Business and Money Tips

Since we spend over two-thirds of our waking hours working and living around work, it is more important to be happy at work than happy after work.  Although many consider work to be a necessary evil, work is actually a necessary happiness, only if you know how to be happy at work. The 7 most Frequently Asked Questions on  how to be happy at work: 1.  Will higher salary make one happier at work? Unless you are trying to make ends meet, money will not be a great motivator. Once you have enough to live a life that you are used to, unless you have some new expenditure, more money will give you a disproportionate amount of happiness.  For example, if you get at 10% salary raise, you will be happier by less than 10%. 2. Does Achieving Progress at Work Make Me Happier? Definitely.  Achievement is a sense of self-worth and all progress, no matter how small, will make your work happier.  Note that the same principle for money applies: once you achieved a certain amount of su

The 5 Leadership Lessons of Lee Kuan Yew include: Build Winning Teams .  Lee not only built one strong team, he built many strong teams. Most importantly, the teams went on to win many battles, be it the unions, business associations, tertiary institutions or Government-linked companies like Capitaland and DBS.  Lee's legacy is unprecedented Stubborn Yet Flexible .  Lee was stubborn to his goals yet was flexible if times have changed.  Like he pushed for the merger with Malaysia, yet changed his position two years later when things didn't work out Win People Over with Ideas, not Ideals .  Lee won the hearts of many with his far-sighted yet pragmatic ideas.  The US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were his admirers. Yet he welcomed debates but would not hesitate to point out you are wrong if he thinks so. In the end even his opponents like Opposition Leaders Chiam See Tong and Lau Thia Kiang spoke highly of him.  Leading a Very Virtuous Li

Everyone knows how inspiring the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew was.  In fact some called him the greatest statesman Asia has ever known.  In the business community, he is highly regarded as one of the top salesman: for he has promised and delivered on his promises and most importantly, made his clients (Singapore) very rich.  The 5 Sales Success that we can learn from Lee Kuan Yew include: Grab Opportunities Fast.  LKY grabbed the opportunities the Western multi-nationals were looking for in the 1960s and attracted them here.  In the 1970s and 1980s, he sold many Japanese companies to invest in Singapore.  In the 1990s, he sold Singapore successfully as a business haven to the Chinese, Koreans and Arabs.   Passionate, Energetic and Full of Conviction . These 3 attributes are the must-haves for any salesperson and Lee demonstrated all of them in his fiery speeches and thought-provocative interviews Relentless Pursuit and Never Let Go .  Lee reckoned before that 'even in my deathbe

By now over several million of people from Singapore and the workd have paid their tribute to the late Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away on 23 March 2015.  Lee Kuan Yew loves the world, especially Singapore, very much.  In 1965, he shed tears in front of national television when he announced the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. Fifty years later in 2015, the entire nation shed tears for him.  Singapore and the world are showing Lee now how much they love him too. The funeral on Sunday 29 March 2015 reads like a 'Who's Who's' of the world leaders.  No other world leader's funeral has attracted so many visitors, not even the late Princes Diana in 1997.  How does Lee Kuan Yew love his people?  Many young people may not appreciate what he has done for the nation, because they perceive him to be a strict and fierce parent.  One thing for sure: he does not love them by spoiling them, he loves them by developing them.  From watching over hundreds of hours of video

In 1965 when Singapore went independent, it's per capital income was US$1,500.  In 2014, it has grown to US$59,000.  Many people would consider Lee Kuan Yew as the father of modern Singapore for he is the one that turned Singapore from third world to first world in 4 decades.  But is this what Lee himself consider as his greatest achievement? Lee revealed to us that his greatest achievement was actually able to combine what Easterners and Westerners do: marry the woman you love and love the woman you marry. It appeared that Lee's wife was more than a wife. During the early years of his career in the 1950s when Lee was still in the opposition, Lee's wife was supporting the entire family with her income as an owner of a law firm Lee and Lee.  Lee's wife also took good care of the family and brought up three children very well.  Their eldest son Lee Hsien Loong has been Singapore's Prime Minister since 2004.   Being dyslexic, Lee relied on his wife to help to

Never marry the woman you love, love the woman you marry. This is because if you marry the woman you love, your love for this woman may not last.  What happens years later when she is old and ugly?  Do you still love her anymore? On the other hand, if you love the woman you marry, you are committed to this marriage.  You will do whatever it takes to make the marriage a success.  Your love for the woman will last longer. Same as the workplace.   You don't take up a job that you love.  You love the job that you take up. Not many of us can make our passion our vocation.  Because we need to make a living, many of us have to settle for a job that we may not dislike, but we also don't love it either. In other words, there is little passion in the job that we take. But if we can love the job we have, we will make every effort to ensure that our job will be a success. We will do whatever it takes: be it acquiring new skills, improve our communication, learn how manage peop

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein. Indeed thinking is the starting point of all actions.  As a manager, supervisor, director or leader, it is important that you improve your people's thinking.  Even more important is to ensure that your people think before they do. Most people would rather die than think. Many think that they think, when in fact they are just echoing others' thinking.   Many employees are very good in doing work - executing instructions, following orders and making things happen. The only problem they have is what they do could be all wrong, because they are based on wrong thinking. For example, most people are still very process-oriented and not outcome-oriented. Like when they come for training, their most important concern is the training process: how the training is conducted, whether notes are given, parking availability and so on. If they can change

As a full-time Coach and Trainer having over 81,131 executives in 14 countries since 1996, I believe that everyone is a leader and everyone can rise to the top leadership position of any organization.  There is no requirement of background, wealth, education or connections. However, many people still don't want to be a leader because they think that being a leader is difficult and requires too many sacrifices. The top 7 misunderstandings of being a leader include: A Leader Must Be Tough.   Softness doesn't mean not effective , and sometimes being tough will alienate followers instead. You Must Be The Best.   The best may not lead because they prefer to be led. That doesn't mean that the leader is mediocre and incompetent.  A Leader Must Behave Like a Leader at All Times. This is called fake leadership because ultimately a leader is just a normal human being like anyone . A leader is not God or a representative of God. In fact if you behave weak at times you will touc

If you are now selling base on price, do not read further. We teach people how to sell on value, not price.   Sell the sizzle, not the steak , and you can close every sale and sell ice to the Eskimos.   Even if your selling price is higher than your competitors, you will still be able to sell if you know  how to add value to the customer .  There are 21 ways to add value: Better Service - comes in many forms including delivery, convenience, internet assistance, telephone answering, administration support, longer operating hours, and customer service Better Technical Support Longer Credit Terms or Higher Credit Limit Unique packaging or limited edition versions that add value to your product or service Salesperson Serving the Customer - fast prompt response, entertainment, listening, patience, problem solving, courteous service and go extra mile service Top Management Serving the Customer - imagine if the Prime Minister of Singapore serves you, price is no longer a conc

This is especially true if you are working in a long established organization with many senior members: you realize that there is a lack of spark in your company.  People do their work well, but there is no passion, enthusiasm and excitement.  Time passes very fast and people get along well, but they are not good friends. Laughter is not often heard, so are quarrels.  In time to come such an organization will become more of passing time than making a difference. If left unchecked, it will also decline because younger people wouldn't want to join or stay in such an life-less place.   We know that when you enjoy work, work will be easier.  Being in a good company also makes us more productive, for we are happier and less stressed.  We seem to be able to do the impossible with our infectious enthusiasm and motivation. In short, people look forward to work.  Time passes even faster.  The happy work environment gets contagious and your customers and suppliers would also feel it