One of the most fascinating changes that I have seen over the years is the speed at which things are changing. And it is accelerating rapidly!!

A friend recently suggested I look at Did You Know on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8

Look it up. This amazing clip really sums up the world we are living in today and the challenges that we all face either as individuals or in ensuring our organisation stays relevant and successful.

So the big money question is how do we manage to stay on top of this wave of change?

Working with organisations over the years I have seen many focus on strategy both long term and short term. Today strategy is just not as relevant as it was ten years ago as things change so quickly.

What is essential today is a well thought through plan that is executed quickly and well. And if it does not work as well as you would like you then change the plan and execute again.

Success is in the doing!!

For a great book about this read Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. While it was written a few years ago it is very very relevant in the market today.

However to execute well you need a very clear idea of where you are going or more importantly where you would like to finish. You also need a total commitment to doing the hard yards to achieve results.

Frank Olsson (www.olsson.co.nz) recently sent me some wonderful articles on Lee Kwan Yew whom I have always regarded as an inspiration in this area and certainly one of the most under rated figures of the 20 century.

He was superbly focused, very clear sighted as well as being quite determined and clear about what he was going to achieve. And he worked very hard using innovation, commitment and a remarkable capability to execute to take Singapore from a small insignificant colonial outpost into the forward thinking successful country it is today.

Frank himself is a very remarkable guy (so please look up his website) and some of the quotes he sent to me about Lee Kwan Yew are so relevant that I wanted to share them with you.

Here are some of Lee Kwan Yews key philosophical messages:

1. Progress and prosperity are not the natural order of things, they depend on ceaseless effort and attention
2. If we are to succeed we must depend on ourselves. The world does not owe us a living
3. We needed new attitudes, the most important of which was that pay must accord with performance, not time spent on the job
4. You cannot enjoy the fruits of your effort before you have made the effort
5. You have to be fair to your workers if you want the maximum effort from them
6. No other project has brought greater benefits to Singapore than the planting of millions of trees
7. Courtesy must be our way of life
8. Creators of wealth are precious members of society who deserve honour
9. Education is key for a good administration and for improving bad habits
10. Never be a prisoner of any theory
11. Always try to be correct, not politically correct

In my opinion these are messages that we all need to embrace in our own way to make ourselves, our organisations and this country of ours even greater.

It is the power of Direction and Commitment.

Date: Sun 27th Sep 21:08 PM     Author: Terry McCloy