Business and Money Tips

Sun Tzu (or Sūn Zǐ in pinyin) was a 500 BCE Chinese general, military strategist, and author of The Art of War, an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. Many great leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan studied his work and became legendary leaders. Many corporate leaders paid thousands of dollars to attend courses to learn Sun Tzu secrets. We believe that you too can learn master Sun Tzu secrets and apply them to your work easily.  This is because we take the essence and compile them into a Half-day course that will leave you with just enough materials to serve your bank’s customers and lead your business to greater heights. Since October 2010, we have trained over 1,137 leaders coming from countries including Indonesia, Philippines Cambodia, Japan, Sri Lanka and even China. How does this military classic apply to your CUSTOMER SERVICE? To ‘win without fighting’ in customer service is to serve your customers wholeheartedly and yet you never

Whether you are a leader or follower, over the peak or climbing your way up, feeling the pinch of this economy or doing well now, you know deep inside very well that you can do much better. I am not talking about doing 10% or 20% better, I'm talking about double or triple your results. From your past experience, you know this is possible as you have done this before. But why are you where you are now?  Is it the economy or is it because you are at a certain stage of your life cycle? Sun Tzu in the Art of War 孙子兵法 said that war is inevitable, and we must win all the way, for failure is not an option. He also said that there are 5 factors that determine the outcome of any war: Purpose, Lead, Climate, Support and Methods.  The foremost among them is Purpose, for if you have a strong and compelling purpose, you have already won in your hearts. To drive and inspire yourself to greatness, you need to have a strong purpose. That means having the vision and mission. Despite havin

As we know, social media marketing is about social first and marketing second. Same for Sun Tzu Art of War: it is about art first and war later.   'Art' in Sun Tzu Art of War refers to how we do things, while 'War' here refers to winning in the business battlefield. Social media marketing is about how we do and not what we do.  For example, it is not about how nice your photo is on FaceBook but how you post your photo: do you post it with a positive or negative angle? On the surface, Social Media is a 201x thing, while Art of War belongs to 2,500 years ago. Yet they both share a common origin: the Yi Jing (or Book of Changes) written 5,000 years ago: life is about evolution. Social media is always evolving, while Sun Tzu Art of War is too evolving with the times as Sun Tzu advocates flexibility as the key winning strategy. Today I shall look at the 5 Elements of Sun Tzu Art of War and they can be applied in our Social Media Marketing.  Know Yourself Know Your

When Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin invented a search engine in 1998, their idea was to sell their technology to an existing IT company. At that time Yahoo! was the number one search engine in the world, followed by others like AltaVista and AskJeeves. But no one wants to buy Google's search engine as it was unknown.  During this time, Yahoo! was busy evolving itself into a media company on the net, and they need to outsource their search engine service to a contractor. They found  Inktomi. Before Yahoo could appoint Inktomi as their search engine contractor, the Google's founders made a bold move.  Google's Larry and Sergey made a proposal to Yahoo! They told Yahoo!, smilingly, that they can do the search engine for Yahoo!  "Why should I pass it to you when you are a nobody?", asked Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo! Google said that they will  help Yahoo! to become more successful in media  because Google's search engine will be very simple -

Sun Tzu's Art of War is now considered a sales bible for people that want to succeed in business.  There are 7 little secrets of Sun Tzu:  Strong System Led by Strong Leaders .  A strong system led by poor leaders will make a system poor. It is not the product that sells but the company's system and leadership that sell.  Xiaomi has no better products than Sony, LG and Motorol.  Yet Xiao Mi is the world's number 3 mobile phone maker. All because of its strong leader Lei Jun.  Over Train . A team is only as good as its training. Sun Tzu knows that you can train a person for 10 years to fight a 1 day war. Yet it is the little skill that makes the difference. All these come from intense and over training.  Go High. Reach customers at the highest level possible. Sometimes the highest level is the secretary. One in a Million. Pitch your product at a level that no other competitor can fight, like having a unique feature (eg Samsung flexible Yoom phone) Passio

 Korean's Nana is now the world's prettiest star As Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, you have to fight till the end to know who is the loser and winner. There are 6 ways a loser can become a winner, and you too can apply them into your business: Limited Edition .  Products that cannot be sold can be re-packaged as limited edition versions and create a scarcity effect that everyone wants Admit a Weakness .  When you admit a weakness before people bring this up, you come across as honest and forthcoming.  People trust honesty and as long as you mention the mitigating factors, people will see your weakness as a strength instead! Tag along Winners.  Like Samsung tags along its lesser popular models (Alpha range) by using the name 'Galaxy' Sympathy and Empathy .  Appeal on people's softer sides and they will sympathise and empathise with you.  When you win their hearts, you are no longer a loser in their eyes Put in 1,000% Effort .  Think Big and Dominate

The Thirty-Six Stratagems 三十六计 is a unique collection of a mysterious ancient Chinese military book that describes not only battlefield strategies, but tactics used in psychological warfare to win with deception. Its origins are unknown, and no one knows who is the author or compiler. The modern version is derived from a tattered book discovered at a roadside vendor's stall in China in 1941. It turned out to be a reprint of an earlier book dating back to the late Ming or early Qing dynasty entitled, The Secret Art of War or The Thirty-Six Stratagems 三十六计. A reprint was first officially published for the general public by a government-related printer in Beijing in 1961. Today most scholars agree that the Thirty-Six Stratagems is likely a collection of idiomatic expressions taken from popular Chinese folklore, history, and myths.   Here are the 36 Stratagems in listing and our translation in simple English: Stratagems When You’re in Superior Positions 1.      Openly Dece

* Next Sun Tzu Art of War for Leadership is on 17 March 2015 Tuesday 9 am to 1 pm.  Details at here Sun Tzu is the one that truly understands war. He said that because war is expensive, we must avoid war at all cost. That's why he advocates Strategy and not Force.  The highest strategy is to win without fighting. What does this means in People Management and Human Resource Management?  (How to Be a Better Manager is here ) 1. Salary Instead of paying top salaries, we attract talents to join us by giving them attractive incentives, fast career growth, solid training and love and care. 2. Self Management Because management is expensive, we empower people so that they can do more and be responsible for their own results. In this way there is no need for a manager or supervisor as each staff runs as though he is running his own business. 3. KPIs Sun Tzu is all about planning your strategies and adapting them to the situation. So is KPIs - Key Performance Indicators.