Tuesday, July 19, 2005

They say opportunity knocks once. Not twice, not thrice. Just once. Well how true is this? Myth or fact? Take my career for instance. Started out in retail sales, then moved to technical sales, got my big breakthrough in venture capital, then free falled into consulting before being swooped into the current engineering services company. Yup, on each occassion I had an offer on the table, ready for me to choose. And so with each offer (some management gurus call them inflection points), I considered their merits, vis-a-vis their package, against my own career outlook. And I can say to this day, the Almighty has been very kind to me, with every new job that I took my package has improved and my family was never at any point in time denied most creature comforts that money can buy nowadays.

Now I'm about to go through another inflection point in my life, and this time around hard decisions have to be made. It's unlike my previous instances when I just had to choose among competing offers. Heck those days I could even drive a hard bargain on my own whims and fancies and still get away with it. This time around it's a choice between hoping onto a ship without the benefit of me charting the course, or to remain in the current ship to chart my own course, the only uncertainty being how much fuel is left.

The second choice is much more enticing, although it might be presumptous of me to assume being the captain of my ship. There is some jostling for the wheel and it's rather inconspicuous. Very subtle indeed more so because I have a good working relationship with the other person.

The big question is who would bet on me. I achieved a rather towering milestone for the company many moons ago and it has yet to be repeated by anyone else. Of course there are the jokers who continue to remain in denial and are hell bent on making my life in this company a living hell but who doesn't go through it anyway? I have learnt that it is better to ignore these nincoompoops who have nothing better than to fidget on their desks day in and day out without dealing with the realities of running a business head on. And these are the same people who have been empowered to lead in the first place.

So setting the ship on a different path is nothing short of a mutiny. If it means our survival depends on it, so mutiny it is. All my life, I've had to stand up for what I believe in and I'm not about to change that. Not for anything under the sun.

So three days from now we'll know if the ultimate opportunity will present itself, or whether I have to go else where in my journey. For all you know, it may just be under my nose, it could have been the one that I turned down (yes I did last week, for the post of Chief Investment Officer for a certain well known group), or it could be elsewhere. I hope to be guided by Him accordingly, Aamiiinn..

Thursday, July 14, 2005

A friend of mine had this advice for me yesterday - "if it rots all the way to the top, chop off the top first, then get a new set of brains..." Hmmm...very well put indeed. Let's hope the willpower to execute will be unwavering for the next couple of months. I've had the choice of switching ships halfway through my journey but the other ships would not have taken to my intended destination. Jumping ship is out of the question because seriously there's plenty of options out there just waiting for me to say "aye"... but you know what? Home is where the heart is and I'm home :). And I'll do whatever it takes to protect my home. So don't mess around with me ok..?