Dear subscriber,

2009 is here.

While the economic news is grim, I am certain we can all be Rainbow Creators with possibility thinking. I started the year with the End in Mind. What would I like to see completed end 2009. That was difficult to visualize but with a little effort, it was possible. I do hope you have visualized your end in mind too for 2009.

Let us now look at the E-News:

I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. It was all about three simple facts: decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately, when should we trust our instincts and when should we be wary of them, the power of knowing the first two seconds is not the preserve of a chosen few; it is an ability that we can all cultivate for ourselves.

Momentary autism is a term Gladwell introduces when describing what happens when our ability to read people's intentions is paralyzed in high-stress situations. He explains the situation when the cops misread a "terrified" black man for a "terrifying" black man, they didn't correctly understand his intentions in that moment, and as a result they completely misinterpreted what that social situation was all about. It's only one of many neatly packaged catchphrases Gladwell sprinkles throughout his new book, Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking (Little, Brown, January 2005).

There's "rapid cognition," "thin-slicing," and the "Warren Harding error," but "momentary autism" is the one that you can quickly relate to like when you froze during the new presentation pitch.

Mention his impact, though, and Malcolm Gladwell modestly tries to brush it off -- leaning, like any good journalist, on data points to support his argument. "Remember," he points out, "even a book that's a best-seller still is only read by less than 1% of the American public."But as the expert in social epidemics knows better than anyone, it's not how many people you reach, it's whom you reach.

Gladwell and his ideas have reached a tipping point of their own, and evidence of his impact can now be found in all corners of our culture, from politics (Donald Rumsfeld used "tipping point" to describe the war in Iraq. Click here to visit my blog.

“It's the economy, stupid", a phrase developed by James Carville, a campaign strategist during Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 was the slogan that led Bill Clinton to victory. While the 2008 campaign reflected President elect Barack Obama’s “Change we can believe in”, the economy is indeed worrying every person. And, the markets eagerly await the inauguration of the President Barack Obama on January 20th, 2009. Newsweek reports that the economic crisis is far worse than what we think. Everyone is so fearful that I wonder whether the self fulfilling prophesies will take effect. When I was a student, I did not quite realize what an economic recession could do, life just went on. Now, when I look back, some of the worst economic recessions were during my college days. The first few years of work life introduced me to the world of economic recessions. I did an economic quiz though it is very American centric and achieved a score of 70%. In Asia, the news was not good all around. Western Digital in Malaysia reported job losses. Singapore reported the economy slowing down. In the Middle East declining oil prices triggered fears of budget deficits. In India, there were worries too. China, on the other hand was cautious. While I do not look at Japan much, economic news from there was troubling too.

Newsweek reported on a Labor Department report that American employers axed 49,000 jobs in May, the fifth straight month of job losses, which inspired a 394-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Auto sales, the largest retailing sector and housing in the U.S., were also down. Prudence and caution may well be the buzz words for the next few months. You could also test your knowledge by taking the quiz: http://www.newsweek.com/id/140374

FUN is a powerful vehicle to deliver content. Attention, participation and retention improve dramatically. My new book ‘The Magic of Making Training FUN!!’ is now out of the printers and it is available for purchase.

The book is available for a special discount to all the E-News subscribers at a 20% discount off the regular price of US$ 15/-. To order, email grace@smrhrgroup.com.

The pressure point in any Competency initiative is assessment. Researchers recommend the BEI – Behavioral Event Interviewing as a valid tool.

Please find a free article posted at www.palan.org on how you can become skilled in BEI.

Begin with the end in mind. What is your life plan? Let us not get into the great New Year resolutions and then do nothing about them. Let us develop into Rainbow Creators. The new book published by Advantage USA is now available on line at Amazon.com.

The Asia HRD Congress™ is scheduled for May 11 to 13, 2009. We are pleased to announced Bill Kutik; the foremost international authority on HR Technologies will deliver a keynote at the event. Early bird discounts are available. Register by 27th February and also get a free E-Book on Performance Management & Measurement - The Asian Context.

I am pleased to announce the creation of a Dr. Palan’s Rainbow Radio Talk Show. With the help of my twelve year old son Subu Palan, we have commenced the weekly radio show. The show will feature some of the region’s leading HR practitioners. Please click on the 'play' button at the right-hand side player to listen to the podcast. Those of you who have still not reviewed our SMRT E-Appraisal software, please do visit www.smrteappraisal.com for a free trial version. Enjoy 2009 and I will be in touch on Feb 1st. Best wishes, Palan

Subscribe Free