Followers VS Leaders

I have been wondering for ages how do we define them. Until now, I still don’t have a concrete definition for them. Does being a follower means that they could not be a leader? Should we regard a leader as a non-follower? Or can it be both?

Leadership is defined as the ability to influence the action of anyone or a group. Many people have mistaken it as controlling someone. Here is a famous quote, not all boss can be a leader, but all leader can be a boss.

Let’s break them down in steps, using myself as the example.

When someone instructs me to do something:

I will ask why and trying to find out his intention of asking before doing it. I feel very frustrated when I don’t know what I am doing. In a workplace, we can’t afford to have every single question answered. Our best bet is to perform the task, think for ourselves and ask later when our manager is not busy or when he is in a good mood. For our age we tend to be a rookie in a workplace so we can’t demand for things/answers as we are at the lowest level of the hierarchy system in the company.

When someone is leading the team and I am the team member:

I will follow orders in the area which I am not familiar with. When you have no expertise in that particular field, you would not have any credibility to lead a group especially when there is someone with both expertise and leadership in a team. However, I would quickly identify the direction which the leader is heading and act as an expressional leader behind the scene to motivate other members to follow the orders. At times, I can be good at putting the crowd together.

Sometimes being a follower can better understand how leadership fails. As a team member, we can look around to see why other members do not follow suit. We as followers understand the needs as a follower and therefore provide that need when we become leaders.

When I am leading a team:

I may not be a very good leader even though I can lead a team to achieve the objective. The reason being that I am too concern of the feelings of my team members. I tend to focus more on making sure everyone is okay with the objective, failing to prioritize the objective. I am still working on it.

Do I have the trait to be a leader? Or am I just a follower? Or both?

ENFJ (From the Net)

If you want to know more about me, I dont even need to write it myself because this describes me so accurately. I got it from a website.


The Giver

As an ENFJ, you're primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit into your personal value system. Your secondary mode is internal, where you take things in primarily via your intuition.

ENFJs are people-focused individuals. They live in the world of people possibilities. More so than any other type, they have excellent people skills. They understand and care about people, and have a special talent for bringing out the best in others. ENFJ's main interest in life is giving love, support, and a good time to other people. They are focused on understanding, supporting, and encouraging others. They make things happen for people, and get their best personal satisfaction from this.

Because ENFJ's people skills are so extraordinary, they have the ability to make people do exactly what they want them to do. They get under people's skins and get the reactions that they are seeking. ENFJ's motives are usually unselfish, but ENFJs who have developed less than ideally have been known to use their power over people to manipulate them.

ENFJ's are so externally focused that it's especially important for them to spend time alone. This can be difficult for some ENFJs, because they have the tendency to be hard on themselves and turn to dark thoughts when alone. Consequently, ENFJs might avoid being alone, and fill their lives with activities involving other people. ENFJs tend to define their life's direction and priorities according to other people's needs, and may not be aware of their own needs. It's natural to their personality type that they will tend to place other people's needs above their own, but they need to stay aware of their own needs so that they don't sacrifice themselves in their drive to help others.

ENFJ's tend to be more reserved about exposing themselves than other extraverted types. Although they may have strongly-felt beliefs, they're likely to refrain from expressing them if doing so would interfere with bringing out the best in others. Because their strongest interest lies in being a catalyst of change in other people, they're likely to interact with others on their own level, in a chameleon-like manner, rather than as individuals.

Which is not to say that the ENFJ does not have opinions. ENFJs have definite values and opinions which they're able to express clearly and succinctly. These beliefs will be expressed as long as they're not too personal. ENFJ is in many ways expressive and open, but is more focused on being responsive and supportive of others. When faced with a conflict between a strongly-held value and serving another person's need, they are highly likely to value the other person's needs.

The ENFJ may feel quite lonely even when surrounded by people. This feeling of aloneness may be exacerbated by the tendency to not reveal their true selves.

People love ENFJs. They are fun to be with, and truly understand and love people. They are typically very straight-forward and honest. Usually ENFJs exude a lot of self-confidence, and have a great amount of ability to do many different things. They are generally bright, full of potential, energetic and fast-paced. They are usually good at anything which captures their interest.

ENFJs like for things to be well-organized, and will work hard at maintaining structure and resolving ambiguity. They have a tendency to be fussy, especially with their home environments.

In the work place, ENFJs do well in positions where they deal with people. They are naturals for the social committee. Their uncanny ability to understand people and say just what needs to be said to make them happy makes them naturals for counseling. They enjoy being the center of attention, and do very well in situations where they can inspire and lead others, such as teaching.

ENFJs do not like dealing with impersonal reasoning. They don't understand or appreciate its merit, and will be unhappy in situations where they're forced to deal with logic and facts without any connection to a human element. Living in the world of people possibilities, they enjoy their plans more than their achievements. They get excited about possibilities for the future, but may become easily bored and restless with the present.

ENFJs have a special gift with people, and are basically happy people when they can use that gift to help others. They get their best satisfaction from serving others. Their genuine interest in Humankind and their exceptional intuitive awareness of people makes them able to draw out even the most reserved individuals.

ENFJs have a strong need for close, intimate relationships, and will put forth a lot of effort in creating and maintaining these relationships. They're very loyal and trustworthy once involved in a relationship.

An ENFJ who has not developed their Feeling side may have difficulty making good decisions, and may rely heavily on other people in decision-making processes. If they have not developed their Intuition, they may not be able to see possibilities, and will judge things too quickly based on established value systems or social rules, without really understanding the current situation. An ENFJ who has not found their place in the world is likely to be extremely sensitive to criticism, and to have the tendency to worry excessively and feel guilty. They are also likely to be very manipulative and controling with others.

In general, ENFJs are charming, warm, gracious, creative and diverse individuals with richly developed insights into what makes other people tick. This special ability to see growth potential in others combined with a genuine drive to help people makes the ENFJ a truly valued individual. As giving and caring as the ENFJ is, they need to remember to value their own needs as well as the needs of others.

Americans VS Malaysians

I have always wanted to write about this but I kept procrastinating until recently when one of my friends actually asked me about how are we different compare to the Americans. What I am about to write is just based solely on my own observation and therefore it will not hit a 100% accuracy and the sample size used was pretty small (just the people around my University when I was studying in the US).

Conversation: Americans tend to elaborate one point to the fullest, to ensure they don’t miss anything about it while Malaysians will only mention about key points, less on elaboration.

E.g. When a person is being asked “how are you/what have you been up to”:
Americans: I am doing great! I have been to …, oh scenery was so beautiful … (elaborate, keep going on and on and on).
Malaysians: I am okay lah, went to Genting yesterday, how are you ah?

Personal thought: I feel that Americans are proud of what they have been up to while the Malaysians are shy/shame to tell what they have been up to.

Working in a team:
American: individualistic
Malaysian: collectivism

E.g. When a person is assigned a single task:
Americans will perform the task in their own way. They tend to work independently. If they don’t understand the nature of the work, they will search the answer themselves (for instance, through googling or by asking professor/manager).
Malaysians will tend to clarify everything, asking for guidance in search for the answer. They will always ask their team mates on the methods of pursuing the answer if they don’t already know how.

When phone is ringing:
Americans tend to ignore and let it go to voicemail. They will reply later if they need to.
Malaysians tend to answer the call despite they are in a meeting, dating etc.

When making an appointment or setting a time for an event:
Americans train/bus will depart at stated time with no delay. When the event is supposed to start at 8:00pm, it will really start on time (e.g. VIP starts walking into the hall etc). To simply put, Americans respect the time of others very well.
Malaysians are always late for meeting, date etc. When there is an event stating the time would start at 8:00pm, the VIP will only walk in an hour or two later. Malaysians tend to accept this “being late” mindset.

When we have absolutely nothing to do:
Americans: read or workout or watch TV.
Malaysians: call friends to see if they are free to hangout or watch TV/drama.

When we open the door in front of us and pass through:
Americans: will hold the door behind them and make sure the person behind them pass through it.
Malaysians: just walk through and pretend there is no one behind.

p.s. don’t get me wrong, Malaysians are very nice people. Just that they are not trained to be like that or lack of awareness on this issue.

Comparing iPhone 4/4s and Samsung Galaxy SII

I would like to compare the iPhone 4/4s and Samsung Galaxy SII holistically. I know that there are many reviews and technical specs shown on other websites. I would say this version of review is different based on my experiences on iPhone 4, 4s and Samsung Galaxy SII that I previously owned.  

Common iPhone 4/4s and S2 problems located over the net:

1. iPhone has the home button problem that it becomes less responsive if you use it overtime. It costs more than RM 150 to get it fixed (happened to my iPhone 3G).
2. S2 has problem with its battery. Many had complained about it. Like battery drains incredibly fast and nothing could stop it until the batter has fully depleted. After that it will work like normal (happened to me, once).

First off, lets start with processing speed, iPhone 4 is slightly slower than 4s and S2 because it is still working on a single core processor. iPhone 4s and Samsung S2 work incredibly fast due to their dual core processors. The set back for the 4s and S2 is that the battery life drain incredibly fast (I am comparing to iPhone 4); and it is faster on the S2 due to its bigger screen.

Personally note: Speed for a cell phone is really important, at least to me. I will want to get to every app as fast as I could simply because I don’t like to wait to stuff to load. Many people would want to get the iPhone 4 after the release of the 4s because they think there is not much of a difference between the two of them and it is slightly cheaper on the 4. But I would prefer to get the faster one because these kind of technological gadgets get outdated pretty fast, especially when there is an update on the iOS (the slower ones will be even slower). On the other hand, a cell phone that has low battery life will easily cause frustration to me because it limits the things that I could do without my charger staying with me.

In terms of touch sensitivity, it really frustrates me when I was using S2. Certain times it would not detect the heat from my thumb and therefore it would not respond. You may argue that different person has different heat level on their thumb. But, in all honesty, I have never experienced this issue with iPhones, not even with my old iPhone 3G (iPhone 3G would respond to every touch I made on screen, it just respond in a very slow manner). I feel the lack of total control over the S2; it really frustrates me at times, especially when I am gaming on that device. How would you feel if you instruct it to do something but it does not follow? Think about it.

On the connectivity of the phones, the S2 has a slight flaw because certain times the pages would not load despite I am on a WIFI or on EDGE/3G. I seriously don’t know why and how this would happen even though it loads just perfectly fine awhile later. One thing that I am certain is that this is not due to the connectivity issues because it happens quite frequently. You may think that no one device would function perfectly at all times in terms of connectivity because the line may face connectivity issues, however, in my experiences with my iPhones, it almost never happened. When there is a connection, even though it is very slow, it will definitely load.

In the apps market, iPhones have more apps in the app store than S2. However, I do not think the number of apps is a factor in choosing between iPhone 4/4s and S2 unless you tell me you want to have 500,000 apps in your phone. On the other hand, there is one thing that I would like to say about these apps for Apple and Android. Apple apps are only available in the apps store (Apple Inc. legit store, unless you jail broken it) while S2 comprises of many third party apps. In another way to say this is that, one has more quality control while the other has lesser control. The time when I was using the S2, certain apps could not be updated. I remember there was one app about Google map that could not be updated because it says that the update is not supported in Malaysia. Meaning to say, as long as you are in Malaysia, you will always have that app pending on your apps update. In addition, I have experience constant crashing on one of the games app on the S2 (because I only play that particular game on that device). This may be justified that there is a bug on that particular app that has not been fixed. Well, I have no much to say about this. This is just base on my personal opinion.

As you read, you may find me bias towards iPhones. But let’s talk about prices of iPhone and S2. The iPhone 4s with Digi cheapest you can get is RM 2090 while S2 is RM 1399. I guess the price differences are compensated with the quality that comes with it. So essentially we could not make a direct comparison. But I really like the bigger size of screen of S2 even though I could not text with one hand as my thumb go hardly reach the other side of the screen.

Let’s work on iPhone 4 and 4s. Three biggest changes from 4 to 4s are camera, processors and Siri.

The camera is really awesome. Everyone has a different definition when we say awesome. But I have never seen a phone camera that could compare with a point and shoot camera. The shuttle speed is great too. I am really satisfied with the camera for casual use even though I am a DSLR.

Dual core processors are of course better, but like I just mentioned, it is compensated with the lower battery life. But it is sufficient enough to last me for a day, so it is okay. For those who have higher tolerance for a bit slower phone but with possible longer battery life, go for the 4.

As for Siri, in all honesty, I don’t use it much because it is pretty useless in Malaysia for two reasons. One being the slang we use on a daily basis could not be captured by Siri with 100% accuracy. I played with it many times and most of the times I have to repeat myself; forcing my self to speak nicely and accurately in English. On the other hand, Siri does not locate maps & restaurants in Malaysia. When you say “bring me there” and Siri will say “Sorry, I am not able to find restaurants in Malaysia”. These are the reasons why I don’t use Siri much and people should not factor in Siri when purchasing between iPhone 4 and 4s.

Think about these when you are considering your purchase because the amount is significant. 

Hold back – Relationship – Yes or No?

There would be certain hold backs in goal settings for any person. Trying to identify them has always been my priority. But to counter them? It has always been my failure simply because I am not a robot.

For one of the hold backs, I chose to talk about hold back in a relationship. I used to think that being in a relationship will only destroy/delay my goal. It comes with my real life experience. Like for instance when I was studying for my first CFA exam a year ago, my mind was totally haunted by the fear for not getting the study done. As a result, my girl frind (currently ex) felt neglected. Of course I too, felt that she was being neglected, and so I tried to do something that balance between my study and for her once in a while. But balancing makes me failed to get the best of both worlds. She didn’t feel that is enough and I was nowhere in my studies. Ended up I felt the stress too (as I am a perfectionist trying to get everything done perfectly). This is just me, not knowing how to properly handle these issues at the same time. I am a total failure in managing my psychological fear for exams.

You could probably tell where it leads to next. We broke up. I had decided to let her enjoy her freedom (we find incompatible with each other) just so that I could focus and concentrate on my career. I thought I could be better off being single by having the freedom to do whatever I want to do and whenever or however I want it to be without having to care for my partner. I used to think that I enjoy freedom and dislike to feeling that I actually have to go out for a date with my partner at the time when I think I will be more productive in studying. Well honestly, I felt great being single in a first few months after the break up as we are still hanging out together with our common friends, but not after that.

Right now, I am still studying for the exam as well as working. I feel total loneliness. And it does not go away anytime when I do not have anything to cling on. This loneliness too sometimes demotivate me in doing my work (be it studying, working, etc); I feel that no one is there for me to look forward to talk to and I belong to nobody. Probably it is just me, who desires attentions from my peers. But none of them lasts; none of them truly belongs to me. I feel lack of appreciation, lack of attention, and so lack of motivation. Only if I could counter this loneliness without having to be in a relationship, I will be good to go! I could further elaborate on this point but I don’t feel the need to as we already know where it is heading.

I am not sure why I had always been in a relationship and it has been like that since high school! This is probably the reason I am not used to being single. I have seen many friends who are able to do it too. Like some friends of my age have never been in a relationship in their life. So I want to break the curse until I truly found a girl whom I think will add bonus in my career life or else I would remain being single. My primary is still my career goal.

So to me, being into a relationship does not necessarily delay my career goal. The only trick is that I need to find the right one so that we could perform symbiosis. Humans are created to be in pair and they should be better off in pairs; I truly believe that’s the only way to counter my loneliness. Meanwhile, I will also find some alternative to make myself busy to counter the feeling of being lonely as this lonely feeling is disastrous to my self-development.

I hope by writing it out, I am able to feel motivated again; motivated to think that someone out there is actually read my post and support my idea. That is an idealistic thinking from me, at least.

Success

How would one defines success? Personally I think that it is how a person obtains his goal that he sets. What is my goal?

I always tell people that I want to be one of the financial leaders in the financial industry in the country that I am working in. What exactly are the steps needed to be done in order to achieve that? Or what exactly does financial leader do? Honestly, I have no much clue about it. All I know is that I need to land on my desired; that I am able to feel that I am gaining knowledge of the financial industry on a daily basis. And through obtaining this knowledge, therefore I could lead a group of people to provide excellent service to clients.

Till now I am still not able to obtain job satisfaction from my current job as a fund accountant. I am not able to understand or figure out why does the fund managers sell or purchase a particular security; all I do is to execute them and making sure the funds are error free. Although it could be quite challenging at times to ensure each fund is error free, I often ask myself, is that what I wanted to do in my life? Obviously no.

In order for me to relocate myself in-line with my goal, I guess I will need CFA to back me up. Sadly, I do not have such a talent in obtaining the first level in my first attempt; I need a several attempts. I am on my third now and I really hope I can get it passed with the result releasing end of next month. If I passed, my career life will be smoother; it is also able to boost my self-confidence. As a man, or even a person, having confidence is really important, at least in my opinion. I need to be confident so that I can be motivated to accept new challenges in my next job.

I had been having this mindset for a long time. A mindset that makes me thinks that I could be successful if I persist and don’t give up and I am determined that I am right. But whenever I feel down due to my confidence level being challenged by any issues, like having a smarter brother who is currently taking the level two in CFA now, it will lead me to think if I am too stubborn to stay in this field. Perhaps at such time I need someone who understands me really well to back me up; to tell me that I can do it. This particular person has yet to exist in my life; therefore, self-willpower is the only thing I have to counter with this emotional turmoil. Not even close friends can help me with it. The only fortunate thing is that this event only happens occasionally. Bottom line is I am still a human after all, not a machine that has a flat emotional cycle.

It seems that behind a successful man there is a woman. I do believe it to some extent. I would like to modify it to “behind a successful man there is a RIGHT woman”. This right woman could be different for every man. My kind of right woman is very limited in this world due to my hard to please character (I think). Well I actually found one but I don’t think she is interested in me at all. It is not easy for me to find a girl that I am really comfortable with; a girl whom I think will bring me to my fullest potential. But pursuing this girl has yet to be my primary goal simply because I can’t multitask well; I would rather focus on my career to prevent failing to get any of them. 

Note that despite I kept talking about my personal goal, I have never touched on the monetary compensation. Many people want to earn millions at a certain age. But that’s not me. I have a mindset that not to go after money. I chose to go after knowledge instead. When I looked further, at the age of retirement, I will not be proud of the amount of money I have obtained; I will only be proud of my accomplishments, and that will come with knowledge. At the same time, I also believe that money will come after me when I don’t chase it. Well, it is true that it is harder for Malaysians to think like that because the life of Chinese people here are just tough. Probably I will not think the same if my family is not financial stable.

I will touch on the hold back to my goal in the next topic.