Thursday, January 15, 2009

Learning Experience Indonesia 2 - 3

19 September 2008

Finally it is time to go home and so must finished the soap opera....

The Indonesian First Born has come to accept the following assumptions

Assumption No. 1.
Your Boss will never change, meaning the father/uncle will always be his Boss, even if someone is put in between the two of them. The First Born will always be accountable to them.

Assumption No.2.
Their advice and counsel given by the Boss is well intended, they do not have bad intention or harm to you. They DO know what is happening and always concern about your progress and welfare.

Assumption No.3.
Respect has to be earned from the people on top of you as well as the people below. Your position as the First Born does not carry much weight. You are there because of who you are and not what you are able to contribute.

Assumption No 4.
Learn to listen to the Boss, they sometime do know what they are talking about after all they have the comfort of years of experience to learn from their own mistakes.

Assumption 5.
The First Born will never succeed as long as the Boss is in existence.

By the teenage years, the First Born will face the issue of succession. There is no rule on when and how succession will take place.

In my experience, the First Born will never succeed as long as the Boss is always there. (I know some of you may not agree. It is purely my opinion)...... The First Born can be working in the business for years and yet in the eyes of the Boss is never ready and even if they are better than their Boss in delivering higher profit, better turnover and greater expansion of the business - these First Born is still not good enough......... :)

In closing this experience I like to share with those First Born out there, the "B" law of the First Born. (Will detail the B's law at another time)

Be true to yourself
Be humble
Be willing to learn
Be patient
Be happy :)

Will this circle end, YES and NO. YES - It ends theoretical when the ownership of their business ends and NO when the First Born replaces the Boss and take on the role of the Boss .....

Hope you have enjoyed the learning experience

We have a long chat between the Indonesian First Born and the Boss....... It was a painful experience for both parties. The continuous fighting and shouting hurts their relationship. There was a compromise at the end....

Time to catch the flight...........


PS with every point I made above, there is a short story attached to the comment.
- Like the Indian transport company First Born, who decided that the only way to stop the Father from always complaining about his work attitude; he decided to have a desk next to his Father and so that his Father can see how hard he worked to please him.
- Like the Singapore spice company First Born who on his first day at work, the Father passed him the bank account and the entire company and went on holiday for one month. Purpose of the action is to make the son understand the nature of the business from day one. By the way daily trading of the spice can be in US$ millions per transaction. The son from that day onward learn to appreciate the Father better.
- Like the Malaysian hardware company First Born who can never benefited from the family business because she is a girl. Her younger brother will be the beneficiary. She felt disadvantaged even though she is the main driving force of the family business
and many more.......

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