Celebrate Life

There is a lot in our lives we can be thankful for. There is much we can give thanks and praise to. Appreciation is about knowing what we already have.

Celebrations are events that engage our emotions, usually happy and positive experiences. They are best served with other people. Celebration is the sharing of things, emotions and experiences.

Celebrate your friends: My close friend, Catherine M. has made full remission from cancer. I am so grateful and happy that she has fully recovered; I get to spend more time with her in the future. I intend to make a trip to the south of France to enjoy a few bottles of wine with her next year.

Celebrate the birth of a new one. Remember the cake and red-coloured eggs that your colleagues brought to the office. How about a wedding? It is a time of celebration of one couple and their close friends. Be happy for them. Stop griping and whining about having to give a gift, or a red packet. Go only if you want to.

Celebrate your achievements. These are part of your Personal Branding 2.0. What have you done that you were proud of recently? Which awards have you earned? What was your last physical achievement? Celebrate your successful weight loss, increased strength, or lower heart rate. Celebrate your successful driving test, and valid licence. Celebrate learning how to inline skate. Celebrate having completed a marathon (it didn’t matter if you walked part of the way – you completed it). Share your first cake you baked, so that you may celebrate the taste of accomplishment. When my triathlon buddy, Roger and his wife Jennifer baked their first few sponge cakes they had us do a taste test. It was splendid for a first attempt; I look forward to their subsequent baking creations.

Celebrate your health, family and home.

When was the last time you celebrated with somebody, or yourself? Enjoy life.

Personal Branding: How Do You Project Your Leadership Self?

Branding 2.0 is about using strategic marketing to promote yourself, your causes and your leadership style and orientation.

Go beyond the 4 P’s of Philip Kotler: Price, Positioning, Place and Product. Some include divine Providence (i.e. pray!). Instead, also consider your leadership Personality, Positioning, Presence and Purple Cow (Seth Godin). Branding consultant, Reeves addresses the notion of Purple Cows on his blog.

When you build you personal branding as a leader, you enhance what my research has revealed years ago: Commitment, Clarity and Confidence. Do you need these qualities with your leader?

How do you stand out from the rest? What are your signature pieces? What are you best known for?

Here are some questions that may address some of your questions:

What do you do to add value?

How do you stand out from the others?

What makes you outstanding?

What do you stand for?

What is your reputation?

Which is your mastery?

What effect do you have on people?

How do you create confidence when around people?

I will discuss with you some interesting interventions that will have you enhance your personal branding to the next level.

Tapering: The Big Easy Before The Big Tough

This morning, I ran the 15km race in the New Balance Real Run. It took place at the Changi Exhibition Centre – a venue for the large-scale international aerospace show.

The dual-format event, comprising the 10km and the 15km runs, took place over a diverse menu of sandy trail, tar road, and sandy beach. There were adequate water-points, and it was tempting to skip them if you were on the ‘fast track yet I did not dare. I had to meander around runners in front, since I started way back behind the front, faster pack. Slowly, but surely I took advantage of every opportunity to overtake. I took it when I could take it (in terms of pace intensity).

I was pleased to hold a 4:30 pace for most of the distance, until I hit the 12km mark that brought us to a stretch of beach. Thus, I had to work harder on the soft sand (and the ambitious temperature) for a short distance – it was designed to fatigue us more. Fortunately, I was alert to notice and acknowledge familiar faces, and even ‘leave some in the tank’ to finish with a determined sprint. It was a rewarding morning despite the 7.30am start-off, and I secured personal best (PB) times in my 10km, 11km and 15km. It has been a good week of tapering and unofficial PBs. Thanks Reeves and SK for keeping me company, and for our minor celebration afterwards.

Read this article on Forbes about the parallels between great athletes and executives.

Leadership Lessons: Know how to taper, as it helps you fine-tune your performance. Learning to do less is to appreciate doing more. In Systems Thinking, less can be more; slow can be fast. Live and learn.

9 Wild and Whacky Races to Consider

I have observed the increased racing activity on almost every weekend. New events like the SAFRA Quadthlon, which integrates a rollerblading leg within a triathlon, have increased the difficulty level; especially if you do not do too well standing on a razor’s edge. Other races like the Sundown Marathon occurs in the evening and runs (literally) through the night, and even late morning (if you punish yourself by not training for the 84km ultra-marathon, which suggests a death-wish on your part).

Here are some propositions; hopefully, we can find brave and innovative sponsors to realize these events and articulate their importance to the endurance sporting community.

1. The Unreal Run (occurs on tar, mud, water, pebbles, sand, grass, escalators, stairs, back-lanes, forests, and slopes)

2. The Umbrella Run (same as Unreal Run except you carry an open umbrella)

3. The Snorkeling Race (swim with a snorkel in a reservoir or sea)

4. Real Man’s Run (all-men, chauvinistic race – we’ll show them for having a Woman’s Run!)

5. Penthlon (like the Quadthlon and we add another near-impossible phase, like 3-ball juggling, sushi-rolling or beer-drinking)

6. Panty-thlon (run in your undies and T-shirt, just like the Underwear Run in Kona, Hawaii)

7. Mad Hatters (inspired by the on-going run Hash House Harriers for decades, except this time we race and wear tall-hats)

8. Triathlon Family Beer Run (an actual race that will be carried out – details on the Triathlon Family Forum page)

9. Parathon (dressed in runner’s kit and we pub crawl over 42km by foot, over a dozen pubs – winners buy coffee and toast)

I have run with the Singapore Hash House Harriers in 1990. The quenching of thirsts after the fun run, as parched throats are sloughed off with Tiger Beer was memorable, as was the company. But, that's another story!

Nota bene [note well]: This piece was done, tongue in cheek, while writing my 50,000-word novel.

Dropping Out of the Race

It is nearing the monsoon season; the rain has been persistent and prolonged. Although it makes sleeping at night better, it also makes outdoor training challenging. It is so easy to make excuses for staying in, and recuperating at home.

A day, or two later, you may have experienced the symptoms of guilt. Or, were those withdrawal symptoms founded on your frequent endorphin fixes? You got to get high, naturally. Naturally, you may find ways to creatively exercise and sustain your physical and mental fitness.

Your personal leadership should kick in when you recognize these signals of malaise and laziness. It is as tempting as indulging in your urge to walk when your running pace begins to diminish. Perhaps you were dehydrated, under-nourished, or just uncomfortable with the harder pace, albeit too early in the race?

Now, do you drop out because your body tells you, or when your mind caves in to pain, doubt, worry and concern? Do you continue the crawl pace, or surrender early so as to save face from being noticed at the finishing line? Come on – the pros also drop out of the race due to a punctured tyre, mechanical faults, or when their bodies go into over-drive! Should you just drop out?

Certainly, if you are unwell the best (and tough thing) to do is rest: complete, uninterrupted rest. Sleep! Fuel up. Nourish your body. Keep your mind still. After all, you did advise the newbie last week to listen to their body, and to take that compulsory rest…walk the talk. Walk to the pit stop. Be a spectator for the day instead of racing.

Leadership lessons: How do you ensure that you do not drop out of the race prematurely? Which values (qualities) do you engage when doubt and fatigue pique you? What activates your motivation to stay on, and stay in the game?

Nine Ways to Increase your Value as Employee 2.0

Employee 2.0 is the revised, reviewed and reloaded version of staff in this decade. This is the staff that detests coercive power, and leadership by fear. He/she is of Generation Y: highly mobile, very technology-minded, highly sociable, and focused on their future needs, and current lifestyle.

Employee 2.0 focuses on being employable. They are mindful about the parameters of being valued and valuable. They navigate from being worthy to worthwhile to creating worthiness. They continue to reinvent themselves to stay fresh and attractive to their organisations.

Here are ways to consider how to enhance your value:

1. Learn new skills

2. Apply existing skills and aim for excellence

3. Ensure that you have unique, potable, and marketable skills

4. Actively network across different industries

5. Use social media tools to stay informed and in-touch with the world

6. Focus on Personal Branding 2.0

7. Focus on Personal Leadership 2.0

8. Take up leadership positions

9. Be an expert in your field

Challenging Conversations

‘Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.’ ~ ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH

Have you been seized by a great idea recently? You know, an idea that captivated you to study it from different perspectives, and even propose solutions. Has there been a dialogue that captured your attention and demanded your full attention?

When was the last time you engaged in a challenging conversation? This IS not, necessarily, an argument yet you would propose your argument in a non-argumentative sort of way. It can mean being assertive, and expressing what your concerns are. If you think something is important, share it with somebody and get him to relate to it. Supporters can sustain an idea, cause or movement.

Skillful coaches and mentors know when to invoke the best from their charges, with purposeful questioning. Deeper levels of comprehension and thinking come from compound questions (two questions in one). How do you know that you have what it takes to conduct a meaningful conversation?

As long as you maintain your sense of respect, recognition and reassurance for others you can challenge somebody’s thinking, and encourage the best out of them.

Can You Be Indispensable?

There is a prevailing belief, propagated and promulgated in large part by the management machinery. Nobody is indispensable! How true is that? Can you become indispensable?

Of course you can! The questions you need to consider are: how, and for how long?

Be a valued staff, and make yourself valuable. What can you offer beyond the achievements of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Results Areas (KRAs)? What do you do to add value? How do you multiply your value throughout your organization? How do you share value? Seriously give much thought into these value propositions.

Have you been asked to postpone your annual leave? Have you been told how the workplace was busier without you? If you returned after a hiatus, back to your job, then you are still valuable.

1. Have unique skills (be rare)

2. Be competent (so that you can compete)

3. Update your Job Description/Job Scope (scare the next person coming in!)

4. Do tasks that are not popular (writing minutes of meetings; editing; conversations with staff/management)

5. Lead, and be in leadership positions (include temporary ones)

6. Assume ‘acting’ roles (standing for a manager in their relative absence)

7. Reinvent yourself, and reduce your predictability

8. Shift that sense of dependability on you from a few days to a few weeks in a year (go from there)!

Book Review: Run For Your Life!

Book Review: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE – The Complete Marathon Guide

Author: Dr Ben Tan

Pages: 215, glossy paper, with colour photographs and reference-charts

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Editions

Price: SING$28.00

Available at major bookstores, as well as online

The cover on this book is simple, yet captures your attention. An orange, tank-top with a race-bib that screams the title of Dr Ben Tan’s third book, as well as a collar label that hints ‘Marathon – Gear up for your race’.

Dr Tan’s credibility and reputation is undisputed. As a leading sports-medicine specialist and local sporting personality with multiple awards, regional champion, and once the Top-50 sailor in the world, Dr Tan breasts the tape a winner in his third book. His first book was on yachting and his second, on weight management.

20 notable contributors grace this wonderfully collaborative work, which succeeds on many levels of relevance as a manual for both sports student and the weekend warrior. They include physiotherapists, sports physicians, running coaches, podiatrists, kinesiologists, nutritionists, surgeons, and sports scientists. To be able to align all these expertise into a clear and coherent flow must have been a colossal challenge – this book is highly readable. The foreword is by Murugiah Rameshon (our former-national marathoner who continues to hold the 2:24 record) who obviously recognizes and respects Dr Tan’s athletic brilliance.

The book is highly readable. The style is almost conversational, yet scientific and exact in its approach. The book avoids sticking points like a predictable format. Instead, it is analogous to running cross-country with a varied literary terrain that includes charts, short bios of runners, instructional photographs (by actual runners as models), tables of tips, and effective use of graphics – spread over 11 distinct chapters.

The three appendices at the end of this book, literally, cover all the ground for effective run training. In short, this book covers the A to Z of preparing for a marathon with the sensibility and caution that one cannot take for granted – it is hard work, however it is worth it. And, YOU CAN DO IT!

I liked the layout of the book. It has the feel of a triathlon guidebook by Joe Friel, the philosophy of Dr George Sheehan (Running and Being: The Total Experience), and the man-in-the-street appeal of Jim Fixx’s The Complete Book of Running. The latter book was my manual when I started running track in school. I suspect that Tan’s book may establish its importance as a manual for current and future runners. The aging endurance runner will take solace with the fact that 40-somethings can still achieve sub-4 hour completion times, if they train safely and specifically. Tan and M. Rameshon do sub-3 hour marathons, and they are in their forties! I was inspired and assured by the encouraging words injected throughout this book, especially in the all-important Introduction.

Above all, peppered anecdotally in this book are useful leadership values like collaboration, recognition, discipline, teamwork, gratitude, respect, resolve, resilience and determination. You may be able to access many of these core values from the single and simple act of running, whether you lead or follow in a run session.

Highly recommended for neophytes to seasoned runners. Don’t walk to the bookstore for it – run!

Here is our recent interview with Ben Tan.

10 Ways to be High Tech, High-Touch in Social Communications

Consider this scene:

Staff 1: Shall we go for lunch?

Staff 2: Okay? Where?

Staff 1: Up to you.

Staff 2: Then, we will go to the Café Del Sol. When?

Staff 1: 12.00pm?

Staff 2: Fine. Who will drive?

Staff 1: I will. My turn.

Staff 2: Okay. See you then.

The conversation you just heard occurred online, via e-mail. These two are colleagues seated in cubicles, next to each other.

When mobile phones manufacturers tout ‘connectivity’ as the new tagline, and users opt to send text-messages instead of calling, isn’t there an issue? Where is the human touch? What happened to calling somebody and hearing their voice? Perhaps this is why we insist that people listen more attentively and actively to us?

We may have begun losing the human connection. Our signatures are digital, and we are not leaving our personal touches – only electronic imprints. These imprints may not leave a deep or indelible impression on others anymore. First impression count - this means face-to-face communication and contact. Here are some ways to connect, with more impact, with another:

1) Go shake somebody’s hand

2) Give your parents, spouse and children a hug

3) Write in full sentences on text messages

4) Write with clarity and thought on each e-mail, tweet and text message you send

5) Call somebody on Skype

6) Update your blog regularly, and respond to comments

7) Give a verbal compliment

8) Send handwritten notes (Jack Welch used to do it)

9) Send out cards with additional words (Hallmark ones, not electronic)

10)Meet up for coffee and a conversation

As simple or mundane as these may sound, do it. I challenge you to do one of each this week. You may just surprise yourself for your personal touch.

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