its extremely comforting to see that in this harsh world of start ups, there are still entreprenuers who stick hard and fast to their beliefs and visions, without comprimise, even in the face of a greater dollar. other than hardwork, its nothing short of god's grace that they managed to do well even when turning down the obvious route to riches just to strongly (albeit a little naively) hold fast to doing the right thing. how often do you hear a successful person who tells you "we don't do this (which isn't even something wrong) because we don't believe in it". its like intentionally adding barriers to yourself. as if the road of an entreprenuer isn't rough enough.
i must say i disagree with tong yee's point that sports do not teach skills that are transferable to the real world. sure, there are no hard skills, but there are soft skills aplenty. values such as tenacity, determination, discipline, teamwork are much better experienced in sports as opposed to the "nerdy" CCA. on the other hand, i think shelfing books, setting up visualisers, sitting in an aircon room can't achieve these as well.
i also have another question/issue - isn't it a tad too dangerous for an organization to be built around one person? i mean (god forbids) that person gets into an accident, then the company is going to disappear? shouldn't there always be transition of leadership, planning for worse case scenario? maybe not.
i'm a little acquainted with the whole NE framework and the problem with teachers, so I must say that its extremely gratifying to know that there are teachers who are out there willing to try to change the system. it is worth noting that in a lot of the independent schools which control their hiring, there are many teachers who are equally inspirational and are interested in trying to shape mindsets. even in the moe, there are good teachers who want to shape their kids beyond the textbook. unfortunately, there are (possibly more) teachers who really don't give a crap.
on a slightly related note about mindsets,
Get fit, get a bonus
Some firms rewarding workers for keeping fit, recycling, charity work
i think this is ridiculous. why do you need KPIs to make people care about their own health and the world around them :S is this asymptomatic of our education system? no KPI = don't do? its like compulsory CIP hours all over again :S
respect/adversity award: Chin Leng from SingaporeBrides.com
(i think) for many singaporeans, the story normally ends at the abyss. being adverse to adversity and change is really not going to help our case. can we really have a high adversity quotient in a country that has enjoyed many years great economic success with a government that has done a stellar job in deploying infrastructure? how can we deal with upset, failure and rejection?
i'm quite a suck for "against all odds" stories. Chin Leng may not be the coolest, most eloquent, smartest person around, but he's mighty resilient. and that deserves respect (even Hoong An used him as inspiration).
persuasionFAIL award: Hoong An from HungryGoWhere
prof ben tried something similar for cs1101s. he tried to tell us why we SHOULD not do it. he got seniors to tell us why we should not do it as well. in the end, only 2 (i think) people got off the "speeding bullet train". to any aspiring entreprenuer, i think instead of dissuading them, i'm pretty sure that he reinforced their beliefs. well, most of the time, like Chin Leng said, the brashness of youth allows such advice to be turned into challenges, channeled into the desire to break the mould.
bottomline: i don't think negative persuasion works :P in fact, i think it beckons people to take up the challenge. especially in a class like 3216.
i like his pragmatic approach. if (and a very big one at that) one day, i become an entreprenuer, i would choose his & leslie's route. i think its important to stock up your resources before you embark on a journey. yea, sure, you could bulldoze your way through, but you'll probably going to need a lot more intelligence & resilience. pragmatism oozes from Hoong An actually, if you were like me and were kaypohing around after class, you would be able to see that from all the suggestions and advice he gave.
i-ran-out-of-awards: Ash from Interactive SG
unsurprisingly, Ash was flooded by the most people after the presentation. what impressed me immediately was how he offered everyone who brought an idea to him with a opportunity to go down to his office to pitch to him! opportunities have to be taken when given. in that LT last night, was opportunity to speak with 6 people prof ben considered successful. i think more of us should cherish these opportunities.
one of the highlights of the night was when ash displayed the title of his slide right after prof ben said "there is no formula to success". irony WIN.
other than that, a lot of what Ash said is rather consistent with what 3216 has been trying to tell us. that's cos Ash works in the online space, where the rules of engagement are different.
my personal favorite: Leslie from Redsport
cos i like sports and its about sports. plus i've already talked about redsport the other time :P i'm pretty excited to see how redsport grows with our local sports scene which is progressing at (sadly) a glacial speed.
recurring themes from the night
1) success = pain
