Insurance by Ronnie

I am writing this blog not for the sake of selling Insurance (in FSI) but rather my thoughts on it recently. Insurance has given me a Deep thought in many aspect Family, Life & Car.

Insurance: this is one of the most "Taboo" subject that people has assumed as "given" and not so interesting as discussion topics.

1)Healthcare Insurance
My son was recently hospitalize for 7 days in Jun.
It was very tiring and worrying. He was diagnosed with "Fei yan".

We took a lot of effort and time to take good care. I must thanks my Parent-in-law whom happen to be in Singapore. Without them, I guess my family and I will have to really absent from work for 7 days. Even so, it was really tiring to spend 6 nights at hospital.

One word…..Zombie.

Cost: Luckily, we had got a Insurance package for my son, such that we pay only a partial of the 1000/day. Without it, I can't imagine the entire cost to us financially.


2) Car accident
I had a minor Car accident in Jun as well. Luckily, no one was hurt and it was someone fault.
The other party claimed against his car insurance. This driver happens to be interested to join SingTel SiX event and hope to be a potential ISV/partner with SingTel in the near future. It was a unique way to meet new partner. Anyway, it was troublesome and distruptive for myself again due to this car accident.

Cost: the other party has a Premiem insurance and hence all cost (est 2000), included a Courtesy car was all paid by the Insurance company.

I guess there is always things/plans that we wished and maybe not able to proceed as per plan due to many many reason in Life and etc. How a wish I could just buy all these Insurance plan or package?

With these 2 cases, I recalled that in my Army days, we always need a “Plan B” for just in case.
Perhaps we should always have more Insurance or “Plan B” in Family, Life & Work etc.

Do you agree?

Ronnie
29/Jun/09

Savouring the Past...(thank you BD!)

After much coercion and "poking" from GC, I finally dust off tt procrastination and got my lazy fingers to pen down my thots... :) This is no "parting gift" but purely giving me a chance to satisfy my blogger itch. :p I'm gonna repeat some of those stuff tt I've mentioned over lunch the other day, pai seh....dont have new stuff all the time.

My stint with BD isnt too long - all of 12 months, but it was an intense, action-packed, hilarious and fun one year! Right from i.luminate to understanding the life of a BDM to RWS, there was never a dull moment. In my 4 years in BM, I've been blessed with opportunities in Pricing, leading the Pricing team and finally, BD. Each role/function gave me tt training and foundation for me to understand the different aspects of the telco biz. When I took up the opportunity to be BDM for Hospitality, I did it without any hesitation cos I knew this was the next milestone in my life/work experience. Indeed the learning curve was very steep, no time to ponder if it's right or wrong, just "cheong" lah and pray I dont get clobbered along the way! :p

We spent many hours in brainstorm & workplan sessions to expand our BD ambition. I fully understand and empathise with the ups and downs of BDMs. However, optimistically, due to the fact tt we work with such varied functions/BUs across SingTel, we are indeed very different in our thots and the way we manage situations. I saw tt I've changed in the way I conduct meetings, analyse a particular problem or even dealing with external parties.

I'm a firm believer tt all that I learn from an experience (be it good or bad) is for me to keep and it will only make me a "rounder" (not fatter hor!) and better person.

So fellow team-mates....continue to persevere & smile! :D

With love,
Lynette

Here comes the Heroes & Heroines

Beware of the Zurros!

It was a night of fun.

This is really what we call work hard and play hard. I must say the BD team is really serious in everything we do. Even for our D&D night, we have Meng Ger together with Anya and Eunice, bring the team the most professional outfit...for our Zurros image!

As if the outfit is not loud enough, our best actress, Eliza has to act so professionally and the team has to walk around to show off the $25 outfit. This is a true dynamic team that I am proud to be part of. I always believe that we can work hard and have fun at the same time. The laughters are the glue that gel us together and prevent us from shatering under the pressure of stress.

No matter what we do, how we do it and what we can achieve, don't forget to continue to smile and laugh. When you laugh, the world laughs with you.

Geok Chwee

FY0910 : Get Set, Ready, Go!

Dear all,

We are now at the start of FY0910. First of all, thank you all for a wonderful FY0809 where personally, I felt the team had achieved much.

Looking back...

We had our i.Luminate 2008 where our 4 key industries and mobility track form part of the core content for i.Luminate. Without the hard work by the team in pulling in our partners to form the showcase, getting the right content and speakers for our tracks, i.Luminate 2008 will not be as successful as it is. Not forgeting the sponsporship that the team had brought in to support our event.

We had a challenging target for Blue Ocean which we exceeded! Give yourselves a pat on your shoulder for turning ideas into reality and bringing in results!

We had some significant break through in getting value from our CACs, our PR in 2008 as well, propelling SingTel's thoughtleadership in the various industries.

Now, looking ahead..

FY0910 would be as challenging if not more than FY0809. We are at a different phase of growth, an increasing expectation from our bosses as we raise the bars for ourselves and facing a different market that no one is wiser to tell what's going to happen next.

Nevertheless, I am confident that we had a strong team that can band together to face the strong current in the Blue Ocean and we will continue to deliver break throughs. With the right strategies and visions set, we should continue our effort in pushing through our executions, perfecting every move till we get in the results that we are after. So, focus on our last "R" in our famous "IRR" -- RESULTS!

If you sit into enough strategy presentations , be it internal, external, from analysts, or from internal business managers, you would see that strategies rarely varies. Maybe all came from the same business schools...tought by the same teachers....What varies significantly is the people that can exceute vs people that can only produce slidewares.

We have been working closely together as a team to drive our break throughs and I trust the team can make a difference AGAIN in this new FY0910.

Let's ride on the waves that we had created in FY0809 and build on the momentum to reach the next height!

Geok Chwee
5th April 2009

Happy Birthday Nicole!

This posting is kinda late...sorry Nic! :)

It was Nicole's birthday on 8 Jan and a surprise mini celebration was organised by Meng Ger. We were in the midst of updating our BD activities to Kai Hock when Meng Ger came thro the door with a cake and candle. That really took all of us by surprise! :)

Cheese!! :D

I wish for....

Happy New Year!

Dear Team,

Wishing all a Happy 2009 and many good things ahead of us!

I had a good break over the last 2 weeks with my family in Europe. Great scenery, good education on Europe history and architecture, quality time with my two kids and having fun with snow and the freezing cold weather...

I always felt grateful after a long break, that I have a job to get back to and it is not just a "job" that I do to get paid, but one that I truely enjoy doing with a group of people that I love working with. It is always the people around us that matters and what always motivates me in my work are my team mates who are passionate in their work, who are eager to learn and make a difference alongside me; my bosses who are appreciative and supportive of me. Thank you, team for making this place a wonderful place to be in and a place where I love to come in every morning to work.

So, as usual, we need to make some "new" (or not so new) resolution for the New Year!

My personal resolution for 2009:

1. Health

This has been always the number 1 on the list (almost every year...don't ask me if I had achieved my resolution every year) . This year, my resolution is to increase number of time I exercise every week, minimially, 3 times per week.

2. Work Life Harmony

Yes, family is number 1 priority in my life. Many times, we get too engrossed in work and lost the balance. So, readjusting working hours to get more work life harmony is something that we have to constantly remind ourselves. I believe that having a happy family life is the foundation to all other things in life, without which, nothing will satisfy the heart.

3. Growing as a team

I believe in continuous learning and self development. Many people stop reading or learning once they leave school which is very sad. Some one ever said that some people maybe on the job for ten years which equates to ten repeated experience of the same one year work which is terrible. No matter what we do, we need to continuously improve ourselves. There is no one out there that can help us if we are not taking charge of our own personal growth. There are many ways that we learn. I love to read and get the wisdom from those great people out there and learn from their experiences. Self reflection is also another way of learning where we reflect upon what we had seen,done or experience and think about how we can do better next time. I also like to observe how other leaders behave in certain situations and learn from them.

In this new year, I hope that we can grow as a team. Learning how we can communicate with each other better, how we can bond together and break barriers ahead to make the impact that we want in the marketplace. I am very grateful to have a great team but there's always room for improvement. So, there's work to do in ensuring tight team work among the BD & SMM, ensuring we all share the same vision and commitement to make things work. We need everyone of us to be proactive in putting forth more good ideas and push our initiatives through together to make a big wave in our Blue Ocean!

Let's work together and grow together as a team. Next year this time, I believe the team would emerge even stronger and Better!

Best Wishes,

Geok Chwee

BD Folks gone wild - Xmas Eve Lunch

It was delightful coming back to the office on Xmas Eve and finding so many presents sitting on my desk, and as usual, a couple of ants greet me by running amok on my desk.. Thanks to all who made the effort to prepare xmas gifts.. i got chocs, facial masks, photo frame (never read e-xmas tree list right?) and more chocs!

Back to our xmas lunch. Firstly, the restaurant: a quaint little pizza place with shiok-adoo-dadoo food. They had the foresight to seat us in a private room. You'll see why.....

Some highlights of the lunch and thanks to....

Lynette "the classy babe" who introduced us to classy dishes like portobello mushrooms and beef carpaccio (cured raw meat..... i think) and who gave her thumbs up to the quattro formaggi pizza (whom EVERYONE liked in the end!)

David who cheered us up with his "dirty jokes" about blondes and planes and cassette tapes.. I never saw this side of David, and i must say, i am still trying hard to "think dirty" so as to better understand him...

MG and Eliza, for their totally outrageous re-enactment of James' wedding march-in and Ronnie's overzealous yum seng toast.. You gals are the true "drama-mamas"!



Ronnie, for choosing the black squid ink pasta. Eliza and David certainly enjoyed the ink stains on their teeth and mouth... Oh, and your "virgin" experience in using a wine opener.

James for being a true "beer lovin' guzzler". We got to try out different types of beer and lager.. i know eliza and David certainly did.

Mei Yi, who graciously became our Xmas DJ and played all our xmas song requests from youtube. Hope you found your way to JB that day.. your face was lobster red from the beer and wine!

Nicole, Anya & Wee Yong for tolerating with us on the far end shoving plates at them and screaming for pizza.. We were a hungry lot!

Wine, beer, Mega pizzas, yummy appetizers, and old granny BINGO.. 'Nuff said.

Look forward to more of these "intoxicated" celebrations and gatherings with the BD Folks! I saw a totally different side of all of you :) Merry Blessed Christmas to the team, and a Happy New Year! May 2009 be filled with peace, joy, love, prosperity and good health!

drama

Hi,
We run the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2008 last Sunday, 7th Dec 2008. We have run a great race and most important was we finished the race at our time.(Half Marathon) What we achieved in this race was feeling healthy and stronger. Only disappointing was that the day I collected my “Bit number 40614” and investing on number “4061”,”0614” and “4014” still no luck.

Jimmy

Crab-e-licious!!! (@ Eng Seng)

Thanks to i.luminate & Amos, we were treated to a sumptuous meal of juicy black pepper crabs last Friday!!! Venue is none other than the ever popular Eng Seng restaurant along Still Road. This rather run-down eatery serves one of the best black pepper crab which is finger-licking good. :p

Anyway the whole group was all psyched up, with "carefully" planned logistics of reaching there by 4.30pm to "chope" seats & crabs.

Amos gave us the go-ahead to order 12 crabs (plus other sides such as mee goreng, fried hor fun, fried you-tiao, rojak etc)! While ordering with the infamous auntie, I could hardly contain the drool that was spilling out of my mouth. *slurp*

We all had a hearty meal, no small parts of the crab was left uneaten (or unexplored?? - quote David). Our table which had more "macho" eaters (James, David, Jimmy, Wee Yong & Amos) were casting furtive glances at the opp table (predominantly female except Ronnie) so that we can help "clean up" their crabs! All that was left on our plate was traces of black pepper sauce cos we had David who was busy lapping up most of it.

I vote David as the NEATEST crab eater! He piled all that's left of the crustacean in a shell which looks good enough to be reconstructed (see pix as proof). The rest of us had crab shells littered all over our plates & table. :p

What a great way to relieve stress!! Thanks Amos!! :D

PaintBall : Our Teambonding!

Dear Colleagues,

This was one of the greatest and very Challenging Team Bonding that i had went through since i had joined SingTel.

PaintBall Team Bonding by BD & SM

The morning started with all of us conducting briefing and warming up.
Excited like a boy and girl going through a new game.

The Instructor saw our excitement, hence he had given us a small lecture on Safety and the Game Rules.

Excited initially, but once we heard the "Safety" briefing especially on danger of close fire and incidents where some participants taking out the "mask"....... ripped lips and etc. The cold went down our spine!

I noticed some of us started to cover the head with cap and many start to use scarf to protect their neck.

Once the game started, it was nothing but full of fun, firing and shouting. There was some cheer leaders by the side (if i could remember)

Some lost some win......but the best thing that we achieved was as follows

Team spirit
Lots of running (exercise)
Souvenirs ("Blue black", i had one too)
Stress Relieved

For those who had short memories, pls refer to the attach photo.
The main bulk with be at the X drive.......

X:\Business Marketing Group\Business development\Pix\TmBdg-Paint

Sign off
David & Ronnie




Why Paintball?
Paintball is great for relieving stress while promoting team work in a fun and interactive atmosphere.
Leaders will emerge through practical application of strategic planning. Team spirit and friendships build as the season progresses .
The tension and pressure of everyday life is forgotten as the participants slip into their fantasy world

What is Paintball?
Paintballs Flying Wild Over Singapore Skies! T.A.G (Tactical Action Games) Paintball has brought the electrifying sport of paintball to Singapore. Trained marshals are constantly on site to guide you through an exceedingly exhilarating day and the different game scenarios, like capture the ammo box and zombie. Their presence ensure that the game is played fair, and more importantly, make sure everyone's safety is looked after.

THE GAME Paintball is a combination of "Hide & Seek" and "Tag".
Two (est 5 pax each) teams are pitted against each other with each game having specific objectives.
Players eliminate the opposition with a paintball splat from a CO2 powered paintgun.
Paintballs are small spherical balls made of a thin gelatin case filled with biodegradable, water-soluble dye, which is environmentally friendly. When the paintball breaks on an opponent, he or she is then eliminated