A new face but the same philosophy

These past few years have seen the rise of numerous political blogs that I think another input from a nobody will not set any fundamental shift in the way the world currently works (used to blog on local politics). I reserved this blogspot address a few years ago thinking that someday I may jot down a few notes about my observation in the corporate world and this may lead to something else, who knows, in 10 years! At least it could be a guiding book of principles for my children to use when I'm no longer among the living for them to ponder who their daddy was.

For my first entry, I should make it short and concise. I dedicate this site to my lovely and loving wife Noreen who has sacrificed so much for me to pursue my dreams - whatever that may be. Let's leave this one for later discussion.

I still follow politics especially political news at home quite closely whether at surface or sharing notes and thoughts with friends who battle on the front day in day out. As I think about the two individuals who have shaped my thinking strongly, my father and Tun Dr Mahathir, I wanted to provide some perspectives on the things I'm working on as an aspiring leader. The perspectives I think transcend the boundaries of politics and business. Passing out from the most prestigious military college known to man, also known as the Royal Military College (RMC), in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the concept of leadership has definitely been a subject of interest since I was a budding under officer at the age of 17.

As the leader of Foxtrot company, I had the pleasure of serving as the Senior Under Officer with a great line up of leaders managing a company of about 50 students, if memory serves me right. The 5 leaders including the Junior Under Officers (JUO) helped me built a cohesive group within a year. Our ultimate reward was the coveted Commandant's Trophy, an award given to the best performing company of the year. The members of the winning company get to wear a yellow lanyard, signifying their accomplishment of the past.

Albeit a short "training" by our senior mentors, the leadership training at RMC was more on-the-job exposure as there was no formalized methodology to teach one of the roles and responsibilities of an under officer. We were fortunate to have great leaders such as the then Administration Officer Captain Adi Ridzuan (now Lt. Col), former SUO Hazeem Ariff Haroon and other great role models to learn from.

In short, I wanted to summarize key points of how the team worked in such a short time.

1. Team work - I believe our leadership team worked well together, considering we were young and naive at that age. We had different personalities, ambitions and sometimes ego, we knew our specific roles and did not get in anyone's way. We were also fortunate to have a composition of brilliant students and talented athletes. We did not force the studious ones to win a basketball trophy nor did we try to impose the athletes to get A's for subjects they were weak in.

2. Respect - Mentoring the third formers was a challenge given that they had the same years of experience at college and were a bit reluctant to follow orders from people they considered as equals (the fifth formers, some with designated leadership roles). I think we dealt with them not as younglings but as equal partners. The other element of respect we enforced was to never embarrass a senior member of the company in the presence of other company members. I think that policy worked out well.

3. Trust - We won trophies for court games and best academic performance overall, which led to the victory of securing the Commandant's Trophy. To be honest, we never had in mind the Trophy as the end state (the last time Foxtrot Company won the Trophy was in 1976, 20 years before we secured it again). The trust factor was more "indirect" or "unplanned". We did not micromanage the sports teams or students to study hard but gave them the freedom to work on what they want and like to do.

4. Discipline - The old saying of walking the talk is true, regardless of age. Because of the strict military regime at the institution, we wanted our boys to obey the rules while internalizing the fundamentals of being a military student: elements such as co-operation, being punctual, obeying commands and other basics. You can only ask your team members to do something if you're exemplifying the right behaviours. I think we did well.

10 years in the multinational oil & gas environment, these concepts are nothing new. I've been blessed to work for a great leader now, who lives these values and continues to perfect his phenomenal leadership skills. These principles would seem almost elementary to most people, but it's the elementary concepts that people struggle with everyday in all types of organization, either political, business, etc. Often times, the lack of understanding and mastery of the fundamentals keeps us from meeting business targets or getting alignment from stakeholders.

Till the next write up!