Saturday, September 11, 2010

Asian invasion

Been a very long time since I posted - turns out keeping up with a blog can be hard work! Lots of things have happened - South Africa have hosted an awesome soccer World Cup, followed by a protracted public servant strike - guess we can't have it all. I've also completed another year of MBA studies and the end goal is very much in sight.

I've also been fortunate enough to be included from the beginning in my company's plans to expand into Asia. Talk about assumptions and cultural differences! I'm still learning and know I won't be the first or the last. Currently I'm working from South Africa (my home, born and bred), liaising somewhat with our UK head office while trying to coordinate people in Singapore and Hong Kong from our sister companies to buy into and even support and service they've never even heard of! Most of this is done over email and phone calls, to boot. I'm trying to figure out how to not have my Asian colleague 'lose face' while still getting something done and with any luck, get a decision made!

Here's what I have learnt - it is virtually impossible to get a decision made in Hong Kong. Even if the big boss says to do it and you take any effort away so all someone has to do is arrange a meeting and make some introductions, you STILL have no guarantee of getting anywhere. I can't be my South African direct self - that just doesn't work so I have to navigate the lines between the lines.  After doing my homework and realising that subtlety is what's required, imagine my shock at being cast as the villain with another Singaporean colleague claiming (I did no such thing, btw) that I promised no charge for services delivered (who will pay I wonder?!) as part of goodwill to get our relationship started!! Navigating that gauntlet took some doing but UK 'parent' agreed to some subsidy for an initial pilot - phew!

Still, with no money out of pocket and no effort required, 6 months later, I am no nearer to launching a pilot service. Why? To be honest I am rather baffled but the current party line is a concern about 'finding the right match' of client to offer the pilot to. The service? Employee Assistance or counselling and general life advice (including how to manage finances or legal concerns), offered to employees free of charge and proven, PROVEN for goodness sake, to increase productivity and overall employee engagement. This is not selling man-sized corsets and heels - what company would not want to improve their employees' lives (for free in this particular example) and improve their productivity? Hence my baffled state.

The situation is not helped by the UK head office (mostly white English men) thinking nothing of acting colonial in their approach and 'decreeing' that this will happen. Can you imagine how a South African and Asian respectively, bristle at that particular attitude? The struggle continues still but the Asian invasion is a very long way off and unless its an open invitation to move in, I don't see how it can work. How on earth have so many other companies done this successfully?

Friday, May 15, 2009

Sole mate

I've just returned from a trip to the US, spoiling myself with a day in New York City - a place I hadn't been to before but completely fell in love with. Its not just that it really does look like it does on tv, or that there is never a dull moment, the people actually being nice or the shopping being unbelievable. The city is bursting with life - what an amazingly energetic place. I am in love.

I flagged down a taxi, unaided, all by myself. Turns out its not actually an achievement, but it felt like one! I had a hot dog from a street vendor - probably taking my life into my own hands on this one, but it tasted like one of the best things I've had. I had (a few too many) frozen mango margaritas in a place that looked like the inside of a trailer - and I wasn't imagining it after the first few either!

...and there it was, driving down 8th avenues, I only caught a glimpse, but it was enough - a shoe store, not just any shoe store, but {insert drum roll here} 'Shoegasm'! I have found my sole mate and I will be back to claim it. It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

Friday, April 3, 2009

I love this shoe!

Apologies for the filler post - I've not been feeling my chipper self the last little while, but if anything can cheer me up its a great pair of heels. How great you ask? Zombie-great, I say!





Friday, March 20, 2009

I won something!

Thanks a mil to Heart's Desire Jewelery for thinking that I'm fabulous! (which of course I agree with). As with shoes, you can never have a bad bling day, and she makes some pretty interesting ones herself.


Apparently its my turn to pass on the torch. Not really a fan of chain anything (unless it comes with handcuffs, but that's for the blogs I don't write...) and would like to hang on to the accolade for a while - yes, I am that pathetic. Will ponder on this for a little longer I think, before sharing the love.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Bounty is a problem

Less is more? Um...ok, possibly. Can you ever have enough shoes? If you're asking that question and expect a serious answer, you really shouldn't be reading this. You're welcome to continue, but you're wasting your time. Trust me.

I currently live about 40 kms from my place of work. That means I spend about an hour (minimum) each way in traffic to get to the place that lets me work there so that I can earn a salary, some of which I spend on buying shoes. That's 2 hours each day, 5 times a week. I don't want to continue to calculation because I can already feel my life force draining away at the mere though. All this time is not spent in vain, I hasten to add in a feeble attempt to make me feel less like jumping in front of the nearest bus. I make phone calls, check my mail and have some pretty darn good ideas in traffic as I let my mind wander free.

Aside from this, the bf and I have been considering moving closer to Johannesburg (we live closer to Pretoria) so that we don't have to deal with that kind of traffic on such a regular basis. We've weighed the pros and cons, looked at houses (ridiculously expensive) and have remained where we are. I am contemplating a move again though - house prices are bound to come down since no-one can afford to buy one anymore so maybe there's a chance for us. The issue, which deep, deep down was the issue the first time around as well, is storage. Not just any storage, but clothes storage. That and shoes. You may have deduced that I might own just a smidgen more of these items that some.

What's a girl to do? My current shoe storage solution - similar to these - doubles as the curtains for my spare room. Which is more of a store room and an overflow for clothing. Yes, they hang in front of the window where the curtains should be. I thought that was a pretty darn good idea - where else was I going to accommodate 60 pairs of shoes? (I had to move them out of the bedroom when the bf moved in - he knew it was true love then). The problem is - the window is full up and I keep buying shoes. Where to go?

Soo, I tried some clearboxes to accommodate the overflow. The work pretty well and are really the only way to store shoes if you're going to go for boxes. Who has time to write labels or take pictures of shoes to store in boxes that you can't see through?

I have tried Google, not much innovation in the shoe storage area, except for these guys, who might have a brilliant concept - provided you have the floorspace to accommodate it.

I am at last turning to you, dear reader, in the desperate hope that you have a brilliant, yet to be patented idea - love to hear it!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Something pretty

In celebration of reaching 1000 page views

Image by homelyvillain