Author Archives: Guus

Responsive web design

I am not sure how to relate this post to inspiration or success, but a short message from Seth Godin made me realize how annoyed I am with recent websites, or actually webdesigns that probably claim to be responsive, but that are actually just designs suited to all kinds of mobile devices like tablets. To me ‘responsive web design’ means that in most cases you would probably have to make two or more web designs, each suited to a different device category, or maybe better called screen category.

And I guess I am a bit old fashioned just using a computer and a screen (16×9) and a keyboard, but most recent websites only show very little information in very large letters and with large icons, which don’t make much sense on an ordinary computer. And this tells me that most modern websites, probably sold as ‘modern redesign’ or ‘responsive’ are actually not responsive, but just suitable for small screens and touch screen devices. And I did not recently check statistics on that from the many websites I manage, but I am quite sure many people still use old fashioned computers and browsers like me.

Shame on the industry.

Be careful what you wish for…

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Mitsubishi Pajero Black 2015. A while ago I wrote a letter to Mitsubishi in Japan, as I wanted to inform them that I have put my mind on a black Mitsubishi Pajero, highest model, diesel with manual transmission. And while writing this, I realize that that letter was partly written based on fear, fear of not receiving the car I am determined to acquire within the time frame that Mitsubishi will still produce this car. But of course there was more, as somehow of course I am hoping that Mitsubishi would just give me the car I am determined to have, preferably including everything needed to be able to drive it, as as of the moment I still have no clue how I would realize all of this in the ‘real world’, the real world of money and such.

And I actually had no clue what to expect. I just wrote a letter to the President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in Japan, including an image of the car I have in mind, with the statement that I am determined to have this car, brand new, but have no means of just buying the car in the near future. So basically my request was to reserve a car like that for me until I would have the funds available to buy and drive it. And of course I doubted(?!) and still doubt that they would just give me that car, so my main request was basically to just have some kind of reply, even if it were just a confirmation of receipt of my letter.

So I had no clue what to expect, but, as I mostly do recently with these type of things, I just sent the letter and left it to The Universe what to do with it. And for quite a while, months, I didn’t hear anything. And as it was not really priority and I didn’t feel anything about it, I didn’t do anything like following up, something I often do (persistence…). So a few weeks ago I received a letter from Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, which made me quite happy, as at least I got a reply to my strange letter, my strange request. And I was a bit scared to open the letter at first, but after one or two days I opened the letter to see what the President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation had done with my strange request.

And I was a bit disappointed. Or actually a lot. As it seemed my letter apparently hadn’t reached Mr. Takashi Nishioka, the President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, the person I was trying to reach. Apparently the letter had been passed to the marketing department of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and was handled with what felt like a standard reply to Mitsubishi Pajero enthusiasts. Something like that they were happy with my interest in a Mitsubishi Pajero, but that Mitsubishi Motors Corporation does not sell cars themselves and that I should contact the local representation in The Philippines. And yes, the address was provided, but no name of a contact person or anything and the postal code was missing.

And of course this letter made me think of leadership, the leadership that Napoleon Hill mentions when he states that leadership requires delegation to capable lieutenants, so a leader can appear to be in many places at the same time and can handle many things at the same time. And to me Mr. Takashi Nishioka did not really pass the leadership test, as my letter was intended to be personally read by him, which I thought I stated pretty clearly, and not to be handled by the marketing department of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Actually I would have appreciated a simple one sentence letter stating that he had received my letter with his signature, than a more or less standard letter from the marketing department. Anyhow, of course it is up to him or Mitsubishi how to deal with with this, so please don’t misunderstand, as I mean no offense here or anything. I made and sent the letter and just released it to The Universe, and this is what I got.

And of course, me being me, persistent and dreaming and taking action, decided to see if I could get something more. So I did two things:

I wrote a letter to Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation as suggested, without any research, so I didn’t add the name of the CEO or anything.
I wrote a second letter to Mr. Takashi Nishioka as I wanted to inform him about my feelings about the handling of my first letter.

And I guess it will take a while again before I hear anything related to (1) as PHLPOST took months to deliver the first letter, but today I got an e-mail from Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation relating to my letter, which kind of made me happy, as the tone of the letter was very accommodating, even though I had the feeling that Mitsubishi Philippines didn’t really know what to do with my request, which of course is logical.

Ah, and one of the reasons to write this post, or actually the main reason, was that Mitsubishi Philippines stated that the car I have in mind is only available with automatic transmission in The Philippines. And that statement made me think, made me think a lot. Because how far should I go, should you go, to get exactly what you want. Something like “if Mitsubishi would decide to give me a black Pajero, highest model, diesel, with automatic transmission, should I take it or not?”.

Very interesting question to me, which made me think again about the phrase “Be careful what you wish for”.

Online report of the way to success

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Recently I have been thinking a lot of what to write here. And one of the things is that I want to write more inspirational stuff in the pages part of the site. But that is not ‘here’, the posts part of the site. And another thing is that I wanted especially the posts part of the site to be a kind of diary of my road to success using the Principles of Success as described by Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich. But the last part is not that easy, as the big project I am working on includes quite some stuff I don’t want everybody to know, especially not Globe and PLDT. But maybe for some parts I will need them and somehow I am also starting to believe more and more that ‘peace’ is better than ‘war’ and that competition should be on quality and service, not price or putting the other party down.

So that is what I learned from Napoleon Hill and that is the main reason why I am taking on this challenge, that is why I think it can work. As I can compete on service, as service is the only thing a company is all about: serving people. And yes, of course shareholders need to be paid and employees need to be happy and be paid. But in the end, the only reason why companies exist is to serve customers, to provide some kind of service or product, nothing more, nothing less. And that is what the big industries seem to forget the last decade or decades or so. As recently it seems to be all about shareholders value and profit and sometimes employees.

And for long I thought it was a combination of all, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that companies are all about serving customers, nothing more, nothing less. So indeed, something like the customer is always right, always.

Flexibility

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I was enjoying an evening out with friends and I was thinking about my daily posts. And that it would be probably very late when I would come home and that I had to choose between discipline and, well, yes what. Failure I guess. So I kind of decided not to write my daily posts, but I arrived earlier home than expected and decided still to write something here, although I want to keep it short. And yes, I knew what the subject would be: flexibility. As discipline is good, but I think we should allow ourselves every now and then to skip something, to do something more important, like being with friends, going out with friends.

And writing the last I still see the success video I saw quite a while ago, that video emphasizing doing all the work when others have fun. And yes, I certainly believe there is a point in that, I certainly believe that success is indeed about discipline and perseverance and such. But I’m not sure if overdoing is the right thing, as that what I sometimes feel I am doing.

So please be relaxed if you skip something some day. As life does not end by not doing your thing, your job or whatever it is you put on yourself. As long as you keep going and not use it as an excuse to not continue.

Back to planning and discipline

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I have neglected my written down planning a bit and some other things, and even though I have been doing quite well planning in a similar way, and doing the things I planned, in my head, I get more and more the feeling that it is time to go back to the written down stuff. And I am a bit torn between my old chaotic self and the self that wants to do things a bit more organized, more disciplined. As in the end I need to feel free, I still am a very impulsive person, something I didn’t realize before. And yes, I am a idea person, not a manager, not an accountant, not an inspirational person for groups, at least that is what I am realizing more and more, who I am, what type of person I am. And I also see more and more why things didn’t work, as I wanted to be a manager, a CEO, a leader in an organizational way. But I guess that doesn’t fit my character, doesn’t fit the way I am built, even though I think I can be a CEO, a leader, someone who gives direction. And that is where I made the mistake, because I thought leadership and management were the same thing. But they are not, they may be even incompatible.

But to be successful, to be a leader, I do need to tame my impulsive side, my creative side, to make sure people can follow me, understand me, know the way I have in mind (for them). So I need to find the balance between the creative me, the impulsive me, the independent me, the crazy me, and the me that wants to be successful, the me that wants to really achieve the things being created in my mind, realize the ideas that came up and are continuously coming up. As that is what I seem to be a generator of ideas, indeed, what they call a visionary. So yes, my partner was right: know yourself first. But I was embarrassed with who I am, with all those crazy ideas nobody seemed to understand, nobody wanted to follow. As I also thought that everybody was the same, had the same feelings, the same way of thinking, the same way of generating ideas. But I was wrong, indeed, everybody is different. So everybody needs to find the place where he or she fits best, where his or she can use his or her talents best.

So know thyself, as the Oracle in The Matrix already told to Neo. As that seems to be the key to be, to become who you are supposed to be.