THE POWER OF ...ENCOURAGEMENT, INSPIRATION, ESPRIT DE CORP ..........

Huey Yee..you are indeed an angel, the jewel of the club. You sure "Go The Extra Mile" to write such an enlightening report on the proceedings of our club meeting held the night before on 28th Oct., 2008. I was about to request you to do the write up and yet when I open the blog it's already there, a well written report...kudos to you dear Huey Yee. I would like to appoint you as the official reporter representing the Public Relations Committee which is in the process of being set up. I do hope you accept the appointment and we will discuss further about the proposed PR Committee.
I agree with you 110% that the meeting was really fired up and full of excitement with all the speakers in one way or another making beautiful and impressive speeches invoking inspirations, motivations, encouragements, enthusiasm, and all the positive superlatives and adjectives that you can think off.
Beginning with Paul Tan's Table Topics of mind boggling quotations which really makes your mind start to think hard that drove almost all the speakers to speak out of topics. Perhaps Paul can post all the 11 topics he had prepared into the blog so that we can share all those quotations for future table topic session.
Calista's speech about her superhero grandfather almost put everyone to tears. She told it poignantly with emotions and aptly quoted Napoleon Hill's "Whatever the mind can conceive you can achieve" to describe how the 81 year old grandfather overcame a serious stroke and survive until today. Congratulation calista. Keep it up.
From Sharon who idolise her father we learned how to overcome difficulties and problems in life.:
1. Stop what's not working
2. Start what is working
3. Continue what is working
This is a practical strategy to adopt when one is in the situation of "insanity" not knowing what to do. Many of us is in this life's situation of insanity that is doing the same thing day in day out (over and over and over again ) and expecting different results. Sharon gave us the answer to this. Kudos and Big Thank you Sharon.
The night was full of fun and laughter with the antics of Aziz's unique style of humour and Khoshim's inimitable way of conducting the meeting. Khoshim has proven that with enthusiasm, courage and wanting to be the best of oneself surprised the GE Rohijas that he can conduct the meeting with confidence and in fluent English. Congratulations to Khoshim and Aziz.
Haji Naburi's quotation was "Engage your Brain before you put your mouth into Gear." was well interpreted by Huey Yee.
The performance of our VPE Siew Yin as Acting President while our President Hj Hashim was playing golf in Pekan Baru, Indonesia, was sterling. She is rightfully a President in the making. Touche' Siew Yin. You briefly spoke about John R Wooden's article in the October issue of the Toastmaster's Magazine which I would like to highlight and share some of the important points which are practical and applicable to all of us especially in Toastmasters.
Who is he? John R Wooden is 97 year old who is the greatest basketball coach of the UCLA Basketball Team that won the U.S. National Championship 10 times unprecedentedly. He is Head Basketball Coach, Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles.
His famous Quotations, "Mentors are available at all stages of your leadership life..early, middle and late. Seek them out and listen; absorb their knowledge and use it."
His definition of SUCCESS, " SUCCESS is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable."
To him success is NOT the accumulation of material possessions or the achievement of a position of power or prestige.
He made use of what his father said to him."Never Try to be better than someone else. Learn from others."
Based on this definition he invented the PYRAMID OF SUCCESS (Refer pg 18 of Toastmasters Magazine Oct. issue)
WOODEN'S 12 LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP:
1. Good values attract good people
2. Love is the most powerful Four-letter word
3. Call Yourself a Teacher
4. Emotion is your enemy
5. It takes 10 Hands To Make a Basket
6. Little Things Make Big Things Happen
7. Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
8. The Carrot is Mightier Than A Stick
9. Make Greatness Attainable By All
10. Seek Significant Change
11. Don't Look At The Scoreboard
12. Adversity is Your Asset

According to Wooden, one of the greatest motivating tools is a pat on the back. It doesn't have to be a physical pat - it could be a smile, a nod. Everyone likes to be complimented in one way or another.
So fellow Moneymasterians please take note of this. Whenever we take up roles as evaluators or Grammarian be generous with our compliments where deserved and don't forget to mention names to whom the compliments are directed to. Make the members who deserve them "FEEL GOOD" and make their day.
Another technique is LISTENING. A leader must listen to those under their supervision. Get ideas from them. Lead, don't drive. And give credit. Don't blame.
CRITICISM must always be given in a gentle way, never harshly.
THREE RULES which he practised for his teams:
1. Never be late. Always be on time. It's very important. Whether to practice,
to the table, to the bus, to your classes.

2. You must never criticize a teammate. That's the leader's job. It's never
your job.

3. I would not tolerate profanity from anyone, anytime. I'd blow the whistle
pull you from the court, put you on the bench and talk to you before I
would put you back in.

To him it is far more difficult to get to the TOP.
EFFECTIVE LEADERS are first and foremost, good teachers. We're in the education business."
How leaders should resolve conflict which is inevitable in any organisation.
Get both parties together and air everything out without trying to hold back anything - not be critical of either one, just try to listen to both sides and find out what might be the trouble. Sometimes the trouble is trivial nothing at all.
Make sure those you lead receive very little criticism, but when there has to be criticism, it must be done in a gentle way that will not be embarrassing, and definitely not in front of others. You may need to take them aside and talk it over, but never do so while you're mad. No yelling; it has to be done in a gentle fashion, and with a pat on the back is the best.
CLUB PRESIDENTS: Listen and Lead with Love.
Leaders must show that they really cared about their members as a person. He cared about their family. Each day: How's your mother? Did the job work out for your dad? Did your brother or sister get that position?
Every leader should do this. You should really care. If you are fooling them, they will catch on.
Leaders must have patience and faith in the people that they lead. They must believe in what they are doing, the proper thing, the right thing.
"We are all guilty at times of wanting things to happen a certain way but not doing everything we are capable of to help that become a reality. We just want it to. And that's not life. That shgouldn't be life"

"Excerpt from THE WOODEN WAY by Craig Harrison, DTM" Toastmasters Magazine Oct. 2008