Legacy | It's all what (should) matters in career

What is a career? Your prominent answer probably that it is an achievement of life or a representation of our success. We work everyday and doing best efforts hoping all of those will increase the probability of having a better career path in the future; and in return hope for better rewards that will give us more power to engine our life happiness. 

Good career path is the reason of most talented people to join a big company. It provides a wide opportunity for any talent to channel their passion for career, a training scheme for their competence development and a competitive environment that mostly suit with those who think they can always win. Big company enjoy the benefit of having best talents. In this world of efficiency, best talents define company success to overcome the competition and sustain their profit growth. 

After few years, some talents will realize that not every of them can advance further to the top of the pyramid.  Sometime the winning edge is not only hard work or good performance. Even all of them give their best performance, the available slot above is diminishing by a factor of exponential. When the competitive environment is so tight, office politic and favor become part of the game. Some talents start to considering their option to stay in the game, or to play in other field where their probability to win is more certain. 

A growing war of talents in Indonesia..

In a growing economic environment like Indonesia these days, business run pretty much well. Companies need more talents to engine their growth while the growth of qualified person are limited. A war of talents period is now coming to its peak. Headhunters are everywhere, social media like LinkedIn created an open market that treated professional like stock exchanges with an e-bay closed auction pricing mechanism.

While it is (was perhaps) normal in Europe or US to move between job for better career, the old wisdom in Indonesia is still job security and lifetime employment. That was how our parent taught us. But now the easiest way to go vertical up of the pyramid is already changing. When you can not wait until some slot is available in your ceiling, the open market offers a shortcut given your competences is sufficient. Not only that, often the rewards is promising. A competitors will gladly double your rewards that you get if you jump in to their team, with higher position than before. Even among different industries, a 50% top up is likely standard for an immediate sign up.

Then it is not rare this days in Indonesia to see professional jump from one company to another. While 5 years back then was considered as short term and opportunistic, nowadays is already considered as long timer. And when their peer see those not "loyal" jumper in fact yield a better career after years of the same hard work the value of "loyal" is somehow questioned...

Bringing a new competition and challenge for companies..

Big and reputable companies will mostly not effected with this phenomena. They will always attract fresh best talents from best university in Indonesia every year, train them in house and they will be ready within few years of working to fill the slot left by those jumper. Also with the good Knowledge Management, the know how of the business is stay within the company, not within the employee. They are stored in remaining leaders, in the the documents, and training modules. The rate of knowledge that leave is not significant than the rate of re-creation of knowledge within the company.

But in a growing companies -not necessarily less in size- the know how of the business is mostly still inside their professional's head. As the business is growing the company put more focus on the development of the company size and profit. The talent development system is not well establish enough to generate sufficient talents and create the knowledge inside the company; and they also sometime hijack from others. When the business is very know-how specific, loosing one head can be a business disaster. In the other hand, to prevent loosing people by raising the compensation may also jeopardize the measured business growth, mostly when your company is measured by EVA ;-)

In a lucrative and high barrier to entry business like Palm Oil and its downstream, the available know-how  versus the demand is getting more extreme. The competition for people is no longer grade A, but even to grade B. And how to destroy a growing company in such business? Easy, just take the few leaders with the most knowledge. And there will be chaos...(yes, there will be blood...)

Well it's not a crime, right?...

Then is it a crime to become a jumper and take benefit of the this war of talents? Is it a crime to have a rare knowledge and bargain for it? Well, the famous Joker said "If you are really good in something, never do it for free". No one will say it is a crime. Some even say your job is not your career. It's a privilege. But then, if the company has to suffer when somebody jump (in business terms off course), then it also does not seem right. Although it is more to the company's lack of knowledge and risk management that allows this thing become a disaster.

Then, where is the balance? I will say it is legacy..

In my naive mind, a good professional should create legacy in their career state. The contribution of a professional should not only measured in financial benefit to the company while he is there, but also for their effect to the organizational development. A legacy is there when the value creation by a person reach its sustainable growth  and will not shrink just because he leave the company. That will mean the professional has developed the system, the people and the knowledge for the company that it will grow better on its own, even later without him. Some people is afraid to do so, because they fear of loosing their job and try the best to make the company depend on them. 

When the legacy is there, then it is a matter of choice. A fair choice. Those who focus in legacy, usually put their passion in it and mostly they will finish the dream before starting a new one. But if the legacy is not there when you leave -either move or retirement- then you are a type of not worthy professional. You took more than you give and only care about yourself.

Your legacy define what kind of professional you are...

The pearls of the company | People

More and more great companies mention people as their greatest assets behind the company great success. The right people. The talent within. Can we become one of them?


The saturation of a management system...
A decade ago the business secret recipe of the business giant was the "special magic" adopted by the company. In automotive industry giant we heard the super efficient Toyota Production System, with a lot of magic word like Jidoka, Kaizen, Andon, and others Japanese word excluding Ozawa. In the western manufacturing giant we heard about Six Sigma, with the practice of taking advanced statistical class and belting system from White, Green to Black Belt (I don't mean to be cynical, I am also a Black Belt :D). There were a lot more of it like TQM, TPM, Lean System, BPRe, etc.

But as the those best practices management tools now become common knowledge, taught in every business school, and delivered world wide by consultant companies, these system nowadays has became generic, saturated, not much space to do a leap frog improvement. When you are holding a sword fighting against bare hand people, the sword is your cutting edge. But what if everyone now hold the same swords?

I just notice lately, the recent business book no longer talks about this mambo jambo. Off course there is still updates of these management system, these skill sets and tool sets or rewrapping/reassortment of these knowledge. For example, I like the whole concepts of Jim Collins book: the Good to Great series are simple but very true; The Execution Premium by Kaplan, a sequel of the Balance Score Card system is also worth to read. Or the Marketing 3.0 by our marketing guru, Hermawan Kartajaya. For those company who have not come to that stage (or even never heard that) adopting the best practice platform is always a good as a starter leap.

I just read lately the business book are no longer focusing to the updates of  management platform. But, to the people behind it, the spirit behind it, those right people, the talents...

The people behind the swords...
More and more books redefined the story of the great success of the company in people perspective. The Talent Master: Why Smart Leaders put People before Numbers (Bill Conaty, Ram Charan) emphasize that not only the Six Sigma boosted the GE performance but also the "right people" who hold the swords. The book also describe how right/wrong people defines the journey of many companies. In an extreme, the book said talent is the leading indicator of a business is up and down, a success or a failure. "Talent" is the new redefined word for human asset, the company greatest intangible assets.

In the Good to Great by Jim Collins, the first thing in the morning for the company who leap from Good to Great (magnificent company stock values growth versus market growth) are not the business strategy, but the leaders (The Level 5 Leaders), then the right people on the right bus, and the culture within. The business strategy come after the people, not the other way around. It also shows how the wrong people create wrong culture, leading to company crash.

Also in Toyota, the latest book emphasize Toyota Production System is merely tools, the cutting edge come from the people behind it, and the system to create the great people continuously (Toyota Talent, Jeffrey Liker, David Meier, 2009). And without the right people, without the right culture, TPS will only create chaos in the manufacturing process. Many european and US based manufacturing company tried to imitate TPS, but fail because they cant imitate the person/the culture.


From the first chicken who teaches..

For those company who always able to create the great people, we sometime say it is because the culture. The question is: Is the culture create good people, or good people creates good culture? No matter how we argues we will always go back to square one: Chicken vs Eggs. I my self believe that God created chicken, not egg first. Why? because egg cannot learn and egg cannot teach. Even egg finally hatch, who will teach the hatched chicken to live? I believe at first good people created the great culture, and the great culture later creates the great people.

We see it in most of the giants, how the leader shape the culture of the company: Honda in Honda Motor Corp, Jack Welch in GE, Steve Jobs in Apple, Toyoda n Toyota, William Soeryajaya in Astra, to name few. In the Good to Great book, companies who become great mostly have the same pattern of "quantum leap" moment. And it was all started by a level 5 leaders. This level 5 leaders are the source of the company values, the enabler of the culture, the living sample to shape the future, the Inspirational.

So the culture of a company is not a result of evolution -that it happens because random interaction  of the people- but deliberately designed by the great leaders. It meant to be like that, it was visioned, and deliberately and systematically implemented. It was created from the beginning, in the end of mind of the leaders. They are the first chicken who teaches the hatch ling how to live as a great chicken. They are...the source of the culture itself.

And finding the rare talents...
So right people are first. Those great talents, will lead the company through any initiatives that the company would like to go. Those talents are resonances of company aspiration. What defines a person is talents or not? GE use 4E1P (Energy, Energize, Execution, Edge, Passion), some company use 3C (Character, Competence, Chemistry), some others use their own HR matrix.

And as the concept of Talent become world wide accepted, this rare chicken are now treasured at most. Big company spent thousands of dollar hiring a great leaders that can hatch another great chicken. Talent Development Program become hot topic in HR practice. If they can not develop them self then hijacking is the most favorable option.

The bad side is this talents are now realize that company value them as gems. Talents become greed, salary jumper and tends to be not long timer. Some of them lost the virtue of passion and genuineness and will work to the highest offer.


How much is your price then, talents?...
How to become a considered talent? I don't even know if my company regards me as talent or not :p But from several training and books, it is said that a talents is either gifted or trained. Again, born leaders vs trained leaders controversy, nature vs nurture. But if you are not inherited those great traits from your parents, then one thing for sure you must go to train your self more than those who had.

Somebody just born as pearl, they are just beautiful and valuable as is with not much improvement needed. But the most beautiful diamond come from the highest pressure and temperature underneath the earth. To become a shiny one, it must deal with painful heat, stress and drills.

So, unless you considered yourself as black coal which only serve as burner feed, go find and drill the gems within yourself. It's painful, but in the future it will worth the price..

P.S: That's why I go back to school again now ;-)

Creativity | The new black of competition

Indonesia has a new title in the phone business: "The Blackberry Nation". It was notably mentioned during the launching of Blackberry Bellagio, first in the world, in Indonesia, causing a massive mass assembly leading into a stampede. Indonesia is a country with biggest Blackberry users. An interesting label, as we remember that 5 years ago this kind of product was never exist at all in Indonesia.


The constant changing customer behavior...
Business incumbents may miss the old days, the day when their technology enough to dominate the market, when they just had to focus on the product development, efficient manufacturing, pushing the product with vast marketing, selling the product to the customer. But nowadays, customer decision is not only based on highest technology, price, or ads only. They seek a customized value proposition from a product that will serve what they need. And the real problem is...sometime customers don't know what they really need.

"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." (Steve Jobs)

Old school management said business need to know what customer want, but Steve Jobs rejects that idea and emphasize instead that business have to know what customer need. It should know how the customer think, it need to feel the customers experience, the user experience; it need to connect what is the missing values that customer will need; and then bring a product or service that surpass the expectation and then tell them : "This is what you want, this is what you need". This exhausting process need one key word from producers, "Creativity".

Creativity and local wisdom understanding, bring Blackberry into winner in Indonesia, for now; and bring Apple as the champion in the world. Leaving all the incumbents who are now struggling, trying to maintain the old days victory, or setting back into their R&D labs to prepare a comeback with a new proposition, if possible. Good luck Nokia..good luck IBM...

Think Different...
Talking about creativity, we definitely should note the Apple resurrection. As Steve Jobs returned to Apple to lead the company who fired him 10 years before, he redefine how creativity can be the ultimate cutting edge of a business. It is not only redefining the product, but the whole business model giving Apple the sustainable profit ever.

iPod is not the first MP3 Player in the market, but combining the user demand with music industry demand he revolutionized how a user can buy their favorite songs without have to buy a whole CD in affordable prices, with iTunes. iPod is now leading MP3 player in the world and iTunes revolutionized the music industry with revenues more than ever.

iPhone and iPad share the same success. It is not only the product designs, but the whole user experience and from Apple side, the cash generating machine by selling third party application and telecommunication operator shared revenue based on the uses of the device. The profit does not come by selling product only, but more of it, the after sales. Again, creativity revolutionized the market.

Steve Jobs regard himself more to an artist, and encourage all of his team in apple that they are all artists. Thus, every product was brought to customer thoughtfully, artistically, and in the edge of perfections, surpassing what customer want. Now that he is passed way, Apple must insist how to keep the creativity environment stays in Apple. Or their competitors will take the crown

Creativity : Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal ...
Being creative is mostly referred to create a new ideas, invent, break through, etc. Everyone said you must have something original, genuine ideas, to be different with other ideas. That is okay, if you can. But please, we are living in the modern era when everything is already invented in every aspect of our life, from the classic invention of light bulb to the invention of cotton bud for your ear.

We don't have to try to reinvent the wheel, Greek did that hundred years ago. We just need to connect the ideas, gathering the experiences, and try to make it better. Most inventions were in parallel invented by other person, and most leading business nowadays are not the inventor of the business.

But if the inventor, the first one who though of it didn’t make things good enough, then steve jobs gave us a golden rule to follow: “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. What’s the big difference between both you say?

People who copy create duplicates. They adjust a little, tweak a little, but overall, it’s just the same thing. If you where the buyer and given the choice between the original and the duplicate, who would you choose? Of course, you’d still stick to the original. Even if the price difference would be a huge figure, the original would still be the winner. No one, and I mean no one, would like to settle for a ‘copy’. 

People who steal are in to create a bigger game- their own game. Steve Jobs is not the first one to invent a laptop or even an operating system (say hi to Bill Gates). But he was creative. He saw where Microsoft Inc. fall short (in terms of the feel of their hardware and the massive vulnerability of their OS) and decided to make things even better. 

And as you read those two paragraph above, those are a copy from Liane's article. And the part when I steal it, is when connecting those line with the whole story. Also the quotes “Good artists copy, great artists steal” is a Picasso, but the popularity was "stolen" as of Steve Jobs ;-)

Now, when we go to mall to find electronic goods few years ago, you will find a lot of duplicate of leading products, mainly from China. We might not want to buy it, it is cheap, not genuine, and low quality. But as China shifted from "copy" into "steal", we already see few China product with Apple quality. Not duplicate, but equally better and off course, cheaper. The New Apple Spirit will raise from China.

And it is on people, on talent, on company culture...
And the core of the creativity lays on the people behind it. It takes creativity leadership, to combine the hierarchical management and a creative business environment. Some company may think their business is not creativity based, and maintain the old school management style that serve them profit for years.

But, soon or later, the more creative competitor will take the edge. When the business environment changes, what matters will also change. And those company with creative environment will fast enough to adapt, to change the business model, and take the lead on the changes. While those who are not, may laid back, and only realizes the need for changes, when it is all too late...

Just as my Blackberry is getting old fashioned, slow, and error all the time, may be I should buy a new one. And the option is only two, a new Blackberry or a new iPhone. Or maybe a China product. Waiting who of them, are the most creative to serve my needs...

R.I.P | Steve Jobs

Stay hungry, stay foolish...

Many blogs wrote about the lost of the biggest CEO in the last five decades; many mourn to the lost of someone they only know that he is the inventors of their cool earphone music player, or their angry birds Phone, or their fancy thin gaming tablet; but may be few have known the inspiring story, the bullish character, the dreamer, the visionary, the inspiration, the greatness of the technology genius of this century: the late Steve Jobs.

Feel free to come by and visit http://allaboutstevejobs.com

I am not going to retold the whole story. When I heard the news, it was surprising, but not really shocking. I've heard his health is not so good, but just not expecting to hear now when my daughter always waiting me home to play with the latest gadget his creation : watching HUTOS series in iPad.

I just want to note this day - the Man of Inspiration of many technology freak, many brave entrepreneur, many creative director, or just someone like me, has passed away with peace. I just want to note this day - that maybe I should listen to him : to not waste my time anymore living in someone else's life....

"Your time is limited, so don't waste your time living in someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinion drawn out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything else is secondary..." (Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011)

Rush out | Not only loosing talents

The rushing out euphoria...

This might feels familiar to you: "When one of your colleague --or friend at work, or peer manager, or even your director -- resign and move to other company with better position, then the heart beat of the organisation surround it would be temporarily in 'anxious' mode". It will be worst when it's not only one or two, it will feel more tense when it is a talent pool hijack, it will more breath taking when it's a structural rushing out.

People are silently reconsider, gossips are spreading, blackberry or cell phone become more valuable than key car waiting for another call or another news or even...another possible offer. Within these days, Human Resource Dept will be busy calculating the possible investment lost that they have done for several years.

The fact that one started this moment and usually to be followed by series of others is a logical phenomenon. Because when their work mate moved to better position and huge salary, those people who stay sometime reconsider their choices, then try their luck by sending CV's. Some of them get it, some of them not. Then rush out cycle happened...then after a period of anxiety...it will pass...become more calm... and everything is back to normal again....At least until somebody started the cycle again.

...is not only causing talents lost..but more..

During this HR Dept may days, not only the company loose their talents that they have been trying to manage and to invest, but also the euphoria effect during these period is a cancer to employees' commitment to stay. They think that if he/she can, why not I - they reconsider their choice to stay.

During these period then justifications are discussed, all the negatives of the company are become lunch break topic while they forgot what the positive things that company have done. The discussion enlarging when the people who already disappointed with the company take more role. Then in the end, in every mind....they are suspicious..that if they don't do it..than their friend might do it. It will get worst when it happened over and over.

This euphoria again, is a high stadium cancer, to employee loyalty and organization performance.

So, the company to blame?...not really...

Make no mistake, company with high rate of rushing out does not necessarily a bad company who did not recognize their talent. You can name best talent development company like Citibank (yes, they did manage good assets, MD for example), Astra (me! me!), or Danamon Bank. Yet, some of them are ironically the most potential company with the rushing out ratio, because of hijacking. One trainer told me when he give series strategic training to different banks in Indonesia he usually met the same person, means...those talent moved to one another.

The most hijacked company is perceived by the pirates/hijackers as a company with high quality talent, a good value and working culture, and a good people development program. The hijackers see that hijacking person from these company are off course cheaper than to train a new person for years to get the same competence, working culture and character.

Talents are hard to get, but when they are yours, then you can bet the performance and the future of the company with them. But don't forget...they are also still have option.

Then, why they go...

May be I am wrong, but I see that is because their character and competences are already developed enough, sufficient to get a higher position or bigger responsibility - but the talent competition within, or the rigid structure, or the development of the company does not provide enough challenge and opportunity for everyone to grow. So no body's mistake...it's how the life goes...always balancing.

Not all folks...

Well, Astra, in the other hand, are one of the company who always have good talents, good people development, good culture - yet, they can maintain most of their talent even until retirement. Are they paying big salary? hmmm..not really. So how they do it? Well again, if you are one of them -or formerly one of them- you will know how :-)

So, should 'you' go also? Well folks, not all those rushing out end happily ever after. That you are now lived in the well structured, caring and appreciating work environment may indulge you that out there offers the same. While actually, out there...when structure is less or even none...survival of the fittest will take role. If you don't survive...then you'll be a prey. Those people who left Astra for rest of their life may think Astra have the most convenient working experience. The feel of protected, secured...is indeed a basic human need.

Well, my dear colleague talents, then beware of the those pirates...they may offer gold...but if you meet someone like Captain Jack Sparrow...he will leave you for shark feed for his own benefit.