Category: Sharing My Thoughts

…our boss had asked me and a colleague to jointly shortlist potential partners for a major project. After a week, we reviewed the shortlist with the boss. At the end, he asked “How does each company complement us?” That’s a strange question, I thought, taking some time to process my answer. My colleague went first:…

If an employee is great at something, do you give them more of the same assignments? Or do you pro-actively find other assignments to stretch and stimulate them? A friend D spent 10 years at his former company in the same role, as part of the strategy team. And because he was very good at…

I used to ask my 18-year son how his day was, whenever I picked him up from school. But in the last few years, his answers have mostly been a monosyllabic “Good”. And then he looks at his phone, leaving me to feel like his personal driver. I switched tact recently. I started sharing my…

I am in KL with 3 school friends from more than half a lifetime ago for a long weekend of Euro Championship football, great food and most importantly, great conversations. Two nights ago, the whiskey-enabled conversation turned to important lessons we’d learnt in our careers. A friend H shared this perspective: In every critical situation…

…but happily left a job recently. The trigger? He left work one day at his old company an hour earlier than the stipulated time. He’d come in very early and had a jam-packed, wonderfully productive day – one of those where he barely had time for toilet breaks and a 15-minute lunch. Somewhat brain-dead after…

My daughter did not have a regular recess partner for her first 2 months of Primary 1. While classmates had paired up or formed cliques on Day 1, somehow she was excluded. It broke my heart. How did my daughter deal with it? Like water off a duck’s back. Each day at recess, she went…

On holiday in Taiwan in May, the geek in me was thrilled to find a 660-ton pendulum near the top of the Taipei 101, once the world’s tallest building. Picture a room-sized orb hanging off the top of the skyscraper. It’s called a Tuned Mass Damper and stops the building from excessively swaying during an…

“If my son is weak in math but strong in football, should I arrange one-on-one training for math or football?”, a friend asked. Do we focus on strengths or weaknesses? Coincidentally, I’d just read a renowned sports coach’s thoughts on the same topic. In team sports, it’s clear: focus on strengths. Don’t ask Messi to…

Last night I heard something that always brings a smile to my face but which I don’t mindfully acknowledge enough. One daily exercise I learned from a mindfulness program is the 10-Finger Appreciation. We mindfully go through ten things – big or small – we appreciate, and observe how our body feels. Mindful appreciation, my…

My parents left China pre-WW2, met and married in Singapore. Over 17 years, my mother gave birth to 9 children. My parents’ belief was that more children = more caregivers in their old age. This was a common belief – and behaviour – until the Sg government reframed it by proclaiming, “the more (children) you…