The strangest things happened to me. Let me share one of them with you.
In my personal file, I have two interesting letters. One of them is a letter of offer for a job.
The other letter is a letter of rejection for the same job.
Long before receiving the letters, I had decided to pursue my career in the infocomm technology (ICT) industry.
However, I did not have the right qualification and neither did I have the appropriate experience and competence.
I applied for every available job and was rejected for every one of them. I did not even get a chance to go for a job interview.
When I found out that one of the top ICT companies was planning to hire a new salesperson through a head-hunting firm, I wrote to them. Deep in my heart, I knew I would be rejected again because I was not the most suitable candidate.
Meanwhile, I called the Director of the ICT company. I convinced him on the phone that it would be worth his time to meet me. It would make a difference to the future of his company.
I ‘sold’ him as if my life depended on it. Till today, it remained a mystery if he was convinced by my well-prepared script or by my passion.
In any case, he finally granted me an appointment.
When that fateful day came, I was all prepared for the job interview. It was not unclear in my mind what the objective of the meeting was – I must get the job.
I knew how I intended to achieve it -Â Â at all costs.
I was going for broke. There would be absolutely no turning back for me.
I researched about the company and came prepared with an action plan. At the core of the plan is me – the corporate Rambo who would go out to the field with a ‘Take no prisoner’ mentality.
I would charge through the most terrifying terrains and blaze a trail of glory.
For every question that was raised, I had a well-rehearsed response. There was an assurance for every concern.
At one point when I thought I had lost the battle, I looked at the German Director squarely in the eyes. I told him, “To prove to you, I will deliver results, I will put my wallet where my mouth is.
“You don’t have to pay me a basic salary.
“I will worked for you on a success basis only. Just pay me on a profit-sharing basis or a sales commission.”
There was no question in my mind I would offer so much values that the Director would be more than happy to pay me handsomely. I would become a prized asset to the company.
Still, getting the job was not an easy task and in fact, it was an uphill climb. I met the Director again and again to prove my worth.
The Director finally agreed to employ me as a junior salesperson – and I suspected he did it mainly because of sympathy rather than conviction.
And so it happened that on the same week, I received an employment contract from the company, I also received a letter from the head-hunting firm informing me that the job had been filled. I was quite sure the head-hunter did not realize the job was filled by me.
That was the beginning of a long and arduous journey to live up to my proposal. I had to deliver results because results is the only true measurement of life.
To cut a long story short, I was promoted shortly to become the commercial sales manager. Subsequently, I became a member of the management committee.
I later became one of the youngest to hold a regional sales and marketing position and subsequently, I took on the regional CEO position for a multinational company. At that point, my boss used to say I was one of the highest paid in the industry.
Through this part of my journey, I learned that most people are sprinters – but life is a marathon. If you are focused on moving in the right direction and you keep pressing on wisely, you can win any major race.
To open the door to success, you need to unlock it with an important key – I call it the Values Key.
You need to value-add to whatever you set out to do and to the people around you so as to achieve sustainable results.
When you offer nothing, chances are you will achieve nothing.
If you expect to achieve something by offering nothing of value, you are gambling with life. You will go down the slippery road of failures.
There are essentially two key aspects of value-addition.
First, value-improvement which refers to the increase in output less input divided by units of labour. This is a typical definition and has to do with improving efficiency and productivity of your performance.
Value creation is about enhancing quality of output so as to achieve the best possible results. It is not just about achieving incremental but also quantum leaps of improvement.
Value improvement is about taking action in the best possible way. However, value creation is about producing the best possible results.
Therefore, value-addition is about taking the right action in the best possible way. It is about achieving the right output as well as the best results for all the stakeholders.
For example, my responsibility as an entrepreneur is not just about helping employees enjoy higher wages. It is also about helping them enjoy job satisfaction and fulfillment in the best possible way.
The question that begs to be answered is not when you can start to become a person of values but how. The earlier you begin, the stronger you position yourself for success.
The starting point is to believe that you are of value. You need to love yourself and be comfortable under your own skin.
Your emotional stability will help you win more friends. On the other hand, if you are emotionally unstable, it will repel them from you.
The more you have faith in yourself and work on improving yourself, the better you can value-add to others.
In addition, you must know how to value others and believe that you can value-add to them and work towards doing so. You must also make them know that you value them.
The more you value-add to others, the more you will value-add to yourself. By the same token, the more you value-add to yourself, the more you will be able to value-add to others.
In the exciting journey of life, position yourself to be a problem solver and a solution provider. As a result, you will always be a respected and desired member of any organisation, community and society.
As you value-add to others, you will do well to remember that different people value different things in different ways. Therefore you need to define and deliver the values that will best meet their needs on an ongoing basis.
Throughout your life, build a strong personal brand for being known as a person who believes in value-adding to others. Continue to build a track record of helping others to succeed in life.
For example, if you are a business owner, do not just focus on making money. Instead, provide so much values to others that they cannot but feel obligated to pay you. They are more than happy to continue to do business with you.
If you are an employee, help your employer to develop the best working environment and to achieve the best possible results. By doing so, you will earn favour from her and the other colleagues.
You will become the preferred choice for promotion. Your employer will also be more inclined to pay you a better salary increment and bonus.
Obviously, as you value-add to others, do not focus on getting any reward and recognition.
Do not live to expect values from others. Instead, constantly seek to be of value to them.
For example, do not seek to have the best of friends. Instead, seek to be the best of friends to others.
Do not expect to have the best spouse. Instead, be the best spouse to your soul-mate.
Whatever value-additions that you provide, do it out of love and for the love of people and the environment.
This is one of the ways to reignite the power of love and bring humanity back to where it rightfully belongs – a community of love.
When people perceive that you have good intentions and there are values in building relationships with you, they will draw near to you. Opportunities will also gravitate towards you.
When you continue to improve your value-addition, you will achieve better outcomes. It may not happen immediately but it will eventually happen and at the most appropriate time.
As you increase your value-addition, you will also improve your results. That’s why you need to continue to multiply your values throughout your journey in life.
Today, you must offer more values than what you did yesterday. Tomorrow, you must offer more values than what you did today.
To improve yourself, you must commit yourself to lifelong learning. When you bring out the best from yourself, you can also bring out the best from others.
However, just as you cannot be all things to all people, you cannot learn everything and pretend you can be an expert in every subject matter.
You need to focus on learning what is important to your life right now. At the same time, you need to also learn what is important to the future success of your life.
To do so, you need to spend time with yourself and reflect about life. You need to take time away from your daily routines and free your mind from the noises within you and without.
Only through a focused effort can you then put together an effective plan to multiply your values in life.
You need to decide what you want to achieve in your life and how you can develop yourself to help turn it into a reality. You need to put together a detailed blueprint of action and discipline yourself to execute it.
Throughout your life, you need to constantly ask yourself, To live a great life:
What must I start doing?
What must I stop doing?
What must I do more of?
What must I do less of?
In the process of learning, growing and achieving better results, you need to enjoy the process and celebrate every achievement.
If you are are not excited about improving yourself and having fun, you will not put in your heart and soul to make it work.
Aim to exceed other people’s expectations of you. Deliver more values and run many more extra miles for them.
More than anything else, stretch yourself so that you can perform better than what you believe you can achieve.
Multiply your values exponentially by improving your synergy with others. Learn how to connect with the right talents and collaborate with them so as to co-create better solutions.
Achieve ever more and better results with ever less resources by creating and developing leverages. They include leveraging on systems, people, technologies, innovations, and other resources.
Develop a network of resources that you can offer to others so as to help them improve their values and achieve better results.
Strive to be a hub and a router of values. Help to receive, package, and transmit values from individuals to individuals, groups to groups, and organisations to organisations .
Soon, you will become a magnet of success and a hub to distribute it to others.
Let us spread the ‘Values Key’ message so that more and more people will become people of values.
If we live for others and not just for ourselves and serve their best interests and not just ours, and we continue to fight for a greater good, the world will be a much better home.
Go4It!
I hope this message will find a place in your heart.
By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.
Visit my Inspiration blog at http://liewinspiration.
For my quotes to the mass media on current affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.
Please do visit my website, www.patrickliew.net
Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.
Life is FUNtastic!
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