Staying Sane

In my other article called "Nothing Lasts", I discussed how history has told us a lesson that human creations never last. People in the great empires like the Romans, the Ottoman, the Egyptians would never have thought that one day their powerful kingdoms will crumble. But all of them did - without fail. My friend Len said it concisely and nicely : "everything is transient". But he followed it up with an open question - what lesson can we learn from it?

I do not have the capacity to take this point further to any higher philosophical or spiritual discussion. However, I do have one worldly observation about this subject. That is: for us to stay sane, we should always be ready to let go.

Most of us human, including me, are born with the natural tendencies to obsess, to feel attached to something or someone. I believe people even confuse the meaning of attachment to another person as "love" - which is an example on how we can misuse and abuse a word. I believe attachment to someone has nothing to do with love, it has something to do with selfish interest. But I will leave it at that as I do not intend to elaborate about love.

We also attach ourselves to things - our house, our job title, our evening TV show, our video games, our snack, the favorite restaurant, and so on. I know many people who have a habit of keeping many things for sentimental reasons - even if those things have no use anymore. I work with many people who will do anything possible to keep their job the way it is, even if change will inevitably come. Some of us may know people who collects things, statuettes, cards, toys - and spend much of their precious times looking after them.

These obsessions do not only happen at individual level. We also see how countries fought for hundreds of years on a disputed region, despite the suffering of the people who are stuck in the middle. We also see how bad obsessions to religious teachings can effect the peacefulness of our world.

As a key point, I believe we should differentiate the meaning of "to possess" vs. "to own". People should take ownership of their work, of their family, of their society, of their environment, of their country. By taking ownership we bring our best to create, improve and develop something or someone. Those are the reasons we all progress as human. On the other hand, we should always remember that nothing lasts and therefore none of our creation is our possession. What we built is there to be replaced, revised, or destroyed for good reasons in the future.

One day new ideas make our work obsolete, or a person we know may no longer be there, or some old habits may no longer be doable. You'll never know when it will come, but I think the more we are ready to let go of our possessions and obsessions, the more we can appreciate them for what they are - something transient. And the more we do that, the easier and saner our life would be.

The Devil of Failure

How do you explain the word SUCCESS? Sounds like a simple question, but if you do a survey to a thousand people, you may get a thousand versions of answers - and at the end you end up not having any answer.

Some successes may be easy to describe because of clear measurements, like a championship trophy or gold medals in the olympics. For those who work in corporations, success may be defined as promotions, the corner office, the size of responsibility. For those seeking wealth, success is also reasonably easy to define, by how much asset one accumulates. In a more complex context, military mission has to balance the accomplishment of the mission versus the sacrifices of human lives to reach it.

Those are all valid definitions and I am not writing to offer another definition. The more interesting question is, what is the difference between those who made it versus those who did not? I think this question is worth a thought.

In my view, the difference between success and failure lies in the individual's persistent refusal to fail. I see this as the unwillingness to let setbacks, temptations or discomfort stop one from focusing and working to reach the goals. I think luck, physical strength, talent, brain power and energy are all important factors to success, but the persistent refusal to fail will make one individual stand out among equals. This attribute alone distinguishes the winners from the losers, the achievers from the slackers.

I saw this quality in all impressive people I have met, and all the amazing people I admire. I admire John F Kennedy because of his ability to bounce back despite his Bay of Pig set-back. It amazes me how he can continue to focus on his work despite the public beatings he receives daily after his mistakes. I am amazed at the strength of Mahatma Gandhi in keeping his promise to fast until the violent fights stopped in his homeland. He did it at the time where people lost faith in his non-violent approach, when all hope seemed lost. Yet he prevailed and restored calm through his unwaivering faith.

Most importantly I am encouraged when I observe those small successes, those I see on my daily life. A 50 year old female colleague of mine continued to work hard on the task despite doubts from her own boss and several attempts from her boss to replace her. She eventually prevailed by convincing her boss on her contribution and held on to her position. I have my own experiences in my younger years as a professional, when discomfort and setbacks pushed me out from the battles I needed to fight. I have learnt since then, that success is only achievable when I stare "the devil of failure" in the eyes, not quit and stay in the game. I have applied that in my life and my work since then - and I am happy to say that I am a witness to my own growth and developments.

The devil of failure will be the first to stand in the way of every person who tries to achieve something. It will tell us that the discomfort is just too much to bear and your dream is not that important, so quit it and do something easier. It will say that the setback you have had recently is too big to recover from, so do not worry to fight back and just walk away from it. It will give you all sort of reasons to quit. As I thought about this, I began to really understand and appreciate the meanings in the story of Jesus beating the devil in the desert.


At the end, your success is your dream to reach, and throughout the journey there, you will encounter many reasons to fail. If you really want to achieve your goals, the first thing you should do is to be ready to stare down the devil of failure in the eyes when he comes to greet you.

Corporate Career Ladder (and Snake)

Probably many of you know this game well. It is a board game where you roll the dice, advance your pawn according to the number you get, with a possibility that you find a short-cut (if you find a ladder) or slide down (if you find a snake). I used to love the game as a kid.

Obviously, one player will advance faster than others depending on luck, and the winner is the one who finish first. In general all will advance somewhere even if they are not the winner, as long as they have the endurance to stay in the game, and not quit.

I am thinking about it as I reflect on the word "career path". After earning a living in corporations for many years, I realized that it is nothing more than a game of snakes and ladders. The bigger and more bureaucratic the organization is, the more will power and luck you will need to move ahead. Those with a strong will power will overcome the snakes, no matter how big and many they are.

I have my share of playing this game in corporations. I started as a young consultant, in one of the top American consulting firm based in Singapore. After moving up the ladders a few times and surviving several small snakes, I saw many bigger snakes on the way. So I decided to move out and earn money in a Dutch corporation based in Singapore and China. At my fifth year with this company I encountered an interesting opportunity that brought me to a big corporation in France. So now, in France, I work in an corporate headquarter where I encounter thousands of people playing the career snake and ladder game every day.

Lately I began to ask myself a question, why are so many people spending so much of their productive time playing this 2 dimensional board games. As I look around the office, I saw many people who seemed to be in perpetual move-up and slide-down mode and decided to just accept it as it is. I also worked with a few smart and energized people who overcame many snakes to move up to the next steps. A few did it out of competence for the job, but many are doing it because up in the board game is the only way to go. These people do not realize, that OUT is an alternative to UP especially when they find themselves in a place that they cannot add any value in.

Let me give some examples:

A managing director of the South East Asia office of a global logistics company, was a 45 years old Australian. It was obvious to many that he was not in the job for the love of logistics, or the love of South East Asia region. He was there because the job pays him well and he enjoys the hospitality of the South East Asian people. So he spent his days doing unproductive things like finding ways to maximize his bonus which is linked to the way he reports profit of his business unit. His CFO told me how disgusted he was everytime the time comes for him do this exercise. This Managing Director hardly talk about his work, and kept the competent people at a distance as he does not have the interest in talking to them. He got away with it for more than 10 years and certainly got his bonuses maximized.

So why would a person like this is allowed to spend his brain power for this purpose instead of doing something useful for others? How did the corporation let him get away with it? There are many others who can do a better job than him, and there are many other jobs where he can be more useful in. So yes, he overcome many snakes to get to his position of power, but wouldn't he and especially the people under him be better off if he quits?

Another example. An ex colleague of mine from my old consulting firm has been moving to 4 different consulting companies over the course of 10 years. He seems to be unable to stay in one company, even if the next job is exactly the same as the one before. It is obvious that he struggles to enjoy his work and his quality of work declines steadily. Despite his superb education background and credentials, he seems to be unable to escape the job he obviously hates - and continue to play the snake and ladders.

So I want to offer an alternative. Why don't the government require all MBA students to work as laborers for several years to get their hands dirty. Who knows they may end up being great managers in real sectors instead of being derivative traders in Goldman Sachs. Let's require all candidate teachers to work in industries (e.g., manufacturing). Those that decide to come back to teaching will be the ones who really love the job and better equipped to teach well. What about telling medical students to work in a food or chemical processing factories to see the source of many illness of their future patients. Maybe many will decide to stay in the industries and make healthier food for people. What about requiring every up-and-coming executives of corporations to take 2 years unpaid leave to teach or do charity work. Maybe some will end-up staying and using their brain power to help others directly.

Sceptics will argue that it will disrupt people's career path and aspirations. I will argue back, that it is only true if we see career path as a two dimensional board game. I have done my part of being stuck in a board game, but I have also done myself some good by asking why should I not do something else, including trying to work in a different culture like France and China? I have never done myself a better favor when I decided to get out of a board game and see something new.

I think it will be amazing to see how many people can find their true place in the world and contribute when they have the opportunity to try something different. We live in a multi - dimensional world, and people are multi dimensional creatures equipped with unique gifts. But today's corporations are designed to shrink people into two dimensional pions in a board game. I believe that most people are trapped in a place they do not belong to, and ended up spending so much time not realizing their potential (and often harming others on the way).

Nothing lasts

I am reading a book called "a little history of the world" by E.H. Gombrich. Now and then, you stumble into something great - and this is one of them. I have been looking for a history book that is easy to digest, educational and not trying to turn you into an academic professor.

This book, in its kids friendly storytelling, is perfect. It covers the history of the world from the pre-historic age to the world war 2. It has a bend towards Europe, but it touches all the key milestones in the history. It is certainly a fantastic book to buy as a gift.

Imagine the stories of the Macedonia with its Alexander the Great, The Egyptians, the Roman empire, the Germanic tribes and the Franks, the Ottoman empire, the knights, crusades and the church, the Persians, the Chin dynasty, the Huns, the Arabian invasion. The land of Europe and Euro-asia were criss-crossed by legions, horses, elephants, arrows and chariots for thousands of years. Millions of lives have paved the way for the creation of powerful civilizations and massive buildings.

However I am not writing to tell you about what I have read. Instead I want to share what I took away from reading this book. It has made me realize that throughout its history, humanity has been defined by the greed+ambitions of a few, realized by the blood of millions, and destroyed by the incompetence of a few (sometimes by the same person who had the ambition). At the end, none lasts. So my question is whether humanity has invented anything between then until now that will eliminate our helpless tendencies to self-destruct and cause suffering to majority of the people.

Let me list a few things that have defined the modern world after the latest global self destruct of world-war 2, and see if any of these are the antidotes from it. Is it the Americans with their version of democracy? Is it the Europeans with their version of slow + (un)steady creation of a European Union? Is it the Chinese with its version of communist-capitalism, which allows people to build wealth while keeping their communist version of state control intact? I believe we have seen enough by now to doubt that a single model works for all.

Or maybe it is not the social inventions that will safe humanity from the next self destruct. Could it be the technological inventions like the internet which made the world so open? Or is it the global trade and financial industries that has made the world so interdependent? I have my doubts.

Or maybe it is not the inventions at all. Maybe the solution to our self destruct happens when the world finally gets its act together to fix urgent world's problems like hunger (1 of 6 people goes to sleep hungry in the world), environmental danger and pollution, global-warming and brutalities of some remaining dictators. I think I am running out of ideas.

At the end of this analysis, I am just not convinced. If anything we should learn from the recent greed crisis (i.e., the financial and economic crisis), it is that humanity is not moving anywhere near the right direction. The notion in the recent past that the USA or the western world is the keeper of the world order is practically proven false, as false as those who thought that the Roman empire were supposed to rule the world forever.

It is still a very unsafe and fragile world, at the mercy of the ambitions of a few. The antidote of self-destruct never lies on the few ambitious "world leaders" - as they are clearly not positioned to do the job. The solution lies in the masses. So the choices are clear – it is either we pretend that the next world-self-destruct will not affect us, or we can try to do our little bit of contribution to prevent the next one from happening.

Listen and Observe

I was trying to listen to one of my French colleagues spoke to me the other day - he was telling me that there is an emergency at the factory and I need to participate in an urgent meeting. My French language skill is average at best, but having lived in France for 3 years, I have enough vocabularies to catch the key words and understand what he was saying. More importantly, as I listened, I sensed a certain 'frustration' behind his otherwise composed mannerism. I realized I had to attend the meeting, although I had made other plans.....

As I sat in the meeting with 5 French colleagues in a "very French" company near Versailles, a typical scenario happens. I was the only Asian, (Chinese-Indonesian) in the room, with my foreign accent and mixed up French grammar. I jumped in to the conversations whenever I had comments and ideas - sometimes in French, sometimes in English. Most of the time, I stayed quiet, listened and observed, because I cannot converse with my colleagues as fast and fluently as they did among themselves. I also stayed quiet because that has been my nature being an Asian in this foreign land - although after 3 years I have become more assertive. I have gotten used to it, and they have gotten used to me.

As we finished our meeting I left them with a little bit of contribution - some ideas to solve a part of the problem. I observed that one of my colleagues were quiet when I spoke - not expressing a disagreement, although I sensed a certain reservation. He is always on my side, but maybe this time he did not fully agree and decided to just be quiet. I observed that two of my French colleagues have developed some tension - something that had become even more obvious during the debates. I noticed that their French accents were a bit different - I wondered whether that could be one of the cause. I observed that the only woman in the meeting seems to be getting a special attention from the group, especially from the director of quality. I concluded that she would not get away with it if she was a man.....

There are much more to life than just what we hear and see - if we just listen and observe. I believe that those that are blessed with the acute ability to observe and listen are the ones well equipped for greatness. If everyone listens and observes more, there will be much less problems in the world. If teachers listen better, they will be better teachers. If parents observe more than just watching over their kids, they will become better parents. If world leaders observe more beyond just the statistics – they will make better decisions.

This is my first posting in my blog. I have been fortunate to have lived and worked in so many cultures and societies in the world. Through it my observation and listening capacity have probably improved exponentially, although from a low base. I believe there are much more that I missed than I absorbed. So I swear to myself that as I continue my life journey, I will work hard to listen and observe. As I share my observations with you in many subjects, I would love to listen to yours too.