What makes a good leader? If you follow a person you can always find flaws and they can always fail you.
Dr. Arif once said, "You have succeeded not when things run if you are there, but if things run even when you are not. You succeed if you can create a system."
Similarly, a good leader knows he cannot watch his followers and be with them all the time and so he gives them something greater than himself, a system. A system with rules that they should follow even if he is not there.
A great leader knows that a system merely imposes rules but does not give motivation and will. He gives them a vision instead. A vision of something great that they too can be part of.
An excellent leader follows that same system himself. And he follows it so well that all his followers are now his believers. And they will follow that vision to his death, and even after it.
The truly excellent leader realizes that he too must follow this grand vision that he gives to his people. After all, if he cannot follow that vision, why should they?
And so an excellent leader must be an even better follower and he must follow a vision greater than his own self.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
What I Learnt From Debate
Debate is something that took over my life. I obsessed over it. I threw away weekends for it. When people invited me out, I'd say, "I can't. I've got debate." I even joined a facebook group of the same name (as the quote).
But it's something I have surprisingly few regrets about. It's such an enriching experience to learn, not just how to stand up and speak, but to do it in a focused and structured way.
1. It taught me where Iraq was.
I confess. I was horrible at geography and history before this. I could tell you that I had heard of North Korea but I wouldn't have been able to accurately point it out on a map.
Because of debating, I can safely say that I can at least point out a few countries.
2. It taught me to never stray from your objective.
You should never ever explain more than important. Because they'll stop listening to you anyway after they hear what they want. And all you'll end up doing is wasting everyone's time including your own.
And the importance of having a clear objective becomes that much clearer. Now, I utterly hate people who do things or say things that don't help them achieve their objective. Ok well, maybe I don't hate them. But it's so frustrating to hear them blabber on and on about irrelevant things, or to see them do so many things that are pointless.
Of course, to only do things relevant to your objective, you have to have an objective in the first place. Over 4 years, debate drummed it into me that you must always have an objective.
3. It honed my skills in explaining complex ideas in an economy of words.
You only have 7 minutes to explain how you want to save the world before bedtime.
Let's say it takes 5 seconds to say a sentence. That's only 84 sentences you can say to describe the political situation in some country on the other side of the world and explain why aid is the worst thing you can do to the farmers in the area as well as put forward your own solution for the problem at hand and of course defend it from the arguments of your opponent.
Did I mention you have to find the flaws in what your opponent says and attack those too? 7 minutes is waaaayyyyy too short.
4. It made me meet so many kinds of people.
There are a number of awesome people in this world. It seems that a huge proportion of them are in debate. Not only that, you get to meet so many varieties. I don't just mean in terms of race or culture. I also mean in terms of people who are just different. Their styles, their personalities, their very outlook on life.
And where else could you find such a diverse group who would be more than willing to talk and talk and talk and...
So...
If you've got the time, join debate. It's so worth it.
If you haven't got it, make time.
But it's something I have surprisingly few regrets about. It's such an enriching experience to learn, not just how to stand up and speak, but to do it in a focused and structured way.
1. It taught me where Iraq was.
I confess. I was horrible at geography and history before this. I could tell you that I had heard of North Korea but I wouldn't have been able to accurately point it out on a map.
Because of debating, I can safely say that I can at least point out a few countries.
2. It taught me to never stray from your objective.
You should never ever explain more than important. Because they'll stop listening to you anyway after they hear what they want. And all you'll end up doing is wasting everyone's time including your own.
And the importance of having a clear objective becomes that much clearer. Now, I utterly hate people who do things or say things that don't help them achieve their objective. Ok well, maybe I don't hate them. But it's so frustrating to hear them blabber on and on about irrelevant things, or to see them do so many things that are pointless.
Of course, to only do things relevant to your objective, you have to have an objective in the first place. Over 4 years, debate drummed it into me that you must always have an objective.
3. It honed my skills in explaining complex ideas in an economy of words.
You only have 7 minutes to explain how you want to save the world before bedtime.
Let's say it takes 5 seconds to say a sentence. That's only 84 sentences you can say to describe the political situation in some country on the other side of the world and explain why aid is the worst thing you can do to the farmers in the area as well as put forward your own solution for the problem at hand and of course defend it from the arguments of your opponent.
Did I mention you have to find the flaws in what your opponent says and attack those too? 7 minutes is waaaayyyyy too short.
4. It made me meet so many kinds of people.
There are a number of awesome people in this world. It seems that a huge proportion of them are in debate. Not only that, you get to meet so many varieties. I don't just mean in terms of race or culture. I also mean in terms of people who are just different. Their styles, their personalities, their very outlook on life.
And where else could you find such a diverse group who would be more than willing to talk and talk and talk and...
So...
If you've got the time, join debate. It's so worth it.
If you haven't got it, make time.
Emotional Time
I sat down the other day and tried to go through my life and my memories to see what brought me here today. It's an interesting exercise. You should try it sometime. But it also made me realize the truth of something that I had heard before.
We measure time emotionally.
Months can pass by without anything major happening. Life goes on as usual. When we look back on it, it'll seem like that part of life just passed by in a flash. But when those months are filled with emotional ups and downs, then looking back will give you such precious memories of that time. It will seem like so much happened.
Going through a lot of new and emotional experiences in a short time can make that time seem longer. It's why we can feel like we've known someone our whole lives when we've only met them a few hours ago.
We crave it
It's also what we crave for. Personally I go for adrenaline-inducing, heart-pounding things. Yeah, i'm an adrenaline junkie. Others go for sappy love stories, korean dramas, haunted houses, video games, etc. We crave the emotional ups and downs because it makes us feel alive.
Or maybe it's just me?
We measure time emotionally.
Months can pass by without anything major happening. Life goes on as usual. When we look back on it, it'll seem like that part of life just passed by in a flash. But when those months are filled with emotional ups and downs, then looking back will give you such precious memories of that time. It will seem like so much happened.
Going through a lot of new and emotional experiences in a short time can make that time seem longer. It's why we can feel like we've known someone our whole lives when we've only met them a few hours ago.
We crave it
It's also what we crave for. Personally I go for adrenaline-inducing, heart-pounding things. Yeah, i'm an adrenaline junkie. Others go for sappy love stories, korean dramas, haunted houses, video games, etc. We crave the emotional ups and downs because it makes us feel alive.
Or maybe it's just me?
Biar tersalah ampun, Jangan tersalah hukum
hehehe…bunyi cam best je kan?mmg best pun..tu sbnarnyer mksud hadis..tpi me tatau trnslation in arabic.nk tibai tk reti..lagipun bhasa melayu ni cantik..=)) i prefer proverb in malay
em..relation dia kt cni..tde apepun..its juz sort of reminder for me
being me, i often jump into conclusion without thinking that i shud put something into consideration first. then, when things get out of hand, i started to tremble, thinking i shud've done it diffrently at the first place.
itula ida,seorg yg gopoh, terburu2, tk sabar. bile dah sedar bnda tu salah, nyesal sorg2.huhuhu...
but, the good thing is, i can learn. for me, committing a mistake equals to experimenting life. we'll never know until we try =)
moralnye kt cni, before doing anything, put it into a deep thought.watever happens,b4 makin out ur words,workin in first on ur mind..biar tersalah ampun,jgn tersalah hukum.
there's no use crying over spilt milk...
there's no use crying over spilt milk...
Monday, June 14, 2010
i dun care who you are
Close friend is not necessarily best friend. It’s extremely true!!
Sometimes we do appreciate our friends, help them, be with them whenever they need someone, going shopping together and yet they do not perceive the friendship as we do.
They may assume that those are the things a human should offer in life, in relation to other people. They do not appreciate you and whatever you’ve done for them. Instead, they break your heart over and over again. They lie to you, seems like you do not notice they are lying then. Duh! They make use of you, they do this, they do that… That human is no longer considered a friend, not even qualify to hold the title of close friend, let alone best friend.
They may assume that those are the things a human should offer in life, in relation to other people. They do not appreciate you and whatever you’ve done for them. Instead, they break your heart over and over again. They lie to you, seems like you do not notice they are lying then. Duh! They make use of you, they do this, they do that… That human is no longer considered a friend, not even qualify to hold the title of close friend, let alone best friend.
Well, I wonder who their best friends are. They sure have someone, do they? Or something. Those human are uneducated, ill-mannered, stink and they must be hated by many people. They are lonely, poor thing. They get bored because no one wants to befriend them, thus they would take for granted whoever that is close with them. That’s the meaning of ‘close friend is not a best friend.’
Life is weird, as weird as some people. I don’t think it’s necessary to make people angry at you, because it is a tremendously CHILDISH and IMMATURE behavior. Like Prof. Quayum has said, life is too short to hate other people. I don’t want to spend my life doing that wasteful thing like you do. I want to do something good and pleasurable, ignoring all those “very unlikely” people and their behaviors.
Wow, you truly show your true colors! I’m impressed because you’ve made it! I never know that, but it’s good because perhaps God wants me to know you better (as u claimed I’d never know u!). So that I can be prepared, to face you and your inner side whore-like manners. So that, I will be careful in choosing friends, so that I would never let people take me for granted, as you did. But, the people that I’ve met so far, excluding communities and colonies of yours, are very kind and friendly. They live on earth, a special place that is built for kind hearted people. They love, respect and appreciate each other. They also have friends. I wonder where you come from. Shameless! Slander! Noisy! Selfish! Hypocrite! Vein! Elephant! Look, you have managed to gather all this! Congrats! Its not easy, my poor fellow, to complete all this types of evil, wickedness, sin, vice, immorality, malicious.. Ops! Seems like you are becoming thesaurus now eh? Thank you, my dictionary.
God loves everyone. Very true! If we don’t get something that we are longing for, it is because God has prepared better things for us. By the way, what do we know about life? Nil! If God doesn’t accept your prayers now, it’s because He wants to reward you more because of your patience, thus He will double your reward! Sounds very nice, who does not want that! Always put true perception towards God. God loves you, God loves me. God also loves those uncivilized ‘human’ as well. Haiyyah!
its all about frenship
There’s one absolute many years-proved right theory “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.
I’d first heard this meaningful phrase when I was 9yrs old. There was an English class and teachers seemed to display all nice and sweet proverbs on flash cards. But, I did not understand it,technically. Of course I got it literally,and yet for me it was only a piece of old man-experience n they told it generation over generation. However, when I turned 12 and started to crawl towards my young adolescent stage, I realized that barely I’d found its meaning, perhaps half of its supposed meaning. You know,when you were 12,13 or something, you’d only seen 1% of the world. Same goes with experience, we are too young to comprehend it all.
For me,precisely(women, overall), frendship is the precious property and loyalty towards friend is the most precious value of all. True friendship declines all those nice features,material-oriented minded, for some reason and frenship is the best part of one’s life. There should be NO betrayal in frenship. I say SHOULD, not MUST. Even though sometimes we’re misleading from the track.
Well, friends come and go,but only true friend leaves footprint in your heart.its true!! My friend,once said,-close fren is not necessarily best fren-was it true?I cant seek out the satisfying answer until today,it is rather subjective,one person perceives it differently from the other.
To be truthful,I think, good friend wants the best for their company. They wont be cheating on you,talk behind ur back,and even worse, make use of you. To find a good friend is easy,as everyone‘s being thru self-improvement of their own. It’s just the matter how’d u find them,and what to expect in the relationship.
Friendship does not count on how rich u are,wat social status u’re in,beauty,wat’s ur IQ level,wat brand of clothing do u wear and those faking **** thing. It is how u accept ur friend,the quality of their own. We,ourselves,no doubt, are made by God imperfect. We surely have weaknesses sumwhere, but we also posses the good quality of us. This make us a balanced being. Just accepting one another as the way they are. Respect them for wat they have,n they’ll sure respect u in return.
As for me, a friend gives me self-confidence improvement. I wud never feel alone wit them beside me, giving full-hearted support. Now, im 24(heading to 25 ;p), as an adult, so many things I need to discover and learn. This world is big and just waiting to be explored. The more I know,the more I need to know..
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