Independence Day Teaches Us About Leadership

We have more individual choices than ever. We can choose from sixteen movies at a mega-plex, eight different kinds of orange juice (low acid, some pulp, not from concentrate, etc.) and countless shoe brands and styles. Is it any surprise that we want to be free to make choices in our jobs as well? If you grew up with only four TV channels to choose from, you might believe the command-style leadership is still viable. You might believe in shared values and needs, the way we did in the ‘60’s. Unfortunately, centralized leadership does not work with this new generation. They want to work their way, not your way. They know what motivates them, how they best achieve results and obtain information, and they want to receive full credit for their efforts. If you try to steamroll their Independence, you will wind up with flattened cartoon characters, not productive employees. As a leader today, you must decentralize the power and authority. With leadership opportunities, employees will find personal meaning in the work they do. And they will do it well, provided you meet their needs. Your challenge—accommodating leaders on all levels of the organization—is daunting, maybe even terrifying. How do you align each employee’s needs with the needs of the organization? With so many leaders, so much independence, will chaos be far behind? Not necessarily. Not if you build in some safeguards. It’s important to understand that total independence is often desired, but not always healthy. Individualism can lead to a sense of helplessness, and this helplessness can lead to depression. Despite fiercely independent childhood heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, we want and need to be part of something greater than ourselves. We want the support of a community. We want to feel like the work we do has meaning not only to ourselves, but to others. Chances are, this meaning has already been established—in the form of your organization’s founding mission, vision, goals, and values. These pillars were originally set by the founder and then enhanced through time by the organization’s leadership teams. As a leader, you can bring this meaning to employees by frequently asking how their needs and goals match the organization’s. In doing so, you give them the respect they want and need, as well as communicate a sense of belonging to a larger community. Do you believe in your organization’s mission, vision, goals, and values? If so, you will be able to impart this sense of togetherness to your charges. If not, you will be herding cats. Authentic leadership requires allowing everyone to lead at times, but to instill one cohesive purpose, so that these leaders will work together and move in one overarching direction. For each and every project, ask yourself, “How does this contribute to our organization’s mission, vision, goals, and values?” Ask the same of what is the meaning of independence day to you. And have them ask the same of what is the meaning of independence day to them.We have more individual choices than ever. We can choose from sixteen movies at a mega-plex, eight different kinds of orange juice (low acid, some pulp, not from concentrate, etc.) and countless shoe brands and styles. Is it any surprise that we want to be free to make choices in our jobs as well? If you grew up with only four TV channels to choose from, you might believe the command-style leadership is still viable. You might believe in shared values and needs, the way we did in the ‘60’s. Unfortunately, centralized leadership does not work with this new generation. They want to work their way, not your way. They know what motivates them, how they best achieve results and obtain information, and they want to receive full credit for their efforts. If you try to steamroll their Independence, you will wind up with flattened cartoon characters, not productive employees. As a leader today, you must decentralize the power and authority. With leadership opportunities, employees will find personal meaning in the work they do. And they will do it well, provided you meet their needs. Your challenge—accommodating leaders on all levels of the organization—is daunting, maybe even terrifying. How do you align each employee’s needs with the needs of the organization? With so many leaders, so much independence, will chaos be far behind? Not necessarily. Not if you build in some safeguards. It’s important to understand that total independence is often desired, but not always healthy. Individualism can lead to a sense of helplessness, and this helplessness can lead to depression. Despite fiercely independent childhood heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, we want and need to be part of something greater than ourselves. We want the support of a community. We want to feel like the work we do has meaning not only to ourselves, but to others. Chances are, this meaning has already been established—in the form of your organization’s founding mission, vision, goals, and values. These pillars were originally set by the founder and then enhanced through time by the organization’s leadership teams. As a leader, you can bring this meaning to employees by frequently asking how their needs and goals match the organization’s. In doing so, you give them the respect they want and need, as well as communicate a sense of belonging to a larger community. Do you believe in your organization’s mission, vision, goals, and values? If so, you will be able to impart this sense of togetherness to your charges. If not, you will be herding cats. Authentic leadership requires allowing everyone to lead at times, but to instill one cohesive purpose, so that these leaders will work together and move in one overarching direction. For each and every project, ask yourself, “How does this contribute to our organization’s mission, vision, goals, and values?” Ask the same of what is the meaning of independence day to you. And have them ask the same of what is the meaning of independence day to them.

sound of silence

The Sounds of Silence
“Hello darkness, my old friend,
I’ve come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
A neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs those voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
Fools said i,you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whispered in the sounds of silence.”

Silence Poem
What you can do:
You can criticise silence,
You can ignore silence.
What you cannot do:
You cannot sit even one fleeting minute
In silence.
Yet one day
It is you and you alone
Who will marry silence
And become inseparably one
With silence-sky.

swimming pool

What a modern woman wants

The old woman sat in the backseat of the magenta convertible as it careened down the highway, clutching tightly to the plastic bag on her lap, afraid it may be kidnapped by the wind. She was not used to such speed, with trembling hands she pulled the seatbelt tighter but was careful not to touch the patent leather seats with her callused fingers, her daughter had warned her not to dirty it, ' Fingerprints show very clearly on white, Ma. ' Her daughter, Bee Choo, was driving and talking on her sleek silver mobile phone using big words the old woman could barely understand. ‘Finance ' ' Liquidation ' , ' Assets ' ' Investments ' ... Her voice was crisp and important and had an unfamiliar lilt to it. Her Bee Choo sounded like one of those foreign girls on television. She was speaking in an American accent. The old lady clucked her tongue in disapproval..... ‘I absolutely cannot have this. We have to sell! ‘Her daughter exclaimed agitatedly as she stepped on the accelerator; her perfectly manicured fingernails gripping onto the steering wheel in irritation. 'I can’t DEAL with this anymore! ‘She yelled as she clicked the phone shut and hurled it angrily toward the backseat. The mobile phone hit the old woman on the forehead and nestled soundlessly into her lap. She calmly picked it up and handed it to her daughter. 'Sorry, Ma, ' she said, losing the American pretence and switching to Mandarin. ‘I have a big client in America. There have been a lot of problems. ‘The old lady nodded knowingly. Her daughter was big and important. Bee Choo stared at her mother from the rear view window, wondering what she was thinking. Her mother’s wrinkled countenance always carried the same cryptic look. The phone began to ring again, an artificially cheerful digital tune, which broke the awkward silence. 'Hello, Beatrice! Yes, this is Elaine. ‘Elaine. The old woman cringed. I didn’t name her Elaine. She remembered her daughter telling her, how an English name was very important for ' networking ‘, Chinese ones being easily forgotten.'Oh no, I can ' t see you for lunch today. I have to take the ancient relic to the temple for her weird daily prayer ritual. ‘Ancient Relic. The old woman understood perfectly it was referring to her. Her daughter always assumed that her mother’s silence meant she did not comprehend. 'Yes, I know! My car seats will be reeking of joss sticks! ‘The old woman pursed her lips tightly, her hands gripping her plastic bag in defence. The car curved smoothly into the temple courtyard. It looked almost garish next to the dull sheen of the ageing temple’s roof. The old woman got out of the back seat, and made her unhurried way to the main hall. Her daughter stepped out of the car in her business suit and stilettos and reapplied her lipstick as she made her brisk way to her mother ' s side. 'Ma, I 'll wait outside. I have an important phone call to make, ' she said, not bothering to hide her disgust at the pungent fumes of incense. The old lady hobbled into the temple hall and lit a joss stick; she knelt down solemnly and whispered her now familiar daily prayer to the Gods. Thank you God of the Sky, you have given my daughter luck all these years. Everything I prayed for, you have given her. She has everything a young woman in this world could possibly want. She has a big house with a swimming pool, a maid to help her, as she is too clumsy to sew or cook. Her love life has been blessed; she is engaged to a rich and handsome angmoh (红毛—外国人) man. Her company is now the top financial firm and even men listen to what she says. She lives the perfect life. You have given her everything except happiness. I ask that the gods be merciful to her even if she has lost her roots while reaping the harvest of success. What you see is not true; she is a filial daughter to me. She gives me a room in her big house and provides well for me. She is rude to me only because I affect her happiness. A young woman does not want to be hindered by her old mother. It is my fault. The old lady prayed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, with her head bowed in reverence she planted the half-burnt joss stick into an urn of smouldering ashes. She bowed once more. The old woman had been praying for her daughter for thirty-two years. When her stomach was round like a melon, she came to the temple and prayed that it was a son. Then the time was ripe and the baby slipped out of her womb, bawling and adorable with fat thighs and pink cheeks, but unmistakably, a girl. Her husband had ticked and punched her for producing a useless baby who could not work or carry the family name. Still, the woman returned to the temple with her new-born girl tied to her waist in a sarong and prayed that her daughter would grow up and have everything she ever wanted. Her husband left her and she prayed that her daughter would never have to depend on a man. She prayed every day that her daughter would be a great woman, the woman that she, meek and uneducated, could never become. A woman with nengkan (能干) ; the ability to do anything she set her mind to. A woman who commanded respect in the hearts of men. When she opened her mouth to speak, precious pearls would fall out and men would listen. She will not be like me, the woman prayed as she watched her daughter grow up and drift away from her, speaking a language she scarcely understood. She watched her daughter transform from a quiet girl to one who openly defied her, calling her laotu, old fashioned.... She wanted her mother to be ' modern ‘, a word so new there was no Chinese word for it. Now her daughter was too clever for her and the old woman wondered why she had prayed like that. The Gods had been faithful to her persistent prayer, but the wealth and success that poured forth so richly had buried the girl 's roots and now she stood faceless with no identity, bound to the soil of her ancestors by only a string of origami banknotes. Her daughter had forgotten her mother’s value. Her wants were so ephemeral, that of a modern woman. Power, wealth, access to the best fashion boutiques and yet her daughter had not found true happiness. The old woman knew that you could find happiness with much less. When her daughter left the earth, everything she had would count for nothing. People would look to her legacy and say that she was a great woman but she would be forgotten once the wind blows over, like the ashes of burnt paper convertibles and mansions. The old woman wished she could go back and erase all her big hopes and prayers for her daughter now that she had looked out of the temple gates. She saw her daughter speaking on the phone, her brow furrowed with anger and worry. Being at the top is not good, the woman thought, there is only one way to go from there - down. The old woman carefully unfolded the plastic bag and spread out a packet of beehoon in from of the altar. Her daughter often mocked her for worshipping porcelain Gods. How could she pray to them so faithfully and expect pieces of ceramic to fly to her aid? But her daughter had her own gods too, idols of wealth, success and power that she enslaved to and worshipped every day of her life. Every day was a quest for the idols, and the idols she worshipped counted for nothing in eternity. All the wants her daughter had would slowly suck the life out of her and leave her, an empty soulless shell at the altar. The old woman watched the joss stick.The dull heat had left a teetering grey stem that was on the danger of collapsing. Modern woman nowadays, the old lady signed in resignation, as she bowed to the east obne final time to end her ritual. Modern woman nowadays want so much that they lose their souls and wonder when they cannot find it. Her joss stick disintegrated into a soft grey powder. She met her daughter outside the temple, the same look of worry and frustration was etched on her daughter’s face. An empty expression, as if she was ploughing through the soil of her wants looking for the one thing that would sown the seeds of happiness. They climbed into the convertible in silence and her daughter drove along the highway, this time not too fast as she had done before. Ma, Bee Choo finally said. "I don’t know how to put this. Mark and I have been talking about it and we plan to move out of the big house. The property market is good now, and we managed to get a buyer willing to pay us seven million for it. We decided we’d prefer a cosier penthouse apartment instead. We found a perfect one in Orchard Road. Once we move into our apartment, we plan to get rid of the maid, so we can have more space to ourselves...." The old woman nodded knowingly. Bee Choo swallowed hard. "We’d get someone to come in to do the housework and we can eat out - but once the maid is gone, there won’t be anyone to look after you. You will be awfully lonely at home and, besides that the apartment is rather small. There won’t be space. We thought about it for a long time, and we decided the best thing for you is if you moved to a Home. There’s one near Hougang -it ‘s a Christian home and a very nice one." The old woman did not raise an eyebrow. I’ve been there; the matron is willing to take you in. It’s beautiful with gardens and lots of old people to keep you company! Hardly have time for you, you ‘d be happier there." “You ‘d be happier there, really." her daughter repeated as if to affirm herself. This time the old woman had no plastic bag of food offering to cling tightly to; she bit her lip and fastened her seat belt, as if it would protect her from a daughter who did not want her anymore. She sunk deep into the leather seat, letting her shoulders sag and her fingers trace the white seat. Ma, her daughter asked, searching the rear view window for her mother. "Is everything okay? What had to be done, had to be done. "Yes" she said firmly, louder than she intended, ' if it will make you happy, ' she added more quietly. It’s for you, Ma! You will be happier there. You can move there tomorrow, I already got the maid to pack your things. ‘Elaine said triumphantly, mentally ticking yet another item off her agenda. 'I knew everything would be fine ‘Elaine smiled widely; she felt liberated. Perhaps getting rid of her mother would make her happier. She had thought about it. It seemed the only hindrance in her pursuit of happiness. She was happy now. She had everything a modern woman ever wanted; money, status, career, love, power and now freedom without her mother and her old-fashioned ways to weigh her down...... Yes she was free. Her phone butted urgently, she picked it up and read the message, still beaming from ear to ear. "Stock 10% increase" Yes, things were definitely beginning to look up for her and while searching for the meaning of life in the 1 uminance of her hand phone screen, the old woman in the backseat became invisible and she did not see her in tears. So fellow friends, save enough for your old age and don’t try to rely on your children. Your responsibility is to give them the necessary education/training and life after that is theirs. If they chose to look after you, it is a bonus and thanks the gods for it.......

H1N1

JUST A SMALL BUT MEANINGFUL INFO FRM ME TO YOU AND YR FRIENDS...MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF H1N1 SINCE IT PRACTICALLY HIT US LIKE A TIME BOMB..... My staff was crying herself sick on Tuesday morning...was told that her son was confirmed of H1N1 in his Uni at Kangar, Perlis...worse was that when he was bedridden 2 days the warden didnt even bother to sent to hospital till his dad came fm KL and with his friends assistance brought him to GH Kangar.... No one bothered in the hospital and he was put in the normal ward for another 2 days!!! (imagine the amount of people he has infected!!) .....after 2 days and his eyes were turning yellow and saliva greenish...he was put in quarantined room...Called his mom to say...minta maaf and ampun la dosa dia, etc...she practically fainted just telling me the story.. cant do much cos she x have enough money to go to the north with the father... First thing we did was made her call the hospital and insist that they sent him to Sg.Buloh Hospital or any other hospital in KL since they seemed to be more alert and more equipt...they refused of course...so I sent her off to Kangar the same day to solve the problem. Whilst this was happening, SUBHANALLAH, I had a call from one Ustaz who was in town to "help cure" another H1N1 child in Shah Alam....and was told this simple prescription by him.....of course kena redha pada ALLAH and niat dengan sesungguh nya...selawat 3x... EAT MINIMUM 6 GREEN APPLES A DAY AND FRESH ORANGE JUICE, for those with sore throat please blend the apples and keep on taking till your fever disappear and yr symtoms are gone....I cannot explain it but the child in Shah Alam was ok too after taking this tip.... ALHAMDULILLAH...my staff's son was given the apple juice for the whole day on Monday/Tuesday and dengan kuasa ALLAH he was out of the fever yesterday Wednesday....she called me and was crying on the phone to say that her son was out of ICU and was able to eat normally...all these happened within just 4 days today (thursday 6 ugust)... This is just to share with my fellow sisters and brothers and hope this small info could assist others as well, INSYA'ALLAH!!!!!!!!!! No harm in trying and kuasa ALLAH anything can happen!!!!

Are you genius or a genius?

20 Things You Didn't Know About ... Genius
How do the Nobel Prize winners get so damn smart?By Rebecca CoffeyProvided by Discover Magazine

1. The latest winners of the Nobel Prizes -- the big kahuna of genius awards -- will be announced October 5 this year. Were you nominated? To find out, you’ll have to either win or wait 50 years, which is how long the Nobel committee keeps secret the list of also-rans.
2. Nyah, nyah. William Shockley, who won the 1956 Nobel in physics for inventing the transistor, was excluded as a child from a long-term study of genius because his IQ score wasn’t high enough.
3. History repeated itself in 1968 when Luis Alvarez won a Nobel for his work on elementary particles. He had been excluded from the same research program as Shockley. Who set up that study, anyway?
4. The genius study was created in 1928 by Louis Terman at Stanford University, who pioneered the use of IQ tests to identify geniuses, defined by him as those with an IQ greater than 140.
5. None of the children (known as “Termites”) in the study has won a Nobel.
6. Still smart, though: Termite Jess Oppenheimer invented the TelePrompTer, and Norris Bradbury headed the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
7. Many 19th- and 20th-century creative geniuses acquired a reputation for promiscuity. Examples include Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell.
8. One theory suggests that male geniuses are unusually endowed with enthusiasm for risk-taking, which is notoriously testosterone-linked.
9. In 1981 Shockley and eugenicist Robert Klark Graham cofounded the Repository for Germinal Choice in Southern California, a sperm bank dedicated to selling the seed of Nobel Prize winners and other men with a high I.Q.
10. Graham died in 1997. The Repository for Germinal Choice closed in 1999.
11. Being a genius is no guarantee of financial security. A recent study at the Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research showed that baby boomers with average and low IQs were just as good at saving money as those with high IQs.
12. Albert Einstein is said to have lost most of his Nobel money in bad investments. Anyone can do that.
13. Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician, identified what is now called Asperger’s syndrome: a form of autism marked by intense absorption in a very narrow range of special interests.
14. Asperger believed that there is a link between mathematical and scientific genius and his syndrome, claiming that "for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential."
15. Sometimes stereotypes are accurate. Norbert Wiener, who invented the field of cybernetics, was the prototype of the absent-minded genius.
16. Once, Weiner forgot he’d driven to a conference, took the bus home, and then reported his car stolen when he didn’t see it in his driveway.
17. In the 1990s Bell Labs found that its most valued and productive electrical engineers were not those endowed with genius but those who excelled in rapport, empathy, cooperation, persuasion and the ability to build consensus.
18. Too much partying? In 2007 researchers at Kyoto University pitted chimpanzees against college students in three memory-based intelligence tests. The highest-scoring chimp beat all the students in the first test, tied with a few in the second test and reigned again in the third.
19. Try pitting him against the chimp. Alex, a gray parrot who died last September at age 31, has been widely billed as the smartest bird ever. Alex could identify 50 objects, seven colors and shapes and quantities of up to six.
20. You, too, can be a genius (maybe). Scientists at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University in Australia say intelligence can be boosted, at least in the short term, by a daily dose of 5 milligrams of creatine, a compound found in muscle tissue.

Spend some time alone

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
TWO ... Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
FOUR . When you say, 'I love you ,' mean it.
FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.
SIX ... Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
SEVEN.. Believe in love at first sight.
EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much. NINE . Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
TEN. . In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.
TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.
THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'
FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.
SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson !
SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
EIGHTEEN... Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship..
NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone.. The caller will hear it in your voice.
TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone.