5 tools of success
Royal Professor Ungku Aziz talks about the essential qualities of good leadership
Karen Arukesamy
THE five qualities of good leadership are intelligence, credibility, humility, courage, and discipline, according to Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid (right) during his recent talk on The Quest for Success at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
The talk was the third of six talks in the Merdeka Lecture Series for 2008/2009, jointly organised by Petronas, ExxonMobil and Shell.
"[If] you have these, you have leadership," said this Merdeka Award 2008 recipient for the education and community category.
In his opinion, there are nine essential books that a good leader must read. Each book, he says, provides an element for a successful life and insights on how to become a good leader.
The nine books are:
» Fit for Life Not Fat for Life – Harvey DiamondThis explains how to balance between proteins and starches, meat and non-meat, life food and cooked food for a healthy diet.
» Thinking Course – Edward de BonoThis promotes lateral thinking and how to think differently.
» The Mind Map Book and Head First – Tony Buzan
These teach holistic thinking, which begins with a central idea and branches out to detailed points or elements involving the central idea, using colours, shapes and lines.
» The 36 Strategies of the Chinese: Adapting an Ancient Chinese Wisdom to the Business World – Wee Chow Hou and Lan Luh LuhThis offers the strategies that teach one to create something out of nothing.
» The Art of War – Sun Tzu
This offers strategies on winning a war without fighting.
» Level 5 Leadership – Jim CollinsThis teaches one to fear humility and resolve, and give them due respect.
» The Prince on the Art of Power – Niccolo Machiavelli
This teaches the art of being feared and loved.
» Leader’s Window – J.D.W. Beck and N.M. YeagerThis offers tips on how to be a successful leader.
These books teach the tools that go towards the making of a successful life, Ungku Aziz says.
The 87-year-old professor goes on to add that success is almost like the Holy Grail, where everyone knows about it but not quite able to identify it.
"To be successful, my advice is to be kiasu, a Hokkien term to describe how one wants to beat everyone else," he says, adding in jest that "I will tell you how to put other people down and put yourself up".
He also says that a good leader would be able to spot opportunities during a crisis. "Every crisis opens up opportunities."
Addressing questions from the audience, Ungku Aziz says successful people are those who are resilient because their minds are strong. They are resolute in reaching their goals.
"At the same time, one needs to be humble. Humility is important too. I’m happiest when I go to a kampung and people tell me ‘you macam itu universiti punya’ (you look like the person from the university)," he adds to laughter from the floor.
Ultimately, he says, like a traveller, we need to have two important items in our journey of life – a map and a compass – so that we know where are going and where’s our destination.
Updated: 09:51PM Tue, 24 Feb 2009
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
MDeC to tackle retrenchments
Tuesday February 10, 2009
MDeC to tackle retrenchments
By STEVEN PATRICK
KUALA LUMPUR: The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is helping retrenched workers to get employment in the over 2,000 MSC Malaysia-status companies through its re-skilling programmes.
TRAINING PROGRAMME: According to MDeC, callcentres are an example of an ICT sector that re-skilled workers can find a job in. MDeC, which is the guardian for MSC Malaysia, said it is co-operating with the Human Resources Ministry in this effort.
A total of 33,451 workers lost their jobs last year, according to the Labour Department. From last October to January 20, 13,040 people had been retrenched, according to The Labour Department’s department director-general Datuk Ismail Abdul Rahim (The Star, Jan 21).
MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said that MSC Malaysia will be a key referral centre in terms of looking for placement of the retrenched workers in ICT-based companies.
“We will assist the retrenched workers by encouraging them to take part in the existing MSC Malaysia programmes, which has been enhanced to accommodate them,” said Badlisham.
There are currently four re-skilling programmes that were originally targeted at unemployed graduates — the Graduate Trainee Programme, Undergraduate Skills Programme, Undergraduate Apprenticeship Development Programme and Job Camp.
These programmes, which began three years ago are specifically tailored towards different competencies.
“Based on the database provided by the ministry, we will match the skills of the retrenched workers to the sectors which have these shortages,” he said.
Badlisham said the Shared Services and Outsourcing (SSO) industry, the Creative Multimedia Content and callcentres are examples of ICT sectors that the re-skilled workers can find jobs in.
“There are job opportunities within the MSC. It’s not true that you have to have an ICT background to work within the MSC as it needs people do to sales, human resource, finance and others,” he said.
Muhammad Imran Kunalan, general manager of the K-Workers Development Department said MSC Malaysia will have its first training programme in mid February.
About 50 unemployed and retrenched people (mostly from the manufacturing sector) will undergo training at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC) Electronic Data Processing centre in Cyberjaya.
“After the training, HSBC Electronic Data Processing is expected to absorb most of them,” Muhammad Imran said.
He added that MSC Malaysia is looking to re-skill people not just for basic callcentre duties but for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities, such as finance and human resources.
“There’s a common misconception that BPO is just about callcentre staff. For instance, a bank needs people to research a prospective client’s credit history when he applies for a loan. That requires some financial experience, and not just answering phones,” he said.
MDeC to tackle retrenchments
By STEVEN PATRICK
KUALA LUMPUR: The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is helping retrenched workers to get employment in the over 2,000 MSC Malaysia-status companies through its re-skilling programmes.
TRAINING PROGRAMME: According to MDeC, callcentres are an example of an ICT sector that re-skilled workers can find a job in. MDeC, which is the guardian for MSC Malaysia, said it is co-operating with the Human Resources Ministry in this effort.
A total of 33,451 workers lost their jobs last year, according to the Labour Department. From last October to January 20, 13,040 people had been retrenched, according to The Labour Department’s department director-general Datuk Ismail Abdul Rahim (The Star, Jan 21).
MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said that MSC Malaysia will be a key referral centre in terms of looking for placement of the retrenched workers in ICT-based companies.
“We will assist the retrenched workers by encouraging them to take part in the existing MSC Malaysia programmes, which has been enhanced to accommodate them,” said Badlisham.
There are currently four re-skilling programmes that were originally targeted at unemployed graduates — the Graduate Trainee Programme, Undergraduate Skills Programme, Undergraduate Apprenticeship Development Programme and Job Camp.
These programmes, which began three years ago are specifically tailored towards different competencies.
“Based on the database provided by the ministry, we will match the skills of the retrenched workers to the sectors which have these shortages,” he said.
Badlisham said the Shared Services and Outsourcing (SSO) industry, the Creative Multimedia Content and callcentres are examples of ICT sectors that the re-skilled workers can find jobs in.
“There are job opportunities within the MSC. It’s not true that you have to have an ICT background to work within the MSC as it needs people do to sales, human resource, finance and others,” he said.
Muhammad Imran Kunalan, general manager of the K-Workers Development Department said MSC Malaysia will have its first training programme in mid February.
About 50 unemployed and retrenched people (mostly from the manufacturing sector) will undergo training at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC) Electronic Data Processing centre in Cyberjaya.
“After the training, HSBC Electronic Data Processing is expected to absorb most of them,” Muhammad Imran said.
He added that MSC Malaysia is looking to re-skill people not just for basic callcentre duties but for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities, such as finance and human resources.
“There’s a common misconception that BPO is just about callcentre staff. For instance, a bank needs people to research a prospective client’s credit history when he applies for a loan. That requires some financial experience, and not just answering phones,” he said.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Driving transformation
Get a Life: Driving transformation
TESSIE LIM
SUDDENLY it hit me. I was a woman alone – starting life over, starting a business from scratch.
I wasn’t even sure who I was. I had always been what other people wanted me to be.
I knew I had to succeed... for my children’s sake, for my daughter especially, and for other women.
I had all this ability, but my self-esteem was in tatters. I had all that experience, but competence soon becomes outdated.
Mediocrity wouldn’t do. I wanted to excel. So I engaged a coach. Michelle Duval didn’t give a damn about my fragile emotional state. She worked me hard and beat me into submission, army sergeant-style.
I can’t remember what hurt more, my bones from fatigue or my heart from missing my family.
I remember a time early in our relationship when I needed to fly to the United States for a meeting. I told her I’d miss one of our sessions. And she told me to take a long walk down a short plank.
I managed that conversation with Michelle via long-distance telephone onboard a Boeing 777 enroute to Portland, Oregon. Lesson one: Commitment.
Two weeks later, we were working on my self-concept. Michelle asked me to describe myself. I finished. No response... 15 minutes of deafening silence.
I feebly asked: “What now?” She replied: “What’s your reason for leaving out what you haven’t said?”
Hot tears streamed down my face. I hadn’t told her how ashamed I was for failing at my marriage, for failing to be a good mom to my children.
My life changed in that instant. That day, I learned to look at myself – face my fear, shame and guilt. I learned to accept and appreciate myself – the good, the bad, the ugly. Michelle’s ability to be present for me – my longing, my needs... her ruthless compassion, her tough love... held me to my hopes, my highest potential. Her resolute refusal to let me give up or take the easy way out allowed me to prove to myself that I was capable of things I never imagined. Many times she showed more faith in me than I had belief in myself.
Nothing gives me more pride in being a coach than when a client honours me with this responsibility. The client’s trust is sacred. Our relationship is a bond that allows us to explore and discover resources within ourselves that leads us to actualise a specific purpose — usually driving peak performance, managing for profitable growth, or developing leadership potential.
I’m distressed. I’m exhausted. I hurt as if my gut has been shredded to ribbons. I’ve spent weeks now, working with individuals and companies who’re suffering uncertainty from the financial chaos.
“RM250,000 a year plus perks... now nothing,” one sighs. Another describes how he’s being bullied. It seems people know times are such that mobility isn’t easy and take advantage. One client suspects there’ll be a takeover, but isn’t sure. All are demoralised.
We work at detecting meaning and managing expectations. We spend time rebuilding confidence. I can’t help thinking all that rhetoric about developing human capital... if only business realises what a tremendous opportunity it has to contribute to a progressive society, to build a harmonious nation.
Enterprise can do this by installing a sense of belonging, ownership, pride and confidence in its people. It can communicate to encourage and empower. It can lead to recognise talent and reward contribution.
This approach fires the spirit. It creates a positive and collaborative environment where people happily stand together to produce an outcome that works to design a better life for all. But business is people and it’s people who operate to devalue, de-motivate and demolish. I say all business problems are personal problems in disguise.
At a time like this, Malaysia needs its people to be fighting fit and focused, poised to perform, ready to engage and be relevant to the task of competing among the best. Are you in the right mind for excellence?
Now, to succeed, one requires clear vision. Then we need a compelling strategy that keeps sharpening our uniqueness so that we stay marketable. Thirdly, we cut the “fat” out, and work to get the most from our best people. A leader is a communicator par excellence. A good leader can produce great success.
With this raging and relentless change, this country needs to groom leadership like never before. What would propel us forward, enable us to add value and build capacity, is the ability to draw out the best in our people.
In the end, it’s all about people — our intellectual and creative capability — that will see us through any challenge and overcome any crisis.
TESSIE LIM
SUDDENLY it hit me. I was a woman alone – starting life over, starting a business from scratch.
I wasn’t even sure who I was. I had always been what other people wanted me to be.
I knew I had to succeed... for my children’s sake, for my daughter especially, and for other women.
I had all this ability, but my self-esteem was in tatters. I had all that experience, but competence soon becomes outdated.
Mediocrity wouldn’t do. I wanted to excel. So I engaged a coach. Michelle Duval didn’t give a damn about my fragile emotional state. She worked me hard and beat me into submission, army sergeant-style.
I can’t remember what hurt more, my bones from fatigue or my heart from missing my family.
I remember a time early in our relationship when I needed to fly to the United States for a meeting. I told her I’d miss one of our sessions. And she told me to take a long walk down a short plank.
I managed that conversation with Michelle via long-distance telephone onboard a Boeing 777 enroute to Portland, Oregon. Lesson one: Commitment.
Two weeks later, we were working on my self-concept. Michelle asked me to describe myself. I finished. No response... 15 minutes of deafening silence.
I feebly asked: “What now?” She replied: “What’s your reason for leaving out what you haven’t said?”
Hot tears streamed down my face. I hadn’t told her how ashamed I was for failing at my marriage, for failing to be a good mom to my children.
My life changed in that instant. That day, I learned to look at myself – face my fear, shame and guilt. I learned to accept and appreciate myself – the good, the bad, the ugly. Michelle’s ability to be present for me – my longing, my needs... her ruthless compassion, her tough love... held me to my hopes, my highest potential. Her resolute refusal to let me give up or take the easy way out allowed me to prove to myself that I was capable of things I never imagined. Many times she showed more faith in me than I had belief in myself.
Nothing gives me more pride in being a coach than when a client honours me with this responsibility. The client’s trust is sacred. Our relationship is a bond that allows us to explore and discover resources within ourselves that leads us to actualise a specific purpose — usually driving peak performance, managing for profitable growth, or developing leadership potential.
I’m distressed. I’m exhausted. I hurt as if my gut has been shredded to ribbons. I’ve spent weeks now, working with individuals and companies who’re suffering uncertainty from the financial chaos.
“RM250,000 a year plus perks... now nothing,” one sighs. Another describes how he’s being bullied. It seems people know times are such that mobility isn’t easy and take advantage. One client suspects there’ll be a takeover, but isn’t sure. All are demoralised.
We work at detecting meaning and managing expectations. We spend time rebuilding confidence. I can’t help thinking all that rhetoric about developing human capital... if only business realises what a tremendous opportunity it has to contribute to a progressive society, to build a harmonious nation.
Enterprise can do this by installing a sense of belonging, ownership, pride and confidence in its people. It can communicate to encourage and empower. It can lead to recognise talent and reward contribution.
This approach fires the spirit. It creates a positive and collaborative environment where people happily stand together to produce an outcome that works to design a better life for all. But business is people and it’s people who operate to devalue, de-motivate and demolish. I say all business problems are personal problems in disguise.
At a time like this, Malaysia needs its people to be fighting fit and focused, poised to perform, ready to engage and be relevant to the task of competing among the best. Are you in the right mind for excellence?
Now, to succeed, one requires clear vision. Then we need a compelling strategy that keeps sharpening our uniqueness so that we stay marketable. Thirdly, we cut the “fat” out, and work to get the most from our best people. A leader is a communicator par excellence. A good leader can produce great success.
With this raging and relentless change, this country needs to groom leadership like never before. What would propel us forward, enable us to add value and build capacity, is the ability to draw out the best in our people.
In the end, it’s all about people — our intellectual and creative capability — that will see us through any challenge and overcome any crisis.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Want to be a genius? Just practise
Saturday February 14, 2009
Want to be a genius? Just practise
Comment by ROSHAN THIRAN
WHAT do The Beatles, Warren Buffett, David Beckham, Mokhtar Dahari and Bill Gates have in common? They’re all famous, they’re all gifted, and they’re all geniuses in their own realms. More importantly, they have all reached the top by doing one thing – they poured their hearts and souls, their blood, sweat and tears, into achieving “perfection” through lots of practice.
Thomas Alva Edison once said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Based on their research, Anders Ericsson and a team of scientists claim to know just how much perspiration is required to become a genius – apparently 10 years or 10,000 hours.
Ericsson writes, “A lot of people believe there are some inherent limits they were born with. But there is surprisingly little hard evidence that anyone could attain any kind of exceptional performance without spending a lot of time perfecting it.”
Mokhtar Dahari always pushed us to the limit during our training sessions.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell reinforces this point with evidence that geniuses simply become great through practice.
The Beatles remain the best-selling musical group of all time, but this success did not come overnight. Gladwell explains that the Beatles became so good because they played for hours and hours in the German underground scene in Hamburg, receiving little money or recognition.
According to John Lennon, they played eight hours per night, seven nights a week for 270 nights. In comparison, most bands of their time (and probably even now!) only performed one-hour sessions every week.
Fortunately for the Fab Four, by the time they were ‘discovered’, they had performed an estimated of 1,200 times! Most bands today don’t even perform that many times in their entire careers. These 1,200 live practice performances really was the differentiator.
Buffett is widely recognised as the world’s greatest investor. But his success is the result of sheer discipline, hard work and lots of practice. He practised the discipline of “mental strategies” of investment for years and years, and became an expert in investments over time.
Beckham is no different. Famed for his lethal free kicks, he wasn’t born with those skills. He practised free kicks diligently to impress his dad at first and developed it into his trademark.
Said his former boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, “He practised with a discipline to achieve an accuracy that other players wouldn’t care about.” After the usual practice session, Beckham would stay back and continue practising and practising – 500 free kicks a day, 180,000 free kicks a year.
That effort soon translated into an ability and talent that we called genius.
We know that Gates, a Harvard dropout, is among the world’s richest men because of his Microsoft fortune. But there is more to his story than meets the eye.
For starters, he went to an elite high school, with access to a computer. This was back in the 1960s, when many universities didn’t even have computers. This allowed him to do real-time programming as a 14-year-old.
Obsessed, he programmed eight hours a day, seven days a week. He skipped athletics, sneaked out after bedtime, hacked passwords, and told the occasional lie, just so that he could have more hours of programming. By the time he dropped out of college, he had 10,000 programming hours under his belt.
Think of teenagers who are computer whiz-kids. How do they become experts? With their short attention span, how do they learn? Observe them for a day and you will see them surfing the Internet, playing video games, and sharing everything they learn on blogs and YouTube.
Considering the hours they spend daily on the computer, it’s no wonder that they are so good with all things digital. Clearly, there is a correlation between time and expertise.
Greatness is only achieved through hard, painful, and demanding practice. “It can take 10 years or 10,000 hours of extensive practice to excel in anything,” says George Kohlrieser, the head of leadership at business school IMD.
“Mozart was six when he started composing, but his world-class compositions started at age 21.” Kohlrieser believes that talent and luck are important, but it is practice that makes the difference between being good and being great. So what does this all mean? We live in a world where we expect everything to be instantaneous. Maggi Mee, instant coffee, instant profits, and we even produce leaders by using the 1-Minute Manager manual.
Yet, to be truly exceptional and great, we need to put in the time. We expect world-class football players in Malaysia, and yet we start formal football training for kids at age 12, when teams like Everton start developing their Wayne Rooneys at age 4. And we wonder why we don’t see football geniuses?
There are no shortcuts. We can conclude likewise on leadership. Nobody becomes a great leader without working at it. To develop leaders, we need to provide our future leaders with early exposure and practice to leadership, possibly even in their schooling years. Why aren’t there leadership clubs in our schools that enable our kids to practice leadership?
There is a belief that if you’re good at something, it should be effortless. That unfortunately is baseless. To become a great leader, you need to notch up hours of practise. Even Jack Welch spent 10 years as CEO of General Electric, practising and practising before he finally got it right.
If you do the math, just three hours a day of practice for 10 years makes you an expert.
Just one problem: How do you practice business? Many elements of business, in fact, are directly practicable. Presenting, negotiating, delivering evaluations, deciphering financial statements – you can practise them all. And even the softer pieces of management, such as giving feedback on performance, coaching your reports and hiring the right people can all be practised.
I played football under the great Mokhtar Dahari. He was an intense coach, always pushing us to the limit during our training sessions. One day I asked him about the goal he scored against England. He replied, “I guess I was just lucky.” Then he said, “But, Roshan, you make your own luck. The more you practise, the luckier you get. So stop asking questions and keep practising.” I took his advice and before long, I broke into the state team.
Roberto Galeotti, president of Scoula Superiore, once said, “Genius is NOT reserved for the special few”. Then again, practice is never easy. If achieving great performance was so easy, it wouldn’t be rare. So, you want to be brilliant or a genius, just practice la. Hopefully, you have 10,000 hours to spare!
·Roshan Thiran believes there is a science to developing leaders. He leads Leaderonomics, a social enterprise focused on developing leaders, especially amongst the youth. He spent the past 15 years working for General Electric and Johnson & Johnson across the globe.
Want to be a genius? Just practise
Comment by ROSHAN THIRAN
WHAT do The Beatles, Warren Buffett, David Beckham, Mokhtar Dahari and Bill Gates have in common? They’re all famous, they’re all gifted, and they’re all geniuses in their own realms. More importantly, they have all reached the top by doing one thing – they poured their hearts and souls, their blood, sweat and tears, into achieving “perfection” through lots of practice.
Thomas Alva Edison once said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Based on their research, Anders Ericsson and a team of scientists claim to know just how much perspiration is required to become a genius – apparently 10 years or 10,000 hours.
Ericsson writes, “A lot of people believe there are some inherent limits they were born with. But there is surprisingly little hard evidence that anyone could attain any kind of exceptional performance without spending a lot of time perfecting it.”
Mokhtar Dahari always pushed us to the limit during our training sessions.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell reinforces this point with evidence that geniuses simply become great through practice.
The Beatles remain the best-selling musical group of all time, but this success did not come overnight. Gladwell explains that the Beatles became so good because they played for hours and hours in the German underground scene in Hamburg, receiving little money or recognition.
According to John Lennon, they played eight hours per night, seven nights a week for 270 nights. In comparison, most bands of their time (and probably even now!) only performed one-hour sessions every week.
Fortunately for the Fab Four, by the time they were ‘discovered’, they had performed an estimated of 1,200 times! Most bands today don’t even perform that many times in their entire careers. These 1,200 live practice performances really was the differentiator.
Buffett is widely recognised as the world’s greatest investor. But his success is the result of sheer discipline, hard work and lots of practice. He practised the discipline of “mental strategies” of investment for years and years, and became an expert in investments over time.
Beckham is no different. Famed for his lethal free kicks, he wasn’t born with those skills. He practised free kicks diligently to impress his dad at first and developed it into his trademark.
Said his former boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, “He practised with a discipline to achieve an accuracy that other players wouldn’t care about.” After the usual practice session, Beckham would stay back and continue practising and practising – 500 free kicks a day, 180,000 free kicks a year.
That effort soon translated into an ability and talent that we called genius.
We know that Gates, a Harvard dropout, is among the world’s richest men because of his Microsoft fortune. But there is more to his story than meets the eye.
For starters, he went to an elite high school, with access to a computer. This was back in the 1960s, when many universities didn’t even have computers. This allowed him to do real-time programming as a 14-year-old.
Obsessed, he programmed eight hours a day, seven days a week. He skipped athletics, sneaked out after bedtime, hacked passwords, and told the occasional lie, just so that he could have more hours of programming. By the time he dropped out of college, he had 10,000 programming hours under his belt.
Think of teenagers who are computer whiz-kids. How do they become experts? With their short attention span, how do they learn? Observe them for a day and you will see them surfing the Internet, playing video games, and sharing everything they learn on blogs and YouTube.
Considering the hours they spend daily on the computer, it’s no wonder that they are so good with all things digital. Clearly, there is a correlation between time and expertise.
Greatness is only achieved through hard, painful, and demanding practice. “It can take 10 years or 10,000 hours of extensive practice to excel in anything,” says George Kohlrieser, the head of leadership at business school IMD.
“Mozart was six when he started composing, but his world-class compositions started at age 21.” Kohlrieser believes that talent and luck are important, but it is practice that makes the difference between being good and being great. So what does this all mean? We live in a world where we expect everything to be instantaneous. Maggi Mee, instant coffee, instant profits, and we even produce leaders by using the 1-Minute Manager manual.
Yet, to be truly exceptional and great, we need to put in the time. We expect world-class football players in Malaysia, and yet we start formal football training for kids at age 12, when teams like Everton start developing their Wayne Rooneys at age 4. And we wonder why we don’t see football geniuses?
There are no shortcuts. We can conclude likewise on leadership. Nobody becomes a great leader without working at it. To develop leaders, we need to provide our future leaders with early exposure and practice to leadership, possibly even in their schooling years. Why aren’t there leadership clubs in our schools that enable our kids to practice leadership?
There is a belief that if you’re good at something, it should be effortless. That unfortunately is baseless. To become a great leader, you need to notch up hours of practise. Even Jack Welch spent 10 years as CEO of General Electric, practising and practising before he finally got it right.
If you do the math, just three hours a day of practice for 10 years makes you an expert.
Just one problem: How do you practice business? Many elements of business, in fact, are directly practicable. Presenting, negotiating, delivering evaluations, deciphering financial statements – you can practise them all. And even the softer pieces of management, such as giving feedback on performance, coaching your reports and hiring the right people can all be practised.
I played football under the great Mokhtar Dahari. He was an intense coach, always pushing us to the limit during our training sessions. One day I asked him about the goal he scored against England. He replied, “I guess I was just lucky.” Then he said, “But, Roshan, you make your own luck. The more you practise, the luckier you get. So stop asking questions and keep practising.” I took his advice and before long, I broke into the state team.
Roberto Galeotti, president of Scoula Superiore, once said, “Genius is NOT reserved for the special few”. Then again, practice is never easy. If achieving great performance was so easy, it wouldn’t be rare. So, you want to be brilliant or a genius, just practice la. Hopefully, you have 10,000 hours to spare!
·Roshan Thiran believes there is a science to developing leaders. He leads Leaderonomics, a social enterprise focused on developing leaders, especially amongst the youth. He spent the past 15 years working for General Electric and Johnson & Johnson across the globe.
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