Jean Fahmy
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Blog posts

A Manager's Manifesto

28/7/2013

4 Comments

 
Taken from Julie Zhuo in The Year of the Looking Glass. See original post here (I agree with everything there...):

A Manager's Manifesto
10) Always get the full story before making a decision.

9) It's incredibly easy to 'flip the switch' and start writing people off after a few bad experiences. Resist at all costs. You were bumbling once too. You made poor decisions. You learn and grow, and so does everybody else.

8) Sweep up the crumbs. Wipe the tables. Turn off the lights. Plug the holes that need plugging—even if it's menial, even if nobody will know you did it. Do it in service of the product, the company, and this wondrous, magical thing you are all building together.

7) Recognize you can't do everything. Close your eyes, fall backwards, and learn to trust.

6) Clearly, there is a more efficient way to do the things you do. How? Ponder that on your daily drive home.

5) Figure out which people rely on you and how you can help them be self-sufficient. You may feel important having a monopoly on salmon provisions, but if the whole village learns how to fish, it'll free you up to do something else. Like figuring out how to grow wheat. Or how to domesticate those cute wolf-pups.

4) Don't say anything if it's not actually contributing to the discussion. Your voice is not so melodious that it absolutely must be heard.

3) Making the best decision is not as important as putting in the right processes to ensure that the best decisions get made.

2) Dole out thanks and encouragement like you dole out opinions.

1) Above all, this: never, ever get in the way. It's better to twiddle your thumbs and squint up at the clouds than to obstruct progress for the sake of that stupid, childish thing called ego.
4 Comments

The ultimate career sweet spot

13/4/2012

19 Comments

 
I have been blessed with the joy of being able to choose many of the projects I have been involved with. My project-selection criteria hasn't always been the best. 

Early in my career, technology was my main motivation. In one project, I had built the best mousetrap in a world where there were very few mice to catch. Oh, so the market need is important !

Over the course of the many ups and downs in my entrepreneurial life, I was able to refine said criteria. This graph that I found floating on the Internet sea best describes it. (click to enlarge)
Picture

It's not always possible to find the 'Bliss' sweet spot (OK, truth be told, it's very rare), but it's something I consistently aim for. And if I can't have 'Bliss', at least I know where I am and why I am doing it.
19 Comments

The Seasons of Life

14/12/2011

2 Comments

 
2 Comments

Steve Jobs' Vision of the World

3/12/2011

3 Comments

 
Thank you Steve for putting words to my thoughts.
3 Comments

Why we are special

16/11/2011

4 Comments

 
Click here to see why you and I are really special and why today is so precious.
4 Comments

I am more...

26/9/2011

2 Comments

 
I am more...
than what I look like
than what I say
than what I'm good at
than what I like
than what roles and titles I have

I am more...
than what I think about
than what I dream about
than what I know
than what I believe

I am more...
than what I have done
than what I can do
than what I want to do
than what I will do

I am more...
than how fast I run
than how strong I am
than how high I jump
than how smart I am

I am more...
than the successes I had
than the people I love
than the money I have
than the smile I wear

I am more...
than the mistakes I made
than the people I have wronged
than the money I lost
than the scars I wear 

I am more...
than where I've been
than where I am
than where I'm going

I am more...
than when I was born
than when I will die

I am more than who others think I am.

I am more.
2 Comments

5 biggest regrets of the dying

4/6/2011

51 Comments

 
When Ms. Bronnie Ware, a woman who worked for years with the dying, wrote a list of the top 5 regrets people say aloud on their deathbed, I teared up a little bit. Here is her original text. May it be as much a  blessing to you as it was for me. 

---
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice.  They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
51 Comments

To live a life of Grace

9/4/2010

0 Comments

 
Anyway
by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable
Illogical and self-centered. 
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, 
People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, 
You will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, 
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, 
They may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, 
People will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, 
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, 
It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
0 Comments

The real questions in life

9/4/2010

0 Comments

 
In the last year, I've reflected on life's big issues, following my wife's cancer and chemotherapy treatments. I have found it healthy to ask myself these profound questions while reviewing the validity of my automated answers. This list comes from Sam Keen. 

Enjoy the introspection.
  • What do I really want?
  • What brings me joy?
  • Who am I when I dream?
  • Why do I feel the way I do?
  • What do I fear?
  • Who has wounded me?
  • Whom have I injured?
  • How do I deal with guilt?
  • Do I need to have enemies?
  • How do I forgive?
  • Whom and what will I love?
  • How will I express my sexuality?
  • Who are my people? My family?
  • Where is my place?
  • What is the source of my power? My self esteem?
  • What is sacred? Worthy of respect? Inviolable?
  • For what or whom would I sacrifice my time, my energy, my health, my life?
  • What can I do to lessen the quantity of evil in this world?
  • What are my gifts? What is my vocation?
  • What must I do to die with a sense of completeness?
  • What myth have I been unconsciously living?
  • In what measures are my “values” mere prejudices, my duties blind commitments to unexamined norms?
  • What have I sacrificed to win the approval of others? 
  • What have I sacrificed to become successful?
  • In what ways have I blinded myself, disowned my power, denied my potential?
0 Comments

What can they really steal ?

28/1/2010

0 Comments

 
I pondered this question, sitting in the depressing oncology department as my wife was getting her 8th out of 12 chemotherapy treatments back in August 2009. Conversations with other cancer patients and their significant others often turned around what was lost with cancer and how their priorities changed.  And then, to insert hope in the discussion, we would talk about what we had left that we cherished.

It felt cliché at the time - you only know what's important once you lose it. But it's true. When I (and they) got stripped of what I we made life 'life', this question had to be answered. And the soul-searching did me some good. 

In the blink of an eye, with one phone call, or with one sentence uttered from the doctor's mouth, the following things can disappear (in no particular order ;) )

- my stuff
- my health
- my loved ones health
- my achievements and distinctions
- my reputation

- my plans
- my social involvement
- my affiliations
- my stuff - bis (I know I already said it, but it's so important sometimes, it bears repeating)


So what's left ? What can I grab on when I feel like Job ?

- my values and my faith
- my resolve
- my REAL friends


Here's one man very touching and eloquent take on it. 
0 Comments
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  • Home
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