Monthly Archives: April 2015

For someone with a quantitative and scientific background, I consider precision as something of great value.  However, in the British culture, ambiguity and subtlety are highly regarded.  For example, instead of an out-right no, the British prefer to say “I am not sure.” Or “Let me get back to you later” (but never intended to). […]

Today the subject of formatting a text message was raised and debated. The writer said it is the content of the message that is most important and the format of the message is of little significance. I agreed on the importance of the message content but disagreed on his point regarding formatting.  It is because actually if […]

As a result of quite a heated discussion with a friend over the weekend, we finally agreed that there is difference between making a judgement and passing a judgement. Making a judgement is usually a necessity in life as it is part of a decision-making process. On the other hand, passing a judgement onto others […]

Feedback is a double-edged sword in the sense that it must be utilized with caution; otherwise it may be backfired with undesirable results. A few initial thoughts on this subject: • Try to find someone as objective as possible when you seek feedback. • Differentiate if the person is giving you “expert” feedback (meaning the […]

Some people were wondering how I looked like when I was young(er). I made a somewhat “fatal” mistake of showing an old picture of me to some colleagues. They cracked up and laughed so hard that I was “slightly” annoyed. So I won’t repeat that mistake, but for the record, it is not far from […]

Good Friday and this Monday were holidays in the U.K., so this week is a short week. But like a few other people, I feel like this has been “a long short week” (it happened before as well). I can think of a few reasons below: 1) Expectation: We expected a short week and that […]

Congratulations to my executive assistant/friend Gary who found a new permanent in no time! It was very kind as well as “wise” of him to purchase an extra copy of my book as a farewell gift to a colleague at his current workplace (as gently suggested by me “in passing”).  I then suggested to him […]

Today I was notified that I had sold one copy of e-book in Canada last month. I was so happy that I told my colleague sitting next to me about it. He was surprised by my excitement because the profit was less than the price of an espresso. I explained to him that since I […]

Yes, the “cat is out of the bag”. I am roughly half way through my training to be a qualified life coach. My main goals are to deepen my knowledge in adult learning as well as to be better equipped to develop my interest in coaching and mentoring. I am currently supervised and coached by […]

Last night I watched the special edition of 25th anniversary of Les Miserables in concert live at the O2 Arena, London (dvd made in 2010). Even though I have seen the musical 8 times in both New York and London, it never failed to touch me each time I watched it. The main character Jean […]