What's in a job title?

Associate, Analyst, Consultant, Manager, Director, Executive, Assistant..... What is in a job title?

At the moment, I can either let people know that I'm head of my department here (to get the ooh's and wow's) because that elicits an impression of heading a department of 10 people. Or quickly add that I am the only person in my department since my team lead is on holiday (to put some context around it). So really, I am the Analyst/Assistant/Executive/Lead - pick whichever title suits the occasion; it doesn't matter because they're the same. Would it be wrong to do one or the other? I prefer to point it out in case people think my opinion is the 'be all and end all'.

I remember being impressed by someone I know who announced himself as Chief Editor, then someone pointed out that he was the only person in the team - so he is the journalist/editor/chief editor all in one. I looked at an organisational chart once which had six managers names' - I then proceeded to ask how big their teams were and who reported to them. They gave me a blank look - yes, they are managers but no, they don't have a team - it's just them. At that time, I had the stereotypical view of a Manager being well, a Manager to a team of people. I know better now - 'Manager' is a title that can be used generically from managing people to managing technical infrastructure.

Some people strive for a job because of the job title. An ex-colleague persuaded me to join his firm. He told me money would not be an issue (which I took in with a BIG bowl of salt!) and I'll get a better title. But when he started talking about the job responsibilities, it was no different to what I currently have. So why would I uproot from my current firm where I have spent reasonable time structuring my career and ensuring that most of the right people know my career path, to start from scratch again at a different firm? Perhaps I may be paid more to start with, but that's not a long term view. The title would sound more impressive when I introduce myself at networking events, but it's just a title.

When I met another ex-colleague, we compared notes on some of the job titles in the firm I'm with, with her current company. Executive, in our firm, refers to someone with 3 to 6 years experience (different to the Executive Board, which is of course the 'powers-that-be'). In her current company, Executive is the level of a Director. When I carried out a project in US, I was meeting Vice Presidents of this particular company - which I had thought meant that they were on the Executive Board. I then realised that they would actually be the level of Senior Managers in my firm. Important people, no doubt, but not the Executive Board equivalent I had in my mind.

Interesing how job titles can mean so much yet so little at the same time.... Does it actually matter?

Objectivity

I read in the news here recently about a national airline cutting jobs as a result of multi-million losses which led the company to leverage its air routes with another air carrier, thus significantly cutting back on its routes and hence the job losses. When I then read news from the national airline's base country, there was no mention of the multi-million losses. Instead, the news was such that it sounded like a sensible idea to leverage the routes - nothing about the huge losses. I wasn't surprised, as who wouldn't want to limit the amount of bad news within the country, right? It happens everywhere, but especially more in certain countries.

I then wondered whether there was such a thing as objectivity anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if the latter country accused the news agencies in the first country mentioned of trying to paint a bad picture of the latter country etc etc. It wouldn't be the first time this happens, rightly or wrongly. News agencies are supposed to be objective and provide us with facts and figures, however this is often tainted by personal and political views. Does it matter which fact they omit to report? Would it be better for the person/company/country concerned if certain figures are intentionally or unintentionally forgotten? Was there a reason behind the emphasis on certain facts?

We do it in our everyday lives too. Remember how when I was younger, my mom wanted to know who had higher marks than me in school. I thought it'll be better to say who had lower marks than me (which may be a shorter or longer list depending on whether you're talking about primary/junior school, secondary/high school or college). :) We are supposed to try and be objective when it comes to appraisals, reporting, etc - but can we be truly objective?

Fondue

My first fondue bourguignonne, aptly eaten in Switzerland. Our ignorance showed when we thought fondue was well, fondue! With melted cheese. Imagine our surprise when the waiter brought along the pot with oil rather than the melted cheese. It was then we realised there were several types of fondue - fondue moitié-moitié and fondue vaudoise are cheese fondues eaten with bread, fondue bourguignonne are meat fondues (ie cooked in oil rather than cheese) and of course, you have chocolate fondues too!

The meat fondue was good though, no regrets. The four of us who had ignorantly ordered fondue bourguignonne thinking it was of the cheese variety made up our disappointment for not ordering the cheese fondue with....ordering a portion of the cheese fondue to share! :) Yummy yummy yummy...

Some pictures from Zurich

Switzerland from the air...

From the land of clocks and watches - the famous railway station clock (the second hand symbolises the signal used by the railway master to tell the train when to go.

Hello from Zurich!

Arrived safely yesterday evening and took the chance to stroll around the centre, predominantly Bahnhofstrasse where all the big brands are. Says a lot when some of the stores don't display their prices! Had my first steak tartare yesterday too - not sure if it's Swiss; thought it was of French origin! Oh well, it was good anyways. Will post pictures later on. Have to get back to the course now!

Switzerland here I come!

OK, so this was taken in Leicester Square. I am sure I will be able to see this (and more) in Zurich. Leaving Sunday for a week-long business trip. I expect Switzerland to be covered in powdery snow for a winter wonderland experience (yes, yes, supposed to be working but no harm in getting some joy when looking out the window, right?). Somehow my mind associates skiing and Switzerland together. The weather forecast put a dampener on that though - forecast is similar to UK for next week - no snow. Sigh. Determine to have fun no doubt (oh, and work smart too!).

Sliding Doors

Everytime I take the Tube, as the buzzing alert starts to go off followed not long after by the carriage doors closing, there is always someone who rushes in (or try to rush in) at that very second to squeeze into the 10cm (and slowly decreasing) of space. I see that everyday I take the Tube - without fail.

Why is that? It's central London, so there's always one train every 3mins or so. Does getting to your destination 3mins earlier really make that much of a difference? Fair enough if you're rushing for another train at the other end, but I often wonder how many of these people actually have another train to catch. Or is it a streak of competitiveness in people to try and get the earlier train wherever possible, regardless of time (and safety - seeing some people putting their limbs at risk as they try to stop the doors closing!).

As I wondered aloud to my colleague today, he reminded me of the film Sliding Doors and how catching an earlier/later train could potentially change people's lifes. I thought more about it and realised that there have been instances in extreme cases where catching the earlier/later trains affected lives. Take the July 7 bombings for example. Some people reported that they would have caught a particular train/bus but couldn't make it in time. Similarly, some people unfortunately were caught up in the explosions because they caught the train they wouldn't normally have.

Mismatched expectations

What do you expect from friends? (Friends here to include family, ie the important people in our lives! :) ) Do you expect to receive what you give? Is it wrong to expect anything from your friends and instead, you should expect nothing? When a friend asks for a favour, do you think it's silly of them to ask - of course you will help! Or do you think it's only right to ask because it shows respect?

I notice that many a time, we go out of our way a lot more for strangers. Do you find that when we promise to do something for an acquiantance, we make more of an effort to ensure we remember to fulfil that promise compared to promises to friends. When people are coming round, we rush around tidying the house and put their feet up in the living room whereas if good friends are coming around, we are happy to ask them to get their hands dirty and help us in the kitchen. Dates with friends are sometimes cancelled at the last minute for various reasons - sometimes valid, sometimes questionable. Is it arrogant to expect friends to keep to dates and promises? On the other hand, would you be considered foolish if you ensure you keep to dates with friends?

We make an effort to dress up when we are meeting new people. With friends, we are comfortable to meet in T-shirt and trekkies. We mind our P's and Q's with strangers whilst with friends, we're not as generous with our 'excuse me', 'please' or 'thank you's'. Is it because we don't feel comfortable around 'non-friends'? Perhaps we think our friends should already know when we're sorry or thankful. It's part of the almost-telepathic skill that friends have so there is no need to display manners in the traditional sense?

Do we do all these because we feel an underlying need to impress and be liked by new people, whereas respect or affection from friends is already 'in the bag' and we don't have to work at it? Or is it because we take friends for granted? We know that despite what we do - promises broken, dates cancelled, we will still be forgiven, because that's what friends do?

Is it the weekend already?

It has been one of those weeks..... Mid week, I was surprised to find that it was only Wednesday. So much had gone on that it felt like it should be Friday! But when Friday rolled around, there was so much left to do that I couldn't believe it was Friday!

What's been happening? It's been busy busy busy at work. But won't go into details here or it'll bore you! :) Hope all turns out well though! Went to watch Les Miserables with Beverly on Wednesday - was really good. It started out a lil disappointing but after 30mins, the strength and power of the singing started showing through. Was excellent. Another trip to the theatre on Thursday, this time to watch Woman in Black with colleagues from another team. Boy, was it scary! It was a good (or bad?) thing we were sat higher up, as there were a few bits when the audience at the front screamed and we couldn't understand what they were screaming at. (Was quite funny, actually!) Perhaps when I'm feeling braver, I'll go watch it again and choose to sit in the front rows.

Thank goodness it's the weekend though! I didn't really welcome it on Friday afternoon when I saw the big pile of work that I still need to get through, but like my dad said before, work will always be there....!

Steef's farewell dinner

How to make pancakes

What is a friend?

How would you define a friend? Someone you say hello in passing? Someone you call out for a drink? Someone you confide in? Someone you gossip with?

It's so easy to introduce someone as your friend but stop - really, what is a friend? Friendships form a significant part of our lives, yet it is easy to use the word 'friend' loosely.

To me, a friend is someone you can trust to tell you the truth for your own good even if the truth hurts. Someone you rely on to help you through obstacles life throws in your path. Someone you can talk to about anything and who continues to patiently listen to your ramblings. Someone with whom you share your good and bad times. Someone who is a shoulder to cry on. Someone you can sit comfortably with in silence without feeling the need to make up meaningless conversation. Someone you can be yourself with.

A friend is someone who knows when you need a hug. Someone who knows when to say thank you. Someone who knows how to say sorry and actually mean it. Someone who does not take you for granted. A friend is one who accepts you for who you are. "A friend is someone who knows us, but loves us anyway." - Jerome Cummings

On top of all this, even more importantly, a friend is someone who believes. I was challenged at today's Women's Breakfast to really think what friendships really mean and who really are friends. Colossians 3 encourages us not to lose sight of the key principles of friendship. There shouldn't be slander, lies, greed and jealousy. Fill it instead with compssion, kindness, forgiveness, love and humility. Many times, I thought it was obvious that Mr/Ms Popular in school had more friends. But as Proverbs 13:20 says "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." How encouraging that the Bible acknowledges that friendships should be wisely chosen. I say wisely because it makes it clear that we shouldn't discriminate in making friends - race, belief, gender, ability; yet wisely because we need to know who influences and tempts us away from the right path.

Whilst reading the various verses, I realised more and more how lucky I was to have friends who believed. Friends who prayed for me when I walked away from God. They may have been frustrated and impatient with me at times for not seeing the obvious and for not accepting Christ back. But they never showed it once. The gentle encouragement. Jo and Joanna....

Thank You.

Meeting up with ex MCers

Kah Yong came over to UK for a short visit so met up with him, Wei Hian, Jason, Kish and Lay Seng. When I told B I was meeting up because Kah Yong was here, B (sarcastically, or so I thought) asked if Kah Yong is married "because everyone else seems to be". (B seems to have this thing about how everyone else is getting married except us - as if it's my fault!) Anyway, within first 15mins of dinner, I found out... surprise surprise, that Kah Yong is indeed getting married at the end of the year. Hahaha. What good news! (And I'm also beginning to wonder if B's got some sixth sense now!)

Since the beginning of the year, more friends are getting married: Aside from those mentioned in previous post "Start of 2006".... Leena, Lucky, Amy and now Kah Yong!

iPod fashion for babies

Now even babies can be iPod savvy. Check out www.ipopmybaby.com. Hilarious! Matching iPods and babies - every parents dream!

Pancake Day

Started off with some yee sang - yes rather late! Sent all the way from Msia! Hopefully we'll still be prosperous and get the luck etc even though we're about a month late with this tradition!

Now - a totally different tradition celebrated two days early. Pancake Day! Whilst it's meant to be the time to get rid of 'luxury' foodstuff before Lent, like sugar, flour, etc, we actually bought those especially for pancakes! :)
More photos to follow next week of the pancakes...! Time to hit the sack now!

Ice Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses

Finally! Managed to catch some Olympics figure skating! On TV, mind, but still.....

Was and still am disappointed that Michelle Kwan had to pull out. Yes yes, furore over whether she should have received the place in the first place. But even her critics have to admit that her signature forward spirals were missed. Her grace, expression and maturity as she flew across the ice.

When the short program ended, I was sure Sasha Cohen was tasting gold already what with her triple lutz double toe combination ending confidently, with ease and every bit of emotion pouring through her program. Alas it was not to be, as both the favourites Sasha and Irina Slutskaya hit the ice. Arakawa deservedly won the gold medal with her maturity and elegance shining through her flawless program. I was impressed by Arakawa's performance. In the past, I felt that skaters from the Far East were technically brilliant but lost out on the showmanship of it. Not only did Arakawa skate cleanly with her combination jumps and spirals, she performed with such emotion to tell the story. Whilst I do not dispute that the best woman on the night won, I wondered if it would have been different if the quality of skating in the free program was of the same quality as the short program.

And the exhibition gala.... I missed the men's competition but heard the media raving about Plushenko. He certainly showed why in the exhibition gala. When I saw his 2002 Olympic program, it was a real tie between him and Yagudin but now.... Such powerful and astounding skating! He made quadruple combinations look effortless and easy! And his triple-triple-triple show off at the gala.... whoa! It's easy to understand why many said he dominated the men's competition and it looks like he will stay up there. Such an entertainer! You only have to watch his Champions on Ice performance to see that he really does belong in the spotlight - and enjoys it immensely too!

Madame Sadayakko

Lesley Downer's fascination with the Japanese world of geisha is further documented in Madame Sadayakko - The Geisha who seduced the West as she searched to understand the life of Sadayakko, known in her day as THE geisha. Just as Mineko Iwasaki was supposedly the basis for Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, Sadayakko was said to be the real-life model for Madame Butterfly.

Sadayakko and Mineko - two very well known geishas in their time but two very different accounts. Lesley Downer found accounts of Sadayakko's struggle with her position in society despite being a very successful geisha. It was because she was a geisha that she was looked down upon. It didn't help when she married an actor, as actors in those days in Japan were known as 'riverbed beggars'. Despite being shunned by Japanese society, she was well received in Europe and America where she thrived on the independence and freedom she enjoyed there. Back in Japan, she had to step back behind her husband and success always had to be attributed to him first.

Contrast this to three years after she died, when Mineko was born... In her autobiography Geisha of Gion, Mineko's world sounded beautiful, elegant and graceful. The said mizuage which she was offended by in Memoirs of a Geisha, stating that it didn't happen in Gion, appeared to be the custom in Madame Sadayakko's accounts.

Both were ultimate successes in their profession and met and influenced major figureheads, so similar yet so very different too. Sadayakko's tale was one of sadness; you couldn't help but feel as if there were so many times when her life wasn't hers - important decisions were made about her life but she didn't have a say in it. Mineko's story had a happy-ever-after feel. Yes, both worked hard, went through a lot of pain for their professions but where Sadayakko was made to feel unwanted in society for being a geisha/actress, Mineko made it sound like it was a privileged and elite profession. And indeed it must be. Perhaps there is a difference between geishas in Tokyo (Sadayakko) and Kyoto (Mineko). Or perhaps it has to do with the timing?

I continue to be mesmerised by these women - both tough fighters in their own way. Independent when they were supposed to be subservient, opinionated when they should be pretty and demure to-be-seen-but-not-heard, living passionately in a society and time where open emotions were frowned upon.

Putting things into perspective

Just heard sad news yesterday that my former boss's 19 year old daughter passed away over the weekend. Although I don't know the family that well, I felt for them. So sad and tragic to lose someone so young and promising. Someone who still had her whole life ahead of her. Someone with parents who loved her and sisters who adored her.

Also heard yesterday that we didn't win the proposal we went for. Well, we kinda won 50% of it and the other 50% was awarded to an 'offshore' firm all due to costs. After hearing news like before, I wasn't at all upset and disappointed about it. It really put into perspective what life is about. Proposals, work, events come and go - it's easy to get caught up in being disappointed when things don't go your way. But to hear tragic news like the above, does it really matter if you didn't win this new piece of work or you can't go to that concert? One should take more time to sit back and reflect on what we have and be thankful for it. Thankful for having a loving family, somewhere to call home, not worrying about your next meal, not persecuted for speaking out for your beliefs (within reason of course), being able to walk/see/eat/talk/hear/smell.... Let's take time out from our busy schedules to stop and ponder and give thanks for having what we have.

Yaawwwnnnnn....

Was supposed to meet ex-MC'ers last night but was postponed to today. This was after rescheduling my lunch appointment with Sandra and getting up earlier to pack and shower before church, etc to be able to come down to London earlier for the dinner appointment. Ah wells.

Was just as well anyway, as I used the time to review files (until half past midnight!) which I would have to do today otherwise. Was not a happy bunny at midnight! Was so awake after reviewing the files (not often my brain gets taxed like that :) ) and I couldn't go to sleep for ages. Grrr... Rather sleepy today thanks to the four hours shuteye. Thank goodness for caffeine keeping me awake throughout! Looking forward to catching some zzzzzzzz early tonight......

You Say Donuts, I Say Doughnuts

It was Sarah and Beverly's birthdays earlier this week. Instead of bringing in a cake, they decided to bring in four dozen of Krispy Kreme doughnuts (yes, you read right - not just four, but FOUR DOZEN!!! - Homer Simpson's dream come true!). I'm sure there has never been so many calories in our room before! It was strange how the lady behind the counter didn't bat an eyelid when Beverly, Dan and I placed our order (pic on right). Maybe we looked like we regularly scoff down four dozen doughnuts between the three of us?