Rice: how I manage the career change

A good article, but I can't find the English version. Hope you can read Chinese as well.

http://www.chinahrd.net/zhi_sk/jt_page.asp?articleID=198129

赖斯：我觉得有一点必须牢记，大多数组织都不想变革。它们已经体制化了，它们有一套自己的传统、规范和专长，很难改变。我在学术领域所做的许多研究都证明，组织通常在遭遇挫折后才进行变革。成功时，很难让它们变革。而一旦发现不得不变革，往往为时已晚。所以问题是，你如何让一个比较成功的组织去应对新挑战。我对组织发展的研究，对于我领导国务院步入后“9.11”时代的世界大有帮助。

　　我觉得三件事情很有帮助。
首先，你必须描述组织过去是怎么成功应对变革和困境的。于是，我在国务院就大谈它在二战后是怎么做的，又是怎么为成功结束冷战铺路的。
　　其次，如果你能在组织中找到符合变革方向的非主流言论，那会很有帮助。我在国务院想做的一件事就是让它更多地走出去，减少在伦敦、巴黎等首府做政治报告的人，增加派往喀布尔、巴格达军事基地考察、合作的人，还有在危地马拉高地、莫桑比克艾滋病诊所为那里的援助人员提供支持的人。我发现，国务院实际上历来就有人在贝鲁特、哥伦比亚和叙利亚等地的艰苦条件下工作。我们可以把这些经历端出来说，以前的国务院官员们也做过这些事情。我还会密切关注我们在奖励什么行为。如果你说组织应该做x，可你实际却在奖励y，那么人们就会接受这样的信号。国务院大概有30个左右的奖项是为政治报告所设的，但是为民事/军事合作设的奖项一个也没有，为支持人权所设的奖项也很少。我们所奖励的行为与我们所倡导的国务院的发展方向完全背道而驰。
　　最后，你还必须要看有没有一些障碍在阻止人们做正确的事。在优秀的组织里——国务院当然是一个优秀的组织——人们大多想做正确的事，我认为在斯坦福也是这样，人们不想当绊脚石，但是有时候会有一些障碍让他们很难去做正确的事。例如，在国务院，我需要阿拉伯事务发言人到巴格达这样的地方去，这就要求他们走出开罗。但是如果他们离开开罗，他们的家人就得千里迢迢搬回美国。所以，我们得想办法让他们在巴格达工作的时候，他们的家人仍能留在开罗。

life for money?

Although it's definitely not my dream life, I have to keep fighting for future. Money is one of the intention. Even I like to contribute to the society, at first, I have to survive.

How much is the cost of human life? Here you know. Actually I still don't understand why human being need so much resource, while most of creatures need only food.

Anyway, money, money, money, ...

So I have to work at corporate, make my saving working, and still need to scratch the head all the time for more income resources. There is no Work and Life Balance (Jack Welch). Making money from Adsense is one tiny try, own $48.09 so far after near 2 months, after setup lots of blogs (you can see them at right side panel). Although I didn't make much from it yet, but I found many great blogs along the way, at least, I am contributing for the whole human being experience/knowledge.

HDB: cash or loan?

There is intereting post: Should You Take Housing Loan or Pay Your HDB House In Full If You Got The Money?, it's good to consider more possible options before making decision.

HDB loan interest rate is 2.6%/year,
Car loan interest rate is 5%/year,
Renovation loan interest rate is 7%/year,
Personal credit interest rate is 16%/year,
Credit card interest rate is 24%/year.

So obviously, taking housing loan is not a bad idea, especially it's easier now to have a positive return from equity market, at least in middle term. And if you have the plan to buy car or start own small business, cash preservation is very important, comparing with relative higher interest rate. Also my another consideration is to use CPF, because it can't be taken out at all.

HDB Resale Prices hit record high in second quarter?

From Straits Times, HDB resale price rise 1.2% and reach a record high, although there was slight 0.8% dip in first quarter! And private home prices dip 5.9%, at a lower rate than 14.1% fall in first quarter. The reason given at article are economic recovery signs, higher HDB valuations, and 42% smaller supply. I also agree with the reason: new immigrants.

But it seems different with my own perception, even tonight, when I encountered an agent, he just said now the price even lower.

If the data is really more credible than perception, then we should have more confidence that the crisis is passing away, the world economy is recovering from bottom or even better, at least in Asia.

(if this information is valuable to you, support me by clicking one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

Life = Risk

Take risks! If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.

How will inflation affect stock market/economy?

(picture source)

Now, although it's far away to worry about inflation, the concensus is the huge stimulus will definitely cause inflation, sooner or later.

This June, I went back to China, what I saw was not what I expected. The house price already recover to near the historical peak, the beginning of 2008. Just 1 year, the people hope the house price will drop and they can own their house, but now they can only feel regret. But is it the real market? I don't think so. Also, another crazy thing, many many companies involve in real estate business, whatever their inital business, because it maybe the most lucrative industry in China. Everyone knows it's all about the performance of governers, all about GDP growth, that's why the house price is difficult to decline. I don't know whether it's still the timing to invest in house, but what I known is to let money work harder for us, don't just rest in bank account.

One article (The Love-Hate Relationship I have with Commodities) analyzed the commodities with inflation, the conclusion is interesting, "both Bears and Bulls end up liking this sector (energy, commodities)". If market recovers, the demand will go up; if market fails to recover, the huge capital injected will cause hyperinflation, only real stuffs worth. Anyway, I do believe oil price will go up, except the renewable energy is competitive enough. So let's invest some in commodities funds/stocks.

Will the inflation kill the market recovery? I don't know, but I tend to not believe in it, because people do know a lots from previous depressions.

How to invest via Fundsupermart.com

So far, I think Fundsupermart.com is a great platform to trade unit trusts, low sales charge, more choices, free to switch fund (15 times per year), proprietary data, prompt service (reply your query fast and in detail).

Most of time, I check the top trade volumn funds, the assumption is the track record was proved. Eg. Aberdeen Pacific Equity is really good, appears on the list every week, one of the recommened funds by Fundsupermart.

Also I check the major indices, there is always up and down, the key is to "buy low, sell high".

I have to say I am not good at trading yet, that's why I choose to invest on mutual funds. The best thing is we just recovering from a serious recession, the safe margin is higher than years ago, you will agree if you simply look at the major indices.

Welcome your comment or email me if you want to share.

(if this information is valuable to you, support me by clicking one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

Buy low, Sell high

(click to enlarge)

The interesting trend from other blog.

Yes, most of people just do so. I just remembered what my first company's GM shared with us, he always remembers his father told him when he started his trading business: buy low, sell high. So he is quite rich now.

Simple and True.

Search for more ...

Buy low, sell high: It's not that simple (Sun, Jul 13, 2008. The Straits Times)

House buying experience (II)

(click to enlarge)

Any useful information for HDB eligible scheme and market price?

Of course, HDB website is the most useful information source, that really exceed my expectation.

First, Eligibility Conditions to Buy a flat from HDB, you can buy before marriage, but there is time limit to provide the certificate after you buy the house, 3~12 months, depends on appeal result. The new flats are only for citizens with house gross income less than 8K. This criterion is very crucial, because it's the same ceiling for grants, HDB loans. If more than 8K, the only option is to buy resell with pure bank loan.

Second, if you are eligible to buy the new flats, you can wait for new projects, normally may need 2~4 years to complete a new construction project. If you want to buy resell house, normally go to find a agent. But for price, there is valuable information on HDB website. You can go to check the market trend, the quarterly index, median purchase price by town and room type, and most wonderful, the individual transaction. With the individual transaction history, you can compare even certain block.

So, if you are preparing to buy a resell HDB flat, check the statistics frequently.

Another wonderful post: The Almost Complete Goondu’s Guide to Buying a HDB Flat in Singapore


(if this information is valuable to you, support me by clicking one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

House buying experience (I)

Because of business downturn, everything becomes cheaper.

If you want to buy HDB in Singapore, steps to go:

1) Find a agent

2) Look for house

3) Put deposit and make an offer to buy (owner will accept the deposit and sign Option To Purchase if he accepts)

4) Apply for bank loan or HDB loan

5) Within 14 days, must decide to exercise the option or not, if yes, then must get the loan approved and pay another $4K

6) Make first appointment with HDB, normally it is within 6~8 weeks

7) Go for first appointment

8) Pay remaining by cash or CPF

9) Final house inspection

10) Second appointment to complete, the whole process is 3 months normally

Of course, there is more detail for each step. I will explain later.

And for budgeting:

1) valuation + COV (cash over valuation) is the purchase price, COV must be paid by cash and can't apply for loan too. So it's better to buy in downturn, because normally owner can only ask for low or no COV, even the purchase price can be lower than valuation.

2) 5% downpayment must be paid by cash

3) Legal fee, few thousands, 2~3K

4) Agent service fee, 1% of purchase price + 7% GST

5) Other small fees, such as valution report, ...

So have to prepare cash at least: around 6.5% of purchase price + COV. Of course, if CPF isn't sufficient to cover upfront payment (bank loan is 80~90% at most), and if you want to do the renovation, more cash is needed.

(if this information is valuable to you, help me click one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

Star Courses of NTU MBA

After 2 years study, near the end of the whole program, I have to say the real great courses are the courses that really change the mindset and encourage me to new directions. So far, for me, such courses are: Supply Chain Mangement (****), Entrepreneurship (****), Sun Zi Art of War (***).

Supply Chain Management , taught by Prof. Chen. Why I highly recommend this half course is because he teaches in a very logical way, always emphasize the principles to improve the supply chain value and efficiency, supported with clear examples or exercise. Although you can't expect very advance theoretical exposure, but it's practical enough, especially I think he is doing business in China. After this course, I understood the principles and agreed there is great power if any entity can do well in supply chain and dominate the market.

Entrepreneurship, taught by Prof. Toh. Harvard Model is applied in this course, POCD (People, Opportunity, Context, Deal), but no passion. The textbook used in this course is mainly covered by cases, different stories from different people at different growth stages, very useful. Maybe another reason that I feel this course is great is because I eventually recognize we are forced to be entrepreneur in fact, as the career peak comes earlier and earlier.

Sun Zi Art of War, taught by Prof. Wee. He had great success in career, position himself in a strategic way and built a brand. I read and understood the all chapters of Sun Zi Art of War only after this course, although I came from China and bought the book long before.

Actually, I like above three courses is because they offer practical experience to handle real situation, rather than explain framework, maybe the main reason is they are closer to real businessmen. So I think I will high value a MBA program that taught by industrial veterans.

And, there is another so-called star course I want to mention here, M&A taught by Prof.Beck. But I think I won't have the chance to take this course. Also, some financial courses are not bad, the problem is I still don't understand the beauty of the numbers.

This post here is only to share some of my experience in NTU MBA. Since I posted some articles related to my interview experience, I was contacted by many people, good to share!

(if this information is valuable to you, help me click one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

Google Blog is greater than ever

Now the "Monetize" becomes default option, we can add the AdSense easily into the blog. Generally the process is convenient.

Another idea is to generate Ad by own selected link, that mean I can promote some certain websites/services only, that comes in natural way when we discuss them. It will be more like word-of-mouth promotion, rather than random links.

Time to be greedy!

Time to be greedy? Yes, but you should be even more greedy at even
earlier month. That's the first lesson I learned during this recession.

Everyone maybe encounter 4-5 times recession. Before this recession, I
haven't really invested much in equity market. But the huge price gap
from the peak at 2007 create great safety margin. I don't think the
recession will last for ever, I also don't think I will loss money in
3 years. Definitely I will gain if I invest on funds with
diversification and the time is long enough. So I invest with no fear.

To invest in fund in Singapore, the best platform is
Fundsupermart.com, no sales charge and more flexible to switch, within
or among fund houses. The web is convenient and the reply to query is
always prompt.

Make money with habits

Now, money is the most important thing for me, maybe it's only part of
self achievement, but biggest part.

Always I think it's better to turn habits into money, now there is one
way. I am starting to invest in funds, by screen market news. Because
the funds are generally reflect market expectation. Of course, earn
market return only.

The next one?

Nangyang MBA ranks 24th at 2009 FT

Congratulations! 

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings

But what I concern most is how to catch the so-called average 131% salary increase 3 years after graduation. 

3rd trimester done!

Today I finally done all this trimester's exams, total took 6 days leave for 3 exams. I feel I wasn't really enjoy the MBA life, learned a lot but far before change myself.

MBA not for exam scores! The efficiency must be improved then I can enjoy more other activities, and balance my study and work better.

Btw, although MBA provides complete curriculum for the whole business, but it's impossible to do well in all fields, finance, human resource, market, strategy, ... So specification is necessary.

MBA interview questions

More people contacted me for MBA application, I just post some questions that I did prepare before. Good luck for everybody who wish to change the world, at least to change himself/herself!

• Run me through your resume / Introduce yourself?
• Why MBA? (even have 6 yrs experience already) / How will MBA help your career?
• Why Now?
• Why part time/full time?
• Your long term & short term goal? Your plan after MBA graduation? / What's your career goal? Short term and long term?
• Why NTU? / What u want to get most from NTU?
• What will you attribute to fellow students/this program?
• Your job responsibility?
• Any failure? Difficulty in your job and how to overcome?
• What have u learned from your job? What u learned from your job?
• What Impress you most in your job?
• What responsibility means for u?
• Leadership experience? Anything can demonstrate your leadership? Team experience example?
• What's your most proud achievement?
• Your performance in current job?
• Discuss a time when you had to make an unpopular decision.
• How about your boss/friends/colleague describe you?
• What are your strength/weakness?
• What is the hardest decision you have ever had to make on the job? Outside of your job?
• What's most important for a good management?
• Your family and supervisor support your further education?
• How to balance? (part time)
• What do u think is success?
• What do I do at spare time? / What are your hobbies?
• Where else are you applying?
• If you can change a part of application package, what u want?
• What would u do if not accepted?
• Do you have any questions for us?

(if this information is valuable to you, help me click one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

MBA application?

A new busy season for MBA application, some people find this blog and send email to me for tips. So I think maybe I can just write something.

For my personal experience, I was rejected by NUS, but accepted by NTU. Maybe my background is the key for NTU. Only 1 round and only 1 director interviewed with me, one by one, she didn't ask too many, only common questions. At last, she even asked someone to show me the classroom that I will be in soon, very friendly. For NUS, two professors, seriously, but also common questions, why mba, why ...

How to compare NUS and NTU, actually I still have no idea. NTU has higher ranking recently, the new dean promised top 20 few years later, so at least NTU is more aggressive. NUS has too many indians, but the class maybe more active, more discussion.

For part time or full time, for every people that's ambitious, my only suggestion is full time, otherwise can't really enjoy it, also have to miss many seminars and career talks, because have to work at day time.

Anyway, MBA degree can't promise anything, it really depends on how you value it and what you want from it. The opportunity cost.

(if this information is valuable to you, help me click one Ads by Google on this blog, maybe you will discover more)

Economagic.com

A great website for macro economy data: http://www.economagic.com/

MBA ?

Maybe I am in a community that still not aggressive enough, even I saw a people sleeping at class. Also, singaporean tend to form team within themselves, but culture difference is a major issue that MBAs should face to and develop skill via co-working.

MBA should be a life style for bigger life goal, but not a certain insurance for future success.