Leadership I had to post & share this after reading something thought-provoking. Below are some excerpts:"I want to talk with you about leadership in the company. I am not only referring to leadership at CEO or business units levels. To me, anyone who makes things happen with people is a leader whether he is a supervisor, manager or CEO.""Successful political leadership or corporate leadership has one thing in common- passion and commitment to the mission of the organisation and the people they serve.""It dawned on me that besides all the necessary executive abilities which we must find in a leader, the first thing he must learn and accept is to have a 'sense of leadership' and a 'sense of responsibility' in assuming leadership appointment. He has to accept that to be a leader he has to be responsible to the mission, to the organisation, whether it is a department, a company or a country, and to the people he is trusted to lead. Whether it is bad times or good times or times when he feels that he has already achieved personal success, financial security or has accumulated wealth, moral judgment has to be made when a leader decides to walk away from his leadership and abandon his responsibility to pursue his personal goals or agenda. The higher the leadership position, the heavier the sense of leadership and responsibiliy he will have to bear on his shoulder. It has to be so, as it would affect the organisation and people much more when the leadership is higher in the hierarchy.""I am not too worried about losing a business deal to a competitor. I am much more worried about losing our talent to them. But this is what global competition is all about and we have to accept that challenge. They will take your 'lunch' by stealing your chefs and cooks away.""It would be an easy decision to say that one has done enough, has enough now and choose the easy soft option out or jump to greener pastures. There is nothing we can do if one adopts that attitude in life.""The burning question is, how we continue to find, retain and inspire people to go beyond just achieving personal financial security or success? How do we develop a sense of passion and commitment to the organisation so that our leaders do not abandon the mission with the first sign of success or lose the drive that had initially helped them achieve what they have.""Responsible leaders are those who not only have the required competency and passion for their organisation's mission, they must also continuously care for the organisation and its people over and above the normal scope of duties, and whether times are good or bad."After reading this, somehow I felt being irresponsible because I walked away from that organisation and commitment.On a side-note, maybe C.R. should read this article, though I doubt it will have any effect on that arrogant brat. New Computer After 9 years, I finally got myself a new computer when my old desktop crashed last Thurs. I last bought a computer (Pentium2) in 1999. When it crashed 3 years ago, I took over my bro's old Pentium4 when he bought a laptop. So I'm actually quite excited to have bought a new system.As much as I would like to be a Mac convert, due to budget constrain, I bought a Core2Duo 6750 4MB L2 Cache, 2GB RAM, 160GB at merely $660.PCs nowadays are so cheap. My Pentium2 costed $2500 in 1999. Happily Busy It's been quite a while since I keyed in an entry. Well, it is because I'm simply overwhelmed by the amount of work.It's been a long time (a couple of years, I think) I'm so bogged down by work. Nowadays, I wish that each day will have more than 24 hours. But, I would say that I'm happily busy. Lots of new things to learn, and lots of travelling.Within a 2 month period, I have been to Abu Dhabi, Oman, Beijing, Jinan & Shenzhen. Suddenly, my KrisFlyer account (registered in May 05 but with 0 miles) which is going to become dormant in May 08 got the crucial FIRST miles it needed to maintain its survival. So I got my KrisFlyer card almost 3 years after I registered for an account. Yay!There will be more travelling to come. Macau in April, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh in May and Shanghai in November. And I'm trying to see if I can get myself onto trips to Boston in June or Athens in November. I'm not looking forward to the Sri Lanka & Bangladesh trip though as I'm not quite confident about the safety of the domestic flights there. I read about reports of an airline (and it's one of my accounts) asking around 20 of their most able-bodied men to push-back the aircraft for take-off because they didn't have money to pay the ground handlers. 20 guys to push-back a Boeing 737? Even 20 guys on steroids will not be able to succeed. Of course, the aircraft didn't budge even an inch. But somehow the airline couldn't figure that out.I wonder if a certain Mr. Sim can activate me for ICT in May... Shiokness & Sadness Had lunch at T3 transit area watching aircraft rolling on the runway. Not on a holiday but on a working day. It's one of my childhood dreams come true. The feeling is incredibly shiok.On the other hand, Papa is hospitalized since Monday. (He had to wait 24 hours in the A&E before getting a bed in a ward. I think that hospital is just dog shit). He looks ok. But the whole incident made me realize he has aged alot in recent years. He was seldom sick and never admitted to hospital in my memory.The feeling is incredibly sad. Happy New Year It's a little late but I still want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!It's been an exciting start to year 2008 for me - wedding and new job.Coincidentally, Cornball and I started our new jobs on the same day - 7 Jan 2008. My first day of work went pretty smoothly, got my laptop, office access card, stationery, namecard by 1000H in the morning.There were a couple of familiar faces (ex-colleagues from my first job) over here and it was nice to be working with them again. A few of my bosses spoke to me on the first day as well. I'll be seconded to the "parent company" for ONE year of "commando training" starting next week. Using the exact analogies from one of my bosses: "the people there are all from Ivy League while I'm local NUS-NTU-Poly League", "you'll be like a S-league player joining the EPL." Then he concluded by saying "Normally, people survive the secondment. BUT in some exceptional cases, which I don't know why also, they don't. I hope to see you back here."Some other colleagues then told me that it's the usual statutory board style/politics over at the "parent company" and advised me to just concentrate on learning as much as possible.Very assuring indeed on my first day of work. But I'm looking forward to that challenge. It's been a long long time since I felt so energized and the good-to-have-stress about work.Ok, enough said. Back to doing some reading to prepare myself for this exciting new career. ACCIDENT VEH ON SH Does the above sounds familiar to you?To some drivers, it meant "Oh no, jam again!".To some drivers, it meant "Alright, got show to watch again!".Which type do you belong to? I belong to the first.How many times have you seen the statement on the large electronic boards of the expressway and then encountered a "MASSIVE JAM ON PIE, ECP, AYE"? And as if David Copperfield has done some magic, the MASSIVE JAM disappears once past the ACCIDENT VEH ON SH spot.Does Singaporeans drivers know that road shoulders are there so that accident/breakdown/emergency vehicles can park there in order not to affect the traffic flow? There is absolutely no need to slow down, or even jam brakes, to take a look at what is happening! Such an action causes unnecessary traffic jams and is particularly annoying during peak hours and late night. (I was stuck on the PIE from 2300-2345 two nights ago because of ACCIDENT VEH ON SH).To all those kaypoh drivers, please refrain from slowing down to "watch show". There are people behind rushing to work and back home to get a good rest.To all those kiasee drivers who think that the traffic police at the road shoulder handling the accident will penalize you for speeding, there is no need to slow down to 50kmh when the speed limit is 80/90kmh. Speed limit means you can drive at that speed but not exceed it. And please, the traffic police will be too busy handling the accident instead of catching you! I just tendered my resignation. I'm glad I will be back in aviation industry soon.Lovely wife, new house, dream new job.What a way to start year 2008. I'm in the midst of a course right now, in a conference room with only the trainer speaking.But I feel like screaming "YES YES YES YESS!!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of my lungs right now!!! Got job, no work. I've got a job, but I've got no work.Sounds attractive to you? Trust me, it is not.Coming in everyday and trying to surf internet till the evening is no joke.I feel useless and restless. I feel ashamed to collect the paycheck every month.This is not what I'm looking for.Is it really that hard to find a good job with satisfying work?I'm searching hard for one. Hopefully and possibly, it wouldn't take long ;) Absolutely pissed No words can describe how pissed I am now.Recently, I discovered accidentally through a colleague that the current post I'm doing is not the advertised post I applied for. And I just confirmed that discovery today from the horse's mouth (Manager A) through another colleague.I applied for a consultant role with me possessing all the experience and qualifications listed. Apparently, at the first interview, Manager A found me too "young-looking" to be a consultant. What do you call that? Youthful-looks discrimination? So Manager A then referred me to Manager B who is looking for an engineer. When the HR called me for a second interview, I was informed that I will be meeting a "Senior Manager" with no mention of the change in job title and scope. In the 2nd interview, there was no mention by Manager B as well. Though the offer letter did state the word "Engineer", I brushed it off without clarification thinking that since they are an engineering firm, they need to tie a formal and relevant term to my job grade.I feel like a dumbass working here for 2 months before I realise this. No wonder all this while, I feel that what I'm doing doesn't match the job scope advertised. Shouldn't the managers and HR have the basic courtesy and respect to inform me that I'm being referred to another department and role???I feel like giving my managers and the HR a solid-crunching-sliding-scissors tackle, metal studs up, with my left foot on their shins, right foot behind their knee caps, so that I will shatter their patella, fibula, tibia and tear their anterior cruciate ligaments. Rich Mexican I read this article in a newspaper Q&A column."I have inherited $15 million, and the money is currently deposited in a British bank. I am the beneficiary of funds from a deceased friend, who was from Mexico. If I transfer the money from Britain to Singapore, am I subject to an estate duty or a tax that is payable?"I'm amazed by the amount.Ladies and gentlemen, remember to be friendly the next time you see a Mexican. 张震岳 - 路口 一个人走 无聊的路口我还在做梦 以为你会喜欢我我的希望落空 而香烟不离手抽到我心很痛两个人走 我恨这路口你说不爱我 放我在夜裡难过连再见也不说 而眼泪没停过哭到我鼻涕流爱情就是黑洞 扭曲我所有我想要爱你却迷失了我自己真的分不出来 给的是不是真爱游戏 我玩不起来我不想走 去你妈的路口破碎的痴梦 丢到马桶让水流本人依然没救 而香烟没停过抽到我心很痛深陷沼泥之中 没有人救我手机上都是你曾经留的讯息你眼神的不耐 有如利刃飞过来瞬间 我终於明白一个人走 无聊的路口我还在做梦 以为你会喜欢我我的希望落空 而香烟不离手抽到我心很痛哭到我鼻涕流不在为你心痛 Yawn Despite that I dislike many aspects of my previous job, I must confess that I miss 2 aspects of it.1. The adrenaline rush I get from air traffic controlling. From the feel-good feeling of perfect splits and sequencing to the jaw-dropping near-misses, I miss them all. I had so much pleasure as well as heartbreaks from those moments. It's just like the first ride on a rollercoaster, where you would'nt know when it is going up or plunging down.2. The banter between colleagues. People at the new place likes to hide in their cubicles. Other than talking about work, there isn't other conversations going around.There's nothing much to do and I'm getting bored already. Hopefully it's temporary. Yawn. Is the traffic police doing enough? After few months of job hunting and many interviews (including one with my dream company), I finally took up a job offer. Next Monday will be the start of my new career. I have moved from being an operator of a system to being a creator of a new system. Quite interesting actually, it isn't often that such a big scale real-time IT system is being replaced, not to mention that I'll be involved building the new stuff from scratch.Today, I was driving along an expressway's right lane during the evening rush hour when a ambulance came up behind me with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Of course, I signalled left and tried to cut into the middle lane. The car in front of me did the same. However, this particular obnoxious looking guy driving a Saab in the middle lane refused to give way and even gestured furiously at the car in front of me. What was he thinking???? Doesn't he know that a patient might be in urgent need of medical care?? Seconds can determine life and death. I wonder how he will feel if he is lying in the ambulance after suffering an heart attack and other cars are not giving way to the ambulance. Dead probably.I think the traffic police should spend their efforts in dealing with reckless drivers who cut lanes dangerously and inconsiderate drivers who refuse to give way to ambulances. I think that will be better than spending time on overhead bridges trying to catch speeding cars, isn't it? Unlucky 3 hours I had a black 3 hours between 1700H-2000H today.In the 3 hours, the following happened:I was driving around when suddenly my car experienced a loss of power. No power even on 1st gear. Throttle was minimum and the ride was extremely jerky. Next, warning light came on. I managed to drive the car to my workshop in Ubi. Along the way, I only managed a max speed of 50kmh and moving off from red lights is a real test of my control of the clutch. My mechanic told me that one of the ignition coils needs to be changed. My car has a system of 4 individual ignition coil which costs $155 a piece. He warned me that the remaining 3 may go anytime too, commenting that it is quite amazing I got a 90000km mileage out of them. I paid for the 1 piece and drove off.Within 10 mins, I'm back at the workshop. The same thing happened again. This time another 2 gone. I paid another 2 x $155 and drove off.After 5 mins, I'm back. The last ignition coil needs to be changed.So all my 4 ignition coils went dead within 30mins. My mechanic says I'm lucky and should buy 4D.Other than my car, my bluetooth handsfree set went dead as well.And to rub salt into wound, while walking around in MS, somehow my right contact lens folded into half in my eye. After spending 5mins to find it in my eye, I had to throw it away in the end. I just changed my lens 2 days ago..... 荡秋千 来回终究要停在原点。Very meaningful lyrics. That's the beauty of chinese words. So much meaning in just a one-liner:remember your roots, remember how you started off, no matter how far you go, there will be one day when you will be back at your starting point with nothing, treasure everything you have before they are gone. Round 2 I went for Round 2 interview this morning.After the interview, I was asked if I'm free to stay back for an hour to shadow one of the global customer support staff to get a feel of how they operate. That is the department which I am suppose to start my training and learn my trade if I eventually do get hired.I've got a good feeling. Hopefully the final round 3 will come soon. Demeritocracy During the interview at the company I mentioned in my earlier post, the manager made a statement while explaining the company culture."In here, we believe in meritocracy, just like anywhere in Singapore."That statement has triggered off some thoughts in my mind.For the past 9 years, I believe I've been working in an organization which believes in demeritocracy.Meritocracy: A system in which advancement is based on most number of merits accumulated.Demeritocracy: A system in which advancement is based on least number of demerits accumulated. Let me explain my definitions.Normally, an individual is promoted based on the achievements he made. If he doesn't achieve anything, then he won't have any advancement. It doesn't matter how many years he has been in the company. For example, a sales executive who regularly exceed his sales quota will have the chance to become a sales manager. On the contary, if one just barely hit his sales quota for a continuous few months, he might be sacked because others exceed theirs and are thus better. This is meritocracy.Abnormally, in my current job, an individual's promotion is based on the least number of mistakes he made. If he doesn't make any errors in his time there, then he will get his promotion eventually when the time is up. If he makes a mistake, then he does not get any advancement for a certain period of time, depending on the severity. Get a straight red card, you sit out for 3 matches. Double yellow cards, 2 matches. 5 separate yellow cards, 1 match. Sometimes, he even gets his salary cut. It causes some people to concentrate on not making mistakes, instead of focusing on how to do a job well. Over a long period of time, some people gets satisfied not making any mistakes even though they didn't do their job well. Even though they didn't do their job well, they still get promoted because they didn't make any errors. In my opinion, these people should get booted out because they make the place stale and smelly. But in reality, they don't. They stay, collect their pay check every month and wait for their time-due promotion. This is demeritocracy.I say, give these people the sack. Knowing they might get the boot anytime may just make them pull up their socks. Group Interview I went for an interview this afternoon at a company whose founder is the mayor of a certain US city. I was impressed with the working environment the moment I stepped out of the lift. Vibrant colours and an open concept with no cubicles. Nice decorative fish tanks and a pantry to rival 7-11. The most decorative piece I ever seen in the current office was the mini Winnie-the-Pooh someone placed at the console screen. And to me, pantry meant tin cans of biscuit and piles of paper cups with no tea/coffee/milo to be found.Anyway this 1st round of interview takes a very interesting form. It was a group interview. There were 16 candidates ushered into a conference room with a mini stage/platform. On the stage, there were 5 chairs. Our security passes were colour-coded with our names and instant photo printed on them. We sat down and were given tiny slips of papers each.On mine, it wrote "Do you think the COE system should be replaced?"Others got questions on issues such as the casino, property boom and GST hike.The manager then came in to talk about the company culture and expectations of candidates. Thereafter, we were told to go up the stage, in groups of our colour-coded passes to do a self -intro and then express views on the questions we were given. Not surprisingly, all in a group got the same question.The first group sat down on stage and nobody wants to start. Then this guy on the rightmost seat volunteered. Then came a hilarous moment. Shortly after he started telling us his name (sitting down)....First Guy (addressing the interviewers): "Errr.... Should I stand up?"The manager looked stunned for a while before replying: "Ok ok, stand up."Oh man, what was First Guy thinking to make such a first impression.Then there were these 2 irritating guys who were out to shine and expose other candidates' flaws. There was this Vietnamese lady who was speaking about the casino issue.Irritating Guy A: "Can I counter her argument?"The Manager: "Sure, but bear in mind if you do that to her, later she may rebuke you too."Throughout the interview, Irritating Guy A and Guy B were rebuking fellow candidates with stinging comments and pointing out incorrect facts in their statements. They didn't do that to me though. But there is certainly no need to put other people down in front of the interviewer. And at times, it seemed that these 2 were the recruiters while the interviewers kept quiet. I certainly hope these 2 won't get through to the next round. Mixed Feelings I spent my last day in the office today. Will be going on leave from tomorrow till end of July.As much as I have been looking forward to this day, I still feel a tinge of sadness today. I will miss air traffic controlling. It was not easy deciding to stop doing something you like. And of course I will miss the camaraderie in the office. I feel that I will not be able to find such a spirit outside my current work environment. There were times when work got sucky, and there were times when we couldn't agree on how to clean up the shit after it hit the fan, but when it comes to the crunch, everybody just bite their teeth, put their heads and then hands together to get things done. I will miss most of the people. After all, most of them are friends whom I have known since I was 19.Right now, I'm just going to enjoy my break and the feeling of waking up in the morning not knowing what to do for the day. Of course, there is the excitement of the job hunting process. I'm looking forward to learning and trying my hands at something different. Ring Ring Nowadays when the phone rings with an unknown or private number on the display, my heart beats faster.Because it can mean 2 things:a) some agent or bank calling up for some insurance, credit card, banking products.b) interview......I just had a phone interview earlier in the evening. It was for an application I sent out 3 weeks ago, which I thought I had no chance already. Luckily, I still remember some stuff about the company as it was one which I was interested in. Nothing to do with my current job and what I studied in university.Hopefully, I did enough to make it to the 2nd and 3rd round on next Fri & Sat respectively.I'm so excited... Choked by an apple I just came back from the interview with the BIG company I mentioned. I thought I had prepared myself better after I had my interview with the other company last week.I was wrong.In the midst of the interview, I was asked 2 questions, 1 on software and 1 on hardware.Interviewer: "Let's see how much you can remember."For software, I had to write a piece of code (yes, on the spot) using a programming language of my choice to count the number of a certain word in a text file. Programming was seldom a problem to me but the last time I wrote a piece of code was in 2003. I managed to scribble out an algorithm using all the Java syntax I could remember.For hardware, I had to draw a diagram to describe the hardware architecture of a certain MP3 player. I almost fainted. I felt that I was choked by an apple. Hardware architecture had always been one of my weaker field. But still, I tried my best to remember what I learnt in school.After 10mins the interviewer came back.For the software question, I explained to him honestly I can't remember all my Java syntax and that I will explain to him my algorithm.Interviewer: "Not bad. The algorithm is correct. Just the syntax."Then he looked hard at my drawing of a MP3 player's hardware architecture. Then he raised 2 doubts about it. I managed to rectify one. But wasn't sure about the other.Interviewer: "OK... Borderline case.. Maybe not even borderline."It will take a miracle to bring me to the next round now. I'm PC.... err.. or Mac? This is creativity. The kind of environment that I believe I will thrive in.http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/I love the ones on Security, Sabotage and Better Results. Interview After sending out almost 20 resumes, I finally went for my 1st (in my life) job interview yesterday afternoon. I am quite excited by this opportunity as it is a big company.Prior to that, the preparation for it was quite nerve-wrecking. What to wear, what questions to expect, how to answer, blah blah blah. When I arrived at the company's reception, I got nervous. The need to fill in a 2-page form with many particulars didn't help, it sent my heartbeat to go faster. After that, the 5 mins wait for the interviewer to appear seemed like 5 hours.When he appeared, I tried my best to calm my nerves. During the interview, I got some questions I expected. Then there were the few difficult questions. I think I did ok but not outstanding.After the interview, I thought I will be relieved. Instead, it was the opposite. There were many thoughts of "could I have answered better?", "did I do anything wrong?", "what will the interviewer think of me?", etc etc. Anyway now that round 1 is over, I will be waiting eagerly to see if I get invited to round 2.While I was still suffering from post-1st-interview shock, I got a call yesterday evening.It was from another big company. BIGGER than the 1st I think. One of the BIG 3 which I would pay a joining fee to get in if I could.That interview will be next week. Hopefully this time I will be outstanding in it. Say No to Piracy? Today, Dearie and me finally had the chance to catch a movie (original, at the theatre) I wanted to watch since a month ago.Great acting, thrilling plot, the show reached its climax after almost 1hr 45mins....Then.....The actors sounded like Mickey and Goofy. The images started to stutter. White lines appeared on the screen. Poof! The screen went blank.After 5 mins of commotion, the manager came in to apologize stating that the projector is spoilt beyond repair. We were refunded the ticket price and given a pair of complimentary pass.But still, I feel irritated and frustrated. I'm someone who hates to leave something uncompleted. It's time to get hold of the movie's DVD.Say No to Piracy? d$/dt = e^t I realized I haven't blogged for almost 3 months. Been rather busy with playing football, resume typing, house hunting and wedding preparations.The expenses involved in getting married is quite a nightmare.The rate that I'm spending $ can be stated by d$/dt = e^tBut it's definitely worth that rate!