20cts more for a cup of coffee?

oops.. no CNY picture

Is it the same as $4 surcharge for a usual $6 haircut applicable two weeks before and after the Chinese New Year?

Or is it the same to pay $48 per kg of Lim Chee Guan's bak kwa after queuing from 4am when perhaps you pay half the price with no queue during normal days?

Are the above 3 situations the same?
To me, they are different and I would behave differently towards each.

Firstly, I am willing to pay 20cts more for the coffee. Why? The coffee was served by a Chinese. I am not being racist here. To be more precise, the Chineses who made and served the coffee have sacrificed their holidays and time with family to provide a service to me.

Second situation - No surcharge would be payable by me here. Why? She is the same hairdresser who cut my hair. The haircut is not done during the immediate holidays.

Third situation - Plain and simple no.
But some may rebuke me by saying what is Chinese New Year without bak kwa.
Then I would reply, "Without bak kwa or without Lim Chee Guan's bak kwa?"
Perhaps another would say, "What would Valentine Day be without flowers?"
Then I would reply, "For every day that we are together, .. blah .. blah blah"

The basic criteria - Is there an opportunity cost suffered by the provider of the product or service? If yes, I will compensate you. Do you agree?

Happy NIU Year, my dear friends.

The Lessons of Capt Sullenburger

What lessons can we draw from Capt Sullenburger's heroics? Remember he was the pilot who calmly steered the plane to land on Hudson River with little or no engine power after the engines were damaged by a big flock of big birds. He saved more than 150 lives including his.

In critical moments of our lives, we need to remain calm and stay focus on getting the job done.

Are training, practice and experience the key ingredients to that incident? Is it coincidental that the plane has such a pilot with all the necessary characteristics at that moment?

To the 150 plus people on board, they must be glad that he was at the cockpit.

Luckily he was not one of those people who is victim of many cost-minimising exercises in Corporate America where the older people, deemed more expensive, are being replaced by the cheaper younger pilots.

My concluding remark - Whether you are a young or more "matured" person, we must all strive to possess those characteristics. Let's all view each other as being useful one way or another.

Inspired by Edgar?

I regularly sent out emails to my ex-students enquiring about them.

I received a response from a Mr Tan K.T. sharing with me the changes in his life. The most important bit that really amused me was when he told me that he is now married and the couple has a new addition to the family, a boy. Great? Not yet.

The greatest thing is that they have unofficially (not in I/C) named the boy "EDGAR" !!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspired by Edgar indeed.

So Edgar Tan, welcome to this World but be careful of Edgar Wong :)

No news in ST Money?

I have noticed that there isn't much business news in ST Money particularly on Mondays.

Check today's ST ... there is so little news that the editorial team has to slot in book reviews "Overhyped Books".

Are all the business news in Business Times? Or are there really nothing happening in business?

To the extent that no news is actually good news? Smile...

Who is really learning? Teacher or student?

I have just this article trying to define what is learning. The authors', Ackoff and Greenberg, basic proposition is that you learn more when you are teaching. This is against the popular understanding that you can only learn from being taught.

I want to share with you the following series of exchanges between a professor and a student cited from the article which drive home the point into my deep skull.

(quote) After lecturing to undergraduates at a major university, I was accosted by a student who had attended the lecture. After some complimentary remarks, he asked, "How long ago did you teach your first class?"

I responded, "In September of 1941."

"Wow!" The student said. "You mean to say you have been teaching for more than 60 years?"

"Yes."

"When did you last teach a course in a subject that existed when you were a student?"

This difficult question required some thought. After a pause, I said, "September of 1951."

"Wow! You mean to say that everything you have taught in more than 50 years was not taught to you; you had to learn on your own?"

"Right."

"You must be a pretty good learner."

I modestly agreed. (unquote)

In conclusion - Oscar Wilde remindered us that "nothing that is worth learning can be taught". We have got to want to learn it.

Source - Knowledge @ Wharton

A stupid offer!

In the midst of my day, a call came in from Singtel's marketing agent.

She duly informed me of Singtel's latest "promotion". What is the Offer?

"Commit to a 2-year contract in return for longer "free" talk time and increase in "free" sms from 500 to 1,000"

Initially I could not understand the offer and asked her to repeat again. It then dawned upon me that Singtel is trying to buy my 2-year loyalty for NOTHING!!!!!!

Singtel must have analysed their customers' data on talk time/sms utilisation. Perhaps a smart alec came up with the idea that why don't Singtel give these customers something they don't really need in return for tying them down for 2 years....

Please treat your customers with respect too.