The word "talent" become fashionable after a report printed by the management consultancy firm, McKinsey entitled "The War for Talent". The report said that "talent" is the most important corporate resource for the next 20 years.
I wondered what happened to the world before "talent" was discovered. Did we get into trouble? Was the world stuck in the dark ages, with no progress? Was there no scientific discovery and progress, before talent was discovered?
Anyway, what is a "talent"? I thought that it referred to the small number of remarkable people who were able to create wealth and give a better standard of life to the billions of people in the world. But, this was not to be the case!
Who were the talents that were sought after by the corporations? They seem to be the smart people who created the sub-prime mortgages, structured products and financial derivatives, or engaged in humongous bets on the financial markets. If they get the bets right, they make billions in profits. If they got it wrong, they will be bailed out by Uncle Sam.
The talents included the top CEOs who increased the profits of their companies by reducing the cost through global outsourcing, leading to the destruction of countless jobs and high unemployment. They included the talents who created accounting frauds, ponzi schemes, investments scams and the biggest asset bubbles of all times. Before they were discovered, they were lauded as talents who created wealth (a.k.a asset bubbles and large bets).
They included the CEOs who make super profits by exploiting their monopolistic power or through a hidden cartel (e.g. look at the high charges for banking and telecommunication services). These super profits were extracted from the high prices paid by the consumers who were paid depressed wages for their work.
They included the lawyers and doctors who charged large fees for providing their services to the clients, i.e. fees that would make the many families bankrupted for a generation.
It is easy to make super profits by betting, by cheating and by exploiting the weak. It need talent to do all of these and avoid getting caught by the law.
What is the value of talents, if they are not backed by ethical behavior and the spirit of public service, of doing good for the ordinary people?
Tan Kin Lian
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
How to read benefit illustration
When an agent sells a life insurance policy to you, the agent has to give you a benefit illustration and explain the contents to you. The benefit illustration contains a lot of information but you must look for two important items that are hidden in that jungle, i.e. the distribution cost and the effect of deduction. The agent is likely to skip these figures, so you have to ask the agent to identify them and show them to you.
You need to know how to interpret these figures. They are explained in my FAQ on "benefit illustration" available in www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx. Be sure to pay attention to these two indicators and know what is acceptable and what is not. Most life insurance policies do not pass the benchmark, i.e. they give a poor yield to the policyholder.
You can also read my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning, to learn about how to invest your savings to get a good yield and avoid excessive risk.
Be educated. And save more than $100,000 on the "effect of dedution" taken from your savings!
Tan Kin Lian
You need to know how to interpret these figures. They are explained in my FAQ on "benefit illustration" available in www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx. Be sure to pay attention to these two indicators and know what is acceptable and what is not. Most life insurance policies do not pass the benchmark, i.e. they give a poor yield to the policyholder.
You can also read my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning, to learn about how to invest your savings to get a good yield and avoid excessive risk.
Be educated. And save more than $100,000 on the "effect of dedution" taken from your savings!
Tan Kin Lian
Poor customer service
Why do Singapore provide poor customer service? Here is a view.
My view
Good customer service comprise of three components:
My view
Good customer service comprise of three components:
- Culture
- Training
- System
While there is little that can be done about culture, as it comes from the upbringing and education, there is much that can be done to put up a customer service system, backed by training based on that system. If we study great organisations like Walt Disney, we can see the importance of system and training.
David Marshall in 1994
http://thinkhappiness.blogspot.com/2006/08/meeting-david-marshall-in-1994.html
I've got nothing against money. I'd like to have money myself! I'd like to
have a house and a garden and dogs and a car and a chauffeur but, look,
I've got a flat. I've got a swimming pool attached to the flat. I've not
even got a car but I use taxis. I have a dignified way of life without
being wealthy.
I don't see the necessity of owning a Mercedes-Benz and a swimming pool
and a couple of mistresses. I think we've got our values all wrong.
You know $96,000 a month for a Prime Minister and $60,000 a month for a
minister. What the hell do you do with all that money? You can't eat it!
What do you do with it? Your children don't need all that money.
My children have had the best of education. In fact, I'm very proud of
them. One of them is a senior registrar to two major hospitals in Oxford.
Another of them is a consultant in European law to the Securities and
Investment Board in the United Kingdom. They've had their education. There
are no complaints.
I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief
Minister, I earned $8,000 a month.
Look, what is happening today is we are encouraged to and are becoming
worshippers of the Golden Calf.
We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping
our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the
joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost
taste for heroic action in the service of our people.
We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. It's like seeking
a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections through pipes in
the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with certificates of your
pragmatic abilities.
I've got nothing against money. I'd like to have money myself! I'd like to
have a house and a garden and dogs and a car and a chauffeur but, look,
I've got a flat. I've got a swimming pool attached to the flat. I've not
even got a car but I use taxis. I have a dignified way of life without
being wealthy.
I don't see the necessity of owning a Mercedes-Benz and a swimming pool
and a couple of mistresses. I think we've got our values all wrong.
You know $96,000 a month for a Prime Minister and $60,000 a month for a
minister. What the hell do you do with all that money? You can't eat it!
What do you do with it? Your children don't need all that money.
My children have had the best of education. In fact, I'm very proud of
them. One of them is a senior registrar to two major hospitals in Oxford.
Another of them is a consultant in European law to the Securities and
Investment Board in the United Kingdom. They've had their education. There
are no complaints.
I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief
Minister, I earned $8,000 a month.
Look, what is happening today is we are encouraged to and are becoming
worshippers of the Golden Calf.
We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping
our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the
joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost
taste for heroic action in the service of our people.
We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. It's like seeking
a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections through pipes in
the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with certificates of your
pragmatic abilities.
The Notebook Mall
The notebook mall is operated by Toh Yee Peng. He sells notebooks at a lower price, compared to similar products in the market. The mall received 13,000 visits in July or about 450 visitors each day. Most customers bought the Lenovo notebooks and opted for home delivery at $5.
Based on feedbacks from the customers, Yee Peng has added two new services in The Notebook Mall:
With these services, he aims to differentiate his Notebook Mall compared to traditional brick and mortar IT shops and other online malls.
Website: www.thenotebookmall.com
E-mail: sales@thenotebookmall.com
Based on feedbacks from the customers, Yee Peng has added two new services in The Notebook Mall:
- customers to advertise laptops for sale (a free service)
- disk imaging - cloning a hard disk (very important for as backup for small companies - $100 only).
With these services, he aims to differentiate his Notebook Mall compared to traditional brick and mortar IT shops and other online malls.
Website: www.thenotebookmall.com
E-mail: sales@thenotebookmall.com
Lehman, HSBC maybe sued over minibonds
This is an important decision in US courts to recognize that HSBC and Lehman Brothers may be sued for the products that they sold in Hong Kong. Read this Bloomberg report.
I have asked the US lawyer if this decision has bearing on the legal action on the Pinnacle Notes. 200 investors in Singapore have signed to join this legal action.
I have asked the US lawyer if this decision has bearing on the legal action on the Pinnacle Notes. 200 investors in Singapore have signed to join this legal action.
Property as a cost of living
Many people paid too much for a property thinking that it will appreciate in price and is an investment. This is the wrong way to look at a property. The property should be looked at an expense, representing 4% of the cost of the property.
If you pay $500,000 for a property, you should take your cost of occupying the property to be 4% or $20,000 a year. This is the amount that you have to pay, if you rent a property.
The large appreciation in property prices in the past will not be repeated, as the property prices are now too high, relatively to the average income of the people. Read these important facts in my FAQ on "property" in my website.
www.tankinlian.com (search for Property).
If you pay $500,000 for a property, you should take your cost of occupying the property to be 4% or $20,000 a year. This is the amount that you have to pay, if you rent a property.
The large appreciation in property prices in the past will not be repeated, as the property prices are now too high, relatively to the average income of the people. Read these important facts in my FAQ on "property" in my website.
www.tankinlian.com (search for Property).
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