One of the managers who report to me gladly share that he received very positive feedback about his leadership presentation. He sent me a summary, and when I looked at it I was uneasy.
He invoked God in his leadership presentation. And I actually advised him not to do it. Regardless of whether someone believes in God or Not, I think it is unfair to mention God in a leadership presentation or in any other presentation with a big audience with a topic that has nothing to do with God or religion. Of course if you invoke God there is a big chance that more people will listen. But it would be difficult to measure how good you were in your presentation. Or how bad for that matter.
If you mention your beliefs or personal relationship with God, you could be taking away salient points from the meat of your leadership presentation. And it now becomes a personal presentation, rather than a showcase of the principles that you really want to convey.
If you want to share your unique and successful relationship with your personal God, there are other venues to celebrate it. But it defeats the purpose in a leadership presentation. After all, you are not able to measure whether you really did well in terms of articulating the leadership topics you planned to.
Just an opinion.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Woman's Right to Pee
Of course, women should continue to fight for equality, and their rights against violence especially the domestic kind. But I think women can also start thinking about something really practical that impacts them on a regular basis - the right to pee!
Whether in malls, in cinemas, especially airports, the queue in the ladies room is just long. Interestingly, the line to the adjacent men's room is pretty much non-existent.
There is bad biological effects if one "holds on" for a long time. Not sure if this is really medically proven, but common sense would tell you that prolonging the wait for urination has bad impacts to the excretory system, particularly the bladder. So I am really surprised that the women are not actively lobbying against changing the "restroom/wc" system all over the world.
The impact to men? We wait for the women, right? I mean while they wait we also wait, so it is also to our interest that they get their right to the restroom.
Some initial thoughts.
1) In malls, why a 50%-50% split on restroom space? Women need more space. I hardly see any lines on the men's room. So should there be a bigger women's room?
2) Open the handicap restroom and offer it to the women during peak time. If a handicapped person is there, then the person will be prioritized. If you notice, the handicap restroom is often unused and in fact locked. Why not open it up to the women?
3) Smaller stalls, bigger counters. Just an idea and I am obviously not an expert on this. In the current space for 4 cubicles, is it possible to make it smaller so there could be 5 cubicles? I am thinking to build the smallest possible cubicles. It does not need to be very comfortable, just enough space for someone to do one's business. Also, build bigger counters, or at the minimum provide more mirrors. I was told that in a women's room, women spend more time in the mirrors than in the cubicles. I could be very wrong. But if that is the case, then it just makes sense to install mirrors in the women's waiting area that way they could do some retouches there, which will facilitate a faster turnaround time for women to get in and out of the restroom.
Other ideas? Just a practical problem I thought impacts a lot of women...and men that goes home with them.
Whether in malls, in cinemas, especially airports, the queue in the ladies room is just long. Interestingly, the line to the adjacent men's room is pretty much non-existent.
There is bad biological effects if one "holds on" for a long time. Not sure if this is really medically proven, but common sense would tell you that prolonging the wait for urination has bad impacts to the excretory system, particularly the bladder. So I am really surprised that the women are not actively lobbying against changing the "restroom/wc" system all over the world.
The impact to men? We wait for the women, right? I mean while they wait we also wait, so it is also to our interest that they get their right to the restroom.
Some initial thoughts.
1) In malls, why a 50%-50% split on restroom space? Women need more space. I hardly see any lines on the men's room. So should there be a bigger women's room?
2) Open the handicap restroom and offer it to the women during peak time. If a handicapped person is there, then the person will be prioritized. If you notice, the handicap restroom is often unused and in fact locked. Why not open it up to the women?
3) Smaller stalls, bigger counters. Just an idea and I am obviously not an expert on this. In the current space for 4 cubicles, is it possible to make it smaller so there could be 5 cubicles? I am thinking to build the smallest possible cubicles. It does not need to be very comfortable, just enough space for someone to do one's business. Also, build bigger counters, or at the minimum provide more mirrors. I was told that in a women's room, women spend more time in the mirrors than in the cubicles. I could be very wrong. But if that is the case, then it just makes sense to install mirrors in the women's waiting area that way they could do some retouches there, which will facilitate a faster turnaround time for women to get in and out of the restroom.
Other ideas? Just a practical problem I thought impacts a lot of women...and men that goes home with them.
Commentary on Pedophilia
I heard about several cases of pedophilia in Cebu. Of course, this is a taboo topic, something you don't discuss freely. And I actually did not understand its magnitude. Or how widely widespread it was... until I saw it.
One time, my friend and I were swimming at one of the nicer resorts in Mactan. We were in the secured beach area (that space in front of the resort that is cordoned off screaming exclusivity?). Then from nowhere (maybe from a boat in the middle of the sea, or maybe a neighboring village) a young girl (maybe 13 or 14) approached a sunbathing male foreigner (maybe 50 or 55 years old). From afar, I do not understand what they were talking about. And it did not register what might be happening.
After a few minutes, I realized what might be happening. So, I discreetly swam towards them. I wanted to listen to what they were talking about. By this time, I was already very bothered. I still cannot get a good understanding of what they are talking about, but I did hear the male foreigner said "my wife would not like that", and he was really making sure the girl knows that he is not interested. So I swam away.
A few minutes later, the girl was still there and was continuing her one-sided conversation with the foreigner. At this point I was terribly bothered. So I called my friend and told her together we swim towards the foreigner with the intent of shooing the girl away. And we did. Not even 5 meters from her, she swam away.
By this time, I never really had a full understanding of the scene. And I did not ask the foreigner if she knew who the girl was and what they were talking about. But up to now I am still bothered.
A day after, we were having coffee at a popular coffee chain in Mandaue. A male foreigner, probably 60 or 65 was alone having his coffee. From nowhere, 2 teenage boys sneakly joined his table. They were not doing anything, but it seems they were really trying to get the attention of the foreigner. They stayed there for a good 5 minutes, attempting to get the man to notice them. A few minutes later, they left leaving a piece of paper with what seems to be phone numbers on them.
Again, I could not verify for sure. I did not know if these were really phone numbers, or addresses, or contact information.
But I sure was severely bothered. Could it be that children are offering themselves to foreigners? I hope pedophilia stops in the Philippines especially in Cebu. What can we do collectively to put a stop to this?
One time, my friend and I were swimming at one of the nicer resorts in Mactan. We were in the secured beach area (that space in front of the resort that is cordoned off screaming exclusivity?). Then from nowhere (maybe from a boat in the middle of the sea, or maybe a neighboring village) a young girl (maybe 13 or 14) approached a sunbathing male foreigner (maybe 50 or 55 years old). From afar, I do not understand what they were talking about. And it did not register what might be happening.
After a few minutes, I realized what might be happening. So, I discreetly swam towards them. I wanted to listen to what they were talking about. By this time, I was already very bothered. I still cannot get a good understanding of what they are talking about, but I did hear the male foreigner said "my wife would not like that", and he was really making sure the girl knows that he is not interested. So I swam away.
A few minutes later, the girl was still there and was continuing her one-sided conversation with the foreigner. At this point I was terribly bothered. So I called my friend and told her together we swim towards the foreigner with the intent of shooing the girl away. And we did. Not even 5 meters from her, she swam away.
By this time, I never really had a full understanding of the scene. And I did not ask the foreigner if she knew who the girl was and what they were talking about. But up to now I am still bothered.
A day after, we were having coffee at a popular coffee chain in Mandaue. A male foreigner, probably 60 or 65 was alone having his coffee. From nowhere, 2 teenage boys sneakly joined his table. They were not doing anything, but it seems they were really trying to get the attention of the foreigner. They stayed there for a good 5 minutes, attempting to get the man to notice them. A few minutes later, they left leaving a piece of paper with what seems to be phone numbers on them.
Again, I could not verify for sure. I did not know if these were really phone numbers, or addresses, or contact information.
But I sure was severely bothered. Could it be that children are offering themselves to foreigners? I hope pedophilia stops in the Philippines especially in Cebu. What can we do collectively to put a stop to this?
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Coffee Bean Updates
...next part of the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Planner Saga
Did not mean to badmouth CBTL, I was just telling the story as it happened. I went to the Coffee Bean store at Ayala Triangle in Manila. I told them the same thing, about lactose intolerance. Did not need much convincing, they gave me the planner!
So OK na uli ang Coffee Bean, puwede na ulit bumili dun =)
Did not mean to badmouth CBTL, I was just telling the story as it happened. I went to the Coffee Bean store at Ayala Triangle in Manila. I told them the same thing, about lactose intolerance. Did not need much convincing, they gave me the planner!
So OK na uli ang Coffee Bean, puwede na ulit bumili dun =)
Monday, February 6, 2012
Scandals
When I was younger, a scandal would mean a classmate peeing in front of the class. Eto yung nag-re-recite ang classmate mo sa harap, tapos sa sobrang kaba, naihi siya sa harap. Scandal din dati iyong naglagay ng salamin ang classmate mo para silipan ang maganda mong teacher. Tapos ipapagkalat mo kung puti ba o puli ang panty niya.
Nung paglaki, scandal naman ang pagsama ng kapitbahay para maging kabit ng isang mayamang matanda sa kabilang kanto. Biruin nyo iiwan nya ang 2 anak niya, para maging kabit. Scandal, din ang pagbubuntis ng kamag-anak habang teenager pa ito.
Pero ngayon, milyong bata na ang naihi sa harap ng classroom, daang-libong kapitbahay na ang naging kabit. At milyong kabataan na rin ang buntis at nakabuntis. Well, papagalitan pa rin sila for sure, at yung iba nga pinapalayas pa. Pero sa panahon ngayon ay di na scandal iyan.
Ang scandal ngayon ay ang mga videos na na-u-upload sa youtube. Madalas ng mga celebrities, pero minsan nga maski iyong mga kapitbahay lang at kung sino-sino pa nga. Kadalasan nga ang papangit pa. Pero malapit na rin atang maging milyon-milyon ang mga scandal na ito. At marami nga sa mga scandals na ito e di naman scandal. Scripted at talagang professional actors ang gumanap.
10 years from now, ano kaya ang susunod na scandal?
Nung paglaki, scandal naman ang pagsama ng kapitbahay para maging kabit ng isang mayamang matanda sa kabilang kanto. Biruin nyo iiwan nya ang 2 anak niya, para maging kabit. Scandal, din ang pagbubuntis ng kamag-anak habang teenager pa ito.
Pero ngayon, milyong bata na ang naihi sa harap ng classroom, daang-libong kapitbahay na ang naging kabit. At milyong kabataan na rin ang buntis at nakabuntis. Well, papagalitan pa rin sila for sure, at yung iba nga pinapalayas pa. Pero sa panahon ngayon ay di na scandal iyan.
Ang scandal ngayon ay ang mga videos na na-u-upload sa youtube. Madalas ng mga celebrities, pero minsan nga maski iyong mga kapitbahay lang at kung sino-sino pa nga. Kadalasan nga ang papangit pa. Pero malapit na rin atang maging milyon-milyon ang mga scandal na ito. At marami nga sa mga scandals na ito e di naman scandal. Scripted at talagang professional actors ang gumanap.
10 years from now, ano kaya ang susunod na scandal?
Hanging Out with the Boss
Would you hangout with your boss? Dinner, or drinking, maybe sports, or shopping? Proabably not. Peer and social pressure is very strong in the Philippines. It would be probably be better to be called tamad (slacker) than sipsip (kiss-ass).
There is no chance for an employee, even a manager to be buddies-buddies with a company president. The implication is just too much. If you are a very good employee, and the whole office know you are friends with the president, at the end of the year, you get a good rating or even got promoted, hmmm chances are people will think you got it because of connections.
So just like knowledge is alienating, so is position. CEOs or company presidents have vast connections of people, but I doubt if they really have many good friends. There is an invisble barrier that people have to keep. It is an interesting unwritten rule that employees abide. You can have dinner with the boss, of course, but maybe once every 3 months. Otherwise, you become a regular boss's dinner buddy and it does not look good. Even if the only thing you are doing is ...well, dining. The mechanics does not change whether you are a man and your boss is a man. Or a woman, if your boss is a woman.
Be ready for controversy if you and your boss have opposite sexes. Maybe not just controversy, maybe a scandal of job-termination proportions.
So how do you make friends if you are the boss?
There is no chance for an employee, even a manager to be buddies-buddies with a company president. The implication is just too much. If you are a very good employee, and the whole office know you are friends with the president, at the end of the year, you get a good rating or even got promoted, hmmm chances are people will think you got it because of connections.
So just like knowledge is alienating, so is position. CEOs or company presidents have vast connections of people, but I doubt if they really have many good friends. There is an invisble barrier that people have to keep. It is an interesting unwritten rule that employees abide. You can have dinner with the boss, of course, but maybe once every 3 months. Otherwise, you become a regular boss's dinner buddy and it does not look good. Even if the only thing you are doing is ...well, dining. The mechanics does not change whether you are a man and your boss is a man. Or a woman, if your boss is a woman.
Be ready for controversy if you and your boss have opposite sexes. Maybe not just controversy, maybe a scandal of job-termination proportions.
So how do you make friends if you are the boss?
Liquid Modernity
Nakipag-kuwentuhan ako sa sister ko sa Singapore kanina. Sabi ko sa kanya na ang hirap palang mag-establish ng friendship kapag wala ka sa city o bansa mo. Kasi nga people are very mobile nowadays. Some get assigned to a certain location for a long time, others just for a few months, and then there are those for only a few days
Sabi ng sister ko meron daw interesting book entitled "Liquid Modernity" si Zygmunt Baumann. Sabi nga sa book mas nagiging mahirap ang mag-establish ng long-term physical friendships sa mga panahon ngayon. Di ko pa nababasa ang book. Wala pa nga akong copy.
Pero interesado na talaga ako.
These days kasi, with the popularity of social networking sites, ang connection ng maraming tao ay virtual. People connect though their laptops, pcs, phones. They share good news, happy moments more and more through networking sites. And it seems people are contented. I guess the younger generation are totally fine with this. Marami sa kanila, di na nila alam kung ano ang buhay na walang Facebook. They were born during the Social Networking era, where stories are shared online, where coolness of celebrations are measured by the number of likes, where popularity is indicated by the number of friends you have, regardless of whether you have actually met them or not.
Second aspect is probably related to population migration. These days, everyone travels. And many people leave home for work or business. Others temporary but more and more are relocating for years. So there is a big possibility that people get displaced aat certain period of time. It is common to hear the directive, "if you want to get promoted, you have to relocate". And there a lot of stories of people who stayed where they are who had been bypassed by promotion or simply deprived of better ratings or other privileges.
I am not sure if Liquid Modernity has manifested itself in the Philippines compared to other countries, say the US, or the region of Western Europe, where travel for work had been rampant for many decades. But I could also imagine that this could already be starting in the Philippines. Well, the 10Million OFWs are leaving the country not coming to the country. So yes, Filipinos are very much impacted but the Philippines has probably just started. You can get a sense when say you go to Glorietta or Greenbelt, and see families of expats. Before, you see a Caucasian male or female, but nowadays you see their whole family. I had the courage to ask them what they are doing in the Philippines and they said for work. Several are for religion/church, like missionary work. But many others are from IT or for expansion of multinational companies in Asia.
I wonder how they do in the Philippines, considering we are very friendly. To the point that sometimes we cross personal boundaries to be hospitable.
Sabi ng sister ko meron daw interesting book entitled "Liquid Modernity" si Zygmunt Baumann. Sabi nga sa book mas nagiging mahirap ang mag-establish ng long-term physical friendships sa mga panahon ngayon. Di ko pa nababasa ang book. Wala pa nga akong copy.
Pero interesado na talaga ako.
These days kasi, with the popularity of social networking sites, ang connection ng maraming tao ay virtual. People connect though their laptops, pcs, phones. They share good news, happy moments more and more through networking sites. And it seems people are contented. I guess the younger generation are totally fine with this. Marami sa kanila, di na nila alam kung ano ang buhay na walang Facebook. They were born during the Social Networking era, where stories are shared online, where coolness of celebrations are measured by the number of likes, where popularity is indicated by the number of friends you have, regardless of whether you have actually met them or not.
Second aspect is probably related to population migration. These days, everyone travels. And many people leave home for work or business. Others temporary but more and more are relocating for years. So there is a big possibility that people get displaced aat certain period of time. It is common to hear the directive, "if you want to get promoted, you have to relocate". And there a lot of stories of people who stayed where they are who had been bypassed by promotion or simply deprived of better ratings or other privileges.
I am not sure if Liquid Modernity has manifested itself in the Philippines compared to other countries, say the US, or the region of Western Europe, where travel for work had been rampant for many decades. But I could also imagine that this could already be starting in the Philippines. Well, the 10Million OFWs are leaving the country not coming to the country. So yes, Filipinos are very much impacted but the Philippines has probably just started. You can get a sense when say you go to Glorietta or Greenbelt, and see families of expats. Before, you see a Caucasian male or female, but nowadays you see their whole family. I had the courage to ask them what they are doing in the Philippines and they said for work. Several are for religion/church, like missionary work. But many others are from IT or for expansion of multinational companies in Asia.
I wonder how they do in the Philippines, considering we are very friendly. To the point that sometimes we cross personal boundaries to be hospitable.
Hackers
More and more are victimized by hackers these days. Probably because more people are accessing the internet via internet cafes. And of course, there is big tendency that people forget to log-out, well after clicking on "remember me". So obviously the next user is free to just hack. Puwede rin naman dun sa nanghihiraman ng phone o tablet. After mong magamit, sinigurado mo bang nag-log-out ka at tinanggal ang access mo?
So sino ba ang may kasalanan sa ganitong scenario? Ang hacker ba? for being very mischeivous. Di naman kanya ang account nakikigamit. wala na ba siyang ibang magawa? wala na ba siyang ibang source of happiness than stealing the identity of someone else?
Or the hacked? Alam mo na naman na puwede kang ma-hack, di pa nag-ingat. I guess if you experience this you will remember that this could be embarasssing and in some cases very disturbing.
So how do you avoid hacking? Here are some tips to avoid being hacked.
#1) If you have to access your accounts (email, fb, or twitter etc) from a public internet cafe, Never click "remember me". If it is clicked unclicked. What do you lose? the short amount of time you spent re-typing your id and password. Which is not bad.
#2) Log-out. Even if you are in a hurry, remember to log-out.
#3) Delete the cache. Go to Internet Options. Click on Delete History, then click on all. This will delete your cache, cookies, forms, password entered, even the history. So lahat ng inaccess mo mawawala na. I'm not sure bakit gusto mong makita pa lahat ng tao ang pinutahan mong sites. If you surfed the internet for 1 hour, this will take 10 seconds. So sulit ang investment.
Remember, there are professional hackers. They do this for a living. So be very careful.
So sino ba ang may kasalanan sa ganitong scenario? Ang hacker ba? for being very mischeivous. Di naman kanya ang account nakikigamit. wala na ba siyang ibang magawa? wala na ba siyang ibang source of happiness than stealing the identity of someone else?
Or the hacked? Alam mo na naman na puwede kang ma-hack, di pa nag-ingat. I guess if you experience this you will remember that this could be embarasssing and in some cases very disturbing.
So how do you avoid hacking? Here are some tips to avoid being hacked.
#1) If you have to access your accounts (email, fb, or twitter etc) from a public internet cafe, Never click "remember me". If it is clicked unclicked. What do you lose? the short amount of time you spent re-typing your id and password. Which is not bad.
#2) Log-out. Even if you are in a hurry, remember to log-out.
#3) Delete the cache. Go to Internet Options. Click on Delete History, then click on all. This will delete your cache, cookies, forms, password entered, even the history. So lahat ng inaccess mo mawawala na. I'm not sure bakit gusto mong makita pa lahat ng tao ang pinutahan mong sites. If you surfed the internet for 1 hour, this will take 10 seconds. So sulit ang investment.
Remember, there are professional hackers. They do this for a living. So be very careful.
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