Think, Re-think & Action

by admin Posted on 28/12/2012

From my experiences in the corporate world, attending IPMI International Business School (www.ipmi.ac.id) for my MBA (Masters) was one of the best decisions of my life.  It has played a huge role into my daily work-life in the office and especially in driving concrete results.  It also gives me the ability to speak with various other divisions outside of my own division using “their” language to spark critical thinking conversation, as I am currently in the Division of Marketing & Business Development.  It also lets me see things with much more clarity.

In attending business school, I didn’t only learn about the nuts and bolts of business such as finance, accounting, marketing, operations, human resources, business strategy, etc, but I also learned the importance of interaction within groups and teams to discuss cases and issues for decision making.  I also learned that for you to get results in Marketing, you have to go out there in the field to network and talk to people. I mean talk to real people with real conversations; not those virtual conversations, but those genuine relationships you build with people.  Upon graduation, I gained a handful of network and connections while being in Business School and automatically part of the large alumni of former graduates.

I also learned the importance of soft skills, attitude and processes.  And, I learned that for you to seek a solution, you must have to first define the correct problem.  If you rush into solution seeking without digging deeper in the problem definition, you might be wasting your time finding a solution for the wrong problem. Also I learned that when you can conclude or investigate something, you have to base it on concrete data and come back with more concrete data to back up your justification.

But in addition to all that, I think one of the most important things I learned at business school is the ability to think; or in other words, learning about the art of thinking.  Having the ability to think is the core of a corporate employee and the core of being successful (In being successful I mean, being able to accomplish what you want to do while benefiting others and getting rewarded for it in terms of money, prestige, links, respect, etc.)

Not many employees realize that they are paid a salary to think.  This is one of the most important things any manager needs to understand. They are paid to find sustainable solutions effectively and efficiently for the organization they’re working for by thinking. Thinking is hard work and takes a lot of energy, that’s why few do it and that’s why few are masters at it.

In conclusion, you don’t need to take my word for it to be where you want to be.  I’m basing this on my own experiences.  Remember that if you are a paid employee, you are paid or given a monthly salary to think, make decisions, develop your team (if you have a team to manage) or be a team player, take responsibility for those decisions, take action, and improve that process all over again. Cheers.

By the way:  I graduated from IPMI International Business school > http://www.ipmi.ac.id

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One Of My Favorite Pieces About Social Media

by admin Posted on 25/12/2012

This is one of my favorite segments from Harvard Business Review about Social Media written by : Andrew O’Connell and Susy Jackson (Directly copied and pasted for educational purposes).

“At some companies, there’s a misunderstanding about what social media is. Traditionally, managers were used to achieving business objectives in departments that make things, sell things, or manage money. While social-media activity is very easily measured, it has little in common with these core business functions.

Social media is a big-picture, interdisciplinary concept that covers an evolving set of digital methods through which stakeholders interact. These methods can become major marketing channels, customer-service delivery channels, and new ways of gathering intelligence. Internally, your team can use social technologies to share information, build relationships, and get work done. Much of this is profoundly important, yet intangible. Intangibles are the enemy of actionable metrics.

Our company used to generate extensive analytics reports. I realize in hindsight that we were looking at them the way we might look at a sales report, despite the fact that our traffic and membership numbers weren’t translating into sales. Vanity metrics are accurate, but irrelevant. Now we view social media as a toolbox that can help us achieve our tangible objectives — such as revenue, sales, customer retention, and growth. We design our social media metrics to reflect that.”

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How Do You Do It??

by admin Posted on 23/04/2012

Its 2012 and the end of the world is coming. Hahaha, seriously ya’ll, you actually believe the hype?? Ok…enough goofing off. Its been a while since I’ve written a new post.  Basically, on today’s post I’d like to ask you a question and at the same time crystallize my own thoughts into asking myself the same thing. (Pretty clever huh..)

Well, the question is ; How do you go about managing your dreamy la la land brain mashed up with your heart and soul in trying to forecast your super cool self in achieving the ultimate success but face reality of the everyday grind of real world challenges?? In other words, and put into simpler terms; How do you manage your ambitions without being stressed out??

There is so much information out there these days about success, tips, how-to-tips, case studies, etc, that you could literally blow up your brain up to pieces from all your daily information consumption.  It seems that we’re all stressed out like taking a catfish from the water and watch it flop and blop around on the ground wanting to go back to the water.  Just stressed out about managing your own definition of success.  But why though??

I always wondered why do people literally kill themselves in trying to seek success..Its always been a question in the back of my mind. Going about this search for answers, I’ve always enjoyed having articulate conversations with people that share these same thoughts, and I came across a shared answer amongst different people stating that, the world now creates all of us to be like that. It creates all of us to be more stressed out. From all the high consumption of information of blackberrys,  i-phones,  ipads, internet, media and all the success stories of youngsters turn into billionaires into the way people socialize through social media.   These days, you’re suppose to be humanly efficient meaning your brain shall fit in more stuff as fast as possible and optimize your brain capacity into fitting more information as much as possible without worrying about its capacity levels.  That’s why if you look at it, all our heads are bigger than before because we consume so much. Haha!

So now the question is, how do YOU go about managing your own ambition before you turn into a looney tune? Haha.. I’d like to know.  Holla at your dude…

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Basket Menunjang Masa Depan & Karir Gue

by admin Posted on 10/03/2012

Pernah gue ceritakan dalam tulisan blog gue beberapa waktu yang lalu mengenai pengalaman gue di basket dan kontribusi basket untuk masa depan & karir gue saat ini.  Selain bermusik dalam genre “Rap/HipHop”, gue saat ini bekerja di bidang pelatihan QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety, Environment) dalam industri Minyak & Gas.  Yang gue katakan ’pengalaman di basket’, gue artikan sebagai pengalaman gue berkarir di liga basket indonesia tertinggi selama 10 tahun dan tidak hanya sebatas bermain bola basket sebagai hobi.

Cerita singkat, gue mulai berkarir di liga basket Indonesia dari tahun 1998 sampai pensiun tahun 2008 kemarin dengan penggantian nama liga basket mulai dari Kobatama, IBL, NBL dan 2017 kembali menjadi IBL. Gue pernah membela tim Indonesia Muda, Garuda, Kalila & Pelita Jaya. Dalam pengalaman gue berkarir di liga basket Indonesia, gue mendefinisikan ”Basket Menunjang Masa Depan Gue & Karir Gue Saat Ini” melalui Modal yang gue terima selama berkarir di dunia basket. Modal tersebut adalah modal secara finansial, relasi/network, kesehatan, pendidikan dan untuk membangun soft-skills. Modal-modal ini adalah fondasi untuk masa depan gue dan karir gue saat ini. Penjelasannya sebagai berikut:

Modal :

– Modal secara finansial (terima gaji,uang kontrak, tunjangan lainnya) : Dari sini gue mendapatkan kesempatan dari berbagai arah untuk mengumpulkan uang untuk semua kebutuhan gue. Mulai dari gaji bulanan, sponsorship, endorsements, uang kontrak, bonus, & tunjangan lainnya dalam bentuk kas. Jadi kalau kita sudah berkarir di basket, sudah sama seperti pekerja kantoran. Saat ini basket indonesia sudah bisa dibilang karir yang menjanjikan untuk masa depan dalam hubungan finansial.

– Modal relasi / network (bisa ketemu & berkenalan dengan banyak orang) : Dengan kita menjadi pemain basket sebagai pilihan karir, banyak sekali kesempatan kita bertemu dengan banyak orang dalam berbagai macam bidang; mulai dari pengusaha-penghusaha besar, pejabat2 negara & key persons dalam korporat, dsb. Kita juga bisa membina networking kita untuk membangun fondasi network ke depan.

– Modal kesehatan (kesehatan menjaga badan, fisik & membiasakan rutinitas olahraga dalam hidup kita yg singkat ini) : Dengan kita berolahraga & berkarir di basket, kita secara otomatis akan menjaga kesehatan kita secara fisik & akan menunjang kesehatan secara mental juga. Dari sini adalah basis untuk menjadikan kesehatan menjadi faktor penting dalam kehidupan kita ke depan.

– Modal pendidikan (Pendidikan) : Selama gue bermain basket, pendidikan gue selalu ditanggung oleh tim gue. Mulai dari ditawarkan beasiswa SMA sampai S2 sekarang ini, tim gue selalu menawarkan tunjangan ini demi masa depan gue. Modal pendidikan juga bukan semua dalam bentuk sekolah tapi juga pelajaran yang kita bisa dapatkan dari pengalaman-pengalaman pelatih kita, manajer & owner tim. Banyak sekali pelajaran yang gue dapatkan dari banyak berbincang2 dengan pelatih, manajer & owner tim.

– Modal untuk membangun soft-skills (last but not least) : Yang terakhir ini, gue bisa katakan adalah modal yang sangat penting untuk masa depan & karir gue saat ini karena akan digunakan sampai kita tua hehe.. Selain dari hal2-teknis di basket sebagai bagaimana menjadi pemain yang baik dalam skill bermain, kondisi fisik, dll, kita di basket secara otomatis akan membangun soft-skill dalam banyak hal-hal non-teknis yang kita ketemui dalam karir di basket. Dari pengalaman di basket banyak soft skills gue yang dibentuk; 26 contoh sebagai berikut:

1. Bagaimana mengelola diri sendiri & mengenali diri sendiri;
2. Sikap/Attitude terhadap professionalisme kita dalam bekerja; datang tepat waktu, keseriusan dalam latihan (bekerja), dll..
3. Bagaimana menyikapi kritikan
4. Bagaimana kita bersaing secara sehat di dalam tim (tempat kerja)
5. Mengatur waktu diantara latihan & kegiatan diluar latihan
6. Pantang menyerah; Bermental baja, Bertahan mental dalam bekerja
7. Bagaimana mendidik diri sendiri
8. Bergaul dalam tim / tempat kita bekerja & diluar kegiatan tim dengan masyarakat luar
9. Menyikapi pergaulan bebas & dunia malam
10. Percaya diri
11. Mengelola keuangan
12. Pentingnya pendidikan & menunjang pendidikan dengan kerajinan untuk membaca buku
13. Membaca kontrak & pahami artinya klause-klause di dalam kontrak
14. Merencanakan karir & menanamkan diri untuk membiasakan diri untuk berencana
15. Mencari peluang diluar basket / tempat kita bekerja; endorsement deals, business,dll
16. Menghindari gossip negatif dalam tim / tempat kita bekerja
17. Menghadapi masalah pribadi vs. Masalah kerjaan
18. Menjaga hubungan dengan atasan (coach)
19. Bagaimana mendapatkan posisi & trust di dalam tim / tempat kita bekerja
20. Untuk mencari sumber dari masalah, mempertanyakan kenapa 7 kali
21. Beriman untuk mengimbangi jiwa
22. How to be a leader
23. Hilangkan sikap omdo (omong doang) & lebih action-oriented
24. Mengambil keputusan untuk berani gagal
25. Berani bicara kalau ada masalah; berani untuk bicara, jangan dipendam
26. Berpatut kepada komitmen

In conclusion, gue sangat berterima kasih kepada olahraga bola basket yang menjadikan gue seperti sekarang. Sekali lagi, semua modal yang gue terima di basket adalah modal yang sangat penting untuk menunjang masa depan & karir gue saat ini. Loe berkarir di bidang apapun, loe bisa sukses asal setiap hari loe selalu mencari pelajaran yang berharga & berguna dalam sehari-sehari saat loe bekerja/sekolah dibandingkan mengeluh & komplain terhadap hidup loe..hehe.. Basket menunjang masa depan gue & karir gue saat ini. Terima kasih Basket!  Salam olahraga & hip hop.

-Herdian Mohammad (Herdi)

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Internet

by admin Posted on 08/01/2012

Maybe many of you are wondering why I put up the last post of video trailers of “Pornstars in Indonesian Horror films” on my last blog post.  I have noticed many developments within my country of Indonesia in which if you would’ve told me about 5 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.  Our generation or the next generation Indonesians have been influenced by the worlds surroundings that many of us are standing up and doing something that we’ve always dreamed of doing within our childhood. Who would’ve thought that those famous porn stars would be in an Indonesia movie (I don’t know if this is a blog post promoting pornstars or not, but I’m facing the facts on reality here.)  Many developments in infrastructure, job creation, business opportunities are developing for Indonesians to take advantage of.  Internet is booming down in Indonesia and alive and well for the access of information world wide to be retrieved and used for positive influences.  The downside is definitely the negativity behind easy access of information including horrific images, adult content and all other negative influences you can name.  For me personally, the internet has been a huge part of my life for the past 16 years of my life through my personal development.  I started my music career online, writing career, basketball career, job, school all the way to solidifying my personal brand through the internet.  The internet has done big things for me personally as it is also doing to my country of Indonesia; Contributing a significant impact on the growth of our society.  You can google anything you can think of in your head and I can assure you that it is on the internet.  Use it to your advantage through everything that you do and don’t get caught up in only surfing mind boggling things that eradicate your productivity *ehem you know what I mean..*

With this, I leave you to decide whether to take advantage of the internet or use it to degrade your life.  Going back to talking about Indonesia, you can do anything you put your mind to, and use the internet for your advantage. There are many opportunities out there.

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