At the Asia Open Source Symposium today, a friend asked me: “What do you think will happen to Microsoft if Bill Gate leaves?” After giving it some thought, I said “Probably nothing”. I mean, why would it be any difference? While Bill Gates is the icon for Microsoft, the real power of Microsoft, IMHO, are […]
Tag: Management
What’s the manager role?
I’m sitting at my hotel louge drinking coffee waiting for my next appointment and started thinking about something that happened a month ago. I was having coffee with an old classmate. He has done pretty well too and now manages a team of people like I do. In the hour we sat in the lounge, […]
Type A or Type B
There are generally two kind of people in management or leadership: (1) the cool and quiet guy (2) the energetic and charismatic guy. I shall refer the first as Type A and latter as Type B. Asian (particularly Japanese) believes there is a colloration between their blood type and their character. This is not to […]
Bureaucracy = do nothing
During a golf session with a friend over the weekend, we have a brief but interesting discussion about bureaucracy in the government. Peter Drucker, in his book Managing the Next Society noted that Japanese have encountered 3 economic crisis: 1940s unemployment, 1960 retail inefficiency and 1980s recession. What is interesting is that the government overcome […]
Leaders & Crisis
In times of great need, outstanding man stood up and take up the challenge. It is during these times that leaders appear among us. It differential those who have courage and those who dont. It differential those who can do from those who can talk. Crisis, in short, is the polish for great leaders.
The Last Days of Autodesk
I have heard so much about the legendary letter “The Last Days” by John Walker, founder of Autodesk that I decided to check it out today. Bill Gate once described the article as “brilliantly written and incredible insightful” which inspired him to write his own “Crisis Letter” for Microsoft: “By talking about how a large […]
how unfair…
One often hears about how unfair that senior management is highly paid compared to the “folks slaving below”. For those who havent accept the reality of life, let me offer this: “If you think good management is expensive, then try bad.” – (I forgot who said this…)
Evolution
Following my posting yesterday about weeding out the bottom, some folks have indicated that this system does not work all the time. Well, the organization renewal process of weeding out the bottom 10% is actually an evolution system. And like all evolution system, the rules you set will determine what kind of organization you have […]
What I learnt from playing games…
For the last few months, I was trying to complete the RPG game Breath of Fire IV. (Yes, “Months” for a simple game. I dont really have much time for game, you know!) Anyway, in BoF IV, there is this cute mini faeries game. This game allows you manage a colony of 20 faeries. Each […]
Vision & Strategy
Any good general knows that a plan for a mission is valid until you meet your first enemy. But this is not to say we don’t do any planning. It is still important to do planning but vision & strategy become critical in an always-changing world. A good vision is one which is clear and […]