Tahta Untuk Sang Putri

Tahta Untuk Sang Putri

 

Seorang ayah, kebetulan pengusaha kaya multi-usaha, menghadapi soal

yang amat pelik. Siapakah yang harus dipilihnya menjadi President & CEO

menggantikan dirinya memimpin kerajaan bisnisnya yang sudah dibangun

susah payah lebih dari setengah abad?

 

Kini usianya sudah berkepala tujuh dan penyakit-penyakit tua sudah

mulai menggerogoti dirinya. Ia tahu sebentar lagi dirinya akan mengikuti

jejak nenek-moyangnya menuju lorong hidup manusia fana.

 

Anaknya tiga orang. Si sulung amat cerdas, meraih MSc. dan MBA luar

negeri, ia berselera canggih, senang glamour, ambisius, dan punya pergaulan

yang luas di kalangan jet set. Cuma si ayah cukup khawatir karena si sulung

ini punya bakat bercumbu dengan bahaya seperti (konon) keluarga Kennedy.

Naluri judinya gede, dan niat curangnya pun cukup kuat. Singkatnya, ia cerdas,

kreatif, namun lihai dan licin.

 

Si tengah, lebih hebat lagi. Bergelar PhD. bidang kimia dari

universitas beken di Amerika, ia lulus dengan predikat magna cum laude. Papernya

bertebaran di jurnal-jurnal internasional. Bangga sekali hati si ayah

yang cuma lulus SMP zaman Jepang. Dia dosen dan peneliti. Dan di perusahaan

ayahnya dia menjabat sebagai Direktur Riset dan Pengembangan. Tetapi

menjadi CEO, ia terlalu akademis.

 

Kurang cocok dengan bisnis mereka yang kini berspektrum sangat lebar.

 

Si bungsu, satu-satunya perempuan, cuma lulus S1 dalam negeri.

 

Meskipun sejak lima tahun terakhir ia bergabung dengan usaha ayahnya

sebagai Direktur Grup Konsumer, tetapi ia memulai karirnya di perusahaan asing

sebagai wiraniaga (marketing executive). Ia merangkak dari bawah hingga

15 tahun kemudian bisa mencapai posisi General Manager. Otaknya kalah

brilian dibanding kedua kakaknya.

 

Meskipun cenderung hemat berkata-kata, namun ia menunjukkan bakat

memimpin yang baik. Ia mampu mendengar dengan intens. Berbagai pendapat dan

gagasan bisa diolahnya dengan dalam.

 

Gaya hidupnya biasa saja. Ia disenangi sekaligus disegani orang karena

sikapnya yang fair, jujur, dan mampu merakyat dengan para bawahannya.

 

Nah, jika Anda adalah konsultan independen, siapakah pilih an Anda

menggantikan sang patriarch menjadi President & CEO?

 

Saya bertaruh, sebagian besar Anda akan menominasikan si bungsu.

 

Dan si ayah juga demikian. Masalah ini menjadi pelik, karena menurut

adat-istiadat, si sulunglah pewaris takhta. Dan, ia sangat berambisi untuk

itu.  Sedang si bungsu, selain paling buncit, perempuan lagi.

Jadi ia kalah status, gelar dan gender.

 

Bagaimana jalan keluarnya?

 

Konsultan angkat tangan.

 

Rujukan buku teks tidak ada. Sang patriarch akhirnya hanya bisa

mengandalkan wibawa dan hikmatnya sebagai ayah. Lalu dipanggilnya ketiga anaknya.

 

Dibentangkannya persoalan secara gamblang.

 

Diuraikannya plus-minus setiap anaknya. Dianalisisnya kemungkinan

sukses masing-masing memimpin grup usaha itu menuju milenium ketiga.

Dialog pun dimulai.

 

Dan si ayah segera maklum, dead lock akan terjadi.

 

"Sudahlah, aku akan memutuskan sendiri siapa penggantiku," kata

orangtua itu akhirnya. Ketiganya takzim menurut.

 

Seminggu kemudian, si ayah datang dengan sebuah ujian.

 

"Barangsiapa bisa mengisi ruang ini sepenuh-penuhnya, maka dialah

penggantiku," katanya sambil menunjuk ruang rapat yang cuma terisi

empat kursi dan sebuah meja bundar. "Budget maksimum Rp1 juta," tambahnya

lagi.

 

Kesempatan pertama jatuh pada si sulung. Enteng, pikirnya.

 

Besoknya, dipenuhinya ruangan itu dengan cacahan kertas

berkarung-karung. Dan memang ruangan itu menjadi padat.

 

"Bagus, besok giliranmu," kata si ayah kepada anak keduanya.

 

Duapuluh empat jam kemudian, ruangan itu pun dipenuhinya dengan butiran

styro- foam yang diperolehnya dengan menghancurkan bekas-bekas

packaging.

 

"Oke, besok giliranmu," kata sang patriarch menunjuk putrinya.

 

Esoknya, ketika acara inspeksi dimulai, ternyata ruangan masih kosong.

"Lho, kok kosong?" tanya ketiganya hampir serempak. Sang putri diam

saja. Dimatikannya saklar lampu. Dari sakunya dia keluarkan sebatang lilin.

Ditaruhnya di atas meja.

 

Lalu disulutnya dengan sebatang korek api.

 

"Lihat, ruangan ini penuh dengan terang. Silahkan dinilai, apakah ada

celahkosong tak tersinari," katanya kalem.

 

Tak terbantah siapa pun, dia dinyatakan menang dan sang putri pun

berhak menduduki kursi tertinggi. Problem solved.

 

Kualitas yang ditunjukkan sang ayah dan putrinya adalah apa yang saya

sebut sebagai hikmat. Ciri utama orang berhikmat (wise person) ialah

kemampuan memecahkan masalah secara genuine dan memuaskan. Ini selaras dengan

Jerry Pino yang merumuskan hikmat sebagai kemampuan membuat the best decision

at any given situation.

 

Pintar, di pihak lain, adalah kemampuan mencerna dan mengolah informasi

secara cepat. Ciri-cirinya, rasional, metodik, linier, dan analitik.

Kepintaran umumnya diperoleh dengan olah otak sampai botak.

 

Dari dulu botak memang ciri orang pintar.

 

Tetapi hikmat (wisdom) tidak hanya memerlukan olah otak tetapi terutama

olah hati. Jarang kita sadari, hati kita sebenarnya bisa berpikir. Dalam

tradisi literatur kuno, terutama kitab-kitab suci, hati adalah lokasi

kebijaksanaan, hikmat dan kepandaian. Lebih spesifik, hati adalah access point kita

kepada the higher knowledge, yakni kepada Tuhan sendiri. Dalam arti ini, orang

bijak selalu berkonotasi orang alim dan saleh.

 

Kini, ketika rasionalisme warisan Descartes dan Immanuel Kant menjadi

panglima, kebijaksanaan yang berasal dari hati (nurani atau suara hati)

cenderung dinomorduakan. Yang utama adalah kepala. Dunia politik,

bisnis dan kemasyarakatan kita kemudian didominasi oleh para pakar dan teknokrat

bergelar master, doktor, dan profesor.

Orang Beragama atau Orang Baik?

Orang Beragama atau Orang Baik?

 

Seorang lelaki berniat untuk menghabiskan seluruh waktunya untuk beribadah. Seorang nenek yang merasa iba melihat kehidupannya membantunya dengan membuatkan sebuah pondok kecil dan memberinya makan, sehingga lelaki itu dapat beribadah dengan tenang.

Setelah berjalan selama 20 tahun, si nenek ingin melihat kemajuan yang telah dicapai lelaki itu. Ia memutuskan untuk mengujinya dengan seorang wanita cantik. ''Masuklah ke dalam pondok,'' katanya kepada wanita itu, ''Peluklah ia dan katakan 'Apa yang akan kita lakukan sekarang'?''

Maka wanita itu pun masuk ke dalam pondok dan melakukan apa yang disarankan oleh si nenek. Lelaki itu menjadi sangat marah karena tindakan yang tak sopan itu. Ia mengambil sapu dan mengusir wanita itu keluar dari pondoknya.

Ketika wanita itu kembali dan melaporkan apa yang terjadi, si nenek menjadi marah. ''Percuma saya memberi makan orang itu selama 20 tahun,'' serunya. ''Ia tidak menunjukkan bahwa ia memahami kebutuhanmu, tidak bersedia untuk membantumu ke luar dari kesalahanmu. Ia tidak perlu menyerah pada nafsu, namun sekurang-kurangnya setelah sekian lama beribadah seharusnya ia memiliki rasa kasih pada sesama.''

Apa yang menarik dari cerita diatas? Ternyata ada kesenjangan yang cukup besar antara taat beribadah dengan memiliki budi pekerti yang luhur. Taat beragama ternyata sama sekali tak menjamin perilaku seseorang.

Ada banyak contoh yang dapat kita kemukakan disini. Anda pasti sudah sering mendengar cerita mengenai guru mengaji yang suka memperkosa muridnya. Seorang kawan yang rajin shalat lima waktu baru-baru ini di PHK dari kantornya karena memalsukan dokumen. Seorang kawan yang berjilbab rapih ternyata suka berselingkuh. Kawan yang lain sangat rajin ikut pengajian tapi tak henti-hentinya menyakiti orang lain. Adapula kawan yang berkali-kali menunaikan haji dan umrah tetapi terus melakukan korupsi di kantornya.

Lantas dimana letak kesalahannya? Saya kira persoalan utamanya adalah pada kesalahan cara berpikir. Banyak orang yang memahami agama dalam pengertian ritual dan fiqih belaka. Dalam konsep mereka, beragama berarti melakukan shalat, puasa, zakat, haji dan melagukan (bukannya membaca) Alquran. Padahal esensi beragama bukan disitu. Esensi beragama justru pada budi pekerti yang mulia.

Kedua, agama sering dipahami sebagai serangkaian peraturan dan larangan. Dengan demikian makna agama telah tereduksi sedemikian rupa menjadi kewajiban dan bukan kebutuhan. Agama diajarkan dengan pendekatan hukum (outside-in), bukannya dengan pendekatan kebutuhan dan komitmen (inside-out). Ini menjauhkan agama dari makna sebenarnya yaitu sebagai sebuah sebuah cara hidup (way of life), apalagi cara berpikir (way of thinking).

Agama seharusnya dipahami sebagai sebuah kebutuhan tertinggi manusia. Kita tidak beribadah karena surga dan neraka tetapi karena kita lapar secara rohani. Kita beribadah karena kita menginginkan kesejukan dan kenikmatan batin yang tiada taranya. Kita beribadah karena rindu untuk menyelami jiwa sejati kita dan merasakan kehadiran Tuhan dalam keseharian kita. Kita berbuat baik bukan karena takut tapi karena kita tak ingin melukai diri kita sendiri dengan perbuatan yang jahat.

Ada sebuah pengalaman menarik ketika saya bersekolah di London dulu. Kali ini berkaitan dengan polisi. Berbeda dengan di Indonesia, bertemu dengan polisi disana akan membuat perasaan kita aman dan tenteram. Bahkan masyarakat Inggris memanggil polisi dengan panggilan kesayangan: Bobby.

Suatu ketika dompet saya yang berisi surat-surat penting dan sejumlah uang hilang. Kemungkinan tertinggal di dalam taksi. Ini tentu membuat saya agak panik, apalagi hal itu terjadi pada hari-hari pertama saya tinggal di London. Tapi setelah memblokir kartu kredit dan sebagainya, sayapun perlahan-lahan melupakan kejadian tersebut. Yang menarik, beberapa hari kemudian, keluarga saya di Jakarta menerima surat dari kepolisian London yang menyatakan bahwa saya dapat mengambil dompet tersebut di kantor kepolisian setempat.

Ketika datang kesana, saya dilayani dengan ramah. Polisi memberikan dompet yang ternyata isinya masih lengkap. Ia juga memberikan kuitansi resmi berisi biaya yang harus saya bayar sekitar 2,5 pound. Saking gembiranya, saya memberikan selembar uang 5 pound sambil mengatakan, ''Ambil saja kembalinya.'' Anehnya, si polisi hanya tersenyum dan memberikan uang kembalinya kepada saya seraya mengatakan bahwa itu bukan haknya. Sebelum saya pergi, ia bahkan meminta saya untuk mengecek dompet itu baik-baik seraya mengatakan bahwa kalau ada barang yang hilang ia bersedia membantu saya untuk menemukannya.

Hakekat keberagamaan sebetulnya adalah berbudi luhur. Karena itu orang yang ''beragama'' seharusnya juga menjadi orang yang baik. Itu semua ditunjukkan dengan integritas dan kejujuran yang tinggi serta kemauan untuk menolong dan melayani sesama manusia.

 

disadur dari Republika:

Kepemimpinan
Oleh: Arvan Pradiansyah, direktur pengelola Institute for Leadership & Life Management (ILM) & penulis buku Life is Beautiful

Regret

One of my cousins contacted me couple days ago for a job. Well i ask for his academic transcript like usual. Kinda disappointed with his gpa though. It is quite small. So then i start thinking, aside from someone capability, do we always regret what we do in the past? I mean is it always late for a regret?
We are going to school and not study hard enough. What kinda mechanism that available to make us regret faster, faster enough to change the situations? I don't know the answer, may be someone around you? Your parent? But if we are the parent, then what is actually that we should do to make this regret doesn't come late? Not sure about the answer.

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Quote

What really matters is not what happens to you or around you; what matters is how you respond and what you learn from it.

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Laper :(

Aduh macet nih jalan, angkot serobot kanan kiri, motor kurang ajar, komplit lah perut laparku ini. Komplit pula bt gue gara2 urusan rumah. Well temen g pernah bilang jangan termakan suasana, ya aku rasa sih betul banget tapi gue rasa ya bt ya bt aja. Ya gak? Daripada di rasa rasa normal padahal bt abiz. Luapan perasaan kan baek buat jantung hahaha. Tapi emang yg namanya balance dan kesadaran diri juga penting bgt. Duhh macet knapa sehh iniii...laper :-(

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Finger pointing

Hi, i just went back from department gathering last night. A very enjoyable trip, it went very smooth and organized. I am proud to my staff who planned and execute the whole thing by themselves. It is nice to give our subordinates a responsibility, but surely we need to believe that they could do it. Without that belief then it would become an empty word of empowerment. Empowerment and control, a two word that must be balanced.
Ok now talking other stuff. We are talking about integrity last couple days. One of my college ask whether we dare to put our work and future for the sake of our integrity? Well this morning i read some sentences in the magazines that really are nice. It said 'true, i could have been fired, but jobs are easier to find than one's dignity once lost'
Nice sentence? Do you think this sentence is not making any sense? Well i tell you my opinion. I think this sentence although some people think too ideal, but it is true. Once you sell your soul to the devil then you shall never return. If you forgone your integrity then you shall never have them again. So starting now you better have your integrity with you all the time. Be responsible also to what you do or said or even think. Then you shall become a better person everyday.

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Rumah lagi

Duh urusan rumah yg dijual itu beneran bikin g bt dah. Hari ini sodara gue sms dng nada marah koq rumahnya yg dijual belon dipasang spanduk jual. Lho aku bagaimana tahu sih? Itu rumah nun jauh disana juga gitu. Aduh koq lama2 makan ati ya? Nih minta tolong apa nyuruh2 ya? Bt gue.

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Mati lampu

Wek mati lampu neh, busyet begitu tergantungnya kita ama listrik. Let c komputer, ac, pompa air, lampu, wuih banyak tuh. Itu pula sebabnya gue pindahin meeting gue dari kantor ke s*******s.
Haha kalo tetap di kantor ga bisa meeting, otaknya melting kali ya? Kasihan juga sih anak buah gue karna mereka ga bisa mindahin lokasi kerja kayak kita.
Well berapa tergantung hidupmu dng listrik? Sangat gue rasa ya?

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Motivate ur employee by playing game

One article that i read in book called the truth about managing people said that to motivate ur employee is to make them feel the flow. What is that?
Flow is described as a feeling of joy of doing something. Doing it no long period of time and losing track of time is some of the characteristics. Well it just like playing game for a gamer.
If a gamer play the game they love, they could spend a lot of time just to finish it. And when its done then they will feel an overwhelming feeling of happiness.
The same with job. You have to design a job that will give a sense of flow. How? The job must challenging, goal oriented, have a feedback process in place and using high level of skill. Why using high level of skill required? So that it feel important enough and challenging enough.
Managing job is sometime like choosing the right game for a gamer to play isn't?

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Indonesia win physics olympics

Yea it is being said in newspaper that indonesia win. Probably even win as the ultimate champion since one of the student achieve highest score. Wow this country do actually has something right? So pity that in this glorious moment we still stuck in corruption and unresolved natural disaster.
I do happy since i love education and i once join selection test for physics olympics. Well i did not make it ha ha ha. But as i take a look behind i realize that God have a plan for me. If i succeed that day, perhaps i will become a scientist. Well not to say that scientist is a bad one. But as a scientist perhaps i cannot do what i do best now. Some of us do feel disappoint if failure come over. But see failure is not the problem. The problem is the way you face it. If you behave right then it shall be a beginning for your victory. But if you keep complaining then perhaps it is your doom.
I once tell my friend that if you believe in God then you shall never worry. He do know what is best for us. More then we know. So believe Him. Have a nice weekend and never stop believing and no excuse please :)

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Jual rumah yuk

Sodara gua mau jual rumah di lippo cikarang. Dari kemarennya ga kejual juga. Malam ini ngajakin gue ngobrol baiknya bagaimana. Ya gue sih ok aja bantuinnya,tapi yg bikin sebel sepupunya yg notabene harusnya lebih punya peranan malah nyantai aja. Dan gak mau terlibat malah. Lho gue jadi bingung,ini yg mau jual rumah gue apa mereka. Taukh deh haha, gue sih bantuin sebisanya aja lah. Ga dibantuin kasihan,tapi dibantuin banyak2 ntar nglunjak juga kali ya. Alias jadi ga mau usaha juga. Yah let it be aja deh. Good nite...

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No excuse

Just see opprah show. One of the topics is no excuse. It tell a story of a young man that has physical disability since he was born. His parent never threat him differently,so did his sibling. He do everything just like a normal kids does. He try american football and finally wrestling. After being defeated 35 times he finally master it. You can imagine a boy without any legs nor hand becoming a wrestler. He can even type 50 words a minutes. He write a book called no excuses. If we ever feel desperate with our problem and we want to scream for an excuse, then we must remember this guy. No excuses man!

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Boring

I am in the middle of the class. Boring atmosphere is rising here, some of my frien already falling a sleep previously. The teacher ask us to do some exercise, but it seem no body do it :-) my friend chubby next to me keep complaining that she feel so sleepy ha ha ha what a boring class

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The maximum value of a man

Beberapa diskusi hari ini timbul pertanyaan sebenarnya seberapa jauh seorang manusia bisa mengembangkan dirinya. Menurut penelitian otak manusia bisa dikatakan unlimited. Some say that even you dead your brain capacity is not yet near full. But well we know that some people feel that their reach their ultimate capacity. They feel that even they learn more still they cannot errand their knowledges. What do you think? Do you think people do have limitations?

Indonesia dan olimpiade matematika

Well well…

Do you know what I found out in newspaper this morning…Ada headline yang menuliskan “Indonesia gagal menuju olimpiade matematika, Depdiknas (red:Departemen Pendidikan Nasional) diminta bertanggung jawab”. Wah gue pikir…apa hubungannya antara depdiknas dan kegagalan ini, bukannya mereka gagal ya biasa aja dong. Ternyata….mereka gagal bukan karena gagal bertanding, tapi gagal berangkat dalam arti yang sesungguhnya karena Depdiknas telat mengurus Visa mereka.

Wadoww.....parah banget ya ini negara? Udah banyak bencana alam, manusia juga berlomba lomba bikin bencana. Kita ikutan melakukan gak ya? Ayo kerja kerja…..

Conceptual thinking

One of my friend ask today how to improve her conceptual thinking. I said that she can start by synthesizing. This done by look at daily activities,thinking what is the reason of people doing something. Finally put those principal that found on that case to what you do. Slowly but sure you will develop your conceptual thinking. What do you think?

Mobile blogging

This is my first trial on using my cellular phone to send a blog message

Changes

Do you know where is the hardest part of a changes? Most of the people think the hardest part is at the beginning. So they put a lot of their effort preparing the training, material, system, etc. They deliver all of that….and then praying that change will occur by themselves.

Well, in my opinion and in my experience…that will never happen. Change is a difficult processes, so you need to maintain it for quite a long time. For example, we want to change the behaviour of the people who are using a certain software. Ussually what we did is creating a plan, preparing training material, deliver the training and then done…expecting that everything will change. Well that is not what happen right? Nothing is change after you deliver training, yea for 3-6 months there are some changes, but after that it going back to the old way.

After you deliver the training you need to keep reminding the users, you need to put pressure & rewards, you need to have a champion who is continuously doing the right thing and attract others to join him doing the right thing.

Change management is never a one phase process……..learn from it.

IT Human Resources

META Group mengatakan bahwa akan terjadi shortage untuk tenaga kerja IT dalam 3 tahun kedepan mengingat kebutuhan akan IT yang tinggi (di Indonesia apakah demikian juga ya? Mengingat banyak sekali orang IT di Indonesia. Hem, memang kalau bicara mengenai skill ini lain lagi sih). Dengan demikian akan memberikan sentimen positif sebesar 15% di standard gaji IT. Dengan demikian kita penting memperhatikan anak buah kita dalam hal :

• Training – memberikan mereka pisau bermata dua, jika mereka makin cerdas dan memiliki skill maka “nilai” mereka cenderung naik. Sehingga 2 komponen lain dibawah ini menjadi semakin sulit?? Akan tetapi tanpa inipun mereka menjadi demoralized. So?
• Moral – adalah penting untuk menjaga perasaan mereka dan loyalitas mereka terhadap perusahaan. Penting agar mereka tidak berpindah ke perusahaan lain, apalagi kompetitor, apalagi perusahaan dengan standard gaji yang sama dan job desc yang sama – dikarenakan ketidakpuasan batiniah? – seperti di DELL ?
• Kompensasi – komponen yang sulit dibahas ya...hehehe

 

Picture picture

My baby....

I will have a baby J my wife is pregnant and it’s already 1 months and 20 days (approximately) yippy…..

For shared unit

As you are a shared unit then : “Never say no to a business unit, say yes with a price tag”

Education in Indonesia

Kemarin saja aku baru saja lihat bagaimana gedung – gedung sekolah di berbagai area di Indonesia rusak berat. Ada sebagian yang disebabkan oleh tua nya umur bangunan, ada yang diperparah oleh karena buruknya cuaca belakangan ini, dll. Sangat menyedihkan melihat bagaimana anak – anak kecil itu harus belajar di lingkungan yang lebih layak disebut sebagai “gudang bobrok” daripada sebuah sekolah. Sangat menyedihkan pula mengingat bahwa di dalam kondisi yang demikian kualitas pelajaran yang mereka dapatkan-pun belum tentu mencukupi.

Entah bagaimana nasib negara ini, dari tahun ke tahun nampaknya pendidikan hanyalah menjadi milik orang berduit (yang notabene masih mengeluh dengan biaya sekolah yang makin lama makin mahal). Sekolah hanya milik mereka yang tinggal di kota. Sekolah hanyalah mimpi….mimpi yang demikian sulit digapai oleh sebagian masyarakat kita.

Dan betapa menyedihkannya bahwa sebagian orang yang beruntung bisa sekolah tidak pula sekolah dengan baik. Ada yang karena memang tidak ada niatan belajar, ada yang karena sekolahnya sendiri tidak berkualitas akibat sistem pendidikan nasional yang menyedihkan ini. Salah satu anak buahku merasa frustasi karena dia memiliki 4 orang anak dan 4 kali pula dia harus membeli set buku yang berbeda. Karena tiap kali anaknya duduk di tingkat pendidikan yang sama dengan anaknya yang terdahulu dia tidak bisa menggunakan buku / materi yang lama, karena kurikulum sudah berganti.

Bila ada yang membaca blog saya ini...coba ulurkan tangan anda, sejauh yang anda bisa, sumbangkan pendapatan anda, sumbangkan buku anda, koran anda, dll pada orang yang membutuhkan. Demikian banyak LSM di negara ini yang berusaha membantu orang – orang yang ingin sekolah tapi tak bisa sekolah. Dan buat yang masih sekolah...syukurilah anda masih bisa sekolah J adios.....

Expect what you give

Don’t expect your employees to convinced theirs for something if they are not convinced by themselves. Make them believe, then ask them to make their employees believe J

What a job....

Well today is another day in my new role. It is really not easy to become a leader huh? Well you know a little more, you have your own concern, etc. But well down there not everybody knows that, at least they know but the concern perhaps doesn’t get them as they get me. Kinda confused? Yea, me either.

One of my friends complaining since she feels like the other don’t trust her business decisions. She said, well we are not a bunch of children, we know how to decide. It makes me think that perhaps sometimes we really have to let it go. You know, just like when you have children and one time they say that they like to make their own decision and ask for us to trust him. Are we going to trust his decision?

I think it depends on 2 things. One thing is we ready to let it go, we have the gut to do that. The other is that you know that this person could do it. It works both way right, so you cannot hope it will come one way. What a life .. What a life..

Bless to give more....

I’m married at last J. Some experience huh? Well there are so many story behind my wedding day, but that’s not the purpose of this blogs anyway, so I’ll write it somewhere else hahaha. As a sneakpeak, married is a wonderful experience, once in a lifetime experience.

Ok, couple days ago I receive a very good news, I’m being promoted J. I know that this also mean a bunch of new jobs, new responsibility and problems. But I also think that this is a new challenge for me, I like it and I shall do my best. But my story is about something that I shall remember for the whole my life, it is my dad’s sentence when he hear about my promotion. He said “Thanks God for all that He gave you, pray dan thanks Him. You are being blessed by Him to give more to the other”

That’s one of the most wise sentences that I ever received. I know it’s right, and I know that’s also my job. It’s also everybody jobs you know, being blessed means that you need to give more to even more people. This not always mean that you need to spend more money for other (eventhough it’s a good thing to do J). You could spend more attention, you could do more for your employees, you could spend more quality time with your loving one and friends, you could also do more for them that don’t have that much lucky. Believe me that there are so many thing that you could do, and do not ever feel that do something will make you poor, make you don’t have time, make you too busy, etc. It will only make you even rich, make you even have more time, more friends, more … to give more again.

God do need you as His hands in this world, so for a moment just relax and take a look around you, who could you help? How could you do more from bless that you received from Him?

Adios…and have a good day, remember…bless to give even more

Hard to be manager...

One of my peers manager said to me that one of her subordinates is facing a real problem. See, she moved from her last job to this current job, hoping for a better life certainly. Since she is practically is a “head of the family” then her family surely depends on her. And with her current salary it is very hard, it a tough life for her. She need to pay for the house rent, living cost, his sisters education cost…..if that’s not hard enough, she didn’t have time to do a part time job right now, since to go home she need at least 2 hours. So no time to do a part time job.

The hardest part of a manager job is balancing company requirement (to become a profitable business) and humanity – such as raising her salary to match her requirement. It is merely an art job, this balancing task. If we don’t do something we will lose this briliant person, but if you want to raise his level / salary..then a question will show up, such as “Why your subordinates having higher level compare then me?” I really could not think right now, tommorrow perhaps better…gonna take a nap, huahemmmmm

Say it ?

If you prepare someone to become your next future leader, are you going to say to him/her that he/she is your future leaders? Do you tell them that they are potential? Some of my colleagues said that we shouldn’t do that. Since by doing this we give hope to them, make them “greedy” and so on and so on…

Well, I’m not quite agree with this opinion. It is true that when we do it wrong then all bad thing will arise, human is naturally full with ego. But if we do it correctly I think it is good. Motivation is provided externally and internally right? This is one of the most powerful internal motivations, so why don’t we use it? Emotional reward is strong.

I think that if we only one person then it is not good, because he will feel that no one compare to him and starts to become someone that we don’t wanted. So, 2-3 persons will be better. Remember how Jack Welch grooms his future leader? It is true that at the end he lost 2 of his most brilliant personnel because they loss, but well that the price you must pay for it right?

The other is that don’t promise anything, just said that they are good and they have the capabilities and potency to become a future leader. Don’t mess up external and internal motivation all together. External motivation is actually a nasty stuff; it could bring down all the internal motivation in the matter of second. So play nice with it, don’t promise anything, and just say that they are good and potential.

The last thing is that you must remember that their current position and future position are different. We are talking about the way they should think, act and behave. So don’t let them wondering around knowing nothing. They need you as their supervisor to coach them, make them learn about their future challenges. Don’t make them fail and moving from a star into a jerk just by letting them alone. Help them, and coach them.

Internal promotion

Yesterday I was telling one of our staff regarding an internal promotion that will be offered to her. You know what I am surprised how an internal promotion could bring so much happiness to someone. Well many books do write it down and make a good narration about it, but you know nothing is compare to experiencing it by yourself. The happy and cherish moment, hope that overflow around the room and all the joy shining from her face, nothing compare to this experience, none of the books. What she’s feel maybe I could not transferred it to you by this essay, but surely I could emphasized that internal promotion is good if you could manage it well. So, do as many internal promotion as you can to help yourself.

Recovery

Well, it’s recovery allright. Some of the problems are clear now, although still have to wait sometimes to make all the pain and sorrow gone. But surely God lead His way, everything is seems getting better. Thank you for all the hope and courage from all around me. Thanks Adel J

djsadhash$%#$#$%@%$bjbs.....DESPERATE AND NEED HELP !!!! :-(

I lied if I say that today is a great day….I have a terrible day since this couple days L

My mood is not good, something is pressing in my heart…aching and painful…I don’t know how to write it down, I don’t know to whom I could tell my problem, I don’t know, just don’t know. Let’s just hope that God will lead a way, will accompany me in this difficult time, a time when I feel so lonely, desperate and don’t have anybody beside me or whatsoever. This time is nasty, and tomorrow I think I will found another trouble at the office L. Just hoping that it will not going heavier each passing hours.

I’m sure God have a plan; just stick to it…just stick to it.

Here go again.....

After quite sometimes I have time to write again J. My business plan is done and it is quite relieved having finished that out. Now is Lebaran holiday, so I spend my time at home just hanging around and play game haha. However one of my staff is asking to resign late this November. It is a hard decision, it really is. He will resign to build his own business. Up to this moment it seems nice huh? But not when you already go through his plan, it is very risky. Although every business always have its own risk, but to let his job go and start this new business is really not making me comfortable. I really don’t want him to fail and make his family life harder. Well, let just pray that he’s considering any other options that currently available.

Trust and integrity

Do you ever wonder how easy trust is diminishing and how hard it is to get back? This couple day I lost my faith to one of my friend, and I found it so difficult to get it back. Even when I say on and on that I trust him, I trust him, I trust him..still the situations is not the same any longer. Don’t know how long do this problem will exist. But one thing I learn is that when you have trust from any of your colleagues or friend, don’t broke it just for a silly situations or conditions. Their trust is one thing that so valuable in this world, more valuable and is harder to get then a diamond or gold. Keep your integrity, keep their trust. Some of the coming day you shall see that it’s all worthed, it’s worthed then any single thing in the world….

Life is not easy...at all

Late this afternoon I hear a story about one of garbage-man (a man who collects garbage from one house to another). Do you think become a garbage-man is just as easy as become a garbage-man? Well that’s what I thought too just couple hours ago. But well, life is hard my friend…life is hard. To become a garbage-man (red: a man whose salary is so low that he even found a great amount of difficulty just to send his boy to public elementary school) he must give some of his revenue for each day to “centeng” (a man who ask for money without having a authority to do that). Just to get a small amount of money he must suffer from this kind of treatment.

When you say that life is easy, life is fun…think again my friend, there are so many people out there that found that life so so difficult. So my friend, if you thought that life is easy then share your easiness with others. But when you thought that your life is hard, you must admit that your life is easier compare to the garbage-man that I tell you previously right?

Enjoy your life today !!!!

So full :(

Sigh….this couple of weeks so hetics..so many meeting and job, wait for my essay later on ok?

"Gaptek" from design

This afternoon I’m proposing to my HR department about IT knowledge development. See, in my company there is a program to train employees in many aspects of business. Excluding IT of course, and no plan for it up till now…I just don’t understand how these people think that IT just a secondary knowledge. Do they don’t see that IT is driving so many business right now? Corporation that cannot manage their IT well they will suffer and lost their competitive advantage, since many of this competitive advantage is now created by IT.

So I wonder when do these company (and many Indonesian company) will start to think about IT. Do we want to make our company and nations “Gaptek” from the design? Doing think conventionally will not bring us anywhere these day isn’t? Sigh….I just don’t know how to make all of these people see…

Red : Gaptek is a buzzword for people who don’t understand IT

A drainer

Have you ever had a friend who have a capabilities to “drain” energy from other person just by show up? Haha, kinda ackward? But I have one friend who sometimes do that. Well this few days he’s been draining most of my energy, yea actually some other problem also take part in this draining session. Well I don’t know whether my energy is transferred to him, or it’s just gone into the thin air. I feel so tired and everything just seems not alright. And I think I’m gonna avoid him a bit, because this morning just by appearing beside me he kinda drain my energy that I gather last day.

I think people should increase the emotional reserve in every other people. As you probably know that everytime we talk nice to other people and help them we deposit something into our reserve in his/her emotional reserve for us. On the contrary talk bad, sarcastic opinion, bad treatment is a spending in our emotional reserve. So, I think it’s funny how is my friend handle this emotional reserve. He’s kinda deposit a lot sometimes by saying nice thing, help us, etc. But some other time he spend so much of his reserve and let the balance approaching zero (or negative? Hehe)

Well I just speak out here and learn from this experience..that’s all, I hope you all learn from here too, that sometimes people that you drained your reserve from is not willingly speak to you that your balance is approaching zero J

Singapore experiences

Last week I went to Singapore on business purposes. This is the first time I go outside of Indonesia, so believe me you’re gonna read so much about my experiences here. First impressions of this country is hilarious, wonderful and amazing. So what is the thing that make think that way? And what is the thing that we can learn from it?

Discipline & Order – one thing that amaze me most. I’m really surprise to see them queing, no one and no sign is being put there to say that they must queue. But they do actually. And the results is orderness. No heavy traffic jam, since every driver know how to drive well and every pedestrians know how to cross the street without causing a traffic jams. So I wonder, could we Indonesian, start from myself could copy this discipline and make the environment around us a little bit better place to work and life? Could we start with something small like : put the trash on its places, start meeting on time, cross the street using manner, not to smoke in public, give a way to other people while we’re driving? I know it would feel like hell if we do that in Indonesia, but do you….I mean YOU want to make your surrounding a better place to live and work?

Customer oriented – Like I told you previously that going to singapore is the first time. So there are so many experience there that are new for me. Like how to get to the MRT, how to buy the tickets, how to walk around there, etc. But amazingly everytime I need to ask something and I’m looking around…blast there you go the answer is put over a sign / billboard. For some of you who may be it’s an ordinary thing, but for me it’s amazing. Because I know that how do they prepare to do that? They think and feel like a customer (a tourist in this circumstances). So they try to think & feel how the tourist will start losing their way, and they put something to help them there. So it make a really nice place to go to, since you don’t get confused easily. So, do you put yourself in your customer shoes everytime you do your jobs? Do you think and feel like them? Or do you just assuming that they will know that, or that they will come to you at the end if they don’t know that? If you like to make you customer happy, then you should think like them and feel like them. Hire them if required.

Get dizzy with big thing – Singapore (compare to Indonesia) let their people dizzy with many other thing, and not many small thing like : traffic jam, security while we are walking in the street, polutions, smoke, public transport, etc. They let their people focus on their job and life by making all this “small” thing gone. Do you do that while you are working? Do you let your people, your subordinates, busy with many small things that are non-productive? Or do you provide all the thing that they required so that they could focus on their jobs, instead of many @*&!#(&#(! Kinda stuff J

Do it fast – They walk fast, they talk fast, they think fast, they anticipate fast, they work fast…do you?

Well I don’t really remember all the thing I got from there…actually I start to forget, that’s why I spend my time to write it down. May be next time if I remember anything else I shall write it down again, c u later on. Have a nice day.

Condusive environment

This morning there is an interesting talk in the radio. It gives comments about Indonesia’s way to fight poverty. It critiques said that Indonesia will never solve the poverty problems if we keep on doing short term action, such as subsidize the poor in the form of some money give to them in certain period of time. The good solutions should create a condusive environment, such as make tax more reliable and thrustworty so that small business could grow up faster.

Condusive environment, this is something that we also sometimes forget to create. We keep doing short term action just to keep the problem diminised as soon as possible. We are not creating a condusive environment that in the long term will create a better working conditions. Let just say are we choosing to increase our employee salary or make them understand how to manage their own personal financial? Or we keep send them to a training center, or crearing a learning organization where everybody love to read, learn and discuss many different issues?

This are something that we need to think about carefully, since if we doing it right may be we can make our life even better and easier J have a nice day.

IDR Rebound

Yeeei.. J Rupiah (IDR) is getting strong and stable at around 10.000 / USD. Hopefully is getting more and more strong and stable for the sake of this country. GBU

Some of this day story

Today when I wrote this email is Saturday, I went to a material store, I bought a wall paints. Well, I wanted to be green. But choosing which green is the one is not as easy as it seems. After 15 minutes looking at color sample, I choose one of the green color available. But at night when we go to another shop, I know that the color that I bought is not the one that I want L. This is so sad and disturb me. It seems it is one the bad side of my personality…feeling not comfortable when something is not done yet. So tonight I am not feeling quite well, I mean that my mood is not good. Hopefully tommorrow will be better. Good night…..

Opportunity

This last couple of day I have an offer, a very challenging offer, very good offer indeed. But nothing in this world is that perfect right? Seems like this offer will also potentially bring many problems. Altough it is not a definite thing, but still it make my heart shattered and worry. How about many other people envy? How they gonna react, etc. In this time of doubt there are some events that are really helping me, I wanna share it with you all.

One thing is back almost 15 years ago. At that time I go to my grandmother house. There one of my uncle said that I have to study very hard. Opportunity is consists of 3 things : skill/capability, opportunity and resources (such as time, money). He gave me an example from his own experience, he cannot study at higher level because one of this 3 things is not available. So he said to me, if you have these 3 things don’t you ever let go what ever that come to you.

The second thing is come from my colleagues. She said that “opportunity doesn’t come twice, and the higher you are the lonelier you are”. I really thanks her for this small words. This sentences that she send through sms is really helping me to pass through this difficult time. I hope she read this, and I wanted her to know that I will not give up. I will prove myself.

The last thing that accidentally also happen at the same day is 2 songs that being played at karaoke when I and some of my friends go out. The first song is “Reach” from Gloria estefan. It lyrics said “…..if I could reach, higher. I put my spirit to the test, I’ll do my best, if I could be stronger….”. All of this sentences is making me realized that opportunity doesn’t come twice, so now it’s just a matter of how you stretch yourself, how you put your spirit to the test, do your best and becoming stronger and better. Then you could reach it, reach something higher then anybody else ever reach. The second song I don’t really remember the titles, but it also said that opportunity doesn’t come twice and you could do it, yes, you could. Just trust yourself, do your best.

So, altough it is still a hard time for me, altough still many thing need to be prepared and done, I believe that I could do the best. I wanted to show myself, so even I am not as good as they expected to be I shall not ever feel dissapointed. Because I know that opportunity doesn’t come twice, and I put my spirit to the test, strecth it, become stronger and reach to the top.

Indonesian oil crisis

Ever heard about Indonesian oil crisis? This night I heard in television about Indonesian’s oil crisis. Well, I really don’t know that this country has suffered so many thing. From the year of 1977 until now there has been a lot of change, Indonesia is no longer a big – great country who could deliver oil more then OPEC limit to. Its production is getting less and less. What cause this problem is so complicated.

One thing that I learn from here is that the root of the problem could be created long time ago. Do you ever reflect your job, your life…and everything that you do? Maybe just maybe, that we do something wrong. Something that the effect of it so small that we don’t realized it until someday in the future we are shocked by it. Shocked because at that time we understand that the root of all this problem is bury so many years ago. So complicated that we so confused to fix that out. Just like Indonesia with the oil problem today.

So let us just set back for a moment, try to watch our life today. What we do today, are we making anyone hurt? Smile if you do not, and fixed that out if you do.

Love 'em or Lose 'em - #4 - Dignity

I start to read this wonderful book once again. It still amaze me J

How we respect people and subordinates is so important. Try to look at yourself, do you have any prejudice? If you do, come on, start remove it. Don’t look people by the color of their skin, status, age, geographics origin, etc. Like Abraham Lincoln said “I do not like this person. I must get to know him better”

If you have a sloopy moods (moods that goes like a roller coaster), then you should start to controlled it. Because whether you realized it or not sometimes when you are in bad mood you could other people feeling. And believe me you don’t want to do that.

Notice your employees. Pay attention as you walk, say hello to them by name. Smile, shake hands and greet your employees. They will feel honored, trust me on this one, because I once feel it on my own.

Trust, one word that sometimes so hard to earn and give. I myself still think that trust must be earn, not give. But still I give flexibility, and I promise to give, say, act like I trust them. Because I know and I feel it by myself that being trusted is more than anything, it is sometimes defined as success.

Fair is fair. Fair for you is not always fair for anybody else, so please ask them, understand them. You need to know what the word fair mean to them. As you think that you fair and they don’t then you shall lose them fo sure.

Anybody home? This subtitles is tickling me. I wonder what it means. At this book it said that sometimes as boss you so busy that you don’t even care for your employees. You forget that they once ask you for leaving permission, or a seminar registration, or a story that his/her mother is sicks. Spend your time, make yourself available and reachable by them. Listen, react quickly, don’t let them nag you.

At the end of the day respect and dignity is all about attitude. Something that is not easily created. So if you know that you have a homework then you should really fix that out from now on.

THE LEADER HAS WISDOM

Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge and experience to any given situation.

Wisdom is the something that enables us to use knowledge rightly.

Wisdom resists group pressures, thinks for itself, and is reconciled to the use of its own judgment.

It doesn’t matter how much money you have; everyone has to buy wisdom on the installment plan.

The person who thinks he knows everything has a lot to learn!

Thomas A. Edison made the comment, “We do not know one millionth part of one percent about anything. We do not know what water is. We do not know what light is. We do not know what electricity is. We do not know what gravity is. We do not know anything about magnetism. We have a lot of hypotheses, but that is all.”

Wisdom is making the best use of knowledge. Develop the ability of discernment. The effective leader has the insight needed for any given situation.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

(Diambil dari buku “The Ten Laws of Leadership” buah karya Bill Newman)

Take it ?

Imagine you are in the middle if a recruitment, you have one open position. But in front of you there are more than one person that qualified. Let say you have 2 persons that are very good, smart, honest, and every other aspects that you required. Are you going to take them both, or you still insist to take only one?

For me, I shall take both of them if I’m sure that there will be a position available after he/she finished his/her training. That’s why I try to create turnover equation…L it haven’t finished yet though…wanna help me?

Camping in Cilember...

Went camping last week..here's some of the pics






Running water...classics huh?
But for me...IS COOL !! :)


A flower & dragonfly in butterfly cage near the camping ground

How to ensure that your employee do feedback

How do you (as an organization) sure that your employee do feedback, feedback to their subordinates, their peers, their manager? Since if you don’t sure then it’s useless to have great feedback system, say 360 degree feedback system. Still it’s not being used?

So one thing for sure is to embed the control system into the feedback system itself. I do this using attendance form and feedback form itself. I’m sure you familiar with attendance form? It is usefull to track whether the feedback is being held or not, and how long does it takes. But it’s useless to track down the content of the feedback itself.

So what I do is to make the feedback material early before the feedback sessions begin. This long essay regarding performance, culture, etc issues is wrote down there long before the sessions. It have 2 purposes : to make the conversation focus so that there are nothing left behind and as a documentation. This is really important so that the content of the feedback sessions could be held accountable. Of course the content is confidential, but if audit is required then the documentations is ready.

One last thing is commitments. IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT…spend time (not just a minutes or hours) to think & to write the feedback itself. Spend even more time to listen, talk, and respons for the feedback. And spend time to take action for the feedback that you acquired. “Walk the talk” is important. And remember the Great Wall of China is not build in one day, so does your trust and system.

Have a nice feedback J

My PFA Program

Long time since my last essay…see I start to create another “charity” program in my department. It’s call Personal Finance Aid (PFA) Program. This is a small and simple program to educate all my staff about how to maintain their personal finance. Including banking, budgeting, loan, assets, etc.

At the first time I don’t think the support will be mediocre, but suprisingly the reactions from the crowd is great J. I even have to make faster since everybody so anxious to hear more. So I make it from once a week to twice a week. The whole program will be finished in about 1 month.

It’s really glad to help them learn about finance and accounting in personal perspective. I hope this program will help them managing their financial issues. Cheerssssss