Reflections from Chiang Mai (Part 1)

I realised I have not had the chance to blog about one of the main projects I've been working on: Project Elephant Nature Park. Leading this team of 20 people on a project that was conceptualised since last October, and not expected to end until this November, is not easy.

It was a journey fraught with many professional and personal challenges for many of us, but it opened our eyes to what can be achieved so long we set our heart and soul to what we want to achieve as a team.

But one picture clearly summarises my feelings for this project and the team:

You guys rock man! I promise that we will finish the last leg together as a team. And we will finish well.

And to our wonderful, wonderful supporters who have contributed in cash, in-kind, or just your prayers and encouragement, here's something for you:

Thank you so much for your support! Watch out for our planned photo-essay exhibition at the end of this year. And stay tuned for more details...

Branding for the future for Singaporean companies (Part 1)

I learnt of some interesting findings from the recent Brand Finance Forum held in SMU last week.

Singaporean companies still have a long way to improve the value of their intangible assets like branding, according to the Brand Finance Annual Report for 2009 on Singapore's intangible assets and brands.

Singapore may have jumped three places to the 24th position in terms of intangible contribution to enterprise value, leading countries like Taiwan and South Korea, but its share of listed value contributed by intangibles has actually decreased to 11%, down from 52% in 2007. This is definitely a far cry from the global average of 40%.

On top of that, 93% of brand value for Singapore is concentrated in the top 50 brands like household names such as SIA (an anomaly in an industry where many airlines are failing), Keppel Corp, Semb Corp and DBS (rather surprising given their recent fiascos with their non-profit partners). Our top 10 brands now account for 56% of the total brand portfolio value in Singapore. What does this show?

It means that there are vast disparities in the branding effectiveness of our top brands - which are mainly home-grown MNCs who have been in the industry for several decades - and that of our mainstream companies - consisting mainly of SMEs and start-ups. Despite the efforts of IE Singapore and Spring Singapire, there is definitely so much room for our SMEs to grow and further strengthen their brand values.

So what should we do to strengthen the brands of Singaporean companies?

At the macro level, the government and industries should:

• Rebuild public confidence in the key sectors driving the economy such as real estate, banking & financial services, tourism, and construction. There's a very good reason why 209 brands fell out of the top 500 banking brands worldwide and that's due to the collapse of public confidence in these financial behemoths

• Promote and advertise the availability of government loans (especially from IE Singapore and Spring Singapore) to help local companies develop and expand upon their brand values

• Leverage on national branding effects such as "Buy Singapore" concepts where one can leverage on our good reputation in areas like medical innovation, technological reliability etc.

At the micro level, companies should:

• Understand and identify the key drivers of their brand value, and allocate more resources to strengthening them. This also means using new methodologies like assessing brand energy levels, and the brand cloud which tracks the brand effectiveness of rivals and complements relative to the company's brand

• Maintain strong communication to convince management and shareholders to continue investing in intangibles and branding during the downturn, and not be too quick to cut branding budgets or devote too much resources to the tangibles (i.e. products and services, R&D). Even if you have the most effective piece of technology in the world (or so you think), it will matter little if people perceive your brand to be inferior to others. Brand values have to be communicated effectively and constantly to both internal and external stakeholders

• Acquire companies abroad with strong brand values and similar synergies, for local companies that have strong cash-flow and have large cash surpluses. After all, in the current downturn, many companies are going on the cheap. Just as much as we do our bargain hunts during the Great Singapore Sale, companies should go on the prowl for bargain offerings

• Internationalise or go regional. Serving a market of 450 million is better than serving a market of 4.5 million. With the strengthening of the ASEAN Common Market and the growing reputation of Singaporean companies in places like China, India and the Middle East, the stage is set to strengthen and communicate brand values to these large markets

Let's look at a couple of good case studies in the next post...

A wonderful word....

"Actually, I asked God for a word for Kenny. The word "energy" came to mind. I trust that God wants to give a new surge of energy in all that he does. God wants to be his positive energy. And he can do so because he is made alive in God." - From Nirelle (Josh's fiance)

Thanks Nirelle for the prayer and the revelation!

The truth is that I have been juggling work and multiple CCA projects together. Momentum has slowed down in the past week because of unexpected snags in the workflow schedule, and external factors that my teams have been unable to control. With the end of summer looming soon and the threat of deadlines flashing in our faces, it can be quite demoralising and draining. A newfound energy and enthusiasm is what we need now.

In times like this, the Word of the Lord speaks. Thank you once again for the very encouraging and refreshing sharing!

And if any of you would like me to pray for a word for you, do not hesitate to buzz me. I'll be more than willing to help!

Playing soccer with binoculars

Almost died laughing with this. Hahaha!

Antics in the library!

Got this great video off youtube! Funny as hell and I seriously dare anyone to try this at the National Library. Looks like I'm becoming a fan of Japanese game shows!

Oh my...family...

A couple of years back, if someone were to ask me if my family was a priority in my life, I would say 'no'.

Today, the answer will be an unequivocal 'yes'. Why?

I have seen how families can tear apart because no one in the family was willing, or had the courage in come in and intervene when there were family disputes. I have seen families with so much bad blood between the members just stray apart because of all the negative feelings clouding the perceptions they had of each other. Fast forward it 20 years down the road and think of all the wasted years of frayed relationships, and the cost of it all. Is it worth it?

Imagine starting your own family and your son\daughter asks you "What happened between you and uncle\aunt\grandfather\grandmother?". How would you answer?

"Oh, we just have our differences," you sheepishly say, then go back to lecturing them on how they should patch up their differences with the kid they had a fight with in the playground.

I want to bring up my family in an environment where they can develop and grow with the right values about people, and especially towards people. I want my family members to experience the joy of togetherness, of unity, of shared experience, and the sense of security from being around the very people who gave birth to them, and spent their childhood with. There are so much indescribable feelings in seeing a family that is so in love and happy with each other.

That's why we have to make a stand when family disputes happen, especially the kind that threatens to break up your family. I know that certain disputes just seem insolvable and there are times when you just feel like running away from it all. Thinking about it makes you feel sad and helpless.

Trust me, I've experienced it all. There are times when I buried myself with work and did things that distracted me from the problems at home. But I found that I did not like the path that it led me to because I know it will only lead to more alienation from the family that I have grown up with throughout my life. Problems don't go away just because we want them to.

But there is no place truly like home. And if one gives in to resignation and despair, the battle is already lost. And with that, all hopes of reconciliation are gone. What a waste.

You see, we all have a choice in life. We can choose to sit back and take the blows from life's twisted paths, and always accepting things for what they are because we are just...fatalistic. Or we can choose to take control and change the situation around us for the better. If we fail trying, oh well. At least, we've tried and can boldly lift our heads high, knowing that we did not give in to resignation.

And while I do my best, I can only hope and pray that things will be for the better for my family. And I pray that you and your family will enjoy the fruits of togetherness.

How to handle a potentially dicey confrontation

Today, I had to handle a potentially dicey confrontation when one of my former team members queried why a certain task that I had promised to be done a year ago was still not completed and he was understandably edgy about it, even adopting an aggressive and confrontational posture towards me. The truth is that I have missed the urgency of the task and let the months pass by because I hadn't considered the task to be a priority.

Nonetheless, the way one handles such a situation will determine whether the problem escalates or not. Here are some tips to defuse the situation:

1. If you're in the wrong, admit your mistake. There's no point in defending yourself and you're only inviting the aggrieved party to step up the attack if you stonewall yourself.

2. Acknowledge his grievance. If he took the trouble to approach you and became emotional about it, surely you have to respect his grievance, regardless of whether it is justified or not. As a leader with responsibility, your members' views and grievances should matter as much to you as your own.

3. Thank the other party for sharing his grievance. This is a sure-way to defuse the tension because you're responding with grace and displaying humility. I find that most of time, it makes sense to thank the other party for bringing up an issue that you otherwise would have missed, because the consequences of ignoring the issue are huge. Think context - not just focus on your pride. And of course, thank sincerely from the bottem of your heart.

4. Promise to act on the grievance - and do it right. In this case, it's better to have a gameplan ready and a mental note of the timeline and course of action that needs to be taken. Everyone likes a solution to every sticky problem, and everyone certainly treasures those who act on their promises. The ball is now in your court to follow through on your promise and be a person of integrity. What you do here affects how people perceive you to be.

5. Update the other party on your course of action. By acknowledging the grievance and promising to act on it, you have now made yourself accountable to the other party on your progress. Take it one step further to assuage his fears and mistrust by updating him on the course of action. If you found that there's nothing you can do about the situation, be frank to the other party. There's no point covering up one lie with another excuse or lie.

Those of you who have read the Straits Times forum pages will shake your head at how some people respond aggressively to criticism, or how some companies go to amazing lengths to justify their actions, even when there is genuine room to examine the writers' grievances. The truth is that we cannot be right all the time, and how we respond to criticism (justified or not) tells more about us than how our reputation is affected if we are perceived to be wrong.

One can forgive another for making a mistake, but one can't forgive another for assuming that he's too right to make a mistake.