Above all else

It's a week past Mother's Day but I have a wife-related story to tell, and they don't really have a wife's day for some reason (perhaps because it's supposed to be everyday?) Last Thursday, I was on the way home with my wife when I saw a weird looking cloud in the sky and remarked to her that it looked like the Merlion! This turned out to be remarkably prescient, because in a few hours, I would in fact be merlion-ing i.e. throwing up like the iconic statue at Fullerton. As the resident vacuum cleaner of food in our family, I was having various leftovers as dinner. Something or other must have gone bad, and by 10 pm, my stomach was starting to cramp. Things got increasingly worse, and at 1 am, I crawled out of our bedroom and threw up. I usually feel a lot better after throwing up, but unfortunately, this time, I didn't, and the cramps started to get worse. Luckily for me, my wife and son (who happened to be at home from NS) were there to sit next to me and make ...

Many organisations have mission statements, visions and taglines. These make up the corporate "dream". The best ones are often succinct. Apple's mission statement is "bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software and services", which is nice and clear. But its tagline is even more memorable - "Think different". Sometimes, a little detail in a mission statement is needed to give clear direction. But punchy taglines often work best in practice, because it's what customers, and even more importantly, management and employees can remember and internalise. Otherwise it's just something to plaster on a wall or an annual report that no one actually practises. But if it's internalised... then the dream starts to take shape! For many years now, the informal motto of my team at work has simply been this - Make Others Succeed. We exist to support the overall business intent, helping the organisation get t...