2007 Takeaways - Hai 2008

Kuala Terengganu from Heritage

As usual every year we strategize and plan for best performance in terms of works, family and social achievements. Some of us pass with flying colors while others may just scrap through. But one of the most important aspects of the exercise is the lesson learnt and our ability to share it with friends who may benefit from our life experience.

I would like to kick the ball rolling by sharing some of my key takeaways for year 2007 and the lesson learnt from them, hopefully it’s a reminder for me and beneficial to my cyber friends. Further on I will tag three other friends to share their 2007 key takeaways that may be useful for us to navigate the 2008 challenges.

CORPORATE GAME - YOUR MOVE ……
After more then ten years of its inception the company I am working with decided to undertake major reorganization exercise to meet the current and future challenges and expectations. Being a subsidiary of corporate giant and member of the fortune 500 companies the exercise has to go through proper process, procedures and facilitated by the competent person from Holding Company. We spent a few days in Cameron Highlands, Kuala Terengganu and five star hotels in KL to brain storm on the reorganization. There were two school of thoughts on the reorganization, one in favor of putting all company business under one division (option 1) while the other putting it under two divisions (option 2). By putting the business under one division the Head of the Division will certainly get his grade promotion while by having two business divisions the Heads may get their promotion or may not depending on their hay points and accountabilities.

The option 2 will better suit the company for current and future business expansions while giving more opportunities for the young leaders to progress in their career. Of course there were big deliberations and arguments on the two options. Being the proponent of the option 2 it was rather tiring trying to convince what I felt was the logical path to be taken for the future of the company and staff. At last with some modifications option 2 was accepted and named Option 3.

Lesson learnt was that to push through noble ideas we need persistence, intelligence and majority support. You may end up not popular to small quarters but the majority will eventually see your sacrifice and in the years ahead you will be proud of your contributions to the organization. The set back be ready to miss your quick gain/promotion.

TRUE SUCCESS – ME FIRST OR FAMILY FIRST?
It is normal for working couples to strive very hard to ensure their career success at times forgetting that their children also need much attention and support to be successful in their studies and life. The beauty about God creations is that our children may look the same but they are full of differences in terms of their capability, endurance and emotional stability. My first daughter was smart, fast learner and scoring straight A’s is not much of a problem to her but my second daughter is a bit slow in learning. She did not get straight A’s in her UPSR but then worked very hard to ensure she did as well as her sister in PMR. With her determination, hard work and full support from us, especially my wife she scored straight A’s in her PMR. Her success gave a real joy to all in the family.

Lesson learnt we should not quickly give up when our children fail to achieve excellence in fact we must spend more time to assist them. We must help them overcome their weaknesses and sharpened their strength. In the process we will understand each other better. We must also be ready to sacrifice some of our personal success to ensure we could achieve more wholesome success for the family.

GIVING IS BETTER THEN RECEIVING ….. BETTER STILLL GIVE DIRECT TO THE NEEDY.
For many years my family and I have been blessed for being able to give out some Zakat to the less fortunate. The sweetness of giving could only be felt by those blessed being able to give ….. actually the amount doesn’t matter but most importantly the spirit to give, what more to give when our business or financial position was on the decline.

Usually I will give part of my Zakat to “ Pusat Pungutan Zakat” and the rest to less fortunate family members and orphanage centers. In 2006 I have decided to give all my Zakat to the “ Pusat Pungutan Zakat “ and my less fortunate family members only. It was an easier option without going personally to the orphanage centers and most of my payments can be deducted from my income tax. The result was my life was less cheerful and blissful in comparison to the previous years. May be it was just a coincidence or my subjective feelings for the year.

In 2007 I decided to go back to my formal routine and improved on it by giving more to the less fortunate directly. I was also given the opportunity to give to a Madrasah in Myanmar when I met the Principal by coincidence at my in law house. Despite the various challenges and trying times, 2007 has been a wonderful year for my family and me. The good old feeling is back in me, I guess the lesson learnt here is that the more we give direct to the needful the more blessed we are …….. blessed in knowing the real person who received our gift and seeing the light in their eyes.

I hereby cordially invite - Zabs, Elviza & Mat Salo to share their 2007 Key Takeaways to our bloggers friend. Happy New Year & All The Best for 2008 to all my bloggers friends.

Some of the Takeaways 2007 from our bloggers friends. Many thanks for sharing .

http://zainulabs.blogspot.com/2007/12/2007-tag-aways-untuk-2008.html

http://mohdzawi.blogspot.com/2008/01/takeaways-for-2007.html

http://jowopinter.blogspot.com/2008/01/cerita-7-4-3-perkara-pengajarannya.html

http://syanasmaze.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-takeways-for-2007.html

http://pistwist.blogspot.com/2008/01/2007-takeaways-my-take.html

http://matsalo.blogspot.com/2008/01/game-of-tag.html

http://wiseup88.blogspot.com/2008/01/takeaways-071428.html

http://fishyike.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-takeaways.html

http://ritaho.blogspot.com/2008/01/tag-3-takeaways-from-2007.html