YOU know, folks, it is really not that easy to sit oneself down and try to whack out an article, particularly so when the deadline is looming over your head, if you know what I mean.
What is heartening though are the feedbacks one gets from time to time which make all the “trouble” worthwhile.
Earlier this week, I received an unusual but touching email from a Datuk who obviously has had his fair share of employee-woes to be able to relate with the pains of employment highlighted in my last article. This prompted him to suggest the possibility of us getting together to set up a support “club” for employers to identify ways forward in dealing with the issue.
Did this tickle my ego? A little perhaps; but more importantly, it got me thinking. Will I be able to get the same results or evoke similar positive response from readers, article after article? That, ladies and gentlemen, is the focus of this week’s message. What I’m saying is we are only as good as our last job!
It was a sermon from my then-pastor a couple of years ago that inspired me to choose this subject. He said, “Life is like driving a car. We look forward through the windshield to see where we are headed. Occasionally, we use the rear view mirror to see what is behind.”
That may not have been an original from him but nonetheless it made perfect sense.
Many of us are so busy basking in our past glories that we lose track of the present and miss out on preparing for the future. Have we not come across friends or associates who always say, “When I was with this company and that, or when I was this and when I was that ...?” Do we ever stop to ask if the past-tense versions of ourselves are still relevant today?
Then there are those of us who begin everything with “if only”. “If only I had this or if only I can be that...” Guilty of this myself, I often make light of it when it happens, particularly when I am with my golf kakis. My favourite comeback is “If only your aunt has ba#%s, shim will be your uncle!”
Imagine driving and only looking into the rear view mirror. The result would be disastrous, to say the least. We would be in countless accidents and slapped with law suits for our recklessness. Life’s rear view mirror is no different. We can look back and reflect on the past every now and again, reliving the joyous times and sweets memories that came with it. More importantly, when looking back, we must learn from our pitfalls and try to avoid them or suffer a repeat of their severity.
Perhaps the people of my generation can identify with this “nostalgic” notion. Why not? After all, we have seen good times and we have seen great times. Always on our minds are the lessons learnt in the school of hard knocks, where one has to take charge and make things happen, for good or for ill as they say.
Being an employer myself, albeit a small-time version, I always tell my new colleagues that by hiring them, I am merely giving them a rope. Can you imagine what one can do with a rope? For the uninitiated, one can use it to his or her advantage and climb high in one’s career. Alternatively, one can also choose to hang oneself with it. As morbid as it may sound, I see no better way to hammer this point across.
Folks, we need to remember that our work is testimony to ourselves. Many of us take work for work’s sake, just doing the bare needful and calling it a day. We hop on to the next assignment and the next, often without stopping to evaluate our handiwork to see if there is any room for improvement.
Why? Is it because it has always been done this way? Or is it because all too often we tend to rest on our laurels, you know like “I had positive feedback on my last job?” (Gosh... sounds a bit like what I am doing.)
Let’s face facts. The dynamics of business today differs drastically from “our” time. Gone is the era when kam cheng was the order of the day. We could buy time and delay work because we had a relationship with our clients.
The Chinese have a saying, “What is not right, we talk until it is right”, so no worries there. Its meaning is somewhat lost in translation. What it essentially means is when relationship is paramount, anything can be worked out. As for the work, there is always room for negotiation. Today, while having a great relationship with the client is still important, you jolly well better deliver quality work. And on time too!
The whole point of today’s jottings is that we all need to keep reinventing ourselves in order to get to better versions of ourselves. If we had it great in the good old days, can we not improve on our past success to make it even better? Can we not look back at how we fell short the last time and make the necessary tweaks to enhance the present? Of course, we can.
Yes, it may mean that we have to take a rain check on that evening’s session with our drinking buddies. In the end, it could pan out better for us and our careers. Take time and stand back to have a look at what we have done and how far we have come. Ask ourselves, “Is this my best or am I just doing it because I have to?” Many of us will be surprised by the realisation that often time we have handed in half-hearted effort that, with some care and refining, could have been great.
So folks, the next time you get into your car, remember to adjust your rear view mirror to serve as a reminder of what was and what could have been. Then, focus on the bigger picture that remains in front of you. Little wonder that they make front windshields 100 times larger than rear view mirrors. Lastly, enjoy the bumps on the road for they are meant to make the drive forward a meaningful one.
God bless!
Datuk Johnny Mun, who has been an advertising practitioner for over 30 years, is the president of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents. He is also CEO of Krakatua ICOM, a local ad agency.
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