Business and Money Tips

Everyone knows the Art of War 孙子兵法 by military strategist 2,500 years ago Sun Tzu. Not many know that Sun Tzu's grandson, Sun Bin 孙膑, was one of the creators of another military classic, called Secret Art of War 秘密兵法, now known as The 36 Stratagems or 三十六计. The 36 Stratagems details the exact tactic to use in 6 different situations. The first step is to assess your current situation and next is to select one of the 6 stratagems in your situation and apply them accordingly. Many Chinese believe that The 36 Stratagems provides answers to all the world’s problems . In fact our company Asia Coaching Training has since 2013, offers free 30-minute consultancy to our selected clients. The 36 Stratagems book is so secretive that until today, no one knows the author of this book. The form that we see today was only officially published in 1941. In short, although it is an ancient book, it is also a modern book. In the business world, the most common tactic used by many is stratagem no

Like most people in the corporate and business world, I used to behave in a competitive and driven way. People that know me know that I am one that go all the way to fight to win. Whether it is in business, people management, social or family, I am always goal driven and will go to great lengths to get what I want. Although I am not the extreme 'winner takes it all' and ultra aggressive guy, I am always ready for battles and believe that to win, I must fight hard until I win. But I fail. This method of fight hard to win is not working. Feedback from my working partners reveals that they find it tiring to work with me. My friends confide in me that I am too short-term oriented. Although I may achieve what I want, the achievements often come at the expense of relationships and friendships.  I have few duplication of success and each project is getting more and more difficult. Most importantly, I am not happy inside.  I fail. In 2010, after learning about the Art of War by a

I have not been to China since 2005, and in particular, have not been to Guangxi province since 1986. Needless to say my recent trips to China have been real eye openers and the following are the 5 shocking facts that I find interesting about China: 1. Despite China having severe labour shortage problem, things get done Everywhere I go, be it banks, restaurants, office, factories or hotels, there are not enough people working. Service is slow but we can get things done. Often there will be just 2 people working in a small eatery that sits 30 people. The bank branch that I visited to open my bank account has only 3 people working: a security guard that doubles up as the internet banking advisor, a bank manager working behind the counter, and a counter girl who helps customers in all banking matters. Despite having staff shortage, things do get done, provided one has no language barrier issues. Service standards become not important, as what can you expect from staff that multi-

From Bloomberg news dated 23 November 2016 (abridged version) Two years ago, Oppo and Vivo couldn’t crack the top five in China’s smartphone market. Now they outrank everyone after elbowing Apple aside, thanks to people like Cheng Xiaoning. Cheng runs a thriving electronics store in the rural town of Miaoxia, tapping into her WeChat social media account to promote the brands that pay the biggest commission, and in her case that’s Oppo and Vivo. While such payments start at about 40 yuan (US$6), they escalate for more expensive handsets and reach almost 200 yuan for Oppo’s high-end smartphones. “That’s why I like to introduce the Oppo R9 Plus to potential customers,” she said. “Business has been perfect, actually never been better.” Cheng and tens of thousands of like-minded boosters form the vanguard of the pair’s  charge  against Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Working with the local stores that dominate sales in China’s far-flung provinces, Oppo and Vivo came out

The world’s oldest printed book is not the Bible but The Diamond Sutra or translated as Diamond Cutter. In chapter 1 of The Diamond Cutter, it talks about the concept of Emptiness. Emptiness is not empty but full of meaning. Understand that everything that is happening in your team and organization, including the things that you like or dislike, is empty. They are not pleasant or unpleasant things, they are just empty. This is because what is success to one is considered failure to another, that's why things are empty by themselves. It is the meaning that we give to things that has meaning. For example, you see your team fighting among each other as bad. But to the your team member, the fighting is for him to succeed in his promotion, not his colleague. Whatever we want our team to do as a leader, we cannot succeed by telling them what to do. We can succeed only by planting the right seeds. The seeds that we plant in our mind are called karmic seeds. The seeds lay deep inside our

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