Category: General

Say wha’? Communicative cha cha cha..

People like to hire their own, often assuming everyone understands the same goals, and ‘speaks the same language’. I had breakfast in Beijing not long ago with a friend. A mainland Chinese who’d gone to grad school in the US and ended up working for a well known US private equity company. Back in China…
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No financial talent in asia? The economist misses the mark

The Economist has come out with one of their more churlish articles, (it does happen) “Go east, young moneyman”, the latest edition, pp 67-68. It is both elliptical and alarmist, almost enough to make one actually believe there is an epic talent crisis in Asia, adding to the metronomic “no talent in Asia” chant. The…
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Stop, listen, and wise up

There are those who revel in being contrarians, doing the opposite of what others expect. On occasion it can be advantageous, catching an opponent off-guard and using it to bolster ones position, and knowing when to do so is a strength. But usually it is the domain of those who think they know more than…
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Tiger moms, talmud and talent

All the talk on Tiger Moms and Asian versus Western parenting has opened new channels of dialogue, but one thing that has interested me is the use of language, and in the case of Amy Chua, verbally abusive language. Calling one’s child lazy, stupid, garbage, dumb ugly, etc is-in Chua’s eyes- to toughen them up,…
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Sideline savvy skills

On the sidelines of the soccer pitch, speaking to another soccer dad I have not seen in a while; “How’s business?” “Not bad, travelling a lot, company’s going through some restructuring, looks like the boss here (a S. African) is now reporting to Sydney instead of the US [and the dad I’m speaking to is…
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The mechanics of manners; 10 points

My children were on school break last week, doing the things teens do; hanging with friends, sleeping late, Facebook, Skype, videos, and sleepovers. My son had two of his friends sleep over, and were up until 2 AM or so. When they finally headed out the following afternoon, one of the boys said to me,…
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The tao of affability

A couple of short stories on behaviour, troglodytes and affability.. First Story (about me): [framed_box]Sitting around with other parents last weekend, we discussed an article about high school behaviour: principals, students, cliques, and political correctness. Of the parents that spoke, many disagreed with much of the content and premise of the article. I eventually piped…
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The job description–made to last

I look at job descriptions and at people’s CVs through the day. I assess their skills, work history, presentation and aspirations, how they compose and formulate their CV, their reflections, aspirations, ability to listen, how the articulate and market themselves, sometimes with a dollop of self awareness.. I usually (after an hour or so) understand…
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Facebook’s challenges

In the next year–two years maximum–Facebook will face new challenges. My voice may be a rather quixotic one, with their march towards a billion users, half way there already, and it may not be the behemoth it is today. Here are three challenges as I see it: History. Being the biggest of anything makes one…
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