THE GREAT MOUNTAINS

I read a book recently, the author described great leaders as great mountains. He said some mountains are so sharp and rocky at the top that it made people feel uncomfortable standing at the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, there are a handful of the great mountains that are flat at the mountain top. People feel comfortable and may not even realize they are standing at the top of the mountain.

I can’t help but to agree with it. A great leader is like a great mountain, knowledgeable, powerful, talented and strong! However, there are so many that made their subordinates, peers and others feel uncomfortable, forceful or inferior. However, a true leader is of course equally strong, influential and knowledgeable. But what made them different is others feel comfortable being with them. What is the missing link? These leaders generally are humble and considerate.

I have met many great mountains recently. I was invited to conduct a Train the Trainer Program in China twice recently. The training aims to transition a 6 days Management Program to the local Chinese trainers.

There are altogether 11 Chinese trainers, 5 ladies and 6 men. Guess what… there was 1 with a PhD degree, a few who have conducted Train the Trainer themselves, 2 with many years of Human Resource experience and have seen many great trainers and many more….

Well, with such background, I went in with great caution! …. To my surprise, I was greeted with warm welcome and smiling faces. These trainers are very knowledgeable but humble at the same time. They are willing to put themselves down as a student while learning and yet when being asked questions or invited to share thoughts, they are able to provide meaningful insights into the subject matters. Overall it was a very successful train the trainer program and all of them enjoyed and provided very good feedback about the training.

I can’t help but to recall the above story and at the end of the session share with them my feeling of them.

A GREAT MOUNTAIN, WITH GREAT ATTITUDE!

To my surprise, during the same session, many of them feedback and told me…

“Bryan, it was your sincerity that touched us,
it was your willingness to share that created these results!”

That’s where I realized the true meaning of The Great Mountains!

A Great Mountain - A Sincere Heart!

THE AWAKENING

Lunch in Bali, Dinner in KLIA, Supper in the Plane and Breakfast in Beijing…. I thought this is only something that is possible for the rich. Now I realized, it is also possible for a trainer to do so.

Recently, I was invited to speak and train in both Indonesia and China. In Indonesia, participants are generally well mannered and soft spoken. A respond that is similar to what we have here in Malaysia. On the other hand, in China, participants are participative, ask throught provoking questions and are very keen to learn. What a contrast!

Many people told me that people in China is very vocal but may not be open to new concepts or ideas. My own experience said otherwise. They are like sponge. Absorbing ideas, willing to raise their hand to answer, willing to volunteer and participate actively in activities.

I can’t help to compare my experience of the participants in Malaysia and now in China. Most participants in Malaysia treat training as half holiday, half learning. The key highlight of the day is ‘What are we eating for lunch’ or ‘Can we finish earlier today’. In China, training start from 9am, finish till 6pm. After that, participants still stay back for more briefing and in house activities. When I was first told that participants will be stretched beyond the official training hours, my first response was ‘this is not a good idea!’ However, again they surprised me! All participants are still actively participating in discussion and activities. It went on till 7:30pm…. Wow!

While they may be behind many of the developed countries, while they may still have some improvement areas, in many aspects they have shown strong potential and have grown rapidly over the years.

I began to feel concern for our people in Malaysia. Are you ready to compete? Are you willing to work hard and work long hours? And yet at a lower salary? Are you able to help your company to access the up and coming China market? What makes employers choose you?

The only way is when you are able to continue provides
VALUES
to your organization!

Equip yourself with the right skills and right attitude. Keep challenging yourself. Keep training yourself. Tap into others’ knowledge and experience.

Don’t learn the Hard Way
Learn the SMART Way!

LIVING IN NOW

What is real? When is real?

I have been reading a book lately and was provoked with the thoughts about when is real? The Past, Current or the Future?

Try to be in Now for 1 minute. Possible? I tried! And I realize many times my mind will wonder away… thinking of the future and remembering of the past…. But not ‘seeing’ what is happening now. Everyday we are living in the now, and everyday we are missing it by not enjoying in the now. Our mind tends to be…

…pulled by the past, regretting and resenting what has gone wrong or what has not happened

…pushed to the future fearing of what might happen or what might not happen

Fear and regret sucked all our energy away and as a result not able to enjoy the moment of now.

Sometimes we are very well disciplined that we set goals in our life and strive very hard to pursue it. Nothing is wrong with having clear goals in our life as it will help us to move effectively towards our destiny. A gentle reminder to you who set goals is not to forget to stop and smell the flowers, enjoy the scenery and give yourself a pat on the shoulder on the achievement you have so far.