Office liaison or relationship

Yesterday while I was having some drinks at the office cafeteria, I met with an office colleague whom I have not met for a long time. We exchanged greetings and news about each other i.e. ourselves, our work and our families. I then introduced her to those at my table as "my long long long good friend". She responded while pointing at me "and this is my long long long good boss". Only then I realised that she was one of my former subordinates some years back.

In the middle of last week, two of my former subordinates approached me for references to apply for a job. Although I no longer managed them, I was delighted when they approached me and got to know that apart from me, they had also approached their current supervisors.

This posting is about office liaison. There are a couple of office liaisons such as colleagues, superior-subordinates, contact or network. In this topic it is more of superior-subordinates liaison. Liaison is relationship though the latter is commonly used, the former is a more formal description. I will be using relationship a lot more in this posting.

When I started work in 1989, it was totally unthinkable for superiors to mix around with their subordinates. I am working at a European company with strong British presence. So the class separation was quite apparent then.

However, I did not prescribe to that and mix around with as many people as possible. As I climb up the corporate ladder, I continue to mix around freely. However, I will confine it to the office and not out of office as I balance my work and life. After office is my time with my family and I commit fully to that.

So, why relationship is important to us? Human relationship is important to simulate positive emotional well being and to ensure productivity. Human are able to exchange information and ideas that can be discussed and debated to derive to the best conclusion by interacting with each other. However there are certain etiquettes that need to be followed in a relationship i.e. integrate, respect and sincerity.

1. Integrate will be the underlying principle of relationship where it connects one to another. Integrate means that two different individuals may co-exist with each other despite their differences. The differences may be due to class, race or position or any visible or non-visible differences. In integrating, the differences will still exist however these would not be a hindrance to the relationship.
2. Respect will be the catalyst of the relationship where it keeps the relationship civil and harmonious. It will facilitate the relationship though there are differences mentioned above. Respect will also ensure that the relationship is based on mutual freedom to act and react.
3. Sincerity will be the spirit of the relationship where it keeps the relationship free of malice. Sincerity does not exist through verbal claims, it comes from the heart and it is shown in one's action.

With these etiquettes the relationship will hopefully prolong deriving greater benefits to those who are in it.

Investments decision

One of my Facebook friends posted a question to me on investments. He asked me, "How to gain highest return in investments?" It seems someone had approached him on a Gold investment scheme with the pretext that Gold investment is lucrative and guaranteed. Definitely, gold investment is lucrative because gold is valuable and expensive and it is guaranteed because the price of Gold is stable. Well let us look at the chart on gold price trend to see how true are these statements.

2001-2010 Gold Price trend:

The chart shows that the gold price is in an upwards trend for the past ten years. From USD250/ounce nine years ago, it has risen to around USD1,250/ounce, a 500% increase in value! So the notion is true that the price of Gold is stable, however for a long term period! If we look at short term period price trend (short term means less than twelve months, not necessarily within a full length calendar year), gold price at exit points may be lower than entry points. For example if we look at the first column on the left of the chart, the gold price was about USD280/ounce Jan 2001 but it went down to USD260/ounce a year later. So the notion that the returns on gold is guaranteed does not whole water all the time. It depends on once entry and exit from the market.

I am not an investment analyst nor I claim to be one. However my investment rules are simple:

1. invest and save in something that you know about.
2. buy at low price and sell at high price.
3. use your social and religious beliefs as a guide.

With these rules, I had on the past invested and saved in cash, unit trusts, stocks and real estates. I consider myself as a moderate investor i.e. I can only accept reasonable risk. Most of the times I'm saved, but sometimes people and circumtance deceived me. Take for an example. My first real estate purchase was a house in Bukit Sentosa. The company was impressive, the same company that developed the Pandans: Pandan Indah, Pandan Jaya. Bukit Sentosa was suppose to be the 2nd Petaling Jaya. The master plan was really stupendous: schools, a college, a small township and an industrial area. After close to 15 years, Bukit Sentosa is still a township that I know had not changed much. My rental returns is 4% but the value is half of my purchase price!

Compared to my other real estate investments which are paying off, I have an apartment with 10% rental returns and a condo unit with 11% rental returns, both real property values are appreciating, so 2 out of 3 is considered ok for a moderate investor. This brings me to the house that I'm staying in. The house was built 10 years ago with my own design. The land area is 50ft x 75ft with build up area of about 70%. I handled the construction project from its architectural design, contractor selection, construction contract, monitoring of construction progress, Interior Design and Landscaping. My overall cost was only RM70,262. I'm pleased to share my Project costing and my funding plan below.

My project was called Baiti Jannati, this was planned 2 days before my birthday in 2001.

From the above, although I have consolidated all my savings, my funding was short by RM12,ooo. My savings were not much at this point as I have already invested in the apartment while repaying the Bukit Sentosa house's lost and utilising two cars (the other one for my wife's use). However with careful payment schedule and contruction progress reporting, I was able to settled the shortfall with ease by the time the house was completed six months later. At the moment, I have not officially valued my house, however I believe it is worth RM500,000.

What is the point of this posting, one may ask? My sharing is simple. Afford what you can afford, plan and hope for the best and avoid being deceived. Use the time and avoid being hasty. A 1% doubt may save you a lot.

AFF Cup - Malaysian victory, what's next?

In my earlier posting World Cup 2010 Tuesday, 6 July 2010, I commented regarding the condition of Malaysian soccer in the world arena. The posting was made a few months after the Malaysian team won the SEA Games Gold medal and even after Malaysia won the most recent AFF Cup, my comment still stands. I mentioned in my earlier posting that to be in the running in Asia top five (to be vying for the World Cup Asian qualifiers) and in the World Cup (only top four Asian teams and the fifth team through AFC/OFC playoff will qualify), Malaysian soccer requires four elements to be successful:

1. Vision
2. Determination
3. Action
4. Fulfillment

FAM and the players need a vision for themselves. The vision for FAM can be to promote professionalism in its organization and sustain a successful national leagues and a formidable national team with layers upon layers of potential successors. The players in turn may have a vision to be top notch professional football players plying their career in Europe just like Park Ji Sung of Korea, Imamoto of Japan, Sun Jihai of China and Ali Al Habshi of Oman in the English Premier league, Mahdavikia and Karimi of Iran in the German Bundesliga and Nakamura of Japan in the Scotland League, just to name a few.

Both FAM and the players must have the determination to fulfill all its vision. FAM needs to organize a more flamboyant domestic Premier League, M-League, Malaysia and FA Cup that will bring back the fans into the stadium, just like what it was in the 1980's. With more fans in the stadium, FAM's coffers will be filled up not only by match tickets but also by sponsors who will try to outdo each other to become the main sponsor or part of the sponsorship team. The players as well should be more determined to dish out a consistent and sustainable performance in every match that they play. With a consistent and sustainable performance, their value in the regional and global market will increase and they in turn will be able to maintain a rewarding career in soccer.

All these require action by the FAM and the players. To be fair to the fans, if all of us expect the fan to be with the team all the time, the Malaysian team needs to be consistent in their game. Winning and losing are part of the game, however the way the team perform even with a loss or a draw, fighting hard and smart will surely melt the fans' heart in favour of the team.

Look at Vietnam after they were trailing by two goals in the first leg of the AFF Semi-Final match at Bukit Jalil, the team fought hard to try to score and win the second leg at home. Their fans and supporters were behind them all the way with full confidence that the team will put their best to win the game.

Likewise Indonesia, they were trailing by three goals in the first leg of the AFF Final at Bukit Jalil. The atmosphere right after the loss was so ecstatic. The Indonesian fans used the internet by twittering massively that the Indonesian team's loss was due to the insignificant laser ray on their goalkeeper. Then the Indonesian media hyped the issue further by making it their front page news three days in a row until the second leg match. Not to be left out, even the Indonesian leaders followed suit with low rated remarks in the fanatical frenzy.

On the match day, the Gelora Bung Karno stadium was pack, the fans who were following the match via giant screens outside the stadium were almost equal in numbers to the number of spectators in the stadium and no fans from Malaysia except for the Malaysian media and VIPS could be present in the stadium.

Maradona, the Argentinian coach and a former renowned World Cup player once said during the 2010 World Cup, "Latin American soccer will never overcome the European soccer, what we can do is to develop our youngsters for them to be skilled in soccer. Let them ply their professional soccer career in European leagues where there are abundant of big monies. When the World Cup turns up, we bring them back and let them play for their country with love and pride to win the World Cup". This is a statement full of vision, determination, action and fulfillment. Achieving fulfillment requires a clear vision, strong determination and consistent action.

So the next step of fulfillment for Malaysian soccer is for some of the players to ply their trade in Europe. Playing for the Indonesian or Vietnamese clubs will not bring the desired outcome that will bring us up several notches over these countries in AFF. Look at Bambang Pamungkas, he was playing for Selangor once and he is still a player good only for this region.

To be able to outdo or even match the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Saudi and the Iranian teams, we need to send out as many MALAYSIAN players as we can. Send out Safee Sali, Norshahrul, Safiq Rahim, S Kunalan, Mahalli Jasuli, Mohd Sabree Abu, and Khairul Fahmi Che Mat to play in Europe. With more of them playing abroad, the better it will be for our soccer's future. In the void, we will have new and upcoming star players who will try to outperform those players so that they may also be able to be noticed and selected.

We need to start this now. Once we sustain this cycle then we will reach the apex of fulfillment, that will be when the World Cup is won by Malaysia (and we probably will have public holiday for a week :).