You'll Never Walk Alone ~ 2012

Lately the Red Army, my beloved Liverpool is playing with zest, style and passion again. It is a faint reminiscent of the 70s & 80s Liverpool team according to residential veteran Red supporter. Truth to be told, I fell in love with Liverpool in the early 90s during my formative years. And during that time, the most hated club in the world, Manchester United were winning everything. In fact they're still doing it at the moment.

Well, it was very tough being a Liverpool supporter during the Manchester Era. 90% of my school mates are Man Utd fans. A couple of die-hard Liverpool supporters are branded as Liverfools and You'll Never Walk Alone tag line is conveniently jotted as You'll Never Win Anything. But like our comrade in Merseyside, we Liverpudians are a tough lot. What we lack in numbers, we counter in passion and aggresiveness. It was a tough neighborhood in Merseyside and that toughness and link to the sea makes all Liverpool supporters(okay, that includes the Evertonians..them bitters!) tough as nails and some say vikings of the modern age.

In a sense, my love and support for Liverpool mirrors my personal well being and choices. For instance, I could safely say that I'm a tough person. My work is very tough but that is because I chose to set a high standards for myself. While I do not wish to set any pre-acceptance standards to my mates, I could've chosen their concepts of life. Why would I chose a tough job with high pressure? Well because I would like to be paid well. And why would I want to be paid well you asked? Because I'm always hungry....and that hunger always spur me on. I'm always hungry for more and no matter what peak I've climbed there is another peak in sight. Let me put it this way, how many 28 years old(yes I can hear giggles from some of my reader who knows me, more specifically my 'old' face but fact = I'm 28 only!) had owned 3 cars(still keeping 2 of it) and are on their second property? All on my own hard earned money? Yea, there are lots of bloke who has more on Daddy's money but let's leave that for another day. I speculate that there are quite a few of them in this world, maybe 2~3% of the 28 years old out there with the same success or more. Two conclusion would be that this type of people are always; 1) HUNGRY and 2) TOUGH as NAILS.


Loving Liverpool also taught me that, your Love for something or someone does not necessarily translate into being loved back or equal benefits. How many times had my Liverpool disappoint me and how many times it left me sad. But on some occasion, like 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul, it make grown man like me wept. 3-0 down in first half and en-route to the biggest lost in a Final, Liverpool rose to the occasion to drew the game 3-3, forced extra time and then won on Penalties.....beat that Man U scum...

Recently, with the year end approaching, ol'Jon sat down and reflect my contribution to the company. I've set a high standards for myself and my team and a lot of the hardwork throughout the year needs to be scrutinized. I did not hit the budget set by the company. I do not wish to dwell on why it was not achieved but I was close to achieving it. In business sometime the most subtle touch would have resulted in a different scenario. However, it was not a failure year. I've trained up my team to a good competitive level. I've managed to put the company's footprint in a lot of clients. I've build up good rapport with our important new client. I've set the foundation for 2012. I've successfully open a couple of new big account. Lastly I've achieved my numbers with the company's main customer on a 'snoozing' mode. For 2009 & 2010, the company depended heavily on this sole main customer, but in 2011, this customer is sleeping. I would like to think that with my effort, input and aggresiveness, ixmation MALAYSIA is alive and kicking even without this sleeping customer. ol'Jon had also put my vendor background to good use and secure lower component pricing for the company. All in all, 2011 'should' be a good year....yup...should be!

The art of management means that 99 good that has been done would be overwhelmed by the 1 bad that had occur. Looking at the bigger picture, only numbers satisfied the big shots. It is the same everywhere and no one can change it. With this in mind, ol'Jon would invoke the Tough as Nails mantra. With great pay, comes great responsibility. My team had done well, being their boss it is time for me to bite the bullet and take the top management's comment by myself. I cannot demotivate them and I'm sure as hell that I'll not subject them to this treatment, until and unless they're in the same pay bracket as me...I'm sure that with this in mind, during 2012 ol'Jon Will Never Walk Alone as my team will Walk On with me to hunt for our numbers.

Target is set, 2012 is going to be even tougher for everyone but no target is unachievable with the correct dosage of efforts, tactics, planning and a sprinkle of luck! Bring it on....I'm HUNGRY!