1) 2nd Class Upper Honours

2) NUS Business School undergraduate

3) helped out as sponsorship team for NUS Kaleidoscope, a charity event by Clarence and Adele, the PD and vice PD respectively and managed to produce a nice fat goodie bag thru sponsorship emails and flawless execution lol

4) scored at least 1 dean’s list

5) scored at least one NUS business school study award

6) worked in the no. 1 management consulting firm in the world

7) worked in the no. 1 private wealth management Bank in the world

8 ) worked in the no.1 fastest flash video mobile phone internet browser company in the world

9) drove a Mitsubishi mirage 2001, Chevy Aveo, a mazda, a Toyota, and Volkswagen Golf Auto, most of it courtesy of Enterprise Car Rental in USA and UK and my good friends

10) got a wii and a wii fit board and a macbook and a nintendo DSI and a Scooba on my own cash

11) survived for 1 year in silicon valley, usa

12) have alot of great friends from volunteering-related activities (camps, events)

13) i can officially do these activities at the basic level: lindy hop, windsurfing, waltz, cha cha, samba, tango, rumba and basic rock-climbing

14) have managed to cover the east coast and West Coast of America and England and Scotland

15) can officially weight lift 16 kg per arm with ease

16) have worked in the no.2 enterprise software company in the world

17) have surprisingly got myself into a board of governors where many of the board members are bigshot CEOs (really bigshot, like AirAsia CEO)

18) won best student interviewer award for Spirit of Enterprise 2007

19) went to bangkok, thailand and bintan, indonesia

20) know and understand what it feels like to have lived, loved and lost

21) can officially claim to have skydived at 35,000 feet from an airplane at Lodi, California, USA

22) took part in a Spicy hotwings challenge in the USA at the behest of my colleagues in the USA and felt really really gross but really rewarding to have tried the experience ( 8 out of 12 hotwings eaten to complete the challenge, but I WILL BE BACK to WIN this challenge)

23) developed a software for a 4.5 Billion CHF in profit Swiss company that got me a bonus of a few thousand dollars while interacting with a boss from France. this is surprising because previously i never interacted with any European in my life on a constant work basis

24) appreciate being able to still keep in touch with my league of extraordinary gentlemen, i.e. the Raffles Institution guitar guys and swim/gym, LAN, talk rubbish buddies

We are all greedy little human beings always looking out for money and the chance to get rich. Despite this, getting rich does not mean being happy. Nevertheless, people still want to continue the cycle of ignorance, and thus I provide here the salary information of the Finance and Banking Industry in Shanghai, China; Singapore and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, Shanghai China and Singapore are the popular places to go within Asia for the Finance Industry, and I provide an analysis of the salary and wages data. The source data is obtained from Hudson (http://sg.hudson.com/), while I further analysed it.

To see the tables of salaries, please click on the tables once, then click on them another time to magnify them.

Quick Takeaway points Regarding Salaries of Singapore, Shanghai China and Hong Kong

Singapore salaries are 94% of Hong Kong Salaries in the Finance and Banking Industry, on average.

Shanghai, China salaries are  79% of Hong Kong Salaries in the Finance and Banking Industry, on average.

Shanghai, China salaries are  84% of Singapore  Salaries in the Finance and Banking Industry, on average.

The highest Salary in Hong Kong is the Managing Director of Front Office – Equity Research at USD 23,000 per month, on average.

The highest Salary in Singapore is the Managing Director of Front Office – Equity Research at USD 15,000 per month, on average.

The highest Salary in Shanghai, China is the  Director of Front Office – Debt Capital Markets at USD 28,000 per month, on average.

The Salary Tables for Banking and Financial Services for Hong Kong, Shanghai China and Singapore

SINGAPORE SALARIES

HONG KONG  SALARIES

SHANGHAI, CHINA SALARIES

Source Data: Hudson http://sg.hudson.com/
Analysed by: Lex Leong

I analysed the data by reducing the range of salaries given in the raw data to mean salaries. Then I converted them to monthly numbers. Then, I further constructed comparison columns. I compared the percentage of salaries.

To download the processed and analysed data, you may click here. It is in Excel format. This file took much effort to analyse, so please say thanks or drop me a note. Please note that there may be errors as there was much data and I did not totally format it in the most appealing of ways. If so, please drop me a note at lexleong  at the usual gmail.com.

I will love to hear your comments regarding salaries and your opinions.

Here is my useful Step by Step, 5 Step guide for analysing the tables above:

Else, do remember that this is a humorous blog and thus you are to take things here with a pinch of salt. In other words, reading a joke or hearing one will probably make you happier than reading this blog post.

Before I begin, I am sad that being a comedian is not among the Top 10 highest-paying jobs. My blog is meant to be funny and being a comedian on my blog means that maybe I should get a high salary. But no, the world is a curious place, it rewards some employees differently than others.

Now we begin. Let us see what are the top paying jobs for three geographical regions – The USA, China and Hong Kong and Singapore.

We first examine the USA, the land of opportunity. We obtain this data from the US Department of Labour’s Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Observations:

1) Jobs which are related to the medical industry take up 14 out of the Top 20 jobs, or 70% of the top jobs. Furthermore, they almost completely take up the Top 10.

2) Finance industry related fields are not in the Top 20 at all.

3) I do not know what a Natural Science Manager is or does for a living.

Now on to the implications for the USA:

1) It is good to be a doctor or a dentist or a psychiatrist in the USA. Be one now!

2) It is good to be an Engineer, Information Systems, Computer Science or Marketing Major student or job seeker in the USA. Be one now!

3) Majoring in the Natural Sciences is not a bad choice too.

To download the entire dataset for all the 819 jobs/occupations/career wage/salary/pay data in the United States of America as of May 2009, click here. The data on the US Department of Labour Website is presented in Annual rates, thus I have converted them to monthly wages/salaries/pay.

Time for the Singapore data. What are the Top 20 highest paying jobs in Singapore?

The Singapore data is obtained from the Ministry of Manpower website.

My observations:

1) Being the boss, like the Managing Director, Company Director or the General Manager, or something like the CEO (which is not in the Top 20 because it probably does not go by the title CEO in Singapore), is pretty good in Singapore.

2) Finance professionals come out 9 times out of the Top 20. That is a 45% occurrence.

3) Advocate and Solicitor is the term for lawyer.

4) IT and R&D are still in the Top 20.

5) Business Management Consultants come out in the Top 20.

Rank			Occupation		Basic Wage ($)
					Mean		Median
		1		Managing director	18,855		15,000
		2		Personal banker	15,604		12,358
		3		General manager	13,330		11,579
		4		Foreign exchange dealer and broker	12,645		11,076
		5		Specialised surgeon	12,570		9,500
		6		Commodities futures broker	12,043		10,000
		7		Finance sales associate professional	11,717		8,333
		8		Company director	11,549		10,000
		9		Fund manager	10,653		8,762
		10		Risk management manager	9,996		8,900
		11		Legal service manager	9,534		8,260
		12		Treasury manager	9,168		8,400
		13		Financial futures dealer and broker	9,122		8,333
		14		Legal officer	9,010		7,200
		15		Operations manager (Finance)	8,705		6,904
		16		Advocate and solicitor	8,525		6,400
		17		Business management consultant	8,392		8,000
		18		Computer operations and network manager	8,128		7,530
		19		MANAGERS (as a whole)	7,998		6,100
		20		Research and development manager	7,798		6,954

Now for the Singapore implications:
1) It is good to be in Finance in Singapore.

2) It is good to be a Surgeon. And be specialised.

3) If you are in IT, Computers, or R&D, you want to get into the Managerial positions.

To download the entire dataset and see all the 461 jobs/careers/occupations in Singapore ranked by mean monthly wage/salary, as of June 2008, click here. Credits go to the Singapore Ministry of Manpower.

Okay that is the end…

Wait, where are the data for the Asia Pacific and World region as promised?

Those data will have to wait for my processing. Meanwhile, check these links out:

http://jobs.sg.hudson.com/documents/Hudson-Asia-Accounting-Finance-Salary-Information.pdf

http://jobs.sg.hudson.com/documents/Hudson-Asia-Advertising-Communications-Salary-Information.pdf

http://jobs.sg.hudson.com/documents/Hudson-Asia-Banking-Financial-Services-Salary-Information.pdf

http://jobs.sg.hudson.com/documents/Hudson-Asia-Healthcare-Life-Sciences-Salary-Information.pdf

http://jobs.sg.hudson.com/documents/Hudson-Asia-Investment-Banking-IT-Information.pdf

http://jobs.sg.hudson.com/documents/Hudson-Asia-Sales-Marketing-Salary-Information.pdf

Introduction

You read it right.

My title is not wrong. It is, “How to Enter the China Market from an Inexperienced and Unintelligent Point of View”. Why do I write that? Because I have no experience in the China market. Also, I have scarce knowledge of it, thus I am bound to make an unintelligent decision when investing, doing business, or working as an employee in anywhere in China.

Why am I inexperienced? I’ve never been to China physically. I live in Singapore and it is a 6 hour flight to Shanghai. On the contrary, it takes me less than 2 hours to fly to Thailand. It takes me 5 hours to fly to Perth, Australia. I have never stepped foot on China, and strangely enough I have been to USA and England and Scotland for many more days (more than 300 days) than I have been to China (0 days). Thus, I reiterate, I have never been to China. How strange. More curious is the fact that the ratio of books in English to books in Chinese I have read in my lifetime is probably 1000 English books to : 5 Chinese books. Despite all this, I am by ancestry a Chinese, and look like one without any doubt.

Unfortunately, this is my blog. And despite my innocence with the Chinese market, I can write completely inexperienced, not intelligent, amusing articles on topics that I have a poor knowledge of, and I still will be alright. After all, this is not an authoritative blog. It is meant to be humorous. Thus, there are humorous bits included in this article.

Why I will not write about “Guan Xi”

As a bonus to my readers, I will not mention this term called “Guan Xi” which you so often read in articles on how to enter the Chinese market. You read it right, I will not talk about “Guan Xi”. Why do I not talk about it? It is over-hyped.  “Guan Xi” refers to interpersonal relationships. And for godssakes, all business people rely on interpersonal relationships to succeed. It is not a China-only thing. You need to know the corporate socialising methods in New York just as you know how to network in California or gain the trust of confidantes in London. And you probably need to know how to chum around with Russian businessmen in order to succeed there. Thus, my readers will not have to read any “Guan Xi” talk.

The Real Stuff

So here goes, my inexperienced and unintelligent take on How to Enter the China Market:

Let’s begin with the question, what is a typical Chinese city like? As you know, you need to understand what a city is like before you want to go there do work or live.

For starters, let’s pick one Chinese city, one of it’s most prosperous, Chengdu. Chengdu is a city of 11.03 Million people. Chengdu has GDP as of 2006 of RMB 275 Billion  or SGD  55 Billion or  USD 40.3 Billion. As we know, China’s ruling political party, the China Communist Party, is a powerful force in the country. Anyway, who am I kidding, many governments in the world are powerful forces in their home countries. The Municipal Committee is the highest authority in that state. And the Municipal authority has a secretary general, which is like the big boss. In 2007, Li Chuncheng was voted as the secretary general of this municipal authority. It is a 5-year term.

Chengdu in China does not seem like a farming, rural community. Its services sector accounts for close to 50% of the economy, of which the key industries targeted are Finance, IT and Tourism, among many others.  It’s GDP is still not very high among Chinese cities, and Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou still rank much higher than Chengdu in terms of GDP. However, it is strong in certain areas, such as IT&T and Finance. Chengdu has a huge number of foreign companies in terms of IT&T, information technology and telecommunications, from Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia to SAP, Microsoft and New Egg.

Chengdu is also where many Panda bears are found. That is one big reason why it is attractive to me. Imagine that. Pandas! Pandas are cute, they are enough reason to convince me to go to a city.

Intel itself has a huge presence in the city of Chengdu, with many manufacturing plants. Why did I mention Intel? Because I have a strong interest in IT.

There are several types of Foreign investment forms of Companies you can set up in China if you were a foreigner. To young ones who have not much capital, like if you have less than  US $3 Million, then the ideal one would be a Cooperative Joint Venture.

Of course, ideal to me may not be ideal for larger corporations or large manufacturing plants or those who wish to have a much larger stake in the business. However, at this moment I think Cooperative sounds nice. After all, to enter China it will be best to Cooperate with a China partner company. It may not be the most popular among foreigners who do not want a China person to participate.

Apparently, the standard corporate income tax rate is 25%, with lower-taxes for high-technology enterprises.

Another aspect of Chinese growth lies in its rise of entrepreneurship located in the countryside. The countryside is less exposed to government intervention, thus having rapid growth. The most prosperous Chinese cities include Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan, Beijing and Shanghai.

That brings us to the question, where should you go if you were to enter the China Market?

In terms of number of mentions in the Western Media, Shanghai and Beijing come out as most popular, Beijing as the political capital, and Shanghai as the economic juggernaut. However, income inequality in Shanghai is a problem, as compared to say Zhejiang, where income equality is better. For example, in terms of employee compensation in 2002, Zhejiang exceeds  Shanghai by around 25%, while they have the same level of corporate profits. Net production taxes in Zhejiang are about half that of Shanghai. As of 2005, Zhejiang and Guangdong have twice the number of patents as Shanghai. As of 2003, an average private sector firm in Shanghai had average sales of 20.8 Million Yuan, while that in Zhejiang has 91.3 Million Yuan in sales, and Guangdong had 62.8 million. That puts Shanghai even below cities like Jiangsu (26.8M Yuan) and Yunnan (38.8M Yuan). These implications point to a weak private sector in Shanghai, meaning that if you were to go there as a private entrepreneur, it may not exactly be the wisest choice.

So, where do you go to get your local private sector statistics? The China Federation of Industry and Commerce (CFIC). Where do you go to get your International private sector statistics on China? The International Finance Corporation.

What if you were to go into China as a private firm, what is your competition?

Chinese private firms are mostly family owned and are usually in the early stages. There is potential for more private entrepreneurship in provinces like Zhejiang which have lesser engineering talent and more agriculture, although it is more entrepreneurial, as compared to Shanghai.

What are the risks of entering China? As the market becomes more market-oriented, the stock market is prone to more fluctuations, meaning heavy ups and downs. With the huge amounts of urbanization, I mean the office towers in Shanghai are being constructed at massive speeds, energy consumption will go up, and thus energy costs will also rise and may become unsustainable.

The One-Child Policy in China

Before you ask another person hailing from China again about the one-child policy and appearing not so knowledgeable about this significant rule, you should get a brief background of it here so that you will appear smarter. Chairman Mao around 1957 fully pushed for this method of population control. Deng Xiaoping initially still strictly enforced the rule. However, due to falling agriculture output, Deng Xiaoping later later accepted a more relaxed policy.

Today, in 2010, the one-child policy is not strictly one-child.  In fact, there are several layers of this policy which will apply to different people in different social and economic stratas. In rural areas a second child is allowed with a four-year interval, and in Tibet there is totally no restriction. Adhering to the one-child policy means that families receive cash, better housing, and educational opportunities for the children.

The implications? This one-child policy also leads to about a ten-percent more males than females in the population beginning from around 1979 up to the 1990s. This was because males were preferred over females when it came to having one-child, which might appear chauvinistic to some people, but it may appear justifiable to very poor rural farmers which required more male labour to tend the farm. There will be in a few tens of years time many more Grandparents to children in China, because of this policy. This means that if you were to talk to an average Chinese young person who was born around 1980s to 1990s, that person will have to support many more dependents, and will have lesser siblings to share the burden than a family of several children. This means that you can appreciate the heavy weight on the shoulders that the Generation Y and Generation M of China people face.

The above is teriyaki chicken, more of Japanese cuisine than Chinese cuisine, but I was running short of pictures related to China so I just put that in.

Understanding the Actions and Policies of the Chinese government

When you work in China, or anywhere else, it is understandable that the way your government works is not the same way that the government in China or other countries work. It is unproductive to criticise the government of a foreign country. However, all have the same aim – to maintain stability and unity within the country or at least the majority of the country. You can count on political leaders of any country to do what it takes to obtain the majority’s support, unity and peacefulness.

The implication is that

In this respect, the government in China goes back to traditional Chinese values, after all, traditional Chinese values are the bedrock of Chinese civilization. In the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, one of the major meetings among Chinese politicians, which happened in 2007 and which policies will last until 2012, the key thrust was “building a harmonious society”.

Note the adjective “harmonious”. If you read traditional Chinese history, it has gone back a long way back for more than a couple of  millenia, and a distinguishing feature is the amount of power struggles that China faces. Harmony is also a traditional Chinese value and it is kind of like in the blood of all Chinese an ancient proverb which goes , which is pronounced Jia He Wan Shi Xing. It translates to, “if your family is harmonious, you will have a peaceful life and a pleasant family and wealth”.

This proverb which is family based extends into the government as well, whether consciously or not, and it is used by the government as a unifying factor. And that is why government policies in China may appear to be not to the taste of new entrants at first glance, but in fact they are to preserve unity. And to preserve unity in a population of more than 1 Billion is difficult, which leads to various mistakes being made and misunderstandings in the international community. Nevertheless, errors are a a perpetual feature of humankind, a species that is never flawless.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you have read my analysis on a few particular cities and provinces in China, the private firm and entrepreneurial environment, and a brief background of their policies. That makes you an expert on China now (of course it does not make you an expert, you will have to probably spend about a few years there before you even grasp the fundamentals). Go forth and make us proud.

Sources:

1) Economic Transitions with Chinese Characteristics, Vol. 1Thirty Years of Reform and Opening Up, Edited by Arthur Sweetman, Jun Zhang, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada, 2009

2) Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State, Yasheng Huang, Cambridge University Press, 2008

3) Chengdu Business Guide, China Knowledge Press Pte Ltd (Author), Julia Wang MA (Editor), China Knowledge Press Private Limited, 2007

Successful companies in recent times have aimed towards reducing the level of hierarchy. Despite this, many organizations are still heavily layered. This article serves to explain why you should begin to lead your organization towards reducing hierarchy:

1. Reducing Hierarchy Reduces Abuse of Power
Abuses of power can occur among managers and those which have power, and it frequently leads to corporate failure. Many corporate failures in recent times have occurred because of abuses of power, such as those at Enron and other firms which collapsed due to the management’s lack of transparency. Thus, lower-level employees and others outside the firm would either not question the policies due to the power the upper management held, or be in power in the society so that even outside companies were unable to see the levels of corruption in the firm. Abuse of power often occurs when management is able to overrule or block or get their way without any checks in place, and one-sided anti-consultative decisions are made. Of course, this form of abuse of power frequently self-destructs. In worse cases, managers who abuse their power in some countries, such as China, are sentenced to death.

Source:
Banker Gets Death Sentence for Abuse of Power http://4closurefraud.org/2010/04/15/banker-gets-death-sentence-for-abuse-of-power/

2. Reducing Hierarchy Reduces Workplace Bullying
Reducing the abuse of power will lead to reducing bullying in your workplace. And that is persistent unwelcome behavior, mostly using unwarranted or invalid criticism, nit-picking, fault-finding, also exclusion, isolation, being singled out and treated differently, being shouted at, humiliated, excessive monitoring, having verbal and written warnings imposed, and much more. In the workplace, bullying usually focuses on distorted or fabricated allegations of under-performance. Bullying degrades organisational culture, and thus should be removed. The cure for this is to reduce the hierarchy and remove the amount of decision making power that one person can make.

Source:
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/bully.htm

3. Reducing Hierarchy Reduces Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy refers to double standards. Alice, a corporate executive at a Wall Street Firm, reports that a manager would often interrogate her about breaks and time spent out of the company, when the manager himself would often leave the office several hours before the stipulated working hours. My own mantra is, a manager or a boss should set a good example by working harder or more effectively than their employees.

According to a 2004 survey of 1,200 people conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide as part of its ongoing WorkUSA® Study, “62% of those who question top management’s integrity cite (hypocrisy and favoritism)” as the main issues, while only 8% cite unethical financial dealings.

Companies that handle their employees with the right care can come out of tough times with more loyal and appreciative workers than they started with.

Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30329776/ns/business-management_101/
http://www.nationalseminarstraining.com/Articles/Category/Conflict_Management/ETHICS/

4. Reducing Hierarchy leads to Empowerment

Empowerment is essential for creativity, and creativity is essential for growth. This is why top companies like Google strive to reduce the levels of hierarchy, and even employ a Chief Culture Officer to maintain this no-nonsense flat organisational structure. The culture of Google is described by the Chief Culture Officer as such,

“I work with employees around the world to figure out ways to maintain and enhance and develop our culture and how to keep the core values we had in the very beginning — a flat organisation, a lack of hierarchy, a collaborative environment — to keep these as we continue to grow and spread them and filtrate them into our new offices around the world.”

Without a hierarchy, experience, skills and knowledge can be imparted without any form of pompousness or arrogance, thus creating a culture of employees willing to learn from each other. With a hierarchy, businesses will not be able to adapt to today’s rapidly changing economy.

Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2953187/Keeping-control-in-flat-organisations.html
http://www.zdnet.com.au/meet-google-s-culture-czar-339275147.htm
http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/organization_flat.html


5. Reducing Hierarchy increases Participatory Democracy in the Workplace
Some workplace hierarchy is constructed rather than inevitable, and reducing hierarchy will often lead to increasing participatory democracy. Democracy reduces oppression, and ensures that no manager or employee can exercise authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. Eliminating hierarchy is not possible, as there will have to be some people who had founded the company, or who are better at their jobs and have the right values to manage other people. This brings me to the point of having the right values, one that is in line with democracy. For example, top management should use its (flat) hierarchy to create collaboration, empowerment, and responsiveness to human needs. Using however little forms of power must be legitimate and benevolent. It is well known that Warren Buffet keeps his company sucsessful because of a democratic workplace philosophy. It is as follows,

One of Warren Buffett’s best-kept investment secrets might be that he practices workplace democracy in managing his subsidiary companies. Few people may be aware that this innovative management strategy has contributed to the phenomenal success of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings.

All in all, instilling such a positive attitude towards reducing oppression will benefit your own company’s profits, because employees will be motivated to contribute beyond their means, and exceed your expectations.

Sources:
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2003/2003_papers/williamjbenetCAS03.pdf
http://workplacedemocracy.com/
http://www.pathsoflearning.net/articles_Toward_Participatory_Democracy.php
title picture source: http://www.leighthompson.com

In conclusion, reducing hierarchy reduces abuses of power, reduces bullying, reduces hypocrisy. On the positive side, it empowers your employees and promotes a participatory, consultative, democratic workplace. With a congenial, cooperative environment, you can look forward to a more passionate work environment, and one that will win in the business world.

Source: Dilbert by Scott Adams

Now this makes the blog humorous.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Please do not use Steve Job’s quote “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. Many people use this quote in an effort to mimic Steve Job’s adresss at the Stanford Commencement Ceremony. Without sufficient intellectual depth, using the quote on a perfunctory level leaves one bewildered. For example, what does “Stay hungry, stay foolish mean?”. Does it mean we are to always keep wanting to be hungry even when we are full? Does it mean we shall always be on the lookout without being contented? And as for foolish, I highly advise people not to be foolish. Imagine your parents telling you, “Be foolish today!” Well, that is sure useful if you are an avid risk-taker. And risk-taking is not that bad after all. But please, do not be foolish. It is a derogatory term. In entrepreneurial circles, foolishness may be a beneficial characteristic. But honestly, great entrepreneurs would know that it takes great execution in their plans, not foolishness in their plans. Of course, a daredevil mentality helps. And thus using a word like “Dare” or “Courage” would suffice in a better way than “foolish. So please, do not use this cliche phrase of Steve Jobs for a long time, else you will only appear to be a very hungry and foolish man.

Cougar

Enough said. Cougar describes women past their prime. It appears that these women take pride in being a cougar. Sadly, it is actually a derogratory term. Thus, if someone takes pride in being a cougar, it is very sad. Just look at the girls from Sex and the City 2. Old. But trying to act young. Sad, because those things they seek were what they should have sought when they were young. No, it is not about empowerment. empowerment is when they are free of the desire for their Blahnik shoes, their Gucci bags and their consumerist mindset. Thus, I think they are more enslaved by their ideals of trying to appear “empowered” by being sexually liberal and having lots of best friends (BFF’s), but end up being enslaved in the whole vicious cycle of greed in the process.

And can someone tell me what is the male equivalent of a cougar please?

Pay it Forward

Please, if I ever do something nice for you, and you do feel indebted out of your own will, do not repay the debt to someone else, but repay it back to me. Let us examine why you would not want to repay the debt to me, but instead repay it to someone else: I am very wealthy, very resourceful, and very successful, thus I do not need your help at all.
It seems proud and pompous to say pay it forward. It is as though you are telling someone this “Dude, I am lending you 500 bucks now, when you get enough cash, do not repay it to me, give it to someone else.” Sounds noble right? But it actually undermines the receiving person’s ability to give.

I mean, when someone actually tells me to “pay it forward”, what comes up in my mind is, “Dude, you don’t have to tell me that. You did a kind deed, and I am going to repay you for doing this kind deed to me. But, you do not have to tell me to do a kind deed to someone else. That will be a matter of my own volition.”

Worse, this pay it forward phrase seems to demolish the idea of gratefulness to the giver. In effect, when the giver says “pay it forward” to the receiver, the giver is trying to say, “do not feel grateful to me, i do not need your gratefulness, instead, i will prefer if you feel grateful to the overall society and some anonymous person”.

And that is where there is no sense. This is because of the giver wants me to return to some anonymous person I am about to meet in the future who might need my help, instead of being grateful to the giver, that really destroys my concept of basic human reciprocity.

Just like the relationships between parent and child, teacher and student, best friends, and benefactor and receiver, when you have received something good from them, hastily seek to repay it to the giver. This will serve to strengthen the bond between the giver and receiver, and lead to stronger relationships.

In conclusion, see things as they really are. Do not help a person because you feel obliged to “pay it forward”, help because this person deserves your sympathy, reward, or friendship.

They are: PORKY PIG and DAFFY DUCK.

Okay, if anyone wants to get serious with you today, whether at work, on the street, or online chat, muster up your courage and say,

PORKY PIG and DAFFY DUCK

They are hilarious.

Funny. This makes my blog a humorous blog now.

Can you “change the world”?

I do not think anyone can, despite their claims or wishes. Let us go through some of the titans who have had a significant impact on the World. We shall see whether they had changed the world, or whether they had intended to.

Let us start with Google. As of end 2008, it has had 779 Million users globally. World Bank data says that there are 6,697 Million people living in the world, as of 2008.

Now, that is 11% of the world. Google, the giant, the ever strong presence in OUR WORLD, has 11% of the attention of a global audience.

So, before you start to say, well, I want to change the world, let us assume you can match Google. And then, once you match Google’s reach, you only have 10% of the world. 10% only. 10% is the chance that Inter Milan FC Coach Mourinho told reporters when they asked him what was their chances of winning the UEFA Champion’s League title. 10% is really small. You have not changed the world even if you matched google.

There is alot of wishful thinking when you say that you want to change the world. There are just around 1 Billion Internet users. If you attribute the internet to one man, that man could be Vint Cerf. But, this person has just impacted 1 out of 6 people in the world. Not the world.

And let us try to examine the mind of the Google founders when they started Google. Did they start with the high and mighty objective of changing the world when they wrote the code for Pagerank and the search algorithms and the secret ingredients for Google’s search engine? I will be more inclined to think they were trying to create a superior search engine over the existing search providers like Yahoo and Altavista. They were not exactly trying to transform the face of this Earth

Now, many top universities will say, “You can change the World”. Yes, there are indeed many marketing campaigns by Ivy League universities in the US and Canada and other nations that say that. But it is not to be taken literally, nor too seriously.

In the first place, what does the phrase “Change the World” even mean? Does it mean “Change the World for the Better?” or “Change the World for the Worst?”.

The problem with the phrase change the world is that it does not bring across any negative or positive connotations. It is usually used in a positive context.

There are a few dictators who have gone down in World history as persecuting and killing many innocents. They have left scars on the remaining relatives of the persecuted. But that does not mean they have changed the world, as there are still many whom they have failed to inflict. And it does not mean that they have changed the world positively. That is another reason not to try to “change the world”, because your version of “change the world” may not exactly be a very nice thing for others.

These are some people who have also tried to change the world, would you like to join their club?

First person is Adolf Hitler, Nazi dictator.

Second is Saddam Hussein, genocide dictator.

And third is Dr Evil, arch Nemesis of Austin Powers, the super spy. Dr Evil wants to change the world by taking it over and putting it under cruel rule.

There, you have three evil dictators who also would say that their priority is to “Change the World”. Would you like to be one of them? If not, change your wording.

There are some good people who claim they can change the world, and have powers that are close to that.

One example is the President of the USA. Big country, massive economic and military powers. Another example is the Premier of China. In fact, probably the Head of State of many of the advanced economies have much power to change the dynamics of global links and economic ties. The current President of the US has said that he can “change the world” during his campaign to be the President, back in 2008. That is motivating and encouraging, and a rallying cry for people to back his leadership, or any leader who encourages such leadership.

But can even the leader of the dominant country in the world change the world? Well, a leader of a country can influence domestic and foreign policy. He can tweak things here and there. But in 4 to 5 years, most leaders in democratic countries will have left the scene. Some other nations have leaders who stay on for more than 10 years. Sure, that is a long time, and they could have much effect on World politics. But, saying that leaders of countries, Presidents and Prime Ministers change the world, is discounting the efforts of the millions of citizens who work hard for their own economic prosperity and their own families. Some citizens of countries in the world do not care about government policy. Some do care, but are hardly impacted by it. Some really care about it, and they feel that the government policies have impacted “their world”, but there are also more than 6 billion people living on this World, and their government’s policies do not really affect the lives of people in other countries.

What are the alternatives to saying that phrase? Sying that you can “Change the World” is very ambiguous. Your should be more specific. For example, say, “I want to provide food for starving children across Africa”. Or “I want to release a technology product that will provide entertainment in the Asia Pacific region”.

I mean, when someone says that they will love to change the world, I am going to turn on skeptic mode, and my brain goes, “Ok, change the world, but please let me live my peaceful and serene life, I do not really know how you are going to change the world, but are you already assuming it is so horrible you need to change it?”

Okay, maybe you feel that the world is in a really horrid state, with many injustices, inequity and inequality. Don’t say you are going to “change the world”. Just say you want to “improve the human condition”.

And finally, let us examine the motives of people who want to change the world. What do they gain of changing the world? Well, undoubtedly, if it is for releasing a technology product, their motive will be to ensure their product is in everyone’s hands so that they can have a pile of money.

Maybe another motive will be their happiness. They feel happy when they change the world. I have two responses:

1. Do not change my world. It is cool, and I need a benefactor, not a world changer.

2. Happiness is achieved by efforts to change oneself. Happiness lies within, not without. So do not bother to try to change the world in order to attain happiness for oneself.

As a conclusion, “change the world” sounds really pompous to me. If someone started saying he wanted to”change the world”, I would start asking, “are you going to make it better, or are you going to make it worse?”, and I am also going to ask, “Why do you want to change the world for when it is cool for me?”. Hence, I will advise anyone who says that phrase to remember this,

Keep your feet on the ground when your head is in the clouds.

Sources:
http://www.c-i-a.com/pr012010.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3219308/Barack-Obama-vows-to-change-the-world.htm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10149534-93.html

Remember, my blog is meant to be humorous. Do not take it seriously!

I have obtained the Mean Starting Salaries of Graduating NUS Undergraduate Students per faculty and Multiplied it by the Number of Students in that faculty, in order to obtain the Total Earnings of All Students in that faculty.

Take note that for the enrollment number of students per faculty, it is not all the students in the faculty from Year 1 to Year 4, it is only the number of the graduating students in that faculty.

i.e. Arts Faculty (Honours) Mean Starting Salary * Graduating Arts (Honours) Students Starting Salary = Total Earnings of All Arts Faculty (Honours) Students

Here is the table:

By virtue of the huge sizes of the faculty, the top 3 on this list (Arts, Science and Social Sciences (Honours)),  may not have the students which begin with the highest starting salaries, but they sure do make up for it in terms of the Total Sum of all their salaries.

You can also use this table to see the highest and lowest mean starting salaries of the various faculties in the NUS, the oldest Singapore university, and you can also see the number of students.

To download the Excel file which has detailed numbers and how they are obtained, click here.

The data is from 2009, compiled by NUS (National University of Singapore) and the Ministry of Education Singapore.

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/post-secondary/files/ges-nus.pdf

https://share.nus.edu.sg/registrar/info/statistics/ug-enrol-20092010.pdf