🍧 THE CENDOL SIDEQUEST.
🍧 THE CENDOL SIDEQUEST.
We need to talk about cendol.😍
Not as a dessert.
As a personal excellence framework.
—
Since we landed in Malaysia last week, this childhood dessert has lived rent-free in my head.
Shaved ice.
Coconut milk.
Gula Melaka.
Pandan jelly.
Red beans doing their quiet, dependable best in the corner.
It’s gloriously sweet and cold deliciousness is imprinted in my childhood memory. 😋
“Dad. Cendol.” I said.
I also batted my eyes a bit.
He knew exactly what I meant.
And off we went looking for my favourite stall.
It had moved locations so it was a longer trek than I remembered.
(It’s common for Malaysians to intentionally make a trip *just for a specific food*)
We battled traffic.
And the crazy drivers.
Almost died.
But it was sooo worth it!
Look at my face! 😆 .
—
Here’s the thing about seeking out the best.
I once knew a really amazing test manager who had projects *queuing up* for him.
Not applying.
*Queuing.*
A project manager told a client: If you want to ensure success, you need to wait for him to roll off his current project.
He is worth the delay.
The client waited.
I have had clients ask for me by name.
And I will not pretend that my ego does not do a small but enthusiastic jig every single time. 💃
—
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
Stop trying to be available.
Start trying to be *unmissable.*
Conscientiousness.
Integrity.
Craftwork.
These are not soft skills.
These are CORE skills.
(Thank you Miriam McCabe for emphasising this term) 💜
These are the skills that make people go to logistical lengths – reschedule timelines, renegotiate contracts, track you down across three time zones – just to get you in the room.
Excellence is not a guarantee.
But it is the best strategy we have.
It compounds over time like interest in an account nobody can touch. 💎
In many cases (not all), they outlast bias.
They outlast the politics.
They make people go to *lengths* to have you on their team.
You need to be so undeniably good that they come and open the door for you.
—
The cendol was worth the journey. 🥰
So is becoming the kind of consultant people travel for.
The calorie mathematics of this side quest will be resolved tomorrow.
Possibly with extra workout.
Possibly with guilt.
Definitely with zero regret.
🍧 Seek the cendol.
#BeTheCendol. 💪🏻
✈️ A PROJECT MANAGER CONSULTANT INFLUENCER PERSON WITH HER SENIOR STAKEHOLDER 😅
✈️ A PROJECT MANAGER CONSULTANT INFLUENCER PERSON WITH HER SENIOR STAKEHOLDER 😅
Today’s post is a bit different.
Today I brought my consultant origin story.
My cheat code.
My senior stakeholder.
This is my dad.
Captain Lim Khoy Hing.
🎂 80 years old
🛩️ Retired airline pilot
⚖️ Qualified lawyer
📚 Author of three books
👨👧👦 Grandfather of five
👟 Still doing 8,000 steps daily
Let me give you some more numbers, because I need you to understand the scale of this person:
🛫 25,500 flying hours accumulated over 53 years in the skies
🌕 That’s enough to fly to the moon and back approximately 28 times.
Read that: Twenty-eight. (Or 541 laps around the Earth.) 😵💫
✈️ He flew 27 different aircraft types – from a little Chipmunk in Yorkshire in 1967 all the way to the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A320, A330, and A340.
⚖️ Then, during COVID, when most of us were making sourdough and rewatching Netflix, he completed his Bar exams and was called to the Malaysian Bar – one day after his 75th birthday.
I didn’t get the flight hours.
I got the mindset that earned them. 💪🏻
So here are my beauty tips of the day:
—
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀? 😌
Watch a man who has hand-flown a C130 Hercules through tropical turbulence without losing his packed lunch.
Your go-live weekend is not turbulence. 🍃
It is a light breeze.
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀?
Grow up listening to someone who spent 15 years flying government officials and dignitaries around Malaysia.
And never once lost his cool.
(Or his passengers) 😅
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗮𝗴𝗲?
Just know that somewhere in the mid-1990s, while still actively flying wide-bodied jets, my father was quietly studying for a correspondance law degree through the University of London.
As a backup.
*As a backup.* 😶
He wrote the original project charter for what consulting excellence actually looks like.
Thanks Dad. ❤️
For the genes.
The stories.
The insane example of work ethic.
And for showing me that a lifetime doing something with 100% commitment is what #mastery actually looks like.
✈️ askcaptainlim dot com – go read the man’s work. ✈️
A Pilot’s Story: A Lifetime in the Skies: Insights and Stories on Flying is out now at your nearest Amazon store 🏪
💜 Follow me for more #Leadership and #ProjectManagement beauty, health and wellbeing tips.👸
🌊 ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PROJECT MANAGER INFLUENCER PERSON.
Here’s me looking unruffled while approximately 400 humans thrash around behind me.
I don’t know if it’s actually the world’s largest.
But I respect the audacity of the claim.
That’s the energy we want. 😉
This morning was more gentle.
Slightly less Hyrox.
Slightly more “locate the kids and various nieces and nephews in a wave pool the size of a small country.”
Spoiler: they are fine. 👌🏻
They are always fine.
(Tho the teenage twin sprogs have decided they’re too old for splashing and went bouldering and bowling with other cousins – and their dad, their personal walking atm machine). 💲 💰 🤨
Anyway much like your project team – they are largely self-organising when you stop micromanaging the waves.
😊
And here I stand.
Hair wet.
Sunglasses on.
Looking cool. 😎👍🏻
Hundreds of people behind me in various states of survival.
This is not chaos.
This is a Stakeholder Landscape.
—
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗵𝗲𝗺? 🧘
You need to make peace with the fact that you cannot control the waves.
You can only control your board. ♟️
That’s the Stakeholder Management Chess Grandmaster level you need to get to.
And whether you remembered to put sunscreen on your ears. 👂 🌞
(I did not. We don’t talk about the ears.)
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲, 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲? 😌
That’s what happens when you’ve been in enough wave pools, metaphorical and literal, to know that the wave always passes when you know how to actively manage the project.
The blockers always resolve. Ish.
The person who said “this’ll only take two weeks” will eventually stop saying that.
(Of course only with the right project-managey nudge in the right direction) 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲?
Put them on. 😎
Not because you can’t see – but because sometimes the most powerful thing you can do in a crisis is *look like you’ve seen worse.*
😌
And that you know *exactly what you’re doing.*
(Confidence is a high scrabble pointer word in the world of professional presence). 🤞🏻
—
The pool claims to be the world’s largest.
Unverified.
Possibly aspirational.
But aren’t the best project plans the same?
💜 Follow me for more
#Leadership and #ProjectManagement beauty, health and wellbeing tips.👸
#SunglassesOfExecutivePresence
That’s not SPF 50, darling.
That’s not SPF 50, darling.
That’s the accumulated scar tissue of character-building projects, worn so long it turned into a glow. ⚔️
You’re welcome.
𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞?
Stop pointing fingers. 👉🏻👆🏻👇🏻👈🏻
Start asking questions.
Slather yourself daily in self-aware empathy. 💟
Avoid the poisonous toxins of blame and judgement like you avoid scope creep – aggressively and with documentation. 🥊
𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞?
Then you need to stop trying to manage people and start trying to understand them.
Human beings are not user stories.
They have context.
They have history.
They have a line manager they haven’t told you about who is quietly pulling all the strings.
Go find that person.
Bring biscuits.
Or donuts. 🍩
(I prefer the simple glazed kind 😁)
This is not a holiday.
Well, actually it is.
But… more than that…
It’s field research.
Ish.
(The rendang was exceptional. The retrospective on Q1 delivery challenges was also very productive.)
💜 Follow me for more beauty tips of #ProjectManagement and #BadAssBA that will have clients swooning at your feet! 😁
Now excuse me while I try to get free ice cream from the beach seller in exchange for ‘exposure’.
Am sure they would LOVE to know I’ve got 14,000 LinkedIn followers that will make them world famous way beyond the beaches of Langkawi island! 🤭
#InfluencerOfProjectManagementAndLeadershipStuffs
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the Well Architected Project delivery team
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the Well Architected Project delivery team at #PolishDreamin26 organised by coffee&force – Salesforce portal / foundation 🥰
It was super fun 😆 because I made it engaging for the audience.
For example (and tell me if this resonates with you!!) …
👉🏻I asked the audience to raise their hands if they’d ever worked with a PM who agreed to a timeline that skipped proper testing. 🤭
Lots of hands shot up.
🙋🏻🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻
👉🏻I asked who’d seen a BA lock in requirements so tight the system couldn’t survive a single business change.
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻
👉🏻I asked who’d watched a client sign off UAT without a single real end user in the room, then wonder why adoption failed at go-live.
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻🙋🏻
The thing is… none of those people were bad at their jobs.
They just didn’t see themselves as having any responsibility for the architecture.
And that’s the problem.
The architect should be the FINAL voice.
Not the only voice.
If you were there at my talk, let me know below in the comments – I hope you had fun!
If not, then sign up to my newsletter where I expanded on the talk and the
#WellArchitectedFramework and the TEA 🫖🍵🧋 an acronym Louise Lockie shared that made it so easy to remember!
I give pretty good massages. 💆🏻
I give pretty good massages. 💆🏻
I know, I know 🤭
And I think there are two reasons why I’m not bad at it:
1️⃣ I’ve had neck and back pain myself, so I *know* where it hurts.
2️⃣ I actually listen. And I adjust when someone says “a bit to the left” or “lighter pressure”.
Compare that with someone who goes straight for the deep tissue without asking, hits the wrong spot, and leaves you in a much painier state than before. 😬
(OK I’m in Malaysia and I’ve just had the most gorgeous deep tissue massage that inspired this post! 😁❤️ )
Recently I’ve been in a couple of very tense, highly charged project calls. And it struck me how similar the principles are.
When someone is under stress, worried about their job, their promises, their reputation – things can escalate quickly when the person on the other side of that conversation can’t *feel* what they’re going through.
De-escalation starts with empathy. 💚
Genuinely understanding *what the other person is going through* so you can choose the right words, the right tone, and the right framing.
Just like a good massage therapist might ask:
🍩 Are you sedentary or do you move a lot?
🍩 How do you sleep?
🍩 Where exactly does it hurt?
A good consultant or PM might ask:
🍩 Where is this tension coming from?
🍩 What would a well-architected forward motion actually look like?
🍩 What would make things better for you right now?
Questions asked with genuine curiosity.
No blame.
No judgement.
No passive aggression (Brits are so good at this 😬 )
Because you can’t move things forward if the other person doesn’t feel *seen*.
And that’s any of us really wants.
Except freshly prepared, sinfully sugared, hot donuts 🍩
That’s absolutely what I want right now 😋