Author: CheckW

Defining moments come and go. One happened to me this week. It may require you to provide a quick response that has serious implications for your next phase in life. Past experiences kick in and you fall back on them to direct you on how you will react next.

Seems like my new boss of 3 months is questioning my ability to perform in my current job role. He triggered a formal 2 months notification process on Wed that initially caught me by surprise but then it quickly felt familiar again. I have been down this road before. Spoke to wife and couldn’t sleep the whole night. The next morning, I spoke to 2 other people because I value their views, as they were responsible for helping me get this job. One of them was the boss that hired me but then lost his job 2.5 mths later. The other was an old friend who was instrumental in helping me get this role. They both generally agree on my next course of action. I should tender my resignation instead.

It has been a tough past 6 months working my butt off to try to succeed in my new role, but I guess it was not good enough. Time to cut loss and move on then. I have to learn from this setback and pick up the pieces to decide on what I want to do next. There are still some positives from this whole experience though. It helped me get back into the industry again, specifically the area where I left more than 15 years ago. It will be easier for me to get a similar role if I decide to continue within this sector. Have to keep my chin up.

 

 

 

 

We have seen so many clear megatrends that have been coming towards us at lightning speed over the last few years. I really need to spend more time thing about it and trying to dissect the implications for me as an individual and hopefully to also eventually position myself to benefit from it, both financially and for personal growth.

Internet 1.0 and 2.0 came and went. It has now evolved into a living organism that takes a life of its own, an all powerful and all seeing eco-system. Social media is only 10+ years old but we have already moved on to a stage where we cannot remember what it was like before we were this connected to the world.

Same for Goggle maps. It has spawned the birth of Uber and Airbnb. Taxi uncles using only the old way of flag down service are wondering why they are getting less business now. Everyone can have on demand and accurate point pickup nowadays with discounts thrown in, so why should one go back to the old way of doing things?

Driverless cars are the next wave and technologically, it is already possible now. Disruption to the old way of life is just going to accelerate. Shopping malls are dying as online shopping becomes the norm. Malls may evolve to become just entertainment centers, else they become irrelevant.

It feels that the world is ready for the next big jump to internet 3.0 where we are only limited by our imagination. Cloud was a big invasion of privacy a few years ago but it is the norm nowadays. Nobody talks about it anyway – you are either in it or you might as well be a hermit in a cave and lock yourself out from the rest of the world.

What is the end state? As I have mentioned before, the movie Wall-e provides a hint of the future, where humans are made redundant as machines take over every chore. We are now talking about helicopter money, where a country may have to provide a basic monthly income to all citizens as most will be pushed out of a job as machines take over.

The future’s so bright, we’ve got to wear shades…

 

 

 

How well do I know myself? After more than 50 years on planet earth, I am confident to say that I know myself much better now than when I was a 21-year-old. The best measure of this would be the recognition of your strengths and weaknesses.

One self-improvement course I attended many moons ago had suggested that after identifying your strengths, maximize them while you de-emphasize your weaknesses. I don’t necessarily agree with that approach on weaknesses.

One needs to come to understand your weaknesses, admit them and perhaps try to turn a weakness into a strength instead. That is the path to one’s acceptance of who we are and how to make yourself a better person in the process. Life is a long learning journey, one never should stop learning, else the hunger for life will diminish accordingly.

One of my major weakness is that I am not good at thinking on my feet. I tend not to be able to reply back quickly with snappy answers when faced with a tense situation. I am the type that likes to mull over the issue at hand, sometimes for days, before I come up with a quality answer that I think I am satisfied with. I used to have a boss that demands quick responses and being in a Treasury environment, I have been trained over the years to be decisive and to respond immediately. I believe that there are some situations that require this approach. But for major decision making, thinking over it will definitely provide for a better quality result. Hence I try to differentiate the problems at hand nowadays and then make a call on the approach to take. Those that require more time, I will write it down to remind myself and let it stew in my mind for a while. During my long running sessions on Sundays, I might run over these again with a clear mind. I believe that by doing so, I have turned my weakness into a strength.

Knowing my strengths is also as important. I think I am good at strategic business planning, having had successes in the corporate world with a proven track record. I am able to see opportunities where the incumbents only see brick walls in front of them. My marketing experience comes in handy to get buy-in from others to share with them my vision on how we should move forward. Being optimistic is also a strength, as pessimism is a poison that we should all get rid of from our system.

The more I get to know myself, the better my quality of life. I am better focused on what I want and it helps me plan strategically to create a concrete roadmap on how I want to get there. Execution of the plan is then the next key step to achieving it. Life has greater meaning as a result. It also encourages me to strive for new knowledge all the time, to better myself, and I become more hungry with a zest for life. Meanwhile, one should always also learn to stay happy and healthy all the time!

 

Another long weekend ahead, thanks to labour day on Monday.

National Service (NS) is our country’s version of compulsory military service that was started in the 1960s as a means to provide us with a greater sense of security in a time where neighbours were hostile to the birth of a new country.

Back then, the founders had no choice by to enlist the help of Israel to kick-start the NS program. Urban legends still exist today that the Israeli trainers do throw their daggers at the recruits and punishment were sometimes inhuman. Henceforth, NS became a rite of passage to manhood for 18-year-old boys.

My NS journey started in 1987 and it was for 2.5 years. It was a real eye opener for me as I was forced to interact with different social classes of people I have never met with before and pushed me out of my little comfort zone many times. That immature spoilt brat became wiser to the bigger real world outside of his cocoon and started to realize how lucky he was, compared to his many other army mates who had not much of a future ahead of them. I had written about this in my previous blogs.

Anyway, this week was nostalgic for me again. NS has come full circle for me as my older son prepares to get ready for his NS journey that would start early next year. He had been recently called up for a routine NS medical checkup a few months ago. For the first time in the 50 years of NS, they are now allowed to select the vocations they prefer. As he was with his softball mates, they decided that being in Guards was cool. A few weeks later, most of them received a letter to attend a Commando interview instead, as the army decided that they may want to up the game and join a more elite force… hahaha So there I was, a proud old man, sending him to the Changi Commando camp on Thursday morning at 730 am for that interview.

Then this morning wifey and I attended an NS briefing organized by the school. It was a very enlightening session where I learned about the new NS versus what I have experienced more than 30 years ago. They even have a youtube series called “Every Singaporean son” as a good intro to NS life (link below).  They even had a website for all relevant info : www.ns.sg

I am feeling as excited as my 2 boys, seeing them turning from boys to men within the 2 years in NS when they reach 18. The older one will start NS next year and mummy is naturally worried. I still have a funny knot in my stomach though, just like all those years ago when I gave part of my life to serve the nation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxmp8nwQ43Q

https://www.ns.sg/nsp/portal/site/mindef-pe

 

What is Intensity? The definition is “the quality of being intense”. If the intensity is towards something that consumes one’s heart totally, the sweet smell of success is so euphoric and uplifting that you hit a natural high. On the other hand, if the intensity is constant and involves things you cannot control, it can break you down.

This word has been coming up to me constantly this week. It started with a periodic lunch from the CEO for a big group of senior management members. The sentence from him that stayed with me was: “I see a lot more of intensity nowadays. It is good and I want everyone to keep it up.”

Yes, since I joined 5 months ago, it has been nothing BUT intensity. Changes are so constant that every day is an adventure, not knowing what will hit you next. You just bear with it and push ahead. People who have been around the bank longer have also told me that they feel it too. Apparently, for the last 5 years, there were 5 top management changes and hence nothing long-term could be implemented effectively and people have just been following the tide. This time, things seem more serious and we get news of people being let go every other week, tighter timelines and full head on challenges coming fast and furious…  Seems like every other global bank work environment is like that now. The clock is ticking faster and faster, timelines are getting more urgent and the rat race treadmill is spinning out of control.

That recent numbing tightness at the back of my head does not seem to be going away. My tensed shoulders look like the result of the stress I am going through. I need a good massage. I like to think that I want to continue to give it my best for as long as I can, or until I come to an “enough is enough” moment.

Nearing the tail end of my career now, so this is my final run towards the retirement finishing line. I would like to end this with a bang and say that it was a good finish, that I have accomplished something and left a legacy behind. It sounds a bit cliquish but one should always aim high to overachieve, then plan meticulously on how one can reach that goal. If I get it right, the upside is big. If not, then at least I can say that I have given it my best shot.

 

 

So glad that we have a long weekend ahead. Been a while since the last one. Most countries even have Monday off too.

Today is Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, on which the Crucifixion of Jesus commemorated in the Christian Church. It is traditionally a day of fasting and penance.

We should constantly give thanks to the Man upstairs for all our blessings and appreciate everything that we have been given because there are many others in the world that are less fortunate than most of us. ew and

As we grow older, more joy can be derived if we consciously aim to help others and try to make their lives better, even by just doing a small good deed. If you believe in karma, the more good deeds done by oneself onto others will, in turn, see one get more in return.

Happiness studies have also shown that many small happy moments are more sustainable than a big one. Buying a fancy car is a big happy moment, looking forward to and enjoying a simple happy moment every day (eg. a walk in the park) is a small one. Having many small happy moments is a far superior long run experience to having an infrequent big happy one. It is also good for the emotional health of oneself and it makes life, in general, a more enjoyable journey. I try to make this a habit of mine, by looking forward to an event in the day that will make me happy and then my day ahead becomes more manageable.

Just like yesterday, I had a really long day with B2B meetings and thousands of things to do. But the thought of having dinner with a group of old friends that evening cheered me along. And the dinner was wonderful.

Always look to the bright side of things, it will free up your mind and we can make the IMpossible become Possible !

Is the world getting more cynical nowadays? Gone are the days where a piece of news will shock the markets and stock markets go into a tailspin or financial markets volatility shoot off the charts?

We had a crazy Friday where Trump decided to bomb Syria for the sarin attack, another terrorist attack in Stockholm and markets hardly moved. Russia is now trying to escalate the pressure by further arming Syria. What is happening? Are people now so immune to shocking news that nothing scares anyone anymore?

Volatility is continuing to fall and I have a big hole in my pocket for my long TVIX positions… The theory is that in a search for yield, hedge funds having been doing a sure bet trade for the last few years, creating short positions on volatility with time decay on their side.  Volatility has hit historical lows and no end in sight. What does it take to shock the markets anymore? Not since Lehman in 2008 have we seen fear in the markets. Traders are afraid to take leave nowadays because the few hours that may help make or break their chances to achieve their budget may just slip pass them if they step away from their trading desks for a few hours.

Separately, people are also getting jaded at work. Again on a Friday, as in the last few weeks, half the project team of 20 were told that they were let go. This was 3 weeks after the head and deputy were fired. The remaining senior guy was on vacation in Japan and received a call that he lost his job. What a way to spoil a vacation… A clean the shop execution plan. Job security? It is non-existent nowadays.

 

Another busy week at work and time did pass quite fast with multiple back to back meetings. The second half of the week was in Hong Kong for business.

The Hong Kong weather was pleasant and this time around (3rd HK trip in 4 months), I decided to book a different hotel, opting to put up in Causeway Bay instead. It is the main shopping district and I spent both nights walking around the area looking for interesting restaurants to try while grabbing some of my favourite street food along the way.

Work wise, there is so many twists and turns every day. It makes for an interesting environment, where the clock is ticking and you get surprises (both good and bad) constantly and then try to make the best out of them while being on your toes. One has to be brave enough to stick one’s head out and make a call in a company where it historically prefers consensus agreements – many meetings and many signoffs required. Don’t blame them for the mindset, given 5 CEO changes in 5 years. It was better then to just keep your head low and cruise. Seems like that is not an option for a newbie like me now.

So many things happening now and my plate seems a bit full and overstretched. Does not help that my 2 man team will become one man in 2 weeks time. I tell my colleagues that I have 3 persons working for me now: “I, me and myself…”.

Got to give this my best shot and try to make it a success with whatever cards I am dealt with. Everyone’s getting more stressed at work and Cost/Income (CI) ratios are not very healthy. Just saw a mass front office group resignation in HK after bonus payouts. This will hurt CI even more as there will be an immediate revenue impact.

Hang in tight and just work my butt off. If I tried my best and it is still not good enough, then I will know soon. A job is a job is just a job…

Happy April’s Fool day!