Believe - Act - Result - Belief

Antoni Gaudi Believed he could fuse Nature with his Work

hence the La Pedrera

         This is the marketing concept by Philip Kotler in his Principles of Marketing. It simply states the state of mind is formed by 3 processes, firstly the Belief, then the Action (not just words) and then the Result will then recalibrate the Belief and on it goes, either in a virtuous or vicious cycle forever in a circle or cycle.

       There was a  young man who was down on his luck, so he was at the park bench just looking downcast and wondering how he was going to pay off all of his gambling, company debts and house mortgage which was also pulling him down, as his company was sinking in the red. He thought of ending it all and saving the agony of facing all the lawyers, debt collectors and banks, and trade creditors. He was really tired, and was down, really down. 

      An old man walked by, he stopped by the young man and said, "Young Man, whats troubling you ? " The young man looking up and just wanting a listening ear told him of all o his troubles in life, his struggling business which was affecting his mood and hence his arguments with his wife, leading him to try his luck at the casinos and hence end up losing a bundle, which was supposed to be the college eduction fund for his 2 kids, and the list went on and on... 

    After listening, the old Man said, "Son, I will do you a favour, I am Warren Buffett. Take this cheque and meet me here, again at this park 1 year from now ". With that, the old man whipped out a cheque book and wrote a staggering amount of $500,000 and signed off "Warren Buffet". 

    The young man was astounded and could not believe his eyes. "Thank you sir ! I will make good this cheque and repay it back to you with interest ! Thank you for believing in me !" With that he hugged Mr. Buffett and took the cheque and walked quickly back to his office.

     Once back in the office, the Young Man reflected on his luck. He put the cheque right in front of his desk beside his family photos. "Well, someone believes in me ! I will use this cheque as a motivation. In fact I am so fired up, I will relook at my company's finacial position, renogiate the loan with the banks, relook at how to restructure my core business, hive off department A and merge B and C plus we need to expand to territory D'. He started facing all of his creditors with a new and willing heart and taking a never say die attitude with Warren Buffett's cheque as motivation he worked long hours. His staff saw his change and new found belief, quickly things started moving, orders started to flow in from new territories, people were moved and the unlucky ones given notices of release. It was painful but he worked with a new found passion and vision.

     The one year flew by. The man lived up to his promise. One year later, he waited at the park at exactly the same time and the Old Man was sitting there. The Young Man proudly presented back the $500,000 cheque to Mr Buffett and also the cheque for the interest. 

Just then a nurse from the nearby mental institution ran over... "Hey, thats our Mr. Sanford. Mr. Sanford, why do you keep running off just before your bath time ? " " Hey.. Young Man, I hope Mr Sanford has not been bugging you and pretending to be Warren Buffett has he ? Its a mess you know... he writes bogus cheques to people who he just met... and he has no money ! "

      The Young Man was dumbfounded.

      Reflect on this.

      Seize the Day 

Pressing on with all my Might - Who I Am

50 metres to go can seem like a mile when you are near the end of the race 

      Today, the 12th of March I would like to pause and reflect on things as they are now. To take stock every few years is so important for me. I am grateful for the many blessings my parents have showered upon me since I was born, and it is only after decades later you become apparent that the guidance, vision, values and care given to you during the early years, can manifestly lead you to where you are in your life. Ever so often, during my younger days took things for granted and said well, it was due to my a) effort, b) luck c) abilities d) timing and lots of other things. The reality is that you are being prepared for the day when you are on your own, running your own life - through the efforts of many people, most importantly your parents, grandparents, your teachers, friends and religious / social organizations. Fittingly,  a great part of who you are is bestowed by your parents through genes, nutrition, education, and the impartation of values from young which will put you in good stead to face the challenges and vissicitudes of life. I list some of the most important ones : 

a) Honesty

b) Giving your all

c) Perserverance

d) Fillial Peity - respect for elders

e) Respect for authority

f) Generosity (when necessary)

g) Thrift (when necessary)

i) Save more than you earn

j) Trust (first in yourself then others)

k) Positive Attitude 

     Another big influencer in shaping my life is : The school of life. The School of Life is imparted differently to every individual. Each one has a different view of the world based on what he has experienced. Of course some will emerge bitter, some will feel shortchanged, some will be satisfied. Joy and happiness are emotions which will come and go, inebriatedness by alcohol is not really true happiness (my drinking bros will vehemently disagree !), so each of us needs to find that sweet spot, that perfect balance of Who You Are. Not trying to be Who my friends, family or Significant Other wants me to be. 

       Life with its Ups and Downs, will mould us, some for the better, some for the worse. Our lot, or Fate well that again is not for us to judge, if there is one.

    Do what you think is right, impart a legacy to your next of kin. Leave an indelible mark on the next generation. If you can widen your influence to bigger circles, great. if not, just do what is within your means. Of course, if you are struggling with issues of the day, that is always a conflict of the mind to set aside the daily troubles and getting to finishing the Big Picture (be it in a religious context or not - many of us want to do God's work).

    There was this story I am always reminded. This man, lets call him Jack, was walking by the seashore. It was lowtide and all along the beach, there were hundreds, no maybe, thousands of starfish stranded in the fast receding tide. There was a boy, who was furiously picking up one starfish and throwing it far into the sea. Jack walked over, and said to the boy. "Hey son, what are you doing". He replied " I'm saving them.. they will die in no time before long".

    Jack then said : "Son, its impossible, look there are literally thousands of starfish ! Why bother ? Its too difficult ! What you are doing will take too long... it will not make a difference ! "

   The Boy, without pausing from his task, " Sir, see this one in my hand ?.... " and then he threw it with all his might said :

 " I made a difference to this One !" 

    

An excellent well thought speech from an NCMP - hits the nail on the head

Anna and Geoffrey Abisheganaden 1991

    This is a very precious video of my parents in 1991 (early June) at the dining table, my mother Anna was 60 turning 61 that year and my father Geoffrey was 71 turning 72 that year.

    I was taping this midway from the staircase and they were having dinner, at the rather late time of 9 : 40 pm. I can only hazard a guess that my mother had come back from the Singapore Swimming Club (she was very regular and went there 6 times a week, practically every weekday). They were making small talk at the dinner table, and the maid Mary had come over to serve my mum some soup.

    The family cat's name was Tommy *(which was funny as it was a female), and she was very 'manja' (warm and requires attention most of the time). She (the cat) passed away when she was about 10 - 11 years old, which was at the typical life span of cats then.

    The dining room was elevated from the living room, and this was the area of many grand parties which my parents and even I handled with aplomb.

    Ah the 80s and 90s !    

    

Video from the Past - The Technology is quite antique.

Inside the room of a singleton, 1991

Here is a sneak peak back 26 years ago into my room, where I took a 360 video of everything inside it at my eye-level. Its quite funny and amazing how technology has changed how we use things or how they have empowered us or made us slaves in this modern era. It is indeed frightening that the pace of chage is relentless and as is apparent in this video that what I took with my person 26 years ago or used to entertain myself has changed so dramatically. Lets highlight a few :

a) Pens - they are replaced most times by electronic signatures and phone payments. 

b) Telephone - its nowhere in sight replaced by cellphones or handphones.

c) Letters and postcards - Heard of them ?

d) Actual photographs - You can still print out the photos of important events in your life

e) Sanyo TV using (gasp) antennae 

f) Air conditioner - OK that has not changed that much

g) Hi-fi set - Using tape recorders ! 

h) Cassette tapes - Wow !

i) Pager - Another dead in the water technology

Just 26 years ago seems like a different age, a different air and a different feel.

Seize the Day. 

Renewed Marketing Strategy

With Mr. Maru in 1990 

1. New Evolved Model ; from Trading to System Integration to Manufacturing

   After 2 really tough years of managing the business and trying to re-invent ourselves, I am satisfied to say that we have finally evolved into a new business model with 4 new pillars to stand upon. The first one is this. Singapore's manufacturing especially in the semiconductor and electronics sector has seen massive changes with companies going from purchases of sizeable CAPEX (capital expenditure) to near zero. Even if they do purchase, they want new committments to warranties such as 4 or 5 years, very fast turnaround times, and finally value for money equipment. Hence the focus on equipment made from the cheapest and highest quality (this is in my opinion, 2 mutually exclusive requirements).

   I have bitten the bullet and decided that, heck, we will go into system integration and ultimately manufacturing of selective equipment, where margins are high enough to sustain us. So its low volume  - high mix strategy.  

2. New Markets  ; from S.E. Asia to International

    Once, where we were content to sell to S.E. Asia, demands have pushed us to the International arena, so we have orders from as far as North Asia, Australsia, S.E. Asia and Middle East.

3. New Supporting Infrastructure ; From Local Server to Cloud ; from fixed to mobile computing ; from sitting down in front of the desk to working on the fly, at different time zones and even workdays. 

    We are doing things in different ways, using cloud server where land line server used to suffice. Moving with the times, let us use technology to empower us 

4. New Industry of Customers ; From Electronics Manufacturing to ......... 

    As this is a public blog, there are many people who will be reading this, not least the competitors in my industry. I can safely say that the future businesses will be sustainable for the visionary people who spot niches early and capitalise on them. Pushing the followers along will be the biggest challenge of my business life and unless we adapt to these 4 pillars quickly and manage the interim issues that naturally come along with it, we will be finished.

  I am quietly confident we will succeed. 

Rolling Stones - Slave

The bad boys of Rock and Roll 

Check out the awesome riffs, sax and keyboard solos on this song. Its in a class of its own. When the rock stars were artistes with actual talent, charisma and not lip synching with back-up dancers distracting to the actual music.