Political Stability

We’ve heard time and time again that we need political stability. We’ve been told, via government controlled media, through the various government functions and other means of propaganda, that without political stability we are doomed as a country. The message is clear: keep the ruling party in power, or suffer as a nation.

Some politicians and academicians continue to argue that our prosperity today is the result of decades of shepherding by the present government. That investors continue to pour billions of dollars into our economies because we have the same government since independence. That we have the opportunity to develop real infrastructure and build a sustainable, modern economic framework as we do not need to deal with shifting preferences and policies. That our fragile inter-racial community requires a strong political authority to keep us in harmony.

As business people, we generally like the idea of stability. Because that means we can continue pulling in weighs, counting on favours, and operate in an environment we are familiar with.

While I agree that political stability in any country is important, I do not share the idea that political stability equals continuous political dominance by the same party. I am not calling for a change of government - far from it. But the present government need to ensure that dissent and popular opinion are taken into consideration in governance. More importantly, we need to build into our system a clear separation of power between the executive, the judiciary and the legislative, as a safeguard against excesses by the present and future government of the day. We need to favour strong institutional safeguards versus whims and fancies by politicians, no matter how well meaning they may be.

Compare us to the US, the world’s wealthiest and most powerful country, or to Germany, France, the UK and even Italy. You will find that governments change every few years. As are economic policies. Yet, the Americans and Europeans have become so used to these changes, they have developed an instinct so sharp, they could instinctively change their business game plan according to the way the wind is blowing. Businesses are rarely bankrupted because of shifts of policies and political affiliations. Warts and all, these countries have something we need to emulate: independent legal and legislative institutions as safeguards to drastic changes that could rock the boat. And that, is the ultimate stabilising factors for businesses in those countries.

We have become so dependent on the idea that we have the same government and policies in place that as globalisation continue to hit us, we find ourselves in shock when operating in countries that have different systems and in many way, more democratic, than ours. We find their system to be lacking, that we cannot get things done the same way we have been at home, and that there is little help to be expected from the government. A business culture shock, in short.

We have been boasting of the few companies that have succeeded in expanding our reach beyond our own shores. Yet, we have failed to see that most of these are government-back companies, where a lot of political arm-twisting and horse-trading were done to ensure these companies succeed overseas. And the few that succeeded on their own, find that operating in more developed countries to be too challenging, and are generally less profitable than at home.

Having the same party in power, with the right check and balance is fine by me. But unless we are able to better institutionalise these, in the long run, these same political stability that has brought us to where we are today, will take us back to where we were before.

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This article appeared in the November 2009 edition of SME Magazine . Get a copy of the SME Magazine at your nearest bookstore!

Shortcuts to Success

In the age of Quad Core and Mach 3 travel, no one seems to have the patience for anything nowadays. A person in front of us in a queue is one too many. The same kiasu-ness is now so ingrained among entreprneeurs and businessmen, that we are constantly looking for shortcuts and other ‘lubangs’ to success.

Some will argue that success in business is about finding the fastest way to your objectives. I would agree if in so doing, we do not neglect our integrity and ethics. However, many of us tend to forgo the very principles we are brought up with, in favour of shortcuts to success. Expediency rules.

A few examples come to mind. One is our tendency to now ‘buy’ talents rather than groom them internally. Some would say that’s smart management. After all, aren’t clubs in Premier League known to pay millions for top players? Again, I would agree, if job hopping among senior executives is not as prevalent as it is today and by so doing we are not starting a talent-pinching war among ourselves. Some of us are blind to the fact that not all sweet-talking MBAs are any good or have any loyalty to you or your business. And certainly, few of these people stay long enough to do good for your business.

The sad truth is, few businessmen would have any qualms about pinching their competitors staff, if that means they would learn their competitors secrets and steal their clients. Again, that’s good business to some.

Another phenomenon that has hit many SMEs is the eagerness to raise fund rapidly to expand their business and hopefully make it big in a short time. Words like ‘mezzanine financing’, ‘investors’ prospectus’, ‘IPO’ and ‘exit strategy’ are being brandished even by mom-and-pop operations. Some of these companies seems to have lost all interest in taking care of the basics of business: developing good quality products and services, building relationship with supplier, staff and clients, and earning money the traditional way. Perhaps the lessons of Lehmann Brothers have not sinked in for many of us. Many of us are still caught up with the dotcom tagline: if you have an idea, money will start pouring in.

I don’t discourage businesses raising fund from whatever sources for whatever reasons. But it is good business sense to realise that businesses cannot be built on air. Many of the dotcom wonders that you read about have also gone through hardwork and setbacks like you and I. And business news are so full of unchecked facts nowadays, you should not allow yourself to be swayed by news of a competitor hitting it big through some investment from some mysterious funders. The truth is, money don’t grow on trees. And businesses don’t just grow on their own. If you thought labouring for your business is futile; well, it’s at least a notch better than day dreaming.

This brings us to another shortcut many are resorting to. I call it the ‘sugardaddy phenomenon’ (or ‘sugarparent’, to be gender sensitive). The government call it SME assistance program. Again, I would say go for it as it means free money in many cases. But if you are going to be building a business on the back of government handouts and nothing else, you will be steering an empty ship to nowhere. Real businesses are built on solid ideas and real products and services. There’s really no shortcut to success.

The lowest form of ‘shortcut’ to success must be those among us who bribe our way through. Some of us would be tempted to offer inducement to get that one lucrative project. After all, some grease between palms make some people easier on the cheque, and shorter on the memory. But consider the long term costs of such business experdiency. Many of the truly successful people I know are men of true integrity. Hard to believe, but it is true. Integrity and ethics do make good business sense.

Rich Kids, Poor Kids
I have nothing against direct selling. But before you are convinced by an eager sponsor hoping to pin you somewhere among his downlines, make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into. Like any business, it’s 99% effort and 1% luck. 99.9% of everyone who joins a direct selling business fails. And that’s a higher failure rate than conventional business. So YES, direct sales can be a route to success and financial independence, but NO it is not shortcut to success either.

Some of us are born with a silver spoon. Nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, capitalize on it. But again, that is no short cut to success. Your daddy and mommy can only help so much, the rest is still up to you. One of the inmutable laws of success in business is this: value creation. If you are not creating value with what you do, if you are a consumer of idea and products rather than creator of value, then you will never meet success.

I am going to tell you the real shortcut to success. It is one fact that the world’s three richest men: Warren Buffett, William Gates and Carlos Helu Slim, agree upon. It is called hardwork.

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I wrote this for SME Magazine October issue. If you haven't got your copy of SME Magazine, get one today!

Change?

We tell our children that if they work hard, they would be successful. But at the same time, we put in money each month into their education fund. We tell our employees to come early, and we make efforts to do so ourselves. We tell our children not to play with fire, but we also make sure we have fire alarms, extinguishers and insurance, just in case.

In short, while we do all the talking, we know that talking in itself is not good enough. It surprises me therefore, to find out that the Nobel committee decided that talk is enough in awarding the Peace prize to US President Obama.

Many people think Obama came into power on a ticket of change. What really brought him to power is the US electorate’s frustration over former President Bush’s arrogance, thick-headedness and refusal, well, to change. And his savvy strategy to appeal to the impressionable young through Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Since coming to power barely a year ago, Obama has announced a slew of ‘changes’ – many of which was in his election manifesto. He made a slew of visits to hot-spots such as Afganistan and Iraq. Repeated his oft-quoted remarks that ‘change must come to America’. Promised the Afghans and Iraqis that America is committed to justice for all, and an early withdrawal. And followed-up by bombing buildings and houses, killing sons, daughters, mothers, fathers and friends, along with ‘suspected terrorists’.

He followed up with his ‘change agenda’ by appointing Hillary Clinton, a staunch nemesis at one point and in his own words, an ‘old-school politician’ to the powerful position as Secretary of State. Consistent with his feel-good and big slogan style, he appointed more non-white Americans into his cabinet than any previous administration. But none of these are in what Americans would call the Big Four.

In one of his many contradictory statements, he wanted troops to be pulled out from Iraq and Afghanistan, but has waivered numerous times when pushed for a date. The fact that his proclaimations are made with little consultation with the professionals and with little respect for reason and research is obvious. It’s shooting off the hip for the sake of political expediency.

Whilst critizing Bush’s heavy military budget and wars in Afghnistan and Iraq, he also proclaimed that ‘to ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad, .. we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet’. And he won the Nobel Peace prize for that.

You want to change, President Obama? Let’s change to make sure the US government do not continue encouraging oppression of the homeless in Palestine and Afghanistan, stop suppressing the voice of the majority and listen to the voice of reason.

You want to change, President Obama? Let’s change to become leaders by example, to start dismantling your nuclear arsenal before you talk Pyongyang into doing the same. Stop your industries from polluting the world, sign the Kyoto protocol before you criticise others over their environmental records.

You want to change, President Obama? Pull your Pacific Fleet away from Asia, stop your strong-arm economics policy, stop bullying small countries into submission, vote to revamp the UN to make every vote counts, and live up to your promises!

Talk is cheap, Mr. President. Slogans and taglines are for ad agencies, not state leaders. You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. We hope that the Peace prize will at least motivate you to live up to it.

Making Friends and Influencing People

In today’s volatile, fast shifting market, we may do well taking a leave from the lessons ditched out by Dale Carnegie. 73 years ago, Carnegie wrote the book that remains in the reading list of many business schools today. In a world of management books, self-help guides and bestsellers, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ has undoubtedly achieved lasting reverence.

Even as we move towards greater automation as a profession, and increasingly adopting various metrics in every aspect of people management, the need for HR professionals to be emotionally connected is greater than ever.

Whilst the HR profession started off with the management of labour and unions, we have evolved into a complex profession with numerous specialisations. As complexity increases, and demand on our time and knowledge increases, sometimes our ability to connect with others decreases. Like it or otherwise, our focus has been moving away from staff welfare to HR strategies. As we align our goals and processes with those of the company, we tend to move away from those of the employees. This is not a study in right or wrong, but it certainly is important to remember that at the core of our profession are the talents that make up the company.

A renowned professor in HR used to tell me that if you get your systems right, HR as a practice is as duplicable as say, purchasing or finance. He is not alone. After all, isn’t all the current fad for HR measurements and KPIs is about dispassionately standardizing processes and breaking our job down into measurable components? In fact, the higher we move up the ladder and the more time we spend interacting with top management and shareholders, the less contact we have with front line employees and customers. The net effect is the dulling of our ability to make friends and influence people.

I’m afraid as a profession we are losing our moral rights and our raison d’être in our quest for better measurability and aligning our activities to the bottom line. So powerful is the call for measurability and so pervasive is the need for KPIs, that we are drifting towards the realm of accountants and investment analysts – where numbers rule supreme.

Many of us know deep down that people matters. But if we are to honestly measure the amount of time and effort we put as part of our day to day task to think for employees rather than the management, then we will come to a realisation: that the need to meet corporate objectives have taken over. What happened to our role as arbitrator between the employees (labour) and the management (owners)? Once upon a time, HR professionals were also union leaders! Unbelievable, right?

You have the power to effect change. To many, it’s moving backwards to non-measurability and management by gut feeling. But consider this: true HR professionals feel, not think. It’s time we let our hearts rule again.

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This is my editor's message for HR Asia Issue 4. Get a copy of Asia's most authoritative publication for HR professionals at your nearest bookstore or email chro@hrasiamedia.com.

The Economy Is Recovering, But What About People?

All signs are pointing towards a speedy recovery. Contrary to what this writer initially predicted, the economy seems to be genuinely recovering. Key companies, including many government-linked corporations, are reporting profits once again. Across Asia, key economies led by China and India are experiencing growth in Q2, Japan is experiencing output growth, and the worst is over in Europe and the US – the epicentres of the financial crisis.

Our own economy is seeing a lower contraction of 3.9% in Q2 as opposed to a 6.2% contraction in Q1. The Asian Development Bank is predicting a 0.2% contraction this year followed by a 4.4% growth in 2010.

The amazing amount of stimulus being pumped in by governments across the globe is seeing its effects. Consumers are buying again. Cars are being sold. And in Malaysia, property speculation and ‘investment’ is hot again. All the pent-up demands are slowly being unleashed into our economy.

U, V, W or L

Economists and politicians alike have been talking about various ways the economic recovery will take. Depending who you talk to, the alphabets U, V, W or L are being brandished as the shape in which the recovery will take. If you are an optimist, then a V of straight up recovery it will be, but if you are pessimist, then a W shaped recovery followed by another dip may be what we’re looking at.

The good news is, regardless of the shape, a recovery now seems a certainty. The bad news is, employment is still at an all time high. Official figures asides, graduates are finding it tough to get jobs, large employers have not started re-hiring and there’s only so many Bumiputra graduates the government can absorb. These, plus the mass retrenchment last year, and VSS offered by many GLCs, mean there are still hundreds of thousands of Malaysians out there who are without jobs. What does an ‘economic recovery’ means to these people?

We were screaming for a major overhaul of the system. For more stringent measures to be put in place to ensure transparency and accountability in both private and public sectors. For our manpower to move up the value chain and stop thinking and acting like unskilled workers. For our economy to be further liberalised and the distinction between Bumiputra and non-Bumiputra in business to be narrowed. I have not heard any objections to any of these goals. Yet, a year into the financial crisis, we are not seeing much real change happening in this country.

Speculators are still being allowed to play up the prices of property. People are still expecting hand-outs from the government. Major trade bodies are still asking for protectionism to be kept in place. And promises of major reform in the government have so far netted more strings of alphabets than real changes.

Capitalism at its finest

There was a major debate among economists and politicians, including at the World Economic Forum and at the G20 Summit that there must be a new economic model to replace the current capitalism for us to prevent another global economic meltdown.

Yet, we are seeing the very essence of capitalism – that the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. Even the economic stimulus packages tend to accentuate this. Massive bailouts are benefiting major shareholders and corporate movers and shakers, lower rung employees are being sacrificed as ‘excess headcount’ while top management and business owners are getting away with little more than their cars being downgraded. Politically connected construction companies that were seeing double digit growth before the crisis are seeing double digit growth once again. While small manufacturers that had to scale down are still being turned away by banks. Now, where’s the new economic model these ‘world leaders’ were talking about?

Teach them to fish!

If we continue to ignore the plight of the lower income group, and fail to develop a sustainable strategy to improve their livelihood, we are going to see an ‘Indonesia ‘97’ styled revolt soon. The current practice of handouts and skills training need to be overhauled, as the problem is not physical poverty, but mental poverty.

People will remain poor because they are not being taught how to move out from their comfort zone. We’ve been offered the proverbial crutches for so long, we can no longer stand on our own. With the recession over, barriers down and globalisation resuming, we are doomed as a nation.

Well connected companies will continue to make money, some segments of the society will continue to prosper, but for majority of Malaysians, where’s the recovery?

As Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said, “recovery will amount to nothing if the most important element of the economy: labour, is overlooked”. The economy may be recovering, but have we done enough for the people on the ground for all these to matter?

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This is my article for the Perspective section of SME Magazine September edition. If you haven't got your copy, head towards your nearest news stand now. :-)

Lead with Humility

The current global financial crisis has highlighted flaws in our economic model, financial system and management practices. One of them is our unquestioned adherence to management ‘best practices’ that are often created by academicians with little real business experience.

I remembered during my MBA classes, my professors will drill in us the value of management-by-objectives. Call it by any other name, it is about getting results and moving people to achieve the objectives that we have set as an organisation. But when I tried researching up the ‘father of modern management’, I find little evidence of Drucker having owned any substantial business. If you don’t consider business consulting and writing books a business, then he never owned any business, period. I am not questioning Drucker’s genius, mind you, for I am among his millions of fans and believers.

I can name you many management gurus and ‘thought leaders’ who have neither managed not put much of these ‘thoughts’ into real use. If you have to learn how to manage from someone, I suggest you do so from a real-life entrepreneur or CEO, who will tell you the one infallible truth about management – humility drives success.

I have met numerous exemplary business tycoons, who not only do not act like one, but constantly remind me to treat them like any business partner. They wear a constant smile, rarely raises their voice and do not flash their wealth. Almost without exception, they are close to their religion, spend quality time with their family and have adoring employees.

This week alone, I have picked up 3 cards of successful entrepreneurs, billionaires actually, who carry cards with no job title. No grandiose CEO or Chief Transformational Architect or Founder titles for them, just a simple Mr.

Top of my mind would be Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew. Not a business tycoon, per se, but certainly an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He’s forever serious, rarely smiles and has a reputation for being tough on subordinates. Yet having met him in person on several occasions, I can only remember his humility and the ease with which he relates to people around him. And no one would say the Minister Mentor do not manage by objectives.

I have also met numerous up and coming entrepreneurs. Most of whom are young, ambitious, and idealistic. And many are in a hurry and have no time for a journalist like me. Unless there’s some free publicity for them at the end of the conversation: management by objectives, remember? As some of these business people move up the wealth chart, the less approachable they become. And the longer their title and salutation become. It is funny what money and fame do to people.

A good example is an American tycoon with his own TV show. He’s brash, rude and simply obnoxious. Despite all his claims to fame and business successes, I’ve been waiting for a decade now for his name to appear in Fortune 500, or the Forbes Rich List. He’s skirted a couple of times in the lower end of Forbes’ list, but I will be really surprise that his company will ever make the Fortune list. And this is in the land of obnoxious people where money can buy you both fame and, yes, more money.

TOO BUSY TO BOTHER

As business people, we are constantly juggling multiple responsibilities. This means less time for things that matter, such as being nice to people around us. To compound the issue further, most of the people we meet on a daily basis may not have the same mindset and demand on time as we do. It is easy, therefore, to be mistaken as being aloof and arrogant.

It is important as such, to cultivate a habit of paying attention to people around us and the things that they have to say. We all know that listening is the best skill you will have as a leader and entrepreneur, but few of us put this to good use. As we age and our business grow, we need to constantly align our priorities to make the best use of our time and attention. But no mater how busy we have become, we need to remember to be humble.

Humility not only make us better leaders, but also make tremendous business sense. Suppliers give the best goods to good clients, customers prefer buying from nice people, and employees rather work for humble bosses. If that’s not management best practice, I don’t know what is.

Manage by objectives, but lead with humility.

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This is my monthly article in SME Magazine August 2009 - Perspective Section. If you haven't read a copy of SME Magazine, head over to your nearest bookstore for a copy!

And our children's future is bleak....

It comes as no surprise to me when Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the teaching of Science and Mathematics in Malaysia will revert to Bahasa Malaysia.

It's what happened when you let political expediency rules over common sense.

So that nobody will say I am one sided, here's the Ministry's argument:
1. Only a small number of teachers has mastered the teaching of Science and Maths in English
2. The percentage of passes for students for the two subjects have dropped since they are taught in English
3. The gap between the performance of those in the rural area and urban Malaysia has widened (i.e. rural students are being disadvantaged as they have poorer mastery of English)

I sympathise with these arguments as much as I sympathise with people who go around saying they can't make a living because they have never gone to school. Actually, that's precisely what many of our youngs will be saying in 10 years time when they can't get a job because they could hardly speak English. Or count to 100.

Some leaders, such as the estwhile Mahathir Mohamad has argued for the teaching of S+M in English to continue as the body of knowledge of these are mostly in English. I will not even go so far.

I have seen with my own eyes how thousands of great students, intelligent kids, are being denied employment because they cannot converse in English. And yes, many of these are rural Malaysians - Malays who believed learning English is an affront to the Malay language, and Chinese and Indians who believed that learning more English will erode their mother tongue.

There is a huge majority out there who believed the teaching of S+M should remain in English. These people are simply too afraid to touch on the raw nerves of the 'nationalists' to express their opinion. When the majority is silent, the minority and extremists rule.

I have been to many conferences including scientific symposia around the world - and in all of these, I have never met a single presenter from Thailand and Indonesia - because their mastery of the English language is so weak, few were brave enough to walk up the podium. And the Malaysians who do present are all, without fail, older academicians who were trained in English from a young age.

For a quick comparison, i typed the word 'genom manusia' in Google, and i get 25,100 responses - and most of them are in Bahasa Indonesia. I tried 'human genome' and I received 6,570,000 responses.

I let the numbers have the last say.

WHO'S SELLING OUT THE CHINESE?
I get equally exasperated when I found out that among those who influenced our dearest Minister of Education are Chinese educationists and Chinese associations. These are now hailed as heroes in the Chinese newspapers and radio talk shows. Their arguments are that by teaching more subjects in English, the importance of Chinese language will be dilluted, and hence the Chinese will loose their heritage and a big part of their culture. I don't disagree.

I am of Chinese descent, but I have never believed that the strength of the Chinese is our language. I am always of the opinion that it is the Chinese ability to adapt and to change with times that has enabled the Chinese civilization to survive for thousands of years, when others such as the Mayans are all but wiped out.

My parents still rue their decision to send my older siblings to Chinese schools. All of them failed to advance beyond Form 3, because they simply could not cope with the teaching of other subjects in English and Bahasa Malaysia when they reached secondary school. The fact that both my parents are illiterate did not help, as there can be no way they could help tutor my older brothers at home in English or Bahasa Malaysia - or on any subject for that matter. My 3rd brother, was luckier, he was sent to a Chinese independent school, where he excelled in all subjects but English and Bahasa Malaysia, and graduated with flying colours in his Senior Middle 3 Exams. Yet, he did not go to university, because we could not afford education in Taiwan, which with his poor mastery of English, was his only option at that time.

My younger sister and I were more fortunate. We were sent to national school where we learned both Bahasa Malaysia and English. In a decision that must have pained my parents, we were both sent to foster homes at the age of 6, so we could learn from people who did go to school, and could tutor and guide us academically.

By denying young Chinese of the ability to master the language of science and technology and of commerce and trade, these 'educationists' and Chinese politicians are doing no less than selling out on the Chinese.

Sneak Preview of SME Solutions Expo 2009

It was setup day today at the SME Solutions Expo 2009. Over 100 exhibitors, and hundreds of people came to setup their products and booths. Some of the booths were of good quality - certainly in the running for Best Booth Design.

Here's a sneak preview of some of the booths. There's hundreds of Special Deals and Discounts for SMEs exclusively at the Expo.

Come and see us!


The huge banner at the Atrium of Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. We had to literally fight with the hall owner (Mid Valley) to get this banner moved here from inside the Hall.


Cyberjaya's booth - one of the nicest booth in the Hall. Come and see for yourself.


Bank Negara Malaysia - find out about the latest financial programmes and grants offered to SMEs.


HSBC is offering discounts off trade products and refinancing of property loans to SMEs exclusively at the Expo. Come and talk to them.


The SME Magazine booth. Work-in-progress at the booth when we snapped this pix. 'Fight Back' SME Ad Package from RM 3,888 for 3-insertions exclusively for first time advertisers at SME Solutions Expo 2009. And get your subscription at the Expo. 1-year subscription to Malaysia's best selling business magazine for only RM 60 per annum and receive over RM 40 worth of instant gifts

Modern Slaves

The recent announcement by Minister of Human Resources, S. Subramaniam, that maids be given compulsory one day leave per week is long overdue. What is not said is that this is a standing ruling which has largely gone unenforced by the Ministry.

We have heard, read and to some, seen, so much injustice being done to foreign workers that we cannot be blamed to think that perhaps the government condone slavery in its modern form. True, the abused may be in the minority. And true, perhaps the media in countries like Indonesia may have blown the issue out of proportion. But what is also true is that these abuse do happen, and a lot more often than we will admit.

Maids being tortured, and physically and emotionally abused are only the tip of the iceberg. What has been reported occasionally, and happen every day, are foreign workers in factories and plantations working 16 hour days, salary (some as low as RM 300) illegally deducted for accommodation and food. And because of the illicit trade of these workers by unscrupulous agents in cohort with greedy business people, some are not even paid any salary for the first one year, purportedly to cover immigration and transportation costs to bring them to Malaysia. And so far, we are only talking about the legal workers.

The plight of illegal workers are even more heart wrenching. It's a long standing tale among the Indonesian workers community of how one renowned property developer has a worker killed because he was leading a group of abused workers to rise against their employer; and when this was reported to the authorities, we did what we usually do, arrest the complainants for illegal entry, put them in an illegal workers camp, convince them what they saw were not real and then deport them to their home country. Of course, this is hearsay and may be the work of over-imaginative minds, but are they really that hard to imagine? Now, who do we blame when some of these abused workers, many of whom borrowed heavily to come to Malaysia and thrown out of jobs, decide to turn to theft and robbery to put food into mouths?

Ask any foreign worker - legal or illegal, who they fear the most, and you inevitably get that four letter word - RELA. While the idea behind this quasi-police unit may be noble, what really happens on the ground may not. I've seen suspiciously non-Malaysian looking men donning the uniforms, which puts into question both the admission criteria and the discipline and self-regulation of this organisation. It has been widely perceived among foreign workers, justly or unjustly, that RELA condones its members to use unnecessary force and extort bribes for not arresting illegal workers. Of course, we pray these are just lies. But they are enough to instill hatred among even new foreign workers of Malaysians, uniformed or otherwise.

MORE THAN JUST A DAY OFF NEEDED
While a day off a week may be a good start, it is hardly enough. We don't need more laws and feel good press conferences, but the political will to cut off the rot, starting with quasi-police units that some political parties rely on to deliver the votes. Followed by local kingpins / politicians who make money from the misery of these foreign workers. Then go after the unscrupulous agents, many of whom are no better than pimps and human traffickers. More importantly, give one Ministry - preferably the Ministry of Human Resources, the full authority and responsibility to deal with every aspect of foreign worker employment - from immigration, health inspection to licensing and enforcement, to minimise abuse.

Now that we have a new Premier and a new Home Minister, it's about time we put things in order.

SME 2nd Anniversary Gala

I would like to thank all friends, supporters and government officials who joined us at Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur for our 2nd Anniversary Gala.

Your support has given the entire SME team the inspiration and stamina to continue working hard to delivering a magazine that represents you and your aspirations.

Thank you for sharing with us this beautiful two years and we hope to have you with us for years to come.

May god bless you.

And the Centre of the Universe Is In…..

When the first Europeans arrived in China in the 13th century, they were truly amused when told that they have arrived in the ‘Middle Kingdom’. After all, haven’t they reached as far East as they could possibly have?

The course of history as they run is clear to all of us. Geopolitical observer, Fareed Zakaria noted in his book ‘The Post American World’ that the three power shifts in the past 500 years are the rise of the Western world (15th – 18th century), the rise of the US (19th – 20th century) and the rise of the rest (21st century). Yet, lest those of us in Asia has this fake sense of coming grandeur, the heart of the world – political, economics, military and even cultural are still 10,000 km away in Washington DC. And despite what many would argue, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon – certainly not in our lifetime.

The GDP of the United States is still almost double of China – Asia’s largest economy and over three times that of Japan, Asia’s second largest. Even assuming the impossible – that China continue to grow at an average of 7% (the projected growth rate this year) while the United States’ economy remain stagnant, it will take a whole decade for China to be on par economically with the United States, and another 40 years for China’s GDP per capita to catch up with the United States. And in the meantime, the new Asian tigers – China and India (or Chindia – a term we Malaysians have long been using before Indian politician Jairam Ramesh usurp the term in 2005) would have to content with the rise of other Asian countries, Latin American economies and the emergence of stronger and hopefully more politically stable African nations. Not to mention the military might that is hard, if not impossible, to surpass (the United States and Europe collectively accounts for two third of the global expenditure on military hardware and personnel).

The shift of power to the East is unmistakeable, mind you, but just not as miraculous and effortless as many of us have been led to believe. The most challenging years remain ahead. China’s call for a new international financial system prior to the recent G20 meet in London fizzled out faster than the suggestion could even take root. The fact that it has almost all its reserves in US dollar probably served as a reality check.

Having said that, the markets and regulations are changing at a rate not seen since the industrial revolution. So much so, that I begin to comprehend how people living during the gold rush of the 19th century must have felt. Brought on by the internet, the retirement of the baby boomers, the emerging economic leadership of the Gen-X and ultimately, greed: the international financial markets are experiencing a flux like never seen before. Most people call it a global recession. To some, including this humble writer – it’s an overdue correction of a lopsided system designed to keep the centre of the universe exactly where the sole superpower want them to be.

We have been playing so hard in the field created by others that we fail to see that the goalpost and rules of game can be changed anytime, rendering what we know completely useless. Some preach the mastering of Western ideas, technologies and ways of doing business. What is truly needed is innovation leadership – the championship of ideas and thoughts that will allow us to redefine how the world operates. A new international financial system based with on an alternative to the dollar would be a nice start.

It would of course be good to be in the thick of actions, to be the centre of anything. For that to ever happen, we need more than just unbroken economic growth. Nothing short of a ‘United Asia’ or a complete dismantling of the current financial system would result in a real shift in power to Asia. Otherwise, all the gains are nothing more than proxies for the continued dominance of the West.

We live in interesting times indeed.

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This is an article appearing in SME Magazine June 2009. The writer is currently in Beijing, China in the official entourage of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

The HR Legacy

“The greatest legacy is that which benefits the widest number of people for the longest period without limit to value”.

Many of us are so caught up with daily work that we often fail to see the purpose of our very existence. We may argue that we are hired to do a job, to get things done – nothing more or less. For many of us, that works just fine, as that leaves us with room for our family and other things that are important to us.

Yet, for many of us who are HR leaders, the profession is no longer about getting things done. It is about leaving a lasting legacy. But again, that’s something that many of us would think wishfully, yet few would ever achieve. Those of us who are not in a position of organisational leadership may think that legacies are for CEOs; after all Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca are not HR directors. But you are far from right.

All of us, regardless of our place in the organisation and society have the ability to leave a lasting legacy. As HR professionals, we can create values so powerful that we will be remembered for generations. Leaders and legends come from all walks of life. But they have a few things in common: strong personal values, inextinguishable passion, and a burning desire to succeed. Key here is having strong personal values as opposed to merely supporting business values – to be able to define ourselves and our organisations instead of being defined by the rules that we sometimes inevitably help create.

ARE YOU UP TO IT?
However, many of the legends as we know them – people we read in business school textbook, people whose name adorn great halls and public buildings, have made sacrifices so great many of us would shudder to even consider. Many of these have shattered families, spouses who cannot live along with a seemingly selfish character, children who grew up never seeing their parent. Many of the greats lived a life misunderstood, hated even, and generally fighting to correct the perception. So how would you juggle this mismatch of public perception and reality?

Often, however, we can create our own legacy by just doing what we do, but a little differently, a little more passionately. That way, we leave behind a lasting history – be it in the systems that we create, the values that we instil, the culture that we build or simply, the leaders that we help mould.

When we set out to create HR Asia, for example, we know we are not just merely creating a magazine, but a mean to create a profession that is rich in leadership in thoughts and actions. Perhaps, that will be the legacy that we will leave behind.

Ultimately as HR professionals, all of us have a choice. To live a conventional life, or to leave behind a legacy. But if we live our daily life with the conscious effort to create a legacy in whatever we do, then we are already a step closer to creating one.

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This appeared in my note on the editor's page of the latest HR Asia. To get a copy, visit your nearest bookstore, or alternatively if you are a senior HR professional, email chro@hrasiamedia.com for free subscription.

Long Tail or Tall Tale?

There’s so much talks about the ‘long tail strategy’ of late that if you are like me, you would start wondering – does it work? Well, I tell you upfront that I am never a fan of ‘theories’. Theories are for academics, not entrepreneurs. And ‘The Long Tail’, to me, is nothing more than a theory.

A bit of backgrounder is in order here. Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine, made a huge splash with The Long Tail, which was first published by the magazine in 2004 and then as a book in 2006. In a nutshell, the long tail theory says that the abundance and ease of choice on the Internet has shifted sales potential from a small number of mainstream "hits" (at the front of the demand curve) toward a near-endless number of lesser-known choices at the tail (hence a ‘long’ tail).

Furthermore, because retail economics restrict stores to carrying only the best-selling products, items that are new in the market and have either lost their appeal or were never popular in the mainstream are pushed out - along with their sunk costs. But then come the Internet, with its infinite "shelf space", making every product discoverable and ready to be purchased. The book has become something of a holy document in the Internet community where companies ("from Amazon to iTunes," says Anderson on his website) want to find a way to sell old songs, movies, videos, ringtones, on-demand books and television shows from their infinite Web warehouses. Case studies flew up everywhere. Locally, we even have pseudo-experts claiming they are now experts on long tails and making all kinds of business consultations to companies.

The new ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’?
Personally, I thought it is a little bit of an oversell. Or rather, I thought the concept vastly overdramatized the effect of a small minority of "committed seekers" dedicated enough to something (comic books, copies of this magazine signed by me, etc...) to search for and purchase what the majority generally do not want. For the sake of democracy and capitalism, I sure like hell hope they are right.

However, when I looked around, in fact, it seemed that the rest of us were doing quite the opposite. The New York Times' Most Blogged, Most Emailed and Most Searched lists. Alexa’s ratings. Top TV Shows, Top Music, Top Movies on iTunes. Amazon.com's Sales Rank, and its Bestsellers list (updated hourly). Even my local DVD pirate has got a list of ‘must watch’ with him. The Internet appeared to be herding users more aggressively toward blockbusters, NOT away from them. So what long tail are we talking about?

Want some proof that the long tail is nothing more than long tale? There's a professor at Harvard Business School who has researched the long tail. Based on sales data for online video rentals and songs, Professor Anita Elberse verifies what I think: not only do hits continue to be just as important online as they are offline, but the Web is actually amplifying demands for hits.

Elberse also discusses what she and others view as an incorrect subjective assumption that Anderson made when building the long tail, which is the idea that people want to go their own way. They don't want to listen, watch or read what everyone else does, and would rather search along the Internet-superhighway for that piece of individuality. Who is he kidding? Elberse cites additional research showing how intensely social people really are: how we like sharing experiences with others and that the mere fact that others like something makes us like it even more. Just go to your Facebook account for a case study in experience sharing.

And Elberse and I are not alone. Neil Howe, who probably coined the term ‘Millennials’, draws a broad distinction between Gen X and this new influential group - the generation driving the most development and change on the Web. Among other things, while Boomers and Gen X "individuated," born-in-the-80s Millennials gravitate toward the social: chat rooms, instant messaging, Facebook. They enjoy being with each other, forming friendships and shared preferences. Rather than acting independently, Millennials who spend time customizing content on the Web do so for the purpose of sharing it with others (hence the YouTube phenomenon). The need to be accepted and conforming is never stronger than with the millennials.

Howe says it is and will be "the most connected generation in world history," and that their preferences will only solidify the popularity of mainstream, popular brands and products. Finally, Elberse and The Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes also believe that the Internet community unconsciously may have wanted to back the theory because it flattered its citizenry. Long tail strength would fortify the value of new digital assets created outside the walls of institutional, cultural power. And bloggers are cool, say the Long Tail worshippers, because the long tail promises an audience for just about any goofy comment out there.

This is all probably true, but it's a little too much of a bullshit for me to buy.

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Read more of the same by William Ng in this month's SME Magazine!

Sorry State of Our Media

Our news media have fallen into such a sorry state of late that I feel both ashamed and helpless as a journalist.

Of course, given the authoritarian media laws that we have, we can't be expected to be more vocal, least of all critical of the government of the day if we treasure our publication permit.

But many of my concerns are not even political. It's the conscious choice of some media to report on negative news and sensationalising sex, death and other people's misfortune with the goal of getting more readers, listeners or viewers.

The values that we learn as children: honesty, compassion and selflessness are rarely, if at all, portrayed in our media.

As a result of these sensational reporting, economics, community and world news are often relegated to back pages. And as they compete with 'juicier' gossips, entertainment and tales of incest and mayhem, few readers take note and they become sideshows when they should be what news are all about.

The result? Our society has become so backward that many of our teenagers could name all the finalists of the American Idol and none of our ministers. We are now more concerned about details of sexual crimes rather than the measures being put in place to mitigate the effects of the global recession.

Malaysians buy newspapers to find out if their 'numbers have won', watch TV to see who's being 'voted out' and tune in to radio to hear the latest pranks being played on unsuspecting victims.

We often joke about the ignorance of the American society in general, but we are not much better. Our society has become so caught up with 'living the good life' and 'enjoying ourselves' that few people tune in to the all-news channels that we now have.

As a society, the masses are now living on the hard work of a few. No thanks to our news media and reality shows.

To make things worse, our journalists and even editors are caught up in the internet age. Street language and internet lingo are now mainstream in some papers, radio / TV shows. Facts are getting checked a lot less. Bernama news (which is often inaccurate) is taken at face value and copied verbatim (read The Sun / Malaysian Reserve for lessons in 'copy journalism'). Reporters are assigned to cover news, fresh out of school (instead of being put under tutelage of a senior for a year, as was the past practice).

A self-proclaimed 'seasoned' reporter lamented recently that I don't understand what it's like to be working against deadlines, having to juggle between family and work, and still getting things out on time. Well, I have this to say - you made a choice.

CHANGE BEGINS NOW!
If you are a journalist / editor and is guilty of propagating a lifestyle of nonchalance, apathy and fame-seeking, change now. If you have been picking up copies of paper for their entertainment value, change now. For the sake our future, and that of our country and children, change now.

Switch now to more 'intelligent' media, and you will realize there's so much more in life and in the world than negative news and SMS votes.