How do you manage changes for better conditions in 2012?

I can’t believe that I have been off writing my own blog for almost a year for many personal reasons. I am still alive in this planet!

Writing this blog is to share some of my thoughts on various subjects without any intention to make anyone or anything right or wrong. The truth of the matter is really subject to the choice of viewpoint from the universe of the individual himself. 

A lot of changes happened to me last year.  I personally run into a lot of randomities that I have never experienced, especially in terms of magnitudes in the past.  Yet, I can finally learn how to come out of it and have achieved peace of mind because of my own personal belief, value and integrity with some changes of  my operating basic and personal policies.  So they’re all boiled down to what personal value one really believe and let them be part of one’s life; that they are powerful enough to handle any stops and even opposition to bring peace for oneself.

If we look around our financial and business world, the understanding and grasp of change of paradigm and rules of the games determine the fate of one’s success or failure.  

A person and even a business if failed and as long as they’re smart, they could evaluate the previous stable data they had upheld for the failure to cause confusion, and know how to search better and workable stable data, they can come out of their own confusion and help themselves move into higher and better conditions. However, one can easily get stuck in one’s own success without paying any attention to change of paradigm especially in a fast paced technological change economy; that slowly undermine one’s success model.  For example, we can’t believe that a 124 years old company “Kodak” to seek bankruptcy financing this year.  Part of the reasons for its failure was due to its underestimation of the growth of digital camera while they’re the pioneer and the leader in the film camera industry as well as the first inventor of digital camera.  The strength of one’s business model soon turned into the weakness to be out-competed by its competitors. In other words, the business failed to manage “change”, and if continued to fail to do so, it could be out of business soon.

Why are some people afraid of change?  Change may in a way invalidate what one has been doing, especially if it has been successful. Change will also shake the stable data that one has been depending for its success.  We don’t like confusion but stability.  Change if not managed well can put oneself into moments or longer periods of confusion.  Yet, let’s face the reality that if one don’t handle “change” properly, his competitors will soon bring confusion to his door.

If one can separate oneself from his own stable data without any fixation, one can easily change and adopt new and workable stable data that can allow defeating one’s earlier stable data if needed sometimes.  One simply manages change to a better and higher condition.  Then one doesn’t need to wait until someone hit it in his face by enforcing a better stable data than his to lock him out of his game.  Who are we really?   Aren't we more senior than anything around us?   Aren't we more important than our compulsion to prove ourselves right at all times?  Don't forget that you are a very valuable being! 

I wish you all the best and prosperity for the coming dragon year.  Play your game with spirits of play without too much seriousness and enjoy your life!!

What are the purposes of your job and your company?

First I would like to express my apology for not updating my blog at least once a month. Though I have not written anything on my blog for more than two months (while being away from Hong Kong and busy with many different activities), I do have many new realizations about myself, life and the world that I would like to share with you.  Life is in fact interesting.

Recently, I have attended a six days executive seminar at a cruise, regarding the subject on “Leadership and Purposes” with lots of inspiring ideas from the speakers.  Success and prosperity can always be found from any company having positive purposes to be shared by the employees and customers under competent leadership.  It’s also applied to the individual success whether one is motivated from his own purposes in life and knows how to make things go right towards the accomplishment of his purposes.

Have you ever asked yourself about the purposes of your life?  You can also ask the same question to your friends, associates, colleagues, and family members to help you getting to know them better.

We may have different responses: “Well, I have never thought about it”, or “I really don’t know”, or “Just follow what other people are doing.”, or simply, “Buying a property”, “Security in life”, “Making a lot of money”,   etc… You may find only a few people could clearly state their purposes in life right away.   You can also watch their emotional responses towards their purposes. Are they excited about them? Are they bored about them? Do they feel grief as if they have almost lost their purposes? You can imagine the level of one’s motivation by examining his purposes in life; and his emotional response towards his purposes.  Those who are more excited about their purposes have a higher chance of success.  It will be interesting to find out the survey results with questions on the purposes and related emotional response of the majority of Hong Kong People; which can give us insights to determine the rate of our success and prosperity.

Now, let’s take a look of the purposes of the majority of companies in Hong Kong?   Profitability and viability are always expected to make the company stay in the market.   What does it really motivate any company to exist and continue to grow?  However, mission statement with visions or purposes are not always published or clearly stated in any public company documents of Hong Kong companies.   It may be a good research topic to find out how the corporate purposes of Hong Kong companies are related with their success.

For example, on the company brochure of Sun Hung Kai Property Company, a listed company in Hong Kong,  said “ The Group believes in “Building Homes with Heart’ and has grown with Hong Kong over the decades offering ideal residences for people. The company is also committed to corporate social responsibility; taking an active role in charity and environmental protection. It will continue aspiring to new heights with its well-established brand and contributing to better living in Hong Kong by building quality homes.” We have witnessed the quality homes built by this company and it’s also a preferred property developer when considering buying any property in Hong Kong.  So from what the company has produced, we can see that there is an alignment of its purposes and products.

70% of our time is related with work.  If one’s purposes are in alignment with the purposes of the company one is working for, you can imagine that he’s motivated and happy in what he’s doing.  Otherwise, one may feel unmotivated with unhappiness.

If you wish, you may review your own purposes of life, the purposes of your job and your company to see whether they’re in agreement in some regards, that can help to uplift your morale to build a better future of yourself, your company and the community at large.

So let’s build a better future of Hong Kong together!

How much are the government's intervention into the property market good enough for the benefits of all concerned?

Facing with the “hot money” in creating the inflated prices of properties in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government has introduced a number of administrative measures recently to stop any short term speculators from speeding up to the unusual rate of property price increase.  Finally, the sudden addition of stamp duty up to 15% of the value of the property for any property transfer within six months after the purchase as introduced on Nov 12, 2010, had helped to cool down the property market with a sharp drop in the number of transaction, cancellation of the sales contracts with loss of deposits from the buyers, etc.   The government was happy to see the response of the market and felt that administrative measures being effective after a week.  But has it solved the problem of insufficient supply of affordable housing in Hong Kong? 

“Perfect competition” with the optimum equilibrium of demand and supply as learnt from the textbook of “economics” does not happen naturally in the market.  Most of the time, demand or supply is however manipulated by a number of small groups of people, but affecting the majority of us in the market.  High inflated prices are produced by making scarcity out of something including the control of the money supply.   Without releasing more supply of the property in the market, the demand will not simply be suppressed by the small curb of the property prices brought by administrative measures.

Money is a commodity back by confidence that goods and services can be exchanged with each other in a fair market condition. Money will flow into areas which can attract interest and attention. Money will not lose value only if without inflation or not flowing into unproductive areas that cannot be used for exchange with other people.  

To the majority of people who cannot control the demand and supply of the properties and commodities, we therefore need to face the problem to keep the value of money grow without losing value by inflation.  To the small group of people (sometimes including the government though it wants to play an impartial role), who have access to abundant money and resources to control the demand and supply of many commodities in the market, they may need to face the problem to keep the game going by including the majority of us without losing them in the games.

Life is a kind of game which poses problems with purposes, barriers and freedom.   It could be some kind of “games condition” whereby some parties playing “must have” versus others playing “can’t have”.   How well we play any game depend on whether we are at cause or the effect of the game.  No matter whether you‘re playing only either one side of the game: “must have” or “can’t have”, if you are not willing to play the opposite side at the same time, you are still probably the effect of your own game.  

To have a better field for our games, it’s time for both sides of the game players be willing to be the opposite side and play them,  then we may have better solutions to our problems.