I felt like a lawyer. The call was in less than 12 hours, and I was busy preparing my case, consolidating evidence and building my story. To be honest, I wasn't 100% behind the argument I was preparing to put across, but I didn’t really have much of a choice. I had to believe -- how... Continue Reading →
Why you will fail to have a great career
This is a beautiful talk, one that addresses something I'd felt strongly about since I started thinking seriously about my professional life back when I was studying at Temasek Polytechnic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHTawgyKWQ I remember sitting in the lecture hall, listening to an entrepreneur who had been invited to speak to us business students. During the Q&A,... Continue Reading →
I’m an analyst. I analyse.
Tired and socially exhausted after a very nice company dinner (a common predicament for introverts), I was looking forward to some me-time on the taxi home. But it was not to be -- the taxi driver was a little chattier than I'd hoped. Having seen me catch his taxi amongst a group of foreigners whom presumably were my colleagues... Continue Reading →
Choosing the amateur path
I'm currently reading a nice little book called Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky that discusses at some length the difference between being a professional and being an amateur. And it seems that being labelled an amateur isn't really so bad at all, and may in fact be a good thing. One of the professional vs.... Continue Reading →
The Trolley Problem and Being a Leader
In my previous post I wrote about the trolley problem (aka "the train dilemma"). Though an interesting problem in its own right and one which rightly deserved its own post, it wasn't really just for the sake of interest that I wrote it. As regular readers of my site would know (yes, all 60,000 of... Continue Reading →
How to be Brilliant
The meeting droned on. Something about something was being said. Someone mentioned someone. Suddenly, the spotlight turned my way. "What do you think, Donn?" I was there, yes. But I wasn't. My mind was on dinner, due an hour ago. My mind was on my wife, waiting patiently for me, an hour now, for dinner.... Continue Reading →
The Unequal Pay Monkeys Experiment
What happens when you give monkeys unequal pay? Surely monkeys won't feel indignant at being paid less than a peer? Well, some scientists decided to find out, and created this ingenious experiment that's now available on Youtube. Watch it below and be prepared to laugh your underpants off. The monkey's reactions are classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Go8tnl21MU
Business vs. IT
I was reminded today in a book I'm reading on visual analytics that the purpose of any analytical project is ultimately to make better decisions. Coming from a mixed business and IT background, I have had my fair share of IT vs. Business conundrums. With my IT hat on, I'm always thinking about efficiency, optimisation, ease-of-use,... Continue Reading →
Exceptional talent is about hard work
Saw an article by Entrepreneur.com on Facebook about a section in Robert Greene's book, talking about how exceptional talent is about hard work: He says that there is no such thing as being born into superior success. Rather, those politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, athletes and artists who rise above the rest in their field, achieving what... Continue Reading →
Tackling Impossible Projects
There was one time one of the files used in building a report was corrupted. In most cases this would be an easy fix: e-mail the relevant IT person in charge of this file and get him or her to send the corrected file over. But there was a small problem: we needed this report... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 