But think about it:
Singaporeans are too pratical and realistic that they only see the short term profits rather than on a long term vision.

Typically, when an asian team started a company, this situation occurs:

When there’s money to make, we are good buddies.
When there’s no money or company collapse, people keep shifting the blame (just like army) and you end up alone.

There’s a lot of distrust among the company and the team is not united. We take the recent death case of an old lady who had taken excessive overdosage when she visited Clementi Polyclinic by healthcare group (NHG) to see a doctor. Apparently, it’s the doctor who overlooked her age, resulting in a death. The old lady’s son now suing the doctor and the doctor shifts the blame to the pharmacists for not informing him.

The case caused a debate between doctors and pharmacists in NHG and doctors suggesting redundant adminstrative works to protect their own ass to prevent such incident happening. With distrust between doctors and pharmacists, when will patients’ interest be considered as priority?

That is one misconception that I want to shrug my students. Perhaps, it is the context of the Asian role models. Most young entrepreneurs think that it takes only one person to make the mark. So, they form the hero worship model and not treat their team well. The real winners who forged big corporations have good teams who are also well-known. For example, Bill Gates have Paul Allen and Steve Balmer.

To me, everyone can be an entrepreneur, but only successful entrepreneurs form teams which are unbeatable. In the same philosophy of my favourite football manager, Jose Mourinho, I don’t believe in star players but only in strong team players.

If everyone becomes an entrepreneur, who works for the entrepreneur?

1)Superiors gaining credit from an idea suggested by you.

It is a very common situation found in the workplace. The big bosses won’t have time to talk to any small fry. Any idea you have seems to be stolen off by your superior/manager.

2)Got ideas but difficult to find people to help you.

More for entrepreneur i guess. You may need very good techical people to bring your product idea.

3)Got ideas to feedback to your organisation but no proper channel to listen.

I guess this issue is commonly faced in SMEs and even MNCs. We seems to be “cultivated” with a habit of just listening to orders and do what is being told. Employees will just ask, ” who will listen?”

4)Got ideas but scared of doing the extra

Just like in army, we are told not to do anything “extra”. Obey orders because if you don’t obey what is being told, it’s confinement/extra duties. Employees may have some simple ideas but it ended up being untold because they feel that if they suggest something, they will have to do it but when i do it, I don’t get “extra” pay. Plus, the impression is why waste your breath to convince your boss that your idea works when the boss don’t even bother to listen to you.

Thanks.

Basically, I don’t even know what is my role in the beginning? I totally slack out and left it to the last minute to complete my work in writing where I just do my part and that time I totally had no idea where am I going to focus. Though it’s a project but we still we need to create a prototype as well. As well as writing all the plans and reports.

So it mean business. We had to actually invent a product and write a business proposal of how to market the product and convince large business organization? But throughout the process I just do it and truthfully it’s a challenge though it was a last minute work for me and I do learn alot of things as well.

However, BL protecting ideas are important. It’s not that people don’t want to share their ideas. But they are afraid their ideas might be exploit by others that is one of the main disadvantages in inventing. As you can see there are many unethical acts within our society. People just use the idea of what eventually doesn’t belong to them in reality.

And it’s horrible to experience when a project that you put almost every effort to it to complete the assignment and you realise it had been stolen? I had several case during my uni days? Where my assignment had been stolen while lecturers ask us to go to and collect our assignment from the student pigeon holes? Sometimes, you also don’t understand why they want to steal your assignment for? But yes, you are right..It’s put you to more challenge as well. The good thing is I always save a messy draft of my assignment though it can’t be completely understand by others what I write but still I personally know what I have written.

Yes, it’s a good article…Keep up the Good Job.

And the most important quality that is needed – patience. This further relates to BL’s article on why we must just do it, and just do it early. Time will give us more opportunities to succeed. Many people give up too early and cannot delay their gratification. To share something I picked up when I was in the university years back. A professor quoted some research saying that those people who can delay gratification longer turn out to be much more successful in life. Now that’s food for thought for all of us.

I’ve always heard many folks saying that we need to innovate, have a unique, Google-like idea to start a business. But how are inexperienced, no industry knowledge persons going to go about doing this?

One solution is to first start a business in a related field. And then you can steer the ship towards a direction/area which when you work long enough with your clients/suppliers, find that has some unique qualities that you can tap.

I say this because in many high tech industries/ventures, the mumbo jumbo tech stuff can be very intimidating even to those in the know. And to know how to innovate and change things, it’d be good if you know where in the system there are flaws/inefficiencies to fix.

I was at the E27 event (a very cool event) recently and the yearbook.com.sg founder is a good example. He is not too experienced with technology (and very readily admitted it, kudos to the man) but went ahead with a rather simple technology. I am hopeful and encouraged that with patience, persistence and a learning attitude, he would find a way to generate strong revenue through innovating his company/technology once he finds his way within his industry. So hang in there, man.

To act on idea not only incur time and effort but may also money and risk. So most people will rather be dreamer than actioneer.

It is getting harder to find people who is both thinker and doer. Most will rather be one or the other.

People ‘copying’ the idea is a very real threat, especially if it is a breakthrough.

But then, most people only ‘talk’ without intention of doing anything.

The chinese words your teacher is referring to is 危机 (Wei1 Ji1). The first character means danger, and the second character means opportunity and chance. The idea of what your mentor is trying to say, is the following, you have to exploit opportunities in times of uncertainty and danger. I taught one of my students a long time ago, “You have to find opportunity in the midst of adversity, otherwise, you cannot be a character of your own in the future.”

It’s better to fail than fail because you don’t want to try again.