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The quiet achievers, why we do what we do
In October 2006, a year & a half into the job, I was promoted from Research Assistant to Finance Manager at P&G, charged with overseeing the portfolio analysis of all healthcare products across Australasia, ASEAN & India.
My job entailed conducting net preset value analysis, proposal writing & constructing 5 year building block forecasts. I enjoyed the thinking parts of the job the most. Sadly, my days were filled mostly with meetings.
Mohit, the Marketing Director, wore fiery red suits &, in the conference room, held meetings that often spanned two mealtimes, a torturous platform where colleagues would pontificate.
Although I can be assertive, I struggled to lob a word over the cacophony, amid the frenetic volleys of my marketing bosses & sales colleagues.
Sometimes I was put on the spot with pointed questions & I’d think of snappy answers only days later.
In the hard-driving, deadline-oriented FMCG world where instant decisions & constant interruptions were part of life, I craved time to reflect.
At first, I didn’t have an office door to close.
When I got one, I was asked not to close it.
In the P&G culture, a closed door meant a closed person — stand-offish, inaccessible & definitely not a team player.
So I hid in conference rooms between meetings to concentrate.
If I arrived early & booked a workspace with a window, I got my best ideas gazing at the CBD cityscape.
Everyone worked long hours, & mine were longer than most, from 7am till 11pm.
I found that I did my best work when the commotion fizzled & all I could hear was the buzz of vacuum cleaners of the cleaning staff.
While I’m not typically shy, or socially anxious, & I really do thoroughly enjoy people (in doses), I need to catch my breath during my sacred quiet time.
Over the course of 3 years, I tumbled inside a kaleidoscope of meetings. The constant jockeying to be noticed, the instant replays of “he said, she said” in my mind, & the racing to the finish line without enough time for reflection kept my adrenalin-fueled body awake even on weekend nights.
I learned to attach my name to my accomplishments, which took an extra push for me.
I had to strike a balance between the culture of hubris that dominated P&G & my natural inclination toward modesty, which possibly stemmed from being an introvert & my upbringing (understatement is better than overstatement, Dad says).
Succumbing to modesty meant being relegated to the margins as a worker bee instead of the more privileged ranks as core contributor.
I became better at speaking up at meetings, articulating my accomplishments & building a strong professional network.
But while I had learned to strut & pose, I severely sensed that something was missing.
What, in my job, was I doing to positively impact the people around me? My family, my community, my country?
Unable to find purpose, I quit.
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That was 8 years ago. Today I’m happiest when working with my SME clients, helping SME companies pole-vault over obstacles to reach their business goals, from getting better financial results & raising profitability to improving productivity.
I’m at my sweet spot when having deep conversations with one SME owner at a time.
I love strategizing with my SME clients, & I delight in helping them find practical business insights & breakthroughs to exponentially grow their companies.
Could I have thrived at P&G? Certainly yes, & in many ways I did (I was awarded the Snoopy Scooter award in 2007 for innovating highly efficient workflow processes which resulted in cost savings of more than US$137,000). But I found little purpose in what I did.
Borne out of frustration of not being able to find meaningful enough jobs, Huimin, Alvin & I built our SME company on a freemium model.
We give so that other SME companies might give.
This is what we want to do. To create real, positive impact to the lives of SME employees.
We realize now, that weariness is not working 12 hours at a job we love; it’s slogging 2 hours at a job we hate.
Though now we are earning less, do we look back, or ponder what if? Does the prospect of another glitzy MNC job tempt us?
Definitely not! We're reaping too much satisfaction helping SME owners grow their businesses from employing only 3 people, to being listed on the SGX Catalist Exchange, to eventually being catapulted on to the SGX Main Board.
We wouldn't trade our self-actuated life's purpose for anything else in the world.
My job entailed conducting net preset value analysis, proposal writing & constructing 5 year building block forecasts. I enjoyed the thinking parts of the job the most. Sadly, my days were filled mostly with meetings.
Mohit, the Marketing Director, wore fiery red suits &, in the conference room, held meetings that often spanned two mealtimes, a torturous platform where colleagues would pontificate.
Although I can be assertive, I struggled to lob a word over the cacophony, amid the frenetic volleys of my marketing bosses & sales colleagues.
Sometimes I was put on the spot with pointed questions & I’d think of snappy answers only days later.
In the hard-driving, deadline-oriented FMCG world where instant decisions & constant interruptions were part of life, I craved time to reflect.
At first, I didn’t have an office door to close.
When I got one, I was asked not to close it.
In the P&G culture, a closed door meant a closed person — stand-offish, inaccessible & definitely not a team player.
So I hid in conference rooms between meetings to concentrate.
If I arrived early & booked a workspace with a window, I got my best ideas gazing at the CBD cityscape.
Everyone worked long hours, & mine were longer than most, from 7am till 11pm.
I found that I did my best work when the commotion fizzled & all I could hear was the buzz of vacuum cleaners of the cleaning staff.
While I’m not typically shy, or socially anxious, & I really do thoroughly enjoy people (in doses), I need to catch my breath during my sacred quiet time.
Over the course of 3 years, I tumbled inside a kaleidoscope of meetings. The constant jockeying to be noticed, the instant replays of “he said, she said” in my mind, & the racing to the finish line without enough time for reflection kept my adrenalin-fueled body awake even on weekend nights.
I learned to attach my name to my accomplishments, which took an extra push for me.
I had to strike a balance between the culture of hubris that dominated P&G & my natural inclination toward modesty, which possibly stemmed from being an introvert & my upbringing (understatement is better than overstatement, Dad says).
Succumbing to modesty meant being relegated to the margins as a worker bee instead of the more privileged ranks as core contributor.
I became better at speaking up at meetings, articulating my accomplishments & building a strong professional network.
But while I had learned to strut & pose, I severely sensed that something was missing.
What, in my job, was I doing to positively impact the people around me? My family, my community, my country?
Unable to find purpose, I quit.
---------------------------------------
That was 8 years ago. Today I’m happiest when working with my SME clients, helping SME companies pole-vault over obstacles to reach their business goals, from getting better financial results & raising profitability to improving productivity.
I’m at my sweet spot when having deep conversations with one SME owner at a time.
I love strategizing with my SME clients, & I delight in helping them find practical business insights & breakthroughs to exponentially grow their companies.
Could I have thrived at P&G? Certainly yes, & in many ways I did (I was awarded the Snoopy Scooter award in 2007 for innovating highly efficient workflow processes which resulted in cost savings of more than US$137,000). But I found little purpose in what I did.
Borne out of frustration of not being able to find meaningful enough jobs, Huimin, Alvin & I built our SME company on a freemium model.
We give so that other SME companies might give.
This is what we want to do. To create real, positive impact to the lives of SME employees.
We realize now, that weariness is not working 12 hours at a job we love; it’s slogging 2 hours at a job we hate.
Though now we are earning less, do we look back, or ponder what if? Does the prospect of another glitzy MNC job tempt us?
Definitely not! We're reaping too much satisfaction helping SME owners grow their businesses from employing only 3 people, to being listed on the SGX Catalist Exchange, to eventually being catapulted on to the SGX Main Board.
We wouldn't trade our self-actuated life's purpose for anything else in the world.
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