Stairway To Heaven

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Pause and Retrospect

I recently enjoyed a swift lunch with an old friend, who was once my roommate during our school years. We had an in-depth conversation about life and career. To my mind, his thought process is far more mature than mine, and his decisions seem more future-oriented. Although our conversation was private, I believe certain insights should be shared with a broader audience. 1. The Role of Luck in Life. His life experiences have significantly highlighted the impact of luck. While I'm not ready to accept this fully, similar sentiments have been echoed by other successful and wise individuals I've interacted with. I also recently watched an informative video that lucidly explains the 80/20 rule and the principle of luck. The video demonstrates through "agent-based modelling" how the wealthiest person isn't necessarily the most talented but is usually someone of average talent who encounters multiple lucky events in life. I agreed that luck indeed plays a vital role and...

User Journey as a Business Traveler

I went on a business trip to KL for a travel conference. It would be good to relook into the user journey as a business traveller, which might help fine-tune our travel-tech product. As a business traveller, there are fewer "must-do" tasks in the itinerary. The event is pre-defined. 1. Speak at the conference on the topic ChatGPT on the 7th of June: 3:20-3:40. 2. A fireside chat with another Speaker on Innovation on the 8th of June: 2:20 - 4:00. Pre-trip planning: 1. Accommodation. As the event venue is very convenient in the city centre, there are a lot of accommodations to choose from. As long as there are rooms available, and it is within the business budget, it should be fine. In the past, I used to book from aggregators, such as trip.com/agoda. But after I understand how the hotel membership works, I choose to book directly from the IHG app as a member. It provides good rates, as well as member points. There could be little changes to the dates to stay, so accommo...

Rethinking About Businesses

For a considerable duration, my role within the company primarily revolved around resolving immediate crises. It has been quite a while since I seriously reflected on business matters. The initial discussion occurred last Thursday, a day when the majority of the team was operating remotely. I had the opportunity to delve into the company's business strategies with two pivotal team members. We began the dialogue with my intention to develop products that create value. The preliminary question we addressed was, "Who are these products designed for?" I attempted to measure the value through The volume of users utilizing our digital product. The number of businesses employing our B2B solution. However, these benchmarks might be too broad, requiring further specificity for effective execution. Worse, they don't adequately answer the question of "Who". Vinnie suggested that we should focus on the needs of the ultimate customers. For Vinnie, expenditure on children...

Behaviour Change Works

At the beginning of 2021, I posted a blog post, saying that I will set no resolution for 2021. Instead, I focused on the experiment of behaviour change, starting from my own personal weight loss. It worked. My weight was 83.7 KG on the 1st of Jan 2021, and 69 kg on the 31st of Dec 2021. There is a weight loss of 14.7KG in a year. It worked because of everyday actions/behaviour changes, which does have good impacts in the long term. The actions are simple to take, as long as I keep them. Eat mostly corn and sweet potatoes for the dinner. Walk/jogging every week. This is considered a successful experiment. This year, I plan to take the same approach to fix some of my personal issues and professional works. Honestly, my personal mental status was pretty bad last year, with pressures from both personal/family and the work during the endemic. One generic bad habit I have to make changes: Easy to get distracted while working on tasks. When switching between roles and tasks, it was diffi...

No Resolution for 2021

After failing to lose weight in three consecutive years, I realize that setting some goals as a resolution doesn't really work. This year, I decided to take advice from doctors and experts: make some changes in life and keep them as a habit. "Behavior change is a learnable skill, and you can learn it". A few advice which worths taking: 1. Drink more water. The first thing after waking up is to drink some water. And drink more water in a day. 2. Add protein to the breakfast: Add an egg. Sometimes eating an apple is ok. 3. Take a walk/jogging 2-3 times a week. Good habits can last long and be beneficial in the long term. The fact that I failed to lose weight in three consecutive years probably means that it is a habit and behavior issue and I need to solve it in the long term strategy. Another big failure comes from my career. It's our 6th year. In the first three years, it grows. However, after 3 years, Fooyo still stays as a small company, and no radical breakthrough...

Imagine I will read it in 5 years(part II)

It is a war and those who fight and survive might become heroes of tomorrow. Top inspirations I learned from this crisis are as follows: 1. As a company or a government, risk management is super important. Those who manage the risks well and planned ahead could possibly overcome hard times and survive strong. One of the key principles for risk management is to distribute the risks over multiple buckets. To a B2B business or country, the key competitiveness would lie in supply chain management, getting the right suppliers and deliver to the end buyers. In the past, the key decision will be primarily influenced by the cost factor. In a low-risk environment, it would be fine. However, in a high-risk environment, this may break, and cost could be much less a factor than the following two factors: The reliability of the supplier The alternative choices in case of the supply chain breakdown. This reminds me of the fruits suppliers in SG's supermarkets. Even for oranges, it c...