyal to you despite my many criticisms of you.

Sydney was great. The program that I attended was great. The presenters delivered an excellent 2-day session despite the fact that they had to manage relatively green horns like me and more seasoned consultants. The session-closing wine session was a nice touch. I have acquired much knowledge and hope to share it with others here.

I also gained much learning on the streets of Sydney. I learned equally well from all the major Australian newspapers and the TV news. The headline on the Sydney Morning Herald on my first morning in Sydney was about the percentage increase in petrol, food and other essential items. There was a write-up about a family growing vegetables in their back plot to reduce grocery bills. There was a TV news report the next day on how many middle class Australians who are falling into the 'poor' category. In South Sydney, I saw a few homeless men and women struggling to keep warm in the biting cold. There was also this barefooted pregnant teenager who kept asking for cigarettes from anybody who cared enough to glance at her. Then there was this hungry looking old couple counting their money repeatedly before entering a MacDonald's.It was sad.

Then I thought about home. Not much difference. Despite the daily dose of political maneuvering and feel good news, many Malaysians are suffering. We are also struggling to make ends meet. We like the people all over the world are affected by the same invincible forces of global economy and proxy wars waged by the big powers of the world. In this quagmire, we the ordinary citizens of the world fall easy prey to hate based nationalistic propaganda. We forget our brotherhood. We think our neighbors are having it good at our expense. We search with a vengeance for every little differentiators be it colour, race, language, origin or religious belief. Half way around the world, Barrack Obama gave a stirring speech about the need to break-down walls of tribalism and walls that separate the Jews, Muslims and Christians. Interesting. But, I have no hope that politicians will make the change the world needs so desperately.

The change must begin right here with us now! We are not at siege by others. We are held ransom by a dangerously gone wrong world-view of Us vs Them.

The world needs more friends.

Organizational Effectiveness

"People are more comfortable with a consistent problem than an inconsistent solution"

--Andy, Right Management (Singapore)--





How do organizations become effective?

To become effective an organization needs internal synergy which I would define as a seamless movement and exchange of ideas, knowledge, resources,talent and responsibilities governed by the strategic orientation of the organization at any given time. An organization can be effective in different aspects at different times. It may also have different degrees of effectiveness at different times as most often than not, it is difficult to achieve a sustainable synergy between all the areas as mentioned above.

As a case in point, Air Asia was extremely effective in managing its costs in the early days of its operation. Its service suffered though. Then, it became effective in managing its costs and providing a reasonable standard of service. Now, it is trying to become effective in keeping its costs low, maintain service standards AND manage competition. Is Air Asia an effectiveness organization today? Yes and No. It is in a sense effective as it is able to grow its revenue and market penetration year on year but that can also be largely due to the protected business environment of the aviation industry. It's true effectiveness will come into full view upon the establishment of a more visible open sky policy in the region. But, I would not call Air Asia as an ineffective organization today. If we use the same model, Proton is also going through a similar organizational effectiveness cycle.

But then, an organization may be highly synergistic internally and yet less effective with its bottom-line issues. Starbucks may be one these example at least in the case of USA. It is a highly effective organization but external factors have slowly eroded its effectiveness. How it deals with it will determine its future effectiveness.

So, an organizations becomes effective by achieving a reasonable level of internal synergy as per it's strategic orientation and its effectiveness is a holistic phenomena which may change as it grows and expands.

Organizational effectiveness is not a straight forward matter. It threw up more questions than answers while I was reading and researching on it. However, my trip to Sydney next week to attend the Organizational Effectiveness Framework training hopefully will answer these questions.

The Living Organization

Over the weekend, I read another analogy to what an organization means.

The analogy of an organization as a ‘living organism’ or more precisely as a human body is not something new but has taken on a new meaning in today’s knowledge economy. Basically, the analogy that the organization is a like a human body describes the organization as having a head (the leadership), a heart (the strategy), the arms and legs (the employees). The head needs to figure out the right strategy and find the needed resources to fire the heart which will then be acted upon by the arms and legs.

I have no qualms with this analogy except that do you notice the underlying assumption being made here? The assumption is that the entire success factor of the organization moves from top-down. The leadership creates the strategy then energizes the employees who will in turn deliver on the strategies. I have a problem with this simply because it sounds so 20th century!

Now, what is the 'blood' of the organization? Most of the analogies that I have come across fail to equate 'blood' to any part of the organization. Blood is what that carries all the oxygen and nutrients. In organizations, I would equate that to knowledge. So, where is knowledge situated in today’s organization? They used be situated at the head in yesterday’s organizations but today, they are situated throughout the organization. Just like the human body where the blood permeates The entire organizational body is glowing with this knowledge and not just at the head. The head may be in a position to develop the strategies and the directions with a certain amount of knowledge but by the time this knowledge hits the heart, arms and legs, the environment would have changed so much that the original knowledge structure would need extensive re-interpretation, re-modification and re-fortification to make it work at the most fundamental levels.

So, any analogy to make sense of the organization will be fine I guess, as long as it is not a linear top-down one. That's just too simplistic for my taste. Countless researches have shown that most organizations fail not due to poor strategy but due to weak implementation. In my experience, organizations that are weak in implementation also have a weak knowledge sharing structure. In these organizations, knowledge becomes a source of power rather than as a competitive advantage. Knowledge is hoarded and moves down on a need-to-know basis. Critical knowledge is often not available to those on the ground who are entrusted to execute strategies.

So, if the organization is like a living body than it is time pay a little more attention to the all too important blood of the organization....knowledge.

Cheers and have a great week ahead everybody.

Selling with a Soul!

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not....Oprah Winfrey





My personality profiles, of which I have a few, says that I will make a good salesperson. One says that I will excel in consultative sales. I used to think that I am not...that somehow these profilers have got it wrong with me but now I think I have always been a salesperson. I don't sell much ( as I didn't have a reason to) but I have been doing what good sales people are supposed to do, at least according to the sales books that I am reading.

So, what makes a successful sales person or rather what must one do to become successful at sales? Here goes some insights from a 'non-salesperson' who thinks he is not too bad after all:

1. Demonstrate integrity.
2. Show genuine interest, concern and care for client's 'pains'
4. Always...always steer the conversation to a common ground be it fashion,children, golf, or food.
5. Recognize that males and females buy differently.
6. Be convinced in what you sell.
7. Always sell solutions not products as products are a dozen a dime.
8. The higher the importance of the buying the more careful the buyer will be.This has nothing to do with the monetary value of the buying.
9. Be pro-active.
10. Be passionate.I have developed a simple tool called the 'Passion Meter' to gauge how fast one moves up the ladder from first contact to closing the sales.Remember our first love? Were we not passionate about that person? Didn't we have a game plan? Well, sales is not very much different from that.

I remember many years ago when a very succesful insurance sales agent told me that he is succesful in what he is doing because long ago before that he had learnt the lesson that he should stop 'selling' insurance. When he did that, his insurance business started to sell it self. So what did he sell then...dreams. The insurance was just a tool for his customers to 'buy' their dreams.

In my line of work, I don't sell programs. I sell solutions. Solutions that solves a problem or provides some cure for organizational ailments.

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.