Speak confidently and deliver your message clearly

Recently, I gave a speech at the TPJC Annual College day as the Guest of Honour and someone came up to me and asked me, 'How do you give a speech like that?'

The trick I have learned is to focus your thoughts and energies into what you are currently doing, and in this case to speak confidently to the audience and to deliver the message in a clear concise manner.

The hardest part of giving a speech is in the beginning, when you are up there on the stage and all the eyes are glued on you to say something smart. I always focus on getting my opening remarks right. This sets the tone of the entire speech. I have also found it to be effective to make a positive remark or comment about what was said by the previous speaker. Adding humour to the opening remarks helps break the ice.

Public speaking is about both form and substance. You need to connect to your audience and establish rapport with them almost instantaneous. Lets face it, you are not going to win them all. There will definitely be a group of people who will be against whatever you say. Therefore coming across as someone who is friendly, humble and approachable helps you connect to the audience better.

The funny thing about public speaking is that people focus on what you're saying while you are saying it, but days or weeks later, when they have forgotten about what was said, how you said it becomes the primary focus.

So make an impression in your speeches and you'll be alright. All the best!

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

It takes more than just business skills (salesmanship) to run a successful business. While business practices have been standardized across many countries, there are cultural differences between country to country, and it is sometimes the idiosyncrasies in a particular country or an industry that can drive the businessman nuts.

As apparent as it seems, there are people who do not understand what constitutes a commercial transaction. Money is exchanged in return for a good or service. There are laws to protect the buyer from the unscrupulous seller and the buyer is entitled to check the goods for quality before payment is made.

However, there are situations where a service is rendered over a prolonged period and the buyer has little or no control over the process. In some cases, the entire project may be off-shored and the exposure to risk may be further heightened. (Cos once you transfer the money, your money is gone forever!)

It becomes the seller's responsibility to define proper milestones and deliverables and above all manage the expectations of the buyer throughout the project life-cycle. Service providers in this space are not employees of the party that is procuring the services - they are merely contractors and they undertake the delivery risk.

While there are laws and legal framework to protect us and while I have complete trust in our judicial process, I feel that we are not completely immune to fraud and mismanagement. So this is really a case of 'buyers beware' and sellers, 'show me the goods or your track record!'

This is definitely not for the faint hearted. Every year I see new entrants into this business and they simply can't take the heat!!!

Are we losing our edge as we grow older?

Dear Mr Kumaran,

I'm Haikal from the Tampines Junior College Hat Programme.Thank You very much for the inspiring speech during our Annual College Day.Its good to hear that you are doing well in business.I would like to ask you some questions sir.You mentioned that you were mentored by bankers when you were starting up your business.I really wondered how are you able to do that as not many people have the privilege to be mentored by a banker when they are starting out.Secondly,to be a successful businessman,how long do you think we should work in order to gain expertise and knowledge before we venture into business.Thank You very much for your time.I look forward to your reply soon.

Warmest Regards,

Haikal Mohd Noh

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Hi Haikal,

As it turns out, I am also a good sales man and very successful people have an uncanny ability to convince people to do things for them.

The thing is, starting a company is a risky business and it is hard to predict which one comes to you first - fame or fortune. If you get fortune, you are lucky and if you get fame followed by fortune, you are lucky twice. But, rarely do entrepreneurs start a business solely for the reason of making money, they usually start cos they want to make a difference to the world. Fame and fortune comes as a by-product.

A mentor doesn't suffer from the consequence of bad advice - the mentee does! Even though I had a privilege of being mentored by a top-banker, I suffered a great deal from his bad advice and I paid the price for it. Anyway, he is still a good friend of mine and he also parted some words of wisdom along the way... This brings me to my first opening remarks, which is, you are your own architect. While the mentors can show you the way, you will still need to choose the path that you want to take.

There is no fixed formula for number of years you need to work before starting a business. Some of the successful businesses were founded by very inexperienced people. After 1 or 2 years in the industry would give you enough exposure to start getting your feet wet. Start young cos if you do fail, you'll have plenty of time to recover from your failures. Ironically, older people bring their own set of baggages from their experiences and tend to be over cautious and risk averse - they are the tamed ducks!!! To tell you the truth, I take lesser risks today than 10years ago.

Good luck in your endeavours, Haikal. I'm glad you found the speech inspiring.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Kumaran

Punctuality is a Virtue

Dear Chosunghye,

Its good to hear from you and it was my pleasure to meet young and brilliant minds like yourself. I confess that it makes me reminisce my college days - some of the best days in my life.

As I look back, since my college days I have had the privilege of having very spectacular successes and equally spectacular failures in my life. Over the years, I have realized that it is both the successes and failures that are portrayed in my public persona. It defines me.

There is one thing that I like to share with you - a lesson that I had learnt later in life but I thought that I could get away with it as a teenager:

I used to be regularly late for assembly in the mornings and this was due to the limited bus services that were plying between Bedok South and Tampines JC in 1987/88. I had to take two buses to get to college. I'll be arriving right on the dot at 7.30am even if I took the first bus in the morning.

My Civics Tutor called me up one day and she was very angry that I was always late. I tried to explain to her that it was not my fault and that it was the fault of the transportation system here. Obviously, she did not accept my reasoning and said that I will have to be punctual even in the adult world. I didn't think much back then, but I told her not to worry and that I will own my own business someday and I can go to work anytime.

True to what I said as a teenager, I run my own enterprise today but I have realized that punctuality is even more important to me now cos I pay people to work for me and if I make them wait, I'll have to pay a price for it (cos I pay them salaries). So I am kinda forced to be punctual and early and so Miss. Yap was right after all.

As a teenager, I was very rebellious and thought that I could change the world. But, as I grew up I understood there is a reason why people do the things they way they do. The world changes and progresses no doubt. But, our fundamental human value stick around for a long long time. All the best in your endeavours.

P/s- I am mentoring some college students from Tampines Junior College. This is my response to one of the students. Do email me at cumeran@gmail.com if you need any advise.