Building People - Sunday Emails from a CEO

Liew Mun Leong (LML)'s successful transition from a civil servant to become a CEO of a profit-driven entity gives me some hope that I might be able to do the same some day! (Of course, there's a huge gap btw our abilities which I do hope can be narrowed with time.)

Many deep insights in the book, and it is surprisingly a very easy read. Some of the key takeaways....

1. LML's work philosopher is founded on the 3Ps - Paranoia, Perseverance and Perfectionism. It must be pretty stressful to live by these mantras ... but I can see how they can contribute to success
2. He pays great attention to details, despite being in a high position where he can afford not to. Somehow I see this trait being exhibited in many of the civil service's leadership as well.
   
3. He sees growing and building people as the fundamental foundation for his business. Methinks this is very true. Ideas, ventures, profit, are all output from living bodies.
4. Work-life balance seems to come easily to him. (I suspect he doesn't sleep very much.) What is interesting is what he calls his "3rd home" or "3rd wind" - the 3 hours in the morning where he runs, works out, takes a cold shower and have breakfast. The more stressful his job becomes, the more he runs. This is the period where he gets inspiration and solutions to the most challenging problems. Maybe I should try building this into my routine. The only problem now is that I can't run that much, hahaha.

Dabbling in Buddhism

Been some time since I read something spiritual. Maybe it was a thirst for something to touch my soul. Or maybe it was a craving for a distraction from the all-consuming dream-chasing pace that I was trying to keep up. (Or maybe I just felt I need answers.) But anyhow, I decided to abandon the book (of the you-know-what genre of "how to become a leader!") and proceeded to soak myself in this book - "How to see yourself as you really are" - by the Dalai Lama.

And I almost drowned myself. Hahaha. It was a great book - I think I came to a better understanding of the key thoughts behind Buddhism after finishing it. Still far from nirvana though. And there are all these frustrating koans and entangling quotes that don't make much sense to my unenlightened brain.

If I may expound the little new-found understanding, it would go something like this. Nothing inherently and independently exists, as everything owes its (or their?) existence to the existence(s) of other things. In the same way, I don't exist (at least not in the inherently and independently way I'm familiar with) except in dependence on everything else, much like the mirage exists as a result of the sun and the patch of water. The essence that awashes everything and imbues light so that I (and everything else around me) can have a semblence of existence is my mind. This is quite mind-boggling, and prolly quite all the more so because my understanding might be flawed! But methinks that this is the gel that holds contradictory statements such as "The mind is the Budhha. The Buddha is not the mind" together. (I might hv made that up.)

It's frustrating though, the gel seems to run through my hands like water whenever I try to grasp it. And I'm left with a senseless sentence construct.

There's a simple thought experiment. Simple to construct but absolutely irritating to solve. It is to find where and what is the "I" that exists. One can hardly find it. It just keeps slipping by you, running in circles. "I" is clearly not my body, since I can systematically remove everything except my mind and I can still pretty much identify myself. If "I" is my mind, then statements like "I have a sound mind" and "I have a brain" would make little sense. (Cos "I" would have to exist independently of my mind, much like me and my car when I say "I have a car".) The only way out is to conclude that "I" exist in dependence upon everything else - my brain and body included - like a mirage does.

Strangely, it makes me feel happier that I'm confused. (Maybe that's how it's really supposed to work. Haha.) This lends another meaning to being blissfully ignorant. Maybe periodical spiritual ponderings where one questions one's existence does help one to feel alive. This is one area in my life that I'm glad to leave in an amorphous and confused state. Until the next time I take a dive again.

Traits of leadership thought leaders

Just saw this off the web - traits of the top 100 leadership gurus

1. Preparation: academic and professional.
2. Character: values, ethics, beliefs, purpose, mission, integrity, walk the talk.
3. Principles: big message, point of view, tenets, main points.
4. Personality: charisma, style, originality, authenticity, one of a kind.
5. Performance: inspiring action, real-world performance, work ethic.
6. Experience: beyond local and regional, more national and international.
7. Expression: substance and style in writing, speaking, coaching, consulting, mentoring, training, or teaching.
8. Influence: difference, results, change, transformation.

The Secrets of CEOs - Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave

Took some time to finish reading this book, and I must say that this is one of the better leadership books that I've read in some time. There's a wealth of information within, much of which I've hardly digested in my first reading (despite spending so much time on it)! The special quality about this book is that it brought together findings obtained through interviews with more than 150 CEOs. This is (I'm pretty sure!) the closest that I can get to speaking with these CEOs at this point in my life.

Some of the key lessons I learnt:

1. Businesses are going global, and are in dire need of leaders who can cross the national boundaries and lead under any geographic or cultural settings. Developing this global outlook, coupled with a piercing understanding of how geopolitical and economic systems operate worldwide, will be key in leadership development. Of course, understanding China and India will be critical.
2. The next (it might already be here) battleground where businesses fight for success and survival will be on the field of talent, especially given the increasing demand for talent who can speak the many languages of globalisation. The CEO will have to be personally involved in talent "procurement" and the talent agenda. He should be familiar with the talented executives at least 3 levels below him - which may come up to more than 500 individuals. CEOs would need to develop strong HR capabilities within the business (which currently has been more of a hindrance, than help, to talent recruitment) while forming a strategic partnership with external talent search agency.
3. Various leadership styles were very nicely captured in the book. My personality quite possibly straddles across quite a number of these leadership styles. I have a feeling that my eventual style of leadership (if I'm ever lucky enough to express it!) will have a strong element of vision and probably charisma combined. However, after a couple of years working in the civil service, it is also true that I'm developing quite a bit of "paranoia, perfectionism and perserverance" in my style. (These three qualities give a little bit of a hint to the next book that I'm currently reading.) Perfectionism is quite unlike me though - this is sad, but I'm quite ok with doing things 80%!
4. The sectiion on preparing to lead must be one of the most useful parts of the book. One key message in this section is that I have to gain as broad an experience as possible in the fastest amount of time, if I were to succeed within my lifetime. I should also take up multi-disciplinary jobs that are challenging and make me learn, again, in the fastest amount of time. These jobs should span geographic boundaries. I should aim to fail once or twice majorly too. If not, it only shows that I have not been given tasks that are hard enough, or I never dared to try. AND. I should get a mentor. Where to find one though!
5. Finally, the book says quite a bit about the sacrifices that CEOs make. Many of it make me not even want to try this line of work! Haha. Losing your friends, divorce, not seeing yr kids grow up .... I mean, what's the point of leading and losing all that is impt to you! The way I'm seeing it is that it is possible (as some CEOs have done) to have work-life balance. With the cynical thought that some of these CEOs may have shifted the goal-posts aside, I do think that this is a reasonable assumption. In any case, many ppl who aren't CEOs nowadays are already slogging their lives away and making sacrifices at a fraction of the pay. Might as well aim high right?
    
   After all the rambling (not written in the most concise manner, I admit), I'd conclude to say that this is a book that I'll continue to refer to again and again for inspiration :)

To ask "why" five times

Just read this today - Paul Walsh from Diageo said that he liked to ask "why" five times. It's his way of penetrating deeper into issues and to find out what is the crux of it all. I really like the idea. Something to start doing from now on :) (But why?) Haha.

Muay Thai and My Time

My series of Muay Thai lessons is now drawing to an end. It feels like the end of a season - one that I artificially created for myself to make sense of the movement of time, or perhaps to give myself some sense of progression. It also feels a lot like walking from one room to the next, closing one door and opening a new one.

Progression - it is interesting that my life so far is defined in chunks. 

I had a really good time putting punches and throwing my shins into those sandbags for these few months. Can't say that I've become one real and mean boxing machine right now, but I think I now know how to look less amateurish if I ever get into a real brawl! (Also managed to persuade two friends to join me in my temporal hobby.)

So what does this chunk of my life mean to me?

A new beginning, a renewed zest, rediscovering myself, "throwing" myself into life. It's too complex an experience to be written down in a couple of lines. Or maybe it's but a transitory phase. A bridge to a new place. 

But have I arrived? I do not know. I wish I do.