Reflections of a Business-Driven Life
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Saturday, October 30, 2004 |
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When Feeling Good Overcomes Becoming Good (on life)
I came across this book which is written by Charles Sykes, and entitled "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add". YOu may not agree on certain things he say, but hopefully you have to give it some thought. In this book, Charles documents about how the American school system's education has deteriorated, due to the dumbing down of the curriculum so that according to him, the students would pass, and "feel good", but nobody excels. As a manager and as parent of 3 children, I do see certain parallelisms in the way we treat our children and the way that we treat our co-workers in the workplace. Students who grow up on training handled with kids gloves that is more focused on feeling good, rather than in being good, and who are not prodded to excel, will have the same outlook in the workplace. I wish I could scream agreement with the author that in many ways, we need to be tougher on our kids. We want to shield them from the harsh realities in life, but unfortunately we can't, and the tougher we are on them, the easier will life be on them in the future. These bleeding heart, good intentional parents who cannot afford to let a fly land on their child's shoulders are unfortunately bringing up children that are ill prepared to meet life's challenges. And when they grow up, they become what Jack Nicholson in the movie , "A Few Good Men" famously said, "can't handle the truth" --- that they cannot hack life's challenges, or simply is not equipped to do the job, and worse, not even trying to, but still wants to feel good. Of course, I don't advocate dumbing down people who are doing their best, but let us admit it, the legion of people who don't even try to excel, and who insist on low standards are increasing, and invading the work place. Dumbing down standards of education will inevitably mean dumbing down standards in living life. I echo Charles' rule #1 and #2 for kids ( and all aspiring employees who want to excel in their careers) so that we will all remember: 1. The world is not fair. Get used to it. 2. The world does not care about your self esteem. It expects you to contribute something first before you should start feeling good about yourself. We all want respect, but respect is not an entitlement. It is something that has to be earned. And for those who want to get ahead, there is only one way, "earn " it. At the end of the day, I still think that conducting ourselves to be deserving of success is a better measure of how well we have live our lives than achieving success. 5:15:32 PM  comment [] trackback []
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Friday, October 29, 2004 |
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Microsoft Most Valuable Professional I got note a few days ago that I was recognized again as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for 2005. I'm really happy on this. For the last of my 20 years, I have been working on technology, and talking/working/writing about how it is used for business. In fact, I built my businesses ( see sidebar) with the slogan, "Translating Technology to Business Strength", and talking about how technology and managing merge has always been my passion. It is great not only to be recognized, but being so recognized do make me a little bit more credible, as well as of course, getting advanced goodies and technical information from Microsoft is always appreciated. This year, other than delivering speeches, and writing articles in newspapers, I will have an additional channel to pursue this evangelization, this blog, which I will try to update at least 4 or 5 times a week. To know where I'm coming from, you might want to check out WHY BLOG? and also ABOUT ME, here. I will also appreciate if you can WRITE ME on suggestions on what to cover, or some questions on using technology in business. 9:59:29 AM comment [] trackback []
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Knowing Where its Coming From ( tidbits) Here are some light materials after a week of heavy business and tech stuff... I was going over the October issue of Reader's Digest and noted with interest about where the word "rule of thumb" came from. It says that it actually came from an old English law that prohibits a husband from beating his wife with anything thicker than the thumb.... I threw it for discussion on an online social network called Ecademy, and a good friend, Englishman Jim Wade, refuted that the English really practiced it. He pointed me out to a web site that showed that it was really an urban myth... but there WAS actually a medieval Welsh law that says you can beat your wife, but the stick should not be thicker than the middle finger, and no longer than a forearm, and no more than 3 blows, and never to the head. Strictly, it should have been called the rule of the middle finger. At any rate, it makes good reading, and you may want to check it out...... Aren't we glad we are more civilized now??? At any rate, it got me interested in certain terminologies, and did some readings. Do you know that Bootleg CDs, which is what we in the industry call illegally transported or produced CDs actually refers to the original practice of someone carrying liquor in his boots to conceal it. It was said that in the late 1800s and early 1900s, most whisky were illegaly consumed or transported using this "bootleg" plan. If you've been called cynical, you may also want to know the Cynis was a minor Socratic school founded by Antisthenes (c. 445-365 BCE), a follower of Socrates. The Cynics believed that living a virtuous life, which they also identified with living according to nature, is necessary and sufficient for attaining happiness. They disdained conventional values, such as wealth and social status, which they thought were opposed to living according to nature. 9:42:53 AM comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, October 28, 2004 |
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ALMÖST ( on business) Managing companies inevitably mean meetings, and I do several every day, with various groups. I know the talk about meetings if not properly conducted waste lots of time, but then again, no technology have yet come about that is more efficient in sharing and understanding an issue between groups of 2 to 40 people better than face to face meetings. Yesterday, in one of the meetings, I almost lost my cool when one of the members mentioned again a word that I think is a very tragic word in business and in life. ALMOST. And you hear it in many guises. I almost made the sale. I almost win the game. I almost convinced him. I almost made it to the finals. I almost got selectd to be employee of the year. I almost got shortlisted in the list of preferred partners. I almost pass the test. I almost win the lottery. I almost made money in the stock market. I made my appointment on time ...well, almost I finished the project on time ... Almost. The almosts never end. People who almost climbed the mountain, people who almost " made" it. Everybody, I would guess, have their own individual tale of " almosts". It seems that not making it is a little bit more acceptable by adding the word, " almost". Almost, I would think, can also mean you intend to do it, but did not. I almost told her I love her, would therefore actually mean you meant to tell her, but never got around to doing it. Almost. It simply means whatever is your grand plan, you did not do it or make it. In the book of records, however, there is no such thing as almost win. Just winning or losing. Almost winning unfortunately, despite the terminology, gets you listed on the side of losing. We can choose to be kinder to ourself, but what I am worried is that if our rhetoric of rationalization don't end, we will never learn. Then we look back to our life, and said, " I almost.... I could have been....." . But that really just means you did not make it -- and merely justifying to yourself with an almost, instead of moving forward and doing it. It is hard. But maybe we just have to be brutally honest with ourselves. No excuses, just open proof. Sometimes in business and in life, the book of records lists whether you win it. Or Lose it. No such thing as almost winning it. As they say, " no monument was ever constructed for a person based on what he almost did, only what he accomplished." The first step to success, I am almost sure, is firstly understanding the huge whale of a difference between making it, and ALMOST making it. 9:40:24 AM comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, October 27, 2004 |
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Its Always Been the Way We do Things Here ( on business) There are two schools to managing a business. One school espouses the establishment of clear business processes so that your business will be 'predictable.' This is embodied by for instance, the way McDonalds do the business. Whether you are in New York, Beijing, or Hong Kong, you expect the same efficiency, quality, and cleanliness that you have come to expect. In some other industries, however, notably in technology, the emphasis is not to automatically do things, or let established business process hamper the employee. Both schools I guess have arguments going for and against, and at the end, you as a manager is the ultimate judge on what works for you. Two anecdotes here highlights what happens when people start to let processes take over, and do things without thinking. " A patient goes to his doctor and complains, "I've got trouble in my throat." The doctor automatically told him, "Go to the other room, and remove your clothes. I'll be with you in a minute." The patient says: "But doctor, it's just my throat!" . The doctor shrugged his shoulders and said, "Get in the other room, and disrobe and I'll examine you." So the patient went in and removed all his clothes. As he was sitting there in his birthday suit, he looked around. Next to him was another guy, also naked, with a package in his hands. He started to complain to the guy, "Hey, can you imagine this doctor. I've got trouble with my throat and he tells me to remove my clothes!" The other man said, "What are you complaining about? I only came in here to deliver the pizza!" Indeed, process is there to help us, but sometimes it is important to think that what worked for us before may not work for us today. Here is a one liner from Jay Leno that I heard years ago, and still remember today. This is about McDonald's well known strategy process to upsell other products to the customer when he goes in the store. "Yesterday, I went to McDonald's and ordered french fries, and the lady in the counter asked me, "you want fries with that?" When you need to do something different, is the culture of "its always been the way things are done around here?" becoming your enemy? 9:28:39 AM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004 |
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Bluetooth Gaining ( on technology) My friend uses the bluetooth feature of his cell phone to find " connections" in bars, and make friends. Another use it to listen music, while a couple uses it to power their cell phone earpiece. I use it to transfer files between my devices and my wife's. I visited a couple of conference rooms that now use bluetooth for their wireless keyboards and mouse in order to enable the presentor to move about while doing presentations. Many car makers have introduced it as a standard feature. Bluetooth, named after a Danish prince, was introduced 10 years ago. Initially overhyped, it was starting to falter. But this year, according to Business 2.0 magazine Oct 2004, over 1400 products will incorporate blue tooth this year. It is estimated that shipment of Bluetooth semiconductors was 69 million in 2003 and will reach 700 million in 2004. In money terms, that is a market size of $163 million in 2004 to $1.7 billion by the year 2008. After reading that blue lasers will enable the future DVD players to store even more data, it seems blue, my favorite color, will be coming on strong. 1:24:38 PM comment [] trackback []
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The Price of an Olympic Gold Medal ( quote) "I started to learn diving at five and a half. For the last 16 years i have been training on how to perfect a dive that lasts one second. " - 2004 Chinese 10 Meter Platform Dive Olympic Gold Medalist Ho Chya 8:22:36 AM comment [] trackback []
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Saturday, October 23, 2004 |
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Offloading your Brain ( on technology) Reading Michael Slawski's blog made me post an earlier article on how to stay connected. His subsequent comment about using a PDA made me think why I find mine so useful that I have two. But first allow me to spin a story... One of my early favorite books was that of Sherlock Holmes. At one of the stories, he proceeded to ask Dr. Watson some issues about the solar system. After that which he said, "now that I know, I will now proceed to consciously forget about it." Dr. Watson asked him why, for which he replied, "We can only remember so many things, and since the information is of no potential use to me, of what value is it should I remember it?" That was written well over a hundred years ago, and since then we have read that our mind is really of almost infinite wonder, but still, the fact remains that we can only remember so many things on the conscious level. At this time when information is growing at an exponential rate, there is even more reason to be very selective in what we store in our minds. I had a chance to talk to one of my colleague, and he was complaining that 256 mb of memory in his computer was not enough. I could not imagine that would not be enough, since when I started in computers, we only had 16k. Obviously, I noted the habit of not only running over a dozen programs simultaneously, but also keeping over a dozen emails opened. Even the powerful processors of today would feel the groan of such weight, and so does the human mind. I give him the comment that if he consciously reads each email, answers and resolves it once and for all, and methodically close them, his computer would run much faster, and not only his computer, but his own mind would be much less cluttered. In today's world, where information is so vast, and hundreds of things cry for your attention, and we are all expected to multi-task, it really should be our prime goal to speed up our ability to get things done so that the number of open issues remains small, and we would feel uncluttered. Which brings me back the PDA ( or a smart phone)... In my own theory, would I not vastly use my brains better if I use it full force for observation and analysis instead of remembering things? How much of our mind do we put up remembering to do something later, remembering somebody's birthday or some later appointment, a friends email or telephone number? Yes, trying to keep all of that in mind detracts your full attention, and like an open folder in a computer, eats up resources and memory, and slows down processing. An article on Oct 2004 issue of Readers Digest entitled the Brain Explained also noted that it not the ability to take all information in ( noting the massive amounts of data the world is feeding your brain), but rather the ability to shut much of it out that's key. As they say, "If you're always paying attention to everything your senses is picking up, you would be overwhlemed". Your brain, after all, at least its working memory, can remember only about seven distinct items, and if you try to hold more in your working memory, as in contrast to long term memory, more than 7 items, you will overload it quickly. So there is the PDA. When somebody talks of an appointment, I write it down. When I remember something to do, I write it down. When somebody gives me an email address or a phone number, I write it down. When I need to remember a quote or a news fact that I read, I write it down. When I need to send an email, I write it down immediately. When there are minutes of the meeting or action plan that needs to be taken care of, I write it down. When there are memorable events, I take pictures, or have the conversation recorded. So in the course of the day, when I have some random thoughts that for instance for a topic for this blog, I write it down too. I find this practice of immediately writing it down liberating, and unclutters my mind hopefully to focus at the things at hand rather than remembering many things. And the PDA can remember it infinitely better than any human mind. When I look at the topics I have to blog about in my PDA, I would say half of them would have long been In today's world, getting organized, and preventing information overload, as well as making optimal use of your "gray cells" remains one of the most exciting challenges. If you have something to do, get it done immediately, or remember to do it later by letting a PDA or computer remember it for you. What do you think? 5:22:28 PM comment [] trackback []
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forgotten except for those little notes that I took at the moment when I thought about it. This process of speeding up decision making, and NOT remembering, can vastly help a person to be more productive. I would like to believe that when Bill Gates wrote about |
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Friday, October 22, 2004 |
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Speed of Decision Making ( quotes ) This is an Excerpt from a book called Future of the Enterprise by Sayling Wen, who was a well known Taiwanese industrialist and philanthropist. His book was published by Asia Pac Publication, and sorry, could not find it in Amazon. He talks about the importance of the speed in decision making. "I always request that all decisions, major as well as minor, be made within one hour. The decisions on whether something can be done, and whether or not we want to do it, are to be made within one hour. This is the policy of present-day enterprise management because in this high speed age, while the cost of an erroneous decision might just be to rectify the error, the cost of a slow decision could well be death." 5:56:45 PM comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, October 21, 2004 |
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In today's world, it is very important to be "connected". I have 2 PDAs that I constantly logged with me, and I will tell you why I need both. I wish I had only one, but there is just not that one device yet that can do all -- at least I am thinking of the pocket pc XDA3, when it comes out. For now, the first PDA I have is the Sony Ericsson P900 which I use for: a.) cell phone b.) mp3 music player c.) camera and short video recorder d.) Short text messaging and also checking email using GPRS e.) internet surfing using GRPS
f.) sound recorder
The second is the Palm Tungsten C. I would have preferred a Pocket PC only that I really need a keyboard. I just cannot do it right using a stylus. So I use this PDA for: a.) address book b.) date book and organizer c.) read news and blogs d.) check email using WiFi e.) internet using WiFi f.) games g.) Photo viewer h.) Book Reader
These 2 units I always log on with me, and hopefully means I am often connected and never bored.
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The Quest of Being Connected. ( on technology)
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Quotes on the Living of Life ( quotes) Last week, I joined a forum in Ecademy, which is called the Intellectualize Club. People from different nations and cultures assemble in this online community and talk about the great books, and the living of life. Here are some of the great quotes I was able to collect.
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't. - Lyall Watson
Get Real. If all it takes is an angry stranger to ruin your day, what are you going to do if something really serious happens? Why give someone else control of your life like that?" - Jeffrey Gitomer
Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it. -- Thaddeus Golas
The result is not the point. It is the effort to improve ourselves that is valuable. There is no end to this practice. -- Shnuryu SuzukiI have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances." -- Martha Washington "Take heed: you do not find what you do not seek." -- English Proverb
"If you approach life with a sense of possibility and the expectation of positive results, you're more likely to have a life in which possibilities are realized and results are positive." - Lisa Funderburg A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how." -- Victor Frankl
"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." -- Oscar Wilde.
"For every person who climbs the ladder of success, there are adozen waiting for the elevator. " -- K Griffith 12:51:24 PM comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 |
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Report on Outsourcing to India ( on news) A report in Computerworld as of Oct 18 has reported a boom in computer IT firms in India attributable to offshoring. The following are the number of employees of the leading companies as of the end of the 3rd quarter compared to same period last year, and how much is the percentage growth: Company 2003 2004 percentage growth: InfoSys 18,580 32,949 77% Tata Consultancy 24,000 40,948 70.6% Wipro 24,500 37,063 51.2% Meta Group estimates that offshore services will continue to grow at least 20% through 2008.
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Light Business Jokes ( jokes) After so many days of statistics, and discussions, let us lighten up with some jokes. ----------- A kid swallowed a coin and it got stuck in his throat. His mother yelled for help. A man passing by hit him in the small of the back, and the coin came out. " I don't know how to thank you , Doctor..., " his mother started. "I'm not a doctor," the man replied, " I'm a tax collector of the revenue service." --------------------- An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday did not happen today. --------------------- Tree econometricians went out hunting, and came across a large deer. The first econometrician fired but missed by a meter to the left. The second econometrician fired but missed by a meter to the right. The third econometrician didn't fire, but shouted in triumph, " we got it! We got it!" 9:20:09 AM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 |
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What China Consumes ( news) I got this from Fortune Magazine, Oct 11, 2004. All businesses should try to look at China. China has about 20.5 percent of the world's population at 1.3 billion as of 2003. The country has made a name for itself as the world's factory, but it is also fast becoming one of the biggest buyers of various products. Here, are the commodities that China consumes almost or more than a fifth of the world total as of 2003: cell phone 20.1 percent cigarettes 34.8 percent coal 31 percent cotton 32.7 percent fish 32.3 percent pork 50.8 percent poultry 19.2 percent copper 19.7 percent Ice cream 19.1 percent Soybeans 19.6 percent rice 32.8 percent finished steel 26.9 percent TVs 23.2 percent It should be noted that on many items as well, this is growing also faster than the world average. 8:58:12 AM comment [] trackback []
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Monday, October 18, 2004 |
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Get Your favorite Blogs into your My Yahoo Home Page ( on tidbits) Just surfed a great blog site which will tell you how to leverage the Internet to increase your business. And there is a bonus which many of you may not yet know -- it is possible to have our favorite blogs and news feeds to be delivered into your My Yahoo home page through RSS ( Really Simple Syndication). To know more on RSS and how to do it, please click here.
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Top 15 Beer Brands in the World ( tidbits) I just got this from Fortune Magazine, Oct 25, 2004 issue. Sometimes, what we perceive and what is real is different, and there is nothing that clears the issue faster than plain facts. Germany, a beer drinking nation have no top brands because the market is too fragmented amongst local brewers. For business, and just for trivia, here is the top 15 beer brands in the world. 1. Bud light, Anheuser Busch, United States 2. Budweiser , anheuser Busch, United States 3. Skol, Inbev , Brazil 4. Corona, Grupo Model, Mexico 5. heineken, Heineken, Netherlands 6. Coors Light, Coors, United States 7. Asahi Super Dry, Asahi, Japan 8. Miller Lite, SAB Miller, United States 9. Brahma Chopp, Inbev, Brazil 10. Polar, Cerveceria Polar, Valenzuela 11. Tsingtao, Qingdao Brewery, China 12. Amstel, Heineken, Netherlands 13. Carlsberg, Carlsberg, Denmark 14, Guinness Stout, Diageo, Britain 15. San Miguel Pale Pilesen, San Miguel, Philippines 3:58:59 PM comment [] trackback []
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Sunday, October 17, 2004 |
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Flow of Money ( in news) Other than the flow of money investments, globalization has triggered migrant workers who go to work in other countries. Here is the outflow and inflow in the year 2001 which represents the amount of cash transfers to family and friends back home: ( source: World Bank). This statistics show who are getting the brunt of migrant workers, and who are sending them. Top Outflow: United States $28.4 billion , Saudi Arabia $15.1 billion, Germany $8.2 billion , Belgium $8.1 billion, France $3.9 billion Top Inflow: India $10 billion, Mexico $9.9 billion, Philippines $6.4 billion, Morocco $3.3 billion, Egypt $2.9 billion, Turkey $2.8 billion 7:51:20 PM comment [] trackback []
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Saturday, October 16, 2004 |
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List of High Impact Books by Paul Allen ( on reviews) I've put in my list of reviews, some books that I recommend for entrepreneurs and business managers to read ( some books are slanted also towards managing technology). A great list, and great recommendation is found on this site. The book lists 10 titles, and although I read only four, this is a great list, and I myself will try to secure the others. Paul Allen ( not to be confused with the Paul Allen that co-founded Microsoft) is a managing partner of Infobase ventures, and also maintains a blog at this URL.
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The Value of Making Mistakes ( on business) I came across this excellent article at this blog ( A Nasty Bit of Business) which has been ongoing for 4 years, and is an excellent business resource. He talks about an excellent story by Benjamin Franklin while he was young, and comments on the invaluable lessons we should try to learn not only from our own, but from other people's mistakes.
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Friday, October 15, 2004 |
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World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report ( on news) The World Economic Forum have just released their latest global competitiveness report. The following are considered the top 10 most competitive nations in the world. 1. Finland 2. United States 3. Sweden 4. Taiwan 5. Denmark 6. Norway 7. Singaapore 8. Switzerland 9. Japan 10. Iceland The global competitiveness index is composed of three “pillars,” all of which are widely accepted as being critical to economic growth: the quality of the macroeconomic environment; the state of a country’s public institutions; and, given the increasing importance of technology in development, a country’s technological readiness. Released just a few days ago, it is immediately in the headline of most countries' business and headline news, showing each countries' interest in improving their business climate and economic situations.
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Thursday, October 14, 2004 |
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Good Fortune Business Fish (on tidbits) Business Success is a matter of hard work, and good business decisions. But for many Asians, it is also a matter of Feng Shui or good karma. It can be in the form of proper placement of things in the office, proper direction, and other things. Many Asian businesses have arowana fish, which is supposed to bring good fortune and business. Earlier this week, I went to a restaurant called Ching Palace, in Cebu. They even are one upping it. This is the aropaima fish, one of the biggest freshwater fishes, and these pair is I think at least 6 feet long. I put in a coke can just for good measure.
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Monday, October 11, 2004 |
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Business Books List 2. ( reviews)
Here is my second list of business books, a short comment, and my own rating.
5.) Allen, David ( 2001), Getting Things Done, - óóó Author shares tips on how to reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations to allow breakthrough methods for stress-free performance. 6.) Treacy, Michael and Wiersema Fred ( 1995) The Discipline of Market Leaders, MA: Addison Wesley - óóóó Provides an excellent guide on how to bring value to the products and services of the company to the market, and how the proper focus ( instead of trying to do everything) on the right goals and great execution will enable a company to get greater returns. 7.) Grove, Andrew ( 1996), Only the Paranoid Survive, - óóóó provides great insights on how crisis points must inevitably hit any company, and that the proper recognition and response to such threat is essential to survival in the modern day business. 8.) Gates, William (1999), Business at the Speed of Thought , NY: Warner Books - óóóó contains many good tips on how to respond to change, and how to use knowledge management and the right information systems in managing a corporation from the founder of Microsoft. Almost a must for people in management and technology jobs.
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Sunday, October 10, 2004 |
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Business Book List 1. ( on reviews)
Following is a list of some of the best business sellers book in the last 10 years, my short comments, and the link to amazon.com. I will be presenting more lists and for some books, longer reviews in the coming posts. 1.) Gerstner, Louis ( 2002), Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance, - óóóó Gerstner, IBM’s CEO from 1992 to 2002 shares the insights on how he was able to get things moving and thereby saved IBM. 2.) Bossidy, Larry with Ram Charam ( 2002) , Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done, - óóóó Bossidy was chairman of Honeywell, and Ram shares insights on how to get the job done, and thereby define the true meaning of leadership in terms of ability to execute. 3.) Welch, Jack (2001) , Straight from the Gut, - óóóóó Welch, voted most influential CEO of the 20th century, shares his experiences of over 20 years in leading GE to become the world’s most valuable company. Excellent book in how to focus, provide vision, encourage teamwork, train and reward performance. 4.) Goldratt, Eliyahu ( 1992), The Goal, A process of ongoing Improvement, 2nd edition, MA: - óóóóó Dr. Goldratt’s book which introduced the Theory of Constraints, and change the way on how to look at productivity. A must read on improving everyday operations processes. comment [] trackback []
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The Ecademy Business Network ( on technology) For the last few weeks, I have been a member of Ecademy Network. This is a website which is used by over 42,000 members to network, and get to know people from all over the world. It is like Friendster but with a business twist. I am writing about this on technology, because the site does present some very cool technology tools to make it easier as to how to get to know business people worldwide. You can blog there, you can join clubs, but most of all you can get to know people. Last October 8, the chairman of Ecademy, Tomas Powers, visited Manila Philippines. I was fortunate to meet him, and was also selected to deliver the opening remarks. Since this was for an international audience, I also took the chance to promote Philippine Business. Click on this link to know more about some of my thoughts on business networks, and also some warm thoughts about doing business in the Philippines.
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From the Prologue of Bill Clinton's book, My Life ( quotes) My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns, and I loved governing, I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I keep score .... 6:08:20 PM comment [] trackback []
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Saturday, October 09, 2004 |
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A BIG Mayor of a Small City ( on business) The Philippine Business Conference featured many big businessmen, and high government officials, including the Philippine President and Vice President. Amongst the speaker, I would have decided not to attend was a mayor of a relatively small city called Naga, which is about a few hours by bus from Metro Manila. My participant advised me that this was a great mayor and I would be impressed. And I was. Amongst the dozen speakers, other than Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, I will feature him. His principles of governing a city is also applicable to the principles of managing a business and living life. Jesse Robredo became a mayor of Naga City in 1988, and was mayor of 10 years. In 2001, he came back as mayor and was reelected in 2004. Under his term, the city has won 112 awards, while he himself was the only Philippine civil servant to have won the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service. ( Click here to see his complete profile). Among others, Naga has won two awards from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the most business friendly city in 2002 and 2003.  Fig. 1. Photo of the Naga Mayor
The following is a paraphrase of his excellent speech: " What Makes Naga a business friendly city. We the people do. The first thing I recognized was that the process of how to get things done is as important as the outcome. If we have a process of improving transparency, then the people will be more willing to participate. One of the most successful things I did was to establish the Naga City web site. In here, the people will know exactly what services they expect from the government, what is the procedure to do it, and who they will make responsible if this is not done. By increasing accountability, we keep government servants on their toes, and remind them that their job is to serve the people. We have also put in the whole budget, the whole expenditure of the government into the web site. The people knows exactly how the taxes were spent, and whether it is increasing or decreasing. We have also publicize all our planned procurements. As a result of this transparency, our cost per kilometer of road is 40 percent lesser than average, and on many items, is 19 to 70 percent cheaper than the national average. Not only were we able to buy cheaper, but by being transparent, we also make the process faster, more efficient, with far less red tape than in a normal government agency. We alos have used information to harness the entrepeneural drive of the people and their spirit by keeping them involved and by maximizing their participation. Thus, with their involvemnet, and knowing exactly the results, we were able to arrive at the necessity of increasing taxes five times, which was approved by the people themselves. But most of all, their involvement not only means we an harness more their energy, but also it contributes to the people's confidence and hope that they have a voice in their own future. 5:59:56 PM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004 |
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"Speech of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad before the 30th PBC (news) Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is the former prime minister of Malaysia ( PM from 1981 to 2003) . He is credited with turning the Malaysian economy from a backwater in the 0s to one of the top emerging tiger economies by 2000, and making Malaysia to be the 17th top trading nation in the world. He is acknowledged to be a spokesman for the New Asia and many times for Developing Countries. He is also known to be controversial at times, and while at times speak for globalization, does not hesitate to hit out on rich countries, or rich capitalists like George Soros if he believes that they are not doing the proper thing for Malaysia. He is known to be supportive of big business, but also is known to frown on corporate greed. He says he supports capitalism, but did not hesitate to institute foreign currency controls in 1998, for which he was criticized as anti-laissez faire worldwide. Following is a transcript of his vision ( my own interpretation) for growth for a country's economy based on the Malaysian experience. While he talks about management of a country's economy, most of his principles also goes towards the management of business. It should be noted that his ideas are nothing new, and are known to many economists, but coming from somebody with his stature, it should be read and taken seriously. " When you want to grow a country's economy, the important factor to look for is the equitable distribution of wealth. Socialism and communism tried to address this, but they failed because while they tried to be fair to the poor, they were also unfair to the rich. You have to make sure you are fair to both sides. Thus, it was a caring capitalism, which was afraid of growing communism in Malaysia during that time, that provided the ammunition to grow the economy. Malaysia could only be peaceful if racial and economic differences could be removed and the class differences would be minimized. The economy had to make Paul feel better, but it also could not grow by robbing Peter to feed Paul. It has to grow by allowing the rich to continue with their business, but allowing the poor a larger economic kick of the fruits of their labor. This led me to institute affirmative action, which while positively biased to the Malaysians ended up benefitting all, as the disaprity of income between the rich and the poor was slowly addressed. The poor cannot become rich selling to the poor. The poor can become rich only by working with the rich. Thus, while you make sure you are bettering the lot of the poor, you have to make sure the rich are sufficiently incentivize to continue making investments, creating jobs, and paying taxes.
Fig. 1. Dr. Mahathir Mohamad talks to officers of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce before his speech. No investments means that there will be no jobs created. The workers would lose. If there is confrontation always between the employer and the employee, between the rich and the poor, then there will be no industrial peace, there will be no investments. Without investments, there will be economic stagnation. You have to help the rich generate profits through proper and legal means. Working hard to insure that nobody gets rich benefits nobody, and it prevents the creation of jobs which is the most important thing you want to happen. It is not difficult to grow an economy, but to sustain it, you have to make sure it grows equitably. IN 1969, Malaysians made up 60% of the population but only 1% of the wealth. Now, they own 20% of the wealth, and while it still fall short, I have the support of the foreigners, the Chinese, the Indians, and the native Malaysians who now agree that in order to establish a nation, you have to share and take care of all interest. It cannot be that the winner takes all, and the loser lose. YOu should make sure it is open to everyone and that there is something for everybody to share. Only then will you get everybody's cooperation that will allow your economy to move forward. " -end-
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Attending the 30th Philippine Business Conference ( on news) Oct 5 to 7,2004 is the ocassion of the 30th Philippine Business Conference. As a blog where we are supposed to talk about business principles and the art of living, I sometimes insert some interesting tidbits, but I believe this definitely earns a place since it is the largest gathering of the top businessmen of the country. Organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it is expected to be attended by over 2,500 delegates from all over the country ( including guests from Malaysia, China and other countries) representing the network of PCCI of over 100 local business chambers, 125 industry associations, and 27 bilateral councils. The venue is the historic 5 star Manila Hotel. As usual, this year will have the Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as well as the Vice President Noli de Castro as speakers. It is also expected to be graced by former president Fidel V. Ramos, and with special keynote speaker in the person of former Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. I will cover later his speech but meantime, here are 2 pictures, one of the opening, and the other give you a semblance of the event. There are well over a dozen speakers, many of them top business and government officials, and if it is something noteworthy, you will see it covered here. This picture covers the opening doxology with a great spiritual dance:
This picture gives you the semblance, and atmosphere of the convention, though taken from my camera phone is not that clear indoors.
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Monday, October 04, 2004 |
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Gartner: Four out of Five Linux PCs End up running Windows (news) According to Gartner, PC builders are taking putting Linux on PCs as a way of staying legal and avoiding Microsoft, even though they later will install a pirated Windows copy or know the enduser will. According to Gartners data, 10.5 percent of new PCs shipped this year in the Asia Pacific will have Linux pre-installed, but the actual usage is actually a much smaller 2.3 percent. ( click on title to read complete story). 2:39:56 PM comment [] trackback []
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Sunday, October 03, 2004 |
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Hiring and Firing Workers (on business) The World Bank funds a study every year on the Doing Business Indicators which compares the regulatory costs of business, and its regulations/enforcement across 145 economies worldwide. The study provides matrices and comparisons on how easy it is to start a new business, how it protects investors, how good it is in enforcing contracts, in registering property, in getting credit, as well as in closing a business. These are by the way, topics that you hear often from businessmen and executives in many forums. Rightly or wrongly, many businessmen have their own perceptions of these. It might well also to take a look what the formal study says. One of the metrices they invariably talked about is the system that many countries and economies place to protect the interests of workers and a guarantee of minimum standard of living. This has things to do with regulation, specifically on the hiring and firing of workers and the rigidity of the working hours. While this protects labor on paper, it increases the cost of doing business and sometimes harms the thing that it purports to protect. It is somewhat like putting on a high price tag on a product which is supposedly aimed at getting a higher profit, but when the price tag is too high, consumers shun away and it has the effect of actually turning away business. The high unemployment rates of various countries in Europe and the slow economic growth is traceable in part to the state's overzealous protection of the workers' rights. In a world which is increasingly getting globalized, this indicator is studied by companies carefully, and could well be one of the more carefully studied in a nation's competitiveness index. Nations should well study this and work out policies with the eye of not only benefitting a certain pool or segment, but on maximizing the total impact to its economy. As a businessman, I certainly know the principles of optimization - price a good that will have the greatest total returns. But many governments are just keen on keeping increasing the price to a point when it is so hard to sell anymore, which benefits no one. When it becomes politicized, the argument becomes only when to increase, and how much. Sometimes more competitive economies also understand ocassionally, when things are tough, you have to decrease your prices too. The World bank Methodology which is used studies the detailed employment law and regulations. The cost of firing indicator measures the cost of advance notice requirements, and severance payments, and penalties due when firing a worker. The methodology is presented in a paper by Juan Botero in the Quarterly Journal of Economics called The Regulation of Labor. IN an index, Singapore and Hongkong both got 0, US got a score of 3, Canada is 4, Australia is 17 and United Kingdom 20. Economies with a high cost of hiring and firing includes Sweden 43, India 48, and Mexico 72. The Philippines got 41. For a complete comparison of report, click here.
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There is always a better way to announce bad news. (on jokes) Further on down the line, the other engine broke down, and the train came to a standstill. The engineer decided he should inform the passengers about why the train had stopped, and made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that this is a train and not a plane."
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Saturday, October 02, 2004 |
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China Company Vision Mission Statement ( on business)
If you think the Chinese are behind in the latest theories of doing business, think again. Corporate Vision: To work for full customer satisfaction through excellent and healthy quality. To showcase regional culture and contribute to service branding. Corporate The brand is our wealth Your trust is our lifeblood The customer is our parents Effectiveness and efficiency is our security To serve is our mission. comment [] trackback []
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Friday, October 01, 2004 |
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Being a Workhaholic ( on business) Is being called a workhaholic necessarily positive? On the positive side, that means you are perceived to be putting in long hours and working hard, which can be positive. But being billed as a workaholic also carries some negative connotations. That almost certainly means that you are a compulsive worker, meaning you don’t feel at ease unless you are doing something. I must admit I am somewhat of a compulsive reader. I go to the doctors office, and I will read anything they offer. When I eat, I automatically scan and read the box labels. I remember back in college, I wanted to read, and also feel compelled to read so as to gain competitive advantage. The problem was that before long, I was setting a goal for myself to read almost everything, with a daily minimum of at least a hundred pages. Before long, it did not matter what I read ( and I read a good amount of garbage that had no redeeming value.) as long as I read. Before long, I started asking myself whether I was really gaining something for all the printed words that I was gobbling up, and the definitive answer was no. In the same sense that would be what a workhaholic do – work for work’s sake, and at the end of the day, the first thing to ask is really whether he was really planning or prioritizing ( see also Being Busy without Prioritizing) , or just doing one thing after another as a matter of habit. Thus, the unlikely scenario is that there is much work, but too few important things done. Do you work hard yet lose perspective. Do you plan? Are you a workhaholic? 12:11:26 PM comment [] trackback []
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Last update: 7/11/2005; 9:46:15 AM .
