Death by KISS

OK, I don't know what's wrong with my middle management team but sometimes I swear that they like to make the simplest thing 1,000 times more complicated that it needed to be...

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!

I personally think it’s a mark of poor leadership skills and lack of competency when a manager needs to “make things more complicated” before proposing a solution to solve the issues… why, oh why do you need to make things worse before solving them?

Maybe it’s a “manager complex” thingy that’s going on here… some people feel the need to paint the most hopeless picture to their bosses before they come in and save the day with a simple solution… but heck, who the hell are these people kidding?

The one who has to do all the heavy lifting is their subordinates… this kind of leadership behaviour is very corrosive in the workplace. Essentially, the manager will be wasting the subordinate’s time and productivity on a wild goose-chase…

So, let’s cut to the point and put more effort to solve a particular problem, rather than spinning it out of control!

But hey, in corporate world, everybody would like to think that they are saving the world… but none know how to keep is simple…

p/s: oh yea, first post after a long break, I rant about my work... ha ha, oh well

Stanford GSB's Webinar for ASEAN Countries

OK, first thing first - the morning after I decided to retake GMAT, I woke up with severe migraine, sore throat, blocked nose and ears... was it a sign?!!

Anyway, last night, Stanford GSB held a webinar for ASEAN countries to give a chance for the prospective MBA and Sloan programme applicants to chat with 2 of its recent graduates. So we had the pleasure to meet Tilia Wong, who was from Malaysia but is now living in the US, recent MBA 2012 and Khai something something, a recent Sloan programme graudated who is now a civil worker in Singapore.

OK, confession time - I didn't really pay attention to what Khai something-something said because he was a bit kiasu, spoke longer than necessary and mainly he was talking about Sloan programme... yea... not really interested in the Sloan programme...

But Tilia came across as a very charming lady, soft spoken but very articulated and obviously smart. I just wished that Khai would be less of a mic hogger and let her speak more... like really MORE! and Khai just had opinions about everything, even on MBA specific matters... oh well.... kiasuness...

What I like about the webinar - it was at 9 pm on a weekday, a nice change from having to wake at 2 am on a weekday to attend other top school's webinar (HBS, I'm looking at you!).

What I don't like about the webinar - Khai... like seriously, I rather Tilia be the sole speaker for the session so she could explain more about her experience as a student at GSB...

What I learnt about GSB that I couldn't get elsewhere - hmm, ah this actually came from Khai (thanks, Khai, hahaha) - he said to take advantage of the different programmes offer by the 7 other schools in Stanford and work with the young people who are doing the undergraduate there.

What thing that was quite obvious from the way both of them talk - the entrepreneurial spirit of GSB and the Silicone Valley... this seems like something unique to GSB and students should really take advantage of it.

OK, now I can't wait to attend their info session on 1st August!

GMAT Round 2

...I better start studying the IR section!

What is Your Favourite Food?

Stanford GSB wants to know what is your favourite food!

here's one of my many-many fav food:

Nasi Lemak Sambal Kerang!

As a Malaysian (I can hardly call myself a Malay since I'm part Malay, Thai & Indian...) I'm completely at a loss as to what food I will actually put in that tiny little box in Stanford GSB's application... we're such a food society, it's tough to just pick one!!

Data-Mining My Life...

In between cramming 15 slides worth of info into 3 for a presentation this Monday, I’ve started the painful process of data-mining my life, all for the hope to finding the tread that binds all of my life experience together to substantiate my obsession with HBS…

 

This reflection process is a crucial first step towards crafting my application theme. To borrow from Stanford GSB’s Dean’s Corner entry on writing effective essays:

“Essays are not a marketing exercise but an accounting exercise. This is a process in which you look inside yourself and try to express most clearly what is there. We are trying to get a good sense of your perspectives, your thoughts on management and leadership, and how the business school can help you realize your goals.”

Ah, that’s why I hate writing these essays… they remind me of my awful accounting classes I took during my final year in uni! Joking aside, I do think that in order for you to intelligently market yourself, you need to know yourself first, and the only way of effectively doing this is by accounting all significant events in your life that have had an influence on who you are today.  In other word, good book-keeping is a pre-requisite to great self-marketing!

The way I look at it, I have 3 areas (or books) that I need to fill up with relevant stories:

1.       Professional Life

2.       Personal Life

3.       Student Life

Professional Life:
I have about 5 years of work experience in 2 major firms. At the moment, I don’t have anyone reporting directly under me but I’m leading various small teams and initiatives. I’m comfortable leading as well as being a proactive team player. I’m comfortable with numbers and in my analytical ability, I live by a set of principles and never compromised on them. I’ve lived in the UK for 4 years, and I’ve worked with people from various cultural backgrounds. And as an added bonus, I speak 3 languages. So I think coming up with good examples in my professional life to highlight my leadership impacts, teamwork, motivation, ethics and diversity will not me a major hassle.

Personal Life:
Ah… the elusive life outside of work! I volunteered a lot. But mostly on work-related event – stuff like leading an event management team to organise an engagement session. Problem is, these involvements are so intertwined with my work that I find it difficult to categorically put them either under the professional or personal life banner… I’m a coach to my alma mater’s debate team, I enjoy running marathons. And I used to play a lot of MMORPG… but I bet business school doesn’t want to know about my video gaming hay-days! This is certainly an area that I really need to think hard about to get any substantial evidence of leadership, ethical values, diversity, teamwork and management experience… anyone knows of any good leadership volunteering opportunity online or around KL?

Student Life:
Ah… now is where the trouble begins…
The four years of my university life was the “lost years”. Really, I was completely burnt out by the time I made it to university. You guys know how it works in Malaysia – in order to get a scholarship to study overseas, you pretty much have to mortgage your childhood to the devil (fortunately with way better interest rate than say, Freddie Mac…) and commit yourself to various leadership and extra-curriculum activities while you were in primary and secondary school. I’m not ashamed that I did it all – I played hockey for my school, I was a nationally ranked debater and captain of my debate team since form 3. I won every single academic prize offered by my school, I was on top of every exam list, I was a prefect AND library monitor. I represented my school to almost all academic events, quizzes and completion. I served the community as a St John’s Ambulance volunteer and for a short while I was in a band… and I started doing all these when I was 10 years old! So pardon me for being lazy during the university years… all I could think of during that time period was traveling around the world, enjoying different cultures and meeting as many different people as possible.

***

5 years after graduation, I’m f**ked!

Lucky for me, I have 3 – 5 months to improve my candidacy!