I write the E-News for June for a second time from the cabin of Singapore Airlines, 37000 feet above sea level. The nonstop service from Singapore to Los Angeles cuts down the travel time tremendously to only about 14 hours. Our company policy is only to fly economy class but my efficient Executive Assistant Ms. Gaik was able to pool all my frequent flyer points and upgrade me to a business class seat. SQ service is really outstanding; they deserve the Number One tag. Indeed, the world is getting smaller. Yet, in a tech driven world, Singapore Airlines provides the personal touch.

Here I am after five hours of exciting flying writing the E-News. In the last news I talked about our travel to the American Society for Training & Development International Conference, where SMR USA exhibited. That was 42 hours of flying and now here I am travelling to the same destination in about just one third of the time. I will reach the Harvard Campus in another few hours, I will be there for a week and then at the SMR USA office thereafter. Again, connectivity is changing the way we live and work.

I wish I could have stayed back in the USA instead of the additional travel. However I had to get back to Kuala Lumpur to chair the Third Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of our public listed company, SMR Technologies Berhad listed on the MESDAQ Market of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. While it is about a little more than 15 months since we have been listed, the experience of meeting share holders is always unique.

Now to the news:
GURU - the Hindi film I watched on board and the HR lessons learned
Meeting the former CEO of Southwest Airlines
Managing Succession Plans & Career Paths
Meet the Pace Setters at Asia HRD Congress
GURU - the Hindi film I watched on board and the HR lessons learned

I must admit I enjoyed the movie. The story of a Rainbow Creator who dreams and focuses on continuous growth despite obstacles was an inspiring one. Now newlywed, the couple Abishek Bachan and Aishwarya Rai was superb in their portrayal of the industrialist husband and wife from rural India. I could relate to a lot of key ideas in the movie and draw upon HR lessons - do not let other people’s labels become true for you. Dream and think of what you can contribute rather than complain all the while. To me, it resembled the life of a famous Indian industrialist who defied all the prejudices to succeed in the corporate world. Recently, I had the experience of a meeting a person who preached values but did not quite live up to it. I wish he sees this film too. I would recommend the movie with English sub titles to you.
Meeting the former CEO of Southwest Airlines

The President of the Malaysian Speakers association and I had the opportunity to meet Howard Putnam, the second CEO of the hugely successful Southwest Airline. He was in Kuala Lumpur to address a distinguished audience of about 150 Chief Executives. The conversation with Howard Putnam helped us learn that the FUN and performance oriented culture was a very important element in the airline’s success. Connecting a person’s competence to the job and engaging the person were very important elements in the airline’s success. Howard has a website that has great ideas.
Managing Succession Plans & Career Paths

The Chief Learning Officer www.clomedia.com - May issue while focusing on solutions for enterprise productivity had a great article by Shelly Heiden on Managing Succession Plans and Career Paths. The message talent acquisition, retention and deployment within an organisation must consider not only high level employees but also all employees and positions were emphasized forcefully. It is an article worth reading.
Meet the Pace Setters at Asia HRD Congress

We are just a month away from Asia HRD Congress - make sure you are there to learn from the incredibly talented speakers. The Conference will help you learn, share, network and shape. We have also lined up international accreditation programmes in the areas of Training, Evaluation, EQ and Competency. Email lily@smrhrd.com or inoka@hrdcongress.com for more information.

While I watched GURU, my co passenger, a young Chinese system analyst spent all the time watching cartoons. I persuaded him to watch GURU, he is doing so now. I quite did not watch the cartoons. His remark – “older people do not seem to enjoy cartoons” left me stunned. Do you agree with that statement? You better don’t.

Will be in touch in July and hope to see you in the Asia HRD Congress.

Best wishes,
Palan
June 2007 (2nd Issue)
Asia HRD Congress 2007

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