Mentoring Exercise 30

Your student asks if the whole class can be created on SecondLife. You feel that this is not a good long-term exercise because there is a lack of social interaction. What are your views?

Mentoring Exercise 29

Your students are having an argument about the importance of having more Facebook contacts. How do you use business ROI to help them understand?

Mentoring Exercise 28

You wonder why most Business and Economics textbook are written by authors based in the West. You start to inspire your students about creating an economics textbook with all asian case-studies. How will you go about marketing the book?

Mentoring 27

With the influence of mass media, your class seems to show more interest in President Obama's Fiscal Stmulus than the understanding of how Singapore is the "original economic miracle". They are convinced that he will be infamous if he could create 4m jobs in 4 years!

Are comparisons between Singapore and US valid?

Mentoring 26

Will robotic soldiers make a much better place since there will be no loss of human life. Do you agree?

Mentoring Exercise 25

During a GP class discussion about the relevance of religion in society today, your student proposes the concept of collaborative intelligence like a Wiki. "We are greater then our individual intelligence." Your response?  

Mentoring Exercise 24

Your student feels that Wikipedia provides enough information that makes classroom learning obsolete. He waxes lyrical about the advantages of home schooling and complete self-directed learning.

What will be your response?

Mentoring Exercise 23

Your student comments that Singapore is a very boring country that has to "build up" it attractions like F1 and Integrated Resort. Being very well-travelled, he feels that Singapore does not have any natural attractions and may lose the race to attract more tourists in the future. He brings in alot about the concept of barriers to entry.

How do you respond?

Mentoring Exercise 22

You are going through the topic of the spread of HIV in developing countries. How do you react to a student's question that if HIV drugs should not be sold cheaply in developing countries because the sufferers are economically less productive than HIV sufferers in advanced countries.

Mentoring Exercise 21

Get your class to discuss about how to encourage their peers to respect intellectual property. What will be their answer to these questions:

1) There are too many people who are already downloading illegally

2) The orginal suff is too expensive

3) It is ok. We are under-aged

My Thoughts B4 The Singapore Budget Statement

• Host mega clubbing events where concert-goers pay one fee & club around the world for a month
  
• Develop more unique reality TV programmes in Singapore
  
• Allow more youths to balance E-commerce activities with their studies.
  
• Encourage more Singaporeans to study locally - many distance learning courses are of high quality.
  
• Use the coming YOG (Youth Olympics) as an opportunity to build up and improve infrastructure in Singapore.
  
• Target more ASEAN tourists visitors to Singapore - use their children, who are already schooling in Singapore, as tourist ambassadors.
  
• To boost tourism, encourage a combined yearly pass where tourists get discounts to hotels, F&B within the ASEAN region.
  
• Build more hostels and enlarge the Education Sector in Singapore.
  
• Get the 3 local Unis (NUS, NTU, SMU) to combine resources and expertise in order to nurture Singapore's first Nobel Prize Winning team.
  
• Singapore has the expertise to develop Examination Curriculum/Test-Papers especially in Mathematics and Science.
• Singapore government should consider charging a consulting fee to help countries develop their own statutory boards like education and healthcare. This consulting fee can then be put back to our national reserves.
• Singapore should create a "super-mentor team" comprising of Minister Mentor Lee, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and ex-top Civil Servants who provide consultation for developing countries and paid by IMF - a percentage will be put into our national reserves.

Obama's Inauguration Speech - My Thoughts

Observation 1: "..mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors"

His first sentence included the remembrance of the past. This is important as it sets the tone for helping the audience understand that the current crisis need not be insurmountable.

Biz Application: This is where the importance of organisational story-telling applies.

Observation 2: He thanked George Bush and had a positive that Bush helped in the transition.

Biz Application: The CEO should always be gracious.

Observation 3:  "..faithful to the ideals of our forbearers"

He reiterates the aspirations of past generations of Americans

Biz Application: The CEO should have a good understanding of the organisation's goals and mission statement.

Observation 4: "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

I am amazed by Obama's directness in mentioning "...to make hard choices". It seems that he is admonishing the past American feeling of worshipping all forms of excesses.

Biz Application: The CEO should be a futurist, yet looking rationally at daily operational procedures.

Observation 5: "..each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."
 
He uses the term energy and adversaries in the same sentence. This is interesting. Is he implying that America has too much reliance on oil and is at the mercy of the price manipulation of OPEC?

Biz Application: Not sure

Observation 6: "..a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights."

Obama show's an acute understanding of how the rest of the world is currently viewing America..as a country that is too distracted by its domestic woes to pay attention to the war in Gaza, North Korea and even global poverty. The end of the American single Superpower model?

Biz Application: The CEO is allowed to bring in cost-cutting measures but must also have a strategic plan for the future.

Observation 7: "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given.  It must be earned.  Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less.  It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame."

Obama is referring to the age old ethos of hard work and honesty. I am wondering if he has hinting that there must be an overhaul of the American Financial System - maybe more government supervision and involvement.

Observation 8: "..it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things"

Is Obama referring that there must be a new spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in America? The Fords? Gates?

Observation 9: "We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth.  Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.  Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished." 

This is one of the rare occasions where Obama brings in some basic economics in this historic speech. He is definitely spot on about America being the most prosperous, at least in GDP terms. However, I think it is unsubstantiated rhetoric when he brings in the productivity of the typical American worker. He should have quoted some relevant statistics to back up this claim.

Observation 10: "..we are ready to lead once more."

In my own opinion, this is the climatic part of Obama's speech. He is reaffirming the desire that there will at least be one Superpower country and there must be leadership to move global issues forward.

Observation 11: "..and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

This is an obvious reference to America's never-ending fight against terrorism.

Observation 12: "Let it be said by our childrens children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and Gods grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Obama ends his speech with a bang - he encourages Americans to think themselves as history-makers.

Mentoring Exercise 20

America has a new president - it seems that there is a new wave of openess and idealism. Your students ask you why does the school culture take so long to follow suit. The teaching staff should learn to loosen up.

Mentoring Exercise 19

One of your students feels that the current environmental crisis has been the product and negligence of the older generation. That is why you are so eager to promote green awareness.

How do you respond? 

Mentoring Exercise 18

The inaugural YOG will be launched in Singapore 2010. Think of various activities that can encourage greater youth awareness in your school

Mentoring Exercise 17

Singapore has been hit with a recession and a weak external environment.

You are tasked with giving a talk to so that students can make an informed decision to choose their career path. How will you help them if you feel that their dream job may not be viable?

Be pragmatic?

Mentoring Exercise 16

Your school has been asked to stage a concert like "High School Musical" for a building project.

You have been asked to choose a script but with time and budget constraints.

How will you decide to move on?

Mentoring Exercise 15

I believe that creating a strong mentoring culture also requires giving back - thus the concept of wiki is very important.

Here are some ideas how a wiki can help:

1) For your Sports CCA - where past participants can share tips about getting the best performance

2) Maybe subject heads can contribute ideas about the teaching of their respective topic  

Mentoring Exercise 14

You are asked to mentor the running of the schools annual magazine and tasked with earning as much money as possible. You can just squeeze one more ad and it is a tossed up between a fast food chain and a book shop. The fast food chain is willing to pay more for the ad space and is also offering a special cut up that gives students a discount on its meals.

How can you decide?

Mentoring Exercise 13

You have been aproached to improve the school website. You are convinced that the problem lies with the dearth of attractive content that appeals to students and parents. However, you are given a very small budget. You feel that using search engine, you are able to source out for content which need not be paid because the content-originators are not from Singapore.

Should you go ahead? How should you react? 

Mentoring Exercise 12

You are part of a parents group that is setting up a food stall to support the school's fun fair. The stall that raises the most will win a prize and recognition. In the morning of the fun fair, you happen to see a parent buy from a very popular hawker stall, which contradicts the rules of complete food preparation.

As a mentor, should you help improve the quality of your own stall or blow the whistle? 

Mentoring Exercise 11

You have been asked to be a mentor for a a group of students who want to raise funds for a non-profit organisation. During the course of meeting up with them, you feel that the leader of the group has aspirations of using the fund- raising as an opportunity to get attention and maybe a job in the non-profit.

What should you do?

Mentoring Exercise 10

You discover that a subject teacher's blog provides enough clues to do well in a Science exam. You are also teaching the same subject.

Should you follow through?

Mentoring Exercise 9

You are the class monitor and have been assigned to be a buddy to a new student who has come from a country whose english is considered as a second language. The new student is very motivated in improving his english competency and insists in joining the class debate team to improve. You are the class captain and u need the team to do well to boost your chances of getting into a good secondary school.

What should you do?

Mentoring Exercise 8

You have been approached to be part of a Startup that is involved in creating a business strategy board game. However, your progress in the company is impeded by the lack of trust that the board game's creator has in revealing to u the business idea.

How will you proceed?

Mentoring Exercise 7

Your ex-student asks u for a favour. He has a group of friends who are musically-talented. You watch their singing on YouTube and am very impressed. You suggest that they compose jingles for ads to get exposure.

Do you have other suggestions?

Looking Into 2009 (Chinese Context)

I recently read with huge interest on Chinadaily.com.cn (December 27, 2008) how authorities in Yizhuang launched a 100 million yuan per year program to recruit overseas-trained Chinese talent to work for companies set up in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA). It was reported that qualified Chinese recruits returning from overseas are entitled to an award of 100,000 yuan in addition to getting housing subsidies, a free medical checkup, and education subsidies for their children. That is not all; companies that employ these returned talents could receive an award of up to 500,000 yuan.

This article reflects the importance of retaining and employing talent in Chinese business. Every employee has a warehouse of experience of knowledge to contribute, even if he had been trained overseas. Actually being trained overseas has an added advantage of being able to increase overseas networking opportunities.

This set the scene for my first article (in the China context) of 2009 – how should Chinese firms view the coming year? Here are some of my views as an Economist and Futurist. 

Team up with Chinese Higher Learning

According to The China University Alumni Association, Peking University has been labeled the "cradle of Chinese tycoons". The reason? It topped the list of the richest Chinese college graduates with 35 billionaire alumni!  This is followed by Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University. Billionaire alumni from Peking University include sports goods tycoon Li Ning.

It is very crucial that your company get involved with the various activities of Chinese Higher Learning. This can be as simple as sponsoring their events.

Be open with your employee

Don’t make promises that you cannot keep. The global recession is going to last for at least the whole of 2009. This will definitely hit the company’s bottom-line. Cost-cutting will be the norm.

Retrenchment should be the last resort

Nothing is more devastating then to go through a retrenchment exercise. It is the easiest way to solve a bad situation. But is it the best? Will your company be reflected in a good light and get the respect of your employees?

It has been reported by Chinadaily.com.cn that several of Chinese Huddler Liu Xiang's sponsors will continue to support the track star despite his failure in the recently-concluded Beijing Olympics. Nike has even gone so far as to change the tag line of one of its print advertisements to "Love Sport Even When It Breaks Your Heart", which prominently features Liu. Coca-Cola has also said it will continue to endorse Liu.

Find more innovative ways of cutting costs

Your company can start cutting cost by reducing the air-conditioned bills by encouraging workers to dress less formally like in casual jeans for certain work-days. Alternatively, you can encourage them to take the lift less often and use the stairs. Many companies can also drastically save money by encouraging employees to use more of the internet, instead of fax, in order to cut down on paper usage.

More income generated

Help you employees generate more sources of income – even activities that are not traditional like private tutoring. This may sound far-fetched but their activities may open more doors for new source of revenue for your own company. Under-utilised facilities like seminar rooms can also be better employed and the employee may be touched by how open-mindedness of your company. This will also encourage more corporate loyalty.

Book publishing

Nothing gives your company more visibility then publishing a book about your company’s activities. You can even consider getting your top marketer to publish under your company. Give the book out or have a prominent book launch.

Engage Your Customers

Get their feedback on your new launches or through viral marketing, get them to promote your product. Many of your customers have website and blogs so send them a widget to link back to your company. 

Mentoring Exercise 6

As a mentor, how do you ensure that you make a difference in the business decisions of a Startup or Non-profit organisation? Can you be sure that your views are valued, not just your immediate contacts?

Mentoring Exercise 5

You have been approached to be a mentor/advisory board member for a non-profit organisation. You meet up with the Founder and feel energised - you immediate answer is a resounding "yes". You are also swayed by the membership of a prominent mentor who is a well recognised figure. You convince yourself that you are in very good company.

However, as time progresses, you discover that you are not regularly updated with the organisation's progress and your membership does not create much bearing with the organisation's activities and direction.

Do you stay? Or were you never meant to be part of that organisation?

Should you set up a competiting organisation since as a mentor, you are highly regarded by business professionals and political heavy-weights?

Discuss the various ways in which you should set out your decision-making matrix.  

Mentoring Exercise 4

You chanced on a blog that was set up by your assigned workplace-mentee, that describes much unfavourable remarks about your current company. Your mentee has been careful not to quote names but you are definite that the photos that he has uploaded are taken within the workplace.

Should you report to higher management? 

Mentoring Exercise 3

You have a friend who has just lost his job in senior management position. His retrenchment has thrown a spanner in the works, especially with regards to sending his only child for Overseas studies. 

He approaches you and ask for employment within your Startup - preferably as the Managing Director, so that his bank loans will not be affected. However, you are in a dilemma because you feel that there is a wide generational gap.

How will you resolve this problem?

Mentoring Exercise 2

In a business plan competition, you have been assigned to be a mentor for a Startup. However, the Startup has not been very cooperative and does not reflect a need to be mentored. In actual fact, the Startup has approached another mentor to be in their team.

You decided to break away from them and coincidentally, you discover some information that will help them be more persuasive in their business plan presentation.

Will you inform them? 

Mentoring Exercise 1

Your HR Department has just deployed a new member to your team. He is very experienced and knowledgeable in your industry. It seems he was laid-off from a competing company and is quite judgmental about your current company's operations.

You have been assigned to be his mentor.

Describe your response.