common sense...

i rarely follow the course syllabus when i teach my undergraduate students...i trust them to read the recommended text books with minimal guidance...i believe my job is to teach them how to think...fast and sometimes the opposite way...by giving cases i would ask my students to solve problems without giving definite answers...there's no right or wrong answer in real life anyway...it always depends...and discussing cases from both sides would be more meaningful in teaching students to think...i would encourage my students to participate and throw out ideas without fear of being wrong...to me the ability to give spontaneous answers "confidently" is crucial...and that requires skills...no one fails my class as long as they talk...last week, my ex-student came to have a chat with me...she just reported her duty with UUM as a tutor about a week ago...she graduated 4 years ago with 1st class honours...and worked with one of the big audit firms after her graduation...she said what i told her was true...i used to tell my students that probably only 20% of what they learned from the text books will be relevant when they work...and probably they will remember only 10% of those...so i told them to never be a text book worm...general knowledge is more important than text books...that's what i always believe...most of the times you only have your own instinct and common sense as a tool to solve problems especially when you are at the management level...it is all about being innovative, creative and inventive...that's what my own experience taught me...but then how to become innovative, creative and inventive? hmmm...good question but unfortunately i don't have the answer...it is about common sense i guess...and common sense comes thru knowledge, experience and self-believe...cheers

little things make a BIG difference...

we often heard about leadership skills...leading/managing change...coaching...presentation skills...but to me they are all damn hard to learn and do...and sometimes impractical too...in reality people just like to be comforted and praised...in fact little gestures like a small pat on the back can make a BIG difference...and that's what I felt this morning...my friend came and pat on my back...then showed his concern by asking how has things been going lately...and kinda let me know if you need any help etc...what a great relief and that changed my day to a more productive one...thank you my friend...

keep it cool...

keep it cool after a hot heated day at work...hmm it's always nice to be a kid ain't it?...nothing else matters (my favourite song from Metallica)...

expensive experience...

started our journey back to Jitra about 4.30pm yesterday...the engine suddenly stopped at Jeli but luckily a repair shop was just near by...so changed to a new battery and the mechanic said it should be sufficient to arrive Jitra...but surprisingly the battery gone again at Sungai Lebir rest area near Grik...it was really dark at that time and not many people were there...and none of them know how to help except one guy who claimed he's a mechanic...but instead of fixing the car he broke my car key...worse he pretended not to know anything about it...grrrr...donno what to do so we went to a small surau and performed our prayer...a bit worry about my kids as the area is famous with elephants and tigers wandering at night and sometimes robbery do happen occassionally...finally managed to get the tow truck number...it was nearly 11pm when our car was pulled on to the tow truck. The kids were hungry so we have to stop for late dinner at the nearest restaurant...then around 12am our interesting, bumpy and expensive journey begun...we arrived at about 3am...received message about Dr Syd passed away about 4am...

remembering death...

...lost a dear friend today...still remember his smiling face and his jokes about work etc...but "kullu nafsin dzaa-iqatul maut...setiap yang hidup pasti akan mati: everyone shall taste the death" (Ali Imran: 185)...have 3 meetings today but who cares...I need a break and attend his funeral...remembering the death and looking back all the things i have done...al-fatehah to the late Dr Syd Abdul Rahman...