Memories of a Traveler

Salaam and Greetings All,   I forward this message from my brother in law. He owns and runs Noripharma. Sad to say, he has been targeted for a smear campaign tactic. Not sure who does it. And why.   But, I feel sad this actually happens.   Yes, there are a small fraction of people who are so fixated in wanting to look good, by making others look bad. However, this small group of people, can do a lot of damage.   If you guys can keep a look out on this, I do appreciate it.     From:  Reza Ismail Sent:  ‎Friday‎, ‎22‎ ‎August‎, ‎2014 ‎06‎:‎22   Guys, There was a product complaint on one of my products (UTIX). I need your help to generate positive comments in favour of Noripharma and the product in question. If you read the article accessible via the attached link you will notice that no formal complaint has been made through any of the many formal channels available. This leads me to believe that the previous contract holder with the product U-...

Salaam and Greetings All,   We are already two weeks into the Hari Raya Aidil Fitri celebration. One would think, the excitement has dwindled. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong. The traffic over the weekend was really bad. And the “Open Houses” was probably the cause of people travelling to go to these open houses. CHeckingmy Twitter account for traffic updates tells me, there are still pockets of traffic congestion here and there. I am truly sorry if you are caught in it, when you read this email in the morning.   Personally, the term “Open Houses” in itself is an oxymoron. You have to be invited to go. So, what does the “open” actually mean?   As for Bad Leadership. I have always have problems with it. I ended explaining it in paragraphs, when one word would do, OXYMORON.   To think I studied literature, and read Shakespeare, I would be familiar with that term. Unfortunately, the Law of Diminishing Effect, or “Half Life” does affect knowledge and memory. Especially...

Salaam and Greetings All, Hope this message gets to you well. Covey believes, the speed of the business is in tandem with the speed of trust is developed. My previous article talks about Walking the Talk, or better yet, just Walk the Walk. I truly believe, Walk the Walk, or Walk the Walk is a major step towars building trust. A friend highlighted that if we walk too much, our employees tend to be too dependent on us. I agree with him. Especially if we are talking about walking to help them do their jobs. Or worse, actually do their jobs. I am not talking about this. I am talking about providing support. Being there for them. Giving a word or two, to motivate them. To inspire them. To guide them back if they have gone astray. To set an example for them to emulate, like punctuality, honesty, transparency, integrity, well groomed, clean, "do as I do", you get the idea. I am sure you have experienced the type of bosses who reprimands you for being late. Yet, she comes in late pra...

Salaam and Greetings All,   Hope this message gets to you well. Selamat Hari Raya. Maaf Zahir dan Batin. It was a good Raya for me. Not to hectic. Enough to keep things going and interesting. Interesting because managed to visit and have a lively chat with a few of my late in-laws' friends. Retired Army officers. Retired Police officers. Retired civil servants. Retired corporate senior management. Somehow in the course of our conversation, we ended up talking about the state of leadership, especially in organizations. Maybe due my profession in Leadership Development that the conversations invariably ended there.  Of the half a dozen or so I talked to, they all had something in common. Leaders of today are not the same as the leaders of yester-years. Leaders of today, yes, they are more eloquent, and they know a lot more than their  predecessors . Yet, one thing these retired people agreed upon, the leaders of yester-years speak from the heart, and they walk the talk. ...