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Broke Your Rice Bowl?
He says he's a failure. During his 2nd year in Pre-U, he had to repeat to pass his examinations. By his own admissions, he 'scraped through' and got to NUS where he took up accountancy. During his last semester year, he failed all of his 7 subjects and needs to repeat all of them. In his later years when he pursued his Masters in Australia, he had to overcome similar obstacles before getting his Master Degree. When he started working, in a bank and later in a computer firm, he too faced adversity. He lost money in investment too. He laments he is a 'professional' failure. But failure is not the end of the world, failure is part of the journey in life. Michael Lum, 49, started his own training consultancy firm 8 years ago. It's primary mission is to train lecturers and trainers. His students include doctors, dentists, educationists, headhunters, insurance agents and even beauticians. Having an enterpreneur mindset while being an employee Recently, he spent 7 days to complete his new book "Who Broke My Rice Bowl". He says his book is based on true life experiences revolving around his close friend and him in an MNC. His stories started from the point he and his close friend were both retrenched from high positions in this MNC. He thought it was an iron rice bowl, but in the end, it was still broken. During an alumni reunion, he met another close friend who share with him the significance of having an "entrepreneur' mindset over an 'employee' mindset. Don't go about 'begging for rice', rather 'plant your own rice'! Well, the classic idiom of 'teaching someone to fish and he'll fish for a lifetime'! He said: "I encourage those who are currently employed, to start considering other alternatives as a back-up. Just like saving up for a rainy day, I called this the "Plan B". For example, he knew of someone in his class, who's already gainfully employed but possesses a taxi licence just in case." "For the housewives, have you ever thought of turning some of your homely activities into a business opportunity. Some small food businesses, started from home-based, selling kuehs and was eventually transformed into a household confectionery business of today. Even for the housewives, if time permits, you could give tuition, and this could spin-off into a new business venture." 3 Options in the event of a Retrenchment If you are unfortunately retrenched, you have 3 options: 1) Get another Job There was a marketing manager who earns $20K a month and got retrenched. For the next few months, depression sets into him. Fortunately, he participated Michael Lum's programme where he acquire new skills in training and more importantly, got him out of that depression state and today he is a well established trainer and also his own boss. There will be no darkness in the sunshine. His advice to the unfortunate people who's retrenched or facing a crisis: "When facing a crisis, you need to light up a candle and walk out of your own darkness. Otherwise, no one could help you!" Who is to blame if you are retrenched ? Yourself ? The Boss ? He said: "The person who's retrenched or the person who is deciding who gets retrench will not feel good. This is a reality check. You've got to face up to it. The blame culture gets you nowhere. You should get on and start making up for lost time." Very few knows how to handle crises He stresses, the poor is concern with working for money while the rich is concern about making money worked for them. The poor aspires what the rich possesses, yet they rarely possesses the drive,intelligence and wisdom that maketh the rich. He said: "I have very clear objectives. I worked from 9 to 5. If there are classes in the evening, I will be teaching. Otherwise, I will be writing at home." Michael has 2 kids. Although he work for long hours, he doesn't feel tired as he is running his own business and fulfilling a personal dream. Although he confesses that he is not too conversant for the chinese language, he understood the chinese word for crisis (Wei Ji). He has his own comprehension particularly in the word "Ji" (Opportunity) in "Wei Ji" (where 'Wei' meant Danger). Where there is no danger, there is no opportunity. A lot of people could anticipate danger, but very few would be prepared for it and knew how to face it.
Signs and Symptoms of Impending Crisis according to Michael If you are faced with the following signs and symptoms at work, you could be losing your job or facing a possible crisis:
A Highly Breakable Rice Bowl A Big Opening - Rice could fall off How to increase your earnings
[Source: ZAOBAO article by Lin Hongyu dated 1.7.03. Translated
by Webmaster Meng Foon, who is obviously not a professional translator.
Apologies if any content may have been misinterpreted, but they
are never intended. However, if you do rate the level of precision
in my translation and wish to offer me some jobs, I would gladly
obliged! Ah, how quickly have I adopted Michael's philosophy! Thanks,
Mike. But of course, I've forgotten most of us are effective bilingual!
How deluded could I be! Michael, I'd probably still need your training
then!] :::17.11.03 |
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