I am currently sitting on my flight back to France from Singapore. I’ve been there for the last week. It was the first time that I’ve ever been to that part of Asia and overall it was a good trip. It’s been a while since we’ve had a list on the blog so as a summary here are my top 10 lessons learned from both a work and a personal/cultural perspective....
(1) The Singaporeans really don’t like drugs – the immigration entry card is quite clear on the subject – death penalty for all traffickers – a rather abrupt introduction to Singapore but at least you can’t say you weren’t warned. I cleverly snuck mine into my neighbour’s suitcase so that was something of a relief (just kidding). (2) I have never been in public toilets that smell as good as those in Singapore – the standard of cleanliness in general is very high, but there were 3 or 4 public urinals that smelled positively pleasant. If I could just have bottled the smell then I could have been a millionaire. It would have given a whole new meaning to the term “eau de toilette”. (3) They don’t like drugs but they do like process – they didn’t clean my hotel room for 3 days because I hadn’t followed the process of switching on a call light (maybe they should have a process whereby processes are explained to guests on arrival). (4) Still on the subject of predictability and process....the temperature of between 28C and 36C is pretty constant all year round. It can also be pretty humid, which can be a bit uncomfortable at times, although it does rain between 3PM and 5PM every day which helps freshen things up. In fact it also gets dark at the same time every evening and the sun also rises at the same time each morning. (5) Furthermore it is impossible to get a taxi between 3.30PM and 4PM because that is the time that the cabbies’ shift changes. All in all I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day by the end of the week. (6) It’s also most bizarre to be in a country that’s only 45 years old – we old Europeans ridicule the Americans for having no history, maybe we should look a little bit further afield. (7) That Singapore is artificial perfection – it’s like Disneyland but on an adult sized scale. Singapore seems to have its very own mini London Eye, Sydney Opera House, British Colonial offices, Canary Wharf Tower and Empire State Building all mixed up together. It’s a most bizarre place with a funny mix of architectures, lights and colours. (8) That the men are really effeminate (and that’s saying something from someone who likes to wear pink shirts). (9) That the new fiancée of one of my oldest friends is absolutely delightful. Thankfully I don’t think she hates me (unlike all of his previous girlfriends), although I suspect that is because I spoke much too quickly for her to understand anything. (10) That you can eat really well in Singapore, that nightclubs are often in the basements of hotels (apparently...), and that air conditioned cabs and trains should be introduced everywhere....oh how my view of the London Underground has changed whilst in Singapore.
And on the work front...
(1) That I am now beginning to understand and appreciate the global nature of my account a bit more – it really is more than just Zurich and that there are real people at the end of those emails that come in over night from Singapore. (2) That we’ve got huge amounts of work to do in the APAC region – it really is a question of how quickly can we get some good quality boots on the ground. (3) That I am very happy that I got to spend some time with my Delivery Head who flew down from India – we think in a very similar way about how we should be looking to run the account so that was a big source of relief. (4) That being able to outline a clear team organisation structure with clear roles and responsibilities is going to be absolutely critical to success. (5) That being able to explain to the people in the team what a long term career model in the account might look like will also be pretty important given the feedback I received this week. (6) That a seemingly intractable problem that has dogged the account for the last 18 months can be resolved quite quickly with a new pair of eyes, some fresh good will and a good dollop of professionalism by some key people. I’m looking forward to going back to Zurich on Monday to market some success we had this week. (7) That being able to have agreed a new organisation structure has allowed me to understand how lopsided the team has become over the last 24 months and which vacancies need to be filled as a matter of priority. Time to get my little black book out I think. (8) That we’re actually doing a lot of good work and that we have a lot of happy customers – our real challenge will be absorbing new work and delivering that successfully. (9) That no matter how many emails, telephone calls or video conferences you want to do, nothing beats going to see someone in person, shaking their hand, looking them in the eye, and then drawing on a whiteboard with a permanent marker. (10) That I’m enjoying my new role and that I’m looking forward to my first town hall where I can formally roll out some of my new plans and ideas for the account. Some might say the future is bright, the future’s green white and orange.
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