News out of Thailand and Malaysia are hoarding the headlines now; soon it will be Indonesia when they move into election fever in 2009. All these point to the fact that most countries in Asia are still going through a young and immature democracy.
Thailand has been notorious for their coups d'etat for as long as people can remember. Malaysia is slightly different in that the Barisan Nasional has been a stabilizing force in the country made up of diversified ethnic groups, until their General Elections in March 2008. From developments so far, the populace seem to be "fed up" with the pro-Malay/bumiputera policies which survived Malaysian politics up until now. The feeling on the ground, it seems, is that the pro-Malay policies are responsible for the culture of cronyism, nepotism and corruption in Malaysia which Indonesia - referred to as KKN in their own language - is trying to shed .
Malaysian politics is based on a patronage system not unlike the Indonesian system under the late President Suharto. Sort of an old boys' network not dissimilar to what's common in the UK, USA and Canada and other western countries. The difference in the affluent West is that they try and be as accountable as possible, save for the way the Bush administration appointed their security contractors in Iraq. In Malaysia, it's very different; for the government seem to award projects like they were "distributing the spoils", the way warlords or conquerors in history, east and west, used to do to reward their loyal subjects who helped them win territories.
Thailand is unique as the elite failed to deliver voter numbers to ensure that the party they support wins the election. Its probably arrogance which allowed Thaksin and his party to win over the greater numbers from the rural poor compared to elitists in the capital and major cities. The Indonesian politicians are better at this, knowing how to spread their campaign efforts over the areas where the numbers count. That's why I feel that the Thai elites who want to control Thailand are really arrogant.
Of all the democracies in Asia, Thailand is probably worst off. Malaysia a close second. The Philippines is too corrupt to count and Singapore's "managed democracy" probably doesn't fall into that league - and Singapore's leaders don't want to be in the same league of "western styled" democracies anyway. That leaves Indonesia, which is probably the closest to the western definition of "democracy" as we can get, not that it is the best form of governance for such a diversified country like Indonesia for now. But I'm sure that with a lot of hard work, the Indonesians will find the equilibrium on a democracy which works for their country, assuming there are enough politicians committed to the secular approach as the best way forward for their country in the next generation.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
My take on the current financial crisis
What do you do when you find your retirement fund shrink to half what they were worth 10 months ago? How do you feel when seemingly low risk investments in top institutions and companies in the world fail you? Well, you are not alone.
Who would have predicted the fall of century-old establishments like Lehman and Bear Stearns?
NOBODY, really!
This is a good lesson to myself and all else seeking better returns for their investments. Whenever anyone asks me for investment advice, I always tell them to keep a portion of their wealth in cash and safe investments albeit low returns, such as fixed deposits in established commercial banks, while they put the rest in riskier investments such as equity-based mutual funds or stocks. This is yet to be tested as we haven't come to the bottom of this crisis, according to esteemed economists around the world.
So far, we've only seen investment banks and other niche financial institutions fail - not Bank of America, Citibank or HSBC - or not yet. Banks with a large deposit bases are somewhat sheltered from this turmoil, lest there be a run on the bank stemming from market rumours such as the one which befell Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong.
Governments are going all out to guarantee their nations' bank deposits - first the USA, then Europe, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and others in Asia. I'm sure this "jumping on the bandwagon" syndrome is an inevitable defensive move especially coming from Hong Kong and Singapore. Imagine all the high net worth individuals pulling out their deposits from one country and parking them somewhere with governmental protection. That would have been catastrophic for their banking system.
Now, about riskier investments.
My approach has always been that of putting money I don't need for now, and money I can sit out and wait for returns in riskier higher return investments. We as individuals don't go by annual balance sheets and performance figures. We can afford to sit out investments over 3 or 5 years. If our investments return 50% in 5 years, we're still doing a healthy 10% per year average return (not compounded return) which isn't bad.
Some days ago, a friend of mine who has put money into equity-based funds panicked when the markets collapsed. He sold out, and ended up losing half the capital invested. Such panicky investors is a contributory factor to the collapse of stock markets around the world. He didn't need the money now. He wasn't forced by banks or brokers for he did not pledge the investment as collateral against any borrowing. There is really no conceivable reason for him to cash out when values are shedding on rumours rather than fundamentals. Such is the free market I suppose.
My sister called me the other day and asked how I was doing, as she knew I like to sort higher returns in riskier investments. I told her YES my portfolio did shrink by about half from the beginining of the year. YES there is a paper loss. But I also told her that I did follow Warren Buffett's advice earlier on in the year to hoard cash and wait for opportunities. I'm still pretty liquid and can embark on "buy" opportunities should I see signs of the markets bottoming out.
Having been through the Asian financial crisis in the late 90s, this doesn't surprise me anymore although its severity and speed did catch me off guard a little. The crests and troughs seem to happen every 10 years - 1987 black Monday, 1997 Asian crisis and now sub-prime.
My advice to friends and family is to wait this out, if their investments are in blue chips or blue chip funds. I waited out the Asian crisis and the investments paid off - at least on paper, as of end 2008 - but I didn't cash out in time before this crisis hit. Lesson for me then is to cash out when we hit the next high - be it in 3, 5 or 8 years' time - and restructure my portfolio so I won't be caught out in a situation where I'm depending on those investments to accord me the same lifestyle I'm leading now during retirement.
I hope this will help any panicky investor thinking of biting the bullet and cutting losses, for this is not the end of trading in the free market. As long as markets are trading, what goes down must come up, and vice versa.
Who would have predicted the fall of century-old establishments like Lehman and Bear Stearns?
NOBODY, really!
This is a good lesson to myself and all else seeking better returns for their investments. Whenever anyone asks me for investment advice, I always tell them to keep a portion of their wealth in cash and safe investments albeit low returns, such as fixed deposits in established commercial banks, while they put the rest in riskier investments such as equity-based mutual funds or stocks. This is yet to be tested as we haven't come to the bottom of this crisis, according to esteemed economists around the world.
So far, we've only seen investment banks and other niche financial institutions fail - not Bank of America, Citibank or HSBC - or not yet. Banks with a large deposit bases are somewhat sheltered from this turmoil, lest there be a run on the bank stemming from market rumours such as the one which befell Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong.
Governments are going all out to guarantee their nations' bank deposits - first the USA, then Europe, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and others in Asia. I'm sure this "jumping on the bandwagon" syndrome is an inevitable defensive move especially coming from Hong Kong and Singapore. Imagine all the high net worth individuals pulling out their deposits from one country and parking them somewhere with governmental protection. That would have been catastrophic for their banking system.
Now, about riskier investments.
My approach has always been that of putting money I don't need for now, and money I can sit out and wait for returns in riskier higher return investments. We as individuals don't go by annual balance sheets and performance figures. We can afford to sit out investments over 3 or 5 years. If our investments return 50% in 5 years, we're still doing a healthy 10% per year average return (not compounded return) which isn't bad.
Some days ago, a friend of mine who has put money into equity-based funds panicked when the markets collapsed. He sold out, and ended up losing half the capital invested. Such panicky investors is a contributory factor to the collapse of stock markets around the world. He didn't need the money now. He wasn't forced by banks or brokers for he did not pledge the investment as collateral against any borrowing. There is really no conceivable reason for him to cash out when values are shedding on rumours rather than fundamentals. Such is the free market I suppose.
My sister called me the other day and asked how I was doing, as she knew I like to sort higher returns in riskier investments. I told her YES my portfolio did shrink by about half from the beginining of the year. YES there is a paper loss. But I also told her that I did follow Warren Buffett's advice earlier on in the year to hoard cash and wait for opportunities. I'm still pretty liquid and can embark on "buy" opportunities should I see signs of the markets bottoming out.
Having been through the Asian financial crisis in the late 90s, this doesn't surprise me anymore although its severity and speed did catch me off guard a little. The crests and troughs seem to happen every 10 years - 1987 black Monday, 1997 Asian crisis and now sub-prime.
My advice to friends and family is to wait this out, if their investments are in blue chips or blue chip funds. I waited out the Asian crisis and the investments paid off - at least on paper, as of end 2008 - but I didn't cash out in time before this crisis hit. Lesson for me then is to cash out when we hit the next high - be it in 3, 5 or 8 years' time - and restructure my portfolio so I won't be caught out in a situation where I'm depending on those investments to accord me the same lifestyle I'm leading now during retirement.
I hope this will help any panicky investor thinking of biting the bullet and cutting losses, for this is not the end of trading in the free market. As long as markets are trading, what goes down must come up, and vice versa.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sub primes - Covering up with political backing
Look at the stock markets now. And look at what the American government tried to do.
When China covered up on the SARS and melamine scares, every one (almost) felt that China shouldn't have done that. But when the Americans covered up on the impact of their sub prime problems on the economic health of the world, the comments were a lot more muted.
I guess the difference is that in SARS and the melamine cases, there were actual human deaths directly relating to those incidents, whereas in the current sub prime fiasco, there aren't any DIRECT deaths, although the indirects harm that it has done to the modern world is beyond the imagination of any one of us.
There's Bernanke, Paulson and all the wise people with unquestionable credentials in a regulatory capacity who chose to remain silent about the impact of the sub prime crisis until a year after it first surfaced. Considering that these people have intimate knowledge of their financial systems, they should have had more notice than the rest of us prior to the problem surfacing in the public domain. So did they try to "cover up" thinking that it can be contained? Are they not as guilty as the Chinese officials who tried to cover up on SARS and melamine contamination in milk out of China?
We can't help Asians feeling like the Western media is stringing them up to roast at every opportunity for whatever cover-ups the governments of Asia do, the Western media seem to feed on it like a pack of vultures. But when there's a foul up in the Western world, not dissimilar to those in Asia, somehow, someone will be able to "guide" them into looking at things in a different perspective.
Is this less harmful and/or less severe than China's covering up of the SARS crisis? Or the melamine contamination issue still running hot in all the presses? Did the Americans elect a President who cannot appoint competent officials to look after their economy? What about all those checks and balances in Congress and the Senate? Didn't any of those learned men and women smell something fishy when the first sub prime defaults started to surface? How could the officials have taken JUST one weekend -- an American weekend when every American is supposed to be spending time with their families -- to sort out Bear Stearns? Even the best of brains would have had to do some preparatory work! Did they have an inkling as to what's happened and what's required? Surely they must have been prepared.
IS this a case of the pot calling the kettle black when it comes to disclosure for the interests of the rest of the world? Perhaps.
But we will never know, will we?
When China covered up on the SARS and melamine scares, every one (almost) felt that China shouldn't have done that. But when the Americans covered up on the impact of their sub prime problems on the economic health of the world, the comments were a lot more muted.
I guess the difference is that in SARS and the melamine cases, there were actual human deaths directly relating to those incidents, whereas in the current sub prime fiasco, there aren't any DIRECT deaths, although the indirects harm that it has done to the modern world is beyond the imagination of any one of us.
There's Bernanke, Paulson and all the wise people with unquestionable credentials in a regulatory capacity who chose to remain silent about the impact of the sub prime crisis until a year after it first surfaced. Considering that these people have intimate knowledge of their financial systems, they should have had more notice than the rest of us prior to the problem surfacing in the public domain. So did they try to "cover up" thinking that it can be contained? Are they not as guilty as the Chinese officials who tried to cover up on SARS and melamine contamination in milk out of China?
We can't help Asians feeling like the Western media is stringing them up to roast at every opportunity for whatever cover-ups the governments of Asia do, the Western media seem to feed on it like a pack of vultures. But when there's a foul up in the Western world, not dissimilar to those in Asia, somehow, someone will be able to "guide" them into looking at things in a different perspective.
Is this less harmful and/or less severe than China's covering up of the SARS crisis? Or the melamine contamination issue still running hot in all the presses? Did the Americans elect a President who cannot appoint competent officials to look after their economy? What about all those checks and balances in Congress and the Senate? Didn't any of those learned men and women smell something fishy when the first sub prime defaults started to surface? How could the officials have taken JUST one weekend -- an American weekend when every American is supposed to be spending time with their families -- to sort out Bear Stearns? Even the best of brains would have had to do some preparatory work! Did they have an inkling as to what's happened and what's required? Surely they must have been prepared.
IS this a case of the pot calling the kettle black when it comes to disclosure for the interests of the rest of the world? Perhaps.
But we will never know, will we?
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
About Visions and Missions
Friend of mine just called and complained about some problems with her staff. She tried to instill some discipline and ground rules for her operations but met with resistance from some employees. Simple stuff that they were trained to do became chores she has to get involved in, as CEO of the company.
My answer: they (the staff) don't share your same vision and mission; and she's better off getting rid of those bad apples than to risk infecting the rest of her employees who need the job more and who are prepared to adapt to her ground rules.
I'm sure this happens to all companies, large or small. I also told my friend that it's the survival of the organisation and the security of all her employees which should take precedence over one or two rotten apples.
Every organisation must function and survive as a team. Just like football and any other sport. The minute we have a prima donna, the minute we have the weakest link who can't move at the same speed as the others, and who doesn't have the same conviction as the others, the organisation cannot survive, let alone advance in this highly competitive globalised world.
This friend of mine is a nice person, always kind, always mindful of her employees to the extent that she cannot bear to put someone out of a job. But I emphasized that it's the survival of the organisation, the interests of the shareholders, and the feeding of the majority of her staff and their families which are of paramount importance.
I'm glad she felt a lot better after hearing what I had to say. And I hope she will be able to put principles into practise and have the conviction to see changes through.
My answer: they (the staff) don't share your same vision and mission; and she's better off getting rid of those bad apples than to risk infecting the rest of her employees who need the job more and who are prepared to adapt to her ground rules.
I'm sure this happens to all companies, large or small. I also told my friend that it's the survival of the organisation and the security of all her employees which should take precedence over one or two rotten apples.
Every organisation must function and survive as a team. Just like football and any other sport. The minute we have a prima donna, the minute we have the weakest link who can't move at the same speed as the others, and who doesn't have the same conviction as the others, the organisation cannot survive, let alone advance in this highly competitive globalised world.
This friend of mine is a nice person, always kind, always mindful of her employees to the extent that she cannot bear to put someone out of a job. But I emphasized that it's the survival of the organisation, the interests of the shareholders, and the feeding of the majority of her staff and their families which are of paramount importance.
I'm glad she felt a lot better after hearing what I had to say. And I hope she will be able to put principles into practise and have the conviction to see changes through.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Friends....
It's intriguing to witness the changes friends go through.
One of my friends grew older but none the wiser. He's always been a laid back sort of person. Got married with a very capable, career minded lady. When they had their first child, she made the decision to give up her career totally just to be a housewife and look after the kids.
But my friend grew more and more laid back, to the point of perhaps letting laziness creep in. His career went no where. He dabbled in business but that led nowhere as well. His wife who loved and adored this once young and ambitious man is obviously disappointed. But being Asian, she kept things to herself for she believed that once she marries the man she chose, she will have to abide by the unwritten family rules in Asians.
All of us around them can't help but sigh whenever we hear about them.
Then there's this other friend who called me the other day, after quite a long while. He had to undergo an operation recently and is literally broke now. Besides the odd freelance jobs here and there, he hasn't really had any serious work for the last year or so.
This is someone who's had his glory days running one of the most successful businesses in our line of business some years ago. Where did all those hard earned dollars of his heydays go?
I knew he had a large family to support, and is the sole earner of the family. But then, he wasn't earning nickels and dimes in his heydays either?
Planning, maybe that's what it is we all need to do.
Make realistic plans and keep reviewing where we stand and where we are with respect to those plans.
It's easy for human nature to take over, for our minds to wander off track and let circumstances dictate and lead us to believe that we're none other than puppets of circumstances playing out in our lives. We let ourselves be convinced that those circumstances must be allowed to play out their course.
These mind games hinder our ability to rationalise and we fall prey.
I myself have fallen prey many times. I myself have made unrealistic plans which ended up with dreadful results. There's a fine line between pushing oneself to one's limits and coaxing one's abilities and instincts to flourish optimally in the direction we choose.
Every day is a different chapter and evey new day brings with it circumstances, problems, obstacles, challenges etc. It's up to us to filter out the ones we need to deal with from the ones which distract, and the ones which can wait and the ones which can't. This ability to filter and discern is probably the difference between great men and women and the not so great ones.
One of my friends grew older but none the wiser. He's always been a laid back sort of person. Got married with a very capable, career minded lady. When they had their first child, she made the decision to give up her career totally just to be a housewife and look after the kids.
But my friend grew more and more laid back, to the point of perhaps letting laziness creep in. His career went no where. He dabbled in business but that led nowhere as well. His wife who loved and adored this once young and ambitious man is obviously disappointed. But being Asian, she kept things to herself for she believed that once she marries the man she chose, she will have to abide by the unwritten family rules in Asians.
All of us around them can't help but sigh whenever we hear about them.
Then there's this other friend who called me the other day, after quite a long while. He had to undergo an operation recently and is literally broke now. Besides the odd freelance jobs here and there, he hasn't really had any serious work for the last year or so.
This is someone who's had his glory days running one of the most successful businesses in our line of business some years ago. Where did all those hard earned dollars of his heydays go?
I knew he had a large family to support, and is the sole earner of the family. But then, he wasn't earning nickels and dimes in his heydays either?
Planning, maybe that's what it is we all need to do.
Make realistic plans and keep reviewing where we stand and where we are with respect to those plans.
It's easy for human nature to take over, for our minds to wander off track and let circumstances dictate and lead us to believe that we're none other than puppets of circumstances playing out in our lives. We let ourselves be convinced that those circumstances must be allowed to play out their course.
These mind games hinder our ability to rationalise and we fall prey.
I myself have fallen prey many times. I myself have made unrealistic plans which ended up with dreadful results. There's a fine line between pushing oneself to one's limits and coaxing one's abilities and instincts to flourish optimally in the direction we choose.
Every day is a different chapter and evey new day brings with it circumstances, problems, obstacles, challenges etc. It's up to us to filter out the ones we need to deal with from the ones which distract, and the ones which can wait and the ones which can't. This ability to filter and discern is probably the difference between great men and women and the not so great ones.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Life - a Kaleidescope (sort of)
So much happened these last few weeks. Clients wasting money unnecessarily just because they can't put their own house in order. Greed engulfing people so much so that their prides disappear. Weaknesses of the less humans all evident from a mere test of wills.
I remember all laundry services charge a premium when we are in a hurry and needed clothes delivered in less than the time quoted by the service. But at least those clothes came back to us freshly ironed and clean. But I can't say the same for other works commissioned in the service industry I'm in.
There's this client who's fond of confirming matters only at the 11th hour and we have to put together the human and other resources to have the project completed within unreasonable timelines. It's like building a two storey house in one month, rather than the 10 months it would normally take. The foundations are shoddy, the roof will leak, additional coats of paint are splashed even before the last coat is dried etc.
And that is what this multi national corporation spanning a few countries and paying top dollars for their executives practises.
Through their own inefficiencies and bureaucracies, projects hibernate until the very last minute when they can hibernate no more. They will commission the project often leaving no time to do proper soil tests and laying foundations, no time to order the best bricks and best brick layers and so on. And with the short time given, one often has to pay more in wages to have people work overtime, double up on human resources in order to get the job done in time, and accept less than satisfactory results.
But that's what they are content on doing. This is not one project. This has been happening for as long as I've known this client. They want something done, they will get it, at all costs.
Wonder what their shareholders will say if they'd known that the company has been wasting their money in that manner?
If I were a shareholder, I would have asked why the company hire executives at those prices when they cannot put the priorities in their sights. I would have asked why Chief Financial Officer had not seen the wastages. I would have asked why they had not structured the organization in a way conducive to a proper decision making process. I would have asked a lot.
But do such companies disclose at Annual General Meetings how they make decisions? Nope. They just declare and disclose what's required of the law.
I remember all laundry services charge a premium when we are in a hurry and needed clothes delivered in less than the time quoted by the service. But at least those clothes came back to us freshly ironed and clean. But I can't say the same for other works commissioned in the service industry I'm in.
There's this client who's fond of confirming matters only at the 11th hour and we have to put together the human and other resources to have the project completed within unreasonable timelines. It's like building a two storey house in one month, rather than the 10 months it would normally take. The foundations are shoddy, the roof will leak, additional coats of paint are splashed even before the last coat is dried etc.
And that is what this multi national corporation spanning a few countries and paying top dollars for their executives practises.
Through their own inefficiencies and bureaucracies, projects hibernate until the very last minute when they can hibernate no more. They will commission the project often leaving no time to do proper soil tests and laying foundations, no time to order the best bricks and best brick layers and so on. And with the short time given, one often has to pay more in wages to have people work overtime, double up on human resources in order to get the job done in time, and accept less than satisfactory results.
But that's what they are content on doing. This is not one project. This has been happening for as long as I've known this client. They want something done, they will get it, at all costs.
Wonder what their shareholders will say if they'd known that the company has been wasting their money in that manner?
If I were a shareholder, I would have asked why the company hire executives at those prices when they cannot put the priorities in their sights. I would have asked why Chief Financial Officer had not seen the wastages. I would have asked why they had not structured the organization in a way conducive to a proper decision making process. I would have asked a lot.
But do such companies disclose at Annual General Meetings how they make decisions? Nope. They just declare and disclose what's required of the law.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Stealing your time
I'm sure all of us would have come across such thefts of our time.
They are the ones who walk into you office when you're engrossed in work. They send text messages to your handphone on the most trivial of matters. They call you just to interrupt and disrupt what you're doing on matters which could wait or could have been emailed.
Emails are good - compare to text messages to handphones - in that they can be read at your own leisure. Even people with Blackberry phones can opt to read emails at a time they choose to. They "push mail" you, but you don't have to read it instantaneously, that is the minute they are "pushes" to you.
In this world and age, it feels like we're having less and less control of our own time. Time to do things we want or need to do; time to be on our own; time to "just do nothing".
On the other hand, these time thefts are also victims to other time thefts to the extent that they're oblivious to this notion of "stealing time". They've simply "done onto us what others do to them".
What a pity. That's why I don't turn on or log on to any of the so called IM or "instant messaging" programs. Imagine you're deep into a proposal or quotation you have to complete in an hour's time and a busload of friend instant message you, or text message you on your handphone. You'll never get to complete what you've allocated time to do in that hour or so. Or worse still, a task requiring an hour to complete suddenly becomes something which can only be completed in 3 hours.
I feel that I'm just as guilty of stealing other people's time. Sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic and bored, I would invariably be tempted to SMS others on matters which come to mind. They come to mind, but they often won't need to be communicated instantly. But for some selfish reason, I chose to SMS so that it becomes one less matter to store in my brain for action.
A lot of people feel that once their email or SMS is out, their job is done. Mission accomplished. Many a times, I've had clients forward me emails from their clients or colleagues requiring attention just so that they feel they've done their jobs.
Often, these emails which they forward have not even been read or perused by them. And often too is that these emails relate to nothing I can do without their input on the contents of that email.
Blind forwarding, I call this; something I don't condone. All the staff under my control know this.
So, the next time you need to call someone, or text someone using SMS, think about how disruptive that will be to his/her routine; and most importantly, think about the effect all such disruptions and distractions on your own routine.
They are the ones who walk into you office when you're engrossed in work. They send text messages to your handphone on the most trivial of matters. They call you just to interrupt and disrupt what you're doing on matters which could wait or could have been emailed.
Emails are good - compare to text messages to handphones - in that they can be read at your own leisure. Even people with Blackberry phones can opt to read emails at a time they choose to. They "push mail" you, but you don't have to read it instantaneously, that is the minute they are "pushes" to you.
In this world and age, it feels like we're having less and less control of our own time. Time to do things we want or need to do; time to be on our own; time to "just do nothing".
On the other hand, these time thefts are also victims to other time thefts to the extent that they're oblivious to this notion of "stealing time". They've simply "done onto us what others do to them".
What a pity. That's why I don't turn on or log on to any of the so called IM or "instant messaging" programs. Imagine you're deep into a proposal or quotation you have to complete in an hour's time and a busload of friend instant message you, or text message you on your handphone. You'll never get to complete what you've allocated time to do in that hour or so. Or worse still, a task requiring an hour to complete suddenly becomes something which can only be completed in 3 hours.
I feel that I'm just as guilty of stealing other people's time. Sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic and bored, I would invariably be tempted to SMS others on matters which come to mind. They come to mind, but they often won't need to be communicated instantly. But for some selfish reason, I chose to SMS so that it becomes one less matter to store in my brain for action.
A lot of people feel that once their email or SMS is out, their job is done. Mission accomplished. Many a times, I've had clients forward me emails from their clients or colleagues requiring attention just so that they feel they've done their jobs.
Often, these emails which they forward have not even been read or perused by them. And often too is that these emails relate to nothing I can do without their input on the contents of that email.
Blind forwarding, I call this; something I don't condone. All the staff under my control know this.
So, the next time you need to call someone, or text someone using SMS, think about how disruptive that will be to his/her routine; and most importantly, think about the effect all such disruptions and distractions on your own routine.
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