June 9, 2010
On my way to the office from site work, I stop by at a small food stall and indulge myself with a bowl of assam laksa. It’s been a while since I last had a good laksa treat. I take a chance this time knowing that I am allergic to certain types of food. I notice that everything is okay until after my last sip of the gravy leftover. I start to feel the allergy attack. As usual, I have piriton pills with me at all times and take a tablet. Although my body feels the itchiness, the bowl of laksa tastes really good.
So what else is new?
NA of finance says that as at today, no “new leavers” is recorded. The “carnival of resigning employees” is beginning to slow down, with most of them serving their tender periods. I wonder if there will be any reshuffling of posts anytime soon after the “motivated to leave” exercise. I will be on leave for a couple of days. I don’t know whether the word ‘recuperate’ suits my intention (to go on leave). I hope when I get back, I can still walk tall and stand strong despite the intense pressure.
I remember once a then professor of management Lawrence Corbett of Victoria University of Wellington told me that in my role I would experience private victories and public defeats and that I should take the public defeats on the chin while toasting my victories in the privacy of my own office.
I soon learnt that he was right, and that the most challenging aspect of leadership is dealing with people’s perspective of your decisions, and their expectations.
The real challenge of leadership in organizations such as this Company is to make consultations genuine, to engage in all arguments and seek to carry people with you but to make the decisions that are in the best interests of the Company, and, having done so, to have the resolve to carry these decisions through.
As Stephen P. Keef, former professor said, a branch manager is “less a CEO who can manage by dictate and decree and a more a managing partner in a professional firm who manages by persuation & negotiation”.
During lunch I took time off to go to Chepor river. Adik and Kembar joined me and together we sat down and talked about recent issues and problems. I know Kembar will be joining Epoi come July. But Adik?
“Aku tak tahu. Tapi insya’Allah adalah rezeki aku mana-mana nanti. Mungkin ini persimpangan untuk aku bertukar bidang, siapa tahu?” I admire his calmness. Adik has always been the coolest guy in the team. Whenever he faces difficulty, he would close his eyes for a few seconds to think and concentrate. After that he will definitely come up with a solution.
When I’m back in the office, I could see all of the guys were busy updating their resumes, including Bro and Zali. I won’t stop them. If there’s better opportunity for them out there, I pray that Allah will bless them all with the opportunity they deserve.
I suddenly remember this song during World War 2.
Bless Them All
Bless them all
Bless them all
The long, the short and the tall
Bless all the sergeants and WO1s
Bless all the corporals and their blinking sons
Because we’re saying goodbye to them all
As back to their billets they crawl
You’ll get no promotion this side of the ocean
So cheer up my lads
Bless them all
