India 2.0
I’ve been to India once in my life so far and it was in Feb 2010 with a few of my colleagues for work. After visiting the country and seeing first hand for myself what Mumbai was about (in my short few days), I felt that there was so much the country had to offer. The land is huge, the people are plenty, resources are abundant and did it ever occurred to you that India is the most populous democracy in our world currently?
To me India is like a battery, stored energy… sooner or later It will become one of the superpowers and i’m sure i’ll get to see it in my lifetime. But now, it still has its challenges, its still considered an emerging economy, a developing country.
Our company recently launched SparkTheRise.com. Its a platform to drive positive change in India. Its like Kickstarter, but for a country. Imagine the possibilities, imagine what can be achieved. Backed by one of India’s largest conglomerates Mahindra and Mahindra, there is funding on the table for good ideas. And its great to see an influx of interests by the general public.
Within a week, 1960 projects have been submitted to the site and this is only the first week. I really hope this initiative will start the momentum for greater things to happen in India. Its possible, very possible. All it needs is a spark.
NDP 2011
We balloted for the NDP tickets like every other year and this year we got it! We basically punched in ALL the available NRICs into the NDP website from our household and opted for 4 tickets each. I did not know the odds, but yay! we got them. Green Zone! Which meant we would have the city skyline as the backdrop for any photos we take.
The ushers did a fantastic job. They calmly guided people to their seats systematically. You could see from their perspiration and volume of their instructions that they must be super tired. They still did it with a smile. Kudos to them.
The motivators at the venue were all very enthusiastic, they tried their very best to do all the dance moves and encouraged the audience, but the chilled out crowd was not really in the party mood just yet.
Out came the emcees and they got us on our feet. We waved our flags, shouted MAHJULAH! did the wave and shouted lots. Instagram version of this photo here.
As with tradition, the parade displayed our country’s military might. All services were showcased. Army, Navy, Airforce, Civil Defense, etc.
Then came the marching contingents. They moved in quickly and when the country leaders arrived, we all sang the National Anthem with the flag fly pass like every other year.
This year’s performance was like a huge musical with In A Heartbeat as the theme. As far as musicals go, I do feel that it was nicely arranged. The musical score and different renditions worked well with the overall storyline. Kinda emo in the end where the mom died. However there were also cringing moments in the performance that seemed like a hard sell effort to relate to the general commuting public. No matter what people say, I still think overall it was a good musical and it brought out the essence of the theme song.
After the pledge moment at 8:11pm where the whole nation recited the pledge, the fireworks started.
BOOMZ! BOOMZ! BOOMZ!
The best pop song that they played that night to me was LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem. Hearing it really makes me wanna PaRtY!
Kids were tired and hungry, so we went to Marina for dinner and talked about how the parade was put together using the booklet that was given out. We explained to the kids who the different people were and their roles in the parade.
My daughter Clié then out of the blue said “daddy, can I not do PSLE and just go to Secondary School?” I was like huh… Apparently the mammoth task of putting the parade together was to her like the mammoth task of doing well in School.
Anyway… we wish Singapore a very Happy Birthday and hope to come to the Parade again with our baby Clara next year.
Doing the Do
The Executive
Earlier in my career, I did what it took to get things done. I passionately executed my tasks, fought for my colleagues with conviction, even crossed boundaries of job scope and also sacrificially threw in the neccasary hours in the expense of my own family time. What I did was not classified as work, I think of it as a campaign, a battle at hand, a victory to be claimed, it will take what it takes.
Constantly worrying about missing milestones, worrying about upsetting clients, worrying about not meeting my bosses expectations, but that should never hold anyone back.
Looking back, I thank God for the situations i’ve been placed in, the experiences i’ve gain, the true friends i’ve made and the fun that i’ve had.
If you feel that you are in the trenches, rejoice. If you feel what you are doing is more than what you can handle, hang in there. That’s how being streched feels like, thats how growth feels like, thats how winning a battle feels like. I’m sure VICTORY is in the horizon, as sure as the sun will rise from the east tomorrow.
The Manager
Then I became a manager. No longer do I need to do everything, but I had to make sure my fellow comrades are equipped and are doing what they are supposed to do. I had to make sure as a team we are doing things correctly. If they fail, I fail, if they succeed, we succeed.
The scope is bigger. I used to be responsible for a handful of projects, being a manager means a few handful of projects. The battles are still similar, there are loads to do, hours are still long and problems are becoming more complex.
I thank God for good bosses and great peers that make the tough battles seem less daunting. They highlight to me my blind spots and are mature enough to tell me how I should change the way I do certain things knowing that I will take them in as constructive criticism.
Management
Then I got into senior management and had the opportunity to chart the company’s direction.
Individual projects are now managed by managers and worrying if they did their job was a small issue. The larger task at hand is to see how can they do things even simpler and achieve more. How can they be better equipped. How the down stream and the up stream and its dynamics shape the culture and morale of the organisation.
The scope is as big as I want them to be. I used to be responsible for my job, being in management means being responsible for the jobs of everyone in the organisation. How can they progress, how can they be happy, how can they do better, how can they smile and make the company a place where people don’t drag their feet to work. How can we draw better talents, how can we retain good talents. How can we make everyones job more than a job.
Looking Back
From executive to manager to management is not a long linear process. It does not take 10 years. It does not take 50 projects. It does not take 5 jobs.
All it takes is a mindset.
All it takes is an open, willing, teachable, positive and driven mind.