Is there such a thing as luck in business? There are many entrepreneurs or successful business men who believe so.
Indeed there are 2 schools of thoughts - either you believe in luck or you do not.
As for me, I do not believe in luck. If you believe in God, it is God who directs and gives you success or failures. Whichever it is, it is for the betterment of the individual for God knows what is the best for the individual.
However, on the aspect of individual responsibility in managing the business, to put it simply, it is important that the individual must have the relevant skills and knowledge in the business that he is competing in. He must also have the network, leverage and connectivity in the market place. He must also have adequate resources, whether financials or human capitals to help him to sustain the business. He must also have the relevant leadership, wisdom and vision of business leadership.
There is a saying by a successful corporate leader "the harder you work, the more luck you have". True? Indeed, it is "working smart and hard" and NOT "working smart and NOT hard".
The world is real. It is about ability, capability, connectivity, space creation and hard work. Practise good governance and transparencies. The success that comes without all these basic elements will not be sustainable. It is not deep rooted. When there is great thunderstorm or calamity it will be uprooted and blown away. Thus a deep rooted tree will only be sustainable irregardless of the economic, social or political climates.
Lastly, fear God and be righteous in business. God will prosper the individual or corporate accordingly.
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If you are to meet an individual anywhere other than in the work environment, the individual is just another number or individual in the crowd. You do not give a second look or any consideration for the individual. The most likely thing to happen, in the best case scenario, is a smile and hello ... and then you walked away.
The individual does not represent any centre of authority, influence, power or of interest to you.
However, if the same individual dons on a formal office attire or uniform in the work environment or "sits" on a particular chair of authority, there is a transformation! Whether he ranks high in the hierarchy or low, he receives respect as he represents authority, influence or power.
Thus, there is a saying which says "respect the uniform/chair and not the person". Thus, the moment the individual retires or resigned from his position, he is just another individual. He becomes "faceless".
Unless, he is of an exemplary character, he will quickly fade away or be neglected or loses the respect immediately once he is not in "uniform" or the "chair". This applies whether the individual belongs to the uniform group or in any government or private sector.
Thus the value of life is to be of good, helpful and of exemplary character and the respect will "stick" to the person for life whether he is out of work environment or retired! Genuine respect is to be earned!
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Lately, I had the opportunity to meet a couple of successful Entrepreneurs and Managers who were filled with the passions and respective visions to grow their "empires/companies" aggressively. I could not understand that, despite their great visions, they are trapped in the past with the "old mindset" and unwittingly applying their skill and knowledge of the past in today's decision making hoping for "high performance results".
We are in the age of knowledge and information overload and plentiful in skill availability. It puzzles me that these Entrepreneurs and Managers are still in the "primitive" environment with old skill sets, knowledge and structures.
Can this mindset entrapment brings about improvement in result and intent? The answer is "yes it can". However, the speed and quality may be a challenge. Will the practitioner realised this? "No" as they had no defined benchmark or set KPIs to begin with or there may be reasons to compromise the outcomes by the Entrepreneurs and Managers themselves.
Many of these Companies, owned and/or managed by these Entrepreneurs or Managers, undeniably cannot be classified as failures as the shareholders are happy with the revenues and returns BUT if only they realised their entrapment, they could propel themselves a few notches up the Performance grid and drive the Companies to higher performances!
I am a great believer in Newton's Third Law of "Equal and Opposite Reaction" or in today's term "cause and effect" or in IT lingo "rubbish in, rubbish out" ...
For these Entrepreneurs and Managers, my advice is to have objective "Gap Analysis" within the respective Companies ... identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) and work on these with solutions, set challenging KPIs ... and if you need to ... seek help! Not any help BUT the right help!
So there is hope!
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I was not feeling well since last Saturday and thank God I am now almost recovered ...
The throat was dry. Voice was coarse. Body a bit awkward ... temperature seemed to be above normal ... hmmm... getting sick I told my family members.
Usual advice ... drink more water, avoid "heaty" food ... well I did that ... but it was of little help and I needed to prepare for the next day Church service. Throughout the day, I drank herbal tea, seeking relief from "fisherman lozenges" and tablets of paracetamol to lower the body temperature and meanwhile depending on the body immune system to do its work in bringing the body back to optimal working condition. Meanwhile, prayers helped ... God heard ...
Praise God, I went through the next day, Sunday Church service with no problem until the afternoon when the ailment relapsed with affirmative symptoms.
I decided to seek help and I drove to the Pharmacy to purchase antibiotic for the throat infection that led to secondary complications. It is good that in Malaysia the retail shop is always accessible. I started the therapy that very day and today I am feeling much better and had been on my feet since the last 2 days.
Why do I decide to write about this? Well, I cannot help but to counsel that an ailing Company must seek help as well if the Company after some internal restructuring or re-engineering and is still not able to recover or performed to expectation or as desired within the expected time frame then it is crucial and timely to seek external expertise and resources as well.
Like my body, it would quickly turn around and so does the Company provided that the right medication or resources is rightly sourced.
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It is during the bad times when the economy threatens towards a downturn or is in the midst of downturn that the resilience and health of the Company are being measured.
Can the Company sustain during the time of adversity... and for how long? How quick will the Company be able to turn around? On the other hand, can the Company capitalised on the situation and, not only to turn around, but grow!
These are real issues and challenges, as well as opportunities, for a healthy and well structured company to be a winner in an adverse economic condition. A Company, well managed will have all the resources, structures, policies, risk management and business continuity programmes in place. It will be proactively prepared for any unforeseen economic climate or natural disaster or any new government legislations that may negatively affect its business model ...
Thus, visionary and great leadership in the Company is important to drive and to give traction to the Company for not only in mid but to long term sustainability and success. Today's leadership is being challenged by many uncertainties, not only economically, but also encompasses high employees mobility and borderless business challenges. Also, opportunities and risks and local businesses are more linked to global economy. Additionally, competitors are more knowledgeable and skilled. Market environment also moved at faster pace ...
As a Leader or Entrepreneur, do you feels adequate or prepared to lead the Team forward for long term? Thus it is important that Company needs to educate and learn to execute new skills and knowledge through unlearning of old ones as well.
It is inevitable and appropriate that structures, resources and policies of the Company must be in place and able to support the business and growth of the Company irrespective of economic, natural, legislative, technological, social or geographical challenges or disasters.
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A Company is normally happy and contented, albeit occasional desire for change for better performance though revenue, profit and ROI are healthy and trending is positive.
Many fear to introduce change into its business as it may disrupt the existing work culture, habit, comfort and even the possibility of negative financial impact! Thus introduction of change may be worse then "not changing". Therefore, change, if ever, must be managed well.
Successful sustainable profitable business must be proactive and keep ahead of competitors in preserving and even expanding its market share. The business owner needs to anticipate customers' changing preferences, economic and governmental policies, technology advancements, borderless competitions and protectionisms in different geographies and industries ...
The business must be customer-centric. There is thus a need to allocate time to relook and review the business of the Company from time to time and to recalibrate its deliverables, performance and success against the Competitors as well as the market environment and opportunities - both existing and the future.
Identify, seek and build resources in finance, talent and manpower, review the support structures, introduce new skill sets and mindset, upgrade technology where relevant, business and support processes to be strengthened, have risk management in place, incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility in the company culture ... these are some of the fundamentals towards developing and creating a sustainable High Performance Organisation.
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If you are searching for the latest circumcision device, I am glad to introduce you to SKL Disposable Circumcision Device.
This innovative device is the latest generation of circumcision device. It is patented by a Malaysian Surgeon, Dato' Dr KL Siow, who had many years of experience in performing circumcisions with many different techniques and using various devices available in the Country. It took him 8 years to perfect this device.
The device's innovative and unique design ensures that there is no danger of accidental cut of the glans and minimal risk of infection. Patients will be able to go back to work or participate in any outdoor activities immediately after the surgery. There would be minimal or no discomfort or pain, if any, as the device will protect the glans from direct contact against the clothing. Patients would not be required to follow-up with the Doctors as the device will 'drop-off" by itself about 10-14 days after surgery.
Doctors would also love this device as the whole procedure would be completed in about 2.5 minutes or less.
For viewing of the procedure do visit: http://youtu.be/P20CjPRm1D4 For business interest in Malaysia or other geographies do contact me on this link.
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