Leap Walking

After spending a few hours polishing my wife’s resume today, I’ve decided to open my services to everyone else. I’ll probably go through what I did with my wife – a basic review of your existing resume, ask you a bunch of questions about your experience, lessons learnt, challenges, etc… and create eye catching points in your resume that clearly highlight your work fitness and employability.

If it’s a simple case I can answer over one email, it’s free. If you want a highly polished piece, I might charge a small fee for the effort.

Resume writing is a skill I’ve honed over the years. I’ve been through three jobs in the past, but I’ve constantly updated and polished my own resume for upkeep, and for each job that I apply for, I tune my resume to maximize impact.

I’ve never had to sit through more than 2 interviews before getting a job. That being said, my resumes are very focussed because I know exactly what I want in a job, and while the resume gets me the interview, the interview gets me the job. I always know what I’m getting into because I enjoy getting into the interviewer’s mind.

One of the reasons why I’m not as apprehensive about interviews is because people are always looking for a match. It’s like dating. This is why matchmaking feels so much like an interview. You’ve got a personal bio, which is probably all in text, and says everything about you from your pet peeves to the last movie you watched that you loved despite everyone else hating it.

Resumes can be used to handle idiosyncrasies in unique ways. This is what I call “weirdness matching”. You’re trying to match your idiosyncrasies with your potential employer’s. The resume is the first part – a resume fit for Google will look different than one that’s fit for the Red Cross. This is where idiosyncrasies can play a part.

Anyway, I’m looking to increase my readership as well. Tell your friends you heard about this guy who writes resumes for his wife and now wants to write resumes for the whole world. They might get a kick out of that and drop a comment for fun.

Or maybe you can.

Today’s career is full of anomalies and subject to one’s own definition of a right set of choices. Compound that with the gap between social media and have-nots, it’s no wonder there’s so much lost in transition.

I would admit it feels really frustrating to be in the Dip.

So here’s the thing about mentoring. I’ve read a lot about how necessary they are. And to be honest, I’m not sure if I have one. Which means I’ve pulled myself ahead just this far, with just enough help from some people.

Only two or three people come to mind. The first is Jian, my ex-colleague and then team leader for a project that sent me to Bangkok for three weeks. We got along very well and we’re still close friends to today.

Every major decision I made in my career went through Jian, who’s a little more senior than me. He provided advice where necessary and listened when I talked. I felt that having someone who listens helps a lot. Not many people will give you time like that.

The other person is my cell pastor, Koon Hee. He provided me a lot of support and insight into the necessary things in life – marriage, finances, goals, promotions, etc. He didn’t have to understand the work I was doing. This is why career advice applies to almost any kind of job.

His advice was a lot more important than what bosses will talk to you about – the finer things in life. Careers are a reflection of a person’s life, and that life is filled with other things that make it complete. This is why joining a good church helps.

The last person is Charles, an ex-colleague who shares similar values, and strangely, we discovered each other while blogging. I found out that he’s been so much ahead of the game than I have, and yet… the issues we’re both working through still remain the same. Finances, relationships, careers, goals, etc. Of course, he has a lot more “war stories” than I have, and that’s what I admire in him – he walks the talk.

Authenticity is a hard game to play, and nobody plays to win. It’s about achieving dreams, and the stories we gain from it. It’s so hard that only a select few play it, but those who do live very interesting lives that are second to none.

Charles is that sort of person. He’s not a pop star. He’s not on the front page news. He’s not a multi-billion dollar CEO. But he’s bigger than life, to me at least, and I can speak to him any time of the day. That’s real, and precious, in a way.

Good mentors aren’t bought. They’re found. Relationships like these need investment, as they’re real people. As real as you are. In order to find them, you have to communicate yourself as a brand. In fact, you won’t need so much to find them, as they’ll find you. All you have to do is to continue pushing the boundaries of life, and making yourself available to people. You’ll never know who might find you something worthy of an investment.

Resources:

• The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
• Have respect for those who came before…
• The Value of Naturally Developed Mentorship
• Job hunt tip: The mentor matters more than the company
• Six Habits of Highly Effective Mentees
• You need a mentor now; here’s how to get one

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Here’s the Hannah Yeoh interview I promised. It summarizes some assumptions I made about making a difference in Malaysia:

• What used to work before March 8, 2008 may no longer work now
• If you want to see change happen, you need to work the issues through the appropriate systems and your representatives
• Your comments on your state or federal representative’s blog counts as influence at the assembly
• If you are a member of the “informed public”, you need to take the lead
• Failure to do this may mean we revert to back cowboy state a la pre-March 8

Some things you can do to make a difference:

• Regularly read blogs of your representatives (e.g. Hannah Yeoh, Lau Weng San, Tony Pua), and leave constructive comments and suggestions
• Find out how to lodge complaints, how to get things done
• Look for similar minded people, and form a group or a committee
• Tell your friends
• and of course, vote

Here’s the Interview Transcript,

My Interview with Yang Berhormat Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan

Boon: Based on your perspective, what has changed after the March 8 elections?

Hannah: I think first of all the reason for that change was because people wanted a clean government. I think people got sick of corruption. The main gist of all the political rallies that you saw was the fact that they highlighted about corruption and how taxpayers money was being used for unnecessary projects and for the personal benefit of certain politicians.

After March 8, the thing that has changed is that it has restored back some hope in people, which shows that we are towards a transparent government and the people voted in, at least for my office. We strive for that in everything that we do.

So the first thing that we did which was unheard of before this was that we published our campaign accounts online immediately after March 8. You don’t see that often.

So that change is basically that spark of hope in people that shows how we have a clean government, and people have that expectation of us. So even that big hoo-ha about councilors – Why? Because people wanted to see the transparent manner of selection.

So the expectation is there already, which was never there before. Before, people would just close their eyes. Now, you see every policy being questioned, and you see a greater transparency.

Boon: And that also speaks about the way that people react, and that they’re more active now in the community and in voicing out their opinions?

Hannah: Yes. You see, previously people accepted it as the normal way of life. But now, people look in everything that you do people will say, “what about transparent government?”. People are starting to expect that, which is good for a developing nation like ours. We should be.  I saw that as the biggest change.

Boon: So what that means to me as a citizen is that people are starting to react differently. They are not just talking about it, but they are coming out and approaching you about issues and wanting those issues to be solved.

Hannah: Yes. People are openly criticizing corruption, as opposed to before where people accepted it as norm in Malaysia. I think that’s the biggest difference.

Boon: How do you think people perceive you and your work?

Hannah: Everybody expected us to be clean, because that’s what we promised. People have high expectations of me, they expect me to solve problems in the first hundred days, which was not possible because we didn’t have a proper handover. I didn’t have the privilege of the former ADUN saying “hey look, these are all the problems we’ve been looking at”.

So when people came, they flooded my office in the beginning. All kinds of problems. All kinds of documents. And our documents just piled up. All this took time for us to study, to understand the matter.

So as far as the Subang Jaya people are concerned, I know that people perceive me as hardworking. They know I’m trying my best to solve the problem, even though you don’t see some results now.

Does that answer your question?

Boon: I guess I’m curious to know what the perception of the general public is because that helps me to understand their position as citizens.

Hannah: I don’t think I’m the right person to say how they perceive me but a good place to look at would be on my blog, where I have enabled comments. So there are people who disagree with me, but the majority of people – they think that it’s a good job done so far. So I think that would be a better gauge.

Boon: What is the best way that people can take action in order to see change happen, in practical ways?

Hannah: I think that in practical ways, people must first learn to do things on their own first and not to rely everything upon the ADUN. So when I say people must learn to do that, reason being, we have people who have complaints about MPSJ but they refuse to lodge a complaint with MPSJ and they expect me to do it.

So this is the thing that we have to teach them. Look, your job is to lodge a complaint. The system is there for you to lodge a complaint. Now when that system fails you, when it’s not acted upon, then you tell me, because my job is to come and improve the system. But not to lodge a complaint for you.

So it takes a lot of re-educating, a re-education of the people. If everybody is willing to lodge the complaint themselves first, if they’re willing to play their role first, then that would solve 50% of the problems in our office.

The bulk of people who walk in on Thursday night – a lot of them do not know where to go when they have a problem.

Fifty percent, at least.

They come in with a personal loan matter. They cannot service their loan with a bank, and they expect me…

Boon: (interjects) Now is actually part of the government’s role to help…?

Hannah: (interjects) No – it has never been. But you see, that’s the problem. I don’t think they understand the role of the state assemblyman. So when they read the newspaper, they see some other politician helping every person with a problem, they expect Hannah Yeoh to be the same. And if you cannot perform, then you are worse than that other politician, because this politician is willing to do that. But not every politician is a like that. And my role is not to be one. The bulk of complaints are things like that.

Boon: So how do people know exactly what your jurisdiction is?

Hannah: We teach them when they come in here. We don’t just turn them away. We actually tell them, “for this issue, you’ve got to lodge a complaint with MPSJ”. We give them the hotline number. We teach them. Now if that’s not acted upon, then you call us again.

For people with personal loan matters and all this, we tell them “you need independent legal advice”. People come to me just because I have a law degree. They don’t understand that I’m not in the best position to give them legal advice because I’m not acting for them. So we will channel them to legal aid.

Boon: What about the general public, who don’t actually know how approach the matter?

Hannah: They email. I have received 3040 emails so far, since March. Average, I get about 60 per day. And I have to spend at least 3 to 4 hours just looking at them. Some emails, Edward Ling will help me, because I cannot reply to all.

So the bulk of our time is not just sitting in the office. We have to meet the people on Thursday night, and from Monday to Friday as well. We have to attend to emails. We have a hotline, which we have to attend to. And on top of that we have to go site visits. We have to meet different people. We have give press interviews and all that. So there’s a lot of things to be done.

We are at least now learning to prioritise. Because after going through a series of problems, all the different complaints, we roughly know how to tackle certain problems. And we have to make a stand. If there are certain things we cannot do, we will tell them we cannot help you.

Boon: This leads me back to my conversation with Edward on how these things could be solved with better documentation.

Hannah: We do have that. We actually have that on our website. FAQs and all that. And it’s on Edward Ling’s blog and on my blog as well.

The people who already well-informed may know that they can lodge a complaint with MPSJ online. Some of these people know. Because we have the info if you know how to go online. The problem with these people who walk in is that they don’t have an internet access. So even if I post on my blog, they don’t read it.

Boon: When I spoke to Edward over the phone, he encouraged me to join the party and voice my concerns and work my issues through the party machinery. It was obvious to me through his explanation that there’s a lack of talent, a great need of people who are capable to be able to provide help through the party itself. How much work is going on in that area, and how DAP (or the government in general) is attracting the current talent pool?

Hannah: At the state level, the government has been setting up task forces – different committees. Experts come in. For example, to deal with land issues and all that. So they have started that.

But for young people to contribute, I think many people can go through the respective ADUN’s offices and branches. For us, when people come in usually people express via email or when they walk in that they want to help out. So we have a folder. A volunteer’s folder.

When we have different projects where we need different talents, we will call up all these people and ask them what area they want to help in.

Boon: But those are people who already have a vested interest in the work. The initiative is on the volunteer’s themselves, right? Do you actually go out to look for volunteers? With people I know, most of them don’t know that there’s an opportunity to serve, either outside the government or with the government.

Hannah: If you have any suggestions, I think you can write them down and give it to me. I will look through it and raise it up to the Excos at the state level. But for now I can only speak of the effort we have taken in the office to draw volunteers and to create awareness.

Boon: But I think you do have quite a long list of volunteers.

Hannah: Yes, but there’s still a lot of work.

Boon: Would you enlist them as DAP members?

Hannah: No, some of our volunteers are not DAP members. Some people help me because they’re my friends. It also depends on the person’s passion. Some people want to just serve the community. Some people fight for justice. So it depends on the passion when they come to me, I will know from the way they talk, I’ll know what they’re passionate about and it’s best if they’re passionate about certain things then they can take up those respective jobs.

Boon: What kinds of jobs are there available?

Hannah: In my office I have one volunteer who is keying in all the complainants’ problems into our server. So that is quite time consuming.

Boon: And that system is not part of the government’s central one?

Hannah: No, it’s our own office system.

Boon: So everything is running isolated?

Hannah: Yes, you cannot have a government system now because it was non-existant previously. Some ADUNs don’t even have service centres. That’s why it’s hard for anyone to come up with a set of roles of the state assemblymen. Because you get other people who really, for votes, will do anything to service people.

Boon: That’s a gray area. There’s no clear definition of what the state assemblyman’s role is?

Hannah: The clearest thing would be to voice the concerns of Subang Jaya people – to be the voice of the Subang Jaya people at the state assembly. That’s the main role of a state assemblyman. And on top of that to know the problems – to be able to become a voice, you have to have a service centre where you hear the complaints, then you can absorb that and become a voice.

Boon: How effective is that role and how much authority is given to the state assemblyman at the state assembly in executing that responsibility?

Hannah: Let me explain the process. In the state assembly we submit our questions and they will go through the process whereby all the different departments and different agencies including the town councils (MPSJ) will have to go and find all the answers and disclose them at the state assembly.

There is a voting system if anybody brings a motion then you will have to go for the number of votes at the assembly.

Anothing thing is the access to privileged information. Any ordinary person who would ask for a list of contracts given out by MPSJ, you probably will never get it. But because of the state assembly, the powers that we have to ask questions and to summon the departments to provide us with the answers – that is one avenue for me to provide information that people want to see.

Boon: Who regulates this authority?

Hannah: We have the speaker of the house and the Dewan Undangan Negeri’s office. Then you have all the questions,  which are oral and written. Oral questions – only a few will be asked because there’s not enough time. But the rest of  the questions they cannot answer orally they will have to provide you answers in writing.

When you highlight a problem concerning the people of Subang Jaya in the state assembly, you have immunity. Outside here, if I want to allege that another state assembly is actually corrupt, I’m not able to do that. I may face a defamation suit. But in the state assembly, I’m free to do that.

Boon: So the law actually protects you from that.

Hannah: Yes. So we would say to MPSJ “please look into the matter, you tell the state to look into the matter.” One of the things I did at the state assembly was to raise the concern of ‘no legislation’ or no laws governing the gated and guarded community, which is a real problem in Subang Jaya.

When I brought that up, everybody in Selangor became aware of the problem. And I know the state is looking into this already, they are drawing up papers and all that.

Boon: And when you mention the state, who does it mean?

Hannah: The Executive Councilors. The ten Excos.

Boon: This is a bit of a re-education for me. I tended to believe that even if there is a system or a law governing the system, there are a lot of gray areas that are bypassed for reasons that I won’t mention. Of course people who have voted for change are curious to know at what point does the gray area become black and white. Even my wife was asking what checks and balances are there in place.

Hannah: Previously, nobody knows what happens in the state assembly. Previously you had only two opposition members out of 56. Then one got suspended, then there was left only one.

Now, because in the name of transparency our speaker managed to air the entire proceedings online.

Boon: Is that illegal?

Hannah: It is legal. We are the first to lead, in Selangor. You can view the entire proceedings live online. So people now, a Subang Jaya person, will be able to sit down and watch and they will know all the problems in Selangor. Because they will hear the speeches of other state assemblymen. So that’s a great chance.

Boon: What’s the percentage like in terms of the party representation in the state of Selangor?

Hannah: Now we have 36 from Pakatan Rakyat, and 20 from Barisan Nasional. That is a good balance because you have a strong opposition as well, as opposed to last time (only one or two).

Boon: So this makes it more effective for the people to voice out their concerns through their representatives.

Hannah: Yes. And for the people to also hear the replies to some of the answers, like some of the land deals that were exposed from the questions. So people are aware of it now.

Boon: Like the one in USJ6?

Hannah: Oh that one is not the kind of land deal that we found out at the state assembly. These things are happening because we don’t have a local plan. It’s still at draft stage now. As a result, we always have to go for public hearing and everybody is speculating the status of the land. But I think that when the local plan is in place, then everybody will know for certain – “this land is for this purpose”. You won’t have to guess anymore.

But now, the moment a person puts up a hoarding, everyone will jump because they think that there’s a big development that’s going up in this place. But maybe the owner of the land just wants to put hoarding so that nobody can dump rubbish.

Boon: I think that answers in general the effectiveness of the change that has been put in place after March 8. It gives me a bit more reason to convince people that they should not sit on their sofas. If they have an issue that they’re not comfortable with, to actually work those issues through their representatives. Which is my point exactly. And that just because you voted for the opposition or for change in the last election does not mean that things are as it used to be. My concern is that people expect the government to do all the work but they cannot clearly articulate what that role is. What are you thoughts about the thinking that “I paid taxes so the government should do this, like clean up the road”?

Hannah: I think it’s true that people pay assessment fees, taxes and they expect service in return. But very sad to say the mindset of Malaysians today are still very third class, some people. They pay taxes and assessment, but they still litter when they drive. Because their mindset is “look, somebody’s going to clean this up”. Which is wrong. It takes two hands to clap, to take Malaysia forward.

The reason why America or Singapore are developed nations are because the people, the mindsets change.

Boon: But at the same time there is proper enforcement in place to combat that mentality. For example, if I throw chewing gum in Singapore and there’s a policeman there, he’s going to come up to me. There’s an enforcement that encourages the formation of that mentality. So the Singapore government is proactively working to change the mindset of the public. Whereas here we’re a bit like a cowboy town where if I cut someone’s lane while driving, nobody’s going to shout at me, apart from the guy behind me. It’s a chicken and egg situation.

Hannah: I think the informed society can take the lead. People in Subang Jaya – there should be no reason why, if you’re driving, why they should litter. I’ve seen that – Mercedes drivers wind down and {signals a throw}. I find that unbelievable.

Boon: Based on your experience in the past few months, and the amount of change that you have seen both as well as been in charge of – you have a general perception of how things will arrive at a certain situation. My question is about the re-education of the public. How long do you forsee that people will start to really wake up and have a change in place?

Hannah: To be honest, I really do not know. I was convinced during the election that many people want to change. But at the same time, we didn’t win all the votes. There were still one third of people who didn’t want change. I honestly do not know – like I said, after people voted me in then they find out when they walk in that there’s certain things that I won’t compromise, so some people might not like it.

A lot of Malaysians, you’ll be surprised – they are willing to live with corruption. Why? Because as long as they have the money, they can break the law, they can pay their way through it.

To gauge, I think the next election will be a good test. Because now the people have started to taste the other side of the coin. They are not tasting the Pakatan Rakyat’s rule in this place. So they will be able to decide whether this is the kind of government they want or not. Only in the next election will we know. If you see a state like Kelantan, they have been happy with PAS for a long time.

Boon: You’re saying you have no clear observation of whether that mentality has changed or not – like there’s nobody having a repeat entrance saying things like, “actually you’re right to say I should come and get a personal loan from you”. You don’t have people coming back like that, right?

Hannah: No. But, again, based on the comments I’ve received on my blog so far, I’m quite happy that the majority of the people, they agree with me – that these are not the things an ADUN should do (giving a personal loan to a person).

This should not be my job. I cannot afford it anyway to give personal loan to everybody. So the majority of people are with us. But these are people behind the scenes. You do not know, when the actual time comes, that’s why I say the next election will be a good gauge.

Boon: Obviously all of this is a work in progress. I want people to have the opportunity to see how things have changed and how much they can affect the government within their own means. This has been good. I really thank you for the opportunity.

Hannah: No problem. Anytime.

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I will be moving to London with my wife next month. I have decided to go back to school and pursue a Masters in Human-Computer Interaction at UCL, as I’m interested in making web applications and other computery things more usable. But this is about more than just that.

This is about me trying to find a place where I’m really satisfied. Satisfied about my life, about my work, about where I am, about my responsibilities, about the future, and about the things I do.

I’m not happy where I am right now. And I’m not quite sure how to solve my problem. The worst part is, nobody else can. All I knew was that I had to do something about it, and so I made a decision, back in March.

I suppose this feeling of loss is normal, otherwise there wouldn’t be a need for career counseling. But I also think career counseling is 90% motivation. So what I’ve really been struggling with isn’t about careers, but believing hard about what I want in life.

The first thing I told myself was that people are wrong. They’re wrong about career choices. They’re wrong about how to make money. They’re wrong about how to stay happy. They’re wrong about everything.

I did that just to prove to myself that nobody could give me advice worth acting upon. I heard things like, “anywhere is better than here”, “I’m sure you’ll get it”, “I’m sure you’ll make it”, “make sure you consider everything”.

Those things I felt was good advice, I put into practice. The rest, I threw away.

I couldn’t deal with all the details at once. Some people make the transition so complex that most don’t dare to try. So I threw it all out of the window.

Have I started packing? No.

Have I submitted all my visa forms? No.

Have I got accomodation all prepared? Only for the initial months.

Has my wife got a job yet? No.

When are you flying off? In about a month.

Sounds crazy? Maybe it is.

If you’re faced with a similar situation, it would likely look a lot different. And that’s the point – everyone has their own way of doing things. There are limitations, processes, rules that apply, but by-and-large some people get around it, find their own ways, or do what they need to do to get the job done.

I don’t have guarantees. But nobody else does either. I just take take a deep breath and choose my battles wisely.

A month ago, I had mood swings and bouts of depression. I felt I was a walking contradiction.

I worried that applying to a top 10 school in the UK would be almost impossible, and my CGPA didn’t meet their requirements. That led to some delays, a phone interview, and my undergrad professor having to write a comprehensive report on me.

Still, I didn’t want to apply to other universities that were less stringent. I really wanted to get into UCL. When I finally got accepted, I was thankful, but not ecstatic. There’s more to come, I thought to myself.

I feel that I’m betting my whole life to do this. And in a way, I feel this is only way it can be done. I don’t know if I’ll end up completely burned out with nothing left but the resignation that dreams only exist in books.

But that’s what people fear. And people are wrong.

Resources:

• You’ll Be Happier When You Stop Worrying So Much About How Everything Will Turn Out

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Today, I officially announced my resignation to my colleagues at our weekly team meeting. Resignations don’t take me by surprise, because people come and go all the time. What surprises me more is how people react differently to departures.

My first resignation was extremely low-key. I didn’t tell anyone short of one or two people, until the very last day. One person in particular got offended that I didn’t tell her I was leaving. She saw it as indifference, and that she was a nobody to me, although we got along OK at work. I told her that she didn’t get singled out, since I told almost no one about it, but I also apologized for any ill feelings. The rest didn’t care that much.

My second resignation took place in light of a downsizing exercise of the startup company I was working for. Although the company prepared new roles for us at an affiliated company, I wasn’t the only person leaving. But when I told my boss about it, he was concerned and asked me a lot of questions. The others were mostly silent. But everyone understood and supported my transition.

Resignations are about managing relationships

I don’t think I’ve ever burned a bridge before in my life, but I’ve dealt with all sorts of reactions and people change their views as time goes by.

I still have many of my ex-colleagues on facebook and on IM, and we talk occasionally. Most people get over the fact that a job is still a job. It’s not like Bobby running away from home.

This time though, I took more effort to manage my personal and professional relationships about my resignation.

Tell your managers ahead of time

Firstly, the moment I made the decision to leave, I told my line manager and my CEO about it, months ahead in advance. I know this doesn’t play well with everyone, but I’ve always managed the relationships with my line manager and my CEO to be able to do this. I feel it’s only important to take responsibility for the company’s needs and its people. This is because most HR departments are mostly a function of finance.

I was a senior member in the team, so losing me would mean a gap in the leadership and technical lead area. Still, they didn’t counter offer me anything, but I did get friendly support on my decision.

This is what it’s like to manage your own career, which is how it’s like in most companies

You’re expected to make your own choices, and unless a specific culture or policy has been put in place, communicated, and encouraged, it’s a norm for people to make up their minds to just get their work done, go home, come back the next day to do the same thing.

Prioritize your relationships accordingly

Secondly, the sequence of which I informed people of my resignation was based on my relationship with them. This depended on their authority, how close I was to the person, and on circumstances. Bosses and managers came first. People who were close to me came next. Next were people who worked with me on a project that had a stake in my work. After that came the rest of the team, and then the whole world (which is why I’m writing now).

Some say it’s politics. Some say it’s being nice. I just think it’s important.

Invest in people

I didn’t do this for my first job because I was a noob, but relationships will become more important than a resumes as years pass. Even LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye says this.

Thirdly, I told people why I was leaving. I’ve been accepted to pursue a Masters in HCI in the UK. There are many good reasons for me to do this, so when people asked, I told them. This was okay because I wasn’t going to a competitor firm, and it made sense.

People want the comfort of understanding that their decisions are sound

Almost everyone I spoke to understood my conviction and supported my decision to leave. They also clarified their own positions and didn’t feel threatened by my departure.

No employee should be afraid to leave a job for the right reasons. If it’s well-managed, it can be beneficial and amicable. You just need the right perspective and some effort.

Resources:

• How to be a star performer: 4 things to get good at

• Office politics is about being nice

• 6 Signs You Don’t Care about Workers
• How to quit a job: 5 steps and 2 warnings

• 9 tips for quitting a job gracefully

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The world is full of people who are out to make an easy living.

This includes people climbing up the corporate ladder, insurance salesmen, retail outlets, websites… the lot. People do it because it’s simple – maximize earnings, minimize work. The rest are just details.

Then, there are people who maximize pleasure and minimize work. Facebook in the office. Eating while driving. Procrastination.

What people really want is not to minimize work, but to maximize value in place of work. Nobody wants to work to death, but they don’t want meaningless work.

The problem is – maximizing value isn’t easy, so we tend to focus on minimizing work.

Minimizing work is easy – just do less. Maximizing value requires more effort.

Maximizing value answers questions like:

• What do I really want in life?
• How can people really get along?
• Why did I just do that?
• What really makes me satisfied?
• What’s the meaning of life?
• How can leave the world a better place?
• Why are there so many history books?
• Why do I have to go to school?
• Why am I really spending money on this?
• Can I really can make a difference?

Minimizing work is just – doing less.

Are you maximizing value or just minimizing work?

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Challenging other people’s assumptions through confrontation can get really messy and ugly, but it’s necessary sometimes. I’ve braved confrontation many times before, but each time I do it it’s like walking into a landmine.

This weekend I decided to confront my wife (again). This time it was about her contribution to a side-project we’re working on, where I expected a bit more ownership from the team members. My wife insisted that I specified clearly what I wanted, and that she would do the work accordingly.

I raised my voice and mentioned the dozens of times I sent out emails and verbalized the need for her to go in and comment on the documentation that was in draft form, and realized that she was actually talking about summarizing it down to work tasks in small, do-able chunks – and hence minimizing the need to think too much.

I was close to spitting expletives, with my parents at the front of the car and my sister sitting next to me.

The misunderstanding, I feel, wasn’t a misunderstanding at all – but a difference in priorities. In this project, I am the sole member of the team with any real interest in the project, and the other two guys are sort of just there.

My problem is that I expect people to take ownership. I don’t like bossing people around. I expect people to think independently and creatively to contribute with an opinion. I feel that opinions are something a lot of people are particularly bad at. Not because they don’t voice out, but because they can’t carve an argument out for nuts.

And that, really, is what confrontation is all about.

Confrontation is talking to other people to tease out details of information necessary to get the work done. It is a tiresome task, but it is important and necessary. Work often doesn’t get done without confrontation.

Next time you are faced with a situation where you’re part of a team, and there’s a piece of work that needs to be done but it’s not being assigned to anyone, your team may be in need of some real confrontation. Here’s some quick tips on how to make it a bit easier:

1. Find out exactly what work needs to be done

Most people take the easy jobs, because it’s measurable and provides a sense of satisfaction when people get it done. People avoid work that’s ambiguous and has no clear definition or starting point. Unfortunately, not all work is black and white. So, you and your team members will need to address the ambiguous parts of the work, and make it crystal clear.

For me, things were not so simple, because we had started from a clean slate. There were no rules, no templates, and we were still discussing details. I decided the only way to start was to start writing things down.

2. Specify things clearly

The way to reduce the gray areas was for me to write everything down – every single detail, problem or idea that came into my head. I took up ownership first, and made sure that there was some documentation to begin with.

Confrontation requires context. People need to understand exactly what you’re talking about. And if they don’t hear you say it, they should know where to find the missing details. Either that, or it should already be obvious. Maybe you don’t have to write things down, but you may need to explain things clearly.

For me, the next part was even harder – getting people to take ownership of the document.

3. Educate

Next, I had to explain to everyone where I was coming from, what the point of the documentation was, and why it was so important. The reason why the ideas and thoughts and problems in written form were so important was because we didn’t have anything before. I didn’t want to go in circles. If there was an idea, I didn’t want it to be repeated. I thought this was the best way to get things done.

But it didn’t mean that the others would think the same way.

Sometimes confrontation is a lot about agreeing to understand each other’s point of view, and using it as a basis for reasoning out the problems. Sometimes they’re incongruent, and people stick to their side of the fence. But that’s better than not having talked about it.

At least now my wife and my friend have a better understanding of where I’m coming from. They don’t have an opinion, so they’ve decided to go with what we have now, and work it out from there.

I don’t know which part of the dark ages we’d be living in if I had assumed things.

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I am scheduling an appointment with YB Hannah Yeoh next week to talk about her views on social responsibility and making a difference. She is a really busy person and I am extremly grateful for this interview.

I’ll post the transcript here on the blog.

The reason I am doing this is firstly for myself.

I am an a typical Malaysian, which means I am an armchair critic. So, I complain and bicker about problems when they happen, but I don’t do anything much about it.

I decided to change.

But like most Malaysians, change can mean a million and one things, so to cut the process, I decided to find out exactly how change can take place through an insignificant person such as myself.

Now, the second reason why I am doing this is for you, the reader.

By putting myself in the spot, I will have no excuse but to put into practice any lessons I have learnt from the interview. But I am hoping to convert my fellow armchair critics.

I’m not a political blogger. I write on careers, living, and making a difference. And I am doing this because I feel that understanding how politics works can greatly affect the quality of people’s lives.

I have told a few friends and family members about this – in total count, about 30. Only about 6 people have gotten back to me about an opinion, a question, or a remark. The response was either completely silent, or completely vocal.

Does this mean that Malaysians are clearly on two sides of a camp?

Anyway, those who did get back to me were mostly concerned the well-being of citizens in this country. They didn’t talk about the big Anwar case that’s being publicized right now, nor the case about the Mongolian girl’s murder. But I can’t speak for everyone else. Maybe other people worry about such things.

Some of the questions sent to me were about racial polarization in schools, transparency, how effective working through our representatives would be, about cleanliness and recycling and the environment, about checks and balances, and about getting involved.

I’ll mostly ask Hannah about what her job looks like, what people think about her and her job, how things have changed and what’s the best way to make a difference.

This is by far the best way to find out where to start! It is a better way to make change happen, not by assessing all the facts to the minute detail, but to get our hands dirty while fixing problems, and learning as we go along.

I already wrote a post about getting rid of your sofa. But really, it’s about getting rid of our old thinking.

Let’s get our hands dirty. Let’s solve problems that are worth solving – whether it is about education, corruption, the environment, etc… and not just talk about it.

Stay tuned for the interview.

Update: It’s done – check out the interview here.

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With all that’s going on right now in Malaysia, I don’t particularly enjoy reading political blogs. I ignore them altogether, save for a few feeds that I subscribe to.

I feel it is completely pointless now to read anything related to politics. The reason is because politics are built on heavy doses of opinion. And unless and until people understand the weight of that opinion, it goes over the head and into the bush and seeps into the ground where it is never found again.

I propose that people tune their ears to something more practical – our lives, within the context of society.

I am proposing the institutional equivalent of removing our iron porch gates, taking down our neighbor-fences and our window grills.

Hence this blog, which is about making simple decisions about our lives in order to make a difference.

Now, I am about to shed light on an observation I’ve made about our new political environment post March 8, 2008. I don’t particularly enjoy talking about politics, but I feel I have a case here, so hear me out.

Back then, when cows roamed the earth, people sat back and did not bother too much about party representation. There was a ‘de facto’ party in power, and things just ‘ran’ – for better or for worse.

On March 8, 2008… some few million registered voters decided to change the game, and we ended up with a colorful group of very different parties making up the government. A good case study for democracy. A bad case of a social wake-up call.

Here’s where I will state my observation – Most people who voted for change did not understand that an individual’s life changes dramatically according to the political environment. Now that we see a purer democracy in operation, it also implies that citizens (not just politicians) need to be more proactive in making things happen.

Last time, when the de facto government (hereby declared as DFG) was in power, things were a lot simpler. There was 1. the government, and 2. people outside the government. When you had problems, you blamed the government.

Now, it’s different – because the government is really now made up of groups of people who don’t agree with one another, not just by principle, but by representation (or party). Just look at how colorful it is now.

Party A runs this place. Party B who doesn’t like Party A runs the other place. Then Party D who runs the Federal government in this part doesn’t get along with anyone. Then Party J who is supposed to represent Party A and D decides it doesn’t want to anymore.

It’s now an official mess. We only have 10 fingers – and we can’t use all of them to point the blame to everyone now, because there are now too many camps!

The good news is that with more parties involved, the tendency for corruption is less (I hear cheers).

The bad news is, when there is less corruption, more work needs to be done - not by the government, but by its citizens.

So, that means you who voted the opposition in don’t have an excuse to sit back and watch the action anymore… because it’s no longer just the government and the people. It’s now more complicated, and you need to make an effort to act on issues that matter more to you than before.

Do yourself a favor and list down everything you care about that takes place in the community. Here are some things on my list:

• good clean roads
• don’t want to die from dengue fever
• landscaping is beautiful
• street lights on at night
• no muggings

See – what usually happens is that I complain when these list of things go bad, and shut up when they’re ok. I believe this is what most Malaysians end up doing.

We shouldn’t be doing that anymore.

Why?

Because the government is no longer giving you one experience, like vanilla flavor. It is instead giving you the right to choose what experience you want to have, like Baskin Robbins 31. This means that you have to choose the experience that matters to you most, by calling up your state or federal representatives and get them to swing decisions and policies to your benefit.

Last time, people didn’t do that because they just ate the vanilla experience. Even if they wanted chocolate, they couldn’t get chocolate, because the DPG wouldn’t let them.

So now that you can make a change, you must! Because if you don’t, someone else will make a change, and that change may not be what you want it to be. It’s no longer you and the government. It’s you and everyone else.

Time to find who your real friends are.

Take for example, shopping malls… everyone loves them. But not in my backyard. What do you do if it ends up in your backyard? Who made the decision to put it there? Now that you have the power to influence decisions like that, you must. Otherwise, the shopping mall is going to end up in your backyard.

So, those of you who voted for change in March 8, 2008 – get out there and scream your rights and fight to skew decisions to your benefit.

Want that park cleaned? Call your representative. Take a broom. Call your neighbors.

Want to get rid of potholes? Call your representative. Find out whose in charge. File complaints.

Don’t sit back on your sofa. Get rid of it.

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My wife isn’t an overly ambitious person. But one thing she enjoys doing is reading. She can spend hours with books she loves, except that she feels guilty about not doing the chores and not being ‘responsible’ enough. So to her, reading doesn’t bring much value, compared to starting a business, giving birth to children, etc.

I told her that there’s obvious value in what she loves doing over and over again. It’s just that she’s weighed it with a different scale that measures it differently. To a book author, of course there’s value in people reading books. To book sellers, too. And book collectors.

We often choose to look at the world with specific lenses, and that sometimes skews our perspective of things so much that there’s something lacking in our lives.

Because of that, we sometimes fail to evaluate the true value of something we truly enjoy doing.

The value of something is maximized when that value is best articulated by the person who enjoys it the most. If you can describe in detail why something means so much to you, that proves its real value to you. Things get hazy and gray when things can’t be described in detail, so a lot of value is lost in transition. Don’t let that happen. Find what makes you tick – make sure you know EXACTLY why.

Being able to describe in detail what something means to you helps you to know what you want in life. And this is key to unlocking a lot of possibilities and opportunities in life. Conversely, being unable to comprehend, describe, and articulate value leads to confusion, frustration, and loss.

Also, don’t let others define what you should value the most. If you enjoy doing something, and it’s the only thing you can do over and over again without any prompting, inspiration or cajoling, then there must be some obvious value you get out of it, even if you have problems admitting or seeing it.

The only catch is, of course, it shouldn’t harm others in the process.

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