Feng Shui – Man Luck (part 1 of 2)

Man Luck is one part of the Trinity of Luck which is a central tenet of Chinese Philosophy.

The Trinity of Luck being Heaven Luck (Destiny), Earth Luck (your environment) and Man Luck (yourself)

You are the result of your thoughts, your actions and your deeds.

It is all because of you. Nobody else.

You might regret a number of your decisions that you made.

But, can you do anything about it?

No, it is the past.

Why worry about it. Nothing can be done to change the situation because it is the past.

Can you make better decisions to improve the quality of your life in the future?

Yes you can, you can change your life.

It is better to spend time to change your future because you can.

You cannot do anything that is past. Can you?

Life is like a road journey with an unknown destination.

You do not know the events that could happen on the journey.

Life could be just drifting from one crisis to another.

Just drifting with no particular path or direction.

Have you ever thought where you want to go to (in life)?

Are you equipped to travel on this road safely?

Personal Development is the process that prepares you for life’s journey.

1. You decide on the destination – by establishing your goals with a time scale
2. Are you prepared for the journey – do you have the right tools?

Once you have established your goals and equipped with the appropriate tools, life can be so much simpler and easier. You get what you want.

However, it is not some quick fix. Like taking a tablet to cure all. It is the development of your mindset. It is to make changes that developed since you were born.

Summary:

Take responsibility for all of your actions.

Spend your energy of things that you can change (the future) and not what you cannot (the past)

Appropriate behaviour sets for the Job

There is much talk in the business world that with passion, talent and perseverance, you will have success in your career. There is so much emphasis on the use of sophisticated methods in personal development that the basics are often overlooked.

I will use the example of Gordon Brown (Prime Minister of UK) as an example because his actions are reported in the public domain.

In my opinion, the person’s basic behaviours have to match the requirements of the job, if they do not, the person will not succeed it that position. The person’s behaviours might have been suitable for a junior position which justified him promotion to a higher position but, are just not suitable in the new and higher position.

Characteristics of the Gordon Brown

1. Passion and perseverance: He has the passion as he talks “politics politics politics” (Wikipedia) and has perseverance as he waited in the wings in the Cabinet for 10 years.

2. Intelligence – There is no doubt about that – he got a first class degree and a PhD at the University (Wikipedia)

3. Skills necessary for good Leadership?

• Detail and control – slow decision making – gets bogged down in the mass of paper work A leader needs a view of the big picture; be a statesman and not a politician

• Fear of Failure – Decisions by committee, alleged bullying tactics and said to have called off an election at the last minute. A leader needs to lead and take risks.

• Physical presence – lacks charisma and likeability Good Leaders have charisma and likeability. These points are very basic points of behaviours which indicate that he is more suitable for an academic or a researcher.

Some of these behaviours can be changed but only when the person deems it is necessary.

A Good Leader does not need to have high intelligence

and

A high level of education is not mandatory requirement to be a good leader.

Food for thought

Michael Oon

Gordon Brown Interview on BBC – Comment on a behavioural perspective (non-political)

Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister gave an interview on the BBC on Sunday 31st May 2009.

These are some of my behavioural comments (non-political) on his performance.

1. His mannerisms appeared wooden.
2. Went asked why this was not done, he said, I wanted this proposal 2 years ago (but it had not been done).
3. He talked and talked and drifted from the original point. When asked
by the interviewer about the original point, he wanted to carry on
talking.
4. He kept on referring decisions to a committee as they had the full information.

Impressions:
He did not appear likeable. Every aspiring politician should appear likeable.
He did not want to accept responsibility by taking decisions.
He loves talking of what he is interested in.

Response:
This is the 1st time that I have seen a complete interview of the Prime Minister.
This is the leader of this country and I do not appear impressed with his leadership skills

Have I missed something about the interview or leadership?

A Simple Strategy for Success in Business

A talk by Tony Pidgley, Managing Director of Berkeley Homes at the Surrey Chambers of Commerce meeting held in Guildford on Thursday (13th May 2009).

His philosophy of having high moral and business standards shines like a beacon in this present time.

1. Moral and Business standards – leaders lead (to set the example) and others follow

2. Working to a set of indicators and not the emotion of the market – house price rise of the past several years – this was caused by house price inflation and not by good work. All bubbles crash. This has made the price of land for new developments expensive. Berkeley Homes has returned to the Home Counties after 10 years; for example: just bought a development plot for £1.7 million; this was previously purchased for £7.0 million at the top of the market.

3. Berkeley Homes have a good reputation; purchasers know of the quality and the space of their products. 4. Berkeley have a substantial cash reserve £350 million, sufficient to ride the storm and will re-start building when the conditions are right.

Opinion: The Berkeley Homes have followed these guidelines since its inception in 1976 and it is still trading very successfully indeed. It has gone through at least 3 cycles of boom and bust. This is a very simple formula for success and used in a similar manner by Warren Buffett in his management of Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett is the world most successful investor who is worth more than US $37billion.

Joanna Lumley – A National Treasure

The Labour Government lost a vote in the House of Commons earlier this week on the issue of the Ghurkha solders. This is the first time the incumbent has lost a vote since coming to power in 1997.

Joanna Lumley campaigned about the unfair treatment of the Ghurkha solders by the Government using traditional grassroots methods including lobbying and the press. She does not have an E-mail account and it is unlikely that modern electronic communications were used by her. Traditional communication methods work but, they take a longer time and harder work to succeed.

Well done Joanna. You are a National Treasure!