Courtesy of Ocean Park website
In a leisure world dominated by American brands like Disney and Universal Studios, Ocean Park has distinguished itself year after year.
Thanks to my colleagues from the Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA), I had the privilege to learn how Hong Kong’s Ocean Park managed to hold its ground against HK Disneyland.
Courtesy of fvza.org
“Brand it like Beckham” so we’ve been taught, and untold fame and fortune may just follow you.
Learn to emulate Nike’s brand success story, and be inspired by how cleverly it came up with its world famous “Swoosh” logo and its unforgettable “Just Do It” tagline.
Jesus displays servant leadership by washing his disciple’s feet (courtesy of Turn Back To God)
A carpenter’s son born in a humble manger, Jesus of Nazareth could hardly be considered a superstar CEO by today’s yardstick.
However, few others have inspired or influenced as many lives as He has.
Association dinners and trips can be good bonding events (ASA Exco 2005)
Through the kind invitation of MCI, a global association management company, I had the privilege of diving more deeply into the world of associations at a recent conference at Suntec City Convention Centre. As the Sec-Gen of the Association of Singapore Attractions, I am always interested to learn about the best practices of running and managing an association.
According to a white paper published by the firm, there are 8 key strategies for associations (whether professional or trade) anywhere in the world to remain relevant in a fast changing future. Key findings from these paper hail from a survey of European associations conducted by MCI, but many of them are relevant to associations here in Singapore. They are:
Tony Hsieh, CEO and Chief Happiness Officer of Zappos.com (courtesy of Sunni Brown)
UPDATE: 28 November 2020 — Tony Hsieh has tragically passed away in a house fire at the age of 46. May he rest in peace.
Few companies are as zealous as Zappos in ensuring that excellence is ingrained into every single process, person and policy of the organisation.
Radical and almost ruthless in their quest for the holy customer grail, Zappos is famous for legendary strategies which few of their competitors dare to take up.
I was listening to HBR’s Ideacast recently and came across an interesting idea by Booz & Company’s Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi urging companies to “have the discipline to focus intensely on what they do best”. Titled the “Coherence Premium”, the central thesis of Leinwand and Mainardi is that “sustainable, superior returns accrue to companies that focus on what they do best”.
Gaining the Coherence Premium can be done if a company aligns and interlocks internal capabilities (or core competencies ala Hamel and Prahalad) with the right external market position. This can be graphically represented as follows:
Image source
Courtesy of Diverse Connections
One of the key strategies in the Human Resource function of any organisation is to hire the right people at the right price.
While human capital are the most important assets in any organisation, the process of recruitment is often more like a “hit and miss” strategy which usually depend on the following factors…
Singapore’s Most Common Bird – the Javan Mynah (photo by Ong Xin Rui from the Birds of NUS)
That bird above, the Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus), is the most common bird species in Singapore. You can see its black feathered wings with dashes of white fluttering everywhere around our island.
The Javan Myna has an amazingly liquid voice that allows it to imitate a range of calls into its repertoire, emanating through its characteristically yellow beak. It nests practically everywhere – on buildings, on trees, in padi fields, in drains, in roofs – and is abundantly successful in almost every habitat.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People for Ah Bengs (Courtesy of Wayangtimes.com)
One of the oldest lessons from the incomparable 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is to be proactive.
Now what does being proactive mean?
Courtesy of STOMP
Are we Singaporeans too straight-laced to stomach marketing gags? Do we like our advertisements to be plain, direct, and in-your-face?
More importantly, are guerrilla marketing campaigns doomed to a hairy end?