Axiata ULDP 2016 (Grand Finale)

CEO Challenge

My wonderful team

This is the final challenge of the whole program, and I learned some new things despite being down most of the time due to food poisoning (sorry team!):

1. Learn to control emotions and be positive even when there are obstacles.
2. Set time for work and rest - time management is very important. 

3. Be encouraging and keep the team spirit up at all times (Eu Gene is very good at this) 

4. Know your demographics, how often/likely they will use your product (reason why your product will work), and show the money numbers on screen!  ᕕ($◡$)ᕗ 

5. Prepare an answer/a justification for everything you want to do.

6. Quoting Mr Farid: If the question is beyond your preparation, make sure you can smartly pave your way through at the right times, cos everything is a prediction, nothing is set in stone. 

C'est le dernière défi dans le programme, et j'ai appris quelques nouvelle choses malgre d'être malade par l'intoxication alimentaire: 
1. Contrôler vos émotions, bien que les émotions négatives existent toujours. 
2. Trouver un juste équilibre entre les travail et repos. 
3. Soit positif et encourageant sur toi-même et sur tout. 
4. Le projections financière (particulièrement les revenu et ROI) sont très importante si tu veux obtenir une chance de gagner. 
5. Tu dois preparer une réponse pour chaque question.
6. S'il y a une question que tu ne sais pas, dis la foutaise pour t'echappes.

Dinners

Dinner #1 - Awards Night

I really want a nyonya kebaya like Emily's, but in light pink.

Vraiment, je veux acheter une kebaya comme le sien (c'est très belle, oui?) mais dans le coleur rose clair.

Dinner #2 - Spanish Night

Mandatory group photo. I love these people!
La photo de groupe obligatoire. J'aime ces gens!

The peeps chosen for Axiata Aaaahhhhh 

Jane is hands down the winner haha

 Les personnes sélectionnées pour Axiata Aaaahhhhh, et Jane est certainement le gagneur.

˚✧₊⁎( ˘ᴗ˘ )⁎⁺˳✧༚

This is my cute room mate beautiful Jasmine (Jia Lee). I didn't manage to get one with our other room mate Ilani. They're both awesome ladies.

Ceci est ma colocataire, elle est petite et mignonne. Elle s'appelle Jia Lee, aussi connu sous le nom la belle fleur. Malheuresement, je n'ai pas pris une photo avec Ilani, nos autre compagne de chambre. 

Meet Jocelyn, my pool buddy. I really appreciate how we randomly went for a game during one of our rare breaks and became friends since.

Mon amie Jocelyn qui jouait le billiard avec moi.

Emily, me, Karishma, Yi Xin

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Afterthoughts

We had excellent food for the whole duration of the camp, and had desserts of every kind after each meal. We were very well-fed I'm sure everybody gained at least 2 kgs by the end of the camp.

Nous avons eu la bonne nourriture dans ce camp.

The sharing sessions with Duncan from Blue Chip Leaders really force you to undergo a critical evaluation on yourself, identifying your strengths and weaknesses, your obstacles and goals. And Duncan is always telling us to take care of our health, go eat, or go sleep because he's worried that we might fall sick from the endless efforts to fulfill our tasks. Thanks Duncan! (◕‿◕✿)

Duncan est toujours inquiet pour notre santé.

Graduated!

It was a tough but rewarding 14-days, I learned so much about the business world in such a short time and developed lifelong friendships with some of the most loving, caring and supportive people on the planet. I also learned a lot about myself in the sharing and reflection sessions, and the things that I should improve on. 

I realized that sometimes I can be a bit of a bitter bug when I'm stressed, and this might have affected my team members negatively when times were hard. Noah, thanks for your efforts of talking and cheering me up (but honestly I wasn't sad or anything, I just simply look constipated when I'm stressed). I sincerely apologize for this, and I promise (to my future team members and colleagues) to smile more and bring more sunshine and contribution to the team.

On a side note, it was cool to discover so many "crouching tigers and hidden dragons" in the camp - people just stun you with their special talents! Aziz, Amirul and Ben are Photoshop pros; Ben, Vincent, Joe Ee and Zach are skilled guitar players; Xin Le is secretly a top-grade violinist and pianist; Shu Wei is a soprano and Joshua is a baritone who sings surprisingly rich bass.

It was a great 14-days with all of you, and I would like to thank everyone for making this camp memorable and exciting. It would not have been as much fun without all of you. (๑◔‿◔๑)

Last but not least, a huge thank you to Axiata for the chance to participate in this camp! It was both a privilege and a blessing to be able to join this group of highly-motivated youth in learning about business and also ourselves. I learned so much and I will improve myself in the days to come.

This is not the end, it is just the beginning.

Disclaimer: All Axiata ULDP posts are very descriptive but no photos / detailed information on the simulations were leaked for event privacy purposes. This is meant to be a journal of the event for personal remembrance.

Axiata ULDP 2016 (Part 3)

BUSINESS SIMULATION 3

A very fun and interactive game, but if you don't know how to plan your finances, you'd always be stuck in the 'rat race', possibly facing a bankruptcy suit in the near future. Again, you have to take calculated risks in order to succeed. But the problem is, we didn't know how. 

Our group was afraid to take risks in the start, but we eventually expanded our operations, and our salesmen Gary and Noah sealed some pretty good deals towards the end of the games, which enabled us to generate a positive cash-flow in the last year. A huge leap from 45M loss in the previous year.

Karishma was the CEO, and I sensed her stress and anxiety because people always asked her what are her plans for the company. She wanted to hide, but there was nowhere to hide. And she be like:

No, you've got the wrong person. Karishma is next door!

And then, she turned to me, "So, Yin Chien, what are your production plans?" And I be like:

Buddy you askin' me?

Again Vincent was the finance guy, and he went berserk when Gary sold off our assets to get cash (to sustain our failing company) and disrupted his holy grail projection. \(@_@)/

What I learned from this sim: 

1. The person who owns the "money-generating assets" first will dominate the market. 
2. If you want to win, you have to play big or don't play at all. By this I meant taking calculated risks and act on them.
3. Quoting Vee (was that you?): "Business is war!" No hard feelings guys, it's just a game. Honestly, though it hurt some people's feelings, that move was so unexpected I actually felt impressed. That's probably how the acquisition and mergers are initiated in real life. 

BUSINESS SIMULATION 4

This is by far the most stressful one, giving you a little more than 12 hours to get everything done including sleep time. 

Our team is hands down the sleepiest one in the battlefield. We treasure sleep more than anything else because if we don't sleep enough we automatically shut down. 

Vincent is pretty much a walking-dead after 1am. But give him sleep (and a sprinkle of fairy dust), he will come back with a super brain.   

When the clock strikes 3 (am), Emily: f**k this, I'm going to bed! (albeit still in a very soft, polite manner) - at this point, everybody reached a consensus to rest our bloodshot eyes, but the finance team was still going strong (Karishma and Gary).

When the clock strikes 5 (am), Karishma:

Yi Xin, Noah and Adi came up with a really nice design for our brand. They got nominated but sadly didn't win. Still proud of you guys! I witnessed so much change in Yi Xin as she totally transformed into a different person in this challenge. She became so much more confident and comfortable in her own skin. *hugs*

Even though we didn't win anything, it was cool to see many amazing end-products from other teams! In such a short time, they managed to produce masterpieces! So much creativity and humour - fantastic job guys!

BUSINESS SIMULATION 5

Gary repeated 3 times (something along the lines of), "Guys, this company has no future. Let's tell the CEO to sell this company, donate all the money to the kids in Somalia and spend the rest of his life playing golf in Zimbabwe."

It was hard, even without the scandal. 

We asked for financial reports, but what we got were pieces of loose information here and there. Turns out you have to be very precise when requesting.

In the end, Gary had to ask for help from Suriah for additional information. You can always count on him to call in favours because he is such an excellent PR guy/friendly competitor. (Thanks, little Sunshine for the data!)

I was in finance with Karishma this time round, but I was doing the expense-cutting and generation of cash flow with Adi while Karishma did the projection with Gary's help. I have no idea how he managed to come up with rational numbers when Karishma and I were both stuck - you really have to give him credit for quick grasp of things.

Vincent was the CEO, and he regretted handling back the docs to PA that he started to retreat into his own imaginary world, thinking of things that might have been different if he chose another method. Actually the best way is to do what Hamsya did: doctrine of separated equity.

Emily became very efficient in identifying the important parts and planning for the future. She told me she's beginning to get used to this. She is very smart and opinionated but very humble and polite, which is why I heart her even more.

The switch wasn't entirely unexpected but it hit close to home. You feel like you're being torn apart from your ohana, like till death do us meet (even though they're just moving next door). We were almost in tears. (ಥ_ಥ)

John and Shu Yuan are so nice, helpful that accepting that I regretted not smiling to them more when we first met. I was still railing from shock and sadness to see my kakis gone that I had forgotten to be kinder to them. Sorry! I love you guys! ٩(♡ε♡ )۶

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To be continued...

Axiata ULDP 2016 (Part 2)

OPENING CEREMONY

Everyone gathered at the Axiata Tower for the opening ceremony. After registration and some awkward self-introductions downstairs, we were herded upstairs where individual photos were taken.

Breakfast was nasi lemak! No complaints, it's my favourite Malaysian dish ever. And I haven't had any yet since coming back from US, so I'm pretty happy about it.

After that, some speeches from Axiata's top leadership (Tan Sri Jamal, Datin Badrunnisa). It was quite enlightening to hear that sometimes people don't necessarily end up where they started with. Tan Sri Jamal came from IT background, Datin Badrunnisa studied Biochemistry and Pharmacology, but both came to work for Axiata, a telco group. Tan Sri Jamal is all for learning as much as you can, no matter what branch that knowledge is from. Seems to correspond to Robert Kiyosaki's learning style.

CAMP IN AWANA

Like what Jay thought, it's definitely a breeze. 14 days of holidays in an exclusive highland retreat. 

You wish.  

Axiata uses heuristic means to teach us about the business world. We are left to do all the nitty gritty stuff ourselves, with minimal dubious hints here and there from the facilitators. But really, you just have to figure out the whole picture yourself or risk getting eliminated in the games. If left alone, I probably would have teared apart any encephalic matter present in my head.

Most of the times, I felt dumb and just wanted to pull my hair out. The level of frustration is high. I hated not knowing anything and not knowing where to start learning (because almost everybody is clueless).

But in a way it pushes us to come up with something (anything at all), so I guess it actually works?

Also, once you get the gist of it, the metaphorical light-bulb will shine brightly in your head. Raw financial data is not a huge problem to us anymore cos now we know how to analyze the important parts.

MY GROUP

These people are ohana.

BUSINESS SIMULATION 1

I'm gonna admit it felt bad not being able to contribute as much to the team. Gary was busy doing all the thinking and presentation layout strategy, while Vincent (psychology major) was busy scrunching numbers which did not seem to make sense to anyone in the group. (But finally he got it! Bravo for having quick brains.)

That said, I think I did a pretty well in terms of artistic design for the advertisement, thanks to the help of Noah, Yi Xin, Adi, Emily and Karishma. And of course, Adi did an awesome job on the video as well.

One thing I think we could've improved on is people management. A huge part of the group did not know what to do or what they could do to help. But on second thoughts this is unavoidable because:

(a) We don't know what we are doing

(b) We don't know enough to direct others to do something we don't know

It boils down to numbers. If you understand the numbers, you are king. 

Presentation wise, Gary, Vincent and Emily are pretty strong. So are Noah, Adi, Karishma and Yi Xin (unpolished raw gemstones). Me, I always have my moments of jimjams. My brain reacting slowly is something I really need to work on. Debate Club, perhaps? To improve my overall fluency. And maybe take up a marketing crash course to learn how to sell/pitch with confidence. Any suggestions?

I hope the heavy workload that comes with the new sem doesn't wash my initial plans down the gutter again. Malaysian education is too much about homework and memorization and too little about reflection and self-discovery. Gonna try to make time to do what I wanna do though.  (๑◕︵◕๑)

BUSINESS SIMULATION 2

This is one of the fun ones, and perhaps one of the easiest ones (for those who are in the audience seats). 

What I learned from this simulation:

1. When people ask you what if questions, just reply with pure logic. Do not hike up your stakes to meet unrealistic demands. It's ok to be bitchy stand your ground if you have a reason to be.

2. Balance between personal interest and public interest. Do not promise more than you can give.

3. Don't claim credit for something you haven't done. Be smart. -(●-●)-

To be continued...

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GAME OF THE DAY

This didn't come until later in the week. BUT.

To keep things interesting...

Here's a game, first started by Gary. 

It messed up my brain so much now I wanna mess up yours.

ULDP 2016 participants, please don't answer cos y'all know the answer already. ;)

QUESTION:

A is a half-boiled egg

B is a leather jacket

C is your mom

What is D?

Leave your answers in the comments below.

Axiata ULDP 2016 (Part 1)

BEFORE

It all started with the Facebook Ad which kept popping up on my timeline, when I was still in America. 

After seeing it for maybe 3 times, I finally clicked into it to see what it's all about. Then, I found out that it's a 14-day camp for nurturing future leaders. Hmm, sounds interesting, but I needed more details. My first thought? I'm gonna join this camp, get a good story and write an article. Looking at the dateline, I still have time to apply after I return to Malaysia, so I bookmarked the page for application later.

I started snooping around for more details, mainly by asking my good friend Mr. Google. Then, I found several blog posts regarding this camp, which led to 3 bloggers/past attendees of the camp. Then, I used FB to track these people down, sending messages to all 3, but only one person replied. If you're reading this, yes, that's you Ken. (Ken is now my friend. LOL.)

Fast forward to post-submission, I received a call on Friday asking me to go down to Axiata Tower for an interview on the following Monday. But I was working for my attachment (I nego-ed with boss to have it done earlier cos I have plans to get diving license in Redang in August if ULDP plan fails), so I unabashedly asked for a telephone interview instead. (See how much balls I have?)

On an afterthought, I regretted it because it kinda made me sound like I wasn't interested at all. So I emailed them saying I will take a one-day leave to attend the interview in person, but the organizer replied saying, "no need, everything is arranged (for phone interview)." So alarms started ringing in my head, crying out "you're dead! you're dead! you're dead!"

On Monday, the interviewer called on time, and asked me questions like: 

1. Tell us about your leadership experience

2. One achievement in leadership

3. If there's one thing you can change, what would it be?

I bullshitted my way through prepared a set of bullet-points with whatever I think I wrote in the application earlier, but I was nervous and there was a lot of grammar mistakes. I'm not a good speaker, so naturally some kind of preparation is required.

At the end of the interview, I asked when will we be getting the results, and she said, next week.

Two weeks passed and I didn't hear anything from them. I made plans for Redang. UM organized a camp for diving license at Redang for RM800. BUT they later increased it to RM1000, so plan cancelled.

While I was wondering what to do with my life, I received an email from Axiata saying I was selected for the camp.

My first response: I must be a backup cos someone couldn't go. Cos it has been 3 weeks since the phone interview. 

My second thought: Oh well, since I got chosen.. might as well go!

*Please forgive my grammar mistakes, if any. I'm not checking what I wrote cos I'm sleepy. Do let me know if you find any though. Thanks!