Ricky’s Online Business Blog

I have been watching this video and am still deeply moved. It is one of the most watch-able commercials I have ever seen in life. Some of the acting may be too far fetched. But its message is profound.

Question – Why am I different from others?
Answer – Do you have to be like others?

Don’t seek to be like others! Everyone of us is unique and has our own destiny to realize in life!

From marketing point of view, the commercial is also great. Pantene shampoo is a functional product and has its conventional market of shampoo users. But now it seeks to cross over from functionality to emotional appeal. Instead of using logic to tell us why it is a better brand, it seeks to attack our emotion and win our heart over.

Not only will it persuade more people from the its traditional market to use the product, those who don’t use their kind of shampoo maybe bought over too. Who knows I might decide to buy Pantene for my family next time? Perhaps this is one of the blue ocean strategies to conquer a new market.

And the tagline is inspirational – You can shine!

By the way, I consider the Thai language very beautiful phonetically. It is a language I wish to learn if I had extra time.

I’m not a born leader.  I often think I’m better off as an adviser to a leader, rather than being a leader myself.  But there are situations in life which put us in the position of leadership.  So I have no choice but to learn to lead as well.

In learning to be a leader, I subscribe to strength-based leadership, among other practices.  It means to focus on other people’s strengths, instead of weaknesses, in leading and coaching them.  Instead of spotting their mistakes, we try to spot their plus points and encourage them accordingly.

Since we will see what we focus on, so by strength-based leadership we will seek to discover and reward the good points in others.  Hopefully, their confidence and morale will increase and will produce even better work and be better team members.

Generally speaking, it has worked out quite well so far.  However, my trial is not without problems.  But these are not problems with strength-based leadership.  They are my problems.

In focusing on strengths, I tend to overlook their weaknesses.  As a result, when a team member does not do his or her job well, I tend to brush it aside and not confront the member so that he or she can do better next time.

In focusing on strengths, I also tend to inflate a member’s ability.  If I find someone capable of doing something, I am inclined to consider he or she good in other areas as well.  However, such assumption can prove to be wrong.  At least once recently.

Also, when a member really does something wrong, I tend to give him or her benefits of doubt.  This maybe alright.  But I even try to rationalize and explain away his or her mistake.  Seems like I’m not facing the reality.

When I spot a member doing something obviously wrong, I also tend to avoid conflicts in order to maintain our relationship. I guess this is related to my tendency to be a nice guy.  It may be OK for a short-term team or project.  But it will not bring any benefit if we are together for long term, to the well being of both the team and the member.

I still want to adopt strength-based leadership in life, but perhaps with some adjustments and corrections.  Any feedback?

I have recently helped conduct a survey on “Have You Got A Lady Boss?” I have promised to share what I personally think about a lady boss.  So here it is.

On a social level, I find it easier and more comfortable dealing with girls than guys.  I have more and closer female friends than guy friends.  Normally you may see me associating with girls more than guys.  I think this has something to do with my childhood upbringing.

But when it comes to working, I find it much more difficult dealing with a lady boss than a male boss.  “Boss” here is not limited to workplace but also other settings such as a team leader working together for non-work purposes.

Perhaps it’s because the few lady bosses I have had in the past are all quite strong leaders, even stronger than many male leaders I have come across.  They often have very high expectations out of me.

From personal experience, it has not been very pleasant experience working with lady bosses.  But thanks to these lady bosses, I have learned much and corrected myself from the experience dealing with each and every of these strong personalities.

Personally, I prefer working with male boss.  But I’m not in control of who will be assigned as my boss.  Perhaps God gives me a difficult boss in order to train me up.  So I should take whoever assigned to me as my leader.

I guess in future, women leadership will be very common, that perhaps one generation from now, such survey on lady boss is no longer meaningful any more.

It is a fact of life.  We need to deal with anyone who come into our life.  I guess the problem is more on “managing our boss”, rather than the lady bosses themselves.

Thanks everyone for taking the “Have You Got A Lady Boss?” survey!

I have indeed learned how to administer a questionnaire using Google Docs. It’s so convenient!  Thanks to recommendation from friends on the Internet and social media.

As promised, the results are being released online.   But first of all, have a look at what respondents told us about a lady boss.  Click to enlarge.

Don’t blame me for anything.  I’m just reporting the findings…

Below is the part of presentation on data collected and analysis.

Disclaimer - I’ve got the permission to put up photos of the pretty lady in the slides

Click here to view or download report data collection & analysis in PDF format.

What conclusions can you make out of these results?