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| My corner in the office at WeWork |
In the meantime, here's a photo of me in my new office. I can tell that I am clearly going to be the best dressed man in the building here - it is so dressed down here, but fuck that, I'm going to be me and wear what the hell I want and if I wanna wear a suit and tie and be the best dressed man in the building then I am going to do as I please. What is the point of being a director of a company if you can't make your own fucking rules? After all, it's a lot of small companies working together, rather than one big company so I am my own boss and as Janet Jackson said (well, sang), "we'll make our rules, as we go along and break them all, if we're not having fun." For now I have a meeting in 15 minutes. I am really enjoying this office space - I have bagged the desk closest to the pantry: yes I know, I am closest to the food! But people also tend to congregate here for the food and chat, so it's not just to be within easy reach of the catering table. Okay, gotta dash, it is such a busy day in the office here, I am exhausted but excited too - thanks for reading!
Congratulations. Live well and prosper. Play nice. Remember to share. Don't pull the girls' hair. Say please and thank you.
ReplyDeleteDi, don't you know I am more likely to pull the boys' hair? Only because I am jealous that they still have any compared to me.
DeleteSeriously, have you seen the bitchy comments I have left all day on Facebook?
Be nice, now. Don't be the bitch. Do us proud.
DeleteWe have the free office space for 3 months during which we have full access to key decision makers from within the industry - I just attended a workshop this morning delivered by one of the leading experts in the industry to tell us innovators what the key challenges/problems are in the industry and what kind of solutions they need from us high-tech geeks. It is a super golden opportunity given to a small handful of the most brilliant minds who have applied to be on this scheme - I can't tell you how incredibly lucky we are to have made the list to be on this project as I don't consider myself that brilliant compared to some of the people in the same building as me (even if they do dress extremely badly).
DeleteI think this is more about your ability than luck.
DeleteThere is a bit of both I think - being in the right place at the right time, I have valuable skills to offer and the right opportunity came along. You'll be amazed how many people have plenty of 'ability' but are not in the right place at the right time. So perhaps there is more luck involved than you think. I don't doubt my abilities :) but I do feel grateful for my luck about being in the right place at the right time .
DeleteDo you think you can do as well if you repeat everything but in singapore?
DeleteWho knows. I'm currently working in an industry that doesn't exist in Singapore - the rail industry. Yes you have the MRT but that's it. The rail industry in the UK is huge because we have a big country and people depend on trains to travel between cities and the journeys are several hundred miles each time. I have a great time, great support, investment money and like I said, right place, right time.
DeleteLIFT don't mind me stalking you more often because your positive energy gives me a small red bull charge. LOL
DeleteThing about entrepreneurship in Singapore, when i talk to most locals, i hardly see any enthusiasm or fresh innovative ideas.
DeleteBusiness discussions always start with how bad the economy is, how costly to set up, how small our domestic market is, big players cornering profitable businesses .....
And when we talk serious, it's again always the same old same old.
Start up consultancy firms to rope in government supported funding and contracts. Food and beverage stalls, restaurants and last but never least. Education related businesses like enrichment classes or day care centers which has government supported funding....
Then nothing moves on from there, makan, drink, go back and a new day again.
What is the problem LIFT?
These "entrepreneurs" you mentioned are just setting up business for the sake of setting up a business. Now, if you look at entrepreneurs elsewhere (in Silicon Valley, those that have reasonable successes), the usual starting point is about tackling daily problems that these entrepreneurs experienced when they were still somebody's employees. So by addressing the problem and trying to resolve it with whatever means, they realise that such solutions cost money, and thus evaluate if others were also facing the same problems and see if the solution could be capitalised for more resources. Business starts building from then on.
DeleteBut once again, this is just a simplified version of starting your own company (all roses without the difficulties). Alex would be more familiar with such thought processes.
Well Leonard, what is the problem you ask me: I say that Singaporeans suffer from tunnel vision - or the 'frog at the bottom of the well' syndrome. The world is a big place and if we create something now that is going to work very well for the railway industry in the UK, we could expand it to any other country with a substantial railway network (that of course, excludes Singapore, as your geography does not allow for a big railway network, but includes Malaysia, as it is big enough). The local Singaporean market is small - both in terms of population and geography: whereas here in my office, we have a mix of nationalities from all over Europe, Asia, Middle East and North America and our outlook is very, very global. The sad thing is that Singapore is already quite international in terms of the number of expatriates working and living there - ie. FOREIGN TALENTS, I'm sure you're familiar with the term! But rather than seeing this as a major advantage, to open up the mindset of Singaporeans to engage the world (rather than just a tiny local market), Singaporeans are afraid to think big and engage on an international basis - which is highly regrettable.
DeleteThe solution? You Singaporeans need to get the hell outta Singapore at least for a few months, ideally a few years. Go study, live, work abroad - see what the world is like outside Singapore and learn some useful lessons about how different things are beyond your immediate surroundings. It doesn't matter whether you go to Cambodia or Canada, Thailand or Tahiti, Vietnam or Venezuela, Hong Kong or Hungary - just get the heck out of Singapore and the true learning can begin.
@Weiping, yes absolutely. There are vanity projects and there are very practical ones which are solving very specific problems. Vanity projects are far less likely to succeed than those practical ones which are solving some immediate problems (especially if it can make money or at least save money in the process). Of course, in an ideal world, a company should have some capacity internally to try to solve these problems (and save money etc) - but otherwise, if an outsider can step in and provide a wonderful solution, then yeah, the companies would be silly not to engage the outsider.
DeleteI do not know where the building architects get the cue from. But modern office buildings nowadays, try to include food places and vendors, have toilets with shower rooms, to actually facilitate the tenants' activities throughout the day, without having to leave the building.
ReplyDeleteMy current workplace has a clinic located at the basement, 2 convenience stores, 7 restaurants and a 24h supermarket situated beside. Effectively, when disaster strikes, one can take refuge in the office building.
Hiya. We don't need convenience stores or restaurants as they just keep giving us free food. I have had a lovely baguette for lunch, a big bottle of mango juice + a fancy yoghurt for my lunch. I think I will then go for more free coffee from the crazy coffee machine which gives us like a choice of 30 different kinds of coffee. (I had a 'caffe snow' earlier.) Like who needs Starbucks?!
DeleteOh and they have beer on tap. Like seriously, free beer in the office?!
Congratulations lift!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Leonard.
DeleteSo many of the other companies in my office have a bunch of interns working for them - I should go and get me a bunch of university students as well whilst I have the office space!!
ReplyDeleteJust posted an ad - let's see!!
DeleteDo they house clean?
ReplyDeleteYup, we have a group of Eastern Europeans who keep the place super tidy. The toilets are so incredibly clean and pretty you could read a book there - or bring in your tablet and watch a movie in there. It is that nice. Still can't get over the beer on tap. Unreal. Imagine if i actually liked beer ...
DeleteMy work space is so dusty. Seriously, I look at my piles of stuff, and I am just so uninspired. If I have your kind of wash room at work,I may just stay there with the food and watch Netflix!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on finding a job...looks like your Neighbour found a good one too...surfing facebook(?) on the company dime.
ReplyDeleteMuchopunk, I couldn't help but feel that your comment is so Singaporean. Allow me to explain please. Now firstly, I am the boss of a company which really didn't exist before I helped created it with my business partner: so that's not so much 'finding a job' but creating one.
DeleteAs for Facebook - that's just the tip of the iceberg. When you work for a start up company, well, you can do what the hell you want really. You can surf to whatever sites you want, you can have a nap, you can go to the shops - in fact, we have free beer on tap and I see people working with a glass of beer on their desk during office hours.
I get the impression that you imagine work must be like a Chinese lesson in primary one where the really strict Chinese teacher goes around making sure that every child is paying attention and sitting upright; where even staring out of the window is a punishable offence. Quite frankly, we couldn't get further from that.
You know thee are some companies in America that are so laid back people smoke Cannabis at work? Now that's punishable by a crazy long jail sentence in Singapore (ref: Noah Yap) but here in the West, people drink free BEER at work. If only I actually liked beer...
Sorry, part 2: the reason why we are so laid back when it comes to the 'rules' in the office is because we run our own business: if we don't get the work done at the end of the day, the business will fail. We are our own bosses and we are meant to create a profitable business that will make us money: there is no 'salary' as such, there is no 'boss' above you when you ARE the boss, you create your own profit or you starve. That's why when you're in this position, yeah you make sure the work gets done. And believe you me, people do work extremely hard (late nights, weekends etc) because of this 'do or die' atmosphere (as opposed to those middle management coasting along, drawing a salary). I am actually not feeling very well this morning, I didn't sleep well last night either but am still heading into work as per normal. The fact that I may be on Facebook today at work doesn't really make that much of a difference.
DeleteYou do realize that I am my own boss? Ownself approve ownself one leh? So I get to make my rules and I say Facebook is acceptable, heck anything is, as long as one gets the work done at the end of the day. Screw the rules, results are what matters.
The joke of you needing to find a job clearly flew over your head...also the Facebook thing? Maybe the envy in it was not showing. Sometimes I wonder what really happened to you while you're in Singapore that even a tiny hint of singaporean-ness in the replies here, you kinda go on Attack mode. That's fine though, it's your blog you do what you want but maybe relax on the need to point out the stupidity of Singaporeans. I for one understands Singapore =\= the world.
DeleteI can only chalk this one up to being 'lost in translation' - I really had no idea you were joking for it was neither funny nor came across as a joke.
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