in my previous blog entry i described how we started our journey to transform our organisation in order to create a more adaptive, dynamic, lean and ethical organisation. the model we adopt is based on beyond budgeting principles.

i would like to share a little bit on what beyond budgeting is all about.

the official beyond budgeting roundtable (BBRT) website http://www.bbrt.org/ describes beyond budgeting as follows:

there are 12 principles associated with the beyond budgeting model. the table below lists and describes each principle:

Leadership principles
[table principle|description
Values|Govern through a few clear values, goals and boundaries, not detailed rules and budgets
Performance|Create a high performance culture based on relative success, not meeting fixed targets
Transparency|Promote open information for self management, don’t restrict it hierarchically
Organization|Organize as a network of lean, accountable teams, not around centralized functions

one of the projects i am working on is putting together a framework for corporate innovation.

one thing's for sure, this is no easy thing. but unfortunately - or fortunately - it is something of a must do. we as a nation are at a crossroad, and inflection point.

for the past several years, we prided ourselves as being a solid destination for foreign investment in manufacturing. our low cost structure, good infrastructure and investment friendly government policies helped to drive economic growth 1.0.

i would like to share with you my personal journey of the beginnings of the transforming an organisation from a traditional top-down command & control hierarchy based organisation into a desired empowered organisation where employees at the lowest team levels are empowered to serve the customers better, create more value and drive better organisational performance.

i am working with a large local organisation with a long history.

source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/14/nation/20091114115...

in the article titled "PM: We'll make Malaysia a better place" published in The Star on 14 November 2009, the Malaysian Prime Minister talks about the need to make Malaysia more attractive to the best brains in order to drive the transformation into a knowledge society. He goes on to talk about creating opportunities for not only Malaysians abroad, but also foreigners too.

There were two articles in The Star yesterday that caught my attention with regards the need for Malaysia to move towards a more knowledge based, value add economy / society.

The first one was written by Steven C M Wong of ISIS:
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/19/business/49131...

dr randy pausch died on 25 july 2008 age 47. the father of 3 was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and lost his battle, but not before giving a series of lectures called the "last lecture". he talks nothing about the disease, religion or dispair. but his brilliant spirit shines through as he talks about achieving dreams, help others achieve their dreams and the quality of life in general.

very moving.

the first one is done on oprah winfrey (~10mins)...

many parents like me often raise our arms in anguish over the education system in malaysia. although not very common place, i'd venture to say that many urban parents feel that the current public education system in the country is not designed to produce youths who can create value for our future.

consider the workplace: how many employers would generally prefer recruiting graduates from overseas as opposed to local grads? what are the average chances of being hired if you are a local grad versus an overseas grad?

fluency in english is only one aspect of the capabilities sought here. more importantly, employers seek graduates who have the the confidence to speak, and possess clear mental thought processes when faced with unusual issues, or problems.

much of the blame for the lack of competitiveness of our local graduates lays squarely at our local education system.

this is why those who can afford it, will likely send their kids to private schools.

but what about the rest of us who cannot afford to do so for all our children?

this is our anguish.