applied know how
When you are new to a company, it’s tough to get noticed. I have a few ex-colleagues who are joining new companies and here’s my suggestions for them to try.
When you’re new there’s a fine line between calling positive attention to yourself at work and seeming like a braggart and earning the emnity of your new colleagues. In the business world, you need to learn how to walk this line or risk limiting your chances of success.
Although my first job was as a Sales Representative and my second job was as a Sales and Product Manager, I didn’t really get interested in how to enhance fundamental Sales performance until I became a General Manager. Before that I was too busy doing thngs to think about how to improve what I was doing.
At that time I had the privilege to work with Guinness Overseas Ltd, a company now part of Diageo.… Read more
I’ve failed a lot in my career, and I wont bore you with a laundry list, safe to say the failures weren’t career threatening, just embarrassing.
I did learn though. The painful touch of failure made the lesson all the more memorable.
Taking stock, achieving the meaningful results in large projects the first time around is rare. I’ve certainly found that the best lessons are learned when things don’t happen the way you want them to and you find out what doesn’t work as planned.… Read more
In the last weeks I had a series of long chats with a dear friend, who’s an astoundingly successful businessman and who observed that many people he knew, who were quite capable of sustained success in business, failed to take advantage of opportunities they came upon.
He said they had a fear of success.
This statement took me aback.
I was quite clear on a fear of failure, kiasu 驚輸, we know that very well in Singapore business.… Read more
In my business career I’ve dealt with five business recessions (1987, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007-9) and a similar number of booms but what i’ve learnt is business is they were never predictable.
Next year… Up? Down? Growing? Stagnating? … who knows, so how can you generate predictable success?
How then, as a business leader can you set attainable, realistic goals in an up/down, who-knows-what’s-next market–without demoralising your team by setting them up for failure through unreachable targets?… Read more