Did you read in the Sunday Times last week (Nov 23 issue, page 15, Home section) about a company organising a “tribute walk” on behalf of two men who died at work but didn’t inform nor invite the widow of one of them to attend? It was later reported that the event was a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project and not directly linked to the tribute, despite the company using the two men’s names in promotion materials to collect donations. The donations were to go to the

So you have a new idea that you want to bring to market that you are hoping to do shrouded under the cover of secrecy and waiting to be unveiled in a big bang! Some companies do that, of course, more out of need than design. But for the simpler folk, embarking on secret skunkworks may be counterproductive. In this day and age, success favours the collaborator more than the inventor. So, for those of you who are embarking on bringing a new product to market, you might like to

Last week, Indonesian president Joko Widodo flew to Singapore on economy to attend his son’s IB graduation, dispensing with the usual heavy security detachment usually accompanying a head of state. In fact, the president and his wife queued at immigration, did all the things that a normal person would in his travels, endearing himself with the man on the street. Related: Straits Times article Interestingly, this action caused mixed reactions from netizens both in Singapore an

So it is about that time of year for us to dust off our strategic plan and see how well we have done. We will then spend a couple of days off-site negotiating an increase in budget as we plan next year’s activities. And once that is done, we settle down to doing what we had always done, only to panic somewhere towards the end of the year when the company moved nary an inch closer to the strategic targets, and tempers flair. Yet it seems like an intricate choreography of inter

Last week I was at a conference where the keynote speaker concluded his speech five times over the course of 20 minutes. I cannot recall what he specifically spoke about, but when he wound down after 6 minutes, I thought to myself – “This guy is great! He just gave us one idea and how to get there and then, boom! He’s done!” But just as we were about the applaud him, he picked up his speech for the next point, and then the point after that. By the time he truly ended, the app

The world is changing fast! The business landscape has gotten more crowded; with margins becoming thinner. Conditions are evolving faster and faster and it seems that what was novel yesterday is already becoming outdated tomorrow! In an environment of such relentless pace, how should one organise one’s business to catch the next wave? In this article, we take a look at three strategies that you can take to transit the crowded and evolving business space. Buying the Future Unl

You know how it is in negotiations – we take one position and the other party takes another, quite different, position and each lobs points and counterpoints to try to move the other party closer to their position. Obviously the discussion stalls when both parties refuse to budge, creating a trench-like battlefield separated by “no man’s land”. In today’s article, I would like to look not at the trenches but at the no man’s land, and to see if we can bridge that by expanding

Last week, I was asked how to help someone develop greater situational awareness if he was a person who is led by his emotions and acts on them with full conviction. While it is not a difficult question to answer, it was made all the more difficult when the person about whom we were speaking was a party to the discussion! However, when dealing with personal development, the first thing we need to do is be consistent; and if the person needs to hear this, it is best he hears i

Have you ever wondered how some people are able to maintain mental clarity with just about any issue, under just about any environmental condition while you are crumbling under an ebb and flow of nerves? How does this happen and can you also develop this state of calm yourself? Well, the answer is yes and here’s how… The Clarity State According to neuroscience research, the Clarity State is a state of mental, physical and emotional balance within yourself. Balance does not m

Another source of innovation is the customer experience. Customer experience is more than just service; it is a holistic embrace of the critical touch-points in your customer’s journey in using your product/service. It looks at not simply delivering your product or service but how your customer interacts with them. And by finding out what works, and what can be better, we open up areas for greater change, and ultimately, an innovation. In this article, we will expound on the