January, 2012 | Ramli John

The true north strong and free

me (middle left) with Roy (middle right holding the Canadian flag), who became a Canadian citizen this week

What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear the word “Canadian”? I’m sure you can think of a lot of positive things to say: polite, respectful, compassionate, tolerant, multi-cultural. You probably can also think of negative things to say about Canadians: boring, socialist, prude, passive, safe, lacks national identity, says ‘eh’ way too many times, puts maple syrup on everything.

I like maple syrup. I like saying ‘eh’. I’m proud to be Canadian. I believe Canada is a land of opportunities. But, all too often, I take for granted the many great things that Canada has to offer. Nothing made me realize this more than when I attended my friend’s Canadian citizen oath ceremony this week.

Canadian citizenship oath ceremony

I had the honour of witnessing the Canadian citizenship oath ceremony of Roy, my Mandarin language tutor, Toastmaster colleague, intellectual associate and close friend. I wanted to support him because no one else could go with him, not even his wife. I came to Roy’s oath ceremony expecting to just take pictures and support a friend. But I came away from the experience with a profound feeling of gratitude and a refreshing, new perspective.

If you don’t know what the Canadian citizenship oath ceremony is, let me describe it for you. If you know what it is and you’re a little ADHD like me, then skip to the next section:

The Canadian citizenship oath ceremony is the very last step in the Canadian citizenship process. After passing the citizenship test and meeting other eligibility criteria, candidates are given an invitation to a citizenship oath ceremony. It’s a very structured ceremony held in a large and bright court room. At the centre of the front of the room, a judge sits behind a raised desk. But unlike of the dark courtroom images from John Grisham novels, the judge is very cheerful and inspirational as he gives a powerful monologue on what it means to be a Canadian. You can almost feel the hearts of everyone in the room lift up. Then the whole procession climaxes to everyone standing up and reciting the oath of citizenship. Finally, with everyone’s excitement building up, each candidate is called one by one to the front, where he or she shakes the hand of the judge. Then judge hands the candidate his or her Canadian citizenship card. At that moment, you’re now legally considered a Canadian.

Privileged society

The judge for Roy’s oath ceremony said something that really struck me. He said that there are over 120 people in that room taking their oaths that day with over 30 countries represented such as China, Uganda, Somalia, Afghanistan, Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries. The judge pointed out that all of them had different past experiences. Some of them even came from war torn countries where death, hunger and desparation were an everyday norm. He goes on to say, “few of us share the same past, but together we can share the same future.” He encouraged everyone to make a difference in the communities their part of, pursue excellence at all cost and never stop learning and getting better.

When he said those words, I realized that we are so extravagantly privileged and blessed. We have so many resources available to continually improve, innovate, invent, create, imagine and dream. The sky is the limit. We have the resources such as OSAP, bursaries and scholarships to pursue higher education. Even during the 2008 recession, our unemployment rate was relatively low compared to other countries. We also have all the necessary resources to build startups. We have the technology to launch a web business from the comfort of our living rooms. These are advantages that other countries might not have.

Taking it for granted

I’m not trying to be nationalistic. My point is that most of us are so focused on our daily problems that we miss out on the unfair advantage we have with living in such a blessed country. We fall into the trap of thinking that we can stop improving and innovating because we’ve already arrived in the land flowing with milk and honey. But, becoming a citizen of such a blessed country is not an invitation to become comfortable, but an invitation to grow. If you do that and become a lifetime learner, you will continually increase your influence over time and really make a difference.

If you want to make a difference, start with pursuing excellence for your life. John Maxwell once asked a group, “What’s the one thing you would change to improve your community or organization?” Usually people name things that can be found on this list of Ps: policies, processes, procedures or people. Seldom does anyone say, “ME!” Yet that seldom-heard response is the key to change.

Be a lifetime learner

Canada is a land of opportunities. Don’t take what we have here for granted by letting status quo drive your life. Whenever you start to feel comfortable and you’ve stopped growing, it’s time to move on, whether it’s looking for another job or upgrading our skill or education. You might even want to build a startup or a brand. But also expect the same thing from others. If you’re in the position, fire those people who have stopped trying to grow.

Continue to learn, adapt, pivot and then learn some more. As the poet Harvey Ullman once said, “anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps on learning not only remains young, but becomes constantly more valuable regardless of physical capacity.”

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Canada, education, grow, improve, innovate, invent, learning

You don’t get on top without making a few enemies

by Ramli 6 Comments

Tim Tebow before a game

I was recently talking to Jose, a friend of mine, on why so many people are hating Tim Tebow, the star quarterback of Denver Broncos. If you don’t know what’s going on, google “hate tim tebow” and see how many hits you get. There are over 48,000,000 hits!

The first hit is an article in the SBNation website by Andrew Sharp on why it’s okay to hate Tim Tebow. Some of the reasons are completely idiotic:

1) Because millions of people demand you love him (really? that’s enough for you to hate someone?)
2) Because the whole “underdog story” is complete BS.
3) Because he really sorta sucks at playing quarterback
4) Because of his religion. (wow! I can’t believe he brought that up)
5) Because of what he represents (I really laughed out loud at this one)

Why all the hate for Tim Tebow? Maybe it’s because of his skill or, for others, lack thereof. Maybe it’s because of his values and Christian faith. Or maybe even for others, it’s because of his story or his past. But one thing is for sure, if Tim Tebow was a nobody, nobody would be talking about him. The article on SBNation wouldn’t even exist. Tim Tebow is being attacked because he’s a somebody.

If You Can’t Beat Them, Hate Them

Here’s the point I’m trying to make: You can’t get on top without making a few enemies. As you climb higher up the ladder of success, you become a bigger target for people. They see you as a threat because you’ve achieved success beyond their own. Out of their own envy and competitiveness, they try to pull you down.

This is what psychologist call the crab bucket mentality. It’s a way of thinking by some people that “if I can’t have it, neither can you.” The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. The crabs grab at each other in a useless “king of the hill” competition, which prevents any of them from escaping and results in their death

Mark Zuckerberg is a great example of this. As the tagline for the movie The Social Network goes, “you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” As Mark and his website rose in popularity, some of his friends and business partners became his enemies like the two brothers who sued him for $65M and one of Facebook co-founder, who Mark squeezed out of the company.

I’m sure there are countless of other examples where people attacked a person just because he or she is successful. If you look at other people who have gotten at the peak of their respective discipline, no matter how nice, virtuous or friendly this person is, I guarantee you that that person has critics, haters and enemies. Tim Tebow and Mark Zuckerberg are not outliers. It’s a general principle: you can’t get on top without making a few enemies.

Haters in the startup community

This principle is especially true in the startup community. There will be a lot of people who will tell you that your idea sucks or that your business will fail. If you’ve confirmed your business model with your target customers, then you just have to believe in yourself, your team and your product.

That’s exactly what a lot of other entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors told Jack Dorsey and his little startup, Twitter, back in 2006. “Psht, micro-blogging, what the hell is that?” “That’s a dumb idea.” But, despite of all of the criticism, he believed in his startup. Now, Twitter hosts approximately one billion tweets every week. Jack Dorsey can now tell those haters, “how do you like them apples!”

How you react defines how far you’ll go

So, how are you suppose to react to all the haters and critics? Are you suppose to run away and never aspire to be great? Don’t bottle it up. Like in aikido or jiu-jitsu martial arts, harness the punches, kicks and attacks they throw at you as your weapon. Do what Matt Wilson from Under30Ceo did when his best friend fired him: he posted up a picture of his best friend and used it for dart practice. He used that negative experience as motivation to go even further.

Do you want to be successful? If so, be ready to make a few enemies. Remember this: How you react to your enemies attacks will determine how far you’ll go.

Filed Under: Life, Startup Tagged With: crab bucket, critics, football, haters, success, tim tebow

How To Beat LeBron James

by Ramli 2 Comments

How Do You Beat LeBron James

I always ask people: How do you beat Lebron James, arguably one of the best basketball player playing in the NBA?

The answer: play him at anything else but basketball, something you know he’s not good at.

That’s the key in winning in life, in startups and in business. You need to know what you’re the best at. Ask yourself, “where do I have the edge?”

Know your startup’s edge

Knowing the answer to that question can be the difference between success and failure, especially for your startup. In fact, you set yourself up for a failure if you do things that you don’t have an edge or unfair advantage.

If you look back in the past, you’ll see examples of big business mistakes that could have been easily avoided if they answered that question. For example, Coca-cola used to be in the business of shrimp farming, plastics and even movies (in the early 1980′s, coke owned Columbia Pictures). Gillette decided a long time back to sell digital watches and explore for oil. Mobil, the American energy company, veered into furniture retailing. By branching out into areas that they didn’t have an edge, these companies set themselves up for a failure. The lesson: do not pursue business that you don’t have an edge, but instead focus your energy on ones that you have an unfair advantage.

A person who is a great example of someone who knows how to focus is Steve Jobs. In an interview with biographer Walter Issacson, Jobs said ”Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” And that’s exactly what he did. When he came back to Apple in 1997, after being ousted out of Apple almost a decade earlier, he cut down Apple’s product line from hundreds to just four, one for the “Consumer,” “Pro,” “Desktop,” and “Portable.” At that point, Apple’s stock value was at its lowest at $13 per share. With Steve Jobs laser-like focus, Apple became one of the most beloved and respected companies.

This laser-like focus is what Jim Collins in his book From Good to Great calls the Hedgehog Concept. Why a hedgehog? It looks ugly, like God mixed-up a porcupine and a small armadillo together. But whenever a predator comes its way, it does one thing very good: it curls up into a ball of sharp spikes that point outward in all direction. The predator has no way to get the hedgehog. Jim Collins observed that, from the pool of companies he studied, the ones that went from good to great had this hedgehog attitude. They had this laser-like focus on things they know they can be the best at. All the rest, they don’t do.

Know your own personal edge

The same know-your-edge principle also applies to your career. You need to know what you bring to the table in your career or startup. How do you add value to your company or startup? If you were to disappear right now, how would your team react? Would they even care? If they don’t even realized that you’ve disappeared, then you have a big problem.

A team is like a puzzle. The ones with most potential is one where all the pieces fit.

I see it this way: A team, whether work-related or volunteer-related, is like a jigsaw puzzle. The team that has the most potential is the one where the pieces all fit in together. When you’re missing pieces or the pieces overlap with each other, then you have an incomplete picture or redundant pieces. You need to know how you fit in to your team’s puzzle, then use that to your advantage to move your career forward.

This is exactly how Kevin O’learly, one of the dragons in the Canadian version of Dragon’s Den, see it. The best business partners are the ones where there are little to no overlap in skills among the partners.

How To Beat Lebron James

So, how do you beat King James in basketball? Don’t even try. Because if you did try playing LeBron in basketball, you’re gonna get schooled. Instead, beat him at what you’re good at. Beat him in something you know you have an edge.

Filed Under: Business, Life, Startup

Why His Best Friend Fired Him

by Ramli 3 Comments

http://under30ceo.com/why-i-fired-my-best-friend/

Matt Willson explains in Under30Ceo why his best friend fired him. Click on the image to read his article.

“You aren’t the type of person that makes the people around you better. That’s why we have to let you go.”

With the recent downturn in the economy, most companies are laying off their employees. But, imagine your best friend firing you from a startup that you started together! Matt Wilson from Under30Ceo experienced just that. He writes that “while I don’t like to swear, all I can think is “f*ck that guy”. I’ve never been more insulted in my life.”

If that ever happened to me, I would be in denial first, then afraid (what am I going to do now), angry and heartbroken (hey finding a business partner is like finding a wife!) – all textbook reaction to the death of a loved one.

And it’s true: a startup is like a loved one. It’s always on your mind. Sometimes it’s good to you. Sometimes it hurts you. It excites you. And when you’re fired from your startup, it feels like the death of a loved one.

But, why do startups die in the first place? Like a real person, I believe that startups can die from cancer; but not just any type of cancer, it’s a “status quo” cancer. Status quo has killed many startups. It happens when the people working for startup become too comfortable and complacent. They are no longer pursuing to be great, but just good enough. Then, your competition starts to nibble on the corpse of your dying startup.

That’s the exact reason why Matt Wilson got fired from his previous startup. His best friend saw that he wasn’t making people around him better. So, to his best friend, Matt has become to complacent and comfortable. He was no longer meeting the team’s expectation. So like a surgeon, his best friend removed the cancerous cell from their startup.

Demand more from yourself

Let Matt’s story be a warning for you. If you’re no longer excited about what you’re doing, then maybe it’s time to quit and find another job or career. Your startup (or any career for that matter) is suppose to give fuel to your fire. If it’s no longer giving you fuel, then you’ll drag yourself to doing the dull, boring and inconvenient tasks (coding until 3 am, meeting with potential clients after work-hours, sending emails and calling strangers). Working in a startup is not glamorous. If you lost your fire for it, it’s either time to talk to your business partners to get yourself pumped up again or quit.

Demand more from others

But the same is true for people you work with. Surround yourself with the best people, type I individuals, self-motivated and autonomous individuals. When the people you work with aren’t quality people, the quality of your life suffers. Your startup is only as strong as the weakest link. So take a look at it for a second, are the people around you the type of people that will make you better in everything you do?

Don’t be afraid to fire your friends

If the people around you are not living up to your expectation as a business partner or even a friend, then maybe it’s time to fire them. Matt explained in his article that he fired his gym partner because he was holding him back. It might sound cold and mean. But, when you surround yourself with complacent people, their cancer slowly spreads over to your life. Slowly, but surely, you become more like them.

Cut out your cancerous relationships before it gets you. I mentioned in a previous post that status quo is your greatest enemy. Don’t let it happen to you. Don’t settle for anything less, that the best for your life, career and startup.

Filed Under: Life, Startup