Gung Hay Fat Choy / Gong Xi Fa Cai
This weekend we enter the Chinese Year of the Tiger, year 4708 of the Chinese calendar and the third in the cycle of 12 years in the Chinese zodiac.
Today I want to wish all my friends, colleagues and clients throughout Asia and around the world a prosperous and healthy year ahead!
Goodbye to the Ox
Last year was the Year of the Ox, which was meant to bring prosperity through fortitude and hard work. It's usually a conservative year, one of traditions and values, of stability and growth where patience and diligence pay off.Perhaps the first stirrings of economic recovery that we've seen at the tail end of the year have been a product of societies resetting their moral compass and looking to more conservative practices in the financial sector...?
Welcome to the Year of the Metal Tiger
Hot passion meets cold steel with the arrival of the year of the Metal Tiger. This combined sign signifies both the energy to begin activity and the determination to follow it through to the end.
Forget about last year’s slow plodding! Events set in motion now will pick up speed and continue until either the objective is attained...or the whole endeavour crashes and burns.
A character trait of high-spirited Metal Tigers is that they tend to jump to conclusions. To stay on the positive side of this energetic year, a useful corrective to this habit that we all exhibit on occasion is to ask lots of questions rather than making unfounded assumptions.
If you are in a leadership role this year, you may do well to remember the following:
In the past the best leader was the one with the best answers.
Today the best leader is the person who knows how to ask the best questions.
Tigers - powerful and proud...yet endangered
Even if you do not follow Chinese astrology, there is a crisis this year that is very real and that you can help to do something about.The world's tiger population is under threat.
It is the WWF's goal to ensure wild tigers are no longer facing extinction by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022. You can help support their work to save tigers by making a donation.
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2 comments:
Well written, Todd! Now if only the leaders would internalize and practice this fine art of asking strategic questions which draw out the potential of the people who work with them.
All the best, Todd!
Hi Franklin,
Thanks for your comment. It's been great speaking with you these past few weeks and I look forward to seeing where our conversations will take us.
As for encouraging leaders to ask better questions...it's a journey my friend and I'm glad to have your company on it!
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