Wilson Ng started helping the family business since 9 years old. Since then, he had dreamt to be a successful entrepreneur, one who starts great businesses  ( he has started 7) from scratch with insight, guts and initiative. He keeps his focus on growing the business by creating value-- not on politics, or wasteful distractions. He brings the same focus to community service, teaching, life and family.

This is the main page which contains all postings. The reader can also choose a category: techdrivenlife, on life, on business, quotes, jokes, tidbits & reading reviews.  A new category, EntrepreViews, talks on entrepreneurship and also answer reader's queries.

	Sunday, December 12, 2004

The Will to Change ( on business) About two years ago, we had our 20th year high school reunion. Most of us have more than doubled our age since we left high school, and yet it seems like it was just yesterday! The other astounding fact was how little everybody had changed.  The faces look the same, the mannerisms look eerily the same.  The people you expected to be early were early, the people you expected to dress up did ( because they dressed up in high school), the people who were overweight were still so  ( though many who were not have also gained weight) , and the people who were shy were still so.   It brings to the forefront how infrequent it is for us to change our character, our attitudes, and our work habits willfully after they are formed. If there were few people who changed, it was change brought about by circumstances.  If some had gained weight, it was because their job, finances, or lifestyle change brought about it.  How many changed because they willed it so? -- that means through a conscious program undertaken to become better? It points out how difficult it is really for us to change our characters and habits, and yet it is the person who can successfully change instead of being a passive creature of habit or circumstance  that will be successful. Witness people who smoke.  Virtually all of them know they needed to quit, but only a small percentage do.  Witness people who are overweight.  Many know they need to lose weight, but then only a small percentage do.  The bad news really is that we really end up doing the things we get used to doing, or start to like doing,  instead of the things we really ought to do, for our own good. The reason I am saying this is that as a technology company who introduce business and technology solutions to companies, we are in the forefront of changing a company's process, and such process of change frequently encounters resistance by people who keep wanting to do what they are used to, or what they already know.  Even in our internal meetings, we institute change and action plans-- change in communication policies, change in working process with suppliers and customers, change in attitude towards service, change in efficiency processes, but eerily unless you come up with a strongly defined, managed and controlled program of change, you will encounter seemingly enthusiastic response, but nil success in implementation. Change Management, or Solution Improvement programs fail not because we don't know what is good for us.  At the end, we know what we really ought to be doing  ( eat less, exercise more, study harder, organize better, sleep earlier, watch less tv, spend more time with our kids), but force of habit ( or circumstance as is always the ready culprit and excuse) prevents us from doing so. There are offshoots of this.  First is that if you are really a student of people, and observe/test well, you can really predict with a great amount of accuracy the success potential of a person based on his habits even when he is just fresh out of school. Next time you are looking for people in the organization, especially in sensitive positions that demands flexibility and change,  try looking for people who after all the qualifications, have one additional qualification:  Is he/she the person who when confronted with change, have the discipline and will power to see through the change over the force of habit?  These are the people who will bring your programs to success. If you note how IBM had to get an outside CEO in the early 90s, and HP had to get one in the late 90s.  The people inside have gotten so used to existing processes that it was difficult to institute change from within. On the other hand, there are 2 ways you can help your kids be successful: 1.) Develop in them winning habits and attitudes before they are 16.  It will most likely stay with them their whole life, and bring them good stead. 2.) Train them in the discipline of flexibility to change and open mindedness.  4:47:30 PM     comment []   trackback []

Past Archives:

2005  --  June , May , April,  March , February,  January

2004  --  December, November, October, September