L2PC - Life's Lessons and Practical Christianity

Who Have You Blessed Recently? Changing The World One Act of Kindness At A Time

2010-04-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of communities, particularly technical communities, because I have benefitted a lot from them when I was starting out in the IT industry. I remember the time I used to spend on BBS and IRC channels when I was "forced" to learn computer programming. If not for the generosity and kindness of these people who I have never even seen in my life, I would not have even pursued this career. I remember people like my father-in-law who, as a professional doctor, gave selflessly to others by offering his services for free.

So, everytime people ask me why I do technical community work - write technical articles, speak at conferences and user group meetings, mentor and teach people online - I speak about the experiences I have had with the generous people who have blessed me with what they have. And I am simply just giving back what I have received. A few days ago, someone approached me regarding coaching/mentoring services I provide. While I may be tempted to take it due to the financial challenges I currently have, he started telling me about him being unemployed for a few months now having been retrenched from his previous company. He needs to update his skills so he can start looking for a new job. That got me thinking - how can I be strategic in my approach while, at the same time, be able to help him get back on his feet? I started out by giving him encouragement and telling him my own stories on how I got to where I am now. The goal is to condition him to what I call the "successful mindset." Then, I laid out a strategic approach on how I intend to help him help himself. The important thing is to get started.

In the process of doing this, I realized that it helped cultivate the "generous mindset" within me; that I no longer look at my limitations but rather look at opportunities to help other people despite of my need. In today's economy, we often see our lack rather than what we have that can help improve the lives of other people. What we don't realize is that we have something within us much greater than what we think we have. In this particular case, I have the skillset to help someone else get up-to-speed on a new career. It may not be profitable for me in the short-term but experience has taught me the "business value" of generosity and how it pays off in the long run. And when people ask how they can pay me back, my response has always been the same - find somebody who needs something that you have and offer to do the same thing (the freedom to define what business is and what isn't is still my prerogative). I just get a kick out of having that opportunity to be a blessing to someone else.

So, who have you blessed recently? I see it as changing the world one act of kindness at a time

I’ve been tagged – Three Things That Got Me Here

2010-01-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

I have been out of my non-tech blogosphere for quite some time as my current job is taking a lot out of me. Still, I manage to keep my Twitter account updated which, for me, is like my tiny version of this blog. With all of the changes that happened to me in the past year, there is more than a story worth telling.

I received an email a few days ago about SQL Server Expert Kevin Kline (blog / Twitter) tagging me, prompting me to write my version of "Three Things That Got Me Here." Well, here it is. Much of who and where I am now is a by-product of my faith (I took this from Kevin Kline ...it is so not original) which I got introduced to as an 8-year-old. Having grown up almost inside a church and almost being mistaken as a pastor's kid has advantages but what really got me kicking was my friendship with my "then" youth pastor who shed light to what I now consider my favourite Bible verse. That has radically changed my life journey from being his assistant on campus ministries to planting churches and eventually being where I am now. And though we're literally thousands of miles apart (Philippines and Canada are on different sides of the globe), the spiritual bond keeps us close.

So, on with the story...

Tagged as nuisance

One thing that I have learned as a parent is that kids pick things up really quick so it is very important to really be careful about what we say or do in front of our or other kids. At 4 years old, I heard a colleague of my mom commented about me saying, "you better be prepared to have bail money 'coz this kid's gonna be in and out of jail when he grows up." That sunk in deep. Right there and then I told myself to never let any negative thing, comment or thought define who I am. The fact is - "it's not who we are, it's who God is." Every time I hear a negative comment made towards me, I use that as a fuel to ignite a passion to counteract what they have just said and accomplish what they thought I couldn't. There are countless of instances where that has been challeneged - from being turned down by IBM, Microsoft and then-Andersen-Consulting-turned-Accenture because my university transcript was not good enough for them, to hearing a manager commenting on my professional goals and asking another colleague if I can really achieve them. Each one of them became an inspiration to achieve more, strive harder and look beyond what they see. It takes looking through your mind's eye to achieve greater heights and go past our limitations to see what we are destined to be - and eventually achieve it. Looking back, I was thankful for that remark made when I was a kid and the numerous times I was rejected, ridiculed, underestimated and forgotten. It takes a different perspective to take all of them. Besides, I would never be able to enjoy playing the piano (although I've been recently known as bassplayer) if I wasn't told that I couldn't play any rough sport.

To see is to believe...but to experience is even better

I was born and raised in the city (Manila happens to be the Philippine's capital and, I just found out recently, that I went to the same university in Manila as the SQL Ninja Dona Santos did) and any city kid knew better. We were not a well-off family but my mom made sure that we went to private school and have our basic needs met (let me just say I was a "deprived" city kid). So, while my brothers enjoyed vacation in the city, as a 5-year-old, I opted to spend mine in the farm - helping my grandparents till the soil, sell tomatoes on a hot, humid, summer afternoon, take the carabao for a dip in the river and do stuff that a typical city kid wouldn't even imagine doing on his vacation. My mom thought that I was just enjoying my vacation but, the reality is, I was opening my eyes to what hard work really means and what the lives of people we don't see everyday really are about. It's ironic because it was when I have learned to properly use the spoon and fork (who would eat with their bare hands after coming back from the farm with hands all filthy?). It made me appreciate the amount of work that the farmers do in order to produce food from the ground, the happiness they enjoy despite not having a large LCD TV with an XBox console in the living room (some of them don't even have shoes on their feet nor clean water to drink) and what Dr. Stephen Covey made known as the "Law of the Farm."

When I was in my sophomore year in high school, I wanted to do summer jobs. But it is against the law to hire somebody who is way below 18. And, so I went thru some of my mom's contacts to have me work for a large air conditioner manufacturing plant, doing assemblies of blower fans. And while I can be considered as an illegal worker due to my age, we never did go thru the process of defining liability from the employer's perspective since they are a close relative. Still, the risk of getting pinned down by a lathe machine or bruised by a metal part getting assembled is there. I worked from 7AM until midnight from Monday to Friday and never had to go home without a bruise or a clean shirt (and did I mention not wearing any protective gear at all?). Throughout that experience, I have seen the hardships of the common laborer who work so hard just to pay off their debt and how most of them work away from their homes, living in shanties just so they can earn a decent wage to send back to their families. It's also an early course in what I termed "selfish capitalism" where stakeholders enjoy the fruits of their laborers' hard work while ignoring the plea of the commons (I guess this is a totally separate blog post altogether). It has taught me to always treat people fairly, even beyond what they expect. Which is why every time I engage in a project where I needed to hire people, I always make sure that I treat them well as long as I can. And while I ended up taking a mechanical engineering degree in the university because of the exposure to that job, I never did get a chance to be one. But the lessons learned from those experiences were well worth it that they still make good stories to tell my kids or whenever appropriate when I speak at conferences.

Risk...Believe...Trust

I was a risk taker even as a kid, as the previous stories have already highlighted. I guess most people aren't as tolerant to risks as I am. As I grew up, it played a major role in shaping both my professional and personal life. And while I have learned about calculated risks and how taking risks need to be a process requiring a lot of analysis, I still believe that the difference between good leaders and great leaders is their intuition, as Dr. John C. Maxwell highlighted in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. I took risks even when its was totally illogical. And, again, people will laugh, scorn or ridicule you because it doesn't make sense to them. But I felt that I needed to do them one way or another. One of those risks was starting my own company. My parents didn't like the idea because they were both employed and have been in formal employment all their lives. I never had any employment experience aside from that summer job I took when I was in high school. I thought it was the only thing to do since nobody wanted to hire me after graduation (see first story). And so I did. I did consulting work for government institutions and small businesses - ranging from fixing computers, managing their network and messaging infrastructure to building their portal. While it wasn't an easy job, it helped me learn more about businesses and how the "employment" mindset has been keeping people from taking risks. During these times, I hated computer programming. I remember asking my best friend to write my programming project in Pascal because I couldn't write a single line of code. I have had to take the programming course twice in order to graduate, an implicit way of saying I failed the course the first time I took it. But, then, a customer was referred to me asking me to write a simple inventory/point-of-sale application for their business. I declined the request as I told them explicitly that I don't write programs. They insist that they want me to write the application for them because they trust me and that they are willing to pay any reasonable amount as long as I personally write it for them. I took that as both a challenge and a sign of utmost trust (Business Lesson: If your customers are betting their stakes on you, it is your responsibility to deliver no matter what). I did everything I can to start learning how to write code, learning Visual Basic 4 with Data Access Object, spending about 12-16 hours a day on BBS and chatrooms asking questions about how things work and how to create an application. It's actually my first exposure to the power of the community and that I promised myself to return the favor by being actively engaged in the community, giving back what I have been given. The experience provided me with lessons both in customer relationship and technical competence. What I felt about writing computer programs has totally changed and I ended writing even more applications from smart clients to web applications on the Microsoft platform. And while I am no longer a developer (I quit having the fear of losing more hair should I continue), the skills I have learned from being one has helped be become a better IT professional. Had I not taken that risk, who knows if I have ever been to where I am now. And while others may say "find what you love to do and do it" in order to be successful, I found myself "loving what I do and doing it with excellence."

Public speaking is not for everybody and I guess that includes me - well, almost a decade ago. I still get people laughing every time I tell them that I am a bit shy and introvert especially when they've seen me do presentations in conferences and seminars (my former classmates at the MBA program proved I was somehow right). I'm a big fan of my brother who has a knack for getting along with people and speaking in front of a crowd. But I knew I had a passion for teaching, even though my personality wasn't really aligned with it. And, so I started applying for a teaching job in a local institution well known for their technical expertise. One advise I have received in the process from a very good friend was that "teaching doesn't even put food in your table." And while that proved to be a fact, it was a risk I was willing to take with my family, barely making both ends meet in the process. I am just happy to know that my wife was willing to take that risk with me. The teaching experience became my platform to improve my delivery skills, interacting with people and learning the difference between the average and the excellent teacher. And that had paved the way for me to have the opportunity to earn my MCT certification that eventually landed me job offer to move to Singapore from the Philippines. That is a whole different risk in itself. Having to stop school, leave the second company that my business partners and I started, with no friends and family to be with and move to Singapore in 2005 was no small feat. I remember another friend who told me how crazy I was to accept the job offer that was about to make just more than half of what she was making back in 2000, not to mention the cost of living in Singapore with 2 toddlers and being the only one working in the family. I just felt peace in my heart when I have finally decided to go, ignoring all the risks that were before me and simply learning truly what the word "trust" means. Looking back, I was just happy to shun all the fear within me and took all those risks, realizing that the only way to see a miracle is by simply taking risks (while Jesus had to feed the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fishes, we have US$200 in the pocket with two adults and two toddlers and no place to go in Singapore). Besides, of the twelve disciples that Jesus had, only Peter had the experience of walking on water.

It's been a year and 2 months since we moved here in Canada and that move is yet another showcase of how risk taking got me to where I am now. We are still taking risks and probably until we see our kids take their own risks and grow with the experience. But in all of these risk taking and believing lie the secret to where I am now - it is in trusting that "the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits."

Special thanks to Kevin Kline for prompting me to write this post. I guess it's about time to write individual blog posts about my Twitter updates

P.S. I still would like to emphasize that I am by no means a preacher nor a pastor as some would like to say. But there is something about the things around us that declare the goodness of our Creator in their own unique ways that one can't simply ignore

Connecting Always Requires Energy

2009-10-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4 of Dr. John Maxwell's new book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect is now available on his blog. Catch it before it's too late. After reading thru the chapter, I've posted this comment on the blog.

They Get Out Of It What You Put In

It was my very first time to do a presentation for a group of IT professionals in Ottawa, Canada and I have decided to apply what I have learned from the previous presentations I did - PowerPoint slides were well thought out taking me at least 3 weeks to complete, writing a thorough story line as part of the delivery, and incorporating all of that to drive home the message. Add to that the methodology and delivery - burning with passion and excitement that the audience was always anticipating what I'm about to say. After the presentation, one person approached me and said, "I think you have raised the bar for delivering technical presentations." Not only did they learn so much from the presentation but they have appreciated the effort that went into it. One presenter even attempted to imitate what I have done and commented that he now understands the amount of work needed to come up with a great presentation. From preparation to delivery to evaluation - it takes a tremendous amount of energy.

Connecting Requires Selflessness . . . Give

A common pitfall for every speaker and presenter is the "know it all" attitude who feels that what he has to say is of utmost importance and that everybody should listen. I also fall prey into that - I guess we all do. What's worse is that I see a lot of presenters simply do it to get recognized, be admired and feed off the ego that he knows a lot better than anybody else.

I was reminded of having the attitude of giving and humility whenever doing presentations or conducting a speech. The audience will really feel the sincerity and will shift into "receiving mode," willing to accept whatever the speaker has to give. The goal is always to "put the audience first." That in itself is a sign of humility.

Connecting Goes Beyond Words

2009-09-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

I have been out of the blogosphere for quite some time due to a lot of work but I guess my Twitter updates have complemented the lack of blog posts. I'm thankful I did Twitter two months ago

Since I have been following Dr. John Maxwell on Twitter, I saw this post about the new book he's working on entitled Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. The chapters are being offered on his blog for a few days and then taken down being replaced with a summary of the chapter. I'm just not checking on my Twitter and blog regularly that I missed the first two chapters. At least I managed to catch the third chapter. I've posted a comment on the blog and it's what the content of this blog post is all about.

"This is my first encounter with the chapters for the book and all I can say is that this has hit a home run. Having been invited to do technical presentations for Microsoft technologies both locally and globally, I know what it means to sit in a presentation with boring PowerPoint slides, bullet points that can kill and listen to a speaker that probably memorized the transcript of the presentation. I have been guilty of doing this myself as I initially thought that this was the way to do technical presentations. Ever since I have learned about the art of delivering presentations, I have committed myself to continuous development on the subject – from creating great PowerPoint slides to delivering the presentation (special mention to great books like Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds, slide:ology by Nancy Duarte and Working the Room by Nick Morgan).

From experience, I have learned that enthusiasm, emotional and visual connection when delivering a presentation is what makes people want to stay and listen more – even for a highly technical and boring presentation. The reason I get invited to do presentations was not because of the level of content I provide other (other speakers are smarter and have more technical knowledge than I do) but because I was able to connect to the audience, understand what they feel and provide a solution using the technologies I am presenting. It’s hard to be an expert in just one aspect of technology especially when it keeps evolving and this is what I have learned when delivering presentations. It’s hard to be an expert at what you will present on. But what makes you as one when you deliver your presentation is the passion and enthusiasm that come with it during the preparation and delivery. Anybody can deliver presentations on just about any topic they may or may not be expert on. The only difference in making it an effective one is to put yourself in the listener’s shoes, feel what they feel and develop and deliver a presentation based on that.

Bottom line:It’s all about the listener when we communicate."

If It Aint Broken, Don't Fix It. But If It Is...

2009-07-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

A common expression in IT is "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" as it is important to keep a consistent experience in the infrastructure - staff get's to send emails on time, they get to access their sales documents on the portal, etc. But what if it is broken? We fix it. The mail server went down, we get a severity one alert to "immediately" resolve the issue together with an email from the CEO saying email is of primary importance in the organization.

I wonder why so many organizations don't do so. They see a business process that doesn't work, a work environment that does not foster creativity, or a marketing campaign that does not bring results - they're just simply broken. Yet management still expects to see better results. W.L. Bateman highlights this in a very popular quote, "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." If it's broken, you've just got to fix it

I saw this video of Seth Godin's presentation at Gel 2006 which somehow highlights what this means.

Why Likeability Affects Service Delivery

2009-07-13T10:45:00.001-07:00

Tim Sanders in his book The Likeability Factor emphasizes the need to improve one's likeability in order to be successful. He cited several studies that prove how likeability affects your job, the judge's decision in a court hearing and what not. What's fascinating is that we see this in action in just about any interaction we engage in or see every day. How many times have you screamed at a clerk in a store because of a defective product only to see other complaining customers get serviced ahead of you? Likeability kicks in and you just blew it.

Having to deal with customers as part of my job, I sometimes get tempted to deal with them based on likeability. One incident occurred when an arrogant customer was requesting for an issue to be resolved immediately. Sure, we all wanted to keep customers happy to make them stay. But likeability proved to be right when I have assigned the task to somebody else instead of me doing it. Not because I can't do it but simply because it would be counterproductive doing the work to solve the issue while at the same time having to deal with an arrogant customer.

Now there are two ways to deal with this (especially if they are your customers) but I doubt most people will chose both. One is to stay away from people whose likeability just hits the floor so as not to be affected by it. The other is to make them happy while pinpointing their character flaw. There's always a nice way to say something not nice. It's risky to do the latter especially when you try to keep business as purely business. But it does have some benefits. Having the customer realize that you are concerned with their overall welfare and not just their money as part of the business will make them long-time, committed customers. The choice is totally up to you to make.

Making Social Networking Work

2009-05-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

While I am not an avid fan of social networking, its a fact that even businesses use it for their advantage - hiring people, getting potential business contacts, marketing, etc. Many people just use it for fun while others are reaping the benefits of maximizing their use. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to name a few of these social networking sites have become popular due to increased usage. In fact, even Pizza Hut hired a "Twintern" to promote their brand to their Twitter followers. While it has become a hype, making it work for you requires a lot of work. An article in NetworkWorld highlights 10 keys for making social networking work for your advantage. One thing I learned thoughout my experience with people is that whatever works with them works in just about any media. Think about it. Do you remember your classmates from decades ago unless you've initiated contact with them on a regular basis? What about the very first job you had? Do the people still remember who you are? How did you know about your current job? It's all about others - not you. If you jump into the social networking bandwagon thinking you want to be connected to others, first, think about what's in it for them. I see a lot of posts on these sites promoting products and services without even reading the code of conduct on the usage of the service. A lot of people find this pretty annoying and, hence, simply ignore them. But when people find out that you are there to help them out, they bring down their barriers and are more open to what you have to offer or your need.

Bottom line - if you want social networking to work for you, remember that it is not about you

The Customer is King vs Doing the Right Thing

2009-05-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

Most of the service-oriented businesses these days know that the customer is always the king. This means doing everything they can at their disposal to make sure that their customers would be more than satisfied with their goods and services even to the extent of simply yielding to the customers' irrational requests. Having worked for service-oriented organizations where customers pay by man-hours or man-days (even man-minutes), I've heard of customers' requests to cut corners just to save time on projects and implementations which, of course, saves on consulting fees. Anybody who'd like to keep the customer happy would simply yield to such requests without thinking of the repercussions in the long run. As service providers, customers expect us to provide a high level of service and trusts us to make decisions for them. While saving the customer a few thousand dollars might make them happy for now, imagine what could happen down the road. For example, imagine you're a security consultant that charges on a per-man-day rate and that the customer saw the breakdown of your quote. Since they want to cut down on cost, they figured they can simply drop some of the services you are offering and just go with the "least" acceptable proposal. Now, as a security consultant, you know the risks of not implementing your entire suite of solutions but wouldn't want the customer to simply walk away without signing the contract. What would you do?

Compassionate Capitalism as some may call it

2009-05-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

In a world where capitalism focuses more on profits and revenues, others may think making a difference is totally out of the picture. I was reading about TOMS Shoes and how the company started out as Blake Mycoskie, Chief Shoe Giver, wanted to help children from developing countries by providing them shoes to wear. Their motto: "One for one." His company would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. Talk about real and authentic corporate social responsibility. I was reading more about TOMS Shoes and how it garnered a lot of media coverage, one being the AT&T ad featuring TOMS Shoes while they do their shoe drop activity. What's really amazing is the fact that the business model is built on the concept of compassionate capitalism where their vision is primarily what sustains the business. His explanation on the CGI U meeting with President Bill Clinton highlights that even during this time of ecenomic crisis, they have sold three times as much in the same month as compared to last year.

TOMS story is a testimony of compassionate capitalism at work and how organizations should think about their impact in society. More than just the leader's vision of growing the organization to greater heights, couple that with being socially responsible is how we can create a sustainable environment and make this world a better place to live in.

When Making a Contribution Is Better Than Doing Well

2009-02-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

We all love to be noticed, affirmed, adored - name it. Its human nature. But sometimes, what prevents us from really performing at our peak is the fact that we want to do a really great job. You want to be the best secretary, the best office administrator, the best computer programmer and we want people to see it. Now there is really nothing wrong with that. But what if we, even for a minute, shifted our focus from doing really great at work to making a difference. Wouldn't that change our perspective? Imagine this, instead of being the best office clerk, what about focusing to make a difference in your organization because what you're doing will help someone else make their jobs a lot easier. Or maybe this, instead of being the best database engineer for a healthcare company, think about how your job helps decision makes recommend the best alternative for keeping healthcare costs down for a lot of people. It's not just being the best at what you can do that makes you become exceptional but finding meaning and purpose in what you do every single day.

Injecting humor in your presentations

2009-02-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

I like funny people because they keep the atmosphere light. This is very important when dealing with highly controversial issues, particularly those of the government. I was watching White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs deliver his briefing on CNN and was amazed at how he tried to inject humor into the atmosphere. He started with informal comments about the TV series Chuck and went on to proceed with the briefing. What's fascinating was when one of the audience asked him about the comments of a Wall Street analyst about Obama's financial stimulus plan, he went on recommending to read the plan carefully and analyze, commenting that he would even invite the analyst for a cup of coffee at the White House adding "decaf" at the end of the comment. The entire room burst in laughter after hearing him say this. Humor just brightens up the atmosphere even when there's tension in the air. It is something that we need to remember, not just for people who do presentations but for all of us in general. There's just more than enough reason to laugh.

Include staff development in your business model

2009-02-17T21:58:00.001-08:00

I'm a bit biased when it comes to staff development and training. I'll admit - I'm a trainer. But somehow, your staff development has a direct impact to your organization's success. I was on a conference call assisting a staff on installing and configuring a new technology that they need to deliver to their customers. The first thing I usually recommend is to go for a formal training. What's "not" surprising is that the most common response is "we don't have a budget for training." The irony behind it is that one generates a revenue when delivering any type of service. Organizations expect to get something without giving something as an investment. What's worse is that I've seen organizations where their business model doesn't include staff development at all. Most consulting and services delivery companies where they bill their clients by man-hours want to make sure that the majority of the time they bill should be charged to the clients. Where does staff development and training come into the picture?

We spend money on our stock portfolios and financial investments, thinking that they will have a good return in the future, depending on the market movements. We invest in making a good impression and creating a brand image. What could be more important than the very people who help the organization generate the revenue and profits that all balance sheets reflect?

As Zane Zafrit, CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited, said, "It’s clear that people really do make a difference in the success of (an organization)"

You choose how you make a mark

2009-02-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

I was at a supermarket counter last night when the counter attendant asked us if we were from South America. I replied by saying we were from Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. The counter attendant suddenly replied, "Imelda Marcos! And her famous shoes!" While there was simply nothing wrong with what she said nor how she said it, I was surprised by what she said next. "Well, she definitely placed the Philippines on the map." That just confirmed what I always say when it comes to being popular. There are two ways to become famous: either you do good or just do the opposite. Either way, you'll leave a mark. Not only will that affect how we leave a legacy in this world, but it will definitely influence how people will look at who and what you are. It's your call

Include corporate social responsibility in your business model

2009-02-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

It took me a few weeks to get back to blogging due to a lot of changes happening. But then, again, great ideas are always worth spreading.

A few weeks ago, I was privileged to assist Microsoft Singapore in providing software assistance to non-profit organizations. Normally, it only required reading thru some documentation and providing some analysis based on that but I've decided to go even further. Visiting the facility of the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) was definitely an unforgettable experience. The SIA-MINDS is actually a joint-project with - guess who - Singapore Airlines. The head phones that you see and use on the Singapore Airlines flights are being prepared for by the trainees at MINDS. What's really encouraging is the fact that not only do we see people who are intellectually disabled doing the work that nobody else would probably see but we see them doing a really good job. And what's good about Singapore Airlines is that they have included corporate responsibility and welfare in their business model, recognizing the importance of contributing to the communities it serves. Corporate social responsibility has become a buzz word in today's modern organizations. But every now and then, it gets challenged by stakeholders especially in times of recession (I still believe that recession is a state of mind). But whether we like it or not, the community is part of any organizations' stakeholders. If the community flourishes, so does our businesses. It's a win-win situation.

I think the best thing to do is to include corporate social responsibility in our business model. That way, we even have budgets allocated for any related projects. What's more, apart from the fact that we feel good when we extend our hand to someone else, it's nice to know that a warm smile is waiting for a hand somewhere where we could have extended ours.

So the next time you fly Singapore Airlines, ask for a head phone - those cute colorful ones. You'll know that somebody went thru a lot of effort making sure that they are in good shape for your entire flight.

You Get What You Pay For

2008-11-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

With all these scares on the melamine issue from products coming out of China, I couldn't help but think about the very principle behind it. I am not against low-cost labor or cheaper alternatives but the bottom-line still remains which happens to be one of my favourite taglines these past few days: you get what you pay for. A lot of multinational companies have outsourced their manufacturing to China because of the low labor cost, thinking that it would eventually end up with increased profits. Probably for the short term but with products being recalled, I don't know how they would quantify that. The same is true for just about anything. A lot of companies treat employees and staff the same way. They think that not sending people to training or not properly investing in them would eventually end up with increased profits because of lower costs. This ends up with employee morale going down causing them to become unproductive and eventually leave. Management thinking that they can get away with not investing in their staff ends up being more costly in the long run.

Same is true with leadership and teamwork as pointed out in the Law of the Price Tag in the book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by Dr. John Maxwell. When organizations are not willing to pay the price for growth, they end up losing a lot. Bottom-line still is: you get what you pay - or not pay - for.

The next time you see a cost entry in your balance sheet - whether for an employee benefit or a business investment - evaluate it with a different perspective. I don't see it as cost when it is for an employee benefit but rather as an investment. And always remember: you get what you pay for!

Work With, Not For

2008-11-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

A typical response everytime you ask somebody where they work is this: "I work for..." Whether intentional or simply something we got used to, it somehow represents how our working relationships are with our employer or boss. In a boss-subordinate kind of relationship, there is not much to say about co-dependence. Maybe this is where we got the term "working for." And maybe we need a new mindset where the boss-subordinate kind of relationship needs to be changed to something like "coach-team staff" where everybody in the team would realize the value each one brings into the team to become successful. Think about it. Imagine a basketball team where each player has a different goal or the star player wants to show off or the coach simply wants to finish the game. There's no way they can make it to the championship with that kind of mindset. But with each member of the team focusing on a common goal, "working with" each other instead of working for the coach, the championship is just a matter of time. Co-dependency may not make a star player but it definitely makes a championship team. And a championship team makes every member a star player.

The Success Formula #1

2008-10-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

I've had the opportunity to speak about The Ironies of Opposites for Success last year at the PASS Community Summit in Denver, CO. There really is no silver bullet to become successful but principles applied in every day life. The goal of this article is to come up with a series of formulas for success that we can apply.

Formula #1: Your success in any undertaking is directly proportional to how much you enjoy working with the people in your team.

Whether we like it or not, relationship has a big impact in just about anything we do - work, study, recreation, etc. And as we try to attain a specific goal and build a team, we need team members who are rockstars to become very successful. We cannot do it on our own. The book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by Dr. John Maxwell highlights this fact in every chapter. But what's more important is not just having great players in the team but making sure you have good working relationships with every member. Let's face it. How many baseball or football teams have you heard where the a great player leaves the team because of a stained relationship with the coach or the team captain. It's impossible to please everybody but not the fact that you can build good relationships with anybody. And this could mean the difference between success and failure. One article I read about employee turnover in organizations mentions "employees don't quit jobs, they quit managers." This simply highlights the importance of relationships in the corporate world.

When I was starting off in business, I have coined the term "relationship selling" and "relationship marketing" which highlights the effectiveness of relationships in your sales and marketing efforts. Maintaining very good relationships with existing customers would be more profitable than getting new ones. You can ask just about any sales professional you know and they'll say the same thing. Bottom line is that you can no longer ignore the effects of relationship in just about anything you do and it may spell the difference between success and failure.

I will be speaking on using Emotional Intelligence in Information Technology in this year's PASS Community Summit in Seattle, WA

Leadership Lessons from a Formula One Grand Prix Race

2008-09-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

Singapore happened to host the very first Formula One Grand Prix evening race. Formula One, or F1, is the highest class of open wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. Hundreds of avid fans flocked to Singapore this past weekend to watch this sport live. Though I am not an avid F1 fan, I like sports car racing and anything that has something to do with cars. But we preferred watching it from the comforts of our own living room as the sound of the F1 cars from beside the tracks is totally deafening unless you brought some noise reduction/cancellation gadgets like ear plugs. While fans watch the fancy cars and enjoyed the rush of the race, I was watching how teams work together in the pits together with the drivers. There's a lot of leadership lessons you'll learn from such a popular sports event. Here are a few that I've noted.

FOCUS. If you want to achieve your goals, focus is the key. This was proven by F1 Singapore Grand Prix Champion Fernando Alonso from Team Renault. He has posted great results on the practice laps during the first night and was pretty sure he'll make it to the top. Unfortunately, his car suffered some serious mechanical problems during the qualifying rounds on the second night, causing him to start at the 15th position during the finals. Though disappointed by the results of the qualifying rounds, that did not deter him from focusing on what he really wanted - the championship title. That focus has given him the opprtunity to bounce back during the finals, making him the first F1 Night Race Champion.

TEAM-SPIRIT. While the drivers appear to be the very popular ones in this sport, every one plays a very important role - and in this sport, the term "very important" is an understatement. One mistake could cost not just the championship title but lives as well. Everyone in the team wants to be the champion - whether it's the driver or the constructor team categories. But doing it as an individual would cause really serious damage. This is what happened when Felipe Masa of the Ferarri Team. He took pole position during the qualifying rounds but one mistake during the finals caused him the title. As he sped away during a pit stop, some of the pit crew are knocked down after they failed to get fueling hose off the car. This could have caused some fuel ignition and possible fire as the fuel hose was leaking with fuel as it was being dragged by the car and that sparks were coming out of the car every now and then. The pit crew could have lost his life in the process. A Ferrari engineer was said to be at fault for Massa's double pit disaster. In organizations, teamwork is normally highlighted in high-profile activities but underestimated in others. Imagine how a team would perform if members, including the leader, would make everyone feel that their roles are very important in the success of the entire team as well as the organization. Most of the time, it's th star players, the managers and the bosses who are given that mindset but does not trickle down to the subordinates. A mistake made by a Ferrari engineer has caused them the championship

PRACTICE YOUR SUCCESS MOVES. An article in a local Singapore newspaper featured the McLaren-Mercedes Team practicing their pit stop maneuvers and tasks during the first few hours before the race. The team believed that what they do during their practice determines the outcome of the competition. Which is why even at the last minute, they still did those practice moves, earning them the constructor team championship in this race. This should be the same with organizations. We wanted our teams to win yet we do not practice those moves that will make us win. Take for instance a team of sales people who wanted to win that big account for the quarter. We assume that the sales people can do it without sending them for training or practicing those closing phrases. Or the IT team who is responsible for keeping the IT infrastructure up and running and making sure the most critical IT projects are successfully implemented. Managers assume that the IT guys are smart enough to pick it up on their own and not send them to training. If we really want to be successful as an individual or a team, make sure we practice those success moves and do them correctly and efficiently.

There are more leadership lessons learned on and off the F1 race track but these are the most visible ones. As managers and leaders, may we learn from the greatest sporting event on this planet to achieve that championship title we've always wanted. For pictures of the Singapore Grand Prix, check out the Boston Globe website or check the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix website. Enjoy the ride!

When Reducing Cost is More Than What It Is

2008-09-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've been following the progress of Tim Sander's book "Saving The World At Work" and found a great perspective on cutting down on cost (didn't I say I'm a fan of Tim Sanders?) I'm really good at finding means to cut down on costs, coming from a third-world country where resources are scarce. In businesses where making profit is a top priority, the common message is to increase revenue or lower down costs to make sure profits go up. The ideal case would be to do both at the same time, hence, maximizing profits. Today, cutting down costs means more than that. It means saving the environment, as the book highlights. Whether you are turning off the lights when not in use or simply reducing the amount of paper used to print documents, it's a means to saving your environment. And this is one message you need to convey to customers, staff, partners and stakeholders. Not only do you get their support (who wouldn't want to save the environment with what is happening around us?) but also gives you a different perspective on increasing your profit margins.

Brag About Your Staff...and do it often

2008-09-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

One thing managers are really good at is bragging about their accomplishments. There's nothing wrong with that so long as you do not take credit for what is not yours. But what they need to do more often is brag about their staff and make sure they do it real good. I had an opportunity to do just that last week where our project director asked me if I can deal with an immediate project. I know its not my field of expertise but I know somebody from my peers who's really good at it. I started talking to my director about the guy and made sure he gets to do the job. I acted as the coordinator/project manager for this until the issue has been resolved. I requested for a comprehensive report of what the guy did to fix the issue and formatted it very well to make sure my director would perceive of it as a highly critical project. After submitting the report, I made it a point that he gets compensated for what he did. To make the long story short, the guy got compensated for what he did because I pushed so hard for it. But my job didn't stop at the point where he got the payment. I've crafted a very nice email thanking the customer for their confidence in our team and that we under my director's leadership are committed to excellent customer service and are always ready to be of help. I asked the guy to send that email to the customer and copied our director. That guy became a somebody from a nobody in a span of a week and the management realized his value in the organization.

As managers, we get much of the limelight especially when our team did really good on a project or two. It wouldn't hurt if we let our staff take the spotlight once in a while and make sure they shine within the organization. They will feel good about themselves, about you as their manager and the organization for recognizing their potential. So, for the weeks to come, find something about your staff that you can brag about and make sure they feel it. They'll love you for doing it

The Power of a Smile

2008-09-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

I was renewing my driver's license in Manila, Philippines two weeks ago and learned a very important lesson. The renewal process was quite efficient with all the information necessary to renew one's driver's license posted on billboards inside the office. The staff were very helpful and know exactly what they were doing. It took much longer than expected as there were a lot of people trying to renew at the same time but, overall, the process was very efficient, I should say. One of the staff approached me as I was waiting for the release of my ID card and asked me to fill up a survey form about their process with the usual questions on the form. I answered every question with something like "very good" or "very satisfied" until I came to the portion where you were given a chance to provide additional feedback. There's just one thing I noticed about their staff - they rarely smile. And that's exactly what I've written in the additional comments section. And that hit me hard. Efficiency doesn't matter when you're dealing with people. You may be very good at what you do, know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it but if you don't include the "people factor" with what you do - in this case, a simple SMILE - you'll still apear to be inefficient from other people's point of view. So here's a word of advice for subject matter experts (SMEs) out there or just about anybody: SMILE. Give a smile to just about anybody you see today. You'll never know if the person on the receiving end needs one badly or has the authority to give you your most awaited promotion or increase

I'm speaking at PASS - again

2008-09-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

I was privileged enough to do another presentation for the PASS Community Summit this year in Seattle, WA. PASS stands for Professional Association for SQL Server. While this may be a technical conference, my session topic isn't. I will be speaking on Using Emotional Intelligence in Information Technology. My goal for presenting at PASS is to help people grow and develop their full potential, which has been my personal mission statement. Now since the attendees are all tech savvy, it would be best to complement it with self-help topics to make them a well-rounded IT professional.

So, if you're attending the PASS Community Summit this year, please drop by my session

Life's Lessons from Humpty Dumpty

2008-09-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

You definitely know this if you were required to memorize nursery rhymes when you were a kid. Who would ever imagined a nugget of truth embedded behind those lines

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

A lot of people claim that they're on a slump, having a bad day, just fortunately unfortunate and everything else they can think of. They blame their misfortunes to life itself and expect the situation or somebody else to help them bounce back and pick them up. Sad to say, we are the only ones who can help us. And that's a fact. Not the king's horses nor his men.

And if I were to add a second part to this nursery rhyme, here's probably what I'll write

Had Humpty Dumpty realized the fact

That nobody else can help him get back

He'd probably think twice on sitting atop the wall

Or design a nice armor so he'll survive the fall

We all fall in a slump or a ditch every now and then. No one's exempted. But make sure you make that decision to bounce back in because no one else can help you do that but yourself

Doing the unconventional

2008-08-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

I have missed a couple of weeks of not posting anything to my non-technical blog because of my intense preparation for TechEd Asia 2008. As a regular conference and event speaker, these are the major events that I sort of anticipate throughout the year. But this year was different. I ended up focusing more on the delivery of my sessions than just simply the content. I have been working on the content almost everyday since it is a part of my daily routines. I normally choose to speak on topics that I am very familiar with so I can spice up the delivery by telling my own stories. I've decided to do the unconventional this time - restructure my slides that would be totally different from what the average speaker does. I've replaced text with pictures which required a lot of creativity since these are technical in nature. I've written story lines and scripts to drive the delivery of the session, making it more like a story than a technical session. That turned out to be rewarding. The people liked my sessions and provided very good evaluation scores (although not as good as those who really are expert speakers). I guess the investments paid off. And, so I've decided to change the way I'll do presentations, learning from people like Steve Jobs and applying tips from Carmine Gallo. Who knows, I might end up being one of them

When Job Anonymity = Job Misery

2008-06-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

"To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'"
- Lao-tsu -

I like Patrick Lencioni's view of anonymity that causes an individual's job misery. I have to admit that most employees dread coming to work every day, dragging their feet just to get a paycheck. I was listening to a colleague the other day how he didn't like the idea of our boss coming back to work after a long break due to the fact that he'll start feeling useless again. For the past few days, he was spending sleepless nights trying to solve technical issues together with our US counterparts and that felt like an accomplishment for him. Once the boss gets back, he'll be back to being "just like everyone else." Knowing that we are important and making a difference is something that everyone likes to feel, whether at work, at school or at home. But the truth is, we really are important as we are unique individuals. The problem with managers nowadays is that they tend to miss the point. Ask this question to any manager you know : "When was the last time you told their staff how important they were in the team?" They probably won't remember. And having that feeling of unimportance will cause any individual to feel miserble at work. We keep forgetting that working professionals are human beings, too. And it is important to understand that making people feel important contributes to their productivity and fulfillment.

Get out of your track

2008-06-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I am a self-confessed workaholic. Most of us will probably do what I do - stick to what we have always been doing, thereby creating a habit. While this is a good practice to get ourselves master what we do well, it also hinders our ability to grow in some aspects. Today, I have purposedly just stopped reading work-related emails for half a day and went over and started reading about business and personal development (I haven't done this for more than a month now as I have been focusing more on SQL Server recently). I used to do this everyday but the demands of both work and career sometimes make us forget that in order for us to really be successful is to make sure we grow. We need to create a habit that will enable us to grow even outside of what we do, realizing the fact that there is life outside of work and career. Getting out of your track will also make you get a better perspective of what is happening outside of your environment.

Business Insights from the Shop Floors

2008-06-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

I was riding the Light Rail Transit in Manila,Philippines a couple of days ago and couldn't help but overhear a bunch of merchandise staff who are responsible for sales in one of the biggest malls in Asia. What's notable about their conversation was the fact that they were discussing how to strategically position the products that they sell in various locations within the mall in order to increase their sales. Now, you might think that this is something normal for businesses who need to understand how their products and customers mesh together to become successful but you need to understand something. In Manila where job opportunities are scarce, the very people who are discussing strategies and business approaches didn't even had the opportunity to get themselves into college. Some of them didn't even finish high school. It reminds me of how Sam Walton - founder of Wal-Mart - asks each of his staff how to improve the business and eventually turned it to what it is today. He just understood the value of each staff - whether they're management or rank-and-file. While I am a great fan of business intelligence and how we can use technology to gain business insight, there's still no substitute for the guy who sees your customer smile everyday and understand what it takes to take your business to the next level

When validating change is important

2008-06-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

Part of IT Information Library's change management process is to validate whatever change was made to the IT infrastructure so that if there are some unnecessary incidents that happened because of the change, it can be reverted back. We often follow stringent procedures when it comes to processes without realizing its impact in our day-to-day life. Take for instance when we deal with people. We expect people to change for good and that is, of course, essential. We tell them what needs to be changed and we expect them to do it. But when they do, we don't even notice, much more validate the change. The person who did everything at his disposal to improve will end up to be disappointed knowing that it seems unnecessary to change. This goes back to the concept of "seagull management" where we only see the bad things in people and not the good ones. Even changes in people need to be validated so that they would be able to benchmark whether to improve further or maintain the status quo. So the next time you see your staff, children or even friends make changes for their improvement, make sure you validate them so that they'll keep improving. It won't hurt telling them they have submitted their requirements way ahead of schedule and that you are happy with what they did.

Say cheese!

2008-05-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

"There are two things people want more than sex and money -- recognition and praise." Mary Kay Ash

The public bus system of Seattle, Washington is filled with pictures of their employees - bus mechanics who have won the Vehicle Maintenance Employee of the Year Award who have also won some trade skills competition in the United States and Transit Operator of the Year. From a marketing perspective, one might think of it as telling the customers of the competent staff that an organization has to ensure excellent delivery of goods and services. Besides, nobody will doubt the performance of a staff who has won trade competitions. I've also seen this in fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King where they do have their Employee of the Month pictures posted near places where customers can see them. But what organizations fail to realize sometimes is that these recognition programs actually do more than just recognizing their staff. According to Abraham Maslow's heirarchy of needs, recognition is simply meeting one of the basic human needs. Regularly doing so has a lot of benefits within an organization. A Gallup Poll revealed that recognition programs can reduce employee turnover and increase loyalty. After all, if recognition is a basic human need, whoever fills that need will gain the individual's respect and loyalty. It's just basic human psychology.

A better way to approach this is make it a habit to simply compliment anybody sincerely each day. You will not only make the other person feel recognized, you will also gain a loyal friend

Get a good night's sleep

2008-05-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

- The best bridge between hope and despair is often a good night's sleep -

from the God's Little Devotional Book

I've read of one of Forbe's Magazine's South East Asia's 40 Richest from the Philippines, John Gokongwei, Jr. In one of his comments in a local newspaper, he specifically mentioned about "not loosing sleep over a big business deal." Talk about somebody who values sleep more than riches which is probably why he is one of South East Asia's richest. This reminded me of Steve Ballmer, President and CEO of the largest software company in the world, Microsoft Corporation. During the MVP Summit in Seattle, WA last month, the MVPs were given the opportunity to ask him all sorts of questions - from what's Microsoft's role in protecting the environment, his vision of the company similar to that of Bill Gates', etc. An Indian friend of mine got the opportunity to approach the microphone and ask him a question. A lot of people were expecting him to ask technical questions and stuff but were surprised to hear what he has to ask. The question was: "Do you get sound sleep?" There was laughter in the crowd as most of them have not had good enough sleep during the course of the summit due to adjustments in time zone differences and activities which lasts until the morning. Steve Ballmer's answer was pretty straight-forward. "Yes. Excellent sleep. Seriously, I sleep extremely well, and long. I need seven to eight hours a night. I get seven to eight hours a night. And if the question is, are there things that worry me, the answer is sure. I worry about many things. I worry about our company, and keeping agile, and our desire to have all of the best and brightest people working for us, and partnering with us. I worry, and think, and wonder about how we're going to come from behind where we're behind, and stay ahead where we're ahead. I worry and wonder about financials. But the day you don't sleep well, I think it's probably a day that you shouldn't keep doing the kind of job I'm doing. You have to be realistic when you're awake about where you are, and confident enough that you can go to sleep when it's time to go to sleep." What a statement of confidence! People think that you have to work harder, sleep less in order to become successful. But these guys know better and their status tells it all. I guess I need to include this in my list of Ironies of Opposites for Success.

So the next time you feel that you cannot go to sleep at night, think about the guy who runs the biggest software company in the world. The transcript of Steve Ballmer's keynote session at the MVP Summit is available on this site

Different Yet United:Leadership Lessons from Service-Oriented Architecture

2008-04-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I heard Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect of Microsoft Corporation, speak at the MVP Summit on his insights about software as a service. While he was talking about the role of software as a service and the Internet as a hub, I couldn't help but relate it to our ever-changing global world when it comes to leadership. The global economy has changed the way we do business and lead people which sums up a very important fact: we all are different yet unique and can be united.

Let me explain further. Global corporations are faced with challenges that has something to do with geographical, cultural, and sociological aspects, to name a few. In Singapore alone, you will rarely see an organization with all staff being Singaporeans. This means organizations need to realize and capitalize on each individual's differences. Breaking down the walls of cultural differences is the key to having a harmonious and healthy work environment in a highly diverse organization. This not only means understanding one another's differences but identifying the strengths behind those differences which can be key to the success of an organization. As Ray Ozzie pointed out, the Internet is a hub where different software can connect to and, in an orchestrated fashion, provide excellent service to those who may opt to use it. In an organization, the vision is the hub which every individual can be attached to and, with the leader's ability to orchestrate each individual's strength and uniqueness in their differences, achieve greater heights by achieving that vision.

The transcript of Ray Ozzie's keynote session at the MVP Summit is available on this site

Why Emotional Anxiety Is Costly

2008-04-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

I was talking to one of our project managers a few days ago while trying to fix some issues in one of our remote data center and out of nowhere just asked how she was doing. While a typical "I'm doing good" answer may have been enough for a few people I know, I asked again, this time stressing out the real reason for asking. She then started down the path of telling me how the IT industry simply does not really care about the well-being of the individuals and is more focused on getting things done. Now, I might be wrong but I guess that is one of the reasons why her performance started going down the drains. I highlighted the fact that whatever industry we are in, we still are humans and have the basic human needs which includes emotional stability in the workplace. Ask yourself these questions. Would you be excited to come to work everyday knowing that you will have to face the same old Mr. Scrooge in the likes of your immediate superior? Would you be enthusiastic to do your work if none of the things you do well are getting noticed while even a small mistake goes across the end of the office premises (I think I've pointed this out in the "seagull-type" management style)? Would you be motivated enough to take initiative to solve problems in the workplace when all you'll end up hearing is that you need to go thru processes to get things done? You may say that everybody should start motivating themselves and I couldn't agree with you more. But what I am trying to drive at is that organizations need to realize that emotional anxiety in the workplace is one of the reasons for performance degredation and high turnover rates. Why did I say it's costly? Let me put some numbers into this. Let's say it takes an average of 30 minutes to finish a typical, repetitive task. For a highly motivated individual, it would probably take 15 to 20 minutes, which would mean a time reduction of 33 to 50 percent (others may call it productivity increase). But an unmotivated, highly-stressed, emotionally anxious individual may take more than an hour to finish the same job. That would mean a 100 percent decrease in productivity or whatever you may call it. That is not to consider absenteeism, long coffee and lunch breaks, employee turnover, etc. I am not a psychologist but I believe its a natural human need to feel important and have their emotional needs met anywhere, including the workplace. Which is why I believe that creating an emotionally healthy workplace will be one of the factors to succeed in a globally competitive environment.

It's all about perspective: An amazing result of the power of positive thinking

2008-04-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

They say anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Well, if that's how you think, that's how it will be. If you precondition your mind to whatever it is that you want to think about, it will definitely happen, according to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking. Well, I have yet to prove that with another of my experiences. I planned to attend the Microsoft MVP Summit 2008 at Seattle, WA but decided to stop by San Francisco, CA for a few days before heading straight to Seattle. I was prepared to enjoy a 3-day rest and relaxation in San Francisco when some unexpected things happened. Without a definite place to stay and a very tight budget, I struggled to find the cheapest yet most accessible place to stay. I was starting to think of this experience as a nightmare, causing deep holes in my pocket and stress due to anxiety, I realized that my way of thinking will definitely affect how things will be. So, I decided to think positively. After finding a place to stay which is more expensive than what I originally perceived it to be, I decided to enjoy what I have. Since I will have full 3 days of doing what I can possibly think of doing, I planned accordingly. First stop was a Barnes and Noble branch at the Tanforan mall in San Bruno. I have always loved books and this is an opportunity for me to enjoy a good one without having to worry about phone calls or check emails. It was a long mile-and-a-half walk from the place where I was staying to the mall. I enjoyed every step I was taking simply because I knew that I was going to enjoy the reading time that I have always wanted coupled with a great weather to be happy about. With a cup of Starbucks (they actually have a coffee bar inside Barnes and Noble which proved to be a great asset especially if you need to be perked up when you feel a bit sleepy) and a book by Marcus Bukingham, I had one of the best reading days ever. I almost finished the entire book within a few hours. I can’t wait for another day like this when I can really devote undivided time and attention to reading a great book. At the end of the day, how you perceive things would be will eventually end up as you expect it to be – whether you think of it as either good or bad. And that is the power of positive thinking. The same is true with negative thinking. The choice is totally up to you. I can't wait for another great learning adventure tomorrow

When There is No Such Thing As Customer Service

2008-04-09T00:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit, I got the idea for this blog post from leadership expert John Maxwell's book, There's No Such Thing As "Business Ethics" (There's Only One Rule for Making Decisions). His thesis was plain and simple - The Golden Rule applies in all aspect of life. The same thing with customer service. Organizations nowadays focus on delivering the best customer service they could ever provide and believes that this will become their leading edge. I believe that there is really no such thing as customer service. What I do believe in is the concept of service as it is. Organizations simply highlight to staff that providing utmost customer service to customers or anybody bringing in revenue to the company should be a top priority. But this undermines a very important principle. Real service does not know discrimination - whether they're customers, staff, business partners, even people on the streets. What's surprising is that organizations treat their custmers really well but not their employees and staff. What they don't realize is that while customers bring in the revenue, it's the employees and staff that maintain and keep customers. How many times have you heard of customers being mistreated by disgruntled employees? Or even revenue loss due to productivity loss caused by demoralized staff? If we create a culture of service, both for our external and internal customers, it would propell our organization for success. It would break down organizational barriers as managers would no longer care about their status but rather focus more on how they can better serve their staff. I like what Michael Bergdahl's book What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World indicates that Wal-Mart practices “servant-leadership”. Essentially, that means all managers put the needs of their employees and colleagues first. Managers are required to respond to any request for help, even if it means delaying their own work. The concept stems from Sam Walton’s oft-stated belief that “if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself.” That in itself is the true meaning of service

Violating the Law of Buy-In

2008-04-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Law of Buy-In was highlighted in the best-selling book by Dr. John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. It simply states that people buy into the leader first, then the vision. The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader, and then the dream. People don’t first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote worthwhile causes. I was on a meeting whose purpose is to educate employees on the changes that will take place due to a new service agreement that was underway between my company and their client. The first thing I noticed was that not everybody was keen on listening. This is when I've learned a very important lesson in leadership apart from the law of buy-in: "To measure the morale of your staff, observe their behavior during one of your most important meetings. If they are apathetic, their morale is very low. If they are very energetic and excited, their morale is high." This new service agreement is probably the most important thing that would ever happen to this organization. But, sad as it may seem, the staff didn't really care much. There was no participation, no discussion, even questions raised. The reason for that is probably because the staff felt betrayed. The service agreement was crafted without the staff being considered, which happens to be a very important aspect since it would be their responsibility to provide those services in the future. Plus, the highlight of fear and anxiety was floating in the air. Instead of highlighting how the entire organization would benefit from the service agreement, much more was said about the penalties if the agreement was violated. In fact, one staff even mentioned about the management not trusting the staff on certain aspects and the one delivering the meeting just said a blunt "yes." It may sound pathetic but who would want to work for an organization who does not trust its employees? I believe that it is a great plan with very noble causes which I also believe in but the one delivering the meeting failed to understand that in order to make the people do what needed to be done, they have to be motivated. This pointed out another important leadership lesson I have learned today: "The message is nearly not as important as the one delivering it." Communication is the key to the Law of Buy-In and, in this case, the nobility of the cause was not highlighted, thereby, causing the staff to simply ignore the message. Even I didn't bother listening during the meeting because I felt that it would only deter my commitment to my organization. But my experience earlier today simply pointed out how not to be a leader in every sense of the word. Make it a point that you, as a leader, would first reach out to your staff and make them buy in to you before letting them buy in to the vision. Once you've manage to do that, communicate the vision properly so as to further gain their support and eventually cause everyone to move in the same direction.

A Practical Equation for Risk Analysis: A Leader's Perspective

2008-04-04T02:58:00.000-07:00

Risk taking is one trait that a leader needs to have in order to be really successful. Let's face it, we don't want risks. We fear that taking risks would amount to big losses that we cannot handle. That applies to both business and personal aspects. Business schools will teach you how to quantitatively and qualitatively calculate risks in order to make the right decisions. While I may adhere to those scientific ways on risk assessment, leaders should use their instinct and intuition to make decisions and face risks. As a financial analyst friend of mine used to say, "the higher the risk, the bigger the return." Let me share a practical equation for risk analysis that will be very useful for anybody when making decisions. Take the quotient of the number of times that an event actually happened with the number of times that you have actually feared that the event will happen. I'll give you a very practical example. You fear the risk of losing your job if you bring up an issue with your boss so you keep quiet. How do we calculate the risk quotient? How many times have you gotten fired because you talked to your boss about an issue? Probably, zero since you still have the job. Let's call this n. And how may times have you feared that it would actually happen? Probably, a lot of times. And let's call this one m. Divide these two numbers and you'll realize that you have a very low risk quotient: n/m. You see, most of the risks that we perceive them to be are really just what they are - perception. We are consumed by those fears that we sometimes fail to realize that risk taking is necessary for growth. I've got my own shares of risk-taking adventures as I love taking risks. But sometimes, one can't help but to linger in their comfort zones and this prevents one from taking risks. But as T.S. Elliot once said, "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." And that's the essence of risk taking for leaders

The best way to admit that you are wrong

2008-03-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

Let's admit it, we are humans and we make mistakes. But it really is very difficult to admit that we make them. I don't know why but that's human nature. In today's corporate environment, its but natural for just about any leader or manager to hide the fact that they make mistakes. But the truth about admitting mistakes is highlighted in Anne Adrian's blog on why it is important for leaders (and just about anybody, for that matter) to admit that they are wrong. Leaders, and people in general, who admit their mistakes

- show they are real humans too, increasing trust and loyalty.
- relate to others by the admission.
- give opportunities for others to do the same.
- reduce the likelihood of anyone making the same mistake in the future.
- provide opportunities for others to learn from the mistakes.
- provide opportunities for discovering improvements and for making better decisions in the future.

The most liberating thing to do when anybody made a mistake is to speak or write the three most powerful words of the instance: I WAS WRONG. The message conveyed in this statement is so powerful that it changes both the one who says it and the one who listens to it. And, by the way, I just did that today

{Heroes} Happen Here: Leadership Lessons from a Microsoft Product Launch

2008-03-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

This entry has been pending for a week but it is still worth posting. Last week was the Server Wave Launch 2008 event here in Singapore where Microsoft released their very new products, namely, Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. This launch's theme focuses on celebrating the people behind the technology who make things happen in their organizations. It may sound like a marketing hype from the consumers' point of view but I think it is a worthwhile initiative by Microsoft to really recognize the most valuable asset in any organization: people.

I've had my shares of attending Microsoft product launches and being the tech guy as I am, I look forward to seeing what these new technologies are capable of. Not during this event. As Bill Hiff, General Manager, Windows Server Marketing and Platform Strategy, talked about the new features of the products, I was listening for non-technology-related insights he was sharing. What struck me the most was his statement on how each one of us can become change agents in our organizations - "be the change you want to be." We want processes, management, initiatives to change and his challenge is painstakingly practical and that is if you want to have something changed, start from within yourself. Then, there was this round table discussion between executives from Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Intel and Hewlett-Packard. As always, they talked about what makes their organizations stay ahead in their industry and the typical CxO pitch when it comes to doing public appearances. The HP executive highlighted the PPT in their success - People, Processes and Technology, again, having people as the forerunners of their success. When it came to the Sun Microssystems executive being interviewed, one of the things highlighted was the collaboration between them and Microsoft as they were perceived off as rivals in the industry. What the Sun executive said was really striking and if I may quote,"Microsoft and Sun Microsystems love the customers more than they love each other which comples them to work together to provide excellent solutions." This highlights the value of co-opetition in the global economy today. Having two rival companies setting aside their own selfish ambitions for the good of the customers, therefore benefitting the customers and themselves in the process. Quoting from a CNET News published in 1998, "Some people see business entirely as competition. They think doing business is waging war and assume they can't win unless somebody else loses. Other people see business entirely as cooperative teams and partnerships. But business is both cooperation and competition. It's coopetition."

The Power of Resurrection (The Power of Hope)

2008-03-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

This was initially posted in a private newsgroup sometime April of 2006 and I decided to simply post it publicly.

We only look at Easter Sunday as the day when Christ resurrected from the grave. After a grueling experience at Golgotha in the hands of the brutal Roman soldiers and being left alone by followers and disciples, a triumphant Christ came back to life as He promised and, right before the very eyes of the people who despised Him, ascended to heaven with a promise. How we love the story. The underdog who was mistreated - beaten to death, died the most humiliating death one could ever have - came back as a superhero. It is no different from any typical superhero story you might say. But what does Easter Sunday really mean to us? We may all have our own meaning for this wonderful day. But one thing God wants us to realize is that there is more to it than simply overcoming death. The grave represents so many things - your broken dreams, an unfulfilled promise,a hopeless case, etc. I know you have your own. In fact, you might have been thinking of one right now."My spouse's not going to change. My career's way out of hand. The economy is getting worse. I can't get rid of this bad habit. The doctor says there is no cure. I have failed so many times." Hopelessness.This is what the grave represents. And this is what God wants us to realize. Jesus was able to conquer the worst there is - death. What is God teaching us here? He simply wants us to dream again, to realize that there is ALWAYS hope.I was reading the story about Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome walking down the grave to anoint the body of Jesus, when something really hit me. Have you ever had that experience where you read something (even memorized it) for a couple of times and on the nth time, something unusual pops up. You might have thought to yourself, "was this really there all along?" On the way to the tomb, they might have been very sober; thinking of what happened the Friday before that. Not expecting anything except a dead body, they were surprised to see an opened tomb.Why were they there in the first place? Why waste time and effort going to the tomb - the tomb of the one who called himself God, now dead for three days.He was the hope of everybody who believed, until every hope collapsed when they saw him up on a cross - dead.If there's anybody who should be there, it should be the disciples. Or probably they, too, lost all hope. But the ladies were there, for no apparent reason.And God was probably thinking to Himself, "let me give them the surprise of their life." When they reached the tomb, an angel of the Lord told them of the good news. And what's surprising is that the angel specifically mentioned Peter, you know, the guy who said he'll go down with the Master no matter what but denied him thrice before the rooster crows. This is the part I like the most. You might have lost hope about yourself, failed a lot of times and disappointed a lot of people, even God Himself. Just like Peter, you may say. But Jesus was so concerned about Peter that He made special mentions - "and especially Peter." Talk about giving hope. He doesn't care whether you failed Him a lot of times but He still wants you to have hope. I just couldn't imagine what Peter could have felt if he were there and heard his name. But I know one thing for sure, it turned Peter's life around, enough to change the world in his lifetime.

There's always hope. It's alright to dream again.And that's what resurrection Sunday brings to us.The God who conquered death is the God who brings us hope. And He dares you to prove it!

Leadership Lessons from a Relational Database

2008-03-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

As a database professional, I get to work with databases every single day of my life (that doesn't count all the other stuff I work on). Databases have to maintain files in the file system to store data. Initially, a fixed size is allocated to the database files. The databases are either configured to have the file size to grow when the need arise to accommodate more records to be stored, or sized up to a certain limit. There's some leadership lesons to be learned from this behavior of relational databases. First, we need to grow. Personal growth is very important in a fast-changing world. Everything else is changing and the only thing that's constant in life is change itself. But growing is painful. It takes a certain amount of dedication, commitment and discipline to grow. In the case of the database, the database administrator has to decide whether or not to configure database file growth or not. But that in itself is a choice. The decision to grow is the first step in the process. But that is not the most difficult phase. Once you have made the decision to grow, you need to take the necessary steps to move towards your decision to grow. If you need to grow in the area of communication, you need to take communication lessons and practice what you have learned. That is the most difficult part of the process - the growth process itself. When growth happens, you feel stretched to your limit, exhausted, discouraged, and even helpless. In a relational database, when file growth happens, performance of the database engine slows down a bit because it caters to the increase in file size while at the same time having to do what it is intended to do. Not only that, the operating system also experiences certain levels of performance degradation since it hosts the database file which is currently growing. From a human perspective, when we start to grow, our performance sometimes degrades because we are doing both our regular, normal, day-to-day tasks while at the same time pursuing activities towards our goal. Imagine having to work during the day while studying for a degree at night. Even the environment that surrounds us sometimes feels a bit absurd. The company you work for suddenly demands so much of you since they know you are studying and that you should be applying the skills you have learned immediately at work. Like I said, this is the most difficult part of the process. This is the part where we feel like giving up. But once the growth process is finished, you will never be the same again. When the database file is configured to grow for say 10%, once the file growth is done, it is no longer the same as it was before. A 10 megabyte-file size will now be 11 megabytes. The bigger the growth rate, the more difficult the process becomes. But the end results are way beyond we can imagine. You are no longer the person you used to be. You are stronger, wiser, more confident and better equipped. You'll also feel the satisfaction that you managed to accomplish something. You have become a different person than what you used to be. And you feel the urge to tackle another bigger challenge. And the growth process repeats itself. And as leadership expert Dr. John C. Maxwell says, "for you to be a leader, you have to keep growing."

The F2P=P2F Equation

2008-03-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

Didn't I say this blog will be full of those acronyms?

I've seen such equations during my high school algebra days when properties of equations are being discussed. I used to think that mathematics is way too boring if not applied in our daily walks of life (which is the main reason I shifted from pure mathematics to applied mathematics - engineering to be specific - during my college days). As I've learned about leadership principles, this is one equation that really stuck to my head: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail. It applies to just about any aspects of our lives whether it's business, personal, emotional, economic or even spiritual. I just finished working with a project manager on a certain project. Project managers are supposed to plan, execute and manage projects (which is why they are called project managers in the first place). I highlighted the first one, which is plan, because without it the other two won't be there at all. Planning is key to a successful project. And if not done properly, anything else will fail. Let me illustrate my point. When building a house, you need to talk to the architect and designer to articulate what you want in your house. Once that is taken cared of, the architect needs to have a look at all aspects of building the house - mechanical, electrical, piping, etc. This is where all the detailed drawings included in the blueprints come in. Then, the builders come and build the house according to the blueprint. A lot of people think that once the house is built, it is now ready to be occupied. Not at all. If you didn't plan to buy the furnitures and the fixings for the house, there's no way you can spend a comortable night of sleep. Now, think about the potential loss of not being able to plan properly. Let's do some risk assessment. If you need to move in to the house immediately after it has been built and you haven't included in your plan to buy the furnitures, you might end up sleeping some place else until you manage to have the essentials for your house. Or, you'll probably end up buying at that particular instance. In both cases, your cost will definitely go up. What's more, you'll have increased anxiety which may be difficult to quantify. But if you planned well enough to consider buying those furnitures even before the house is finished, you may even have time to go around and looking for cheap yet elegant ones or even go around and scout for really good bargains.

Businesses lose a lot of money because of lack of planning. Imagine having to delay a project because the key person got sick and a replacement was not planned well ahead of time. Let's place some numbers to quantify these cases. If you are making US$1,000 per day and you need to finish a project in 5 days, you'll make US$5,000. If the key person got sick and have not planned for a replacement, that's an opportunity loss of US$1,000 a day because you not just have to pay for the leave that the sick person is entitled to but also for the extra day or days that he has to spend to continue working on the project. Whereas if a replacement is already available as planned, the project goes as scheduled with the replacement taking over until the key person gets back to work. Efficiency, of course, is a different story. But still, you've managed to save time - and money - lost because of proper planning.

Imagine how much we can save if we just plan what we do in our lives - that vacation you've always wanted, your career path, your retirement, your next project, your family, etc. I'm not saying you should plan everything as rigid as you can as this would probably limit your creativity and imagination. But it really helps a lot planning way ahead.

Running with the giants:An MBA lesson for 90 cents

2008-03-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

I was on my way home after dinner when I happen to bump into my former boss. He used to be a Microsoft MVP and a Director for Training and Technology for a Microsoft training partner. A great guy that he is, he joined Microsoft Singapore earlier this year as a Solutions Specialist for the Information Worker. This covers the Microsoft Office product range which also includes Office SharePoint Server. He's a very busy guy and everytime I can get a chance to spend some time with him. I grab that opportunity. He was on his way to get some tea after a stressful day at work. I asked him about what he has been busy with and he started telling stories - lots of them. I've always learned something new everytime I talk to him. This time it was sales techniques and a few new acronyms in sales - the M.A.N in the MAN. M stands for Money. Does the person you are dealing with have a budget? A stands for Authority. Does he have the authority or even influence to make decisions about the transaction? N stands for NEED. Does he or his organization have a need for what you are offering? If any of these is not present in a sales engagement, then, it might be a waste of time.

My point here is that when we run with the right crowd, we tend to be like them. In this particular case, I instantly became a student of sales and everything that he can share with me during that span of time. That's also the same when we hang around with the wrong crowd. Imagine trying to be with the top corporate executives just for dinner at an event. You'll pick up a thing or two about how they think, how they act, and their perspectives. In the long run, you'll eventually be like them. So, ask yourself today. How and where would you like to be in a year's time? It's time to consider realigning your goal to who you hang around with. And, by the way, that was a cheap lesson on sales strategy. A cup of Starbucks coffee is even more expensive

ATMs for your employees and staff

2008-03-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

In my previous blog post, I talked about overinvesting in people. As a follow-up post to that, I would like to highlight the need for ATMs for your employees and staff. ATM stands for attract, train and motivate. First, attract the best people. We expect our organizations to grow and become globally competitive in the marketplace. We compete on the basis of performance and productivity. Or products and services have to be as excellent as we can make them. But we need the best people fit for the job to make sure we get the results that we want. In most cases, organizations wanted to get the best but do not want to pay the price. It's just like wanting to get a Ferrari at the price of a Toyota. I amo not saying Toyota is a low-class brand but performance for both are different. Which is why there is a very big difference in the price. I like what a friend of mine usually says when asked abuot compensation,"I deliver what is expected of me and I expect top management todo the same." That being said, I believe there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to the best and the excellent. Next, train your staff. We all need to grow and the only way for us to grow is to go beyond our confort zones. The best people will always be willing to take just about any challenge given to them. But in order for them to do so, they need to be equipped. Giving them the proper training will enable them to do their jobs as effective and as efficient as possible. It's just like giving them the tools they need to do their jobs well. Lastly, motivate your staff. Motivation fuels an individual. A simple tap on the back telling them about how good they do at work, appreciating them on simple things and motivating them to strive harder. It's a classic example of over-investing in emotional currency. With the ATM-approach, your organization will create a workforce that is at the cutting edge of today's challenging demands. Bottom line is, the life blod of any organization is the human resource

Overinvest in People

2008-03-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the audio abridged version of How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization by Jeffrey J. Fox on my way to work. I have managed to read the book version of the audio MP3 a couple of years before but didn't have a chance to get a copy. In it, he emphasized something really important about people and employees which I really believe in: Overinvest in People. Think about it. If you are investing in something that you know would have a marginal return on your investments - whether it's that blue chip stock, real estate or your own business - wouldn't you be investing more? The human capital is far better than any of these investment portfolios as anybody has the capacity create and produce - they make things happen. Fox highlighted it in a way that companies should hire the best people and that they should pay for their employees' worth. He states that companies who save money on hiring only the people they can afford are headed for mediocrity. I always take the Asian culture in perspective every time I cite examples as we do not really believe in this principle. The result is a high turn-over rate causing a lot money in hiring, re-training and loss of morale among staff because a key team player "jumps boat." What would happen if your favourite NBA or NFL team suddenly thinks that their best player is not worth every cent of their pay? I doubt that the team will make it even in the initial round of eliminations. Same goes for organizations. Fox also mentioned about overpaying the employees. He states that if an employee gets paid about $20 an hour, he or she knows it. If an employee receives anything less than his or her worth, he or she will feel cheated. A savings of say $1 an hour will amount to $8 per day. But that is not worth saving compared to the loss that will result in the employee's behavior knowing that he or she is being cheated. There's just no way to quantify the amount of loss as an effect of low morale - drop in productivity, sabotage, theft, etc. But paying your employees more than what is expected of them results in high morale and increased productivity. This again highlights the concept on overinvesting in people. Try it out and see what happens. I've done my share of overinvesting in people in small, simple ways and have gotten some very good results.

When even the small things can make a very big difference

2008-02-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

As a follow-up on the Double As blog post, I was on the phone almost 3 weeks ago talking to a cousin of mine and simply asking her about how she was doing. She was basically tasked to take care of her three nephews, all boys, as her sister - the boy's mom - had to work overseas. When the boys had a chance to visit their mom, she mustered all her memories and told me about how difficult it was raising the kids. And now that the kids were temporarily away, she felt a bit of ease from the responsibility and that somehow it was really tiring. As I was listening to her stories, I realized all the hard work she had to put in raising those kids and how sometimes she felt like giving up. When she was done telling her stories, I ended up telling her how what she has done to those kids had a positive impact in their lives and the lives of thousands if not millions of people worldwide. She was surprised with what she just heard. All along, she didn't realize that her "stressful unwanted" responsibilities had that much impact. She was trying to figure out what I was saying. Then I told her about my perspective. You see, raising kids, just like everything I can think of, is all about perspective. Some people think of it as a responsibility, I think of it as an investment. Whether we sow seeds of good or bad deeds, somewhere, somehow, we'll get some return. That's for sure. Some kids grow up to be world changers, other end up in the dumps. But there is more to it than that. Apparently, those kids - us included - would have the opportunity to touch and influence a thousand or more people throughout their lives. Now, what does that have to do with our responsibilities as parents (or even foster parents)? Whatever we do to those kids will impact the next generation and they will, in turn, decide how to change the world. As I was telling her about my perspective, I started citing one of his nephews and how he has become an influencer, touching the lives of more than a million Filipinos worldwide. Apparently, his nephew (who happened to be mine as well) won a model search competition and has managed to secure an talent contract with one of the media conglomerates in the Philippines. That being said, a face which used to be only familiar among relatives and peers has now become a public figure. With the media conglomerate's reach of more than 200,000 Filipino subscribers in the United States alone and all across Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Australia, imagine the impact of this face together with his story worldwide. That being said, she realized how what she had done for the kids did have an impact - not just in the lives of those kids but in those that they manage to influence in their lifetime. So, don't fret. Who knows that the small act you do today - for your kids, staff, or just about anybody, even the people you don't know - will have a profound impact on the world tomorrow. You might be growing the next Albert Einstein or the next Winston Churchill right across your living room watching TV

Empowering individuals with a Double A (a.k.a AA)

2008-02-21T04:38:00.000-08:00

Question: What comes to mind when we say "Double As"?
Answer: A pair of pocket-sized batteries probably from Energizer

I was reading the introduction of Ron Clark's book The Excellent 11: Qualitites Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children when I happen to notice a very important note which he had made - understand the importance of the value of appreciation. In today's challenging and fast-paced work environment, organizations compete on the basis of efficiency and productivity. But I believe that the success of any organization lies in the human resource. Leading the organization in the next wave of changes requires a lot more than the usual budget, strategy, innovation and creativity (although these are still necessary ingredients to succeed). And this is where the importance of the double AA come in. People need a dose of appreciation and affirmation on a daily basis. This is the cheapest and one of the most effective form of rewarding your employees. The person who receives appreciation and affirmation will feel valued and will eventually be motivated in their work, thus, increasing employee productivity. This also helps build a productive and positive work environment. I believe that the Asian culture is not used to this kind of employee motivation. Most of the time, our way of thinking is that employees are hired to work hard. Recognizing them for something that they are expected to do can get way over their heads. But that in itself is counter-intuitive in a sense that the more an individual realizes that his or her work has value, the more motivated he or she becomes.

Try it out. Appreciate and affirm somebody from your team (or even anybody you know) today and see how it changes them. With the double As, it's not just the Energizer bunny who can keep going ... and going...

Leadership Lessons from Raising Kids

2008-02-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

Proverbs 22:6(KJV) says "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

I normally hear this from Christians raising up their kids. The scripture specifically mentions the way we should raise our kids.It says "train" and not just "teach." More often, we simply teach our children how to live but not train them. Training requires skill. When you are a trainor (as I still am), you must have the appropriate skills to be effective because while teaching the concepts, you are also showing them how to do it. This is what differentiates teaching from training. Our children might be hearing our teaching but not seeing it being done. Then we are not training them. The proper way is to teach AND do. And training requires repetition.Which means you have to make it as a part of your system as if it were a habit. Talk about training our kids how to pray, respect elderly, go to church, etc. Now this is what the scripture means by "training up a child."

But what does this have to do with leadership? In organizations, we sometimes hear management being frustrated at their employees'/subordinates' performance. Top executives have become too engrossed with day-to-day operations. All they ever do is send memos (emails included) and deliver speeches during anniversaries, expecting the subordinates to be fired up and be enthusiastic. What's worse is that management expects a lot from their employees but their staff don't even know what and how to do what they are supposed to do to meet those expectations. It's like throwing a child in a pool and expect him to be an Olympic gold medalist. It doesn't make sense. What they have forgotten is that they need to "train up" their subordinates. Which means teaching and doing as well. And this takes time, not to mention effort. That is why mentoring and coaching plays a vital role in the success of an organization.

If we are managing an organization, let's consider how the scripture defines raising up kids. After all, don't we treat our organizations as such?

When managing by email is just not effective

2008-01-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

In today's modern world where technology has become tightly integrated in business, email has become a very popular tool in business. From sending project proposals to congratulating a colleague, email has become a part of our daily communications. But the ease of use of this technology has become one of the reasons for ineffective management. Instead of holding a meeting with team members, email exchanges fill inboxes with comments about meeting agenda. Instead of walking a few meters, if not feet, away to shake the hand of the top employee, we shoot emails instead. Email has been one of the reasons for diminishing interpersonal relationship, which is a necessary ingredient in any organization. There are even public courses on managing by email. Although, the global economy has introduced such concepts as virtual teams which need to be managed virtually as well, there is still no substitute for plain and simple direct, interpersonal communication. Plus, this introduces a lot of miscommunication and sometimes consumes a couple of megabytes of hard disk space just to get to the point because the message was misunderstood (this hard disk space issue is a big deal to a lot of IT professionals, especially to those who manage mail servers). Managers expect a lot from their subordinates while overlooking one very important facet of life - humanity. People still need to feel that their inner desire to be treated as human beings, and not just means to an end as far as business entities are concerned, is met. People are people with emotional needs and sometimes, those needs, when met, define the difference between empowerment and discouragement.

I like what Fred Thompson, former CEO of Jane Goodall Institute, said about managing by email.
"I have a strong aversion to managing by email (also to cleaning out my mailbox!). If it's really important, I ask my staffers to care enough to phone me, or ... walk down the hall and actually see me. That gets my attention. It's always amazed me how people in offices right next to one another will persist in communicating vital information exclusively by email. I really hate it when someone confuses sending an email with taking ownership or accountability."

JCPenney, in a CareerBuilder job ad, has this to say about their store managers.
"Our Store Manger's are not walking around with a PDA checking off to-do's or sitting in an office managing by email. Our Store Managers want four-wall accountability, to get involved, engage customers and develop their Associates for bigger and better roles. In our promote from within culture we want leaders, not just managers."

One of the best examples of NOT managing by email I have ever heard was a story by Tim Sanders entitled The XBOX Story. His movie clip telling the story is posted on YouTube. Go check it out.

So I'm a Millenial - When the world does not adopt

2008-01-20T00:08:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article by the Harvard Business School entitled How Will Millenials Manage? and was fascinated how I was branded. The article calls the next generation of managers as such. Here's a brief description taken from the article.

They are generally bright, cheery, seemingly well-adjusted, and cooperative. They'll pull an "all-nighter" for a good reason, but they won't let that kind of thing intrude regularly on their personal lives. Their work styles are sometimes confounding. They need to work in a social environment, often one that would appear to some of us as chaotic. This means, however, that they are very good at working in teams. They are good at multi-tasking, understand how to employ technology productively, and as a result can often produce good work at what appears to be the last minute. They are focused on their own personal development. They want an accelerated path to success, often exaggerate the impact of their own contributions, are not willing "to pay the price," and have little fear of authority. As a result, they are often not a good bet for long-term employment, because they are quite willing to seek other employment (or no employment) rather than remain in a job in which they are not growing. They want their managers to understand their needs and lay out career options.

This is how we are described, people who were born during the late 70's to the late 80's. It's fascinating how generations and their behavior changes with time. But not too many of us. Sad to say that there are still a lot of organizations and people who do not see how important it is to adopt thru the changes. And this is costly as far as businesses and individuals are concerned. One comment in this article points out, "Business which are not adapting, and remain married to the process of blindly searching for degrees and certifications, and who judge employee reliability based on "time served" at other companies are failing to attract, hire, or retain the high knowledge workers." I'm a victim to this kind of mindset. The hiring process for most organizations still looks for degrees and certifications instead of looking at the individual. Now, I'm not a big fan of Ivy Leagues and PhDs but one of the reason I am still keen on pursuing an advanced degree is to change this mindset particularly in the Asian region. There are a lot of talented individuals out there, most of them didn't even have a college degree nor a certification to flaunt but are a lot better at creatively solving problems, getting things done and, not to mention, making and keeping social relationships which is a necessity to being an effective leader. The reality still remains that a new generation is ready to take the leadership mantle from the older generation. But unless we adopt to changing times, we'll lose out on the next generation of leaders.

So, anybody looking for new recruits? You may have missed that one going out of the door after that very recent interview.

Seizing Opportunities

2008-01-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

I'm back to blogging after a 17-day vacation in the Philippines. My pastor friend, Fred Abad from Cornerstone Christian Church in Quezon City, Philippines asked me to preach at their last service on the first Sunday of the year. What a way to start 2008! Let me highlight that I am not a pastor nor a preacher, didn't even go to Bible school or whatever. I am an IT professional focusing on Microsoft technologies (isn't that what my profile says after all?), a part of the professional workforce. What am I going to share to the congregation? During the last Sunday service of 2007, Fred happened to be talking about "Taking Risks" which, apparently, was taken from the series by Mark Batterson of National Community Church in Washington, DC from his book In a Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day (well, I did give him the resources). Now, I didn't know he was going to share that until I heard him speak. I guess God wanted me to share something from this book after all. I have been reading this series for more than a month now and I felt God telling me to share anything from this book with a touch of relevance. Like I said, I ain't no pastor. This is what I did.

Seizing Opportunities

Let me first highlight that I am not a pastor nor a preacher, not an evangelist, apostle nor a prophet. I didn't go to Bible school though I taught kids' Sunday School and vacation Bible School way back. I am an IT Professional, working for a global company. I'm like most of you - working thru a 9-5 job (although in our case, it is often more than that) expecting a paycheck at the end of the month. That's why when Fred asked me to share something, I just didn't feel comfortable. But I believe God is doing something in everybody worthwhile to tell. I'm going to share about seizing opportunites this 2008. This was taken from the book In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. This book talks about Benaiah in 2 Samuel 23:20 and how he ended up to be in the Scriptures. Let me start off by telling you a story of two very popular icons. First, Starbucks. Everybody knows what this is. You've probably had a cup or two this week. But what's fascinating about Starbucks is it's success history. Let me quote Howard Schultz from his autobiography Pour Your Heart Into It

This is my moment, I thought. If I don’t seize the opportunity, if I don’t step out of my comfort zone and risk it all, if I let too much time tick on, my moment will pass. I knew that if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, I would replay it in my mind for my whole life, wondering: What if?

He had an opportunity and he seized it. The next icon is very popular to all burger lovers. You wouldn't believe that this giant burger chain was started by a multi-mixer milkshake machine salesman, Ray Croc. He mortgaged his home and invested his entire life savings to become the exclusive distributor of a five-spindled milk shake maker called the Multimixer. This became his gateway to McDonald's. Imagine investing your entire life savings and venturing on a business journey. Now, let me frame the concept of seizing opportunities from a Biblical perspective. Enter Colossians 4:5b wher it tells us to "make the most of every opportunity." I've taken these qoutes and lived by them ever since I've read about them. The first one is from
Whitney M. Young, Jr. (American social reformer, 1921-1971) who said, "It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared. " Over the years, I've come up with my own quote which says, "If you don’t have an opportunity, create one." I like what Mark Batterson said about seizing opportunities, "Seeing and seizing opportunities is an underappreciated dimension of spiritual maturity." And I thought spiritual maturity has something to do with simply praying and reading your Bible and going to spiritual meetings. I was wrong. God intend for us to experience life to its fullest. That's what Jesus came here for. And seeing and seizing opportunities should be a part of our spritual life. But how do we seize the opporunities that come? How do we know they're the right ones? I think the answer lies in Collosians 4:2 - PRAY. This gives us the sensitivity to see and seize opportunities, even if they mask themselves as problems or adversities. I pray that this 2008, may we see and seize opportunities as God wants us to. May we have the courage to step up and seize those opporunities that God has lined our way knowing that Christ intended for us to live life to it's fullest.

Click here to download a copy of the PowerPoint slide deck used in this presentation.

'Tis that time of the year: All I Want For Christmas - The Corporate Edition

2007-12-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

Parties, Kris Kringles, etc. This is what we all get to deal with at this time of the year. We can't hide the fact that a lot of us spend so much time, effort and resources to celebrate this season of giving. Unfortunately, we didn't have the chance to since we just moved in to a new office a couple of days ago and we still have a lot of fixing to do. But that doesn't stop there. Our project director happened to send us an email about our Christmas wishlist for gift giving. While I may not be around when they have their Christmas party (I'll be going back home to the Philippines for Christmas), here's an email I sent out as my take on our Christmas wishlist.

Dear boss,

While I may not be around by the time you have our office Christmas party, here's my take on the Christmas wishlist. While everyone has their share of MP3 players, bluetooth headset, and all those fancy gadgets, here's mine. Its more of an insight than a request.

A recent study by CityNews of Ontario, Canada revealed that that most employees throw away their co-workers’ “Secret Santa” gifts. I don't know about you but in my experience, I've probably given away 8 out of 10 presents I've got from the past Christmas celebrations at work (I don't like the idea of throwing away something that might be useful to someone else). To put numbers on those statistics, according to an unscientific Time Inc. Giftscriptions survey, 31 percent of people are throwing away their co-workers' presents. Still, 41 percent of respondents still bought additional presents for co-workers, and more than half report disliking the gifts they received. I guess those numbers have just stressed out what we have all been thru every Christmas season. Another more striking question could be, "Do you remember what you got for Christmas last year?" I bet a few, if not none, of us remember anything at all. With all of these facts, instead of exchanging gifts between co-workers, why don't we try something new? Why don't we donate a certain amount to noble causes or charitable institutions? I believe that we set a certain amount for those gifts that we give. Imagine, if we have like around 87 staff including management, a mere $20 each can raise $1740. Just imagine how far that amount could go - it could send like 5 kids to school for a year in Cambodia, provide clean drinking water to a community in South Africa, provide a decent meal for the malnourished kids in Ethiopia, buy over a thousand pairs of shoes for the less privileged in the Philippines, etc. The possibiities are infinite as Fujitsu slogan says. Not only did we make our gift giving worthwhile by cutting down on the statistics of throwing away unwanted presents, we can also make this a Christmas present we'll never forget.

As we celebrate this season of giving, may we remember its true meaning amidst the shopping spree and stressful celebration. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Stories Connect

2007-12-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

I was reading a sample chapter of the book In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson when something quite obvious for somebody like me who does a lot of presentations struck me - we all love to hear stories. And every time I do presentations, that's what I strive to do, whether its a story about a DBA like me who's sick and tired to do repetitive tasks and tries to find new and exciting ways to do my work or someone else's story about his involvement in a community work. In my presentation at the PASS Community Summit 2007, I told about Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, and his drive to help the homeless in Detroit. Stories help us to prove a point, touch a heart, send a message or even just connect with people. It may be about others or about ourselves. But the stories worth telling are those that we ourselves experienced, be it our own or someone else's whom we've managed to feel. Sure, we can all do our research and search for stories about people and we can tell those. But nothing beats experience. It's to no surprise why TV hosts lead their guests to tell their own stories in their shows. Or people who write books go thru a lot of effort visiting the people they want to feature in their writings. Immersion to the experience are those types of stories worth telling - and those that create an impact. That's why I am making it a part of my personal growth to collect as many stories as I can. Imagine, a book became a best seller because it is filled with stories - yours and mine.

The Power of the Extra Mile - An Investment in the Making

2007-12-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

You will normally hear this in sales and business. Those who extend an extra mile to their clients will definitely keep them on a longer basis. Doing more what is expected, extending the service, etc.These are what describes the extra mile. In these days where cost of living is too expensive and one can barely make both ends meet, an extra mile simply means "expensive."

You might end up asking, "Hey, now, what does this have to do withl iving a powerful life? Are we talking about business here?" Not at all. But let me tell you a secret. It's not actually a secret as a lot of people know this as a fact but do not capitalize on their knowledge of it. Simple, yet powerful. Most of the time, the more expensive an item is, the higher the quality. This is because those who made it have invested more on quality. Which explains why those Bally shoes and Tag Heuer watches are only available for those who can afford them. Which also explains why those people who are willing to spend that extra mile enhancing their skills are far better off than those who don't. Those who exert an effort to learn more know more. Those who exercise more are healthier. Those who save more have more. And the list goes on. In John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, he talks about The Law of Process where leaders are willing to go thru a process to become betterl eaders. Implicitly, I think he is also saying that only those who are wiling to go the extra mile will go thru the process. And those who do will eventually experience the true meaning of powerful living. It's not easy and definitely costly. But the rewards are far greater than the amount we invest.

Are we willing to pay the price? Or do we see the price rather than the reward? The choice is up to us.

Positive Reinforcement: Leadership Lessons from the Animal Kingdom

2007-12-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

I was in the zoo with family and friends during the weekend for some time off. I don't go to the zoo quite often but every time I do, I look for those animal trainers who show off tricks they teach their pets. My first stop was the dog show. Same old stunts - jumping thru a set of hoops, climbing up ladders, etc. Quite fascinating indeed. Next was the marine animals show with the sea lions and the penguins. What you'll find common among animal trainers is their strategic use of positive reinforcement. You know, those times they feed the animals either before or after doing the stunts. The animals respond positively after those rewards are given and they perform as expected, even better. What's amazing is that animal trainers know more about leadership than most of our managers in the field. Ken Blanchard and Don Shula in their book The Little Book of Coaching, they higlight the fact that you need to be effective in your response to your staff's performance. Ken presents the four responses that people receive after they perform or do nothing - no response, negative, redirection and positive. We are very much familiar with the first two. When we do something significant in the organization, we get a "no response." Most managers think that it's supposed to be that way since we get paid to perform. But when we screw up, they come and whip us up real good and leave. Blanchard calls them the "seagull managers" who are descibed as those who are not around until something goes wrong, fly in, make a lot of noise, dump in on people and then fly out. Sounds familiar? I know it does as I've seen managers who treat people like this. I guess it's very common with Asians. But what we don't realize is that people respond to positive (and negative, as well) feedback. When something positive follows a good performance, they will want to repeat that in the future. Do you recall how many times you repeated some stunts you performed for your parents as a toddler when they told you how much they liked it? We thrive on positive feedback. And this is what managers should realize - to capitalize on positive reinforcement to bring out the best in people. After all, most, if not all, managers want a winning team.

Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler in the 80's, once said, "Management is nothing more than motivating other people." This is absolutely true

Authenticity touches the heart

2007-12-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

Reality TV has been a favourite anywhere around the world. From American Idol to The Apprentice, people have been attracted to those who show their true colors. As I was watching Oprah's TV program, I learned about another reality TV show in the US which has been running for like 4 seasons now. Run's House, which is now on it's fourth season, is about former member of the popular multi-platinum 80's rap group Run-D.M.C. Rumor has it that fame and fortune kept him seeking for more which prompted him to turn into religion. Known as Rev Run after being ordained by Zoe Ministries, his family is the feature of MTVs' first family in the reality TV show Run's House. What is fascinating about the TV series is that it is plainly authentic - no scripts, no mu-cha-cha of what the audience will or will not like which normally drives the script, etc. It's all about the daily life of the Simmons family and how he balances being a father, husband, reverend, while teaching their kids about success and enduring pain. It touches the heart knowing that he promotes spirituality in a world dominated by all kinds of negativity. But what really captures the audience is the fact that this is reality TV in its true sense - authentic, real, honest-to-goodness. It is, after all, what we like about people.

Getting real...in action

2007-11-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of Tim Sanders for quite some time now, thanks to Injoy's Newsletter - Catalyst Monthly. Tim serves as a Leadership Coach for Internet giant Yahoo! and has written numerous books including the Likeability Factor and Love is The Killer App. What attracted me to this guy is that he is an advocate for good values in the business world. I was listening to an podcast interview of Tim Sanders where he highlights the importance of being real and authentic to be successful in today's business. I was readng one of his blog entry from www.sandersays.com which talks slightly about this. What the world needs today is genuineness, realness and authenticity. He talks about these factors as it affects leadership. In reality, we like people who satisfy our psychological need and if those needs are met, we reward them with our affection. Leaders in today's business world or in just about anything need to be authentic and real in order to succeed. What I have learned from Tim Sanders for the past days I've taken into action. I had a presentation yesterday for the joint Singapore SQL Server and .NET User Groups on SQL Server 2008. In a typical technical presentation, people would expect anything about the product to be highlighted. I want to break out of that expectation and be genuine. I have already thought about getting the audience engaged and giving away something which is out of the ordinary (Microsoft usually give away stuff like USB thumb drives and books). In my case, I plan to give away a pass to see the Bee Movie. Why not? People do deserve a break every now and then. I planned to have it a bit scripted. I asked a friend of mine to volunteer so I can give him the prize but that didn't work out too well as it wasn't "real" enough. This time, within the crowd, I ask for a "real" volunteer who would be up to the challenge I posed. After the task, I handed out the movie pass. Everyone was like astounded. We had a few laughs about whether it was a Blue movie or Bee Movie. But the important thing is, the crowd loved it, knowing that what they have just experienced is reality in action. This reminds me to always customize my presentation experience and always be real. In order to get the crowd's attention, be authentic. You'll be glad you did (they will be, too). After my session, the crowd went out for a brief coffee break and while I was packing my things up, I was playing around with the microphone with some gag-up voice-over sound mimicking a DJ introducing his guest. There were a few people inside the auditorium looking silly at me as if they were saying, "We can trust this guy because he's not fake." I'll take that as a compliment and will keep this experience in mind, knowing that being real can, indeed, make a difference in today's fast-paced business world - even in the technology sector

Living the meaning - Career and Employee

2007-11-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

I was reading the latest newsletter of Injoy newsletter Life @ Work when I was shocked by this newfound fact. The article by Mike Metzger highlighted the fact that the term employee came from the French term "employé" which meant "to buy and hire" people to occupy "specific tasks." Looking at the way organizations treat their staff nowadays simply lives out this fact (and I wonder why). Mike's article highlights the fact that organizations need to emphasize the value of mentoring within the organization. The opposite of which is very true. Employees are being treated as such. Gone are the days when organizations treat their staff with highest respect, realizing that success without the employees is not possible. Emphasis is more on working hard and fast. This gives us the next thing in the list. The word career comes from the French "carriere" meaning "race course" or "to move head-long at high speed." So much so that everyone who works and has a good idea of what he or she wants often neglects the fact that life is more important than career. In my presentation at the Professional Association for SQL Server Summit last September, I talked about The Irony of Opposites for Success. One pointer I raised was the value of slowing down and how it relates to success. Too often we are bogged down with getting where we want to go the fastest way possible. I guess that's how most people define their career. But what we don't realize is that we are loosing too much by not slowing down. In this particular sense, slowing down may mean mentoring on somebody within the organization, thereby, treating the employee you are mentoring with utmost respect for their potential while at the same time cultivating a leadership environment. This is a win-win situation for both the individual and the organization - camaraderie is established between the employees and the mentor while building staff morale, increased staff productivity by learning first-hand from the mentor and a whole lot more. For the mentor, this process of slowing down to extend a portion of himself or herself to the mentee is an investment to multiplication. What this means is that further down the road, tasks can be delegated to the mentee in due time, thus, giving the mentor more time to focus on more challenging tasks.

It is with these facts that organizations should reconsider how they should treat their staff and how working professionals should consider mentoring as part of their career goals. We all should.

The Power of Small Beginnings

2007-11-12T03:01:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article on the Waltons of America –one of the wealthiest people in the world. They are the family members of the late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart chain of stores that made it big in the retail industry. In one of my graduate programs, we were asked to read more on the company and make some analysis on their operations. But more than that, I was intrigued by what made such a company big and who was the one who made it that way. Sam Walton,happened to be born on a farm, worked extra hard just to make his way to the university and set out to do his own business after being employed for another retail company. So much for somebody who ended up being one of the world’s wealthiest men. But what’s notable is the fact that he was nobody before he became somebody.Everyday we are faced with challenges, sometimes bigger than us. We succumb to the pressures of life’s challenges, often times giving up and losing hope. What we don’t realize is that the challenges we face today – and how we deal with them – will be the foundation of who we will become tomorrow. Consider King David, the youngest among Jesse’s sons who was even neglected by his father. He could have told himself, “I didn’t plan to take care of the sheep after finishing high school” or probably “I don’t have a future being a shepherd.” But no, he considered his situation as a preparation for something really big.He was expectant, ambitious maybe. But I know one thing for sure. He used his situation to prepare. He may have no idea about it but we do. He’s gonna be Israel’s next king. But a king must be a warrior, not a shepherd. I cannot imagine what was going through David’s mind as he watched over his father’s sheep.Facing a lion or maybe a bear just to protect the herd, he struggled. And he prepared.I couldn’t help but reminisce the humbling times I went through myself. I started out as a technician fixing computers. That was more than a decade ago. My parents didn’t like the idea of me doing a blue-collar job, the fact that I was still studying back then.But for me, it’s a learning experience. I made money out of being one. And I never regretted it. Who would ever imagine that somebody like me who had humble beginnings would end up speaking in front of an international audience? Now, everybody thinks I made it big. I see it differently. Because whatever and wherever I am right now were the results of my small beginnings.Are you on a tight situation? You might not be watching sheep but you may be sweeping floors. Or probably you don’t see yourself in your current situation. Think again. Could it be that God wants you to be there for you to prepare yourself for something big? Or probably just to make you realize that where you are in right now is a launch pad to where God wants you to be. Take time to pause and ask yourself. An oak tree started from a small acorn.There’s power in small beginnings.

Acronyms for Life

2007-11-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

My work has been full of acronyms - TCP/IP, VPN, AD, SQL, WCF - name it. This blog is an attempt to living life to it's fullest, knowing and understanding that life is more than just making a living. I have been a student of life ever since and this blog will be all about lessons in life and practical Christianity. I'll look into leadership, management, relationships, attitude and Christianity in a practical sense. You'll read about the people I read about and what drives me to do so. This is the side of me that says "there is more to my life than my passion...and that is LIFE itself."

Join me in my journey.