As I promised in the previous article,
“I’LL DO MY BEST” is the Second Worst Statement
So, in this first follow-up article, “MAY THE HEAVEN BLESS” is the Worst Statement ever, I need to emphasize that Johanes Lim is not anti-religion or anti-divinity by discussing this topic; rather, I want to block the loopholes of those who use spirituality to justify their marginalization and/or inability to achieve their goals.
I don’t know if it’s customary in your country to use terms like this when conducting business activities.
However, based on my decades of life and professional experience, this statement seems commonplace and a reflex uttered by many people.
Why does Johanes Lim seem so antipathetic to this?
Because I disagree with and don’t believe that failure or success in achieving work or business goals is caused by “heavenly curses or blessings.”
I believe that everything has its own laws. There are heavenly laws, and of course, natural laws, business laws, etc.
If we tolerate, let alone agree, the notion that “As long as people do their best, the final outcome is determined by Heaven,” or another popular expression, “Man proposes, God disposes.”
This means we approve of and allow sub-target performance, claiming that it’s Heaven’s will. However, this is not the case. Achieving results has nothing to do with Heaven, but rather with the Law of Cause and Effect in Business:
Business losses and/or even bankruptcy are not due to a curse from Heaven, but rather due to POOR LEADERSHIP, the inability and unwillingness of leaders to think strategically, mitigate risks, and disrupt their own business before competitors disrupt it. This results in their products being unsellable because they are more expensive and offer less benefits than their competitors’; sales plummet, fixed costs inevitably result in losses. That’s just common sense and businesslike; it has nothing to do with Heaven.
Employees complain of “bad luck” because they haven’t been promoted after working for a long time. Conversely, junior employees are promoted because the heavens are on their side.
In business, especially in a Meritocracy Management system, the basis for promoting and/or firing employees isn’t a matter of likes or dislikes or primordialism, but rather 100% a matter of CONTRIBUTION TO RESULTS.
The Meritocracy Management principle is clear and unambiguous: IT’S NOT HOW LONG YOU’VE BEEN WORKING, BUT HOW MUCH HAVE YOU PRODUCED?
In my opinion, by eliminating these pretentious statements, we challenge people to be 100% SERIOUS IN THEMSELVES AND TAKE 100% RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR RESULTS! Instead of throwing responsibility up in the air!
Therefore, people and companies MUST continuously learn to improve their competence and usefulness, so they can not only survive but also become highly competitive, able to sell, make profits, and grow scalably, competing against anyone, anywhere, anytime!
Johanes Lim, PhD, CPC, CHt (林泰義)
Financial Doctor and Turnaround Specialist for Family Businesses and The BOD Forum Across ASEAN
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