Everyone is different and it’s a given This is particularly true if your team members come from different cultures with different norms and ways of doing business. It may sound awfully obvious but to appreciate it requires a lot of cultural…
Candid communication is a clear sign of a high performing team
Hi there, Today topic is very close to my heart as I think it is of vital importance to a high functioning team. Candid or honest communication is present when your team could often freely share/discuss/debate about a particular project.…
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood” – Stephen Covey
Hi there, This post is more like a reminder to myself than anything else. Habit 5 of the 7 habits by Stephen Covey “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” is a habit that I am trying to live…
Do you have the trust, respect and confidence of your team members?
Recently I was asked what the key criteria I use to evaluate good people manager? This is not an easy question to answer to say the least. It takes a lot to be a good people manager, years of learnings and…
Dont lose part of yourself because of your work
At some point during your career, if you care enough about your work, you would come across a project/client that really tests everything that you stand for (or wish you stand for) as a human being. It’s when your character…
The power of assuming positive intent
Recently a friend asks me about my approach to deal with country/regional culture differences and ways of working? The context of the question is this: working in a multinational corporation, we often come across many decisions made that puzzle us,…
Were you born a “natural” manager?
Team management expertise is critical to success of any manager since a manager is expect to work with a group of members to get things done. However, if you are a new manager, it could be a frustrating experience. You constantly asking yourself why your…
Practical & prescriptive book on writing better content – Highly recommended
You may be like me, have been writing your personal blog for a couple of years, your work also involves creating presentation on a regular basis. You are looking for guides on how you could improve your writing both the high level approach…
Digital index for APAC countries in 2017
Hi there, Inspired by eMarketer “Digital index for 2017 the top 10 digital countries worldwide“, I am spending a bit of time to look at various countries in APAC to understand which markets are the most advanced digitally. Data is…
8 key facts about Japan Mobile Game Industry
Hi there, As part of the series about Mobile game industry, below are the key facts about Japan Mobile Game Industry. Data is mainly from eMarketer and App Annie. If you would like to download the pdf version, here it is…
8 key facts about South Korea Mobile Game Industry
Hi there, I have been curious about South Korea game industry for a while now so I am using eMarketer reports, App Annie and a few other sources to highlight the top 8 key facts about South Korea Mobile Game…
Search Engine Market share in APAC December 2016
Hi there, Since this topic has become one of the most popular content on my blog, I am trying to update the data again. I would include the data source as per usual so that you could use it if…
“You are the Master of your fate, the captain of your soul”
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” – Henley. This is such a powerful statement, from “Invictus” a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). As time goes by, I appreciate this statement more and…
How did I learn to listen, empathise and see things from the other person point of view?
Hi there, Today sharing is going to be a bit personal. This is for those friends and colleagues who have asked me over the years on how I could be so open for feedback, to listen/connect with other people and their view points…
Key facts about Indonesia Digital Landscape
Hi there, If you are relatively new to the Indonesian digital market like me, you may find some of the below facts interesting or surprising. Data is from eMarketer. A quick summary is below and you could download the entire…
Key facts about India digital landscape
Hi there, Below are some key basic facts about India digital landscape, mainly for the audience outside of India. I uploaded the slides to Google drive or slideshare so feel free to download. 1. India ranks second in the world…
Induction for Senior Leadership is critical for success yet often not done well
Senior leadership often has huge impact on the company culture, the team, clients/partners and overall business. Yet a solid induction/on-boarding plan for newly joined senior leader in the first 60-90 days is often not done well at many companies. Why is it so?…
The importance of managing expectation Before and At the start of a big meeting
Have you ever had a bad meeting in which you play the leading role (the main presenter or someone who sets up the meeting) ? There could be many reasons for it and for today, we would discuss about the importance of managing…
The more senior you get, the more bad news you receive?
Recently a colleague told me that it just occurred to him, the more senior he got, the more bad news he seemed to receive. I jokingly replied “do you just realise that now? welcome to the club” The reasons why…
How much time should managers spend in meetings?
Hi everyone, I have heard from my colleagues, clients, senior leadership teams that they often spend all of their time daily/weekly in meetings and they hardly have any time to do “actual work”. Does this sound similar? “I have back…
9 tips to get to good insights in your weekly/monthly/quarterly report?
Hi there, In this post, I will share some my guiding principles to get to good insights in your weekly/monthly/quarterly report for a marketing campaign. 1. Understand what your audience cares about? This requires you to know who read your…
8 key facts about South Korea e-commerce
Hi there, Again, this is part of my series about key facts about digital marketing & e-commerce in JP, China and South Korea. Articles before this post include: 8 key facts about China Digital Marketing Landscape (data from eMarketer) 8…
8 key facts about Japan e-commerce
Hi there, This is part of my series about key facts about digital marketing & e-commerce in JP, China and South Korea. Articles before this post include: 8 key facts about China Digital Marketing Landscape (data from eMarketer) 8 key…
8 key facts about South Korea Digital Marketing Landscape
Hi there, This is part of my series about digital landscape and e-commerce landscape in China, Japan and South Korea. If you want to download the presentation version, you could try this Google drive link or slideshare. 1. South Korea has 34.6M…
8 key facts about Japan Digital Marketing Landscape
Hi there, This is part of the series about key facts about digital marketing landscape and mobile e-commerce landscape in different countries. You could download the presentation file on Google Drive here or try slideshare. Please help to quote the source when you use…
8 key facts about mobile e-commerce in China (data from eMarketer)
Hi there, As part of the series about China, please find 8 key facts about China mobile e-commerce below. Data is from eMarketer. I have the presentation here in pdf and on slideshare as well. Feel free to use/share. If…
8 key facts about China Digital Marketing Landscape (data from eMarketer)
Happy Chinese New Year, The data below about the China digital marketing landscape is taken from various eMarketer report. The pdf version of this report could be download from here or the slideshare version is here. 1. China has 3X…
Best management book of 2015 “High output management” by Andy Grove, former Intel CEO
I chanced upon this book “High Output management” by Andy Grove from a review by Ben Horowitz (I have been a fan of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz based in Menlo Park for the past few years). I immediately wish that I could have read…
My top 4 picks from 2015 Smarties Global Awards
For those who don’t know what these awards are about, their self introduction is as followed “the MMA Smarties Awards is the world’s global mobile marketing awards program honoring innovation, creativity, and success”. 2015 Global Smarties winners are here across multiple categories. Obviously,…
14 Mobile SEM ad copy best practices
As Search Engine Marketing is a crucial component of many digital marketing plans in the mobile age, having solid mobile SEM ad copies is becoming more and more important. In this post, I will share 14 best practices for Mobile SEM ad…