I'm Clayton Tan (a.k.a. Ju Chiae). More about myself could be found by clicking on the "About" link above. Having much passion on youth development, the education system, political environment, talent management, corporate strategies and entrepreneurship, you'd expect more of my articles to revolve around this area. All posts in this blog are merely my personal opinions, therefore I invite that you post your comments as desired.
While the Generation-X talks much about mid-life crisis, Generation-Y seems to face a similiar phenomenon in the form of quarterlife crisis. Gen-Y seems to want everything faster and therefore crisis happens sooner too, isn’t that true? So what’s the difference between the two?
Here are the definition from Wikipedia:
Midlife crisis is a term coined in 1965 by Elliott Jaques and used in Western societies to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is felt by some individuals in the “middle years” or middle age of life, as a result of sensing the passing of their own youth and the imminence of their old age. Sometimes, a crisis can be triggered by transitions experienced in these years, such as extramarital affairs, andropause or menopause, the death of parents or other causes of grief, unemployment or underemployment, realizing that a job or career is hated but not knowing how else to earn an equivalent living, or children leaving home. The result may be a desire to make significant changes in core aspects of day-to-day life or situation, such as in career, work-life balance, marriage, romantic relationships, big-ticket expenditures, or physical appearance.
Quarterlife crisis is a term applied to the period of life immediately following the major changes of adolescence, usually ranging from the early twenties to the early thirties. The term is named by analogy with mid-life crisis.
I’ve seen so many organizations with succession planning in place (some of which even have a dedicated person to manage succession planning). While CEO succession is something that have been talked about for some time, cascadding succession planning initiatives to other levels are somewhat new to many organizations. Though it works theoretically, many are still skeptical about its implementation and may suggest that the cost of succession planning is not justified due to the low success rate (planned vs. executed).
While I’ve not got hold of any statistics (which alerted me that this could be a good thesis topic), I am of the view that there are often issues in the execution of succession planning if it does not get the buy-in from the board of directors and senior leadership team. Let’s take a look at the top 5 roadblocks (no particular order) and how can we remove them. (more…)
The Star carried the news “Talent Corp to woo back 70,000 Malaysians” emphasizing that this is one of the key focus of the 10th Malaysian Plan. While I see this as a very positive move by the government. I would also like to raise my concerns and hope that the government will execute this with care. “Woo back” is the key word here - and also the cause of my concerns.
It has often become a norm is many organizations to use the method of “counter offer” to retain its employee. While it may work for short term, it’s often a method that I’d highly discourage. Some employees goes a step further by first leaving the organization and joining back several years later with a significant salary increase. This is often referred to as the revolving door. When this becomes too evident, employees will start to make use of such tactics to get pay increments and soon it become a culture in the organization. So why not take care of those you have around instead of going out to hunt for those who have left? (more…)
What do you think about using Social Network to Recruit?
Is it a norm for HR to check on employees behaviour via Social Network?
Is it ethical for HR to be spying on employees (or potential employees) using Social Network?
Before I give my answers to these questions, let me be clear that they are all my personal opinion and does not represent the view of my organization. By the way, my organization blocks all Social Networking sites from the office - So I guess the answer on their view is quite straight-forward. (more…)
A player knocks the ball … the ball rolls out … every player nearby including the one who knocks it out raises their hand to claim the right for the throw in. A player mistimed a tackle … knocked a player and felled him … then turns back and raised him hands in disagreement with the referee for calling for a free kick. Doesn’t all that sounds too familiar in the recent World Cup? Or any competitive football game for that matter.
What was more obvious in this World-Cup? The German Keeper missed the ball, turned back and saw it bouncing beyond the line, grabbed it and quickly throw it back out. An Argentine striker received the ball knowing he’s way offside, continued to score the goal and immediately celebrated! This is the most watched game on earth and the players were supposed to be role model to our future generations, what happened? (more…)
Malaysia has long been known to have among the most tuition centers (I guess in the world) and tuition has been a lucrative business (although teachers don’t seem to be a very respected profession here). These tuition center prospers for the fact that there are at least 3 key examinations that every student in Malaysia go through:
UPSR (Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah)
PMR (Penilaian Menengah Rendah)
SPM (Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia)
A couple of months ago, our Education Minister started exploring the possibilities of doing away with the UPSR and PMR, leaving SPM as the only examination. Since then, there were many arguements between “to test or not to test”. One of the more significant statements were “we could always do with other ways of assessments instead”. (more…)
A friend introduced to me this video created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. It is a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.
I thought it was really spot on and meaningful to share it with everyone else. So here it is:
While world cup is around the corner, much have been talked about the final 23 selected by each country, the havoc created by injuries and team coach’s changes of plans and strategy leading towards the world cup. I was looking at the news and the players selected for World Cup this year as compared to last year, there are in fact quite a number of learning points for corporate business world, human resources and succession planning.
Here are just 6 areas that I’ve observed that gave it a thought, maybe you can add more. (more…)
Very often, when we’re too focused on “winning the battle” we lose sight of our original mission and end in mind. I’ve been reading articles after articles and reports after reports about the Gaza-Bound Aid Ship, and one thing has been troubling me - Has the “activist” lost sight of the original goal?
First Mavi Marmara was captured by the Israel Navy, and all the big news surrounding it. While the rest of the world started condemning the action (of which I condemn too), what was more amazing is the fact that the “activist” decided that Rachel Corrie Aid ship should continue in that mission too despite Israel having openly announced that they will stop all aid ship that approch Gaza. (more…)
Last Saturday (8 May 2010) I took a wrong turn after my medical checkup in Subang Jaya and that led me into a highway. I was in such a hurry and found that the only way for me to get back on time is to make a U-turn using the flyover and return to where I started. How glad I was when I found that U-turn, then disaster strikes - The traffic lights were spoilt and there I am stuck in a massive jam. What’s worst about this is that there were faulty traffic lights are 2 consecutive turning that makes the u turn, and it caused a deadlock between the both ends (none of the cars could move at all!)
I was there stuck in the car, hoping for the traffic police to come soonest possible, looking around to see if there’s a number I could call to report the faulty traffic lights - none. All the cars around were getting restless, frustrated and I could see many “I give up” faces of frustration in the cars around me, and my heart was beating fast as well in being late for my appointment. At this point is when I witness what it means to “be the solution”. (more…)
