Downsizing & Retrenchment : A More Dignified Exit for Employees

The plain truth is that many organizations in Malaysia are shedding their work-force as one of the strategies to weather the current cycle of economic down turn. The reality is also that not many seem to be doing it the right way.

In industry parlance, this is called transiting employees out of the organization. It is rare that an employee does not suspect that he or she is next on the chopping block. They would have heard through company grapevine and from hints dropped at team meetings that some form of workforce reduction will take place. Yet, when the news is finally delivered officially, many employees still go into a state of shock. I suppose there is a difference in actually hearing it from one’s manager. One can only imagine the fear and desperation setting in when the whole inevitability of the matter sinks in. Denial turns into fear which turns into anger than to self-blame and finally to despair. An unfortunate and entirely avoidable situation really, if only organizations take a little bit of effort to manage this more humanely.

Unfortunately many organizations, big and small, do not prepare their managers and supervisors to manage employee transitions well. Affected employees are often notified in a manner that is either overly business like or too apologetic. Both will not do any good for the organization and for the affected employees . Being overly business like may give the wrong impression that the organization is not emphatic while being too apologetic gives out the message that the organization feels guilty for doing something that is ‘wrong’; which in actual fact is not. Reducing head-count is well within the prerogative of the employer especially when it is justified. An uncertain economic climate, recession in our key export markets, impending recession in our secondary markets and a topsy-turvy raw materials cost are all very well justified causes for why any organization would need to keep its costs low and manageable. However, as much as it is well within the prerogative of an organization to hire and fire, I believe that in the long run Malaysian organizations will reap far more benefits, both tangible and non-tangible, if they conduct their employee transition exercises in a more enlightened way.

I suspect that many organizations don't see the need to invest the time and resources to do employee transition in the right manner because they feel it is a wasted investment. After all the employee is leaving the organization. Herein lies the shortsightedness of many. Ensuring an employee is properly transited out of the organization not only benefits the departing employee but also the organization in the long run vis a vis the feel good factor created for those who are still in the organization. How would an employee who is not affected in the work-force reduction view the organization when he sees his colleague being unceremoniously dumped out of the organization? How motivated will he be to stay on with the organization? Or, will he spend his days thinking about his own uncertain future? On the other hand, how about the hundreds of people the affected employee is going to come into contact post-termination? How will he portray his previous employer? What kind of stories and images will his family and friends make up about this organization?

It is not enough for organizations to extol the value of their ‘people asset’ during the good times. It is far more important that they show that same appreciation to their employees during difficult times. If you want to attract the best talents in the future (recession doesn’t last forever!) you need to create an image of your self as a caring and humane employer.

Having said that, managers and supervisors should not be expected to automatically be able to conduct employee transitions more effectively. This is a skill set, mind set and tool set that needs to be acquired. It is learnable. All it needs is the will to do the right thing.

I pray that Malaysian organizations treat Malaysian workers with a little bit more respect and dignity in these trying times. I hope they will do what is right rather than only what is expedient.

No Time to Coach!

"Managers who don't coach will not be promoted"

The above quote is credited to the legendary Jack Welch. I guess, those who say they don't have time to coach will not be making a bee line to GE during Jack's time.

When a manager says that she has no time to coach; we can assume that she is making two assumptions (no pun intended):

1. First assumption : That coaching only takes place at a certain time and place.
2. Second assumption : Coaching is like washing your company car; it is something proper to do but its not so important that you need to put it on your priority list.

Both assumptions are wrong and can cost an organization dear.

Imagine that your 5 most senior executives are retiring in the next three years and collectively they have between them 100 years of working experience...all in your organization. The day they retire and walk out of your organization, they are walking out with 100 years of know-hows, insights,tacit and implicit knowledge,and, a myriad of other skills that you could probably will never be able to capture even if you tried.

But what if these 5 executives have been actively coaching their subordinates for a few years prior to their retirement? Lets say that through their effective coaching skills, they were able to collectively transmit about 30 years of job specific knowledge and skills to their one and two downs. Can you now calculate the amount of sayings the organization can enjoy in training and development costs?

Now, what if...just what if...that every manager and supervisor in the entire organization is actively engaged in coaching roles and through this the organization's talent pipe-line is continuously enriched and the there is a seamless transfer of tool set and skill set down the entire organization.

I recently met a business owner who has, from what I can see, poured his blood and sweat into building a prosperous business in a fiercely competitive industry. You could feel the passion in his blood for what he does. I just hope that he has done enough to instill a coaching culture in his company as when the day comes for him to take a back seat, he will need to have a set of key people who can continue his legacy. In my experience, all entrepreneurs desire to leave behind a legacy once they have enjoyed and done whatever they set out to do. That legacy is largely dependent on the ability of those who take over the reins of the company.

So,coaching is not a leadership luxury. It is a leadership imperative!
And...talking about coaching, I think Arsenal needs a new coach!

To get into the New Year's mood for 2008, I made a list of predictions and a wish list for 2008 (refer to my entry for the month of January). Now that we have less than 2 months more to go before the year is out, lets take a look at my psychic abilities :

My Predictions for 2008 were:

1. The gap between Malaysia and Chindia (and Vietnam) will increase to the latter's favour and the true impact on our economy will become clearer...... Obvious isn't it?

2. There will be more mega M&As starting with the pharma industry and also possibly further consolidation in the automotive, steel and airline industries. For the first time Indian/Chinese companies will conduct more M&As on European/American companies than vice versa..... I have been keeping you guys updated on the continued raids made by Indian and Chinese companies although I am not sure of the exact number. Delta and Northwest has merged. The big three of Detroit may head the same way.

3. We may see the first non-Malay CEO of a GLC and/or ULC company before the year is out..... A Chinese is now heading PKNS!

4. Africa will awaken vis a vis its importance to China and India as a critical supplier or raw materials..... China's continued reluctance to make the warlords toe the line.

5. The first energy-resource related armed conflict vis a vis Russia and it's former fellow Soviet Union republics..... Russia attacked Georgia (and it was all about energy baby!)...even I got spooked by this!

6. India and China will firmly establish themselves as the favoured destination for business/technology education.... No data on this.

7. The 2008 Olympics will be one of the most successful yet controversial games ever!..... Absolutely bulls eye wasn't it. The grandest ever games with the amazing controversies to boot : Tibet, child manipulation, age manipulation, murder, etc)


And my wishes for 2008 were:

1. Malaysian CEO's take more direct interest in the training and development of their employees.....Hmmmm....no comments.

2. Our policy makers will institute some real measurable strategies for talent development..... No comments

3. CSR standards also include human capital development as part of its dimensions....Nope

4. Air Asia acquires Tiger Airways!...we still have another 6 weeks!

5. Proton gets Tata or Nissan as its strategic partner!.... I wonder?

6. Malaysia gains back loss ground to Singapore in the biotechnology industry.....way off mark, sad to say.

7. Qualified technocrats are made ministers for critical ministries.... nope


Not bad I think although I wished more of my wishes for Malaysia came true. Lets see what the rest of the year brings.

Narcissistic Leadership!

A Greek myth tells of the story of the handsome Narcissus who, despite repeated advances, rejected Echo the nymph. He was then cursed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Of course, this ends as an unfulfilled love and he literally whithers away.

This story surfaced to my consciousness when I read about a recent research that identified one of the factors that 'pushes' people to become leaders : Narcissism – a total and absolute self absorption of one’s own grandeur. Tongue in cheek, this study raised the question that is it ever possible that any one who is not a narcissist would ever want to be the President of United States of America?

Although narcissism may push one to be a leader, it will not make him or her an effective leader. To become an effective leader, one needs empathy, self-control and the ability to see goodness in others and weaknesses in one self. An effective leader must be able to see the bigger picture, hold steadfast to good values and exemplify these values in his own way of working and relating to others.

I have attempted many times to pin-down what actually makes someone a good leader but the goal-posts seems to be moving all the time that it seems to be a futile attempt.
However, I suppose I will not go wrong to say that there are probably 5 key factors that contributes to great leadership. I call these the 5 Sense Approach :

1. A Sense of Destiny : The lives of great leaders are driven by their sense of destiny. Some of them have been thrown into a set of circumstances while others have knowingly got them selves into circumstances that allowed them to show their greatness. Examples : The Wright brothers, Alexander the Great, Hitler
2. A Sense of Carelessness : This is going to be though to explain. What I mean is this….when you become a leader you put your head on the chopping block. You may even put other people’s heads on the chopping blocks. You have influence over others’ lives while simultaneously loosing grip on yours. So, it takes a little bit of devil may care attitude to actually take the risk of becoming a leader as there is much to loose. Examples : Che Guevara, Malcolm X.
3. A Sense of Greatness : Unlike a Narcissistic leaders, a true great leader has a sense of greatness instead. He measures his success not only by what he has gained and accumulated but also by what others have gained and benefited from his leadership. He feels great about him self vis a vis the greatness achieved by his people through him. Jack Welch,Tun Dr. Ismail.
4. A Sense of Humbleness : If you read the stories of some of the world’s greatest leaders from all areas of human endeavors be it in nation building, science, teaching, healing and even religion you will find that these people have very extreme weaknesses and human failings. In my own search for role models to emulate I used to be often disappointed when I come across pieces of information about particular leaders which was very troubling. Sexual addiction, drug abuse, depression, matrimonial violence and even incestuous relationship. In some of the autobiographies that I have read, these leaders who have openly admitted to these failings which they know will somehow diminish their luster, have done so with a sense of humbleness. Yet, with my own humbling experiences I have come to ignore these and just focus on the essence of what makes these men and women great. Examples :Mother Theresa, Winston Churchill, Tun Ghafar Baba.

5. A Sense of Helplessness : Deepak Chopra might call this syncro-destiny or letting the universe take care of the details. The greatest leaders the world has ever seen are also some of the most insecure people. Outwardly they appear to have planned and thought about everything but inwardly they seem to be engulfed in a sense of fear and helplessness. They, despite what the world thinks of them, often allow the universe to take care of their destiny. Their bravery and courage pales in comparison to their private fear and insecurity. Gandhi, despite his heroics in going against the mighty British empire, had always doubted about him self and often resorted to prayers to calm his troubled soul. It is not surprising than that the current blue-eyed-boy of corporate Malaysia, Idris Jala, never fails to make the point that after all said and done, one needs to pray to make a business successful!.


Having worked out the 5 factors above, I still feel a sense of vagueness as to what constitutes good leadership. I often come across ‘leaders’ who alienate others through their ineffective communication style or those who show a lack of empathy. Of course there are those who are almost empty drums. They keep repeating their few and far in between success stories in the hope of gaining respect from others. Then there are others who are either too arrogant or too pleasing. Each time, I tend to think that one or two factors make a great leader only to change my mind when I meet another ineffective leader.

Maybe leadership is situational. Yet, I am not totally convinced by that paradigm either.

Male Depression : The Hidden Cost to Organizations

I have been reading in a couple of international publications recently that the current economic crisis may result in a case of health crisis too; both physical and mental. That's why I am writing this.

I was walking back from lunch the other day and I noticed the weather outside. Gloomy and the clouds appeared to be ready to open up at any time. With my stomach full after a satisfactory lunch of soup and coffee, my observation of the day’s weather should have been just that...an observation. But it was not meant to be and hence something for me to put into words.

When the chillness of the air caressed my skin, a distant memory flooded my consciousness. It was not really a memory per se; more like a feeling ‘remembered’ by my intellect. And that memory sent a momentary shudder down my spine. As fast as it came, it disappeared. It was a distant memory of my depression and my depressive feelings that haunted me for many years. In a way, this is a closure for me. I have not put any serious thoughts to this and maybe this is it. Time for me to close that chapter in my life; and as always, through writing. I hope somebody out there, right now, in the corporate world, will find some solace and do what is needed to help themselves or others at their work-place.

I hope those of you who are reading this (especially if you are a male) will take this as both an advise, sharing and maybe even as a tool to either help yourself or others who may be facing depressive episodes in life. I guess, if you have or is still in depression today, you will know exactly what I mean by depressive ‘episodes’. It is a misnomer really. When depression hits you, it stays. It doesn't come and go. It appears to be so but in truth it is there all the time, clinging stubbornly like a poisonous layer on your very being. It saps your energy and your happiness. All you can feel is a sense of helplessness and loneliness. The curse of depression is that it can hit you even when everything is going great in your life. Like me.

I am not a trained therapist nor do I claim that I suffered the worst of depression. But I know I suffered enough to want to help others.

I remember that I first had this deep nagging sense of lethargy…that's how it starts…when I was 15 years of age. It was a strange feeling for a small town boy like me to comprehend. After all, I just did my family proud by becoming one of the top students in my school for SRP. The school was creating a special post for me in the prefects board just to accommodate me. Later, I found out that the Principle felt he made a mistake by announcing that another girl to be the head prefect and to avoid any embarrassment to her, the school created a special ‘advisory’ post to accommodate me. All these should have made me happy and breeze through my secondary school. But it didn’t. I became despondent, moody and there was always this deep sense of despair. That things just didn't matter. But strangely I did well in my studies and it seems my student leadership was not diminished in any way. I also remember being a scout leader at that time. But others didn’t know (even I could not put a name) to the demons that have taken home in my soul and which will shake me to my roots in later years.I despaired in my successes. I despaired when my beloved grandmother passed away. I despaired when I achieved important mile-stones in my career. For everything...my despair was the common denominator.

That was the pattern all through my upper secondary, post secondary and my university days. That was the pattern through my first and second jobs…my marriage and my first years of my fatherhood before it ended in my divorce. The only thing is that the intensity of my depression increased. Simultaneously and strangely, my worldly success was also enhanced. I had a good job. I earned well, I completed my Masters. I was blessed with 2 beautiful baby girls. But I was depressed. Nobody knew this or if they knew they would not have believed it as my external life was just good. A perfect life. One that every mother would dream for her son.

It took me years before I realized that I was going through depression. That's when I realized that my subconscious pushed me to do a thesis on this very same subject matter for my Master’s degree. It was my subconscious’s desperate attempt to make me realize that I am going through depression. Somewhere around this time, I did an on-line self assessment for depression and I was diagnosed as ‘severely depressed’! The more I read for my thesis, the more I began to identify with my own feelings.

It is almost impossible for a non-depressive person to understand what it means to be depressed. The common fallacy is that you can easily identify a depressed individual. They will ‘look’ depressed. They will look sad, un-kept, de-motivated. That's true in some cases. These are the lucky ones as others may be able to help them. Then, there is a vast majority who go about their daily lives and even achieve great heights in their careers with the curse of depression hanging over them.

In my own struggle to cope with depression, I used to fear certain sounds and sights that will immediately magnify my depression. Even songs and certain tastes. It’s inexplicable. It just happens. So, that sight and feel of a cloudy day with the rain just about to burst out would have driven a deep searing pain into my being a few years ago. A deep unphantomable sense of dread. Of meaninglessness which would have stopped me momentarily from doing what I was doing. And, it would have taken a herculean effort to snap out of that. I remember hating my mornings. The moment I rouse my self from sleep, a wave of negativity (for want of better word) will sweep over me. I will robotically get prepared for work, go to work and do what I was supposed to do. But, all the while I will long for night to come. It was like a blanket for me. The night kills all the noise and the hurried existence around me. It allowed me to withdraw into my shell. I felt safe and a little at peace with my self. But I knew, morning will come and that thought will get me depressed while I get ready to sleep. So, you can imagine that this pattern of behavior will kill off any marriage. It did mine. I compensated that with intellectual growth and career development. Something had to give and something had to grow. I guess that's how the self fragments it self so that some parts of it can be saved.

My worst period was about 4 years ago when I had a severe bout of depression for about 3 months. Lucky for me, I had a wonderful manager who understood my needs and gave me the space to produce my work. He didn’t insist on office rules and regulations and that helped me to produce good work despite my personal struggles.

Then, somehow…since the last 3 years… I could also sense that I began to climb out of my bottom-less pit. Why and how…I don't know. Just as it came for no apparent rhyme or reason, it has also left me by no apparent cause. Maybe the reasons for this change is a combination of a thousand factors. A thousand minute thoughts or things that I have read and thought about. Maybe it is even related to my stars and planets or even my hormones. Maybe its the physical workout that I do diligently. I don’t know but I began to enjoy my days. I began to enjoy my work not because it’s my psycho-compensation mechanism but because I really liked what I do. This corresponded with many other aspects of my life. I could hold a meaningful relationship. I could let go….just let go. I felt no need to convince others to my point of view nor feel offended. I became more forgiving as I had to forgive my self first. I also became more sensitive to others who may suffer silently as I did. I let the universe take care of the details. I don't despair. I live. I became a father, a son, a nephew, a cousin, a brother, a lover, a friend.

For those of you who are experiencing the pain and destructive effects of depression, don’t loose hope. Ride out the storm. It will be OK. If you have to manage people and be responsible for your department’s or company’s performance, your challenge will be that much more difficult. Get help. Talk to somebody who can assist you. There are medications and there are therapies which I have been told to be quite effective. You may need those or you may be lucky enough like me to hang on until the storm passes. Either way, talk to your trusted friends and partners. Let them know. Let them help.

Looking back, what kept me going was my deep sense of responsibility towards my work and my love for what I do. Find your anchors and hold tight to them. Mine was my ego...I knew I could not fail in my work. I needed my work to save me. It did.

I found the following poem on the net and this will aptly bring to a closure the darkest chapters of my life. You are free to define the Me & I as you wish.

Remember Me, I AM Here.

When you are suffering and in pain,
Remember Me, I AM Here.
When all your days seem to only rain,
Remember Me, I AM Here.
When things just seem to never go right,
when relief is out of reach and sight,
when grief is constant day and night,
Remember Me, I AM Here.

When peace and joy are just memories,
Remember Me, I AM Here.
When your life is just one stormy sea,
Remember Me, I AM Here.
When behind the clouds there is no rainbow,
which means peace yet all you have is sorrow,
when you are in despair and don't know where to go,
Remember Me, I AM Here.

When your trial of faith won't go away,
Remember Me, I AM Here.
When your circumstances will not change,
Remember Me, I AM Here.
When your troubles seem to never end,
you are alone without one single friend,
look at the Constant Presence on whom to depend,
Remember Me, I AM Here.


God bless you my friend. You are not alone.


NOTE :
Guess what, the following famous people have been reported to have struggled with depression:

1. John Adams
2. Hale Berry
3. Barbara Bush
4. Drew Carey
5. Melanie C
6. Jim Carey
7. Winston Churchill (yes, the ‘bull-dog’ prime minister of England)
8. Kurt Cobain (the worst case)
9. Charles Darwin (hmmm…figures!)
10. Princess Diana
11. Charles Dickens ( the Christmas Carol is said to be a result of one of his depressive episodes)
12. Harrison Ford

4th November : American Liberation Day

4th of July is the day Americans celebrate their independence from British rule. If Barack Obama wins tomorrow, 4th November will be America's Liberation Day : Liberation from the sins of the past.

If Barack Obama wins, 4th July 1776 and 4th November 2008 will be spoken in the same breath for ages to come.

I was in Krabi, Thailand for the last 3 days and Krabi is as far away from world politics as Prada is from the slums of Rio de Jeneiro. Or so I thought. The coffee shops,beaches and souvenir shops all had the air of Barack Obama. Spoken in many languages, I could catch 'Obama' now and then.It is indeed a momentous moment. People just can't stop talking about Obama. Its so intoxicating.

The French and other Europeans who traditionally have been a little uncomfortable with American moral leadership is probably throwing cynical glances at Washington. Can America live up to its rhetoric of equality and social justice? Can Americans prove to the world that they can indeed live what they preach and preach what they in fact live?

The Africans....well...its obvious isn't it? They have yet another name to put into the history books alongside Mandela and Koffi Annan.
The rest of the world, yes...its all about Obama.

Its probably not very nice being Obama right now. The weight of expectations must be so overwhelming that it would have paralaysed any other man or woman. But then Obama is not 'any other man'. Obama is Obama. Barack Obama is destined to be here...now...to make a difference. The great man theory of leadership will have a brand new icon to study.

But lets be realistic for a moment. Unless all the polling agencies have been fooling us and unless all the opinion leaders have absolutely missed the mark, Barack Obama will become the next president of America.Then what?

Can he change the insane way world financial markets are 'governed' today? Can he bring a semblance of sanity to speculative trades? Can he push for the birth of a world economy anchored on real value as opposed to paper value? Can he make insular American policy makers see that the only way to maintain a prosperous America is making other trading partners prosperous? Can he make Americans and the rest of us understand that it was never a zero-sum-game?

Tough job for a man. Even for Barack Obama.

I am not going to be bitter and disappointed 5 years from now like how I suspect many others will be. I am admittedly pessimistic to the breath and depth of change that Obama can bring because that 'change' which we want Obama to usher-in is within our power to give him the permission to do so. I doubt he will get it. At least not from the Russians, Chinese, Indians, Cubans, Iranians and the French. Many others will also refuse that permission as once the romance of Obama dies away, the age old parochial and self-centred nature of world business and politics will once again hold court. I find it ironic to read in the Times Magazine on my way back from Krabi that Obama is viewed as The One to change the world. Whatever happened to inter-connected and globalized world? If the world economy and its fate is indeed inter-connected why then we have suddenly abdicated our roles to Obama?

As I said, I will not be bitter even if Obama fails o live up to his promise. For me, Obama is a work in progress. He is an experiment in the same mould as many other socio-political experiments of our times. His victory (if it is to be) will reverberate more in the hearts and minds of man than in the financial markets.

It is fitting that I will be witnessing this momentous moment in world politics (and I hope also in international business), from Singapore. The land where a single man and his vision made all the difference. I wonder what Lee Kuan Yew is thinking right now about Obama and his chances?

Win or loose, Obama is a truly wining idea. The idea of Democracy.

Barack Obama : Audacious Hope for Change?

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, August 28,1963


We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Barack Obama
Speech following Super Tuesday results, Feb 5, 2008.



Barack Obama has the world on fire. He has got our imagination on hyper-drive.

200,000 Berliners and other mostly European nationals greeted Obama in July. For me, that event alone sums it up for Obama. For students of history, a black man talking about a new world order to Europeans in the heart of Europe where two world wars originated, is as symbolic as the coming down of the Berlin Wall it self. Maybe even more.

And…. a Yahoo search for Barack Obama produced 539,000,000 pages.

The Economist via Economist.com is conducting an on-going on-line voting for non-Americans from all over the world to cast their vote. We now get to ‘choose’ who should become the President of the United States of America! What an irony….nobody ever asks me who should become the Prime Minister of my own country. Anyway…

I did a quick survey on the voting patterns last week and this is what I found out: in almost all the countries that I checked on, Obama is leading the vote count except for Iraq where too few people have voted. I guess the Iraqis are not in the mood right now.

Anyway the following are the few countries that I managed to check on and their corresponding % of voters who have voted for Obama:

1. Malaysia : 90%
2. Singapore : 87%
3. India : 86%
4. UAE : 97%
5. Britain : 89%
6. Japan : 86%
7. Uganda : 95%
8. Iran : 85%
9. China : 83%
10. Afghanistan : 89%
11. Indonesia : 96%
12. Russia : 85%

And according to the Time Magazine website, a total of 85% of all readers have voted for Obama!

Why?

Obama is viewed as a harbinger of change. He is supposed to herald a new beginning for the USA and as an extension of that, to the rest of the world. His election to the highest office in world politics will be the final healing that the United States need to move away from it’s discriminatory past. A black man in the White House! They should make it a tourist attraction to see all the faces of the KKK in the deep south.. Would be worth the money.

But I can see why the rest of us are all fired up by Obama and find it a little ironic too! 90% of Malaysians have voted for Obama but I wonder how many of them will be willing to accept a Malaysian Indian to be the next Prime Minister. 86% of Japanese voted for Obama but how many there will accept a woman to be the prime minister. I can understand the 86% of Indians in India who voted for Obama though. Here is one country predominantly Hindu and male-dominated but yet has a female President, a Sikh prime minister and had a Muslim President recently. The leading party of the present government is led by a Caucasian Catholic female! So, it makes sense for the Indians to choose Obama. They do have a history of acceptance of diversity.

Anyway, I suppose everybody will have their own reasons for choosing Obama. He represents different values for different people. For the colored people (of course, white/fair skin is also a colour but I think you know what I mean) of the world, Obama’s rise to the pinnacle of world politics will be sweet justice for a world that has for so long looked down upon them. The curse of being ‘coloured’ is finally being lifted. Obama, whether he is elected or not next month, will symbolize a new turning point in race based politics. It’s not that race and skin colour will not matter but they will matter less. Not since Jesse Owens has the coloured people of the world has been so electrified. For Malaysian Indians, Obama will also represent a new faith in themselves. With Hindraf having rekindled their faith in themselves (although much work needs to be done to channel this energy to positive outlets; a task made difficult by our fumbling Syed Hamid Albar) Malaysian Indians will see that there is no limit to their road to a better future. You can’t stop the cream from rising.

As for the rest of us who are slightly more colour blind, Obama may represent a new hope for a new world order. A new order based on mutual respect and understanding. Obama is hoped to signify the shift from western dominated unilateral thinking to a more inclusive and global perspective. Obama has the influence of many cultures within him. He has some connections or other with Indonesia, Sabah (his brother-in-law’s parents originate from Sabah). He has roots in Kenya. He has been exposed to Islam. He is highly educated. In contrast, America and its politics hitherto are identified with people like Sarah Palin who only got her passport last month! For most Americans, like Palin, the world is America and America is the world. Anything that does not jive with this deserves to be bombed out of existence or at least boycotted to oblivion.

But then now we have Obama. Could he be different? Will we see a more noble and humble America? Maybe. But lets not forget as what Karim Raslan says, in the final analyses and when the brouhaha of the America election is over and when the dust settles, the victor needs to answer to his constituency and that is the American people. This will apply to Obama too. Obama (or Mc Cain) will become the President of the American people and they will have to play to their gallery whether they like it or not.

Yet, we hope that Obama will be more than just an American President. We hope that he can infuse new values into American politics and that he can make Americans understand that Uncle Sam’s hegemony is no longer in tune with world affairs. If America had so much good will from its Marshall Plan, if America was briefly loved in this part of the world after the Tsunami, it was because the world had a glimpse of American soft power. We saw a gentler side of this giant. It was so intoxicating like the good old days just after World War II.

Obama carries the hope of all of us that America needs to look beyond it self and its self- interests alone. This is a responsibility of a true super-power. World politics will only get more complicated. The end of the cold-war was supposed to see the end of divisive world politics but it has actually brought about a discordant state of affairs. The rise of China and India, the increasingly assertive Russia longing for its imperial past, the birth of nations bent on avoiding main stream world politics, the precarious conditions of nuclear powered nations like Pakistan, and the great dichotomy of east versus west political rhetoric by small-minded politicians the world over will only make the job of keeping peace that much harder. We don’t need to add to this problem with a return to American cow-boy style gun-ship politics. American military power will always be needed to keep the balance and its show of strength will be a comforting feeling for the ‘free’ world no matter how much we would hate to admit to that. But we would prefer a noble super-power.

Personally, I am doubtful that Obama can do what we hope he should do. Let’s face it. He needs to answer to his political backers, the huge American corporations and industrial captains who are bank rolling him. There is no free lunch in politics. American economy is closely tied to its military complex and it will take dozens of Obama to undo that even if America had the will for it. Obama, will have to play a tricky role in world politics. It will be anybody’s guess how he will treat China although he seems to echo a new vision of international relations. And how is he going to get America out of the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan and I think the Bush administration is going to leave him another headache by increasingly attacking terrorists camps deep within Pakistan.

In world economics, Obama will be a relatively new face. By now, Capitol Hill is probably drawing up plans to ensure that no ‘foreign ‘elements’ try to hoodwink the young president. They would be prepared to ‘protect’ Obama from economic decisions that could harm America. This is the politically correct way of saying : Status quo as usual.

All in all, the day after Obama is elected (if at all he gets elected) will be the same as today. However there will be a difference in another realm; man’s mind. The results from this will be seen in a generation or two; hopefully. A new paradigm will be born. Hope for equality and the brotherhood of man will find a new ray of light. The light that was lit by such giants like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela will once again flicker brightly. We will have hope to believe that man kind is capable of peace and love and understanding. We will have reasons to believe that nations can co-habit this planet peacefully and that people of different faiths can live in peace.

In the final analyses, Obama is but the first step on a long and treacherous journey for equality and peace. He will either become a doyen of a new era or he will be remembered by a “ oh well…it was an experiment…” by line in the history books.

As for us in the world of business, Obama or no Obama, life will be that much more difficult especially for those among us who have had a ‘business as usual” attitude.

Its business un-usual just as an un-usual thing is going to happen to American politics. Well, almost!

Leading (and Managing) With Passion

One of my all time favorite song is the Beatles’ Let it Be.


When I find my self in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be

And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper the words of wisdom

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be

For though they maybe departed
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer
Let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be

And when the night is clouded
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow
Let it be

I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary whispers to me
Words of wisdom

There will be an answer
Let it be

I also love the Scorpions, Queen, Air Supply, Michael Jackson; I have a whole set of his albums…or at least I think I still do. No problem even if I don't as every time he comes out with a new one, I go out and buy all his past albums. I listen to them all. That's the way I enjoy MJ. Oh yes… I love Santana, Dixie Chicks, Maroon 5, Depeche Mode (who? you say…..go and find their albums at places where they sell 80s British pop…you will love them). Nirvana, Prince, Run DMC, Eminem, Louis Armstrong, Bonnie Tyler are all still my favorites. John Lennon is also somewhere at the top my list. So is Nora Jones, Kitaro, Sade and George Michael. They have all left a mark in my life. I remember some of their greatest songs while I was going through the ups and downs in my life. I distinctly relate Air Supply to my varsity days. Enya’s hauntingly beautiful Orinoco Flow and her other Irish/Scotish infleunced songs were a lullaby that helped me to sleep during the dark weeks and months when my beloved uncle lay on his death bed. Eminem was introduced to me by the love of my life, my girl friend Alcie. His words and anger were almost like a catharsis for my own. I remember, a rare tear running down my cheek listening to Elton John’s England Rose during Princess D’s funeral.

This is the first time I have actually given any serious thoughts to this. It was prompted by a participant in my program recently when he shared his experience at a street corner in Jakarta where a street performer rendered a beautiful song. And this participant said that he could see the passion in that guy’s singing (we were talking about the element of passion that differentiates the peak performer from the rest).

So there it is, the answer to why among all the hundreds and hundreds of singers and bands that I have heard in my life, only a handful remains in memory is because their work was infused with a passion that ignites something within you….. a realization, a memory, a sparkle of new knowledge or even a tear. That street performer probably could not be bothered whether anybody is paying any serious attention to his ‘work’ but sing he did…with all his heart. Then, somewhere in that crowded and dusty place another soul caught his words and melody and they made a difference. Amazing isn’t it this thing called Passion?

This has a deeper meaning for me actually. In my job as a consultant/trainer/coach, there is only one thing in my control : My passion for my work. Whether the receiver of my delivery receives it as I intended it will depend on their preparedness; their timing. Out of the many people who are in a session with me, each will learn and reflect on many things. Some may not at all. But, its my passion for what I do that helps me to do my thing as somewhere deep within me, I know…I know like I know the sun will rise….that something I say or do is making a difference in somebody’s thinking and feeling right there. It was true for last week's session too.

I guess Passion is what differentiates the truly great men and women from the rest. Bill Gates build an empire on passion. Oprah Winfrey built one too on passion. Where will GE be if not for Jack Welch’s passion for performance. Closer to home, Lee Kuan Yew built Singapore on his sheer passion for that tiny dot of land down south. Tony Fernandes made Air Asia a market leader by his untamable passion for success. Without passion, I doubt Carlos Ghossn could keep with such a crazy schedule : half a week in Europe and half a week in Japan and everywhere else in between.

The ultimate living man and woman of passion : Deigo Maradona, Tiger Woods & Nicol David . If you have watched Maradona during his peak, you will know what passion is. His passion for his game will be clearly etched on his face for every goal he scores, every goal he assists, every pass he misses, every little mistakes he and his team made make. And, with that passion, his team went on to win a World Cup. Need I say more.

I suppose any business leader needs passion in his life. He or she needs passion for the business and for the people. I met an amazing lady from the hospitality industry recently and her passion for her work practically enveloped me and my colleague. She spoke with such an energy that one can practically feel her love for her job radiating from her very being. Over the Deepavali holidays, I watched an interview of Kamal Hassan, the consumate Tamil film actor. He spoke with such passion for his work and it was not difficult to see why the great late Sivaji Ganesan acted alongside him.

Show me a poor manager and I will show you a manager without passion for her people and business. Show me a a succesful company and I will show you passionate people.

So, Let It Be is a great song. It was a song by a band of Liverpoorlians (yes, there is more to Liverpoll than football)who had passion in their belly to make a difference. A difference they made....for an entire generation.

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.