Memories of a Traveler

Salaam and Greetings, Even though I have done 20years plus of Learning & Development, I still make mistakes like a rookie. I listen to the wrong people, even though I know they are wrong. I can accept differences of opinion. But, wrong is wrong. And I am mature enough to acknowledge someone is right, even though I may not like that person. Right is right. Isn’t it? Classic example is, as a professional L&D person, I am always being asked to develop programs to solve performance problems. Problems range from absenteeism, tardiness, not performing to standards etc. Nothing wrong with that. The challenge is that, too many managers and supervisors believe attending a course is the panacea for all their ills and problems. And worse is, before I could open my mouth, the manager would say, something like “I know what is wrong with them, and I know what kind of program they need”. And my mistake is, I keep my mouth shut, and let things go their way. And, affect my credibility and ...

Over the weekend, I was asked by niece to speak to her office mates on the importance of learning and developing. They had a team building weekend, and wanted me to set the tone. It was a weekend, and she is my niece, whom we sort of shared birthdays. What kind of an uncle would I be, if I declined? Some of her office mates somehow believe, learning and developing can only happen if it is in a formal classroom, with proper books, lessons, teaching aids etc. I told them about an experience I had recently, of seeing a lady reading a book outside an LRT station. As it is still dark, she was using the light from her mobile phone to read. I admire that lady’s tenacity to wanting to read. I told the group, that even though I consider myself an avid reader, I would wait for the sun to read. Shame on me. I have met many people who still believe, learning can only be done in a classroom. And on the opposite extreme, I too have met equal number of people who believe, learning is best thro...

Salaam and Greetings, Some years ago, I was working in Singapore as Customer Service / Service Excellence Trainer and Consultant. It was an eye opener for me. The approach was, “the customer is never always right”. Yes, it is important for us to listen to our customers (hence, the reason God, in His Omniscient, gave us two ears and one mouth). Yet, there are many instances, customers demands are very unreasonable. That is when the service provider can say, No. It took me awhile to understand that concept. Reading this article reminded me of seeing a lot of businesses, and some of them belonging to friends, trying to please everybody. I believe, that in their fear of losing customers, they go out of their way to please as many as possible. At first glance, it looks great. But, by doing that, we are merely deluding ourselves. ********************* Pleasing A motto for those doing work that matters: "We can't please everyone, in fact, we're not even going to try....

Salaam and Greetings, An excellent article to wake us up. It is still early in the year. Many more months to get things done. Whether personal or professional, we tend to be “reasonable”. Well, at least for me. Even though, in my heart, I have grandeur plans for big things, big change, being somebody larger than life. Unfortunately, to be all that, I need to be unreasonable. But more often than not, my mind takes control and I become reasonable. When I was in the Army (a life time away), I was offered to enroll in a sniper training. I declined, because the reasonable me said, “since I wear spectacles, I might be handicap”, among other ‘reasonable’ things I reasoned myself, even though with basic shooting training I was with 90% accuracy (FYI, the person who asked me to go for the sniper training is also reading this article. He was sniper trained. It saddens me, I turned him down for an excellent opportunity). I was also offered to take paratrooper static parachute jump. I ‘reaso...