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Secret of Leadership

President John F Kennedy once famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".  Indeed managers often make the mistake of asking, "Who can help me here?" instead of asking, "Whom can I help?" or, "For whom can I do a favour?" If leadership is about getting others to follow you, then the more you do for others, the more others will follow you.  What can you as a leader do for your team?  There are 7 things that a leader can do for his team: Showing care and concern, especially when they are not meeting their targets Help to link them to resources so as to make their work easier Go the extra mile in not only showing them the way, but lead them the way too Share your stories of inspiration, thereby inspiring them indirectly Listen to them, especially when they are quiet and have few things to share Set the right rewards and incentive plans Build his team as people of character and integrit

How Google Hide a Dagger Behind Its Smile to Yahoo!

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 -

Art of Consultative Selling Explained

Imagine your company has just launched the newest product that has killer features. You were so excited and went out all the way to inform everyone about this. Yet one by one, your customers started to give you objections and rejections. It seems that your customers are only interested in price and nothing else! Should you give up or go back to improve your product further?  Or do you improve the way you sell? If the above scenario describes you and your company, you are doing what my mentor Andy Ferrari Norman said, hard selling.  As much as 80% of salespeople do hard selling. We all know that hard selling only produces hard rejection or hard objection from your customers. What you need to do is Heart Selling. How to sell from your heart?  Do you have to go out and cry to get sympathy buys?  Truth be told, the best way to do heart selling is to simply consult the customer, that is, do consultative selling. Consultative Selling is defined as heart selling that connects with

Nothing is Everything per Lao Tzu

In our previous blog, we talk about how to use our eyes to close every sale.  Over 84 techniques were shared in our  courses   How to Close Every Sale  and  Sales Power , today we will dwell on one tactic: Using Nothingness. Nothingness is not to be confused with Nothing. Nothingness is also not the same as Emptiness. Nothingness is nothingness, nothing more or nothing less. This concept of Nothingness is from Lao Zi’s Dao De Qing book 道德经. Lao Zi is an ancient Chinese philosopher who lived in China 2,500 years ago. His philosophies share much in common with India’s Siddhartha Gotama (or The Buddha) and Greece’s Socrates.  These wise men lived around the same time but far away from each other. The fact that they can say the same thing proves that this concept is universal, it has nothing to do with Eastern or Western. Nothingness or 无 is defined as the state of being nothing, the state of non-existence of anything, or the property of having nothing. It simply means that ther

3 Truths in The World

One day, the Buddha sat down in the shade of a tree and noticed how beautiful the countryside was. Flowers were blooming and trees were putting on bright new leaves, but among all this beauty, he saw much unhappiness. A farmer beat his ox in the field. A bird pecked at an earthworm, and then an eagle swooped down on the bird. Deeply troubled, he asked, "Why does the farmer beat his ox? Why must one creature eat another to live?" During his enlightenment, the Buddha found the answer to these questions. He discovered three great truths. He explained these truths in a simple way so that everyone could understand them. 1.  Nothing is lost in the universe The first truth is that nothing is lost in the universe. Matter turns into energy, energy turns into matter. A dead leaf turns into soil. A seed sprouts and becomes a new plant. Old solar systems disintegrate and turn into cosmic rays. We are born of our parents, our children are born of us. We are the same as plants, as

How to Recession Proof Your Career with a Strong Why

The Business Times on 18 Sep 2015 reported that because of falling August domestic exports, Singapore could be entering into a technical recession soon. Many people asked me what they should do.  We have already seen a large swing towards the ruling party in the just concluded 2015 General Elections. Singaporeans sent a strong mandate to the ruling party as they want the government to be strong in handling the recession that may come. So it seems that a recession is imminent. Instead of panicking when the recession comes, why not we ‘prevent’ the recession from happening to us?  In other words, can we ‘recession proof’ our career?  The proven way to recession proof your career is to go for upgrading courses, for when you know more, the easier your job will be. Some will tell you to stick to your current employer, for at least you may get some retrenchment benefits in case your employer gives you the pink letter. Recruitment firms advise employees to look out for other job

From Sharing Seats to Sharing Stories

I remember when I was young in the 1970s, Capitol Theatre was one of the top few cinemas in Singapore showing 'first-rate' movies, or movies that were the earliest to be screened. My father used to buy 'kacheng puteh' (peanuts) for us to share. But we also shared seats.  As we were poor, our family of 8 have to share 5 seats. Being the second youngest, I shared seat with my 2nd sister, who was 7 years older than me. My youngest brother had to sit on the lap of my mum. My elder brother would share with my third sister, and until today, both of them are still quite close. Only my eldest sister and my dad would sit alone. Our favourite movies at that time were the Shaw Brothers Chinese sword fighting movies.  In the 1980s, I started to watch Hollywood movies at Capitol, and my favourite movie was "Ghostbusters'.  But this time round I didn't share seats with anyone. I shared the stories and joy with my friends.  I continued to patronize Capital cinema unti

Not for Dreamers: The 9 Truths of Achieving Your Dreams

"Don't let anyone tell you, including me your father, that you cannot achieve your dreams"  Chris Gardener said this to his son in the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness".  Indeed dreams are what keep us alive. But many people think that achieving dreams is for leaders and people who have made it. Some think that it is far better to be on the ground and stop dreaming and start working. The following 9 truths of dreams may jolt you: 9 Truths About Achieving Your Dreams Your dream is your aspiration, nothing more, nothing less. It is something that you wanted to achieve or become when you were young, and when you are in the here and now We are always achieving our dreams, not someone else dreams. Even if you decide to help your child achieve his dreams, that is also your dream, not your child's dreams When you are not achieving your dreams, you are not a failure, you are just slow in your path. You need to examine if you are on the right path. Do you hav

Leadership by Accident: The Best Form of Leadership Available

Too often leadership happens by accident. This is especially true in volunteer organizations where leadership is on 'arrowed' or sabotaged basis. Often there are so few or even no people that want to come forward, so the leader is 'appointed' by no choice. If this has happened to you before, congratulations. Because leadership by accident is one of the best forms of leadership available. You see, when you become the leader by accident, there is simply no one to compete with you for that coveted leadership position. This cuts down your opponents to zero. Even if you have no foes, you have no opponents and thus you are on a more even ground than people who have opponents. A leader that comes into a position by accident also has more opportunities to try out new things. Because nobody wants to step forward as a leader, he is free to do new things or things differently and no one will oppose him. Leadership by accident also offers us the true meaning of leadership: the w