Leadership on TV - The Great Debate

I've never been so entertained by a debate before. Anwar vs Shabery Cheek. Before this debate, I would have been interested to know - Shabery who? I would say :

1) Persona/Party Publicity - Anwar
2) New Media winner - Anwar - no one can defeat Pakatan Rakyat now since they won the elections with new media. Any attempt to try to explore further emphasises the win
3) Personal Publicity - Shabery Cheek - now at least I know who this guy is!

So who won?

My verdict -
The public - we had a pretty informative session, and it is always amusing to see democracy in the style of debates, the last ones I've seen were in school! It came even with the bell and the "menggulung" summary ... very entertaining... I am glad the two chaps had a handshake at the end. At least now I know about :

1) Petronas profits
2) How much is the value of 50c drop of oil prices
3) How deep research our minister vs ex-minister does for these sessions

One thing is for sur - dont bring a Tan Seri as your seconder - it is just poor bad taste not to get the more ordinary guy on the street. Worse if you bring in a Tan Seri with a personal attack. Poor choice, Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Second Wind

Pic 1 - The amazing foursome - Sundown Marathon Corporate challenge - number 10!
Pic 2 - This woman I am pictured with is a bundle of energy at work and outside work. She is a mad cyclist and runner too...
Pic 3 - The ever cheerful guy who wants to run a half ironman is my colleague...

After almost two months of no posts, I've people wondering and whispering whether I've given up as an extreme leader.



Actually, on the contrary. And this is where I wanted to highlight how important balance is - I've ran an amazing race at work since March, and in April, I quickly realised how much energy this has taken from me. And on 31st May, I ran my first marathon, despite being sick (even during March, KL Int'l Marathon 21km race) despite being zapped from the daily work rituals. The amazing strategy I had was purely mental - to run the Sundown Marathon based on simply following a few principles. Remain positive, rest, and race without pressure, plus a few cheat tricks - carbo loading, sleeping, racing the last few weeks prior to the race.

In this blog, I specially wanted to highlight people whom I work with who takes to sports as an elixir of life. People like these folks take the effort to stretch ordinary into extra-ordinary and it is not through any push but their own. I'm fortunate to be running this rat race with them - they are the ones who give me the second wind - and all of us need that second wind - in the marathon of life, second wind, third wind, fourth wind - we never finish running.



There is no finishing line...

Chief Innovation Architect

I've always wanted to be a member of CIA agency. Though not as much as I wanted to today.

I found one thing I liked to do today, after so many many years. I actually liked exploring innovation. I felt the hunger to learn more, to see how I could help the firm's clients exploit new trends and innovations to help them improve revenue streams or manage cost.

It may sound noble, but it did started off with what I felt I wanted to do as a kickoff for a project. And typical to my recent style, I only decided I wanted to present a short overview of trends and innovations for sharing the night before the kickoff. I had found a good opportunity to breathe fresh life to a list of global trends I researched a couple of months back to identify the future architecture for a company's functional area. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed and was energized by delivering this short summary, and I think with the same enthusiasm, drove the energy levels of my team as well to deliver their own parts with an eye on innovation.

Given a choice, and this is the first time I've said it in my long working career, I would like to be a chief innovation architect. Note my point on not making it Chief Innovation Officer, but, architect because I am a builder.

Now that I know what I want to be, how do I get there?

How is it like to be at the top?

I always shy away from this question.

To be at the top to me meant a lot more than a position at work. But to be at the position at work where I am at now, is indeed an achievement in many ways, and after a year and half in this role as one of the local senior leaders of the only consulting company I have worked with was a journey which is rich with both success and failures for me.

All my lessons on leadership comes from the great rat race. To write about it has allowed me reflection, regret, stress, joy, reminiscence, glory, fulfillment, anger and all outlets of emotions which has encouraged me to continue on in role daily.

This perhaps is an unplanned open blog to one of my lady colleague, who has made a decision to quit the rat race. This open blog is also to one young man who is also quitting because he does not want to see himself as extra-ordinary, but he really is.

You asked me if it was worth it. I can tell you what I think but do you really want to know? I have made a lot of sacrifices which not many is capable of, and I know we both have different paths. Could I or would I have made these sacrifices if I have other choices? I think I would have still done so because I am the choices I made. Now comes the interesting part - are all those sacrifices I made applicable to you? Were they applicable to others? My answer is that, no. The road to the top is different for many, and for me, I took the path I knew was possible and was lucky to have made it, but I do not believe this is the best and simplest path. I accept it. I accept that our firm needs people of many sorts and I believe that your path is almost clear and you should not give up, but it is not my acceptance you need to hear, you need to know it yourself.

Do I wake up everyday energized? Most of the time I do not. Consulting is my blood as I have a service above self paradigm - I believe in doing things for others, with a passion. I have been recently very tired because I realised I have over-extended myself, and all my extensions have no connection to the overall greater goals of the company. I have one thing going for me, I believe my passion is driving my people. I stop sometimes and I want to give up, but everytime I see how my passion drives my people and their effort drives me back. And then I think, its ok, its just a job. Forget about imperfections, and forget about stress, it is just a state of the mind. At the end, everything moves on and energy is but a state of mind. As long as you have no regrets.

I believe that we should all know when to quit. Do not ever quit because of environment or circumstances. You should quit only because you feel you will not be better. It does not matter what others say, because you are already there. It is just like anything in life, do not ever regret if you do not get what you want, you know if you are already there and if it does not matter anymore. Stop to think how you can explore your potential, but do not deny yourself of your own greatness.

How is it like to be at the top? I actually believe I am not there yet. I will know if I am.

The Loss of Innocence

With great power comes great responsibilities... (Spiderman? With great age comes great forgetfulness!)

And thus with this great burden our newly elected parlimentarians in Malaysia has rolled their sleeves and gotten down to work. It is with regret that we have now lost our straight talk blogger Jeff Ooi to the world of politics. For the last two weeks my occasional browse at his blog has revealed very little updates and when it is updated, it is often with a very skewed view, that it has become very sadly lop-sided and 150% anti-government. There is the tinge of the loss of innocence, and reality will sink in to those who has donated so much money to his online campaign - that he will no longer entertain us as much on blogosphere as he did before. Let us hope all these translates to a more beneficial service to the public - the trade-off must be worth it! And bring on the next brave blogger reporter!

This is actually a tribute to the great contribution to cyberspace a blogger like Jeff Ooi has provided - he has actually done a lot of intrepid reporting on the corporate sphere, something I am not sure how he will be able to balance or continue on in his current role of "chief of staff" for Lim Guan Eng.

To a leader of the cyberspace local news community - all the best in your new venture. From the photography, to the SMS scam saga and the many years of great reporting - all these has been extremely entertaining - as a parting gesture - do point us to your successor?

Women Leaders

Last Friday, my company celebrated international women's day with an internal event. The half day event was specially dedicated to women and only held for women. I was glad I signed up for the event as it was a different setting. It gave me a chance to realise as I had earlier, how women appreciates this sort of camaraderie. Albeit even if it is just simply a good excuse to not work the whole morning, it was definitely an opportunity for me to appreciate how hard we all work.

The guest of honor was a woman from a client organisation. She spoke passionately about her struggle and how focussed she was in accomplishing her goals. I had no doubt from the very first minute she spoke that she was very young and ambitious, and had gone through a lot of proving herself sessions and had all the tribulations of success, failure and exposure. She carried herself well and showed a tough exterior, but also an aura of a great passion for success. Her leadership style was definitely about her drive and ambition.

And then I ask myself, what makes a woman a leader? To be honest, it is no different than my impromtu answer to my EA when she asked me whether I was attending this event two weeks back.

I feel to be a good woman leader, it takes courage to know and realise that we really do have to work harder than our male counterparts. It is the truth - I realise there is no point about gender equality, and expecting our male counterparts to understand. There is inequality. The reality is that today's women, tend to have more responsibilities - those who are married have accountability to spouses, households, children. Regardless of married or not, all women behave and react to corporate responsibilities with a different approach. I look at all my client counterparts, women at senior positions, and they all work VERY hard.

Do not deny that fact. Because women have occasionally that society viewpoint of being able to compromise for family, there is expectations for women to be weaker at management and making decisions. This has caused women to work twice as hard to win over the conviction of male counterparts, and then still have to go home to take care of the family.

However, once you acknowledge this truth, it is entirely up to you to deal with it. Do not look for equality where there is none, but instead look for the balance where you can. It means we will always carry the genetic symptoms of being more vulnerable, sensitive and caring. It does not make us less effective. Recognising that we need to work harder does means that we also recognise our struggle and allow ourselves the space to continue to grow in our own way.

In retrospect, learning to let go and not set such high expectations for your ownself is not an indicatation of failure, but a choice. To be a good woman leader is to learn how to accept yourself as unique, and in that respect, we will lead uniquely too.

Take that first step and celebrate your own female uniqueness today - in many ways, you are already a leader of your own right by celebrating life.

Leadership @ Malaysia.com

Photo credits to MSNBC site from Vincent Thian/AP.


I am not going to profess I am a leadership expert.

But on Saturday, Mar 8, 2008, the Malaysian voters sent the government to its biggest "defeat" in the 12th General Elections - although the coalition government - Barisan Nasional won by simple majority of 140 to 82 seats in the Government, it lost 5 states to coalition led governments, a shock defeat to many.

A few big casualties were taken off their perch or "unseated" by relative unknowns, swept by the biggest anti-government sentiment I have seen in all my young years in my beloved Malaysia.

A blogger, Jeff Ooi was one of the few put to the parliament under the opposition banner, together with a host of young inexperienced but motivated individuals who had been recently recruited by the opposition parties.

The aftermath drew many immediate reaction of shock, reminders of promises to keep for the victors and also promises to conduct post mortems for the losers.

They never knew what hit them.

If you ask me, it is a very valuable lesson in leadership.

1. Stay relevant and close to the ground - The leaders of Barisan Nasional the national coalition were accused of not staying relevant. They had not heard the voice of dissent in the grassroots and were instead fooled to believe in what they want to hear instead of what the people are saying. In the corporate world, the same goes - by staying relevant to the company, the industry and the client, leaders find they are able to serve the client more effectively and offer more lasting value.

2. It is not about you, it is about the people - It is never about an individual. All leaders recognise this, that without followers, there are no leaders. If your followers abandon you, you are no longer a leader.

3. Be honest and transparent - Truth prevails. Announce achievements and reward people, but remain transparent about what you do as one day it will catch up with you if you don't.

4. Get and act on feedback - As always, stop listening to all the nice things, but seek for feedback which is blunt, truthful - these are real.

5. Act immediately to fix concerns - False or half truths infest itself and if left open, it will create dissatisfaction. Remember, if the problem is you, it is worse, it creates internal conflict. Get rid of the cancerous parts immediately.

6. The mouth is very strong - Yes, despite documents, media and the modern world, the word of mouth is the strongest message. If you don't want it to be known, don't do the wrong things or spread rumors or lies.

7. Ubiquitous communications - Hail the internet - blogs, youtube and online news has become mainstay of media and communications - communicating beyond traditional press. The world has shrunk and we are all friends (or foes!).

8. Good guys can end up last, move on - And this happens - sometimes it is not your fault and you lose as well - so many good strong parlimentarians who has contributed to their community lost due to the tsunami of sentiment. Good guys can end up last... don't blame yourself or the world. Reflect... and then move on.

9. Service with intent - As long as you serve with intent from the heart, you will always be aligned with your principles and feel contented you have done your best. (My teachable point of view)

10. Be man enough to accept defeat and learn the lesson - enough said.