Business and Money Tips

Whether you're training senior management, working level or kids, all training programs must cover the following 4 + 3 elements to be effective: The Importance of the topic : why we must know and do (the topic) The Strategies and Tactics of executing the topic (steps, procedures and guidelines) What to do if we cannot achieve what we want (on the topic) The Ultimate in the topic: what is higher than the highest level (of the topic)? The Other 3 Things to cover are beyond the topic, but nevertheless must be included if we want to have a well-rounded learning: The key challenges facing the audience now (and how knowing the topic will alleviate that) The successes of the audience so far (to validate their efforts and encourage them to do more) A story that touches the audience's hearts so as to leave with them a lasting impression.  Even if they forget about the topic and its details, the story will leave a mark in their memory, thereby helping them to remembe

If you are like most managers, you would probably find that you are lacking in certain skills. This lack is causing you delay in your career growth. Worst of all, your boss expects you to know all and your subordinates are watching you every day.    The truth is that most managers and supervisors are promoted based on their technical skills, and yet it is the managerial and leadership skills that will make them more successful. In this Power-packed How to Be a Better Manager or Supervisor program, you will learn proven strategies to improve presentation, negotiation, and how you can manage your team & boss. Focused around Asia Coaching Training coaching and training materials used in 39,871 companies worldwide since 1993, you will find the strategies you need to implement significant changes in your career.  The 4 key areas covered are People Management, Teambuilding, Leadership and Communication.  This management development program is for managers, bosses, directors, m

The front 10 seats are reserved for the hungry ghosts What a strange title! What has this Singapore superstitious Hungry Ghost Festival got to do with modern professional management? The Toaists Chinese in Singapore believed that when people die, they become ghosts and live in hell. Once a year, such ghosts have a one-month holiday when they can come up and roam the streets and enjoy themselves to relive the experiences of human life. Such a month falls on the lunar 7th month every year.  They are called Hungry Ghosts because they are hungry for food, entertainment, money and most importantly, attention. Imagine if your neighbourhood suddenly sees an influx of people, surely there will be disorder, disturbances and even chaos?  Would you call the police for help?  What the Chinese do in 7th month is not to call the police, but instead get together to do praying and offerings (food and paper-made things like money, house and cars) to them throughout the entire 7th month.  To ke

In his military classic "Art of War" written 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu taught us that to defeat the competition and achieve your goals, you must have foreknowledge.  Foreknowledge is not about the following: Prediction based on the past Unsubstantiated Hearsay Analogy with past events Derived from calculations Foreknowledge is about 4 things: Detailed research and analysis from people who know the competition situation in details Knowledge of the personality and behaviour profile of people Psychology of things, why people do things in certain way Knowledge about the environment, including business climate Foreknowledge does not stop at knowing your competitors.   The most important knowledge is to know yourself.  You must know where you are strong and where you are weak so that your weakness will not be exposed and instead positioned as strengths.   Having foreknowledge will also help us to exercise Deception, which is simply not letting the enemy kn

I just came back from an international convention attended by over 1,200 people.  Over a 3-days period, there were many discussions about leadership.  One person said that he was trained in leadership many years ago but now he needs refresher training.  Another said that many people are not trained in leadership and thus they were not as effective as desired. I was glad that nobody said that leadership is about having authority, title or expertise.  At least this organization of 54 years in existence has got the right understanding of leadership.  But I was surprised that nobody defined what exactly is leadership, which is strange because they spent so many hours discussing about leadership.   What's the best and most comprehensive definition of leadership?  It is Adding Value to People's Lives .  In this concept Adding Value includes Serving People .  So Servant Leadership is not one style of leadership, as what some people think, but one aspect of leadership.  Other aspe

Many people, including those that are in high management positions, do not have the right understanding of leadership .  If I were to ask them what's the most important key to their organization or department's success, they will say, 'Having Strong Leader'.   Yet we know that having strong leaders is never enough . This is especially so when the followers are weak.  Furthermore, no matter how strong the leader is, one day he will need to retire or pass on as no one is impermanent.  In fact, having strong leaders may be a hindrance to the organization success, especially when the leader is so strong that the entire team of followers become blind followers 'Yes Men'.  When the strong leader is no longer around, the organization will falter because they are too reliant on their strong leader.  Just look at the failures of many family businesses when their strong leaders passed on and you'll know what I am talking about. What's crucial to the organ

There is a world of difference between passively and actively listening.  The best leaders  and managers are also the best listeners, they asked themselves 3 questions every week: Who Does Not Feel Listened To? What People Have I Neglected to Listen to? Have I audited my own listening to ensure that my listening still have standards? There are 7 Important Voices that Every Leader Listens to: The Unhappy Voice - discontentment with what is happening now The Inner Voice - the unspoken feelings inside of you The Higher Voice - something higher than what we are doing and thinking now, like kindness The Successful Voice - Who can we learn and leverage from? The Undermined Voice - the people who are losing out, if left unchecked, will lead to chaos The Hidden Voice - this is beyond your inner feelings, it is the spirit or soul of you The Repeated Voice - anything that repeats 3 times or more is a cause for concern, this is usually the neglected voice. In my opinion, the

When someone is lying, there are at least 6 clues: Volume starts to get lower , as the person will be mumbling and dare not raise his voice and hopes that people don't hear him Volume starts to get higher , as this person will be making his voice loud and clear and ensuring that people hear his lies as truth The eyes start to look elsewhere , as this person will be afraid of direct eye contact for fear of his lie being exposed The eyes start to look nowhere but at you , as this person will be making deliberate eye contact with you to give you the impression that he is telling the truth The legs start to point towards the door , as this person's body is getting ready to run away The legs point to nowhere but you , as this person is now getting aggressive and wants to intimidate you with his body As can be seen from above, there are no easy fixed patterns to catch people lying. Just look at how politicians appear on TV and you'll know what I'm talking a

The 'certain' here does not mean the opposite of uncertainty but  'definite', like a certain sum of money. The Malaysian Airlines MH370 Mystery is now into the 5th day and still no sign or news if the plane and the passengers are alive or dead.  This is definitely an uncertain time, but the way the Malaysian authorities have been dealing with this issue is making everyone losing confidence in their leadership.  Instead of giving people guidance and clarifications of what had happened, they give conflicting statements.  No wonder people wondered if they are holding back information in order to hide something. In our leadership and management courses, we teach people the 5 Certain Ways to Deal with Uncertainties: Have a Clear and Powerful Authority , i.e. who can speak and who cannot speak.  The one that can speak should be seen and really competent , not someone who happened to be in that position.  Of course this person must have good presentation and speaking

For decades, businesses have been trying to discover the formula for the 'perfect' manager.  There are tons of books, blog posts and editorial articles out there, and even training courses on how to be a better manager .  While I cannot claim to have unlocked the secret theory of management, discussions with bosses and managers since 1987 revealed the following 5 traits of a 'perfect' manager: 1. Know How to Be Tough Many managers are know to be tough to themselves, tough to their customers and sub-contractors and even tough to their families but soft on their team members. The reason is the lack of people working due to the tight labour market and the ban on foreign workers in many industries.  As a result, managers are too pleasing and let the subordinates climb over their heads. On the other hand, there are some managers that are too tough that they become abusive, aggressive and hated by people.  Such managers end up with zero staff and have to work till midn

I am always amazed that even in 2014, there are some people who still manage people like in the past. The following are the Top 5 Most Common Myths and Truths of People Management: Myth 1: You need money to motivate people Truth: Accomplishment itself is a bigger motivator , and if you use money alone, you’ll get greedy people! Look at those people cheat at mega banks and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Myth 2: You must push people to achieve Your Company's Goals  Truth: People are pushed by their own commitment than your goals. If their commitment is aligned with your goals, your goal setting will work. Otherwise, it will simply not work. Myth 3: People need to be managed and controlled  Truth: You only can manage space, time and resources. You don’t manage people, you lead people. Myth 4: Increasing sales and profits are clear goals that everyone can relate to Truth: People relate more to something bigger that matters and make a difference , like being able to con

Human beings like to fight even though they know very well from past history that fighting never work for any parties.  Just look at the devastation World Wars I and II and the on-going wars today and you'll realize how silly we are. Psychologists said that fighting is an animal instinct, for people have this scarcity mentality and they are too attached to the notion of having things and that's why we cannot let go. Yet wisdom from over 2,000 years of ancient civilisation including Sun Tzu Art of War, Zhuang Zi, Confucius, Lao Zi and Sidharta Gotama 'Pali Canon' told us that at the end of the day, the winner is the one that wins EVEN WHEN HE DOESN'T FIGHT .  In fact smart companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google and Apple know and practised these No-War Strategies.  In particular, Facebook is a latecomer in social media but they did not go out to fight head-on with pioneers like MySpace and Friendster.  Instead Facebook created a perfect photo-sharing and time-l

It was reported that the Government spent S$2.8 million to promote the S$4.3 billion MCE, Singapore's most expensive and newest expressway.  But it seems like most people are not convinced that the MCE is good for them, and many people are wondering if this is a design issue or a communication issue.  In other words, can the Government better persuade us that the MCE is good?  I think the government should SELL the MCE away; SELL is our newest method of persuasion: Suffering, Empathy, Lead and Let them enjoy the benefits. As a manager, executive or salesperson, you cannot don't persuade people.  For today no one wants to be forced into accepting another person's view, and everyone wants to have his say.   It doesn't matter who is right or wrong, what it matters is people want to be heard .  That is why social media like Facebook , Twitter and Youtube are so popular today, as they allow people to share their views freely and without censorship. From studying the

As an employee, it is your wish to earn more but work less this year. Otherwise, how are you going to improve your quality of life and work life balance?  Unknown to many people, it is possible to work less (really work less hours) but earn more (from promotion, bonus and incentives).  The following are the 5 most common ways that we teach to our clients: Higher Skills - either move up to management level or become even more specialized and be an expert in your work.  Higher skills also mean skills that are of higher demand , like leadership, sales and communication skills.  Studies in Australia show that if you attend at least 2 courses in a month (totalling 8 hours), your chance of getting a promotion in this year increases by 43%.  One of the fastest and free ways to acquire skills is to sign up for corporate training.  Your company will be happy to pay for them because they can get $15,000 cash under the PIC Bonus scheme.  Be More Skilful , which means to be very mindful

Everyone is striving for success.  Many are looking for The Secret, some are searching for the right connections and many are continuously learning from the those who have made it. My teacher Andy Ferrari Norman once told me that you must follow the right leader if you want to be successful.  For a leader will point to you the direction to success and you can also avoid many mistakes and reduce your chance of failure. What if there is no right leader leading you?  Or you have a bad leader that you just cannot follow? As a Coach, I believe that everyone is powerful.  Everyone is a leader for leadership is not a position or seniority thing.  Leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less.  Since everyone is already a leader, everyone can lead himself to success.  In fact that leading yourself to success is easier than following a leader for you are in full control of the situation. There are 5 ways that you can lead yourself to success: 1.      Realize that S

In just one short year since joining Yahoo in July 2012, Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, has turned around a failing company into one of the re-born stars in the internet. Today, Yahoo regains the number one position as the most visited website property in USA, overtaking giant Google. It’s mobile products are considered cool once again and its quarterly revenues and profits are increasing.   Unknown to many, what Marissa Mayer used the tactic of “ Loot a House on Fire ” 打铁乘热, tactic number 5 of The 36 Stratagems . She fixed the weak Yahoo’s culture, hired a bunch of highly motivated and talented product people, and went on a buying spree, acquring 21 mobile start-us in 12 months. The biggest purchase was Tumblr US$1.1 billion. What's next? Blackberry? What'sapp? Dropbox?   In fact, Sun Tzu Art of War or 孙子兵法 uses many tactics of deception. Such tactics, however, must be in line with overall Tao or 道 of the company’s mission: to be a strong Product