Ridzuan may think highly of himself - and that's perfectly fine. That means he is brimming with confidence, although I would say that it is of the disillusioned kind. Anyway, Ridzuan has always been the weakest member in Team Equity despite his tall testimonies of his very own self and his last 'interview' claiming that his going away was a 'sacrifice' for the team is so blatantly over the top. In fact, that nearly had me blowing my top.
Aside from the fact that he speaks English like a person who has just picked up the language (oh, but wow, he does know some big words like 'prejudiced'), the most he has volunteered to do (besides becoming the speaker for the Easy Pha-max task and the tour guide for the Spritzer task) is to buy balloons. Because he knows a really cheap place to get them.
That to me, does not count as 'contributing'.
Anyway, Ridzuan rarely comes up with ideas of his own. When he opens his mouth, it is either to agree or disagree, and the worst is when he does this whole recapping of the ideas which have been thrown about in the boardroom, executed ceramah style - it is boring and a waste of time. In one interview, he mentioned that he does not contribute ideas because they will be shot down by his team mates. Like this, OK. Never try, never know and anyway, if his ideas are lame, obviously they will be shot down whether he likes it or not. There's nothing personal about that. Most times, Ridzuan has to be told to do things. He is a follower through and through, and not a very good follower at that though he has managed to surprise us once or twice.
For example, it was extremely hard to get Ridzuan on the phone. His phone would be either on silent or apparently the calls never came through on his end. Same with texts. On one brainstorming day (off-camera), Ridzuan was totally uncontactable for more than twelve hours. Finally when I got him after midnight, he said he was at this place in Gombak, and he was there all that while waiting for this guy to show up so we could have this badge thing to give away on task day. It was a nice idea... and we had to pay for the badges... and why would it friggin' take a person more than twelve hours just to get a discussion on badges over and done with??? I just lost my temper and told him that he shouldn't have wasted his time when the time could have been spent to better use.
Well... whatever. Ridzuan was and still is such a pitiful creature so I let him off the hook after that. We proceeded to get the badges done. And on preparation day, he goes off again to Gombak to help the badge guy make the badges. It took four hours to get them done. I still have no idea if Ridzuan made those badges by hand. He must have, right? That's why his contribution matters so much.
He did surprise me by getting quite a lot of customers to sign up on task day though. I did tell him that he would need to redeem himself because he had let me down a few times all ready.
Anyway, Ridzuan, you suck. You are the typical stereotype of a man who tak sedar diri. You have to realise that you got kicked out first was not because the team has this whole agenda to gang up on you. It was more like, it was the most obvious choice as to who must be kicked out first!
And a person who lets himself be a doormat, but behind everybody's backs yaps like a kicked dog, shouldn't be boasting about having leadership skills. You know why? Because my dear friend, you have none.
Muahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: PMS is so divine, isn't it?
August 27, 2008
August 25, 2008
C.A. for Episode 4: Behind the scenes drama
In Episode 4 of The Firm Season II, both team Asset and Equity were charged to sell as many Tune Money prepaid Visa card to Lim Kok Wing University students. In my opinion, this task were the most objective compared to the previous 3 and I thought it was the most straightforward. I was very concerned when I discovered that Team Asset would commence their tasks first thus enjoying strategic first mover advantage.
Masami was appointed as the team leader and during brainstorming, ideas were popping up (it is a brainstorming session thus no ideas were shot down prematurely) until Anoop voiced out his suggestion about inviting celebrity to endorse to grace our function. I believe that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Masami because there was a verbal exchange of words between Masami and Anoop. That was shown on TV; what was not shown on TV was that Anoop proceeded to send SMS to all in Team Equity and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I shared the following with Anoop:
Anoop, maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which should be changed and the wisdom to know the difference. None of us would have judged you if you didn't give us the reason to. Remember, there is no smoke without fire.C.A.
Due to prior work engagements, Dian has to travel to Jakarta and she was unable to attend any of team discussions after the brainstorming session. However, we kept her in the loop via emails of the progress. That was the reason why Dian volunteered to resign in the boardroom because she felt that she didn’t contribute enough.
Back to the brainstorming session, yours truly suggested the theme “Tune me on” as I felt that it tied back to the company’s name Tune Money and it was suitable for the target audience (university students). The strategy was customer delight by giving applicants more than just a Tune Money prepaid visa card. To support this strategy, the following tactics were carried out:
a) Sponsors
1) Masami’s employer, The Malay Mail, generously sponsored an advertisement for 2 consecutive days.
2) Masami managed to get 200 copies of On The Road Magazine.
3) Masami sponsored YSL In Love Again and Thierry Mugler Angel miniature perfume sets
4) Boon Yew sponsored Jusco, Parkson vouchers and notepads.
5) Jack Jeganesan, Business Development Manager for Cochine Alfresco, sponsored VIP passes to their event.
6) Alex Choong, Marketing Director for Superstar Karaoke Box sponsored karaoke vouchers.
7) Langeswaran, Director for Planetunes Mobile sponsored 500 ringtones / logoes downloads.
8) Christine Chai, Marketing Manager for Bella Skin care sponsored Bella Skin care vouchers.
9) Irene Leong, Asst. Marketing Manager for Marie France sponsored Marie France vouchers.
10) Queenie Wong, Marketing Exec for Svenson Hair Care sponsored Svenson vouchers.
11) Ramesh Ganeson, Area Manager of Field Marketing for Starwoods Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts sponsored tickets to the award winning Beauty & The Beast on Ice play.
12) Chrissie Lim, Manager for Resorts World Berhad sponsored rooms at First World Hotel.
13) Ben Wong, Group Executive Director for Easy Pha-Max Marketing sponsored goodie bags and products.
14) Carol Yip, author of bestseller “Smart Money-Users” sponsored her books.
b) Lucky dip – Team Equity felt that the wheel of fortune was too common thus lucky dip was adopted.
c) Booth & PA System – Jennifer liaised with her contacts for the booth setup and PA system.
d) Referral Scheme – something I came up with to increase application signups by offering the tickets to the award winning Beauty and The Beast on Ice play away.
Ridzuan went AWOL during preparation day and was extremely difficult to reach; it took him a couple of hours to return our calls. The major disappointment was when he returned our calls to notify us that he was occupied with coming up with badges.
I thought with the above ‘bullets’, Team Equity would score another win. Of course I failed to factor in the following:
1) Team Equity was unceremoniously expelled from their initial location because someone from the university failed to communicate clearly on the university’s founder’s likes and dislikes; apparently he dislikes red colour. Perhaps that person neglected to mention to the founder that we were representing Tune Money, whose corporate colour happens to be red.
2) The relocation really drained us of our energy because we had to carry tables and chairs from elsewhere.
3) The relocation also meant that we started late.
4) The college students having a charity event but were unwilling to lower down the volume despite repeated requests to do so.
5) The first mover advantage that Team Asset had (many students mentioned that they had signed up a day earlier and we had quite a few students asking whether it is possible to cancel their initial application and sign up a fresh one with us).
6) Anoop would throw a tantrum and refuse to show up for task day behaving like a spoilt child.
On result announcement day, it was clear that Team Asset won with their 112 signups versus Team Equity’s 97 signups. I leave it up to you to decide which team had the advantage over the other.
Back in the boardroom, I thought that this was my opportunity to get off The Firm but I was caught with my pants down when Dian announced that she is volunteering herself to be terminated. She succeeded in disrupting my train of thoughts thus I had to say something; I wasn’t very proud of what I said but like the Chinese saying goes “Even the thousand mile horse is unable to stop words once it is uttered”. As I thought she would, Masami volunteered herself to be terminated. Ridzuan’s act of volunteering to be terminated fooled me because I had the impression that he reminds me of myself during my younger days. His final interview really disappointed me because I misjudged him; he no longer reminds me of myself during my younger days.
Peter Pek, corporate leader for Team Equity, was visibly upset and disappointed with Dian, Masami, Ridzuan and myself for volunteering to be terminated and verbally lashed out at us that we are no different from Anoop for voicing out our intentions to pull out. Besides Dian, I took offense at his remark as well because I felt that it was a careless and callous judgement of our characters simply because I believe that Anoop is from a completely different planet from the rest of Team Equity: probably from Jupiter judging from the large amount of hot air emanating from his mouth.
Conclusion: C.A. failed in his attempt to be terminated. Will he succeed in the next task?
Masami was appointed as the team leader and during brainstorming, ideas were popping up (it is a brainstorming session thus no ideas were shot down prematurely) until Anoop voiced out his suggestion about inviting celebrity to endorse to grace our function. I believe that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Masami because there was a verbal exchange of words between Masami and Anoop. That was shown on TV; what was not shown on TV was that Anoop proceeded to send SMS to all in Team Equity and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I shared the following with Anoop:
Anoop, maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which should be changed and the wisdom to know the difference. None of us would have judged you if you didn't give us the reason to. Remember, there is no smoke without fire.C.A.
Due to prior work engagements, Dian has to travel to Jakarta and she was unable to attend any of team discussions after the brainstorming session. However, we kept her in the loop via emails of the progress. That was the reason why Dian volunteered to resign in the boardroom because she felt that she didn’t contribute enough.
Back to the brainstorming session, yours truly suggested the theme “Tune me on” as I felt that it tied back to the company’s name Tune Money and it was suitable for the target audience (university students). The strategy was customer delight by giving applicants more than just a Tune Money prepaid visa card. To support this strategy, the following tactics were carried out:
a) Sponsors
1) Masami’s employer, The Malay Mail, generously sponsored an advertisement for 2 consecutive days.
2) Masami managed to get 200 copies of On The Road Magazine.
3) Masami sponsored YSL In Love Again and Thierry Mugler Angel miniature perfume sets
4) Boon Yew sponsored Jusco, Parkson vouchers and notepads.
5) Jack Jeganesan, Business Development Manager for Cochine Alfresco, sponsored VIP passes to their event.
6) Alex Choong, Marketing Director for Superstar Karaoke Box sponsored karaoke vouchers.
7) Langeswaran, Director for Planetunes Mobile sponsored 500 ringtones / logoes downloads.
8) Christine Chai, Marketing Manager for Bella Skin care sponsored Bella Skin care vouchers.
9) Irene Leong, Asst. Marketing Manager for Marie France sponsored Marie France vouchers.
10) Queenie Wong, Marketing Exec for Svenson Hair Care sponsored Svenson vouchers.
11) Ramesh Ganeson, Area Manager of Field Marketing for Starwoods Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts sponsored tickets to the award winning Beauty & The Beast on Ice play.
12) Chrissie Lim, Manager for Resorts World Berhad sponsored rooms at First World Hotel.
13) Ben Wong, Group Executive Director for Easy Pha-Max Marketing sponsored goodie bags and products.
14) Carol Yip, author of bestseller “Smart Money-Users” sponsored her books.
b) Lucky dip – Team Equity felt that the wheel of fortune was too common thus lucky dip was adopted.
c) Booth & PA System – Jennifer liaised with her contacts for the booth setup and PA system.
d) Referral Scheme – something I came up with to increase application signups by offering the tickets to the award winning Beauty and The Beast on Ice play away.
Ridzuan went AWOL during preparation day and was extremely difficult to reach; it took him a couple of hours to return our calls. The major disappointment was when he returned our calls to notify us that he was occupied with coming up with badges.
I thought with the above ‘bullets’, Team Equity would score another win. Of course I failed to factor in the following:
1) Team Equity was unceremoniously expelled from their initial location because someone from the university failed to communicate clearly on the university’s founder’s likes and dislikes; apparently he dislikes red colour. Perhaps that person neglected to mention to the founder that we were representing Tune Money, whose corporate colour happens to be red.
2) The relocation really drained us of our energy because we had to carry tables and chairs from elsewhere.
3) The relocation also meant that we started late.
4) The college students having a charity event but were unwilling to lower down the volume despite repeated requests to do so.
5) The first mover advantage that Team Asset had (many students mentioned that they had signed up a day earlier and we had quite a few students asking whether it is possible to cancel their initial application and sign up a fresh one with us).
6) Anoop would throw a tantrum and refuse to show up for task day behaving like a spoilt child.
On result announcement day, it was clear that Team Asset won with their 112 signups versus Team Equity’s 97 signups. I leave it up to you to decide which team had the advantage over the other.
Back in the boardroom, I thought that this was my opportunity to get off The Firm but I was caught with my pants down when Dian announced that she is volunteering herself to be terminated. She succeeded in disrupting my train of thoughts thus I had to say something; I wasn’t very proud of what I said but like the Chinese saying goes “Even the thousand mile horse is unable to stop words once it is uttered”. As I thought she would, Masami volunteered herself to be terminated. Ridzuan’s act of volunteering to be terminated fooled me because I had the impression that he reminds me of myself during my younger days. His final interview really disappointed me because I misjudged him; he no longer reminds me of myself during my younger days.
Peter Pek, corporate leader for Team Equity, was visibly upset and disappointed with Dian, Masami, Ridzuan and myself for volunteering to be terminated and verbally lashed out at us that we are no different from Anoop for voicing out our intentions to pull out. Besides Dian, I took offense at his remark as well because I felt that it was a careless and callous judgement of our characters simply because I believe that Anoop is from a completely different planet from the rest of Team Equity: probably from Jupiter judging from the large amount of hot air emanating from his mouth.
Conclusion: C.A. failed in his attempt to be terminated. Will he succeed in the next task?
August 24, 2008
Four episodes down...
The fourth episode has been aired and now The Firm: Season 2 is left with nine executives out of the original fourteen. The game is slowly picking up speed, adding more complexities to its tasks with fewer people to execute in both teams.
By this time, some of the personalities will have 'emerged' and created a resonance with the viewers while others are still relatively relegated to the sidelines, their occasional appearances and lines only available in behind-the-scenes moments.
Who do you connect with the most in The Firm: Season 2? Who is your favourite contestant? Who is the contestant that you love to hate the most? Who are you rooting for to win The Firm: Season 2? Can you guess all ready who will be making their way to the Top 5?
Stay tuned for more drama (and more bloopers) from ntv7's hit English reality show The Firm: Season 2 only on your Feel Good Channel.
The Firm: Season 2 - Episode 4
Client: TuneMoney.com
The task: To sell the TuneMoney.com Prepaid Visa Card to the community in LimKokWing University College in Cyberjaya. The team that makes the most sales wins the challenge.
Team Asset
Team leader: Yuen Wai
With only four people left on the team, Team Asset is nevertheless still hungry for a win. Problems occur between Chris and the rest of the team members though due to his lack of involvement throughout the entire episode. Coming from an events management background, Chris clearly has his own way of organising a promotional roadshow although his ideas and actions did not go down well with the team leader, Yuen Wai.
While there were a few organisation issues to contend with, sales were doing good for the team with the addition of three promoter girls to beef up the sales force. The team also incorporated the idea of combining forces with events going on in the campus to help promote their event to the community of LimKokWing University College.
Team Equity
Team leader: Masami
Continuing off from the previous episode, problems are still not resolved with Anoop. Amidst the raising doubts and suspicion, the team confronts him during the brainstorming session and gives him several pieces of their minds. Anoop becomes upset and makes a last minute ditch at saving his own ass but the damage is done: The trust is broken and Anoop finds himself in a very vulnerable position in Team Equity. Following his absence during preparation day, Anoop then goes on to become the second person to leave The Firm after Team Asset's Terence after in an SMS he replied to Masami that he will not be joining them on task day.
Just when they thought that the worry with Anoop was over and done with, task day starts out badly for Team Equity. A visit from VIPS to LimKokWing University College meant that they had to switch to a less than favourable location. The accumulated stress got to Masami who loses her temper, thus being unable to control the situation well.
Things slowly start to pick up though as the hours passed by but had the team done all it could to ensure that it will win over Team Asset?
Verdict: Team Asset wins, making 112 sales over Team Equity's 95. When they get into the boardroom, a surprising thing happens: Four people volunteers to get kicked out of The Firm! First was Dian, whose reasons included contributing the least and a worry of not being able to put in her full commitment into the task as well as future tasks. Ridzuan cited contributing the least as his reason for leaving The Firm while C.A. too, said that he has other commitments in his life. Masami meanwhile offered to take responsibility as team leader for the team's loss.
Finally, a verdict is made by the corporate leader. Ridzuan is to leave the team for being the weakest member in the team for every task. Ridzuan packs up his bags and leaves, telling the audience that his leaving was a 'sacrifice' made for the team as he does not believe that he is the weakest member in Team Equity.
Next episode spoiler hint: RUN FORREST RUN!!!
The task: To sell the TuneMoney.com Prepaid Visa Card to the community in LimKokWing University College in Cyberjaya. The team that makes the most sales wins the challenge.
Team Asset
Team leader: Yuen Wai
With only four people left on the team, Team Asset is nevertheless still hungry for a win. Problems occur between Chris and the rest of the team members though due to his lack of involvement throughout the entire episode. Coming from an events management background, Chris clearly has his own way of organising a promotional roadshow although his ideas and actions did not go down well with the team leader, Yuen Wai.
While there were a few organisation issues to contend with, sales were doing good for the team with the addition of three promoter girls to beef up the sales force. The team also incorporated the idea of combining forces with events going on in the campus to help promote their event to the community of LimKokWing University College.
Team Equity
Team leader: Masami
Continuing off from the previous episode, problems are still not resolved with Anoop. Amidst the raising doubts and suspicion, the team confronts him during the brainstorming session and gives him several pieces of their minds. Anoop becomes upset and makes a last minute ditch at saving his own ass but the damage is done: The trust is broken and Anoop finds himself in a very vulnerable position in Team Equity. Following his absence during preparation day, Anoop then goes on to become the second person to leave The Firm after Team Asset's Terence after in an SMS he replied to Masami that he will not be joining them on task day.
Just when they thought that the worry with Anoop was over and done with, task day starts out badly for Team Equity. A visit from VIPS to LimKokWing University College meant that they had to switch to a less than favourable location. The accumulated stress got to Masami who loses her temper, thus being unable to control the situation well.
Things slowly start to pick up though as the hours passed by but had the team done all it could to ensure that it will win over Team Asset?
Verdict: Team Asset wins, making 112 sales over Team Equity's 95. When they get into the boardroom, a surprising thing happens: Four people volunteers to get kicked out of The Firm! First was Dian, whose reasons included contributing the least and a worry of not being able to put in her full commitment into the task as well as future tasks. Ridzuan cited contributing the least as his reason for leaving The Firm while C.A. too, said that he has other commitments in his life. Masami meanwhile offered to take responsibility as team leader for the team's loss.
Finally, a verdict is made by the corporate leader. Ridzuan is to leave the team for being the weakest member in the team for every task. Ridzuan packs up his bags and leaves, telling the audience that his leaving was a 'sacrifice' made for the team as he does not believe that he is the weakest member in Team Equity.
Next episode spoiler hint: RUN FORREST RUN!!!
August 19, 2008
Masami for Episode 3: My quote's on Wikipedia!
Allow me a moment to self-gloat. Like the above title says, my quote's on Wikipedia!
Unfortunately though, Episode 3 wasn't quite as dramatic as I had hoped it to be. The 'debate' we had when Anoop made his surprise appearance during our task preparation was cut short. You would have thought it hilarious had you been there to observe (I'm sure the production crew thought the whole drama was brilliant) but for us, well, it was not a happy stroll down some flower path.
Why did we not buy Anoop's sad story? Now before somebody comes up to accuse us of ganging up on the only Indian contestant in the show, let me share with you a story Anoop had shared with us. It is a poignant story of him, his bag, an attempted assassination and the President of Pakistan.
How it goes is like this. One day, Anoop was complaining about the sponsored wardrobe with something along the lines of how they are not worthy for someone used to shopping for clothes from Raoul. Wow, expensive taste. So now, the brown bad that Anoop carries with him in the show? It has a broken magnetic latch which Anoop pries open each time by sticking the point of a pen into this little hole below the latch. Naturally, we got curious because the normal thing to do will be to get the bag replaced. After all, he has the money for Raoul shirts so why not a new bag?
Anoop then told us that the bag comes with memories. This is when the story becomes incredible: The bag saved his life from a bullet. The bag also saved the President of Pakistan's life from the same bullet.
I don't know why Anoop was standing on the same stage as the President as he was giving a speech (maybe Anoop used to be like those KGB blokes) but that was when some assassin guy shot a bullet, which wasn't very accurate because instead of going straight for the intended guy's head, it went straight for Anoop's bag and bounced off the metal latch, thus breaking it in the process! And that was how Anoop and the President of Pakistan lived to see another day (and many more days).
I kid you not. You can ask the other contestants and they will share with you this same story - as well as other stories which are also quite incredible to listen to.
So, going back to that scene in Episode 3, do you now understand why we will not buy his story?
The reason why the 'debate' went off was that I opined that it wasn't fair for Anoop to remain in the show if he is not able to contribute as a team member. I firmly told him that he must make a decision as to which was more important: His health or a prize he is not sure of attaining. Furthermore, if the team were to lose, he would be able to escape the chopping block as he had a valid 'excuse' and this wouldn't be fair to all the other team members.
Our dear gentleman made a statement that all companies provide sick leave for employees. True, but how fair is that to apply to a competition where it's all about the survival of the fittest? The Firm may not be The Amazing Race: Asia but we all realise that efficiency, in terms of mental and emotional capacities, cannot be achieved when the body is weak.
So he had to make the jibe about 'what if your relative died'. For me, it's simple. If the death of a relative is more important to me, the competition has to be put aside. You can't run a marathon and leave half way for a funeral and to return, resuming from the last point where you left.
That was where I challenged him with, "So what are you trying to say? Are you dying tomorrow?", and to which he replied, "Who knows?"
The next thing he said but wasn't shown on TV would be something along the lines of what I would do if that happened.
Simple. Had he died, the team will no longer have to think about what tasks to assign him in the condition he was in and coming up with a backup plan in case he was unable to perform on task day. That would be one less problem for us.
Naturally, he got offended. Hahaha... well, that's Anoop for you and more drama will be in store in Episode 4!
Unfortunately though, Episode 3 wasn't quite as dramatic as I had hoped it to be. The 'debate' we had when Anoop made his surprise appearance during our task preparation was cut short. You would have thought it hilarious had you been there to observe (I'm sure the production crew thought the whole drama was brilliant) but for us, well, it was not a happy stroll down some flower path.
Why did we not buy Anoop's sad story? Now before somebody comes up to accuse us of ganging up on the only Indian contestant in the show, let me share with you a story Anoop had shared with us. It is a poignant story of him, his bag, an attempted assassination and the President of Pakistan.
How it goes is like this. One day, Anoop was complaining about the sponsored wardrobe with something along the lines of how they are not worthy for someone used to shopping for clothes from Raoul. Wow, expensive taste. So now, the brown bad that Anoop carries with him in the show? It has a broken magnetic latch which Anoop pries open each time by sticking the point of a pen into this little hole below the latch. Naturally, we got curious because the normal thing to do will be to get the bag replaced. After all, he has the money for Raoul shirts so why not a new bag?
Anoop then told us that the bag comes with memories. This is when the story becomes incredible: The bag saved his life from a bullet. The bag also saved the President of Pakistan's life from the same bullet.
I don't know why Anoop was standing on the same stage as the President as he was giving a speech (maybe Anoop used to be like those KGB blokes) but that was when some assassin guy shot a bullet, which wasn't very accurate because instead of going straight for the intended guy's head, it went straight for Anoop's bag and bounced off the metal latch, thus breaking it in the process! And that was how Anoop and the President of Pakistan lived to see another day (and many more days).
I kid you not. You can ask the other contestants and they will share with you this same story - as well as other stories which are also quite incredible to listen to.
So, going back to that scene in Episode 3, do you now understand why we will not buy his story?
The reason why the 'debate' went off was that I opined that it wasn't fair for Anoop to remain in the show if he is not able to contribute as a team member. I firmly told him that he must make a decision as to which was more important: His health or a prize he is not sure of attaining. Furthermore, if the team were to lose, he would be able to escape the chopping block as he had a valid 'excuse' and this wouldn't be fair to all the other team members.
Our dear gentleman made a statement that all companies provide sick leave for employees. True, but how fair is that to apply to a competition where it's all about the survival of the fittest? The Firm may not be The Amazing Race: Asia but we all realise that efficiency, in terms of mental and emotional capacities, cannot be achieved when the body is weak.
So he had to make the jibe about 'what if your relative died'. For me, it's simple. If the death of a relative is more important to me, the competition has to be put aside. You can't run a marathon and leave half way for a funeral and to return, resuming from the last point where you left.
That was where I challenged him with, "So what are you trying to say? Are you dying tomorrow?", and to which he replied, "Who knows?"
The next thing he said but wasn't shown on TV would be something along the lines of what I would do if that happened.
Simple. Had he died, the team will no longer have to think about what tasks to assign him in the condition he was in and coming up with a backup plan in case he was unable to perform on task day. That would be one less problem for us.
Naturally, he got offended. Hahaha... well, that's Anoop for you and more drama will be in store in Episode 4!
August 18, 2008
C.A. for Episode 3: Group dynamics
Dian was appointed as the Team Leader for Team Equity for the Spritzer task and was open to ideas thrown by team members. Based on the brainstorming session, Team Equity decided that the most suitable strategy for this task was back to nature strategy. To support this strategy, the following activities were planned and executed based on the limited allocated budget:
* Dian’s potted plants and bird chirping background sound effects to create the natural garden ambience to tie in with the theme “Nothing is as green as Spritzer”.
* Masami’s quiz – to add interactivity for the factory visitors; answers can be obtained from the boards that were put up in the factory.
* Masami’s idea for a sketch – as an ice breaker and to elicit smiles from the visitors.
* Jennifer’s bean sprouts analogy – instead of deciding for the visitors, Jennifer left the decision, whether Spritzer natural mineral water is more beneficial compared to RO water, to the visitors as “seeing is believing”. Jennifer was the team’s liaison person with Spritzer.
* C.A.’s coloured stones analogy – explaining the benefits of the minerals contained in Spritzer natural mineral water. Coloured stones belongs to Dian.
* Boon Yew’s idea to arrange the tree trunks in the water bar for the visitors to sit (lots of moving to be done and those tree trunks were not light) to tie in with the theme.
* Ridzuan volunteered to be the tour guide.
I am happy to share that Team Equity had very positive energy as soon as we finished our tasks and were confident of winning this task. However, a couple of hours prior to results announcement, your truly and Ridzuan was shown a video clip of the infomercial done by Team Asset. They were very proud of it and were gloating that they will be winning. In fact, Ridzuan was very concerned because he thought that the infomercial was very presentable. I disagreed with him because in my opinion, the informercial neglected to focus on the winning criteria that is to highlight the benefits of Spritzer’s natural mineral water over RO water.
During the results announcement, the outcome was no surprise to me. I have a confession to make: in line with keeping a positive attitude, I was the team member who kept on saying “safety shot”, episode 2 onwards, to the rest of Team Equity. In ALL of my interviews for all of the episodes that I was in, which was never shown on TV, I mentioned that I was the member who contributed the least because I thought by doing so I would have higher chances to be booted off the show. Sounds crazy eh? Yes, I confess that I am a nut.
Bruce Tuckman proposed the four-stage model known as the Tuckman’s Stages for a group:
* Forming (pretending to get on or get along with others);
* Storming (letting down the politeness barrier and trying to get down to the issues even if tempers flare up );
* Norming (getting used to each other and developing trust and productivity);
* Performing (working in a group to a common goal on a highly efficient and cooperative basis).
The stages may not come in the above sequence; but I would like to believe that Team Equity stormed it out in Episode 1. Watching how Team Asset go through the different stages of group dynamics on TV made me think: ‘is that how the nation’s top executives behaves?’.
* Dian’s potted plants and bird chirping background sound effects to create the natural garden ambience to tie in with the theme “Nothing is as green as Spritzer”.
* Masami’s quiz – to add interactivity for the factory visitors; answers can be obtained from the boards that were put up in the factory.
* Masami’s idea for a sketch – as an ice breaker and to elicit smiles from the visitors.
* Jennifer’s bean sprouts analogy – instead of deciding for the visitors, Jennifer left the decision, whether Spritzer natural mineral water is more beneficial compared to RO water, to the visitors as “seeing is believing”. Jennifer was the team’s liaison person with Spritzer.
* C.A.’s coloured stones analogy – explaining the benefits of the minerals contained in Spritzer natural mineral water. Coloured stones belongs to Dian.
* Boon Yew’s idea to arrange the tree trunks in the water bar for the visitors to sit (lots of moving to be done and those tree trunks were not light) to tie in with the theme.
* Ridzuan volunteered to be the tour guide.
I am happy to share that Team Equity had very positive energy as soon as we finished our tasks and were confident of winning this task. However, a couple of hours prior to results announcement, your truly and Ridzuan was shown a video clip of the infomercial done by Team Asset. They were very proud of it and were gloating that they will be winning. In fact, Ridzuan was very concerned because he thought that the infomercial was very presentable. I disagreed with him because in my opinion, the informercial neglected to focus on the winning criteria that is to highlight the benefits of Spritzer’s natural mineral water over RO water.
During the results announcement, the outcome was no surprise to me. I have a confession to make: in line with keeping a positive attitude, I was the team member who kept on saying “safety shot”, episode 2 onwards, to the rest of Team Equity. In ALL of my interviews for all of the episodes that I was in, which was never shown on TV, I mentioned that I was the member who contributed the least because I thought by doing so I would have higher chances to be booted off the show. Sounds crazy eh? Yes, I confess that I am a nut.
Bruce Tuckman proposed the four-stage model known as the Tuckman’s Stages for a group:
* Forming (pretending to get on or get along with others);
* Storming (letting down the politeness barrier and trying to get down to the issues even if tempers flare up );
* Norming (getting used to each other and developing trust and productivity);
* Performing (working in a group to a common goal on a highly efficient and cooperative basis).
The stages may not come in the above sequence; but I would like to believe that Team Equity stormed it out in Episode 1. Watching how Team Asset go through the different stages of group dynamics on TV made me think: ‘is that how the nation’s top executives behaves?’.
The Firm: Season 2 - Episode 3
Client: Spritzer
The task: To create an informative and effective corporate tour of the Spritzer plant in Taiping, Perak, which clearly highlights the benefits of Spritzer's natural mineral water over RO water.
Team Asset
Team leader: Ain
With Chan Boon Yong away on business, a new corporate leader in the form of Emily Kok, director of Rentwise Sdn Bhd, comes on board temporarily to lead Team Asset. Ain is burdened with the task of leading the team to victory while at the same time trying to prove that she can be a likeable leader. Two people are not happy with the new Ain - Chris and Ain herself, as both feel that she is compromising too much to satisfy the rest of the team mates.
The team come up with a brilliant idea to execute a TV commercial which will highlight the benefits of Spritzer's natural mineral water over RO water but on shooting day, chaos ensues when it is apparent that everybody wants to play director! Chris is very against the whole going-on, due to a lack of storyboard or even a physical script, which Joo Lee says it's not necessary as it is all in her head! Despite his complaints, Chris doesn't seem to be too helpful either as he is clearly just voicing out his concerns without giving any solutions.
Team Equity
Team leader: Dian
First it was gout, next it is arthritis - and our good man Anoop makes his debut at the Spritzer plant in Taiping, Perak in a wheelchair! Things instantly become heated on preparation day when Anoop approaches the team with a proposal to go on 'sick leave'. Team Equity is clearly not happy with this as it spells unfairness for the team in the case if they lost and Anoop escapes the guillotine because he has an excuse.
Ridzuan, who still harbours much grudges against his team members for not letting him shine under the limelight in the previous task brings forth his diva attitude once again to demand that he lead the corporate tour. This time, he gets his wish.
Going forth with the theme 'Nothing is as Green as Spritzer', the team incorporates a nature 'feel' in their presentation with props such as a mini fountain and log-shaped seats. They also conducted several experiments and a humorous sketch to highlight the benefits of Spritzer's natural mineral water over RO water.
Verdict: While the video hit a nerve with the clients, unfortunately it wasn't strong enough in conveying the message and Team Asset makes a return to the boardroom.
Two names come up: Ain and Yuen Wai. Yuen Wai has been pinpointed as being the member with the least experience, a fact disputed by Yuen Wai himself as Joo Lee is also a student and Kian You is merely a recently graduated person. However, when it came to who had to be kicked out, Emily decides that Ain should leave as she had sacrificed too much of her original personality in leading the team, thus resulting in the team's defeat.
Ain makes a teary exit, with a lesson that a good leader is not one who is able to please anyone but someone who holds her own ground.
Next episode spoiler hint: Sexy promoter girls! And... will Anoop still remain in The Firm?
The task: To create an informative and effective corporate tour of the Spritzer plant in Taiping, Perak, which clearly highlights the benefits of Spritzer's natural mineral water over RO water.
Team Asset
Team leader: Ain
With Chan Boon Yong away on business, a new corporate leader in the form of Emily Kok, director of Rentwise Sdn Bhd, comes on board temporarily to lead Team Asset. Ain is burdened with the task of leading the team to victory while at the same time trying to prove that she can be a likeable leader. Two people are not happy with the new Ain - Chris and Ain herself, as both feel that she is compromising too much to satisfy the rest of the team mates.
The team come up with a brilliant idea to execute a TV commercial which will highlight the benefits of Spritzer's natural mineral water over RO water but on shooting day, chaos ensues when it is apparent that everybody wants to play director! Chris is very against the whole going-on, due to a lack of storyboard or even a physical script, which Joo Lee says it's not necessary as it is all in her head! Despite his complaints, Chris doesn't seem to be too helpful either as he is clearly just voicing out his concerns without giving any solutions.
Team Equity
Team leader: Dian
First it was gout, next it is arthritis - and our good man Anoop makes his debut at the Spritzer plant in Taiping, Perak in a wheelchair! Things instantly become heated on preparation day when Anoop approaches the team with a proposal to go on 'sick leave'. Team Equity is clearly not happy with this as it spells unfairness for the team in the case if they lost and Anoop escapes the guillotine because he has an excuse.
Ridzuan, who still harbours much grudges against his team members for not letting him shine under the limelight in the previous task brings forth his diva attitude once again to demand that he lead the corporate tour. This time, he gets his wish.
Going forth with the theme 'Nothing is as Green as Spritzer', the team incorporates a nature 'feel' in their presentation with props such as a mini fountain and log-shaped seats. They also conducted several experiments and a humorous sketch to highlight the benefits of Spritzer's natural mineral water over RO water.
Verdict: While the video hit a nerve with the clients, unfortunately it wasn't strong enough in conveying the message and Team Asset makes a return to the boardroom.
Two names come up: Ain and Yuen Wai. Yuen Wai has been pinpointed as being the member with the least experience, a fact disputed by Yuen Wai himself as Joo Lee is also a student and Kian You is merely a recently graduated person. However, when it came to who had to be kicked out, Emily decides that Ain should leave as she had sacrificed too much of her original personality in leading the team, thus resulting in the team's defeat.
Ain makes a teary exit, with a lesson that a good leader is not one who is able to please anyone but someone who holds her own ground.
Next episode spoiler hint: Sexy promoter girls! And... will Anoop still remain in The Firm?
August 14, 2008
The Firm: Season 2 corporate profile: Ridzuan
Name: Ridzuan Sa'adAge: 24
Star Sign: Sagittarius
Occupation: Corporate Trainer
Team: Team Equity
Reason for joining The Firm: To prove that young graduates can prove themselves as long as given the chance to do so.
Leadership style: Be a leader that can learn and cooperate with other team members
Strengths and weaknesses: My strengths would be being a good team player and also understanding the other team members. My weakness would be that I am sometimes emotional.
About myself: I'm just an ordinary person that is looking forward to any opportunities in life to attain my goals and objectives in life. Sometimes, there are situations which get in the way but life is is life, always full of surprises.
August 12, 2008
The Firm: Season 2 corporate profile: Dian
Name: Azti Dian Fitriyanti AzmiAge: 31
Star Sign: Libra
Occupation: Senior Publication Manager
Team: Team Equity
Reason for joining The Firm: To prove that a working mother and wife has what it takes to be in the corporate world! To see how far my limit goes!
Leadership style: Understand your team members a little bit more, and earn their respect. Motivate from within, lead by example and believe in team spirit!
Strengths and weaknesses: Positive outlook, focused, passionate, and determined. Can be emotional at times, temperamental and not a too detailed person.
About myself: I am just outgoing – not easy to judge at first, but can be very friendly afterwards. I don’t easily place my trust in someone, but when I do, I just do! I take my job seriously and I highly regard those who are respectful, trustworthy and true to themselves.
The Firm: Season 2 corporate profile: Kian You
Name: Kian YouAge: 26
Star sign: Aries
Occupation: Legal Assistant/Lawyer
Team: Team Asset
Reason for joining The Firm: Everyone (or at least I) think that lawyers are not made for the corporate world, so I want to prove that wrong.
Leadership style: Believe in leadership by example. Always positive and wanting to motivate my team members to achieve the ultimate goal. Entrust/empowers team members into believing that they have what it takes to succeed.
Strengths and weaknesses: Positivism is the strength that keeps me going as it picks me up even when I am faced with the biggest upset. Perseverance (or rather stubbornness) also aids in my daily life dealings which could also end up a trouble maker when I do not realize that it is time to retract. My loud voice always sends the wrong message even when I mean good.
About myself: I am a simple person and I always try to bring laughter to people around me. I am known to be a person whose voice arrives before him. Sometimes, I might accidentally offend some one without realizing it, maybe due to my straightness.
C.A. for Episode 2: The continuing reality
In Episode 2, after Peter Pek appointed Jennifer as the team leader, the brainstorming session proceeded rather smoothly without much interruption until Ridzuan requested at least three times that he wanted to be the main speaker. I could not believe my ears when I heard that Ridzuan said that the rest of his team could be prejudiced for not choosing him as the main speaker. Anyway, the brainstorming proceeded with Masami volunteering to be one of the speakers and my name was mentioned. Boon Yew’s name was also mentioned as a standby presenter.
Since the winning criteria was ‘the team who organizes the most effective and convincing seminar that appeals to an English speaking audience wins the challenge’, we made it a point to find out from Easy Pha-Max their definition of ‘effective’ and ‘convincing’. Based on these two terminologies, Team Equity decided that it was important to address:
1. Audience (English speaking audience)
2. Presentation
3. Presenter/s
4. Room (seating arrangement, lighting, audio/video equipment)
Team Equity adopted a simple strategy: 'Practice makes perfect' thus we were the first to approach Easy Pha-Max to book the room where the actual presentation that will take place. I was not agreeable with Anoop’s decision to book the room for the entire day because that would mean that Team Asset would be denied a chance to practice but he vetoed that we had first mover advantage thus we had the right to book the room for the whole day.
During our rehearsal, Ridzuan couldnt take the feedback from the rest of the team members even though our feedback were already toned down. In fact, in all of the briefing materials that Jennifer prepared for all of us, Ridzuan was listed as the main presenter and he agreed that he was unable to change his style at the last minute to suit to a different segment which is English speaking potential investors who have to decide whether or not to invest a substantial amount of money to be an Easy Pha-Max franchisee.
To support the 'Practice makes perfect' strategy, the following approaches were adopted:
1. Simplicity - based on the audience’s profile, Team Equity worked on the presentation slides to ensure that it was meant to convince the audience of the main concepts instead of confusing them with detailed numbers.
2. Engaging – instead of plunging headlong into the business presentation, Team Equity decided that it was best to break the ice and this objective was attained with a few simple demonstrations skilfully carried out the presenters.
3. Unique – going all out to record the English version of the Easy Pha-Max jingle made Team Equity stand out from the other team.
Despite Anoop trying to steal the limelight and Ridzuan being visibly and verbally upset for not being chosen as a presenter, Team Equity won the task in Episode 2. Having watched Episode 2 on telly, my notion of the teams being wrongly labeled is affirmed.
My two cents worth: Defeat or victory lies with the decisions made by the leader/s. Whether or not a team member’s potential was fully harnessed depends on the leader’s ability to recognize it in the first place. If it means that I need to be a wimp (by focusing on other people’s shortcomings, and by doing so means sacrificing them, without reflecting on my own) to get to the top, I would remain firm and walk out of The Firm. I tried to get myself booted off in Episode 2 but wasn’t successful. Will I be booted in Episode 3? Stay tuned.
August 10, 2008
The Firm: Season 2 - Episode 2
Client: Easy Pha-max
The task: To conduct an effective and engaging seminar for potential franchise holders from the English-speaking communities. The judging will be done by a panel of executives from the brand.
Team Asset
Team leader: Chris
In the boardroom meeting, Terence caused a ruckus when he put forward his intent to leave The Firm, citing the rift between team members and the amount of backstabbing he faced as reasons. Immediately it is apparent that there are two camps in Team Asset: The first consisting of Kian You, Salasiah and Yuen Wai; and the second consisting of Ain, Joo Lee and Chris.
With Terence gone, Ain is given a bigger space to exert her opinions, which are often more harsh and demeaning, especially on the members from the other camp. She is also seen as being the one running the show although Chris is team leader.
Following the audition for whom should be speaker, it was decided that Yuen Wai will be the emcee, Joo Lee the first speaker and Kian You the second speaker. While Yuen Wai received much criticism from Ain and Chris for his inexperience in conducting a presentation - which leads to Yuen Wai pointing out that at least he volunteered to do the job while Ain only knew how to criticise, Chris was very happy with Kian You's speaking skills and was optimistic that the team was on the "right track".
Unfortunately, things turned out badly during the seminar. Joo Lee caused a major boo-boo when she described the Easy Pha-max wheatgrass drink product as a "disgusting green drink" and worse, while off-stage, Kian You has a flair for talking, on stage he was just terrible! The audience weren't amused and it is obvious that Team Asset was in big trouble.
Team Equity
Team leader: Jennifer
It seems that Anoop has backed off from hogging the limelight this time around but the next matter to plague the team was Ridzuan's diva act. Throughout the show, it was all about Ridzuan bitching about his dissatisfaction at being put aside and not being able to speak at the seminar. He accuses his team mates of being "prejudiced" and firmly believed that he is the perfect man for the job due to his background as a motivational speaker (in the show, his official title is corporate trainer) although Masami pointed out that motivating people and selling them a product are two different things. He even went on to say that he was willing to risk his position in The Firm should the team lose but the team would not hear anything of it - they were not keen on losing and eventually, Ridzuan ended up as the floor manager on task day.
Meanwhile, the team was pleased with Boon Yew's performance - a fact clearly supported by the look of enjoyment on their audience's and panel of judges' faces. Ridzuan was not convinced though, insisting that Boon Yew was not able to create an "emotional connection with the audience".
Verdict: It was quite clear cut that Team Asset lost. In the boardroom, the speakers were blamed for their bad presentation skills. However, two people ended up in the hot seat - Ain and Salasiah. Ain's camp brought up that Salasiah had contributed the least and that there was not much use for her in the team while Salasiah's camp maintained that there was no space for a negative, disruptive team member in Team Asset.
For a moment, it seemed as if Ain will be eliminated as Chan Boon Yong seemed quite against her as well. However, it was Salasiah who had to leave as Chan Boon Yong maintained that The Firm was about leaders and not followers. Before exiting, Chan Boon Yong warned Ain that she will be team leader for the next task and that if the team failed, she will be held responsible for the loss and will be terminated.
Salasiah leaves with the parting words that unless the team was able to control Ain, the rift between the team members will never disappear.
Next episode spoiler hint: A TV commercial on mineral water. Anoop appears in a wheelchair.
The task: To conduct an effective and engaging seminar for potential franchise holders from the English-speaking communities. The judging will be done by a panel of executives from the brand.
Team Asset
Team leader: Chris
In the boardroom meeting, Terence caused a ruckus when he put forward his intent to leave The Firm, citing the rift between team members and the amount of backstabbing he faced as reasons. Immediately it is apparent that there are two camps in Team Asset: The first consisting of Kian You, Salasiah and Yuen Wai; and the second consisting of Ain, Joo Lee and Chris.
With Terence gone, Ain is given a bigger space to exert her opinions, which are often more harsh and demeaning, especially on the members from the other camp. She is also seen as being the one running the show although Chris is team leader.
Following the audition for whom should be speaker, it was decided that Yuen Wai will be the emcee, Joo Lee the first speaker and Kian You the second speaker. While Yuen Wai received much criticism from Ain and Chris for his inexperience in conducting a presentation - which leads to Yuen Wai pointing out that at least he volunteered to do the job while Ain only knew how to criticise, Chris was very happy with Kian You's speaking skills and was optimistic that the team was on the "right track".
Unfortunately, things turned out badly during the seminar. Joo Lee caused a major boo-boo when she described the Easy Pha-max wheatgrass drink product as a "disgusting green drink" and worse, while off-stage, Kian You has a flair for talking, on stage he was just terrible! The audience weren't amused and it is obvious that Team Asset was in big trouble.
Team Equity
Team leader: Jennifer
It seems that Anoop has backed off from hogging the limelight this time around but the next matter to plague the team was Ridzuan's diva act. Throughout the show, it was all about Ridzuan bitching about his dissatisfaction at being put aside and not being able to speak at the seminar. He accuses his team mates of being "prejudiced" and firmly believed that he is the perfect man for the job due to his background as a motivational speaker (in the show, his official title is corporate trainer) although Masami pointed out that motivating people and selling them a product are two different things. He even went on to say that he was willing to risk his position in The Firm should the team lose but the team would not hear anything of it - they were not keen on losing and eventually, Ridzuan ended up as the floor manager on task day.
Meanwhile, the team was pleased with Boon Yew's performance - a fact clearly supported by the look of enjoyment on their audience's and panel of judges' faces. Ridzuan was not convinced though, insisting that Boon Yew was not able to create an "emotional connection with the audience".
Verdict: It was quite clear cut that Team Asset lost. In the boardroom, the speakers were blamed for their bad presentation skills. However, two people ended up in the hot seat - Ain and Salasiah. Ain's camp brought up that Salasiah had contributed the least and that there was not much use for her in the team while Salasiah's camp maintained that there was no space for a negative, disruptive team member in Team Asset.
For a moment, it seemed as if Ain will be eliminated as Chan Boon Yong seemed quite against her as well. However, it was Salasiah who had to leave as Chan Boon Yong maintained that The Firm was about leaders and not followers. Before exiting, Chan Boon Yong warned Ain that she will be team leader for the next task and that if the team failed, she will be held responsible for the loss and will be terminated.
Salasiah leaves with the parting words that unless the team was able to control Ain, the rift between the team members will never disappear.
Next episode spoiler hint: A TV commercial on mineral water. Anoop appears in a wheelchair.
Jennifer's Story for Episode 2
I was nominated as the team leader for this round. Taking into account on the major issue we had from the last task, my strategy to win this task was to ensure equal distribution and ownership of responsibilities to respective team mates. Of course, most of all as a leader, it is important to implant transparency among team mates so that negative feelings can be avoided and to delegate the right job to the right person.
One good thing about Team Equity is that we always encouraged frequent meetings for information sharing so that everyone knows who is taking care of what areas. Our Ms. Creative Masami came up with the tagline "Ride the Bio-Herbal Wave". The first thing we did for this task was to build the framework of presentation. Prior to that, we placed importance in capturing the topic of presentation correctly - The Business Module as the 'product' we are trying to educate to the English-speaking target audience and NOT the end product itself. Having that in place, the team members who would love to showcase their public speaking skills for this task had to go through a voting process by the all team mates. It has to be a mutual agreement of team members on presenters selection (to ensure that I put the right person at the right responsibility).
My initial plan was to place Ridzuan and Masami as our main presenters, and Anoop as the emcee. I did not rely solely on one person to present the entire scheme, as in throwing all the responsibilities on one person. Anoop who comes from hosting background was definitly well suited in the emcee position. Ridzuan is a good motivational public speaker, however in terms of the knowledge and confidence level on the Easy Pha-Max Business Module itself was lacking at that point of time. Hence, I swapped Ridzuan to handle floor management, which was initially handled by Boon Yew. The swapping process was based on mutual agreement of both parties and also among the team members' judgement. Masami has a very good knowledge in real facts about successful people in the globe and she would excel in inspiring the audience by using real life scenarios that are just at her finger tips to relate to Easy Pha-Max Business Module. She was the first presenter whereas Boon Yew was the second presenter.
Both Boon Yew and C.A. have the experience in MLM industry and they were the ones who have contributed in making the core presentation - Easy Pha-Max Business Module interesting! Apart from that, C.A. has been given responsibility to handle the sound system throughout the event. Dian, the publication expert would for sure do well when it comes to presentation layout and management.
Me, being a team leader wasn't easy. Assigning the right responsibility to the right person and making sure the job delegation was fair - require the skill to look at a broader perspective, the right decision-making, and making sure that all team members were moving towards hitting our main objective. Apart from that, being a team leader is not just about delegating responsibilities so that you can sit back to relax. As a team leader for this task, I need to ensure I'm ascertain of every responsibility that had been delegated. On top of every responsibility, I should also work hand-in-hand and know what my team members are doing, which in this case include ensuring the information presented by the respective presenters was on track with main objective. Last but not least, a team leader should bring out the best in each individual - being optimistic and energetic in driving the team, which in this case we've gone through various rounds of practices together till late night to correct each other's mistakes! It's not about solely about the team leader and taking the limelight, but it's about them shining on stage.
The best part of the task was that each and everyone of the team mate was so passionate and committed of the task and they've worked so hard to come up with a bonus English version of Easy Pha-Max jingle that surprised me. Lead singer was none other than the lady with the beautiful voice, Dian. =) We all did a good job esp. Boon Yew with his excellent presentation delivery and we've definitely learned a lot from each other. So, thumbs up again for Team Equity for winning this task and most of all overcoming the obstacles in the past.
One good thing about Team Equity is that we always encouraged frequent meetings for information sharing so that everyone knows who is taking care of what areas. Our Ms. Creative Masami came up with the tagline "Ride the Bio-Herbal Wave". The first thing we did for this task was to build the framework of presentation. Prior to that, we placed importance in capturing the topic of presentation correctly - The Business Module as the 'product' we are trying to educate to the English-speaking target audience and NOT the end product itself. Having that in place, the team members who would love to showcase their public speaking skills for this task had to go through a voting process by the all team mates. It has to be a mutual agreement of team members on presenters selection (to ensure that I put the right person at the right responsibility).
My initial plan was to place Ridzuan and Masami as our main presenters, and Anoop as the emcee. I did not rely solely on one person to present the entire scheme, as in throwing all the responsibilities on one person. Anoop who comes from hosting background was definitly well suited in the emcee position. Ridzuan is a good motivational public speaker, however in terms of the knowledge and confidence level on the Easy Pha-Max Business Module itself was lacking at that point of time. Hence, I swapped Ridzuan to handle floor management, which was initially handled by Boon Yew. The swapping process was based on mutual agreement of both parties and also among the team members' judgement. Masami has a very good knowledge in real facts about successful people in the globe and she would excel in inspiring the audience by using real life scenarios that are just at her finger tips to relate to Easy Pha-Max Business Module. She was the first presenter whereas Boon Yew was the second presenter.
Both Boon Yew and C.A. have the experience in MLM industry and they were the ones who have contributed in making the core presentation - Easy Pha-Max Business Module interesting! Apart from that, C.A. has been given responsibility to handle the sound system throughout the event. Dian, the publication expert would for sure do well when it comes to presentation layout and management.
Me, being a team leader wasn't easy. Assigning the right responsibility to the right person and making sure the job delegation was fair - require the skill to look at a broader perspective, the right decision-making, and making sure that all team members were moving towards hitting our main objective. Apart from that, being a team leader is not just about delegating responsibilities so that you can sit back to relax. As a team leader for this task, I need to ensure I'm ascertain of every responsibility that had been delegated. On top of every responsibility, I should also work hand-in-hand and know what my team members are doing, which in this case include ensuring the information presented by the respective presenters was on track with main objective. Last but not least, a team leader should bring out the best in each individual - being optimistic and energetic in driving the team, which in this case we've gone through various rounds of practices together till late night to correct each other's mistakes! It's not about solely about the team leader and taking the limelight, but it's about them shining on stage.
The best part of the task was that each and everyone of the team mate was so passionate and committed of the task and they've worked so hard to come up with a bonus English version of Easy Pha-Max jingle that surprised me. Lead singer was none other than the lady with the beautiful voice, Dian. =) We all did a good job esp. Boon Yew with his excellent presentation delivery and we've definitely learned a lot from each other. So, thumbs up again for Team Equity for winning this task and most of all overcoming the obstacles in the past.
Jennifer's Story for Episode 1
The minute we walked pass the dining area before the task announcement, I was thinking of F&B Set Lunch Creation. Oh my gosh, how come it came that fast, the first task?! Last season, it was the Burger King task that had the same requirement. Looking at the team members I had, I was quite confident at first that Anoop would be able to share his F&B experiences due to the fact that he promoted himself heavily among the team members as a well rounder of F&B master background.
As a result, Boon Yew gave his suggestion to appoint Anoop as the team leader for Task 1. So, how about my confidence level in handling the task? I’m the type of person who would love to take one step at a time. Focus on the present task, not about how much more burden I’m gonna face in the next coming weeks with tasks like this. Come to think about it… if you really look THAT FAR, you’re putting a tremendous pressure on yourself, and it’s definitely going to be hard to manage. Looking at the task, what could I contribute for creating a satisfying weekend set lunch plus dine-in experience as the main objectives?
Come on, we need unique big idea - larger than life! So, there was a dispute between Dian and me. My idea started as a problem analyser - How many people know that The Carat Club has F&B to offer besides diamond?s How can we create curiousity among consumers and make them walk into the restaurant for us to satisfy? - Boom! Chef has always been a close tie to Food, duh! What does “Meet the Chef Behind the Diamonds” mean? Weekend consumers are basically families who care and selective about the food they eat and being able to bring the chef up to understand the consumers’ perceptions toward the food offered would make them ‘feel’ personalized and special. In other words, The Carat Club cares for us, and they take our views to enhance for the better. So, maintaining the prestige status of the restaurant, how can we attract the prospective customers, whether they know or do not know The Carat Club?
Hence, we have our team members dressing up in the the smart chef complete attire with long hat to reach out to Pavilion shoppers.
Dian - a strong minded person who wanted her own idea ‘Families are Forever’ to be on the table. At first, I did not agree with that. Reason being, do we need to specifically mention ‘Families’ in the tagline although we know that families are our target customers? Shouldn’t we be more creative? She defended that “Meet the Chef Behind the Diamonds” would not work because the chef is not a celebrity chef and hence it is not attractive enough. To me, as long as we could create a profile for the chef, it would be a good starting point for the chef and The Carat Club in the long run and things could work well. Never assume without checking first. Well, in the end I was alright cuz “Meet the Chef Behind the Diamonds” was seconded under “Families are Forever”… as long as we could arrive at a compromising line.
Working together, as this was the first task, everyone volunteered to do things at their best capacity. It was more like those who volunteered the most ended up doing the most, whereas those who didn’t would just being ignored by Anoop. This was quite unfair - cuz I thought equal task delegation should be planned by the leader so that everyone has equal chance of contributing. Apart from that, I was told to do the checklist for him, one night before the event and yet, the event flow produced by him was confusing and kept changing even till the last minute before the task started. So many emails flying around like nobody’s business. In other words, it confused the team mates cuz changes made at the last minute when three of our team members have gone out distributing flyers. So basically, changes were only brief to me, Masami, and Dian. How about the rest - Boon Yew, C.A., and Ridzuan? Shouldn’t they be briefed as well?
Despite the fact that we had problems with our team leader, but still the winning criteria was to produce the most satisfying lunch experience, which we, Team Equity scored that as the highest rating. However, taking into consideration of the profits and the crowd generated by the opposition team, Team Asset’d won. At the end, no one was terminated from Team Equity. Moving forward for the next task, Team Equity learned that communication is crucial for team work enhancement.
My favourite pictures during the ‘Making of Episode 1′.
Not as bad as you think, despite the problems we faced in Episode 1, we’re one step closer to understanding each other. Thumbs up!
As a result, Boon Yew gave his suggestion to appoint Anoop as the team leader for Task 1. So, how about my confidence level in handling the task? I’m the type of person who would love to take one step at a time. Focus on the present task, not about how much more burden I’m gonna face in the next coming weeks with tasks like this. Come to think about it… if you really look THAT FAR, you’re putting a tremendous pressure on yourself, and it’s definitely going to be hard to manage. Looking at the task, what could I contribute for creating a satisfying weekend set lunch plus dine-in experience as the main objectives?
Come on, we need unique big idea - larger than life! So, there was a dispute between Dian and me. My idea started as a problem analyser - How many people know that The Carat Club has F&B to offer besides diamond?s How can we create curiousity among consumers and make them walk into the restaurant for us to satisfy? - Boom! Chef has always been a close tie to Food, duh! What does “Meet the Chef Behind the Diamonds” mean? Weekend consumers are basically families who care and selective about the food they eat and being able to bring the chef up to understand the consumers’ perceptions toward the food offered would make them ‘feel’ personalized and special. In other words, The Carat Club cares for us, and they take our views to enhance for the better. So, maintaining the prestige status of the restaurant, how can we attract the prospective customers, whether they know or do not know The Carat Club?
Hence, we have our team members dressing up in the the smart chef complete attire with long hat to reach out to Pavilion shoppers.
Dian - a strong minded person who wanted her own idea ‘Families are Forever’ to be on the table. At first, I did not agree with that. Reason being, do we need to specifically mention ‘Families’ in the tagline although we know that families are our target customers? Shouldn’t we be more creative? She defended that “Meet the Chef Behind the Diamonds” would not work because the chef is not a celebrity chef and hence it is not attractive enough. To me, as long as we could create a profile for the chef, it would be a good starting point for the chef and The Carat Club in the long run and things could work well. Never assume without checking first. Well, in the end I was alright cuz “Meet the Chef Behind the Diamonds” was seconded under “Families are Forever”… as long as we could arrive at a compromising line.
Working together, as this was the first task, everyone volunteered to do things at their best capacity. It was more like those who volunteered the most ended up doing the most, whereas those who didn’t would just being ignored by Anoop. This was quite unfair - cuz I thought equal task delegation should be planned by the leader so that everyone has equal chance of contributing. Apart from that, I was told to do the checklist for him, one night before the event and yet, the event flow produced by him was confusing and kept changing even till the last minute before the task started. So many emails flying around like nobody’s business. In other words, it confused the team mates cuz changes made at the last minute when three of our team members have gone out distributing flyers. So basically, changes were only brief to me, Masami, and Dian. How about the rest - Boon Yew, C.A., and Ridzuan? Shouldn’t they be briefed as well?
Despite the fact that we had problems with our team leader, but still the winning criteria was to produce the most satisfying lunch experience, which we, Team Equity scored that as the highest rating. However, taking into consideration of the profits and the crowd generated by the opposition team, Team Asset’d won. At the end, no one was terminated from Team Equity. Moving forward for the next task, Team Equity learned that communication is crucial for team work enhancement.
My favourite pictures during the ‘Making of Episode 1′.
Not as bad as you think, despite the problems we faced in Episode 1, we’re one step closer to understanding each other. Thumbs up!
August 8, 2008
Masami for Episode 1: Project DFA
Let's sum up my reasons for being in The Firm. As my colleague puts it, I'm just Desperate For Attention (DFA). Maybe - that must be why people get themselves on TV, don't they? Or else they could just go through the 'normal' channels of securing themselves a top position in a corporate organisation. (Which, in Malaysia would be via bribery or because your dad knows 'someone' higher up.)
For me, it has never been about the one-year job contract with TuneMoney.com and the prize valued at RM100,000 as when I first found out that I was chosen to run as a contestant, I felt that getting to the finals would be something close to impossible. (My target was to reach Episode 5 the furthest - my involvement would have amounted to at least 30 per cent of the show's runtime then.)
I used to be a horribly insecure person, with a big dash of paranoia on the side. Actually, I can still be at times. I used to be the girl relegated to the sidelines in my schooling days - because I wasn't as smart, as pretty, as talkative, as (please insert an adjective) as the other girls. Eventually I came around and started changing - but it was not enough. I wanted to be thrown in to a situation where I am forced to change and acquire certain traits of a successful corporate person: Aggressive, confident, quick-thinker, etc. Getting in front of the camera was a start and it also tallied with the things listed on my little list of 'Things to do Before I Turn 25'.
As a half-joke, I tell people that maybe the exposure will help bring all the potential boyfriend (maybe husband?) candidates to me. Ha ha.
In Episode 1, you may have noticed that there is not much footage of me speaking or acting when all the action is taking place. The show did feature me speaking 'behind the scenes' quite a bit though - but don't for once let that fool you into thinking that I'm only good for saying things behind people's backs. I just didn't want to cause arguments or distress within the group as I was quite certain that if I instantly emerged as Public Enemy No. 1, then I'd be the first person my team mates would be scheming to get rid of.
But I did not like Anoop - in fact, I still don't. He reeks of arrogance, is a show-off and loves being in the limelight. A lot of us think he is a liar, too - based on certain things he'd told us but of course, as all these 'tall tale' sessions took place off-camera, the production crew wouldn't let us bring these matters up in the boardroom and stuff because they wouldn't be relevant to the audience who only know what happened and what is said based on what is shown to them on telly.
In the first task, while I did not know enough about my team mates to be able to gauge each person's strengths and weaknesses, the fact that Anoop was scheming to get rid of Ridzuan if the team lost (and we did lose) speaks volumes of his character. A Team Leader, I believe, should always take responsibility for the mistakes that take place in a task unless of course, the subordinate went against the leader's instructions to perform an action that resulted in the task being totally screwed up.
But that does not mean I do not agree that Ridzuan should not be terminated in Episode 1. He is, to be honest, the weakest member in the team at that point. He did not come up with original ideas of his own but merely recaps what everybody else has said. The only small bit he volunteered to do (aside from what was assigned to him) was to buy balloons. Balloons. Huh.
There is no doubt that I was not one of the more outstanding members of Team Equity then though. The credit all goes to Jennifer and Dian who put in tremendous effort into the task although I felt that Dian was this really bossy snob in the beginning.
The first elimination meeting was traumatic for all of us - the room was dead silent, punctuated by sharp intakes of breathing by Jennifer mostly. Given the way things were going, it looked to me that Anoop was slated to be kicked off the show - we were just waiting for him to live up to his word that he would take responsibility as Team Leader and that he would step down because of his 'rich man's disease'.
But as luck would have it, Ridzuan opened his mouth, dropped the can of worms and the worms... well, it made for an absolute mess. Maybe he felt that Anoop would soon be pinning the blame on him so he had to strike while he still had the chance.
And the result was - as you have seen on TV. Nobody got eliminated. And so, we got to stick it till the next round with everybody's favourite The Team: Season 2 contestant, Anoop.
For me, it has never been about the one-year job contract with TuneMoney.com and the prize valued at RM100,000 as when I first found out that I was chosen to run as a contestant, I felt that getting to the finals would be something close to impossible. (My target was to reach Episode 5 the furthest - my involvement would have amounted to at least 30 per cent of the show's runtime then.)
I used to be a horribly insecure person, with a big dash of paranoia on the side. Actually, I can still be at times. I used to be the girl relegated to the sidelines in my schooling days - because I wasn't as smart, as pretty, as talkative, as (please insert an adjective) as the other girls. Eventually I came around and started changing - but it was not enough. I wanted to be thrown in to a situation where I am forced to change and acquire certain traits of a successful corporate person: Aggressive, confident, quick-thinker, etc. Getting in front of the camera was a start and it also tallied with the things listed on my little list of 'Things to do Before I Turn 25'.
As a half-joke, I tell people that maybe the exposure will help bring all the potential boyfriend (maybe husband?) candidates to me. Ha ha.
In Episode 1, you may have noticed that there is not much footage of me speaking or acting when all the action is taking place. The show did feature me speaking 'behind the scenes' quite a bit though - but don't for once let that fool you into thinking that I'm only good for saying things behind people's backs. I just didn't want to cause arguments or distress within the group as I was quite certain that if I instantly emerged as Public Enemy No. 1, then I'd be the first person my team mates would be scheming to get rid of.
But I did not like Anoop - in fact, I still don't. He reeks of arrogance, is a show-off and loves being in the limelight. A lot of us think he is a liar, too - based on certain things he'd told us but of course, as all these 'tall tale' sessions took place off-camera, the production crew wouldn't let us bring these matters up in the boardroom and stuff because they wouldn't be relevant to the audience who only know what happened and what is said based on what is shown to them on telly.
In the first task, while I did not know enough about my team mates to be able to gauge each person's strengths and weaknesses, the fact that Anoop was scheming to get rid of Ridzuan if the team lost (and we did lose) speaks volumes of his character. A Team Leader, I believe, should always take responsibility for the mistakes that take place in a task unless of course, the subordinate went against the leader's instructions to perform an action that resulted in the task being totally screwed up.
But that does not mean I do not agree that Ridzuan should not be terminated in Episode 1. He is, to be honest, the weakest member in the team at that point. He did not come up with original ideas of his own but merely recaps what everybody else has said. The only small bit he volunteered to do (aside from what was assigned to him) was to buy balloons. Balloons. Huh.
There is no doubt that I was not one of the more outstanding members of Team Equity then though. The credit all goes to Jennifer and Dian who put in tremendous effort into the task although I felt that Dian was this really bossy snob in the beginning.
The first elimination meeting was traumatic for all of us - the room was dead silent, punctuated by sharp intakes of breathing by Jennifer mostly. Given the way things were going, it looked to me that Anoop was slated to be kicked off the show - we were just waiting for him to live up to his word that he would take responsibility as Team Leader and that he would step down because of his 'rich man's disease'.
But as luck would have it, Ridzuan opened his mouth, dropped the can of worms and the worms... well, it made for an absolute mess. Maybe he felt that Anoop would soon be pinning the blame on him so he had to strike while he still had the chance.
And the result was - as you have seen on TV. Nobody got eliminated. And so, we got to stick it till the next round with everybody's favourite The Team: Season 2 contestant, Anoop.
C.A. for Episode 1: Welcome to 'reality'
Strange as it may sound, I do not watch television programmes and have been that way for the past six or more years. When I shared this tiny bit of information about myself with the rest of my team mates in Team Equity, I think I could hear them thinking aloud: "Weirdo". The people behind The Firm: Season 2 didn’t think aloud, they voiced it out verbally.
Anyway, I joined The Firm: Season 2 without watching The Firm: Season 1 and since I haven’t watched any of the reality shows before, I did not have any inkling on what to expect. Either I am a nut or I do not understand the meaning of fear. What prompted me to join The Firm: Season 2 was the advertisement that came out in The Star that says ,"Do you have what it takes to be the nation’s top executive?" or something along the lines and I thought to myself that maybe I can learn from the people who groom top executives about running a company.
In Episode 1, since Anoop shared with the team that he has a few years of experience in the F&B industry, I was agreeable that he was the best candidate to lead the team for this task. Anoop was effective in getting the team to contribute their respective ideas during the brainstorming session; yours truly suggested a possible angle to try out a charity approach which was immediately shot down by Dian. She has her valid reasons for shooting down my idea but I thought that she could have shot it down in a different way because the impression that I had of her was nothing short of a hostile person. As I got to know Dian better, I am happy to share that she is not a hostile person.
I could be wrong but during brainstorming session, Dian did mention that if the team lost because we adopted her ideas, she would volunteer herself to be terminated. I felt that it was pointless to argue because time was against us thus I felt that we should just adopt an idea and work from there. I did mention during brainstorming session instead of competing against ourselves, we should be working together to compete against Team Asset because I believed that it would have been difficult to move forward if we continued to argue on whose idea was the best.
Based on a tight deadline, an even tighter budget and the brief by C. Club, Team Equity’s strategy to win was deceptively simple: to delight customers by providing excellent service. To execute this strategy effectively, Team Equity implemented the following tactics:
1. Go-out-to-the-customers; that is to dress as chefs to draw traffic in to C. Club.
2. Buy one adult set lunch and be entitled to a complimentary child’s set lunch thus effectively targeting families who may (or may not) be concerned on affordability.
3. Diamond tour for interested diners – targeting wives or girlfriends.
4. Meet the chef behind the diamonds – making it more personalized as diners may want to learn from the chef how to prepare the dishes.
5. Body jewelry for children – ensuring that the children remain entertained.
6. Photo memento and C. Club catalogue for all diners irrespective of the menu they order – for diners to remember C. Club and to 'show-off' to their friends.
We were convinced that we would win based on the above strategy and the tactics. Team Equity lost because we neglected to weigh in the following factors:
1. Anoop’s gout affecting his judgement (gout may not have clouded his decision making process).
In the boardroom, lasted like an eternity to me, I was shocked to hear so many negative feedback about Anoopflying around from the rest of Team Equity. I actually felt sorry for him thus I decided not to press on with a few questions that I initially wanted to ask him. The footage shown in Episode 1 featuring me sharing my points during the boardroom was but a snippet of what actually transpired.
I remained silent in the boardroom while the focus remained on Anoop for a good 20 to 30 minutes. Out of the blue, I was asked who should be terminated. Without hesitation, I answered: "Me".
Anyway, I joined The Firm: Season 2 without watching The Firm: Season 1 and since I haven’t watched any of the reality shows before, I did not have any inkling on what to expect. Either I am a nut or I do not understand the meaning of fear. What prompted me to join The Firm: Season 2 was the advertisement that came out in The Star that says ,"Do you have what it takes to be the nation’s top executive?" or something along the lines and I thought to myself that maybe I can learn from the people who groom top executives about running a company.
In Episode 1, since Anoop shared with the team that he has a few years of experience in the F&B industry, I was agreeable that he was the best candidate to lead the team for this task. Anoop was effective in getting the team to contribute their respective ideas during the brainstorming session; yours truly suggested a possible angle to try out a charity approach which was immediately shot down by Dian. She has her valid reasons for shooting down my idea but I thought that she could have shot it down in a different way because the impression that I had of her was nothing short of a hostile person. As I got to know Dian better, I am happy to share that she is not a hostile person.
I could be wrong but during brainstorming session, Dian did mention that if the team lost because we adopted her ideas, she would volunteer herself to be terminated. I felt that it was pointless to argue because time was against us thus I felt that we should just adopt an idea and work from there. I did mention during brainstorming session instead of competing against ourselves, we should be working together to compete against Team Asset because I believed that it would have been difficult to move forward if we continued to argue on whose idea was the best.
Based on a tight deadline, an even tighter budget and the brief by C. Club, Team Equity’s strategy to win was deceptively simple: to delight customers by providing excellent service. To execute this strategy effectively, Team Equity implemented the following tactics:
1. Go-out-to-the-customers; that is to dress as chefs to draw traffic in to C. Club.
2. Buy one adult set lunch and be entitled to a complimentary child’s set lunch thus effectively targeting families who may (or may not) be concerned on affordability.
3. Diamond tour for interested diners – targeting wives or girlfriends.
4. Meet the chef behind the diamonds – making it more personalized as diners may want to learn from the chef how to prepare the dishes.
5. Body jewelry for children – ensuring that the children remain entertained.
6. Photo memento and C. Club catalogue for all diners irrespective of the menu they order – for diners to remember C. Club and to 'show-off' to their friends.
We were convinced that we would win based on the above strategy and the tactics. Team Equity lost because we neglected to weigh in the following factors:
1. Anoop’s gout affecting his judgement (gout may not have clouded his decision making process).
In the boardroom, lasted like an eternity to me, I was shocked to hear so many negative feedback about Anoopflying around from the rest of Team Equity. I actually felt sorry for him thus I decided not to press on with a few questions that I initially wanted to ask him. The footage shown in Episode 1 featuring me sharing my points during the boardroom was but a snippet of what actually transpired.
I remained silent in the boardroom while the focus remained on Anoop for a good 20 to 30 minutes. Out of the blue, I was asked who should be terminated. Without hesitation, I answered: "Me".
August 5, 2008
Terence for Episode 1: I'm game... for some reality
Reality in show biz terms is ‘really’ different.
I’ve got a taste of it, and that experience reinforced my assumptions on ‘Reality Shows’.
Honestly speaking, I was game for The Firm: Season 2 at the onset - even though with a ‘real’ assumption that reality TV can’t be perfectly real. I could live with such assumptions. Pretty much like going into a game of football knowing that not all players are gonna play as fair as you’d like them to be and the referee is only human with two eyes on the field that can’t see what spectators see from the stand (and on TV).
I’ve been asked of this question umpteen times by those on set and off set - “Why did you join The Firm?” or in more casual terms like, “What made you join a show like this?”. Well, to put this on record, I did it because I needed the prize monies and job offer very much (?). OK, that’s for reality TV record with a punch of ‘real’ honesty for the viewers.
Why does Terence need to win the prize that badly? How about say, I quit my existing job to join the show, and the proposition of joining the organisation of The Firm’s CEO was too hard to refuse. Now - that’s reality TV for you!. (Are you buying into ‘reality’ so far?)
Minus the glitz and the reality TV celebrity wannabe urges... deep down in the real heart of Terence lies the truth (the real truth) that viewers may find boring with no entertainment value.
I was secretly spying (and learning tricks of the trade) in TV show like directing and producing; I wanted to experiment with live walking creatures - what leadership is when given the camera is pointing at these creatures and the lure of a prize worth more than RM100,000; I was tempted for being given a chance to meet and have engaging situations with ‘colourful’ people whom I first met and then having to work as a team although in everyone’s mind everyone needs to out-shine, out-do, and be out-spoken to remain in the game (and ultimately emerge as the winner).
I wanted to be where the ‘real’ action is.
Reality at this stand point is that any reality show needs viewers’ ratings and the ability to bring in revenue. It’s still show business after all. Some choos direct sponsorships in advertisements while others go with the text messaging (i.e SMS) business model.
It would be unprofessional of me to spill the beans here with privileged behind-the-scenes information to all my readers here (wait a minute). I can’t use the term 'unprofessional' (come to think of it) because I was merely a contestant of a game show - not receiving any fees for his ‘acting’ services here, but merely packed ‘economy rice’ meals during shooting sessions.
Come to think of it - with the monies us contestants ‘invested’ in forms of mileage (petrol) , parking fees, and loss of potential incomes in our normal careers; I can’t help but to really feel that I’m actually a customer paying for a TV appearance experience and a chance to win a prize.
So, for the rest of my writing here on my participation in this reality show, please don’t mention the professionalism aspect of us contestants, as explained - I am not a professional TV celebrity then and now. Professionalism doesn’t come into the picture. This is all personal. (Period)
The Firm: Season 2's Episode 1 was a... "Well edited episode".
"With 50 hours of footage recorded compressed into 45 minutes of TV airtime", please get ‘real’ here and don’t get to factually serious on a 45-minute piece of entertaining work-of-art here. Hehehe.
I shall attempt to write here the truth (and nothing but the truth) what actually transpired behind the scenes and probably some of the 80 per cent of ‘left-over’ footages. I’m attempting to write what really happened - with my limited knowledge and of my team (Asset) only. If you think what you’re about to read may constitute some degree of confession and explanation to justify my actions seen 'on air' - so be it. You can now choose to exit here.
How did I end up being a Team Leader?
The team member with the most decorated CV in F&B was clearly shown as dismayed by my act of heroism (or foolishness). That was the ‘real story’. And with the brief interview clip quoting the team member’s intention in agreeing to be the Team Leader (if no one volunteers) clearly added salt to the drama.
Here’s the real twist to the ‘real story’. I wasn’t the first to speak up when Team Asset’s Corporate Leader (Chan Boon Yong) asked the team for a volunteer. (I’m not that heroic after all...hehe.) There was another team member who spoke before me explaining why she wouldn’t be a good choice for a Team Leader for this task. As predicted, everyone was looking at everyone for some cue or (perhaps) some foolish person to say "I do".
Personally, from past episodes’ point of view, he or she who holds the Team Leader role holds the heaviest responsibility should the team lose. His or her head would most likely be on the ‘chopping board’. From an analogy point of view, the situation at that particular scene was pretty much like a poker game (seriously). The Banker at one end of the table, the first game takes place with seven players - and someone had to decide if he or she would like to 'show hand' in that first game. It was an exciting risk to take. As in poker - it was a game of deception and perception.
I took the exciting risk (by volunteering to be the Team Leader) and was unchallenged for the matter of fact. Everyone was obviously relieved as someone decided to take the first 'foolish' step. What’s in it for me? Well, exciting high risk decision has its benefits (if the result in the end turns out positively), my team wins this task - no one will question my leadership at the onset and I get to call the shots. I practically gambled my survival at that table - which I’ve made a decision for it the night before.
Why did I delegate part of my responsibilities to the two most vocal team members who were against me?
Firstly, I wanted to test their credibility on the said task delegated - one claimed to have more than five years of F&B work experience setting up popular night dining joints in KL, while the other has done event management throughout his working life. How timely, isn’t it? Secondly, I’ve always considered a leader as one who spends most of his or her time on people related matters than anything else - like communication, team spirit and relationship, and ensuring the team moves towards the winning finishing line. In other instances would be to problem solve and challenging the status quo.
So, I decided to give the responsibility in micro managing the specific tasks of dining experience and promotion to the two most experienced (cum subject matter experts) team members. (In my mind) Yes, they were the two most vocal team members against me - so what? Because they are vocally against me that doesn’t mean they were going to be disruptive to the team’s goal of winning the task then. If they jeopardized their given tasks the team will most probably lose - and that is a headache no sane person would wish to have at the first episode.
Lastly, they were the two most eager and passionate team members in that particular forte during brain-storming with Chan Boon Yong in pushing their ideas and proposal across. A leader does not deny enthusiasm and opportunity, do they? Besides, it was too early 'to fight fire with fire'.
Was I actually (really) a wimp leader?
Yes, I was (?) I can’t and won’t deny what has been clearly shown 'on air'...hahaha. Yes, I took the comments on me not working my ass out (like some team members) and perceived to be a wimp leader on my stride. I knew those words were coming out, and it’s a 'reality show' that gives everyone the opportunity for freedom of speech (although not in equal perportions). I knew the underlying reasons for such an act, and also the need for dramatic sequence for the show. It’s a game of individual survival and triumphant, not a family get-together game show.
To set the record right, I had to make some pertinent decisions during the course of being a Team Leader. (Ya, not shown on TV). The team decide on the brainstorming table an affordable indulgence is a lunch set at RM42++. Eventually, that didn’t materialise because that someone with the most F&B knowledge gave an impression to the team it was do-able at the planning stage. The proposal was shot down by the chef because of profit margin factor at a subsequent meeting with the chef. Guess who had to make the call to re-package the set lunch at a much higher price - me, the Team Leader. (I’m not complaining, it’s my role to call the shots remember?)
So, I had to convince the team that we can still win the task although the set lunch was not as 'affordable' as agreed earlier on the planning table. Oh yes, I had to answer a late night call from one of the two delegated managers and give assurance of winning as that particular team member was dead worried our product wouldn’t be able to sell. (I’m not complaining, it’s my role to motivate remember?) In the promo part, I had to put on my Team Leader cap in one occasion and provided alternative plans to counter a stumbling block.
The other manager of mine almost 'broke down' when the team was informed by the shopping centre management that we can’t place buntings at common areas and apply visual stickers on escalators and other fixtures - one of the brainchild proposed by the other manager of mine to create visibility for our event. I called the shots (again) by proposing to distribute balloons on sticks instead. We did just that eventually, didn’t we? Speaking of balloons, I was given the impression somehow that I did nothing holding the balloons walking around... like a balloon boy or clown was (personally) distasteful.
I can’t take credit for doing all the job on the balloon without giving due justice to the other team members Yuen Wai and Kian You on the ground with me pulling (and persuading) potential customers. By the way, who did you think had to run up and down the floors replenishing the more than a hundred balloons to the on-the-ground team (Kian You and Yuen Wai)? The balloon boy cum Team Leader... hahaha.
I’m not a perfect leader. I guess the only time I was a wimp leader was by agreeing to one of my delegated cum empowered manager in charge of the dining experience by letting her choose her dining experience team assisting her in the restaurant - and with the condition that no other team members are to 'interfere' with the dining operations on task day as the others would not been trained and briefed. I was indeed a wimp leader when I didn’t insist for one of the boys to be in the restaurant under her team as I clearly know one of the boys is a persuasive (and charming) communicator able to promote our set lunch better and sooth irate customers. In the end, the dining experience team was made up of the fairer sex only. It proved to be a costly wimp decision - as the dining experience team was eventually short-handed.
Lastly, I believe I was a wimp leader for not leading the team like a macho Team Leader (some of) my team members would like it to be.
What have I learned during the making of this episode?
Every colours of personality do flourish for some people when surrounded by cameras and lights... hehehe. People still can’t (or won’t) differentiate between being a leader and a manager in our Malaysian corporate world.
It’s show business after all - where the 'real' of reality is as real as you want it to be.
All said and done, The Firm: Season 2 deserves your attention. It should be a resource material for our local undergrads in giving them a 'real' glimpse of the Malaysian corporate world.
(Too bad viewers can’t see the real drama that transpired 'off air'. I’m giving you some illustrations for your imagination right now)
Cheers!
I’ve got a taste of it, and that experience reinforced my assumptions on ‘Reality Shows’.
Honestly speaking, I was game for The Firm: Season 2 at the onset - even though with a ‘real’ assumption that reality TV can’t be perfectly real. I could live with such assumptions. Pretty much like going into a game of football knowing that not all players are gonna play as fair as you’d like them to be and the referee is only human with two eyes on the field that can’t see what spectators see from the stand (and on TV).
I’ve been asked of this question umpteen times by those on set and off set - “Why did you join The Firm?” or in more casual terms like, “What made you join a show like this?”. Well, to put this on record, I did it because I needed the prize monies and job offer very much (?). OK, that’s for reality TV record with a punch of ‘real’ honesty for the viewers.
Why does Terence need to win the prize that badly? How about say, I quit my existing job to join the show, and the proposition of joining the organisation of The Firm’s CEO was too hard to refuse. Now - that’s reality TV for you!. (Are you buying into ‘reality’ so far?)
Minus the glitz and the reality TV celebrity wannabe urges... deep down in the real heart of Terence lies the truth (the real truth) that viewers may find boring with no entertainment value.
I was secretly spying (and learning tricks of the trade) in TV show like directing and producing; I wanted to experiment with live walking creatures - what leadership is when given the camera is pointing at these creatures and the lure of a prize worth more than RM100,000; I was tempted for being given a chance to meet and have engaging situations with ‘colourful’ people whom I first met and then having to work as a team although in everyone’s mind everyone needs to out-shine, out-do, and be out-spoken to remain in the game (and ultimately emerge as the winner).
I wanted to be where the ‘real’ action is.
Reality at this stand point is that any reality show needs viewers’ ratings and the ability to bring in revenue. It’s still show business after all. Some choos direct sponsorships in advertisements while others go with the text messaging (i.e SMS) business model.
It would be unprofessional of me to spill the beans here with privileged behind-the-scenes information to all my readers here (wait a minute). I can’t use the term 'unprofessional' (come to think of it) because I was merely a contestant of a game show - not receiving any fees for his ‘acting’ services here, but merely packed ‘economy rice’ meals during shooting sessions.
Come to think of it - with the monies us contestants ‘invested’ in forms of mileage (petrol) , parking fees, and loss of potential incomes in our normal careers; I can’t help but to really feel that I’m actually a customer paying for a TV appearance experience and a chance to win a prize.
So, for the rest of my writing here on my participation in this reality show, please don’t mention the professionalism aspect of us contestants, as explained - I am not a professional TV celebrity then and now. Professionalism doesn’t come into the picture. This is all personal. (Period)
The Firm: Season 2's Episode 1 was a... "Well edited episode".
"With 50 hours of footage recorded compressed into 45 minutes of TV airtime", please get ‘real’ here and don’t get to factually serious on a 45-minute piece of entertaining work-of-art here. Hehehe.
I shall attempt to write here the truth (and nothing but the truth) what actually transpired behind the scenes and probably some of the 80 per cent of ‘left-over’ footages. I’m attempting to write what really happened - with my limited knowledge and of my team (Asset) only. If you think what you’re about to read may constitute some degree of confession and explanation to justify my actions seen 'on air' - so be it. You can now choose to exit here.
How did I end up being a Team Leader?
The team member with the most decorated CV in F&B was clearly shown as dismayed by my act of heroism (or foolishness). That was the ‘real story’. And with the brief interview clip quoting the team member’s intention in agreeing to be the Team Leader (if no one volunteers) clearly added salt to the drama.
Here’s the real twist to the ‘real story’. I wasn’t the first to speak up when Team Asset’s Corporate Leader (Chan Boon Yong) asked the team for a volunteer. (I’m not that heroic after all...hehe.) There was another team member who spoke before me explaining why she wouldn’t be a good choice for a Team Leader for this task. As predicted, everyone was looking at everyone for some cue or (perhaps) some foolish person to say "I do".
Personally, from past episodes’ point of view, he or she who holds the Team Leader role holds the heaviest responsibility should the team lose. His or her head would most likely be on the ‘chopping board’. From an analogy point of view, the situation at that particular scene was pretty much like a poker game (seriously). The Banker at one end of the table, the first game takes place with seven players - and someone had to decide if he or she would like to 'show hand' in that first game. It was an exciting risk to take. As in poker - it was a game of deception and perception.
I took the exciting risk (by volunteering to be the Team Leader) and was unchallenged for the matter of fact. Everyone was obviously relieved as someone decided to take the first 'foolish' step. What’s in it for me? Well, exciting high risk decision has its benefits (if the result in the end turns out positively), my team wins this task - no one will question my leadership at the onset and I get to call the shots. I practically gambled my survival at that table - which I’ve made a decision for it the night before.
Why did I delegate part of my responsibilities to the two most vocal team members who were against me?
Firstly, I wanted to test their credibility on the said task delegated - one claimed to have more than five years of F&B work experience setting up popular night dining joints in KL, while the other has done event management throughout his working life. How timely, isn’t it? Secondly, I’ve always considered a leader as one who spends most of his or her time on people related matters than anything else - like communication, team spirit and relationship, and ensuring the team moves towards the winning finishing line. In other instances would be to problem solve and challenging the status quo.
So, I decided to give the responsibility in micro managing the specific tasks of dining experience and promotion to the two most experienced (cum subject matter experts) team members. (In my mind) Yes, they were the two most vocal team members against me - so what? Because they are vocally against me that doesn’t mean they were going to be disruptive to the team’s goal of winning the task then. If they jeopardized their given tasks the team will most probably lose - and that is a headache no sane person would wish to have at the first episode.
Lastly, they were the two most eager and passionate team members in that particular forte during brain-storming with Chan Boon Yong in pushing their ideas and proposal across. A leader does not deny enthusiasm and opportunity, do they? Besides, it was too early 'to fight fire with fire'.
Was I actually (really) a wimp leader?
Yes, I was (?) I can’t and won’t deny what has been clearly shown 'on air'...hahaha. Yes, I took the comments on me not working my ass out (like some team members) and perceived to be a wimp leader on my stride. I knew those words were coming out, and it’s a 'reality show' that gives everyone the opportunity for freedom of speech (although not in equal perportions). I knew the underlying reasons for such an act, and also the need for dramatic sequence for the show. It’s a game of individual survival and triumphant, not a family get-together game show.
To set the record right, I had to make some pertinent decisions during the course of being a Team Leader. (Ya, not shown on TV). The team decide on the brainstorming table an affordable indulgence is a lunch set at RM42++. Eventually, that didn’t materialise because that someone with the most F&B knowledge gave an impression to the team it was do-able at the planning stage. The proposal was shot down by the chef because of profit margin factor at a subsequent meeting with the chef. Guess who had to make the call to re-package the set lunch at a much higher price - me, the Team Leader. (I’m not complaining, it’s my role to call the shots remember?)
So, I had to convince the team that we can still win the task although the set lunch was not as 'affordable' as agreed earlier on the planning table. Oh yes, I had to answer a late night call from one of the two delegated managers and give assurance of winning as that particular team member was dead worried our product wouldn’t be able to sell. (I’m not complaining, it’s my role to motivate remember?) In the promo part, I had to put on my Team Leader cap in one occasion and provided alternative plans to counter a stumbling block.
The other manager of mine almost 'broke down' when the team was informed by the shopping centre management that we can’t place buntings at common areas and apply visual stickers on escalators and other fixtures - one of the brainchild proposed by the other manager of mine to create visibility for our event. I called the shots (again) by proposing to distribute balloons on sticks instead. We did just that eventually, didn’t we? Speaking of balloons, I was given the impression somehow that I did nothing holding the balloons walking around... like a balloon boy or clown was (personally) distasteful.
I can’t take credit for doing all the job on the balloon without giving due justice to the other team members Yuen Wai and Kian You on the ground with me pulling (and persuading) potential customers. By the way, who did you think had to run up and down the floors replenishing the more than a hundred balloons to the on-the-ground team (Kian You and Yuen Wai)? The balloon boy cum Team Leader... hahaha.
I’m not a perfect leader. I guess the only time I was a wimp leader was by agreeing to one of my delegated cum empowered manager in charge of the dining experience by letting her choose her dining experience team assisting her in the restaurant - and with the condition that no other team members are to 'interfere' with the dining operations on task day as the others would not been trained and briefed. I was indeed a wimp leader when I didn’t insist for one of the boys to be in the restaurant under her team as I clearly know one of the boys is a persuasive (and charming) communicator able to promote our set lunch better and sooth irate customers. In the end, the dining experience team was made up of the fairer sex only. It proved to be a costly wimp decision - as the dining experience team was eventually short-handed.
Lastly, I believe I was a wimp leader for not leading the team like a macho Team Leader (some of) my team members would like it to be.
What have I learned during the making of this episode?
Every colours of personality do flourish for some people when surrounded by cameras and lights... hehehe. People still can’t (or won’t) differentiate between being a leader and a manager in our Malaysian corporate world.
It’s show business after all - where the 'real' of reality is as real as you want it to be.
All said and done, The Firm: Season 2 deserves your attention. It should be a resource material for our local undergrads in giving them a 'real' glimpse of the Malaysian corporate world.
(Too bad viewers can’t see the real drama that transpired 'off air'. I’m giving you some illustrations for your imagination right now)
Cheers!
August 4, 2008
The Firm: Season 2 corporate profile: Jennifer Eu
Name: Jennifer Eu Wee Fung
Age: 25
Star sign: Leo
Occupation: Marketing Communications Executive
Team: Team Equity
Reason for joining The Firm: To prove that women can perform as well as men in the real corporate world.
Leadership style: Bringing out the best in each individual, turning every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, guide, and build confidence.
Skills: Able to communicate with all levels of people, have the capacity to see the overall picture and plan ahead of others, fair in delegating tasks, and a quick problem solver.
Strengths and weaknesses: Strengths include being honest and frank, optimistic with a passion that leads to strong determination, creative, and dares to take up challenges. Weakness is being impatient, which leads to to frustration.
About myself: Life is full of surprises. We cannot predict what may happen tomorrow. As well, we do not sit to wait till tomorrow comes. Instead, we create tomorrow by making the full use of today. We do not blame surprises in life, whether they are positives or negatives. Instead we try harder than before to move forward, one step at a time as we face them with courage - because surprises are the point when the life journey begins.
August 3, 2008
The Firm: Season 2 - Episode 1
Client: C. Club
The task: To feature a special one-day set lunch menu for C. Club that will draw in more diners to the jewelery boutique cum restaurant. The winning criteria will be determined by the team that is able to provide the most satisfying dining experience to customers will win the challenge. This will be evaluated by the customers themselves via questionnaires which, they will need to fill in at the end of their meals.
Team Asset
Team leader: Terence
While it seems apparent that Ain seemed the person most suited to lead the team due to her experience in the F&B line, the opportunity was stolen away from her when Terence volunteers himself as team leader!
However, Terence's leadership skills lead to a lot of questioning. By delegating the leadership to both Ain and Chris on the inside and outside promotion respectively, where does that put him as the team's actual leader? Ain is very vocal about what she feels of Terence - and other team members share her sentiments - that of dissatisfaction.
The task seems to go quite well though. Featuring a chocolate fondue, 'Saturday Indulgence' was all about diners indulging themselves. However, corporate leader Chan Boon Yong didn't seem too happy with the elements brought in by Team Asset like the banner hanging from the balcony and the guitarists playing music to draw the crowd at the entrance as they clashed with the brand's image.
However, Team Asset goes on to win the task despite Team Equity winning on the criteria for the most satisfying dining experience.
Team Equity
Team leader: Anoop
With the theme 'Families are Forever', Team Equity set out to provide diners with an experience that emphasises on special moments with family. This includes presenting diners with a special photo memento of their dining experience at C. Club and complimentary body jewelery for children.
On task day, Anoop is seen limping about - he claims to be suffering from a bout of gout. A last minute change of plans and Anoop's constant limelight hogging leaves team members dissatisfied with his role as team leader. Promoters Boon Yew, C.A. and Ridzuan were unable to draw in much traffic to C. Club - and at one point, C.A. and Ridzuan were seen having their photo snapped up by some curious tourists!
Confusion is apparent on the faces of the members of Team Equity during the result announcement. They clearly managed to deliver on the winning criteria - but they lost anyway. What gives?
In the boardroom, Ridzuan makes an accusation that Anoop has been plotting to get him terminated from The Firm in the case that Team Equity lost - an agenda which, Anoop had 'secretly' disclosed to Team Asset.
Verdict: Team Equity lost - but nobody was terminated.
Next episode spoiler hint: Jingle. "Disgusting green drink."
The task: To feature a special one-day set lunch menu for C. Club that will draw in more diners to the jewelery boutique cum restaurant. The winning criteria will be determined by the team that is able to provide the most satisfying dining experience to customers will win the challenge. This will be evaluated by the customers themselves via questionnaires which, they will need to fill in at the end of their meals.
Team Asset
Team leader: Terence
While it seems apparent that Ain seemed the person most suited to lead the team due to her experience in the F&B line, the opportunity was stolen away from her when Terence volunteers himself as team leader!
However, Terence's leadership skills lead to a lot of questioning. By delegating the leadership to both Ain and Chris on the inside and outside promotion respectively, where does that put him as the team's actual leader? Ain is very vocal about what she feels of Terence - and other team members share her sentiments - that of dissatisfaction.
The task seems to go quite well though. Featuring a chocolate fondue, 'Saturday Indulgence' was all about diners indulging themselves. However, corporate leader Chan Boon Yong didn't seem too happy with the elements brought in by Team Asset like the banner hanging from the balcony and the guitarists playing music to draw the crowd at the entrance as they clashed with the brand's image.
However, Team Asset goes on to win the task despite Team Equity winning on the criteria for the most satisfying dining experience.
Team Equity
Team leader: Anoop
With the theme 'Families are Forever', Team Equity set out to provide diners with an experience that emphasises on special moments with family. This includes presenting diners with a special photo memento of their dining experience at C. Club and complimentary body jewelery for children.
On task day, Anoop is seen limping about - he claims to be suffering from a bout of gout. A last minute change of plans and Anoop's constant limelight hogging leaves team members dissatisfied with his role as team leader. Promoters Boon Yew, C.A. and Ridzuan were unable to draw in much traffic to C. Club - and at one point, C.A. and Ridzuan were seen having their photo snapped up by some curious tourists!
Confusion is apparent on the faces of the members of Team Equity during the result announcement. They clearly managed to deliver on the winning criteria - but they lost anyway. What gives?
In the boardroom, Ridzuan makes an accusation that Anoop has been plotting to get him terminated from The Firm in the case that Team Equity lost - an agenda which, Anoop had 'secretly' disclosed to Team Asset.
Verdict: Team Equity lost - but nobody was terminated.
Next episode spoiler hint: Jingle. "Disgusting green drink."
The Firm: Season 2 Premier
Last night marked the premier of The Firm: Season 2 on ntv7 - an event clearly not forgotten by the contestants of the show who have been waiting in anticipation for the day of the screening. The gang, consisting of Ain, Dyan, Joo Lee, Masami, Jennifer, Ridzuan and Yuen Wai plus Team Equity's corporate leader Peter Pek, made up the 'reunion' crowd at Hush, Bangsar as well as the production crew from Popiah Pictures, and contestants and winner of The Firm: Season 1, Anrie and Joel.
It was a thrilling experience for the contestants who were seeing themselves on telly for the first time. It was amazing how the end result turned out. With 50 hours of footage compressed into 45 minutes of TV airtime, a lot of 'drama' and dialogue had been cut out but if you expected something a lot more 'dirty', hang on! There's still more episodes to come!
The crowd at Hush that night was a noisy one, filled with laughter and jibes. The Firm: Season 2 may lack the fast-paced, adrenaline-stoked action of The Apprentice, but The Firm: Season 2 made for quite a comedic and entertaining show.
The night ended with everyone feeling quite good about themselves (and of the show, of course!). A lot of time, effort and money (or, sweat and tears, if you like) had gone into the tasks performed - with each task ending either in cheers or tears - so for most of the contestants, the fact that they could, for once in their life, feel like a TV star was reward enough.
For those who have missed the premier of The Firm: Season 2, fret not! You may still catch it online here. Happy viewing and do leave us some comments!
It was a thrilling experience for the contestants who were seeing themselves on telly for the first time. It was amazing how the end result turned out. With 50 hours of footage compressed into 45 minutes of TV airtime, a lot of 'drama' and dialogue had been cut out but if you expected something a lot more 'dirty', hang on! There's still more episodes to come!
The crowd at Hush that night was a noisy one, filled with laughter and jibes. The Firm: Season 2 may lack the fast-paced, adrenaline-stoked action of The Apprentice, but The Firm: Season 2 made for quite a comedic and entertaining show.
The night ended with everyone feeling quite good about themselves (and of the show, of course!). A lot of time, effort and money (or, sweat and tears, if you like) had gone into the tasks performed - with each task ending either in cheers or tears - so for most of the contestants, the fact that they could, for once in their life, feel like a TV star was reward enough.
For those who have missed the premier of The Firm: Season 2, fret not! You may still catch it online here. Happy viewing and do leave us some comments!
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