An overwhelming day with Mr. "Chink Positve" Chinkee Tan

I remember back in May 2013 during my term as the VP for External Affairs of ABSC, I was assigned to invite guest speakers for our Leadership Training Seminar entitled “ILLUMINATE”. I was believing God for an excellent speaker and true enough God answered my prayer. I was able to invite Mr. Chinkee Tan. He is one of the best and one of the most sought-after speakers in the Philippines and Asia today. It was a great privilege to really hear him speak, inspire and invest in the lives of the young leaders of UST.

A year after our encounter in UST, I was again given the chance to listen to him but this time, in a more mature crowd – In front of a government organization. I was excited to listen to him again because we really got inspired and had fun at the same time during his session in our leadership training seminar in UST. Honestly I thought I would hear the same things he mentioned during his talk with us - only to find out that it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Allow me to share some of the insights I got during his overwhelming talk. I am not exaggerating, I’m just being honest.

He first talked about CHANGE. He talked about how it was so abused and how our politics in the Philippines would dare use it as a slogan during election campaign period. Change must happen if we want to see improvements happen in our lives. A lot of us do the same thing and expect to see a different result then we ask ourselves: What’s happening? And the answer is: Nothing. We love how technology has made our lives more convenient by allowing itself to be changed overtime but we hate change when it happens to our own lives. Why won’t we? Because we have fears or False Expectations Appearing Real. According to research, 90% of the things we fear will not happen.  It’s an amazing fact – it’s also amazing to find out that we are crippled with the 10%.

He shares this basic formula:
Mindset + Action = Result

Negative Mindset + Negative Action = Negative Result

Positive Mindset + Positive Action = Positive Result

Poor Mindset + Poor Action = Poor Result

Rich Mindset + Rich Action = Rich Result

For real and long-lasting change to happen in our lives, we have to decide to change our mindset. How will we know if we have a negative mindset? When we complain and compare. People who often complain miss the knowledge and maturity that they could gain. People who compare themselves to others either breeds pride in them for being better or breeds in security for feeling less of a person. For most of us, it’s easier to complain and compare because it’s difficult for us to be ourselves.

For us Filipinos, it’s very difficult to confront someone who has an issue with us which ends up in gossip. Gossip separates close friends. Gossip is a form of an emotional immaturity because it shows that we cannot properly handle our issues with each other. When we entertain gossip, it means we don’t value the people around us – we don’t value the relationships we have.

When we correct a person we must always remember the principle: “Correct in private, praise in Public.” We should always choose to speak life to the people around us but when correction is done, it must be done in private.

“Kahit tama ako pero pag ako na ang nakasakit ng tao – mali na ako”. One of Chinkee Tan’s life principles. It reminded me of another famous quote: People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. The similarity between the two is this: it puts value to the person.

One of the most exciting parts of the session was when Chinkee Tan discussed about the different personalities of people. It is important to note that behaviour changes but personality does not. The strengths and weaknesses of each person’s personality allow them work together in unity and move as a single unit in achieving their goals as an organization and their behaviour allows them to adjust to the needs around them.

Part of developing the unity of their organization is to face the issues they have with each other. Whether it is big or small – it must be dealt with. After being convinced that they need to change, knowing themselves more with the help of others, working together, improving their unity – they need to face their unsettled issues. They were given a chance to speak to all their colleagues personally. They can either ask for forgiveness or tell how much they appreciate the person in front of them. It was a very important part of the seminar because it turns a simple organization into a family.

As a family and an organization, it is very crucial to know their destination by stating in their vision and mission and coming up with their own core values. “Everything we do must be guided by the vision and mission”. When the vision and mission is properly communicated to the members of the organization (of any organization), they will not waste time doing things that will not contribute to their vision and mission. Every member will work, regardless of their position, having the vision and mission in mind.

I can go on blogging about the things I learned but there’s just too many. From the need to change, to knowing one’s self and understanding others, to strengthening teamwork and unity, to settling issues and anchoring themselves to their core values, vision and mission – an organization changes and it turns into a family.

Every time I come home from seminar like this, I will always remember what sir Chinkee Tan said during the middle part of the training:

“It’s not how much knowledge you know, it’s how much knowledge you apply.”