Fernando’s in Macau

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It was the last day of our fantastic family vacation in Macau. We checked out and headed to the highly recommended Fernando’s on Hac Sa Beach on the Coloane side. The restaurant had very homely atmosphere, breezy backyard and friendly waiters. We had delicious finger-licking curry and fried king prawns. When we produced our credit card to pay for the meal, we were told, “Cash only”. Oops, we didn’t have enough. The manager said, “no problem, take the bill, mail us a check.” We couldn’t believe what we were hearing! There are actually people and places like that today? WOW!

[Contributed by Altaf, Hong Kong. Oct. 2007]

Lance Armstrong – an inspiration for all

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lanceThere’s no one else quite like him. And there probably never will be. The best cyclist ever, Lance won the Tour de France, an almost incomprehensible seven times from 1999 to 2005. But before he could do that, in 1996 he had to beat back a cancer that was supposed to take his life. Testicular cancer had spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain. Doctors told him he had no chance. But no chance were not words that had meaning for Lance.

He spearheaded the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which made a yellow plastic loop a statement of resistance and strength across the entire planet. It advocates for those living with cancer, funds research, inspires the cancer community to support each other.

Lance took a minor sports in America and turned it into a great national passion and pride. And he did it by struggling for years, alone on his bike, often in unforgiving weather, over terrain that most of us would view as hostile, when no one was watching, no one was cheering.

He inspired all of us who face a cancer diagnosis to search out the doctors who believe that we can live, to hold on to friends and family that stand beside us – and then to fight to prove the faith of those. After Lance, no one could ever again say it was too hard, the odds were too high, the fight already lost. Watch one of his recent interviews here.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

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tuesdaysA true story of a dying professor who shares his wisdom with the author. Very inspiring and thought-provoking stuff on life, death, family, money, emotions, love and more. Here’s an excerpt from the Tuesday they talk about money:

“We’ve got a form of brainwashing going on in our country. Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it – and have it repeated to us – over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what’s really important anymore.

“Wherever I went in my life, I met people wanting to gobble up something new. Gobble up a new car. Gobble up a new piece of property. Gobble up the latest toy. And they wanted to tell you about it. ‘Guess what I got? Guess what I got?’ These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. But it never works. You can’t substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness. I can tell you, as I am sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”

Excuses for Not Exercising

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Some excerpts from an article in this month’s The Oprah Magazine:

“I am already too busy – I can’t deal with one more thing I’m supposed to do.” Too many women put their jobs, obligations, and the people they care for before themselves. Most women wouldn’t say out loud, ‘I am not as important and I don’t deserve the time’, but that’s exactly what their actions say. Try justifying regular trips to the gym by reminding yourself that unless your needs are met, you’ll have trouble meeting the needs of those counting on you.

“How can I exercise when I am always tired?” First you have to realize that there are two types of energy – physical and mental – and they feed off each other. Chances are, you’re mentally tired from sitting at your job all day, and you need to get your blood circulating to rev your engine again. Tell yourself, I will do just ten minutes. And call it quits if you are still slogging after ten full minutes.

“I’ll start out gung ho, but I know I’ll get bored and quit.” Predicting failure is a classic way of protecting yourself. Rule out success, and you don’t have to try. If you are put off by the thought of setting up an effective program, consider spending a bit extra on a personal trainer to get you through the challenging first few weeks.

Tom Peters on Recession

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An excerpt from one of Tom Peter’s recent posts:

Don’t think of our current economic crisis as a recession. Instead, think of it as a recalibration. Everything is different now. If you think of it as a recession, you may be tempted to “hunker down” and wait for the economy to cycle back. If you think of it as a recalibration, you will be motivated to focus on what you have to do differently, since everything is different now.

  • The way your business generates results is different, now.
  • Your customers think differently, now.
  • Your customers care about different things, now.
  • Your customers act differently, now.
  • Your customers may actually be different people, now.
  • Customers aren’t disposable anymore; more than ever, you have to create sustainable customer relationships.

So, what can we do differently?

Pizza Hut in Jakarta offers WOW customer service!

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pizzahutThis is the Pizza Hut right after the tollgate on the highway to Bandung. And there’s something different about this one. Besides the fact that the staff is very happy and enthusiastic, they love to entertain kids by making balloon animals for them. There’s a huge basket in a corner which is filled with long balloon tubes. Kids come and select a color and one of the staff would make an animal or something for the kid. Kids love watching the transformation of balloon tubes into different shapes. And these balloons are easier to keep. It also makes their parents happy because the whole process keeps their kids away for a while. It seems to make the staff happy because they get to interact with different kids and spread some cheer in between taking orders and serving pizzas! The balloon hat in the picture is my contribution to the shapes now available ☺ What a simple idea! And so much WOW!

J.K. Rowling talks about the Benefits of Failure

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JK Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, gave an inspiring speech at the Harvard University Commencement Address. She talked about the fringe benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. Here’s a part of it:

“You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

“Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

“Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.”

Read the full speech here.

Cathay Pacific goes from Wow to Shit!

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Cathay has been my favorite airline since 1997 when I first started traveling on it, up until recently when I finally made up my mind that I don’t like it any more. And it’s the little things that seem to be slowly disappearing – like the genuine smile at the check-in desk, the passion and enthusiasm of the cabin crew and the real care for the passenger.

I have had faulty AV systems on my seat twice in the last six months – they say, “Sorry sir, would you like to change your seat.” I don’t, because I am sitting on a first-row aisle seat – the only comfortable seat in the plane for someone who is tall and suffers from back pain.

Most cabin crew don’t hear English very well, so you almost always have to repeat yourself if you ask for anything other than water. People making cabin announcements often sound like kids who have just learnt how to read.

What peeves me the most is when you press the call button and nobody bothers. I have often had cabin crew pass by without stopping, even when they see the call light turned on above my seat. One of my colleagues often tells the attendants who show up after a long time, “If I had a heart attack, I’d be dead by now”. Most of them don’t seem to understand what he means by that.

So yeah, Cathay is consistently moving from WOW to SHIT on my scale. So why do I still travel Cathay? For it’s convenient connections from Hong Kong, where I (mostly) live. And for crew like Athens, who still care and love what they do. Today he recognized me and remembered that few months ago, I had given away my favorite seat so a mom and child could sit together. He treated me really well today.
[Written during a Cathay flight from Hong Kong to Karachi on Oct 19, 2007]

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport is WOW!

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What comes to mind when you think Indian airports? Old, dirty, busy, crowded and dimly lit; rusted baggage trolleys with slow noisy luggage belts. But the new airport in Mumbai will change that image forever. It’s big, beautiful and very functional. With its white marble floors, modern look, currency exchange and rent-a-car counters, uniformed staff, clean toilets and shopping areas, it compares well with some of the best airports in Asia. When you come outside, the organized lanes for cars, auto rickshaws and taxis further surprise you.

The entire departure area has free wifi internet access for Airtel (India’s leading mobile network) subscribers. And there are cyber cafes, bookshops, coffee shops, restaurants and a few branded goods shops. The air-conditioning actually works unlike the old airport. This revamp is part of a mega project to be completed in 2010 when international and domestic terminals will be combined into one, current domestic terminal will become a dedicated cargo terminal, and the airport will cater to 40 million passengers and one million metric tons of cargo per year!

A big sign at the entrance to arrival halls reads: “Be the change you want to see” (Mahatma Gandhi).

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

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secret.jpgA great motivational book about the power of our thoughts and how to apply it in our lives. A superb team of authors, teachers and speakers bring you The Secret to health, wealth, relationships and happiness.

Tony Robbins talks about Motivation in Tough Times

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A short video clip from The Today Show featuring Tony Robbins giving advice on how to stay motivated in these tough times:

Al Jawal Network in Saudi Arab is WOW!

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I have started keeping local SIM cards for all the places where I frequently travel to, in order to save on the roaming charges. When I went to Riyadh on my first business trip, the first thing I wanted to do was buy a local SIM card. But soon after landing, I got a text message from Al Jawal, the local network: Get a local number without changing your sim, call … WOW! I immediately called the number and followed the recorded instructions; soon I heard, ‘your local number has been activated’, and the line went dead. I said, ‘wait a minute, what’s my local number, what do i do next???’ At that moment another text message came with my local number and instructions on calling and recharging. WOW!

For the next four days, I was able to use both my HK number and the local number at the same time. What’s more, after every call Al Jawal would send a message about the balance amount. Surely a WOW network!

How to handle customer’s objections?

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When you restate your customer’s statement or objections in your own words, you can accomplish two things. First, you let your customer know that you are listening and trying to understand him. Second, you confirm that you got it right – you have correctly interpreted the customer’s statement.

Customer Tells: Delivering World Class Customer Service by Reading Your Customer’s Signs and Signals (by Dr. Marty Seldman, John Futterknecht and Ben Sorensen) suggests three steps to restating correctly:

  1. Be sure to give your full attention to your customer.
  2. Avoid interruption!
  3. Wait for a natural pause in the customer’s speech, and then summarize what you have heard in your own words (don’t sound like a parrot).

Restating your customer’s objection may be the most important step in handling the objection. Try it on your next dem, and let us know.

What a Wonderful World

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If you are feeling gloomy and the worlds seems dreary, let Rod Stewart remind us of the beauty of the world and the blessings in our lives:

Want to tell us about the good things in your life? Go ahead, spread some cheer!

Tribes by Seth Godin

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tribesOne of the best books I’ve read on leadership, change and innovation. Here’s an excerpt:

“Every tribe is different. Every leader is different. The very nature of leadership is that you are not doing what’s been done before. If you were, you’d be following, not leading. All I can hope for is that you’ll make a choice. Every leader I’ve ever met has made the choice, and they’ve been glad they did.

“You can choose to lead, or not. You can choose to have faith, or not. You can choose to contribute to the tribe, or not. Are there thousands of reasons why you, of all people, aren’t the right one to lead? Why you don’t have the resources or the authority or the genes or the momentum to lead? Probably. So what? You still get to make the choice. Once you choose to lead, you’ll be under huge pressure to reconsider your choice, to compromise, to give up. Of course, you will. That’s the world’s job: to get you to be quiet and follow. The status quo is the status quo for a reason.”