It would appear that succession planning in corporations is something of
a myth, a critical operation need but given only lip service. DBS is an
outstanding example that it ended with a succession of three foreigners
in the CEO seat, the current on being a citizen only after given the
post. What happened to succession planning that no Sinkies were line up,
trained to assume such a vital appointment or seriously, none was found
to be good enough? After the current CEO, would it be another foreigner
to take over? Very likely if the track record is anything to go by.
After Hsieh Fu Hua at the SGX, the same story repeated itself that a
foreigner is needed. Would it be another foreigner after the current one
has departed? Why not, when the locals are not good enough, or
succession planning is not something that they are interested. We have
seen the drama of getting someone to succeed Ho Ching in GIC when they
had to go overseas to seek foreign talents again for more good years.
They thought they found a Goodyear only to find something missing and
then no more Goodyear and Ho Ching had to be reinstated. Is the
situation now better with a local being groomed in case Ho Ching wants
to step down again? Or would there be another round the world trip to
find the One for this job when locals are found wanting again? Would
they do a DBS, give the job to another foreigner and hand him a pink IC
to tell the daft Sinkies that another Sinkie is in place for the high
paying job?
Succession planning is not always a lost cause in all the big
corporations. SIA for one could groom and find locals to continue the
stewardship of the airline. And I think UOB too would be in the good
hands of another local if not forced to buy another foreigner to take
over what Wee Cho Yaw has built in a life time. Has UOB done more badly
compares to the other two big local banks that are run by foreigners?
UOB is a good case to dispel the foreign talent myth. Otherwise the
silly fools would tell Hongkong, China, South Korea and Japan to hire
angmohs to run their banks. And if the angmohs are too expensive, find
one from the 3rd World as long as he is a foreigner.
The best succession planning is perhaps in politics. And the best person
that executed such a plan was none other than Chok Tong himself. The
moment he took over the premiership he already had a successor in mind,
recruited him and groomed him for all 12 years of apprenticeship before
finally handing over the baton to him while Chok Tong still had many
good years to serve. This is a classic succession planning that GIC and
DBS or SGX can learn from. An incumbent CEO generously recruited and
trained a local successor to replace him. And the successor was so
appreciative to reward his mentor with an Emeritus Minister title for
his effort.
Now, would we see a local take over GIC, DBS or SGX when the time comes?
Do they have a succession plan in place? To be real, why would a CEO
want to plan and train someone to takeover from him? It is simply stupid
to do so right? Anyway, Chok Tong is still around and his talent in
this area can still be tapped before it is too late. You need a great
man or a dull one to do succession planning, or planning for one’s own
exit or demise. Very likely the person in the hot seat wold make sure
that no one is fit to take over from him, or even groom a dud to be
discarded as not good enough. Across the causeway Mahathir did exactly
that.
1/08/2014
1/07/2014
Welcome to the new normal
‘Within the span of 10 minutes, construction worker Ramachandran
Balamurugan had molested the four women by stroking their buttocks,
thighs and private parts.
According to court documents, he molested the women, aged between 22 to 51, between 10.30am and 10.40am on Nov 17.’ The New Paper
This guy was sentenced to 7 months jail. It is a good thing that with more than a million foreign workers here, we only heard of one isolated incident like this. Sinkies can feel really safe. Statistically 1 over a million is 0.00001% which is remotely small.
Just hope that this is real and not a new normal. Or maybe Sinkies need to readjust their comfort and safety level to prepare themselves for such thing to happen more frequently. I swear that a 0.00001% is a miracle even in the best and safest developed country.
According to court documents, he molested the women, aged between 22 to 51, between 10.30am and 10.40am on Nov 17.’ The New Paper
This guy was sentenced to 7 months jail. It is a good thing that with more than a million foreign workers here, we only heard of one isolated incident like this. Sinkies can feel really safe. Statistically 1 over a million is 0.00001% which is remotely small.
Just hope that this is real and not a new normal. Or maybe Sinkies need to readjust their comfort and safety level to prepare themselves for such thing to happen more frequently. I swear that a 0.00001% is a miracle even in the best and safest developed country.
Another achievement or empty glory?
‘Singapore tops IB exam in region for fourth year’, screams a headline
in the Today paper and maybe other papers as well. The first para, ‘For
the fourth consecutive year, Singapore has topped the Asia Pacific
region in the International Baccalaureate(IB) diploma examination. Of
the 1,747 students here who took the IB diploma exam last year, there
were 43 who scored a perfect 45 points – two more compared to a year
ago.’ The report went on to show how well the rest of the students have
done with an average of 36.53%, higher than the global average of
29.95%.
With such an achievement, not only in IB but in O level, A level as well, Singapore must be teeming with very clever and talented people. The achievements of the young citizens must translate to a pool of very intelligent adults and talented workforce.
Unfortunately the truth is far from it. Singapore has been proven to be lack of local talents and had to import feverishly from the regional countries for talents to help the dull and untalented locals. And many of these students who have perfect scores in IB, O and A level, will eventually work under the supervision of talents from 3rd World countries with average academic scores or even fake certificates.
What went wrong with the education system and the scintillating academic achievements? Don’t ask me. All I can see is crap. Either the exam results are craps or the students are craps or the employment scene is crap. Something must be crazily wrong.
I would want to believe that the students genuinely did very well academically and it is the silly system that allowed foreign craps to rule over local talents that is at fault. And you have silly people creating such a system to disadvantage the local talents and driving many to joblessness, unemployment or to depression.
What to do?
With such an achievement, not only in IB but in O level, A level as well, Singapore must be teeming with very clever and talented people. The achievements of the young citizens must translate to a pool of very intelligent adults and talented workforce.
Unfortunately the truth is far from it. Singapore has been proven to be lack of local talents and had to import feverishly from the regional countries for talents to help the dull and untalented locals. And many of these students who have perfect scores in IB, O and A level, will eventually work under the supervision of talents from 3rd World countries with average academic scores or even fake certificates.
What went wrong with the education system and the scintillating academic achievements? Don’t ask me. All I can see is crap. Either the exam results are craps or the students are craps or the employment scene is crap. Something must be crazily wrong.
I would want to believe that the students genuinely did very well academically and it is the silly system that allowed foreign craps to rule over local talents that is at fault. And you have silly people creating such a system to disadvantage the local talents and driving many to joblessness, unemployment or to depression.
What to do?
How a lie can become a truth
Andrew Loh wrote: ‘Barely a month after its mistake in reporting that a
Bangladeshi had been killed in the Little India riot on 8 December 2013,
the Straits Times seems to have once again got its facts wrong, or
helped propagate a false story.
On 24 December, the Straits Times reported the publication of a report in Hong Kong about the execution of the uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The Straits Times report, by its senior writer Ching Cheong, was titled, “Jang’s execution bodes ill for China”.
It described how Jang was executed – by being “eaten up” by “120 hounds” which had been “starved for three days”.’….
A piece of news published by the official national newspaper, The Straits Times, obviously carried a lot of weight and many readers can be forgiven for believing that this is a true story, verified, checked and double confirmed by professional newspaper men before putting it on print. And for those who would love such stories about Dear Leader and their programmed hatred for anything North Korean, they would simply gulp it down happily with a big jug of beer.
Why not when this news was happily picked up, quoted and reprinted by many of the supposedly reputable western media with an agenda to run down North Korea. In Andrew’s post the media mentioned to have quoted ST for this piece of juicy and serious news are: The Independent, The Daily Mail, USA Today, New York Daily News, The Nation, Fox News, The Telegraph and the Washington Post. A few of these are real biggies and what they posted would be taken as gospel truth. And I am damn sure these papers love such news, the more gore the better, to confirm their fabrication of what North Korea is all about.
According to Andrew this ‘eaten up by 120 hungry dogs’ is a piece of shit or lie that is not truth. I am not sure if Ching Cheong, the author and China expert, and the ST, have come up to dispute or confirm the authenticity and reliability of the report. As far as Andrew is concerned, this is an outright lie. But this may not be so. I have no means to check its authenticity, but the ST has. Even if the journalist was fed shit and believed in the shit, he still had to cross the barrier of the editor and chief editor who were obviously highly trained and experienced newsmen. They would not have passed this piece of news if they didn’t believe it was true and had not checked it themselves. If the news was false, a lie, it could now be turned into a truth when readers read it in The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph or one of the supposedly reputable and reliable media. People would then quote these big boys to claim that it must be the truth.
My suspicion is that this is another piece of crap originated from the West with their vicious agenda to paint North Korea as an uncivilized country with an equally evil dictator in Kim Jung Un. And in many places, or if Andrew did not raise this fact, many would simply read it, store it in their memory and after sometimes, becomes another convenient truth manufactured by the West and planted in their subconscious by the great media as The Truth.
Ok, I am not saying that the news was a piece of lie. Let’s hope a reputable paper like the ST would come out and rebut what Andrew had said or make a correction. Asking for an apology would be too much. And they could come out and confirm it was the truth and demand an apology from Andrew too.
What is the truth?
On 24 December, the Straits Times reported the publication of a report in Hong Kong about the execution of the uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The Straits Times report, by its senior writer Ching Cheong, was titled, “Jang’s execution bodes ill for China”.
It described how Jang was executed – by being “eaten up” by “120 hounds” which had been “starved for three days”.’….
A piece of news published by the official national newspaper, The Straits Times, obviously carried a lot of weight and many readers can be forgiven for believing that this is a true story, verified, checked and double confirmed by professional newspaper men before putting it on print. And for those who would love such stories about Dear Leader and their programmed hatred for anything North Korean, they would simply gulp it down happily with a big jug of beer.
Why not when this news was happily picked up, quoted and reprinted by many of the supposedly reputable western media with an agenda to run down North Korea. In Andrew’s post the media mentioned to have quoted ST for this piece of juicy and serious news are: The Independent, The Daily Mail, USA Today, New York Daily News, The Nation, Fox News, The Telegraph and the Washington Post. A few of these are real biggies and what they posted would be taken as gospel truth. And I am damn sure these papers love such news, the more gore the better, to confirm their fabrication of what North Korea is all about.
According to Andrew this ‘eaten up by 120 hungry dogs’ is a piece of shit or lie that is not truth. I am not sure if Ching Cheong, the author and China expert, and the ST, have come up to dispute or confirm the authenticity and reliability of the report. As far as Andrew is concerned, this is an outright lie. But this may not be so. I have no means to check its authenticity, but the ST has. Even if the journalist was fed shit and believed in the shit, he still had to cross the barrier of the editor and chief editor who were obviously highly trained and experienced newsmen. They would not have passed this piece of news if they didn’t believe it was true and had not checked it themselves. If the news was false, a lie, it could now be turned into a truth when readers read it in The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph or one of the supposedly reputable and reliable media. People would then quote these big boys to claim that it must be the truth.
My suspicion is that this is another piece of crap originated from the West with their vicious agenda to paint North Korea as an uncivilized country with an equally evil dictator in Kim Jung Un. And in many places, or if Andrew did not raise this fact, many would simply read it, store it in their memory and after sometimes, becomes another convenient truth manufactured by the West and planted in their subconscious by the great media as The Truth.
Ok, I am not saying that the news was a piece of lie. Let’s hope a reputable paper like the ST would come out and rebut what Andrew had said or make a correction. Asking for an apology would be too much. And they could come out and confirm it was the truth and demand an apology from Andrew too.
What is the truth?
1/06/2014
The careless intent behind a consumption society
The economists will tell you that consumption is good. Spend and churn
the economy, grow the economy by conspicuous spending. Borrow and spend,
spend and spend, it is good for the GDP. Savings is bad. Do not save,
everyone must spend every cent they earn. Prudence in money is not
encouraged. So everyone spends, like the Americans, whole country in
debt but economy booming, and life is good. The Americans could do that
and for now they can still do that by just printing more money. They
have extended their good fortune and making the rest of the world
working for them, to feed them and let them enjoy a life of plenty and
luxury without having to work like other people.
We are also encouraging our people to spend and spend. The talk of being prudent is only lip service. The people who talked about prudence know that prudence, spend within your means, is real and very important to one’s financial well being. Then look at the policies. They are all designed for the people to spend all their money, if not, spend all the money on behalf of the people, to stimulate a vibrant consumption economy. Other than the top 10 or 20 percent income population, the rest of the citizens would be spending every cent they earned and with many money not enough and in debt. Housing, transportation, medical, practically everything has been carefully calibrated to make the people spend everything. Even their life time savings for retirement are already spent or with new schemes to spend them.
As for the top income earners, they have no care about what is happening, about high cost of everything, high inflation. All they need to bother about is to ensure that their income is growing at a rate many times ahead of inflation and rising cost of living. They will also spend. But they only spend perhaps 10 or 20 percent of their income, some even lesser. The rest is saved. They are prudent with their money. They do not spend every cent of their money. They know that is bad. But what is bad for the ordinary people is good for the economy.
So the policies are designed to make sure the people will spend and spend, without any choice. They cannot stop spending as the prices of goods and services will be push up and up to ensure the policies of a consumption society work. The poor are made to spend by compulsory schemes while the rich quietly save.
At the end of the day the average Sinkies will just depart with nothing left on them, just like how they came. For the not so lucky average Sinkies, they will live a life in debt.
We are also encouraging our people to spend and spend. The talk of being prudent is only lip service. The people who talked about prudence know that prudence, spend within your means, is real and very important to one’s financial well being. Then look at the policies. They are all designed for the people to spend all their money, if not, spend all the money on behalf of the people, to stimulate a vibrant consumption economy. Other than the top 10 or 20 percent income population, the rest of the citizens would be spending every cent they earned and with many money not enough and in debt. Housing, transportation, medical, practically everything has been carefully calibrated to make the people spend everything. Even their life time savings for retirement are already spent or with new schemes to spend them.
As for the top income earners, they have no care about what is happening, about high cost of everything, high inflation. All they need to bother about is to ensure that their income is growing at a rate many times ahead of inflation and rising cost of living. They will also spend. But they only spend perhaps 10 or 20 percent of their income, some even lesser. The rest is saved. They are prudent with their money. They do not spend every cent of their money. They know that is bad. But what is bad for the ordinary people is good for the economy.
So the policies are designed to make sure the people will spend and spend, without any choice. They cannot stop spending as the prices of goods and services will be push up and up to ensure the policies of a consumption society work. The poor are made to spend by compulsory schemes while the rich quietly save.
At the end of the day the average Sinkies will just depart with nothing left on them, just like how they came. For the not so lucky average Sinkies, they will live a life in debt.
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