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The best business advice I ever received:
The question of tenure and commitment
by Dr Seamus Phan “Seamus, do you know what your problem is? You move around too much, and although you have a ton of talent, employers may take your moving around jobs as a lack of commitment,” John leaned forward as we were finishing our Chinese lunch in a hot Chinese restaurant in Singapore. John was my senior in the bank I worked in the 1980s. The bank is perhaps one of the largest and most established banking institutions in the United States. I was headhunted by one of the directors of this part of the bank, from a electronics manufacturing giant then. I was riding high in my career, and hopped from one job to another, more often than not, simply because I was headhunted as one rare talent in digital publishing in the early days then. When John and I met up after some years at that Chinese restaurant, was when I felt I was stagnating at a successful local computer manufacturer, having helped that company become very successful with government contracts, consumer sales, international marketing, and branding. I felt I had to quit and move on to another job to enjoy new exciting challenges, even though there weren’t any offers at that time. When John and I parted company at the restaurant, his words rang deep inside me. I grit my teeth and continued to stay at the computer company, until my tenure was two years. Then I quit and joined one of the largest consulting firms to help them land a million dollar contract based on my prior copyrighted work on customer service, and subsequently quit to run my own consulting businesses. Even as an entrepreneur, John’s words stuck in me, in that I had to consider the question of commitment to paying customers, and as long as customers are good paying customers, I had to stay the course even if the journey is tough and unnerving. Many businesses and organizations today seem to employ very young people, some of whom have limited experience, at relatively high positions. While I do not dismiss brilliance, having come from that same path, nothing can be compared to real-world experience out at the battle front. Therefore, I am glad I have accumulated more than 17 years of real-world experience doing hands-on work and consulting, and having been steadfast in not just gaining tenure, but making every minute of work count as real experience. I have never been very good, nor had any interest, in dabbling in office politics, because I felt John’s wise words meant more than just staying put at one place for a long time. More than that, I felt John meant that you have to stay at a place for a reasonably long period of time, or do something for real, and making every minute count. The recent Asian Tsunami disaster with more than 200,000 dead and millions losing their homes and businesses, teach us that time is a priceless commodity that is lost as soon as you use it, and every second spent on useless activities such as office politics or snoring at a cubicle, means a second lost in a limited transient lifespan. I have had countless mentors and guides along my entrepreneurial path, including lessons I learnt when I crossed paths with really nasty and evil executives in other organizations, even non-profits. Those lessons taught me NOT to fall into the same evil ways, especially that of unwise litigation. But none of the lessons was as powerful as those simple words John told me as we sat down to eat at that Chinese restaurant – truly a life changing meal. Dr Seamus Phan is a leading author, keynote speaker, trainer and naturopathic philosopher. Seamus is one of Asia’s early Internet pioneers and bloggers. Seamus consults and speaks for international companies, governments and emerging enterprises around the world. He is the bestselling co-author of Dot ZEN, a business leadership book, and This Body This Life, a holistic health and fitness book. Copyright (c) 1990-2005 Seamus Phan. All rights reserved. END | |||||||||
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