Henry Yule's MISSION TO THE COURT OF AVA 1855...

The compound of the British Residency (watercolour by Colesworthy Grant)

I think I am one of the few ex-OUP travellers who has an extensive collection of Oxford In Asia Historical Reprints or OIAHR as we use to call it those days, other than perhaps the personal collection of my late big boss Raymond Earnest Brammah's (REB), M Sockalingam, Edda de Silva (former OUP KL Managing directors), Koh Seng Hwi, Jamaluddin Ishak and the British Museum (hahaha). Henry Yule: A Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava 1855 (OIAHR published in 1968) was one of the copies in my possession.

This is what Huge Tinker, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, wrote in his introduction to the reprint in December 1966:

The genesis of the book lies in the Second Ango-Burmese War of 1852, which ended in the British annexation of the province of Pegu. Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General of India, was instructed by the Secret Committee of the East India Company to require the Burmese King to sign a treaty to formally recognising the annexation. After the war there was a palace revolution, and the unstable Pagan Min was replaced on the throne by his half-brother, Mindon Min, a prince with an enlightened and peace-loving outlook. In his view, the war had been between the British and his predecessor, and, far from accepting fait accompli of the British occupation of Pegu, he expected that, if he demonstrated his goodwill, the lost province would be restored. Against this background of misapprehension, diplomatic overtures commenced. A Burmese official mission was despatched to convey the greetings of Mindon Min to the Governor-General. After considerable delays in Rangoon, while the status of the mission was clarified, the envoys travelled to Calcutta (Kulkota now), being escorted by Arthur Phayre, the newly-appointed Commissioner of Pegu Province. Aftermuch stately manoeuvering, (27 November-28 December 1854) it emerged that the envoys were empowered to offer presents and greeting only. They had no authority even to discuss a treaty, and when at last they asked for the return of Pegu to the King, Dalhousie emphatically rejected their request.

The book is a journal of both Phayre (under-secretary) and Yule (secretary) of the British Civil/Administrative Service at the time. Hugh Tinker went on to say that Yule was dissapointed in his ambitions to scale the administrative heights and turned to scholarship and writing, specialising in medieval travellers in Asia. While Phayre continued in his solitary task of implanting British Administration in Burma until he quit in 1867 to spend a restless, wandering life, after he was unable to conclude a commercial treaty with the Burmese King and finally finding his true end, like Yule, in writing: in his History of Burma (1883)...

I like history, not so much memorization of the dates and events, but more of the histriography. The business and political implications. Business and politics are really interdependent. One affects the other, contrary to many popular belief that it should be separated. The intrigue, the diplomacy, deception et al. Burma was a great nation in those days and so was Sri Lanka or Ceylon it was known in those days. Alot of smart brainy intellectual chappies from Ceylon are here in Malaysia (my fren Tiru is a good example..always proud to be Ceylonese owh well Sinhalese...never wants to be confused with the Indians...hehe). Many became British Nationals. Remember Colombo Plan scholarships? U Thant? former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) was from Burma and was as good, if not better, than Dag Hammerskjold, his predecessor. Ok, enuf of history...hehe. It is relaxing for me..not sure it's the same for you (evil wink). Enjoy the rest of the sunday, folks!....ciao

Critical Theory...anyone?

Ontology is the philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality while epistemology is the general set of assumptions about the best ways of inquiring into the nature of the world. Ontology is the starting point for most debates among philosophers. Debates among philosophers of natural science has been between realism and relativism. The social scientists adhere to critical realism generally. These are important philosophical frameworks that represent relatively coherent ways of thinking which are promoted by influential proponents. Critical Theory is one one them. It started as an intellectual movement, also known as the Frankfurt School, which sought to critique the effects of society and technology on human development. The key figure in this movement was Habermas(1970) who argues that society leads to inequities and alienation, yet this is invisible to people who do not realise what is taking place. He therefore argues that there is a degree of irrationality in capitalist society that creates a false consciousness regarding wants and needs. Thus people are seduced into wanting consumer products that they do not really need.

Habermas also identifies clear differences between natural and social sciences: the former being based on sense experiences, and the latter on communicative experiences. This means that although understanding in the natural sciences is one-way (monologic), where scientists observe inanimate objects; in the social sciences communication should be two-way (dialogic), with both researchers and the researched trying to make sense of the situation. Hence he suggests that only through dialogue will social scientists be able to work effectively. Another important point introduced by Habermas(1970) is the idea that knowledge is determined by interests and very often it is the more powerful people in society who determine what is regarded as 'true'. Consequently, truth should be reached through discussion and rational concensus, rather than being imposed by one group on another.

Critical theory has several implications in management and organizational research. It casts a sceptical eye on the motives and impact of powerful groups and individuals, which in an emancipatory way shows a concern for the interest of the least powerful members. And of course there is increasing relevance to being aware of the way that knowledge is determined by political process - especially within the so-called knowledge intensive organizations. (page 75, chapter 4, The Philosophy of Management Research, Management Research 3rd edition, 2008, Mark Easterby-Smith et al)

of a famosa, pulau sebang, tampin & alor gajah...

Tampin/Pulau Sebang Railway Station...

Look at that 'Tangga Batu' typically Malacca...hehe

Good guide for tourists and locals like us too...hehehe

Bet you don't even know the history of Alor Gajah....shame on you...hahaha

Must be boring for some people! hahaha

If you have somethings to hide...better not put your face at the opening of that cannon (evil wink)...hahaha

the intro description of the museum....

museum adat alor gajah...

Not sure if this is hole no. 7 (vew from the Savoy condo unit we were staying) where a crocodile attacked a japanese or korean golfer? Remember that episode? hahaha

The 2 Ringgit economy shop that caught my attention...hehe

Tampin town mainstreet by day, nice colorj obs...must have been influenced by San Francisco..hehe

Tampin by night, quaint little town...therapeutic...

The Audit Committee meeting and the full board meeting of november 27th, last thursday, was a relatively good one (notice the use of the word 'relative'). Immediately after, my kids and I, were whisked off (hehe, a term that only befits obama and pembesar2 negara aje kot...hehee) to a' famosa resort (at sempang ampat, alor gajah melaka). We spent 2 nites at the resort while my wife was busy making sure their annual federal inspectorate and quality assurance division of the ministry of education convention would run like clockwork..hehe. Perhaps a sadakah of alfatihah to the late YB Deputy Minister of Education, Datuk Razali Ismail would be in order? YB passed away after a badminton game at IAB, Genting Highlands yesterday at about 6 pm. Only hours earlier they had a group foto session in front of Famosa Resort clubhouse. I was told that my gudfren Datukprof IAB mentioned my name and my blog during one of the panel sessions...thank you Datuk for the public recognition...hmmm I take it as an encouragement and a subtle academic pressure (as he had been pressuring me to quickly get my PhD...hahahaha). Earlier this morning I got a not-so-pleasant feedback well...an honest one is more like it (hehe). Well, it seems to me... it is helluva tough thing to do.... pleasing everyone...someone texted me and liked some of my entries and said lately my blog has much more substance, but the feedback I got this morning wuz the opposite...hahaha...this particular person (I know you are reading it now...hahaha) said that they had enough of serious stuff oredi in their daily worklives...and when they read my blog with some more bloody serious stuff to read...hurmmm they got pissed off...hahahaha.

We (my kids and I), had good quality time together in and around the resort area. The closest being Tampin/Pulau Sabang about 4 Km away and Alor Gajah about 19 Km away. The fotos above I guess, tells you yes, we had a great time exploring...and I bet many Malaysians did not even bother to drop by and visit the local alor gajah museum and when I spoke with some local policemen during the roti sadin breakfast session...the locals didn't have anything nice to say about their museum...hahaha. What do you expect then? Sounds familiar isn't it? Enjoy the rest of the weekend folks, as usual, and thanks for dropping by....

...of layoff org structure and not trusting anyone in a tie? hehehe

These two articles above, caught my attention. The one at the top is the regular column 'While Your Were Out' by Stanley Bing and is always at the last page of Fortune Magazine. This one is on the November 24, 2008 issue of Fortune, which is tomorrow. Interesting, how he approaches industry issues much like the management cartoon character, Dilbert...hehe. and the second one is from the November 24, 2008 issue of Newsweek. It caught my attention cos he (this chappy who comes from a Greek Orthodox Lebanese family) was a trader turned philosoper and tells us not to trust anyone in a tie...and errmmm alot of my fotos are in ties...heheh. Which means that you are not to trust me leh? hehe...do enjoy these two articles...and have great week ahead....

Dealing With Darwin....

I must confess that besides coming back for the first time in 25 years at 4 am after a reasonably great karaoke session at country heights damansara with Che Ngah and his datuk frens (hehe), I did nothing else, except sleep the whole weekend. Well. mostly hehe. Picking up this book above that I bought at kunikiniya KLCC which I had been meaning to read (well, browse would be much more accurate description...hehe) was about the only one single significant thing I did over the weekend. Ya ya we are all preparing for a rather bleak 2009 (thanks to The Edge week of nov 24-30 issue). We have been reading nothing else but of the global financial meltdown. Even scarrier is the announcements of global job cuts and layoffs that ensues. You have also, I am sure, read the headlines: industry after industry battered by globalization, deregulation and commoditization. The Darwinian struggle of business keeps getting more brutal as competitive advantage gaps get narrower. Anything you invent today will soon be copied by someone else - probably better or cheaper, says Geoffrey A. More. Dealing with Darwin is a guide to leading your company's evolution and creating competitive advantage in an increasingly tough climate. Drawing on hundreds of examples, including extensive Cisco case study, Geoffrey Moore illuminates how established companies can prevent their own extinction - not by throwing resources wildly at every potential innovation, but by moving forward with precision, courage and smart timing.

The old notion that innovation=invention=R&D investment has simply proven false. The idea that we just need to act more innovatively - beanbag chairs and brightly colored open meeting rooms - has not added a dime to shareholder value (which reminds me of Unilever's new malaysian office and the design of accenture's also malaysian office..hehe). In short, Geoffrey says that all the traditional nostrums plus all the New Age whoop-de-do has not been able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Moore's key message is: in order to achieve competive advantage in a commoditizing market one must innovate so dramatically as to create definitive separation between your offers and those of the low-cost commoditizers. That means selecting a vector of innovation that can set you apart and investing intensely along that vector; to a level that competitors simply cannot or will not match. That in turn means economizing and optimizing everywhere else. The formula we come back again and again is Extract resources from context to fund core. Go pick that book and read it yourself! hahaha...you seriously did not think that I was going to tell you everything about the book, did you? hahaha...

National Annual Corporate Report Awards (NACRA) 2008...

Last night at the Shangrila Hotel Kuala Lumpur, HeiTech Padu Berhad (HTP) a global homegrown IT outfit listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia, broke the glass ceiling and joined the ranks of other corporate bigwigs/behemoth, to win the NACRA 2008 Industry Excellence Award in the Industrial Products & Technology Category for publistlisted companies on the Main Board, after a 'certificate of merit' hattrick wins (2005-2007), beating other big names like MAS, Petronas, Shell etc etc etc...hehe. Two pictures above are worth more than thousands of words! Congratulations to all those who conceptualised, concocted the idea, meticulously going thru the motion, went all the way up to cameron highlands to capture the original shots, spending time at Ismail Associates (sampai gaduh2 lah!...hahaha) hehehe. Everyone who were involved directly or indirectly..from group corporate communications, group finance & group general counsel & corporate secretarial departments...I dare not name names lest i missed some pertinent ones (wink). Kang kecik ati lar plax! Thank you all....(my role? just to go up the stage to receive the award...hahahahaha...eh hello...I too spent expensive time helping out editing both the 'england; and malay text ok? hehe).....

MIHRM Summit 2008...

Last week November 11 & 12 I was at the 2 day human resource summit...oh well, human capital as they fashionably would like it to be referred to these days (hehe). MIHRM or the acronym for the the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management, out sourced the organization of their summit to a consulting firm. I was a panelist at the closing session on the 2nd day. It was held at the Sunway Resort with a theme 'Talent Management & Succession Planning' (whatever that means perrghh). I have always been critical and skeptic about the term 'talent management' when in fact, in the old days what it meant (hmm even today i suppose hehe) was simply people management. I suspect two things. One, it is a crafty schemy plot by HR consultants to make HR practitioners feel good about what they are doing. its like flavour ofthe month management buzzword to make the CEO to oso feel good hehe. Two, the usual contamination by other functional specialists trying to turn HR into rocket science. I have been bashing the IT guys enough with their software and hardware development geared towards dominating the HR school of thought. ok ok nevermind all that. MIHRM President, in his closing remarks concurred with my view that talent management is essentially talking or just paying attention to the top 5% of people or the top talent as they say, so it seems! And Succesion Planning? Oh pleez...please never let a HR or human capital director (especially if the fella is from a particular ethnic group has really so very the pekat loghat one... hahaha) utter those words (succesion planning) loudly in public please! hahahaha (if you know what I mean). Succession Planning is a must have, good to have, nice to have tingy too and from my own personal observations (I may be wrong hehe) the moment a succesor is identified, in our culture, more othen than not, he or she could just be dead meat! Imagine the other corporate vultures swooshing down on him/her....poor fella (hehe). Anyway, I reminded participants to pay attention to what professor Chatterjee had said at the start of the summit! (please see below). Have a great sunday and thanks for dropping by, folks!

LEADING MINDSETS FOR UNLEASHING TALENT

By Debashis Chatterjee

The availability and management of talent is considered to be one of the most difficult globalization challenge for CEOs—more so in the Asian context. Most talent managers in Asia don’t seem to realize that there is very little co-relation between a manager’s effectiveness and his or her talent.

One of the conventional measures that most recruiters use to assess talent is academic performance. Yet, our research tells us that more than 50% of all the CEOs in Fortune 500 Companies had C or C- average in college. Interestingly, more than 50% of millionaire entrepreneurs never finished college.

Another measure that HR managers often use for mapping talent is a battery of psychometric tools. More often than not these tools do no more than measure test taking ability rather than managerial ability.

According to our research what expands our talent is the right mindset. If the CEO can craft right mindsets, he will be able to lead in a way that unleashes talent in the direction of effectiveness.

Hull Alumni Malaysia Annual Charity Golf 2008

me (President 2008/09 Hull Alumni Assoc Malaysia), YAB Tun Hanif Omar (President British Graduates Assoc Malaysia, BGAM), YAD Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abu Hassan Omar (Patron Hull Alum Malaysia) and Cheng Hull Alumnus tee-ing off on the presidential flight of the Annual Hull Charity Golf Tournament 6 November 2008 at Kelab Golf Seri Selangor

I like to thank committee members and excos of the alumni for taking precioust time off making it happen. Special mention to Lesley, Karen and Eddy for their hardwork. All sponsors for their generous donations for a worthy cause, including Peugeot (Naza) for the 207 as hole-in-one winning car ( it has been quite a long time since I last saw a car being offered as a grand hole-in-one prize. It was long discontinued because of the huge insurance premium on the car and most organisers felt that rather than waste it on insurance, the amount would best be used as one or many of the other prizes...). We had no less than 17 flights and from the feedback I gathered, it was a successful event. What a great day it was, raining in the wee hours of the morning, stopped just before we tee-ed off at 8 am and the rain came back only after the 18 holes were completed...hehe. Thank you again everyone, Tun Hanif, Tan Sri Abu Hassan et al for your untiring support.

...of simplistic comparisons?

I received alot of SMSes from learned malaysian friends from various ethnic backgrounds expressing excitement and jubilance and at the same time making comparisons between american minorities and their so-called long and deep discrimination with our (malaysian) so called 'discrimination'. I find these simplistic comparisons disturbing and worrying. Dr Chandra Muzzafar could not have put it in a better perspective. Of course, not everyone agrees with his views. I do, to a certain extent(hehe). That's why I have taken the liberty to upload it from today's NST online, onto my blog. Do let me know if you too are in agreement. In the usual manner, no hard feelings. Its okay for violent objections or a grim departure from the mainstream thinking (hehe) so long as finally, we can all agree to disagree, in the most civil manner (evil wink)..hehe...do read on... O wait, no political statements as such. But yeah...in an academic sense (hehe). Still tempted to comment on popular headline politics but as I have said again and again...that can wait when and until I am no longer gainfully employed( hahaha).....

Obama and Malaysian Minorities: Too sweeping a comparison By : DR CHANDRA MUZAFFAR, Kuala Lumpur

IN the wake of Barack Obama's electoral triumph in the United States, some Malaysian politicians, non-governmental organisation activists, newspaper columnists and members of the public have made utterly shallow and superficial comments about the significance of his victory to minorities and ethnic politics in Malaysia.
The US' majority-minority dichotomy has very little relevance to our country. Though a member of the African-American minority, which is about 12 per cent of the US population, Obama subscribes to Christianity, the religion of the white majority.His mother tongue -- English -- is the mother tongue of the majority community. His culture is, to all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from the culture of the majority.Like most other African- Americans, and indeed most of the other minorities such as the Latinos and Asians, Obama has been absorbed and assimilated into what is sometimes described as mainstream "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" (WASP) culture.
However, for African-Americans, in particular, their total assimilation was hampered and hindered by the racial barrier of colour. It was the colour bar with all its historical (slavery) and sociological (lower economic echelon) implications that underscored their minority status.Compare their minority status to the position of the Chinese and Indian Malaysian minorities. Most Chinese and Indian Malaysians are non-Muslims and have no affiliation whatsoever to Islam, the religion of the majority Malay community. The Malay language is not their mother tongue. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the Chinese community, in particular, remains deeply attached to its own mother tongue. More than 90 per cent of Chinese parents send their children to Chinese primary schools. For the most part, Chinese and Indian cultures have preserved and perpetuated their distinct identities.Chinese and Indian elites, whether in government or with the opposition, have always been opposed to any attempt to absorb their communities into the cultural ethos of the majority community. Neither has the government been inclined towards assimilation as a cultural policy. By and large, it is the path of integration that the government has chosen, which accommodates cultural diversity and seeks to promote unity by emphasising the primacy of the nation's lingua franca. The Chinese and Indian communities prefer integration to assimilation.Since this is their preference, they should not expect an assimilated "Obama" to emerge from their ranks.To explain this in more concrete terms, one should perhaps try to visualise the life story of an Obama equivalent in Malaysia. His father would have come from a Buddhist, or Hindu or Christian family outside Malaysia, married a Malay-Muslim woman from say Kedah or Kelantan, and produced an offspring who would have spoken Bahasa Malaysia as his mother tongue, studied in a Malay-medium school, graduated from a Malay-medium university, and would have been thoroughly assimilated into Malay culture and society. How could one regard such a person as the poster-boy of the Chinese or Indian minority in this country? This illustrates the danger of making simplistic comparisons between minorities in two totally different situations without any understanding of their respective milieus. Rather than indulge in such rhetoric which invariably has a communal edge to it, our politicians and media commentators should help to promote our Bahasa Malaysia-based primary school as the school of first choice so that young Malaysians will, at least, have the opportunity to interact with one another during the most impressionable stage of their lives. Of course, interaction alone will not enhance national unity if we are not just and fair to everyone, regardless of their cultural or religious affiliation.

...of speaking engagements, reunions and race relations act?

Last week I obliged Asia Business Forum (ABF) again when I accepted their invitation to speak at their Malaysia Insurance Conference at Istana Hotel. I presented a paper on 'Claims Management: a promising oasis or a treacherous mirage?' and a few days earlier at their Malaysia Transport Conference where I spoke on 'Rail Networks' at JW Marriott Hotel(probably because of my former experience as director of human capital development at Malaysian Railways...KTMB) hehe. And on friday Umi (of ABF) called me on my mobile asking for the slide presentation because it seems the transport minister wanted to see it (wink).

And last friday evening between 830pm till about 1145pm there was this unscheduled reunion of old schoolmates (class of 1970 & 1971). Just a few of us, Michael Mok, Sukumaran, Tiruchelvam (the chappie who commented anonymously on one of my blog entries hehe) and Patrick Yong and his wife Caroline Marimuthu (I didn't know Michael Verrapen was her cousin hehe until that night). Patrick and his wife were classmates, they were in form 5 when were in form 4. He came to our school SMI PD from Malacca. We chatted, reminisced old times and started recollecting and trying to locate the whereabouts of others. We will be having a proper reunion at the Yatch Club, Port Dickson on December 6. At the start of our meeting at sheraton subang michael mok agreed (unlike him hahaha) that he will try not to pick a fight with me hahaha no matter how provocative I may get (you know me lar...hehe ..evil wink). So is Tiru. At about 11 pm I called Lawrence Lee Boon Kah but he was about to go to sleep but manage to speak with those who were with us that night. Patrick Yong picked up the tab and refused to let us pro rate the bill. Said he just got his salary...and I was like saying oh ok guys..let us give Patrick the honour (hehe). Thanks Patrick and Caroline! I was very close to Patrick during those school days, me and Tiru. We'd walk over to his house (the TNB quarters in Kampong Arab Port Dickson) and play the guitar. We spoke about all the parties we went to those days hahaha and how in form 4, I went to the first party at the church hall in PD near suku and osman's house and how my late dad picked me up at 4am in his blue Ford Prefect (BD 8771) hahaha. That was how sporting my late father was. And Josephine Yeow and Voon Yoke Mooi taught me how to dance...wow! That's about all I will disclose for now...hahaha..the rest is history as they say(evil wink). Jo is residing in Germany I was told. Not sure where Yoke Mooi is. Then there were the Pereira girls and many others. We had really great fun in school those days...it couldn't be more malaysian, no polarisation and certainly no racial prejudices then. And we didn't even need a race relations act too then to watch over each other in case we call people keling or something racist or politically incorrect (wink). I am excited at the coming reunion on december 6 as we are trying to get more of our teachers who are still alive to attend. Thanks to the initiatives of michael mok and sukumaran and others too...

of CR and KAK?...

brilliantly simple...yet simply unacceptable...

a thank you note from my good fren prof chester coronel & his family of West Mindanao State University (WMSU) Zamboanga City, Autonomous Mindanao, The Philippines, when I last gave a public lecture there...

10 days have gone by...much has happened. Politically, socially, at work & play, at the home front and at the global stage. Sometimes you are not sure what is right or alright to blog your entries. Would it be politically incorrect? Would it hurt other people's feelings? Would it be too self-serving and only to angle on promoting oneself? Or would it just be something or a medium to vent your frustrations, fears, angers or jubilance? What? What? What?) or to just register your disgust with others or life in general? Those are the usual dilemmas, paradoxes criss-crossing one's minds all the time. Or you just say to yourself...aaah forget it who cares? It's always a thin line and a grey area being private and being open and disclosing stuff on your blog. Risk factors, especially in the current global financial meltdown, can be real. You really never know who is monitoring you online. Some will say, aah who reads your blog anyway? Still, that risk factor, is real. While I sit back to recompose and reconfigure all these muddle....perhaps these words from Soren Kierkegaard, either/Or might help...hehe

'If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure dissapoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility?' - Soren Kiergaard, Either/Or

...of personal branding & success?

I have not been uploading moje's (my old fren who was former President of the Philippine Society for Training & Development) article in the Manila Times. This is the most recent with some useful tips you may like to emulate, adopt, modify to your own success strategies, wicked schemes (hehe), crafty sinister corporate chess-games (hoho)...or whatever u wanna call it (wink). Enjoy the article below( I juz got her email giving me permission to post it on my blog...see? you need to observe what you preach (wink) as per my earlier blog entry:

THE MANILA TIMES Business Times

p.B1Saturday, November 1, 2008

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/nov/01/yehey/business/20081101bus14.html

LEARNING& INNOVATION By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM

Personal Branding for Success

On the furor over the $150,000 campaign wardrobe of US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, focus is on the disconnect between what Palin says who she is and what she does or wears. And this brings us to the topic of brands. Bo Seifert, CEO of Herrmann Scandinavia Ltd. informs: Branding as means of communication has survived the last 5 millenniums. In 4000 BC stonecutters were already carving their own trade-marks. Into Egyptian temples and buildings. This served two purposes: 1) To establish and give credit to the craftsmen and also as advertisements for future work. And 2) To establish a type of guarantee. If something happened to the building the persons responsible could be brought to justice, which in those days could mean death and therefore had an influence on the overall quality. Your name also established you as a Brand, and it is only in the last 500 years that behavior and preference has become more important than an individual’s name. Consequently, Mr. Andersson was the Son of Anders and names often described a person trade, such as Goldsmith or Taylor. Today we consume Brands, drive branded cars, eat at branded restaurants, shop at branded stores, pay with branded credit cards and drink branded beer. In short we live Branded Lives. Nowadays if your brand carries the label. Made in China. I doubt if you could sell anything, especially food items. Now I know this beautiful, hardworking lady who could help you develop your personal brand. If you want to look, say professional, you need to look, smell, taste, feel, sound professional. Miselle Pesa-Bergonia trained in Hong Kong at Image Work Asia with London Image Institute and heads her Icon Image Consulting (Tel 0918-9075383 or 02-7433691 or e-mail iconimage@ymail.com.) She used to be Business Development Manager of Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts where she proved that first impression and client relations spell the difference between success and mediocrity. She says, when you project good first impression, you are conceived to be credible and you can easily service client needs. Also, Shangri-la is a brand that I needed, as an employee then, to authentically represent. So now, Misel is helping professionals imbibe the image of their organizations or family; align their personal preferences to the image of their organization and create their unique brand while they carry their organization brand. Misel does this through customizing workshops on sense of self, proper grooming, power dressing, non-verbal communications, effective use of color and texture, personal hygiene and skin care, business etiquette, presentation skills to help develop personal style and represent the brand values of their organization or family. Your self-image is a projection of what you will become in the future; it is an audition for your future career. If you look lousy, your work is expected to be also lousy. Conversely, if you look smart, your work is perceived to be well done. More tips from Miselle: You can make an ordinary shift dress look powerful by topping it with a trendy blazer. Always come to work like you are meeting your boss for the first time. In terms of color, if you are feeling gloomy, use bright colors and if you want to project intelligence, power and leadership, choose deeper and muted colors, like navy blue, blue-gray, maroon or burgundy. Beiges are neutral and luckluster and must be perked up with occasion-relevant accessories. Personal style doesn’t mean that you should be following the trends of fashion, but it is finding pieces that you are most comfortable with and accessories that will add a statement to your outfit and reflect your personal values and personality. What looks good on other people would not necessarily look good on you. Always try on clothes, shoes, accessories before buying. When you find your personal style, be consistent so this becomes your signature look and you would be remembered long after for this look. However, every year try to update so that you don’t become outdated and stuck to a certain era.

http://www.learningandinnovation.com/; innovationcamp@yahoo.com

...of plagiarism,copyright law enforcement and lulusan cambridge..hehe

Was enjoying my saturday tehtarik at Natijah mamakshop which is also a popular nesting ground of the likes of the scribe (DatukAKadirJasin), Rocky Bru and Nuraina Samad. Nuraina is an ole fren , a contemporary back in the gud ole days of ITM (UiTM now). While the mainstream tabloids were awashed with the outcome of 'the trial' (hehe), I was more interested in the cutting above, which appeared in the world section of NST today page 28. It is interesting because, we are still debating over the relevance of the times higher education world universities ranking and that a particular local premier university claimed that they had improved positively up 60 points compared to last year's ranking outcome and that I was told they were quite upset for not being conferred the Apex University Status ( it went to USM instead). Ok back to this Cambridge thing...it seem to go well with my fren's (DatukJohanJaafar) article today too on page 23 (opinion) when he concluded (his article) by urging that we relook our copyright laws and enforcement, or forever..he says hehe we will have poor actors, writers and artistes, alive or dead and columnists too he nottilee added (wink). My first instinctive reaction to the cambridge survey was, oh no...not another can of worms...(don lar say out loud...even though it cud be true! hahahaha). But seriously, the survey/report above, can have serious repercussions on a bevy and myriad of things imaginable. Letalone unimaginable. Cambridge is number one in UK and top 3 in the world. Which reminds me that 'the scribe' in one of the recent blog entry..quipped '...nak bagitau sikit,,saya pon lulusan cambridge' hahaha (not me ok?). hehe I am proud to be a Hull graduate and is trying to now promote hull city soccer(football) club which is making waves in soccer but mindlful of the fact that while other clubs like manchester united, arsenal and others spend no less than GBP50mil a season...hull city only budgets GBP5mil...hehe...what would u expect from that miniscule budget meh? (wink). ok ok...cambridge again, of course , one can argue, what about other universities? Are you saying they do not probably do the same things? or if you do a similar survey, you probably might get the same results? (wink). I remembered sometime ago that it was said that '..a university education is like a ticket into the ballroom. Once inside the dance hall, you still have got to learn how to dance or dance according to the music.' Read that newscutting above, make your own conclusions..and please tell me, what you think? hehe..without unduly spoiling your weekend folks..cheerio...