1. business and industrial

Saturday 25 January 2014
YOUR ULTIMATE CAREER
& TALENT RESOURCE
Do what you love
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conquer
your GIantS
how to trIumph In
SpIte of the oddS
paGeS 6-7
Accustomed
to average
Many giants fail because
they fall into the trap of
being average.
Pg 03
Pg 04
tinkEr for big imPact
Adaptive leadership can be
more effective than a
transformational style
Pg 05
Pg 09
LifE at maLakoff
just say “HELP!”
Employees of the power
company share why they love
working at Malakoff
The road to success
necessarily involves
accepting help from others
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
LiLy SayS
KEEp yoUr EyES
oN thE prizE
“aLL thE worLd iS FULL oF SUFFEriNg. it iS aLSo
FULL oF ovErCoMiNg.” - hELEN KELLEr
I just can’t grasp what Helen Keller’s learning journey must
have been like. She was both blind and deaf, yet succeeded in
learning how to read braille, write, and became the first deaf
and blind person to graduate with a bachelor of arts.
She wrote passionately and beautifully on her areas of interest, and even learned to speak. The accomplished author and
lecturer passed away in 1968, but the triumphs of her life have
lived on beyond her.
There will be challenges in all our lives, though they may
come in different forms. For Keller, the inability to hear and see
would have been two big obstacles.
For others, they may come in the form of a fierce competitor,
stereotypes or fear of people. Metaphorically, these are giants
to overcome.
Like Goliath for David, the old story that anchor’s Malcolm
Gladwell’s latest book, these giants stand in the way of achieving our goals and purposes, whether it be growing our businesses, being a better leader, or protecting the wellbeing of a
group.
This week’s stories examine all aspects of what it takes to
triumph. How do the seemingly weaker individuals or entities
win? You’ll find that on our centrespread pages, as well as in our
Starting Young column on page 11.
How can you lead and triumph in the face of the giant called
“culture” (page 5)? What lessons on this can we learn from
Google (page 8) and Napoleon (page 9)?
Page 3’s Be A Leader looks at it from the giant’s perspective.
After you’ve won and become a giant yourself, it’s easy to feel
secure with your size. But beware the danger of becoming average, because this is how giants fall.
I hope our stories serve to encourage you in your journey to
achieving your goals. For me, if there’s one common thread I see
in people who have extraordinary abilities to overcome challenges, it’s focus on purpose. David had a purpose: to protect
his nation. Keller had a purpose: to advocate for people with
disabilities.
If we all set our purpose before us, and keep our eyes on the
prize, that may very well help to diminish the size of giants on
the way, at least in our eyes, and provide the courage we need
to continue moving forward.
On page 5, we feature employees from Malakoff, who share
why they enjoy working at the power giant. We also continue
our brand new column, HR Talk, on page 12. This week, we have
insights from human resources (HR) leaders on the topic of the
shortage of talent in Malaysia. If you’re a HR practitioner and
want to join in on the conversation in HR Talk, do contact us.
Have a great week ahead, and enjoy the last week of January.
As always, if you have feedback, comments or suggestions,
please write to us at mystarjob@leaderonomics.com.
try thiS!
“thE rEaSoNaBLE
MaN adaptS hiMSELF
to thE worLd: thE
UNrEaSoNaBLE oNE
pErSiStS iN tryiNg to
adapt thE worLd to
hiMSELF. thErEForE
aLL progrESS
dEpENdS oN thE
UNrEaSoNaBLE MaN.”
– George Bernard Shaw
Galileo Galilei, born in 1564, Pisa, Italy, was a famous physicist,
mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. Many important developments
in these fields were attributed to him.
The most controversial of those was his promotion of heliocentrism. He was
the first to insist that sun was stable and what moved around it was Earth
and other planets, which are round. He was tried as a heretic, and his theory
was dismissed and ridiculed during his lifetime. In the end, he was right.
aMELia Earhart
Amelia Earhart, born 1897 in Kansas, the United States, was the first female
aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic. She wrote a number of best-selling
books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of
The Ninety-Nines, an organisation for female pilots.
She was a visiting faculty member of the Purdue University aviation
department, and did much to inspire women to follow her steps. Earhart
disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a
circumnavigational flight of the globe.
Until today, many are fascinated with her life, career, and disappearance.
ChriStophEr CoLUMBUS
Want practical tips for
success on your way home
from work? We’re on
JoiN US!
EDITORIAL
Adviser
RoshanThiRan
Editor
LiLyCheah
Christopher Columbus, born before 1451 in Genoa, current-day Italy, was
fascinated by the adventures of Marco Polo who travelled to the east by land.
Determined to reach the East by travelling west, by sea, a plan drafted with
the help of his brother who was a map designer, Columbus convinced the
Catholic Monarchs of Spain to fund his trips. This led to his discovery of the
Americas.
Columbus completed four trips to the American continent that increased
European awareness of the continent, and let to the initiation of colonisation
in that part of the world.
in the
Klang
Valley
every Tuesday from
6pm to 7pm.
AssistantEditor
evaChRisTodouLou
OperationsLead
hymaPiLLay
ContributingEditor
PRemaJayaBaLan
SubEditor
LeeKaRyean
When we have an idea that is “radical”,
we perceive ourselves as unreasonable, and
soon we are pulled back in line, convincing
ourselves that it is best to keep quiet.
The radicals, however, the unreasonable
ones, the heretics, the rebels, the pioneers, are the ones that moved
us throughout history and progressed our societies to where
we are today.
It seems utterly unreasonable, contradictory and entirely
misleading that even in this
era, we are encouraged, in theory, to think outside the box, yet we
are still put back in place and forced
to follow the herd.
How can we change that? Well,
it’s a challenge. Depending on
the area and the degree of your
“unreasonableness,” you might
be risking too much.
All I can say to that is only
the truly courageous will
make it through and emerge
triumphant on the other
side.
Really think about your
idea, and if it’s worth it, dare
to go the distance!
gaLiLEo gaLiLEi
tUNE iN
88.9FM
THERE are many ideas that we all tend to
follow blindly – one of them, is that the
majority is right and we somehow have to
fit in, by either changing our mindset to fit
that, or by pretending we agree and go on
as if nothing is “wrong”.
The problem with this social construction is that we are bound by this
“convention” and we are forced into
this mould that everyone falls in. We
all become standardised.
This is evident in the way we
take exams, the way we are
expected to answer interview
questions and the way we are
expected to react to different
circumstances.
To a certain extent we all,
unfortunately, have to play
the game and follow
conventions. We get
a job, get married
and have a family
(except the true
rebels that decide
to go against the
current), but there
is some room to be
different and break
the mould.
The opinions expressed in this career guide are those of the writers or
the people they quoted and not necessarily those of Leaderonomics.
With my best,
LiLy Cheah
Editor, myStarjob.com
CapitaL FM
BE UNrEaSoNaBLE!
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mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
t
A
e
R
G
e
b
O
t
e
S
ChOO
GiAntS fAll plAyinG the mediO
CRe
By ROSHAN THIRAN
roshan.thiran@leaderonomics.com
A
few months ago, I read Malcolm
Gladwell’s David & Goliath which
showcased how underdogs beat
giants. His book chronicles numerous stories of how “underdog”
sports teams and business teams out-wit
much bigger opposition to win.
And we all have seen how small little
Google, in a span of a few years, became
mighty Google, outhitting the big boys in
their industry.
As I was thinking through the myriad of
reasons why giants crumble, one thought
started percolating in my mind.
And as I started researching this, I stumbled upon a key reason why giants start to
fall.
All giants were at one point tiny start-ups.
Microsoft was a small company in the 70s
struggling to make it back then. Every company started small.
But it grew and became successful and
managed to scale. In fact, most great individuals were the same way.
Many great leaders were not recognised as
leaders at birth. They worked hard, grew up,
failed, tried harder and slowly built a legacy.
As you look back at every great leader and
great company, they all began wanting to be
different, outstanding, and be exceptional.
And regardless of their size, they showed
their commitment towards being great.
They worked hard to make their businesses think, act and look different. And they
soon beat the big boys.
What was the issue with the big boys and
giants? Many of them became average. They
were big and had scale but their businesses
and people had embraced averageness.
Averageness is a disease that slowly creeps
up on everything successful. It is easy to be
average. It is comfortable to be average and
being average has its “advantages.”
The business of AverAge
The business of average is everywhere.
From service at the bank, to being served at
restaurants to speaking to a customer representative on the phone, average service is in
abundance in Malaysia.
Every day, people consciously choose to be
average. Average products, average websites,
average advertising. It’s everywhere and it’s
accepted as norm.
A couple weeks ago, I was browsing the
newspaper with my wife and we saw a horrendous advertisement from a rather huge
company.
I showed it to my wife and she smiled and
shrugged it off saying, “Yeah, big companies
have no time to bother about little issues like
their ads.”
Average is a choice. And average leads
giants to crumble. According to Malcolm
Gladwell, the giant Goliath was fearsome not
because he was a great fighter but simply
because of his size.
In fact, Gladwell goes on to claim that
Goliath may have been partially blind. He
was an average fighter who got away with
victory because he was a giant.
And we have seen so many big companies and organisations “win” not because
their products and services are superior but
because they have scale and size.
Along comes a “David”, who is a better
fighter and also changes the rules of fighting
by using a sling instead of a sword.
An average Goliath stood no chance
against a great fighter who is smart (yet
small).
The same thing befalls big companies who
play the game of “average”. When they meet
a smaller foe who decides to be outstanding,
different and deliver exceptionally, there is no
way they will be able to win in the long-term.
AnATomy of AverAge
Months ago, I came across a nice “poem”
on being average by AJ Leon. He called it the
Anatomy of Average. I think it best describes
what happens to average people:
“Average seeks validation from ‘experts’.
Average awaits sufficient case study to
prove that it’s worth it, and is therefore late to
everything.
Average avoids any and all risk, thereby
avoiding both adventure and failure (two of
the best teaching tools the world has given
us).
Average praises incremental change
because it is afraid of revolution.
Average has no courage.
Average decision-making uses “playing
devil’s advocate” as a way of masking fear and
avoiding responsibility.
Average service focuses on mitigating complaints as opposed to delivering extraordinary.
Average teachers ensure their students
never outgrow them.
Average charities reach for your wallet
instead of your heart.
Average restaurants are forgotten before
we leave the table.
Average people are governed by fear, but
convince themselves it’s prudence.
Average finds comfort in standing for absolutely nothing in order to evade any possible
attack.
Average is scared to death of remarkable
misfits, like you and I.
Average never leads. And most importantly,
average is just average and nobody will ever
remember it.”
overcoming AverAgeness
So, how do you avoid becoming an average
Joe?
Let us imagine that your goal is to bring up
outstanding children. How would you avoid
the “average” trap of allowing your kids to
become like every other “average” child?
Firstly, determine within yourself that you
will not be an average parent. An average
parent will bring up an average kid. Being
outstanding requires you to be outstanding
first.
Secondly, write down your commitment
to greatness. Commit to this goal and make
sure you believe that you can bring up a child
that is not only good but great.
Thirdly, write down what it takes to be
world-class. List down all the aspects of
greatness.
Finally, write out action items that will
enable you to make point three become
a reality. You can use the same process to
ensure averageness is a thing of the past in
your life.
hArd To be greAT
Every day I work hard to make sure each
person in my organisation is never satisfied
with being average.
Average is the reason why organisations
start to falter and at Leaderonomics, I pray
we never reach that stage.
Being average is a trap that we can easily fall into. And once the “average” disease
starts to spread in an organisation, it is
extremely hard to eradicate.
Part of the problem is also that being
exceptional and different is extremely difficult.
You will face numerous obstacles on
your path to greatness. You will need to go
through them and overcome them.
That is a key reason why average is easy
and greatness is so difficult. If greatness was
something easily attainable, no one would
continue thriving in mediocrity.
Even if your past may be full of “averageness”, there is no reason why you cannot
change your future.
Every morning you get an opportunity to
choose to be great or average. Fight hard
each day to be exceptional.
finAl
ThoughTs
Don’t get suckered into thinking
average is good.
Average is for
average people.
You are better
than average. You
are exceptional. You
are different. You are
not an average Joe.
Remember, average is
a choice. It is not something
we are genetically predisposed
to. In fact, 95% of who you are is
learnt. So, we can keep pushing
ourselves to greatness.
n Roshan Thiran is CEO
of Leaderonomics, a social
enterprise passionate about
transforming the nation
through leadership and
youth development. He
prays each day that he
will never become “average.”To get resources
to all of Roshan’s
videos and articles,
go to Facebook and
Like www.facebook.
com/roshanthiran.
leaderonomics.
GAme
the buSineSS
Of AveRAGe iS
eveRywheRe.
fROm SeRviCe
At the bAnk, tO
beinG SeRved
At ReStAuRAntS
tO SpeAkinG
tO A CuStOmeR
RepReSentAtive
On the phOne,
AveRAGe SeRviCe
iS in AbundAnCe
in mAlAySiA.
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP
By EVELYN TEH
evelyn.teh@leaderonomics.com
A
quick look at the Malaysian
Labour Law (Employment
Act 1955) shows that we
are entitled to at least eight
days of annual leave for each
continuous block of 12 months with an
employer.
So imagine my surprise when I was
reading up Netflix’s “policy” on annual
leave, summed up by the following sentence – “We don’t track hours per day or
per week, so why are we tracking days of
vacation per year?”
Wait, people can take holidays as
they see fit? No way! But it happens, at
Netflix at least.
This was enforced as part of its talent
management framework where everyone at Netflix is allowed to take leave
so long as the employee follows certain
guidelines (i.e. informing human resources should he or she takes 30 continuous
days off).
Yet it is still a high-performing
organisation, evident by its soaring stock
options, two million new customers and
market supremacy.
Naturally, the question that follows is,
how did Netflix reinvent itself following
multiple issues (such as the controversial
60% increase in subscriber price back in
July 2011) and with such “disruptive”
policies?
“Fast-changing”, “agile”, “unpredictable” are common terms we love to use
in describing the economic environment
today.
When it comes to organisational challenges, this form of environment proves
to be more perplexing for those of us trying to solve these issues.
And if we agree on these premises,
then I think we can all agree that we
would need leadership that can help the
organisation thrive in this unique environment.
Welcome to the concept of adaptive leadership; a concept thought and
refined by renowed Professor Ronald
Heifetz from Harvard’s Kennedy School
of Government.
While there are many definitions of
adaptive leadership, the core under-
standing is as simple as this: mobilising
people for a set of creative experiments
whose goal is to ensure the organisation
thrives.
Here are some principles
of adaptive leadership:
1
Adaptive change is not overhauling
the organisations’ DNA.
When Heifertz conceptualised adaptive
leadership, he based it on our theory of
biological adaptation, similar to how
slight changes in our gene makeup contribute to evolutionary differences.
This is in direct opposition to the
concept of change propagated in organisations as “transformational,” which
seems to imply grandiose shifts and
overhauling history without respecting
the accumulated wisdom that forms the
current culture.
Change through adaptive leadership
can be compared with the concept of
tinkering, where mobilising small changes can lead to great impact.
Thus, it’s key that in times of change,
an adaptive leader addresses the difficult
task of choosing which part of their cultural DNA to keep, and which to discard.
How do you define change? What has
been your experience in instilling change
within your organisation, and what
struggles follow this effort?
2
Technical vs Adaptive problems.
There are two broad-based category of problems to solve in this world;
Technical and Adaptive problems (there
can be grey areas, but let’s keep it simple
for now).
Technical problems have an obvious
solution. For example, when a manager
is unable to attend a meeting, the likely
solution is to get his assistant to represent him.
It becomes an adaptive problem however, if this same manager is constantly
absent whenever his or her presence is
required at a meeting.
Now, the solution is no longer as simple as replacing the manager with an
assistant because we may have a deeper
problem, which can range anything from
the manager’s personality to company
policies encouraging such behaviour.
The point is, adaptive problems do
not have one obvious solution and it
becomes stressful for managers when
they try applying a technical solution to
the adaptive problem.
I am guessing the assistant manager
will not be very happy if he or she was
obliged to cover up for the manager all
the time.
If you observe the current issues in
your organisation both through empathy
and as a detached third party, what is
the nature of these problems – technical
or adaptive?
3
Solutions don’t necessarily reside
with the leader, or who we give
authority to – they could be found within the collective organisation.
It is so easy to expect a person in authority to provide a quick magic bullet remedy
that restores any situation to its optimal
equilibrium just because we assume they
are an expert.
Moreover, as people in positions of
authority ourselves, it is common to feel
both the external obligation and internal
pressure to be that person who is the
solve-it-all.
However, adaptive leaders seek
beyond themselves in solving adaptive
problems; they are more likely to shift
the responsibility of solution generation
to the collective intelligence (i.e. their
team or even the whole organisation).
An adaptive leader is open to the
learning function as a guide who challenges common expectations, discloses
threats to people at an optimal level,
manages resistance and then sustains
everyone through the heat of generating
solutions.
Who solves the problems in your
organisation, especially those you identified as adaptive problems? Are there
resources of collective intelligence you
have yet to leverage on?
Remember the story on Netflix? Reed
Hastings, CEO of Netflix and then chief
talent officer Patty McCord were people
who were extremely focused on building
Netflix as a high-performing organisation, hence their talent management
approaches were aligned for this one
goal.
cHAngE THRougH
ADAPTIVE
LEADERSHIP cAn bE
comPARED To THE
concEPT of
TInkERIng, wHERE
mobILISIng SmALL
cHAngES cAn LEAD
To gREAT ImPAcT.
Netflix has always positioned itself as
an organisation with an innovative pursuit to change how we consume filmed
entertainment.
Yet, as Patty McCord shared in her
article on Harvard Business Review, the
expectation was for her to default to
standard operating procedures which
were far removed from innovativeness.
Thus, when Netflix met challenges
in obtaining IPO and subsequently had
layoffs and operated with less than the
optimal number of employees, the duo
realised there needed to be a change in
the way they run the organisation.
What keeps the story interesting is
that these ideas of change did not originate from a 12-hour-brainstorming session between Hastings and McCord.
Instead, McCord credited two Netflix
employees in inspiring this disruptive
direction.
One was an engineer who used to
manage a team but realised that he was
better off as a lone performer than with
underperforming colleagues.
The other was a book keeper who had
to be given a severance package as her
functions were no longer applicable to
Netflix’s organisational direction.
From these two cases, Netflix drew the
conclusion that a high-performing environment is key to success.
It decided that it needed to let go of
people who were no longer a fit, yet
grant them a severance package worthy
of their past contributions.
These findings formed the foundations of Netflix’s talent management
approach.
What was seemingly disruptive (i.e.
granting the autonomy to take vacation, allowing employees to benchmark
themselves with peer organisations)
actually resembles the process of adaptive change.
Hastings and McCord realised that
bringing their organisation to the next
level was an adaptive problem which
required them to look beyond their scope
of authority for solutions – through people who made up this collective.
Plus, they might have taken the other
direction of usual talent management
practices, but the change was still based
upon the organisational value of being
innovative; this was no revamping of DNA.
So the question that follows for organisational leaders is, would you lead adaptive change, which could mean going
against the grain of best practices?
Perhaps you can consider using the
three aforementioned concepts as a
starting point to instil adaptive change.
And if Adaptive Leadership sounds
like a familiar concept re-bottled, maybe
it is because 3,000 years ago, we have
had such success stories when King Saul
succeeded in solving an adaptive problem (Goliath) with an adaptive solution
(David). As it goes, it is only impossible,
until it is done.
n Evelyn Teh is part of the Leaderonomics
Talent Acceleration team. For more
information on our talent acceleration
programmes, contact people@
leaderonomics.com.
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
Love Working at
maLakoff
By EVA CHRISTODOULOU
eva.christodoulou@leaderonomics.com
MALAKOFF Corp Bhd is well established in
Malaysia and beyond our shores.
The power company, which employs
900 personnel in Malaysia and around
the world, has come a long way from its
humble beginnings in 1975 as a plantation
company.
Malakoff is a leading Independent Water
and Power Producer with core focus on
power generation, water desalination and
operations and maintenance services.
It is Malaysia’s largest independent
power producer with net generating capacity of 5,020MW from its six power plants.
Malakoff has power and water ventures in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait and
Bahrain, and is making inroads into the fast
WHat tHe peopLe
Have to Say about
tHe company
growing South-East Asian markets.
Notwithstanding its business achievements in the industry, Malakoff has been
publicly recognised for its commitment to
its employees.
In June 2013, HR Asia’s Best Companies
to Work for in Asia 2013 study selected
Malakoff as one of the 21 winners from
Malaysia, out of 145 participants.
We spoke to seven Malakoff employees
to find out what keeps them excited about
working with this organisation.
DaniaL LieW
Head of production, Prai Power Plant
The phrase “our people are our greatest asset” that is
constantly uttered by the management is not just
lip service. It actually walks the talk by consistently
engaging with and adding value to employees, and
encouraging employee empowerment.
In the context of adding value, Malakoff provides
staff development programmes to strengthen their
technical knowledge and soft skills. These span
almost all levels of the organisation from the nonexecutive level to senior management.
Throughout my 13 years journey with Malakoff, I have
benefited a lot from its culture of emphasising human
capital, from personal development to actual rewards and
recognition.
Malakoff’s core values and culture has moulded its employees into who we are today, and
the employees are now steering Malakoff’s future. This thought has always been a source of
inspiration and excitement for me, and it fuels the passion I have for Malakoff.
Leny Safinaz iSmaiL
Executive secretary, chief operating officer office
At the beginning of my time here, I worked with the
deputy CEO. Now, I serve three bosses of the group
– the chief operating officer, MD and chairman.
I’ve been working in Malakoff for 20 years, and I
really enjoy working here as I’ve grown both personally and professionally.
It’s a good company that offers a good variety of
work, good bosses, opportunities, and benefits.
The work environment is open and we are like a
family unit; yet we are professional when it comes to
our work. There is a sense of flexibility and that shows the
trust that management has in us.
Malakoff is a good company to work in, and you will be
working with amazing people, while getting support, encouragement and guidance. The working environment and opportunities to learn new
things keep me excited and committed to working here.
Huang tiong yeong
Manager, enterprise applications
I have been with Malakoff for almost 3.5 years now.
Malakoff’s working environment can be described as
lively. It allows employees to network with everyone in
the office, and it provides a family-like atmosphere.
Apart from that, it has great benefits, competitive
pay, and a unique corporate structure that sets it
apart.
We are offered benefits such as long employment
service awards, yearly bonuses, healthcare insurance
and training courses to enhance skills. As long as
employees are willing to learn, Malakoff is fully supportive of helping us achieve this.
As Malakoff is a leader in power production, people
around the world are lining up to join our group. We actively
seek out the best students from around the world to join us.
The most exciting reason to work with Malakoff is the way the bosses bring out the best in
us without us realising it. With their guidance, everyone in Malakoff has achieved a lot, and
we are committed to provide the best service for Malakoff.
iLy zafira SHaHrinan
Senior executive, human resources
I started my career with Malakoff five years ago
after graduating from a local university. Job satisfaction is what makes me stay here. I’m doing
something that I enjoy, perceive as valuable, and
I am given enough responsibility to satisfy my
desire to be “in control”.
The broad scope of work gives me the ability
to work in areas outside of my bachelor’s degree.
I’m very lucky, or perhaps I just made a wise
choice to build my career in this area. I enjoy what
I do as my field of work gives me exposure and helps
me improve my soft skills.
Malakoff doesn’t allow flexible working hours, but it really
does care about its employees’ work-life balance. We are given the flexibility to manage our
own time as long as we can finish the tasks. Personally, I think this really improves the productivity of the employees.
I stay on because I am doing something that I enjoy and feel is valuable and that I have
some measure of influence over.
naziatuL SHafeenaz naSruDDin
Manager, human resources
I have been serving Malakoff for over two years under the
umbrella of human resources, focusing on organisational development and recruitment.
In Malakoff, if you conceive a sound idea – be it on
improvement or an innovation – more often than
not, you will gain the support and resources to materialise it.
Malakoff believes in the concept of continuous
growth and lives by that. We take small realistic steps
that cumulatively over time breed sustainable success.
In terms of culture, when you walk down the hallway
or pass through the pantry, you can certainly hear happy
chats and bump into friendly smiling faces.
Do not be misled, however, on how serious those friendly
faces can be when they are at their workstations or meeting rooms.
They champion harmony, but they place higher importance on excellence.
This is a committed group of people who have been deliberately equipped with functional
and leadership skills to take charge in the battlefield. I am – without any reservation – very
proud to be in their good company.
vinoDHan gopaLan
Senior manager, technical and
commercial, ventures
As much as the organisation needs the employee to
achieve his or her key performance indicators, the
employee also relies on the organisation for the
resources to grow as a person and a productive
professional, on top of earning a decent living.
This partnership is something I have found in
Malakoff in the 14 years I have worked here.
At a time when I didn’t really know how to build
my career, Malakoff gave me guidance and support
to be the person I am today.
Through the various roles I have taken up working in
the power plants and now in the headquarters, I believe I
have undergone a balanced and structured development.
Malakoff takes training and development seriously. The training opportunities provided by Malakoff are partly the reason why I was able to make smooth
transitions between roles.
I am sometimes invited to host the Malakoff booth at career fairs and I tell the doe-eyed
fresh graduates who visit our booth this: I still get up excited to go to work because I look
forward to the fun that I experience in every aspect of my job.
nor azizi mazaLan
Manager, technical training ,
Tanjung Bin Power Plant
I have been working with Malakoff since May 2008.
Malakoff is very flexible in terms of giving the freedom to its staff to carry out their responsibilities.
On top of that, almost all bosses at Malakoff
embrace an open door policy without any restrictions
on lower ranking staff mingling with senior management.
In terms of people development, I consider myself
very lucky as I was one of the participants of Malakoff’s
leadership development programme back in 2011.
That programme was an eye-opener for me as it educated me on the importance of being a good leader in the
company.
Another factor that keeps me happy working here is the sports activities organised for
employees. Every year, there is a Malakoff sports carnival organised for all staff. This annual
activity fosters friendships, despite the competitive nature of the tournament.
I definitely recommend working with Malakoff as opportunities abound here.
n If you are interested to find out more about work opportunities at Malakoff, visit www.
malakoff.com.my, or email recruitment@malakoff.com.my
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
T
Defeat
your
giants
HINK of the movie Moneyball back
in 2011. Oakland A general manager
Billy Beane managed to assemble
a successful baseball team for a
season on an extremely lean budget
by employing computer-generated analysis to
acquire new players.
Out of nowhere, for that season, Oakland
A managed to beat much wealthier, betterequipped teams, by using a new, revolutionary approach for choosing players. The method was so successful that it was later adopted
by big teams including the Boston Red Socks.
Think, also, of Susan Boyle, back in 2009.
Born in 1961, she only managed to kick start
her singing career in 2009 when she first
appeared in Britain’s Got Talent, leading to a
standing ovation just after her singing the
first phrase of I Dreamed a Dream from Les
Misérables.
Immediately after that, there was a huge
craze with Boyle, leading to millions of views
of her songs on YouTube, over 19 million
albums sold worldwide by 2013, and two
Grammy Awards nominations.
Now, think of Impressionism. An art movement that started in the dens of 1800s Paris,
again and again dismissed by the art critics
and art lovers of its time and barred from the
Salon – the place to showcase all meaningful
and valuable art back then.
It eventually went on to become one of
the most recognised, admired, and influential
art movements of all time, with its “founding fathers’” paintings selling for millions of
dollars.
Coming back to this year – for those that
watch the History Channel once in a while,
think of the Duck Dynasty.
It’s a reality show about a “redneck” family
that built its wealth by producing whistles
that help duck hunters attract the birds and
other duck-hunting necessities.
it was never thought to do well, but it
somehow made it to America’s favourite reality show in 2013.
The fourth season premiere attracted 11.8
million viewers, surprisingly, making it the
most-watched non-fiction series in history.
By now you must have recognised a pattern
– we are talking about underdogs, and how
time and again throughout history, whatever
their area of expertise is, these unassuming
characters have managed to take on wellestablished personalities or entities and
prove a point to the world –
that everyone gets a chance
to be great, if only he/she
believes in it and uses
resources wisely.
have the
courage to
know that you
have nothing
to lose
trying anD
everything
to win if you
succeeD.
succeeDing when the oDDs
are stackeD against you
WHY DO PEOPLE ROOT
FOR THE UNDERDOG?
By eVa CHrIstodouLou
eva.christodoulou@leaderonomics.com
Researchers Joseph Vandello, Naday
Goldschmied and David Richards from the
University of South Florida conducted a series
of studies to test people’s support for those
expected to lose in various situations.
By using sports as well as politics as case
studies, the researchers asked the study participants to react to various scenarios where
one side was presented as having an advantage to the other.
For example, one such case study used the
Israeli and Palestinian conflict, where the participants were given an identical write up on
the history between the two sides, but with
different maps to reference, one showing
Palestine as bigger and one showing Israel as
bigger.
In all case studies that were presented to
them, participants constantly favoured the
underdog to win. In the example above – the
ones that got the map showing Israel as having a larger land mass favoured Palestine, and
the others that saw Palestine as larger on the
map, favoured Israel instead, despite the historical run-down.
Research conducted by University of
Tennessee professor Sergey Gavrilets, an
ecology and evolutionary biologist, offers an
explanation for this. According to his research,
we are genetically inclined to help weaker victims against domineering bullies.
Through a mathematical model, Gavrilets
has chronicled how the human race may have
evolved and is now interdependent, valuing
equality rather than the dominance of the
strongest.
He goes on to say that our want for equality does not have to do with empathy, but
instead is motivated by our own well-being.
WHY DO UNDERDOGS WIN?
When we are born, we are thought to be
given a head start in life and be on the road to
success if we are coming from a loving, caring
family that is able to provide us with all the luxuries, education, and support in the world.
We tend to think that those born in the most
unfavourable circumstances are the ones that,
will have few chances in life to do well, and will
most likely end up on the wrong road, perhaps
heading towards prison.
It is indeed strange to discover that some of
those born into these “unfavourable” circumstances overtake those coming from the “perfect”
background, doing more good in their lives and
becoming more successful, and useful to society.
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, David and
Goliath explains this phenomenon, and how the
“underdogs” manage to battle so-called giants.
Through a series of examples, in his book, he
explains how adversities make a person much
stronger – of course not always. It takes a strong,
persistent individual to overcome some of the
difficulties discussed, however, those that do, end
up being much stronger than others.
And so, Gladwell narrates the cases
of various people that had to deal with
something unexpected, and how that
made them stronger.
How, for example, can dyslexia
make you more successful?
By forcing you to compensate by improving
another skill such
as listening, or
even negotiating.
Dyslexia takes
you through
so many ups
and downs that
you develop a
character that
dares to do things
that you would not
otherwise do.
Similarly, being in a community that has
always been “the underdog”, like for example the
African Americans in the United States prior to
the Civil Rights movement, makes you learn how
to deal with those stronger than you. As Gladwell
puts it, it gives you “the unexpected freedom
that comes from having nothing to lose.”
Losing a parent at a young age is a tragedy.
However, as Gladwell explains, in some occasions, the loss can make you feel undefeated.
There is nothing else you cannot take, nothing
you cannot come out the other side of stronger.
A tragedy such as this may make you dare to
do things that no one else would ever consider
doing – because you know that just like you,
those around you can overcome enormous pain
and emerge stronger on the other side.
This is similar to what surviving a bombing
can do to you too – Gladwell explains how during the second World War, the Germans bombed
London, then the biggest power globally, and
how everyone, including the British, thought that
this would have detrimental effects on the British
psyche, rendering the Allies as a whole powerless
to carry on the war.
To that effect, the British prepared for the
catastrophe, building mental institutions that
would aid the survivors of the bombing and help
them cope with the horrendous experience they
just had.
They planned evacuation strategies so that
they could offer the choice of relocation to any
survivors of the bombing.
But after months of bombing, the survivors
grew stronger. The “near-misses,” that is, the
ones that miraculously were not personally
affected by the bombing, grew more confident
and had a strange sense of happiness.
They believed they could withstand anything.
They lost fear – and once you lose fear, you are
willing to risk everything to get what you want.
And this is exactly what makes the Davids of
the world – the underdogs – tougher, and likely
to overcome all adversities and win against the
giants.
but after months of bombing, the survivors grew stronger. the “nearmisses” grew more confiDent anD haD a strange sense of happiness. they
believeD they coulD withstanD anything. they lost fear- anD once you
lose fear, you are willing to risk everything to get what you want. anD
this is exactly what makes the DaviDs of the worlD.
1
People ge
n
see unde erally
rdogs
as puttin
ga
effort into lot more
and there something
fo
to succee re deserve
d.
His research looks into a long-existing
theory that our species was once ruled
by a hierarchy that put the strongest at
the top, similarly to the animal kingdom.
However, over time, our societies have
become more cooperative.
Culture has allowed for a society with
systems in place that protect the weak ones
– evidently to a debatable extent – such as
law enforcement and schooling.
At the same time, Gavrilets suggests that
there also had to be an instinctive genetic
change that came before the evolution of language and communication.
Through examining these tendencies,
Gavrilets developed a model that shows that
such instincts can be passed through generations to a point that they become a dominant
trait. Bullies for example are not so because
they are bad, but because it’s in their genes.
“It’s an echo of our past of struggle to
achieve a high level of social dominance in
a group,” he says. “At the same time, as the
model suggests, we also have a counter-dominant (trait) in our genes. It also suggests tendencies to help people.”
2
They gen
era
view und lly
erdogs
as “disad
va
and their ntaged”,
w
as a sens in is viewed
e
and justi of fairness
ce.
3
Stories of underdogs are somehow
refreshing and inspiring, and help us also
believe that we, too,
can also manage to
reach great heights
one day if we put our
mind to it. And some
of the reasons people
usually root for the
underdog are:
these unassuming characters have manageD to take on
well-establisheD personalities or entities anD prove a point
to the worlD – that everyone gets a chance to be great.
seeing an
underdog
win
makes pe
o
that they ple believe
, too,
have the
ability to
overcom
e
and do so adversities
.
4
The unex
pe
nature of cted
the
win make
s
more thri it all the
lling.
HOW TO BE THE “DAVID”
Of course, it would be insane to wish any of
these adversities on ourselves. The truth is that
more people get broken by such adversities than
those that manage to overcome them.
There are certain things though, that everyone can do to make sure that they have a
chance against the Goliaths of this world.
1
IdentIfy your weakneses
For one, you have to identify your weakness, and see how you can capitalise on it. For
example, you are a new company that has just
entered into the field of, say, coffee retailing, by
opening a coffee shop in a city where a “coffee”
culture is already present and well-advanced.
What would your weaknesses be? No brand
name to boast about, no experience, and huge
competition from already well-established
names – either chains or boutique coffee shops
that have set the standards.
Your strengths? Well, you have a blank canvas
to draw your path on – you are starting from
scratch, so you can plan your business strategy,
the design of your shop, and the culture you
would like to sell with your coffee any way you
want.
So instead of following the existing trends of
say, industrial-looking, cosy hang-out spots, you
can offer something different.
Or, instead of offering the usual blends and
usual drinks, you can offer a twist to them by
really knowing what you are using (high quality
coffee beans, specialist machinery, etc).
Or, you can even revolutionise your customer
service by providing a unique experience to your
customers – by equipping barristas with the knowledge of storytelling, or encouraging a culture of
“sharing” between customer and barrista (think of
old American films and how people used to confide
thoughts and troubles to barmen).
The truth is, the giants of the world are already
set in their ways, and the bigger they are, the longer
it takes for them to adapt and change.
As a small-timer, you have more freedom to
mend yourself to the shape you want to take.
2
Compensate for your weaknesses
Once you have identified your weaknesses,
you need to find a way to compensate for them. For
example, you have never managed to finish university, for whatever reason.
Granted, something like this can prove to be a
big obstacle when it comes to getting certain jobs.
You can, however, find a way to compensate for the
knowledge you “missed”.
One way is to sign up for an online, free or paid,
distance learning course. Another, is to take up a
job that is not ideal, but would allow you to gain
valuable experience in the field you would like to
end up in.
Yet a different approach, a more creative one,
would be to use your life experiences and convince
the people you would like to hire you that you are
the best candidate for the job despite your lack of a
degree.
Skills such as negotiation, excellent communication, storytelling, and inspirational speaking will
likely come very handy. And I am not suggesting
making up stories here – but merely capitalising on
the opportunities you were given since you had the
university years to do other things.
3
dare to go for It
Finally, with weaknesses identified, skills to
compensate them developed and mastered, you
have to have the courage and the belief that you,
too, can achieve big things. With enough belief,
drive and determination anyone can do the impossible.
With courage, anyone can face one obstacle after
the other, conquer their fears and what life throws
at them, and come out the other side a winner.
True, not all human beings have the courage,
or the determination, for that matter, to succeed
against all odds. Most people would give up and
surrender to life’s mishaps.
If, however, you manage to overcome the pain,
and realise that what doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger, you can go the distance, learn from your
life’s experiences, and use those to take on whatever comes your way.
Whether we are talking about taking on a giant
multinational with your new start-up, or going up
against years-old, long-established rules and conventions within your organisation or industry, or
simply getting your dream job despite some personal adversities that might be holding you back, have
the courage to realise that you have nothing to lose
trying and everything to win if you succeed.
You could go down in history as one of those
underdogs that fought the battle and won.
n There is something fascinating and awe inspiring
about the stories of those that made it in life against
all odds. For many more examples of underdogs that
went against “giants” and how they did it, pick up
Malcom Gladwell’s latest book David and Goliath at
all leading bookstores, distributed by Penguin Books.
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
DON’T SETTLE IN
YOUR STRENGTH
By LILY CHEAH
lily.cheah@leaderonomics.com
R
EMEMBER Lycos, Excite, Ask Jeeves and
AltaVista? These were just a handful
of names that dominated the search
engine landscape in the mid-1990s.
But in 1996, the early beginnings
of a new search engine called Google dawned
in Stanford University. Students Larry Page and
Sergey Brin began working on a search engine
project with a difference.
On top of the capability to search for websites that corresponded with search terms, Page
and Brin inserted a popularity mechanism that
assessed the relevance of the pages via links
from other websites, and ranked the results
accordingly. This change meant highly relevant
search results for users.
Google registered its domain name on Sept
15, 1997. A year later, it was operating out of a
garage in Menlo Park and hired its first employee. In Dec 1998, just a few months later, PC
Magazine recognised Google as the top search
engine of choice.
Today the organisation hires over 40,000
employees throughout the world, under the mission “to organise the world’s information and
make it universally accessible and useful”.
But what has it taken to sustain Google’s success as a business and how does it plan to do so
going forward? The challenge with being on top
is staying on top.
Though revenue for the company continues
to grow, the growth rate of Google’s core business (advertising) has slowed, from 35% in 2011,
down to less than 20% in the previous four quarters according to BGC technology analyst Colin
Gillis.
Advertising is the bread and butter of the
business, and mobile advertising, which is
increasingly the method of choice for advertisers,
commands lower ad rates.
Gillis, quoted in a Time article from Oct 2013
says, “We see the slowing core business as a one
reason why Google is investing so heavily in new
ventures as new products are needed to reignite
revenue growth,” says Gillis.
At the end of the day, it’s all our long-term
journeys that will be assessed. In spite of the
raging success Google has had so far, in the longterm, where will it head to?
Here are three simple thoughts to ponder
from Google’s 15½-year journey so far, with
questions to ask yourself about your personal
growth journey and that of your organisation.
In reflecting on these, summon your selfawareness.
3 THOUGHTS
TO pONDER
fROm THE
GOOGLE
jOURNEY
1 What do you do Well?
Search is Google’s strength, and as of
August 2013, it held 66.9% of the Internet search
advertising market.
This remains the core of its business, and will
continue to be, even with declining ad rates. “It’s
best to do one thing really, really well,” writes
Google’s 10-point philosophy.
“Our hope is to bring the power of search to
previously unexplored areas, and to help people
access and use even more of the ever-expanding
information in their lives,” the company writes.
What is your core strength and that of your
organisation? This provides the bulk of the
momentum for growth.
you need
2 do
to think bigger?
While search will remain the driving force of
Google, the company has also been actively looking beyond to other possibilities.
While at times causing worry for investors as
they could distract from the company’s core business, other commentators like Gillis say Google is
building new revenue streams.
Google seems to be finding new ways to
become a big part of people’s daily lives, whether
it be in building driverless cars, launching balloons into the stratosphere to provide Internet
access to rural and remote areas (Project Loon),
or its recent acquisition of Nest for US$3.2bil,
opening doors for Google to enter into home
automation.
“It isn’t difficult to understand Google’s
motive for purchasing Nest,” writes Drew
Hendricks in a Forbes article earlier this week.
“Consider a world in which one consumer has
a home full of devices powered by an operating
system, combined with a smartphone and car
with the same O/S. Each of those devices could
speak to each other, seamlessly learning a user’s
preferences.
“A person’s home thermostat could begin
warming the house up an hour before he gets
up, with the coffee pot chiming in an hour
later. Fifteen minutes before he ordinarily
leaves for work, his car could fire up, ensuring
the interior is comfortable and the windows
clear for his drive in.
“There’s tremendous potential for technology more generally to improve people’s lives,”
says Larry Page in a Google+ post announcing
Google’s establishment of Calico, a biotechnology company focused on health and well-being.
“So don’t be surprised if we invest in projects
that seem strange or speculative compared with
our existing Internet businesses.”
“And please remember that new investments
like this are very small by comparison to our core
business,” Page adds, surely to assure the nerves
of investors.
Only time will tell the success of these
projects, but if they go as hoped, Google could
cement itself as a key entity in both our digital
world and physical world, going far, far beyond
the possibilities of just a search engine company.
Here’s the question for us. Are we dreaming
too small? The danger of winning is that we
focus too much on the strength that brought
about that victory.
Looking forward, what are the future challenges? Bear in mind what won the battle last
year may not win it this year.
you make time to
3 do
dream and build dreams?
Google’s “20% time,” where employees get to
spend one day per week on a side project, has
birthed products like Gmail and AdSense.
Some controversy was sparked last year, with
former employees telling Quartz that the “20%
time” at Google was now dead, pummelled
by bureaucracy and the need to keep up with
productivity. But other Google engineers have
stepped forward to label the claims as untrue.
Whatever the current reality with “20% time”,
Google X is definitely a permanent fixture of
Google operations today. The secretive hub is
where new ideas like Google Glass are built,
under the keen eyes of Sergey Brin.
Daily execution can take up all the time we
have, but do we build in “dream time” to our
schedules to keep our eyes constantly looking
forward to other possibilities?
This could be by way of a time slot integrated
into the schedules of all employees, or like
Google X, be the core function of a team.
Do you make time to think about and work on
new possibilities?
Google has had tremendous success as a
search engine, but is gearing ahead for a future
with many different possibilities.
It naturally requires an appetite for risk, which
not all may have. But in order to remain a disruptor and game-changer, this exploration quest
seems essential.
The danger, which is to sink into comfort and
do what you’ve always been doing, seems a
greater risk.
HERE’S THE
qUESTION fOR US.
ARE wE DREAmING
TOO SmALL? THE
DANGER Of wINNING
IS THAT wE fOcUS
TOO mUcH ON THE
STRENGTH THAT
bROUGHT AbOUT
THAT vIcTORY.
LOOkING
fORwARD, wHAT
ARE THE fUTURE
cHALLENGES? bEAR
IN mIND wHAT wON
THE bATTLE LAST
YEAR mAY NOT wIN
IT THIS YEAR.
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
NAPOLEAN BONAPARTE’S
By SHANE PARRISH
mystarjob@leaderonomics.com
F
fATAL miSTAKE
RANCE of 1790 provided an ideal
place for Napoleon Bonaparte’s
unlikely rise to the top. In
Napoleon: A Life, Paul Johnson
explains “It demonstrated the
classic parabola of revolution: a constitutional beginning; reformist moderation
quickening into ever-increasing extremism; a descent into violence; a period of
sheer terror, ended by a violent reaction;
a time of confusion, cross-currents, and
chaos, marked by growing exhaustion
and disgust with change; and eventually
an overwhelming demand for ‘a Man on
horseback’ to restore order, regularity,
and prosperity.”
Bonaparte epitomised opportunism.
He didn’t want a revolution. He wanted
change. In a way, his rise, was a product
of the revolution itself.
Johnson writes: “Bonaparte would
not have possessed the ruthless disregard of human life, of natural and manmade law, of custom and good faith
needed to carry it through without the
positive example and teaching of the
revolution. The revolution was a lesson
in the power of evil to replace idealism,
and Bonaparte was its ideal pupil.”
In his first invasion of Italy in 1796, an
“imaginative and symbolic” success he
set the tone for his relationship with his
troops.
Naked and ill-fed he gave them hope
with the spoils that awaited them. The
implicit contract with his troops was
clear: win the war and take the loot.
One small and powerful gesture that
might be looked over is that Bonaparte
made it logistically easy for their spoils
to be transferred back to their families.
This also made military sense, for
it enabled soldiers to save instead of
squandering their trophies on drunken
debauchery.
Part of Bonaparte’s success resulted
from the difference between him and
his enemies.
The Duke of Wellington, who would
ultimately be victorious at Waterloo, pinpointed Bonaparte’s advantage.
“I can hardly conceive of anything
greater than Banaparte at the head of
an army – especially a French army.
“Then he had one prodigious advantage – he had no responsibility – he
could do what he pleased; and no man
ever lost more armies than he did.
“Now with me the loss of every man
told. I could not risk so much. I knew
that if I ever lost 500 men without the
clearest necessity, I should be brought
one my knees to the bard of the House
of Commons.”
Before Bonaparte, Wellington had
only seen delegated power in the field.
Now he was facing direct power.
Bonaparte, for example, appointed his
own subordinates whereas Wellington
often had generals foisted upon him.
This reminds me of Malcolm
Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath,
in terms of how the weak win wars.
Often they don’t appear to play by what
we consider the “established rules”.
When underdogs choose not to play
by Goliath’s rules: they win more than
the underlying statistics would indicate
they should.
Bonaparte enjoyed a freedom to take
risks that his adversaries wouldn’t or
couldn’t take for political or other reasons.
These risks fit perfectly with “his
general strategy of swift aggression and
offensive battle seeking.”
Soldiers, of course, like this high-risk
approach. They viewed the odds of
death the same regardless of whether
their commander employed a defensive
or offensive approach. The offensive
approach at least gave them a shot at
some loot.
Ultimately Bonaparte’s most useful
weapon was fear.
“It was this one,” Johnson writes,
that “he employed most frequently. In
his aggressive strategy, it gave him a
head start – it was as though an invisible army had softened up the enemy’s
defences before a French shot was fired.”
When fighting campaigns, Bonaparte,
with few exceptions, was usually vastly
outnumbered. Often the other side was
a coalition of nations.
Rather than wait for his opponents
to become organised he struck quickly
and divided them before they could join
together. By dividing and conquering he
defeated them separately.
Bonaparte also showed a great
understanding of his era by aligning his
instructions with his strategy.
Johnson writes: “No matter how well
drilled and disciplined, a unit was likely
to lose formation if ordered to carry out
complicated movements over distances.
Hence, the simpler the plan the better,
and the simplest plan as: attack!”
Generals, for their part, preferred simple plans. Often these instructions had
to be carried by hand to the front line
and innumerable things could go wrong.
In the end Bonaparte’s main advantage was also what caused his failure.
His subordinates, almost without exception, were eager to please and thus obey.
They wanted to do as he instructed.
They wanted his praise. They wanted
promotions.
When things changed, as they often
do on the battlefield and in business,
they were left to act on their own.
Having rarely faced problems without
explicit instructions, they were ill-prepared.
If you’re hiring men and women who,
while they can carry out instructions
lack a general ability to think, what
makes you think your results will be different?
BY SIMON SINEK
mystarjob@leaderonomics.com
THERE is something to be said for being the
smartest or the most talented one in the
room... too bad it doesn’t help much in reality.
Success, by any definition, is a team sport.
I learned this little detail the hard way.
There was a time in my life that I
thought that if I wanted to make anything out of myself, I’d be responsible
for all of it by myself.
I thought I could do everything
primarily because I thought I should
do everything. I needed to know
how to be the boss, the accountant,
the creative director, the marketing
manager, the human resources director,
set the strategy and do the work with
my clients.
Even if I hired or worked with others,
I wanted to have the final say on everything. This was a brilliant strategy until
three things happened”
1. I learned I wasn’t good at everything.
2. I didn’t have the energy to do everything.
3. I failed.
“NOTHiNg
iS mORE
POwERfUL
THAN AN idEA
wHOSE TimE
HAS COmE.”
— Victor Hugo
n Shane Parrish is the editor of farnamstreetblog.
com. He helps companies make better decisions
and foster innovation. For inquiries, including
speaking engagements please write to mystarjob@
leaderonomics.com.
SUCCESS TAKES HELP
The human animal is a social animal
and our survival and success depend on
our ability to find communities of people who share our values and beliefs.
When these communities form, trust
emerges. It is then that the human animal will adapt from a survival instinct
by self-preservation to one of working
for the good of the community.
Both are designed to help the individual survive, but it is the community
that has the greater chance of not only
survival, but success.
The book Wisdom of Crowds delves
into this. Groups of people make more
accurate decisions than individuals, for
example. In other words, asking for help
is scientifically proven to enhance the
quality of the decisions we make.
Once I hit a point where I had no
choice but to ask for help, things started to dramatically change.
For one, I let go of the belief that I
should do everything which meant I
finally accepted that there was no way I
could do everything.
The more honest I was to myself and
out loud about my strengths and my
weaknesses, the more people showed
up to help do the things I was not good at.
There is not a single thing I’m doing these
days that is not as a direct result of someone
helping me.
Some showed up to do specific tasks that
I’m no good at – like accounting. Some take
specific responsibility for things that I don’t
excel at – like developing systems.
But the vast majority of the help that I’ve
been given comes from people who have
introduced me to someone they think could
benefit from my message and from whom I
could benefit from their platform.
In other words, mutually beneficial introductions. introductions that are good for the
community.
The more willing I am to ask for help, the
more I am able to help others. I’ve transformed from working for myself to working
for others which, ironically, has helped me
grow as an individual more than I ever imagined.
Offer your strengths to others and you’ll
be amazed how many people offer their
strengths to you.
n Simon Sinek is a trained ethnographer and
author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders
Inspire Everyone To Take Action. An optimist,
he believes in a bright future and our ability
to build it together.
10
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
FROM LIMITATION TO LIBERATION:
A 2 sTEP PROCEss FOR OVERCOMINg
INTERNAL OBsTACLEs
By MICHAEL EISEN
mystarjob@leaderonomics.com
W
HEN we were children, many of us
were taught belief
systems by our
parents, teachers,
friends and the society as a whole.
We were like sponges absorbing everything that we witnessed, heard and
experienced. However, as we get older
and start to have our own identity, we
often are held back from living the life
of our dreams, because of something
we were taught to believe as truth by
someone else. If we don’t have a certain
level of self-awareness, a lot of the time
we don’t even realise we are living a life
based on someone else’s truth or even
someone else’s dreams!
In order for this process to stop and
for each of us to be able to step into
our own truth and beliefs.
We need to examine everything
we learned growing up and begin
questioning whether it is serving us
in a positive or negative way.
At the back of my book that I coauthored with my father, Empowered
Youth: A Father and Son’s Journey
to Conscious Living, you will find a
resources section that is full of practices, exercises and tools that you
can put into place in your lives that
will help you overcome some of your
most pressing challenges and lead
you towards living a more empowered life.
Here is one of the practices that
will help you acknowledge and shift
the internal belief systems that are
holding you back and no longer serving you at the highest level in your
lives.
PRACTICE: OUT wITh ThE OLd, IN wITh ThE NEw
EPE: QUEsTION ALL YOUR CURRENT BELIEFs
t
S N
O Think back to when you were growing up and
Some of these may seem ridiculous when put
reflect on all the things that you were taught by
your parents, siblings, teachers, and so on.
These should pop into your mind quite easily,
because they were ingrained into your consciousness at an early age. They have most likely
become things that you believe to be the truth
today. Here are some possibilities:
l You must work hard to get ahead.
l You won’t succeed in life without an education.
l Be respectful of your elders.
l Beauty is on the inside.
l It’s important that others like you.
l Expressing emotion is bad.
l Be true to yourself.
l Save the best for last.
l Don’t get too excited, or you’ll be disappointed.
l Help those in need.
l You must earn a lot of money to be successful.
l It’s important to have fun in life.
l Live each day as if it’s your last.
down on paper, but somewhere in your subconscious you still believe them to be true. Others
you may have already let go of, and others still
are more valuable now than ever before.
Once you’ve completed your list, start questioning each of these beliefs: Is this still my
truth? How does it make me feel?
Ask yourself probing questions to determine
whether they’re all truly your own or if they
belong to someone else. This will help you
determine which ones you want to keep around
and which ones you want to replace. Here are
some more questions to begin with:
l Do I really believe this, or is it something
that I’ve just been taught to believe as the
truth?
l Does this even make sense?
l How does this belief make me feel?
l Does this belief scare me?
Try to be completely honest with yourself
when you answer these questions, and record
your answers as they come up.
EPO: sUBsTITUTE NEw “FEEL gOOd” BELIEFs
t
S W
Picture your life is like a tree. The roots of that
t For all of the beliefs above that you identified as
no longer making sense, no longer holding truth,
or no longer making you feel good, it’s time to
find replacements that feel better. Here are a few
examples to get you started:
Old belief: Expressing emotion is bad.
New belief: It’s important and empowering to
express my emotions in a healthy way.
Old belief: Money makes me successful.
New belief: My success is determined by many
things — most important, how I feel about
myself.
Old belief: Save the best for last.
New belief: As I enjoy all the good things in life,
more good things will come to me.
As you begin to question everything you
believe, and take a deep dive within, you will most
likely begin to uncover the roots of the beliefs that
are holding you back from living the life of your
greatest dreams and deepest desires.
tree are the foundation and they hold everything
in place and very rarely will the tree grow in a different direction if the roots stay as they are.
These roots are like your beliefs. The trunk
is your thoughts, the branches are your words,
the buds are your actions and when everything
blooms, that becomes your life experiences.
So, if you want to continue to have the same
thoughts, words, actions and experiences – then
don’t change a thing.
But, if you are not satisfied in any way with
your life – the first place to look is at your beliefs
as they are the root of all creation in your life.
The more you work on changing your beliefs and
letting go of the ones that are holding you back, the
more liberated and empowered you will feel to create the life you have always dreamed of!
n Michael Eisen is a passionate and charismatic
inspirational speaker, author and social entrepreneur. He is also the founder of the Youth Wellness
Network (YWN), an organisation dedicated to
inspiring and empowering youth across the globe
to live happier and more positive lives. For more
information, email mystarjob@leaderonomics.
com.
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mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
11
overcoming
adversity
Lessons from david and goLiath
By HUI YI-WEN
yiwen.hui@leaderonomics.com
I
AM small. Small even for an Asian girl.
All the way through school, I never
had to think twice about where to
stand whenever the teacher told us to
arrange ourselves in height order.
My twin cousins used to walk on either
side of me, the running joke being that I
was the “valley between two mountains”.
Even now, as a working adult, I’m the
little “Hobbit” amongst graceful Elves and
lumbering Orcs!
But lame jokes aside, my small size
meant I stood out as an irresistible beacon
for teasing and, on occasion, actual bullying.
The ancient story of the shepherd boy
David and the giant warrior Goliath is one
that I remember from childhood.
It’s a story familiar to most of us
– a small, brave underdog takes only his
sling, faces the monster of a warrior, and
defeats him with a pebble.
A whole nation’s army couldn’t defeat
Goliath with their swords and war
machinery. It’s the eternal story of the
triumph of good against evil, in the face of
insurmountable odds.
When I was studying in college in the
UK, I used to get picked on by an English
classmate. The cili padi that I am, I’d retaliate and we’d regularly get into near-fights.
In the real world, you could be just an
ordinary person, yet like me, different
enough from the norm and easy for others
to target. Built within all of us is nature’s
own mechanism for survival – the fight or
flight response.
We can choose to flee from threatening
situations where the bully can overpower
us, or we can choose to stay and
(sometimes recklessly) fight back.
The story of how David defeated
Goliath has many lessons for us all.
Fear can
paralyse you
In the original story, the
Philistine army had gathered
for war against Israel.
The king at that time, Saul,
was known to be the tallest
man in Israel and he had
gathered his army to defend
his nation.
Every day, a huge man
called Goliath came out from the
Philistine camp wearing full armour,
shouting, mocking and challenging the
Israelites to settle the fight, man-to-man.
Terrified of Goliath, Saul and his army sat
there for 40 days.
Saul and his army remind me of a cat
or small animal that stops in the middle
of a dark road, body rigid with fear and
eyes shining back at the oncoming car’s
headlights.
Whether you’re facing up to the school
bully, or having to tackle something huge
you’ve never done before, having fears
and doubts is inevitable.
Because fear is a very real thing – tangible, visceral, and yet only understandable
by the person actually experiencing it.
So, why didn’t David freeze when he
faced Goliath? The one single thing you
can do in any fear-filled situation – and
this is the choice that can change everything – is to recognise it. Recognition and
self-awareness of the fears you hold, will
empower you to work to overcome it.
Things may noT
be as big as They seem
With larger-than-life personalities, or
intimidating tasks and situations, we
often allow fear to influence our perspective on things.
When you stand at the foot of a mountain, it fills your vision and you can see
nothing but the tremendous uphill journey ahead.
Compare this to a mountain viewed
from a helicopter, or even an eagle’s eye!
The mountain looks much smaller – and
yet, it has not changed its size at all. The
only thing that has changed is your perspective of the mountain.
Similarly, the school bully might be the
biggest fella in the playground, but when
he is with adults, the bully is just a young
boy after all.
When faced with any challenging situation, recognise that fear alone distorts
your perspective so that mountains
appear bigger than reality.
And on top of that, be aware that the
crowd factor – gossip, rumours, hearsay
– can amplify your “Goliath” to be larger
than he is.
Do noT wear someone
else’s armour
The story goes that after David volunteered to fight Goliath, King Saul personally dressed David with his own royal armour
and helmet. David tried on his sword and
walked about in the armour, and then
promptly took them off.
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul,
“Because I am not used to them.” The
shepherd boy then took up his staff, sling,
and five stones in his bag.
Saul’s offering of armour to David symbolises two key things the world gives us:
expectations and solutions.
If David had worn Saul’s armour into
battle, everyone watching would have
expected him to behave and fight like a
king.
But David was just a lad, too young
even to qualify for the army, let alone bear
the weight of a king’s armour and wield a
grown man’s sword.
David analysed the situation from his
own perspective – not as a king, an army
general or a warrior. He saw that Goliath
was too huge to fight, too well-protected
to stab with a sword, and even too tall to
run away from.
So he used his own solutions and
approach to tackle the problem, without
fearing what others would have thought
of him.
Know yourselF
Even before he challenged Goliath,
David knew exactly what his strengths
and weaknesses were. As a shepherd,
David must have spent a lot of time
perfecting his slinging skills, even telling
Saul that he had killed a lion and a bear in
defence of his father’s sheep.
If David had fought Goliath with a
sword, it’s highly unlikely we would have
this famous tale. Although the sword
was a weapon of choice for King Saul and
many warriors, it was clearly not the right
decision in this situation.
Similarly, David knew his enemy and
correctly analysed that Goliath’s strength
was not speed. He did not waste time
formulating different battle strategies, but
ran quickly towards the battle line with
his sling and stones.
In any situation, remember that what
worked for others may not work for you.
It’s a human response to take the “tried
and tested” route, especially when we
are bound by the expectations of those
around us. For David, he chose the solution that would work according to his
unique skills, in the specific situation that
required it.
have FaiTh!
When David told Saul he would go
and fight Goliath, Saul tried to stop him,
saying “You are not able to go out against
this Philistine and fight him; you are only
a young man, and he has been a warrior
from his youth.”
Many others may say the problem is too
big to handle, the giant too terrifying.
Yet David went forth into battle just
as he was – a young shepherd boy with
a sling. He didn’t wait to be fully-grown
in the eyes of the world, or equipped as a
famous fighter capable of leading armies.
Instead of seeing Goliath as a frightening giant, David must have seen him as a
nice big target to hit because of his large
size! But more than that, he was willing to
try, fail, and try again.
Sources record David picking five stones
from a nearby stream – clearly, he was
prepared to fail a number of times before
defeating Goliath.
Face The gianT wiThin
Did David fear, when he faced
Goliath? We will never know. Many will
say that David was brave, courageous,
fearless, a man of great faith. I will say,
that David was a man of love.
His love for his nation, people, family,
and king was far, far greater than whatever fear he might have had of Goliath. In
the end, it was out of great love for what
he believed in, that was driven to fight
and conquer the giant.
Discover for yourself then, what you
will love and believe in, then conquer the
giants on the outside and inside.
12
mystarjob.com, saturday 25 January 2014
EVERY week, we pick a human resources-related topic,
and gather a few HR experts to share their opinions
on it. If you have any questions about the HR industry,
do drop us an email at mystarjob@leaderonomics.
com. We would love to hear from you.
D
E
T
N
A
W
T
TALEN
Shankar nagalingam,
Human resources director,
South Asia and ANZ Dell
In today’s world, especially for organisations
like Dell that provide end-to-end solutions, HR
leaders no longer look for candidates with specific, teachable and measurable skills; instead,
they look for those who possess a combination
of both hard and soft skills.
Businesses are going global and candidates
with good business acumen are highly in
demand. The critical skill sets that organisations are looking for include the ability to influence global leaders, excellent networking capabilities and strong understanding of the global
economy, market trends and competition.
A suitable candidate will be someone who is
innovative, creative and self-motivated; highly
energetic with a positive attitude; has strong
work ethic and an ability to change complexity
to simplicity; and importantly, a team player.
The Malaysian government understands the
needs of the global organisations and provides
the infrastructure to produce graduates in various fields to support the current and future
needs.
There is abundant supply of graduates
with the basic skills but they have to make
themselves employable by enhancing their
core skills, encompassing teamwork, business
sense, flexibility, ability to think creatively and
solve problems, and ability to learn fast and
effectively. Graduates who are equipped with
these skills will help to develop Malaysia into a
globally acclaimed centre of excellence.
Suriahni abdul hamid
HR consultant and
executive coach
Talent shortage has been a topic frequently
raised over the years. It’s becoming more and
more challenging. The market landscape drives
the need for companies to continuously grow
at a faster rate whilst delivering quality and
innovative products and services.
In order for companies to progress and sustain growth, new capabilities need to be built.
A few competencies that are in high demand
are in areas such as analytics, digital, application development, strategic procurement and
system integration.
Stronger business and financial acumen in
all roles particularly in technology, marketing
and human resources, are no longer a nice to
have but a must have competence in today’s
market.
On top of that, talents are much more
mobile and they opt for roles that give them
the most opportunities for career exposure,
growth and a better financial standing.
Given these dynamics, in addressing the tal-
ent shortage issue,
companies are now
paying closer attention to building and
having more holistic
and comprehensive talent
management frameworks.
These include focus on optimising resources, driving higher
performance, planning for succession,
having competitive rewards and recognition,
and cultivating the mind-set of being agile.
The intent is to ensure that whilst companies aggressively acquire new competencies
from the market, they are also strengthening
the development of the internal talents.
The hope is for these initiatives to enhance
the capabilities of the people and drive
towards having an engaged workforce, one
that has a sense of pride and belonging to the
company.
Chua Chai Ping
Human resources director,
Accenture Malaysia
Talent shortage is a perennial issue that will
always be an area of focus. Hence, talent supply mapping, planning and strategising is crucial. HR practitioners need to work closely with
business leaders to help address the organisation’s skills requirement, paradigm shifts and
mindset transitions. Only then can the right
talent be acquired for the organisation’s competitive advantage.
Predicting what new skills are required in
the new world will help academia decide on
the syllabus’ new content or revamp.
Many companies today including Accenture
are partnering with local universities at an
early stage to help create a learning curriculum
that can help bridge the skills gap in Malaysia.
One of our latest initiatives is the Accenture
Future Technology Leaders Programme which
addresses the technology talent shortage.
At the same time, talent constantly needs
to evolve and change in a volatile marketplace. It is therefore very important to ensure
employees are re-skilled and up-skilled to meet
current workforce demands. It is important for
HR to focus on learning curriculums to cater to
the ever-changing demands of their respective
businesses and ensure that their talents cater
to the needs of the business.
Accenture employees are continuously
engaged throughout their career journey,
through career counselors, global training and
development programmes online, on their
mobile devices or even at our learning centres
Topic of tHE wEEk
HR TALK
TalenT shorTage is The key
focus area for hr in 2014.
Do you agree?
Sugunah Verumandy
Human resource director
GE global growth and operations
Malaysia/Brunei
around the
world. We also
provide opportunities for
our employees to explore lateral movements
through internal job postings and make it easy
for our alumni to return through our Accenture
Alumni programme.
Chan Chong kong
Executive director,
human capital, and
mona Shafini abu bakar
Head of re-sourcing,
PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia
Talk to any HR practitioner about the challenges in today’s ever-changing business environment, and on the top of that list is “talent
shortage”.
On a macro basis, opportunities abound. The
thriving Asian economy has opened up more
options within Malaysia and beyond for our
local talents.
As countries in the region move up the value
chain, the demand from Malaysian companies
for specialised skills and qualified professionals
is on the rise.
Malaysian talents are also enticed to relocate and work in other countries offering better remuneration packages based on stronger
currencies and more attractive tax structures.
There has also been a shift in the way
today’s workforce views and approaches work.
There is now more emphasis on work-life balance and career opportunities besides looking
for meaningful and interesting work.
Talents do not hesitate to move on if they
are able to find better options or opportunities
in the market place.
In addition, there is an apparent trend of
burgeoning entrepreneurship and start-ups
among young qualified talent who would like
to pursue their personal dreams and aspirations. Their non-entry into market workforce
has further contributed to the shortage of talent that is already acutely felt now.
Retention of talent with the right skills is
thus our top priority for 2014. Companies
which are able to execute sound talent retention strategies to keep and motivate their talent will have a competitive edge over others.
It is undeniable that the topic of talent
shortage has been a key focus area for HR practitioners for many years now in Malaysia.
However, moving forward especially in
Malaysia, it would be a key imperative that the
topic on talent should be a leadership agenda
rather than human resources only.
Secondly, it is also imperative that key
attention is given to talent development as an
integrated approach in addressing the needs of
capabilities building in Malaysia.
This combination of leadership agenda
and the thirst to develop talent would, to a
large extent, reduce the concerns about talent
shortage in Malaysia towards becoming a high
income nation by 2020.
It is crucial that leaders invest considerable
resources in developing their best bets to take
on the toughest challenges. There are numerous ways an organisation can approach talent
development. A proven way is certainly a combination of both on-the-job experience and
formal training.
In GE for example, we use a guideline of 80%
on the job and 20% formal training. On the
job training constitutes providing talents with
challenging job assignments, stretch opportunities, visibility and accountability underpinned
by candid assessment and feedback.
At the same time, formal training involves
leadership programmes, functional training
and business skills.
Leaders know their team members best and
they play a key role in taking high performers
and stretching them to take on bigger jobs,
providing them with the support they need
to be successful and accelerate their development. HR can play a facilitator role to make
this happen.
A culture of “leaders developing other leaders” helps address talent shortage in an innovative way where senior leaders thoughtfully
spend time in developing emerging leaders.
This act also provides both groups continuous
growth.
How many top leaders really do step out
from their regular job to teach or nurture the
next generation leaders? It often dawns upon
me, whenever I see a great talent, that someone once made a courageous decision, and
companies worry too much about the cost of
investing in talent. They should instead worry
about the cost of not doing it.
Also next week
stressed at
work? Insights and
tips on how to manage
stress
The stig from
Top Gear on managing
pressure and
emerging a winner
Career tips and
life wisdom from
the film
Anger
Management
stretch
your people, but
don’t break
them
If you have any suggestions or feedback on our content, get in touch with the Leaderonomics team at mystarjob@leaderonomics.com.
For advertising and advertorials, contact ian.lee@leaderonomics.com - 016 974 7087