Author Archives: Raymond Yung

I am proud that my 13 years old niece Cameron has recently become the volleyball captain in her volleyball class. Tonight we discussed via Skype on how to motivate the “weakest link” in her team besides telling her to practise more and work harder. I asked Cameron the following questions: 1) What are some other […]

I meant the cultural gap/difference. I had a coffee with a friend yesterday and she told me that she did not do too well in a recent exam made up of case studies/situations with implicit cultural preferences on the correct answers. As a non-native British person, she did not fare too well. Fair or not […]

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 […]