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When someone is speaking to you, do you wait to jump right in or listen attentively? To reap the benefits of listening, we must develop our ability to concentrate and pay attention. With effective listening, you will improve your productivity and ability to influence, persuade and negotiate. This is best described by the Chinese word "listen", which combines several words: ears, eyes and undivided attention (one heart or whole heartedly). It pays to listen, active listening. 
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Award-winning author of Hostage at the Table, George Kohlrieser, along with his co-authors Susan Goldsworthy (former Olympian) and Duncan Coombe, explain how becoming a secure base leader releases extraordinary potential in others. In sports, coach pushes players to the limit. If players believe the coach has their interest in mind, they will listen and act on it. Business leaders must engage their people and make them feel their leaders care for them. People need to belong and to achieve. This is the greatest motivation. Secured based leadership - by providing safety, protection and comfort, people will take risk and achieve results.
PowerPoint makes you dumb. More than 70% of PowerPoint presentations are unbearable. Almost everyday, lots of people are killed by bad PowerPoint presentations. PowerPoint is evil. These remarks are so common, no need links/sources. Just google. Avoid death by PowerPoint, read Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.
The key to great presentation is respect your audience. Keep slides simple, use large fonts and relevant photos (not clipart). Best of all, present without slides - encourage interaction, discussion and participation. I do this for some of my training programs. Participants really enjoyed the interaction (and flexibility). Here is what NOT to do with PowerPoint, have fun ... A beautiful story by Tan Le, the co-founder of Emotiv - an Australian electronics company developing brain-computer interfaces based on EEG technology. Born in Vietnam, Tan migrated to Australia as a refugee with her family in 1982. She was named the 1998 Young Australian of the Year. Tan has been featured in "Who's Who in Australia" List since 1999, Fast Company's Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010 and Forbes' 50 Names You Need to Know in 2011. "Like most adults on the boat, my mother carried a small bottle of poison. If we were captured, first my sister and I, then she and my grandmother would drink". Here is her story ... American Way Magazine calls him, "America's Greatest Marketer," and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual. As an entrepreneur, he has founded dozens of companies, most of which failed. He was VP of Direct Marketing at Yahoo! for a year. Read more about him here. No one owes you their attention and money. Tell a story, not facts. Advertising in traditional media is so yesterday. Spend money to build something interesting so that customers will spread the story. Hear more ... Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent insists his company is not responsible for the rise in obesity in the United States despite New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's recent moves to limit the consumption of sugary drinks. It was widely reported here, here and here on 19 Jun 2012. Lesson learned: If you are the CEO / business owner, protect your company no matter what! Is sugar toxic? Dr Oz has the solution for obesity. Eat healthy, exercise and breathe. Is good for your business, wealth and health. Molecular biologist John Medina, speaker and author of the best-selling book Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School, didn't set out to become a media star. But he got so fed up with encountering myths about the brain - that you use only 10 percent of it, for example, or that there are right- and left- brain personalities - that he once threw a magazine across a seat on an airplane. (The flight, he notes, wasn't full.) "So I decided to write Brain Rules," Medina said, "as an attempt to say, ‘Look, here's what we do know, here's what we don't know, here are a few things you can try that might have an application in the business world - and the meetings world as well.'" Read more from his blog. If you missed his previous live seminars in Malaysia, you can see him in July 2012 at Sunway Putra Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Or if you want to save RM1,800 - grab a copy of his book. Or just watch his videos, for free.
US Judge David Hittner in Houston imposed the sentence on 14 Jun 2012, after saying Stanford had been found guilty of “one of the most egregious criminal frauds ever presented to a jury in federal court". Stanford wasted investor money on failing businesses, yachts and cricket tournaments and secretly borrowed as much as $2 billion from his bank. Victims described Stanford as treating them like "road kill". Stanford was ranked 205 on Forbes magazine’s 2008 list of the richest Americans, with a net worth of USD2.2 billion. Doubt that this will prevent another fraud case from happening. Investors need to be better educated and not be tempted with high return, often sweet-talked into it by brokers / consultants / agents who are paid super high commission. As Accountant and CFP, I always remind clients to stay away from such financial investments (including "schemes" approved by the government). Buyer beware. Getting top notch education and knowledge need not be expensive. In fact, it is free .. for all. In May 2012, MIT and Harvard University launched edX, an organisation offering online university-level courses. Students can enrol, complete courses at their own pace and sit for exam without going to the campus. Online learners who demonstrate mastery of subjects could earn a certificate of completion, but such certificates would not be issued under the name of Harvard or MIT. In April 2012, Princeton, Stanford, Michigan and Pennsylvania uni offer courses online in Coursera. Also, free. There are other entities offering online courses, free or low cost. Let the revolution begin.
If you are a startup, you need to behave like one. Forget about vision and mission. Don't waste time on pages of business plan (which in most cases, are conceptual at best), detailed cash flow projection (which will never materialise) etc etc. You only need all these at later part of the business life cycle. As startup, all you need is a good idea, a real purpose (profit is not a purpose), one-page biz plan and work your butt out. You don't even need to have funding to start your business. Just do it. Impossible is nothing. China has unexpectedly cut interest rate by 25 basis points, possibly to avoid a sharp slowdown feared by many in the market. US has not recovered and Europe is already in recession. The world economy still does not look good since the 2008 global financial crisis. The solutions seems to be printing more money by central banks around the world (calling it under various "policy" such as stimulus plan, quantitative easing etc). US is expected to print more money soon (ie. QE3). Will the Malaysian government do the same and lead to many "unintended consequences"? Plan for the best and prepare for the worst. Here is the latest on global economy by Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CIO of PIMCO, a global fund manager which manages more than USD1.8 trillion assets. Going paperless is not just about reducing paper costs (or friendly to the environment). The true costs of paper are filing, storage and the most expensive of all - retrieval costs (hours are spent to "look for" documents). With more papers, we need bigger tables, more filing cabinets and never ending search for bigger office space. The chain reaction can be costly. Office space is for people, not papers. Remember KISS. Think simplicity and technology. Enjoy this classic video, George Carlin talks about "stuff". |
