Miserable Job, Anyone?

I have been a faithful reader of Patrick Lencioni. When I found out his latest book was out at the bookstore, I went to The Borders @The Curve to check it out.

I finished reading the last chapter at The Borders. When I realized it has a 20% discount, I decided to get it first hand. Older books of Lencioni are usually bundled as box set as Christmas gift. So if you are thinking of collecting them or giving them away as gift, check out the box set. Lencioni has 5 books so far.

His latest offering "The Three Signs of a Miserable Job" is another runaway success just like his other books. I have extracted part of the interview of the author specifically on the 3 SIGNS as below:

The first is anonymity, which is the feeling that employees get when they realize that their manager has little interest in them a human being and that they know little about their lives, their aspirations and their interests.

The second sign is irrelevance, which takes root when employees cannot see how their job makes a difference in the lives of others. Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone’s life--a customer, a co-worker, even a supervisor--in one way or another.

The third sign is something I call "immeasurement," which is the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success. Employees who have no means of measuring how well they are doing on a given day or in a given week, must rely on the subjective opinions of others, usually their managers’, to gauge their progress or contribution.

For more information on the book, click here.

Life's Two Questions

I wanted to put this on my cell phone, but my telco won't allow me. Here it goes...

"You've reached the number of Imeku. You may think that this is an answering machine. It is not. This is a questioning machine. And there are two questions: Who are you? and What do you want? And lest you think those are trivial questions, consider that most people go through their entire lives without ever answering either one." Beeeep!

Cool, right? Food for thoughts for today.

Glad to be Back!

Hi! People! I am back!

It has been a so-so trip to Shanghai and boy! I am glad to be back in Kuala Lumpur.

Today's weather forecast in Shanghai announced there is typhoon and heavy downpour. Phew! I am glad that I am out!

New Day in Shanghai

This is my second trip to Shanghai.

The weather has cooled down a bit and not as hot and humid. All because there were heavy downpours for the last few days. According to the locals, it will be autumn soon. I can't wait for the temperature to go down a bit more from 35 Celsius to 30 and below.

This morning I saw a comment to my post 'Unfriendly Malls', I am not able to view it right now since I am in Shanghai. Anyway thanks for the comment and you are welcome to post your comment and I will read it once I got the chance.

Yesterday there was a farewell dinner for one of my colleagues. He has left for KL for good this morning. You can view the pics of the dishes that we ordered and group photos. The link is here. No prize for guessing me in the photos.

No More Blog

I would arrive at Shanghai around 1430 today.

I am now waiting for departure at KLIA. While in Shanghai I would have no access to blogspot since it is censored or blocked in China. I won't be able to read your comment real time but please keep posting them and I would reply to them when I am back to KL.

I may be able to post new blog but would not be able to view it myself. So please come back and check for any new post.

What a Burden!

I could not help to include the extract from this book on "empowerment":

"All too often, managers put people in charge of a project but fail to give them the authority to get the job done. For example, a senior executive may ask a manager to work with the marketing department to develop a new launch campaign. However, the executive fails to inform the people in marketing of this and gives the manager no resources or budget to carry out the assignment. The manager is responsible for the project, but does not have the tools needed to succeed. This is akin to hiring a general contractor to build a home, but not giving him the authority to hire carpenters, masonry workers, electricians, and plumbers to assist him. Any assignment where responsibility is dispensed without authority will quickly run into roadblocks. The process will alienate those involved because they will be responsible for the lack of results and will be expecting discipline rather than kudos. Is it any wonder, then, that the concept of empowerment has become so tarnished?"

Does it sound familiar to you? You are given tons and tons of responsibilities but not any authority to execute what you are asked to do? There is no support, no resources, no power and yet you were expected to deliver.

Unscrupulous

Next time when you are out shopping, beware of unscrupulous vendor!

The latest Nokia 6300 promo ads published the price as RM899 officially and the package comes with a 1GB microSD card.

On Nokia website, the original package comes with the 128MB microSD card with SD adapter and full software like theme, graphic, games and Dictionary. Yes, a dictionary on cell phone.

I bought mine at recent PC Fair at the RRP. The vendor gave me the 1GB card no doubt, but he swapped it with the original 128MB and did not provide the SD adapter, nor the software.

So I borrowed my friend's original 128MB and transfer additional theme and the Dictionary into my 1GB. The game and other software is write protected. At least now I am happy that I have dictionary on the go, which is Eng to Chn and Chn to Eng. Too bad there is no Eng to Eng. Well, it is not a perfect world after all.

Carnation for my Mother

Carnation
Originally uploaded by Red_Kitten

The other day my mom and I were at Ms. Read, at Mid Valley branch and 1 Utama branch. The sales is on and I bought two blouses for my mom.

The boutique specialized in oversize lady garment of size from 12 to 24. I find that the price is quite reasonable and value for money. If you have friends who might find these garment appealing, please let them know where they could get them.

My mom said she will keep one of the blouses to be worn when her time is up. She even gave me instruction on how she would like to be dressed and all that. I felt a cramp in my stomach and I just nodded my head.

Slumber

I could doze off standing.

It was non-stop action from the moment I stepped down from the MAS airbus at Pudong international airport. I managed to catch 40 winks on flight between 4am until 6:30am before it started its descend.

After freshening up at the hostel apartment, off I went with another colleagues to meet the big bosses at the hotel. It was meeting the entire morning until we went back to office for lunch. I have to keep myself awake through out the afternoon until 6pm. Back at the apartment, I could not go to sleep yet until a quick shower and a late dinner. No mood to go out so we had delivery of fried rice.

It is already summer in Shanghai. The day time temperature can be as high as 36 (degree) Celsius. Luckily we have company car and all offices are air-conditioned. If you walked on the street during high noon, you would inevitably be drenched in your own sweat.

Time is Up!

CHINA - Shanghai
Picture by Franck - フランク - 法兰克

So this is it.

The time is near.

The plane will take off at 0140 hours from KLIA heading north. It will bring me back to where I came from exactly a month ago.

This is the land of hope for her people. This is the place where super power will emerge. To me, I am only a passenger, watching my life path intertwined with those. Maybe it's fate that we met, maybe it's fate that brought us apart.

Hopefully this will be the final trip on work. As they said, it is hard to mix pressure with pleasure. The work comes first and it is hard to relax.

Wish me well.

Next Trip

Airplane window with a view
Picture by Peradventurous

Bad news!

The call came when I least expected it.

I was counting the days since I left Shanghai and came back to KL. Two days, one week, 28 days...

First came the email, followed by the call from my boss from Australia HQ.

He was in Shanghai last week. He called and asked if I could be in Shanghai for at least a month to help settle some critical issue. There is no way for me to say "NO". I don't think he would take a rejection.

Oh! Well, come what may! Maybe it is unfinished business since my departure. I just need to go back in and settle it once and for all. Hopefully this would be a good trip.

My worry is that my mom would be on her own again. She would be alone one more time.