Great Advice For solving everyday challenges at work and in life

“I have read and reviewed many books that contained useful information but were not much fun to get through. Other books turned out to be quite enjoyable but didn’t add much to what I already knew.  In contrast, I can report that Great Advice really does provide great advice, but in an interesting, creative manner that makes the book a pleasure to read. David and Handi are clearly writing from knowledge and experience, and the pointers they offer should be of benefit to nearly all readers. I highly recommend this book to you.”

Steve Kerr

The World’s First Chief Learning Officer

Former Chief Learning Officer of General Electric and Goldman Sachs

 

 

“As I read David and Handi’s book the thought that kept jumping into my mind was that building a career is full of those moments where you almost need a ‘coach on demand’ to whisper words of advice and wisdom in your ear at the time of need. Whilst all of the advice in the book falls into the category of common sense, unfortunately in many organisations today we see people and leadership behaviours that don’t pass this simple test – almost like common sense has become uncommon! As the authors note in their conclusion, no-one has a monopoly on good advice – but this book is a good place to start!”

 Peter Attfield

Chief Talent & Learning Officer

Jardine Matheson Ltd

 

 

“This book has great vignettes that provide both insights and thoughtful challenges to the reader. I enjoyed the conversational style and found gems of ideas scattered throughout. Worthy read.”

Ann Ann Low

Senior Director Learning and Development at LinkedIn

 

 

 

“We don’t live in a perfect world. We can help each other progress towards creating islands of perfection around ourselves. David and Handi’s advice that stay with me are “keeping taking chances”, “trust but verify” and “be grateful to friends and family”. It is such wisdom that makes our lives better.”

Anil Sood

Professor & Co-founder Institute for Advanced Studies in Complex Choices

 

 

“Highly thought provoking; pushing me to think and reflect hard on my leadership journey. David and Handi successfully put their global leadership experiences into practical, no non-sense, easy to read book.”

Danu Wicaksana

Managing Director, Good Doctor Technology Indonesia

 

“It must have been serendipity that I had the opportunity to work with Handi while he was with Sinar Mas & thereafter Jardine Matheson. His breath of experiences in human capital development is captured in Great Advice, a must-read book co-authored with another experienced HR practitioner, David Wee.”

Dino Tan

Senior Vice President, Head of Family Businesses, Family Capital & Impact

Singapore Economic Development Board

 

 

“I followed David and Handi on LinkedIn for their great advice. Very glad that their advice is now available in this book.” 

 Eric Sim, CFA, PRM

Author, Small Actions: Leading Your Career to Big Success. 

 

 

 

“The authors have generously distilled their years of experience and hard knocks into a series of LinkedIn posts – and now this book – which I highly recommend, and wish, that I had in the early stages of my career. Across the book, you will find practical and candid advice built on non-negotiables and values; all of which are important bulwarks in a rapidly-changing world. While the book is easy to read, I encourage readers to also reflect on the advice given and to apply it accordingly in the context they work in.”

Eleanor Tan

Global Head, Corporate Communications - The China Navigation Co. Pte. Ltd

 

 

“Rarely have I met someone who is full of zest, deep passion to learn, and sincerity to be helpful. Handi has been my mentor and a good friend since my first career out of college. He has a genuine character that earns him both trust from the management team and respect from juniors. We no longer work together but Handi continues to be my go-to person for advice and am psyched that Handi decides to share his extensive professional experience through this book.”

John Rasjid

Co-Founder/ CEO at Sociolla.com

Winner of Forbes’ Disruptor Award 2019

 

 

“Life is too short to make all experiences yours!

Read Great Advice to learn wisdom from other people’s experiences, especially from David’s wisdom & Handi’s international experience. Apply the useful, practical advice to solve day-to-day challenges in leadership and management, and to help you build a successful career and live a purposeful life”.

Kevin P. Tan

Co-Founder & CMO, SUN Education Group

 

 

 

“With a wealth of global experiences, Handi and David have shared very insightful advices in this book which is a much needed for the people in any career. If you are aiming high to achieve a career success, this is a must-read book which will guide you as a bible along your career journey. Great advices with practical tips!”

Laura Cho Yee Swe Myint

Head of HR, Prudential Myanmar Life Insurance

 

 

 

“Great Advice has powerful and practical tips for your career path. The combination of David’s wisdom and Handi’s experience makes the book engaging and thought-provoking. Their desire to help people have a fulfilling career seeps through each page. It’s not a book that you just read through once and be done with it. It’s a book you will be able to pick up again and again, and get something new out of it each time.”

Matt Hutson

Book Hacker @Bookmattic

 

 

“David and Handi’s advice in this book is simple but extremely powerful. They’ve packed a lot of wisdom in a series of small “posts” that are easy to read and reflect upon. No matter how experienced readers may be, everyone will benefit from this collection.”

 Rajeev Peshawaria

President, Leadership Energy Consulting Company

Former CEO, Iclif Leadership & Governance Center

Former Chief Learning Officer of Morgan Stanley and Coca-Cola             

 

 

“I really enjoyed the Great Advice — easy to read and thoroughly entertaining. I found Handi and David’s book very practical with some fantastic real life examples and tips which I found extremely useful. I would highly recommend this book to any professional who is facing day to day challenges in their current work environment. Looking forward to seeing their next book soon and learning more from these life experts ! “

Ricky Mui

Managing Director – Greater China, Robert Walters

 

 

“David & Handi have delivered a treasure trove of real-world wisdom for the workplace. Having personally worked with both David and Handi in different capacities, their cumulative experience and wisdom in building great teams and organisational culture, and in countering work challenges, will be of immense benefit to everyone trying to succeed in our ever shifting, dynamic world. A must read for all”

Roshan Thiran

Founder of Leaderonomics

 

 

“Handi and David are very experienced HR practitioners and am delighted that they are now working together to bring together such practical and easy to implement advice which I believe will be absolute pearls of great help to anyone at any level in his or her career trying to navigate this corporate jungle.

Personally having worked with Handi in the past I have always liked his positive and can do attitude which was always an asset to the organisation . It can get lonely out there but with David and Handi’s book and thoughts contained therein you are in good hands.” 

Sandeep Mookharjea

Head of HR Asia Pacific, AIG

 

 

“Great Advice is practical and superb approach in finding people solutions. Both David and Handi have successfully mentored leaders through their careers. This book allows us to learn from them on leading self and others. This is a must-read!”

Setiawani Sukri

Chief HR Officer, AIA Indonesia

“It was truly a refreshing experience working with David in J&J. He put in action all his learnings and personal experiences and deep knowledge of talent development and transformed the L&D function and processes in the company. His strategic capability always combined with the practical solutions for all things L&D was unique and unmatched. This book brings to life all the learnings and wisdom of David and Handi in a way which can be easily adopted and executed in real life situations.

They have put together one of the most interesting, practical and readable books for all practitioners and students of leadership. An absolute must read.”

Supratim Bose

President & Chief Operating Officer, Global Emerging Markets, ConvaTec

 

 

“Great Advice is like a cheat-sheet for your career journey, full of wisdom and practical tips. No matter where you are in your career journey, this book gives you superb solutions and reminders in a very simple yet powerful way. A must-read for everybody!”

Tyo Guritno

CEO & Co-founder, INSPIGO Tyo Guritno

INSPIGO首席執行官及聯合創辦人

雇用員工，是藝術多過科學

內向者學習社交之路

你是個阻礙者嗎？

六月之癢

為什麼到處都有不稱職的上司？

以己之欲施予人：為什麼並非總是有效！

你會為一個傑出的混蛋工作嗎？

從退休生活中得到的啟示

更好的一半

……

 

黃福良（David Wee）是經驗豐富的人力資源從業者，曾任通用電氣學習董事會創始成員、強生公司全球首席學習官，也是LinkedIn上備受歡迎的作者。

許漢迪（Handi Kurniawan）先後於通用電氣、渣打銀行、Sinar Mas和怡和集團擔任人力資源主管，擁有豐富的全球經驗。

兩位作者攜手合作這本關於職場的有趣讀物，以親身故事和經驗，分享職業生涯的每個階段。

他們站在不同的立場上—員工、具有潛力者、討人嫌的上司、或者善於鼓舞人心的管理者，分享不同的觀點。

作者簡介

黃福良(David Wee)

曾任通用電氣學習董事會（General Electric’s Learning Board）的創始成員、強生公司全球首席學習官（Global Chief Learning Officer）、Sinar Mas集團首席人才官（Group Chief Talent Officer）。黃福良現任總部設於印度孟買的非牟利機構Complex Choices高等研究院董事會顧問，並擔任設於新加坡的人才週期管理公司Avvanz的理事會顧問。

 

 

許漢迪(Handi Kurniawan)

先後於通用電氣、渣打銀行、Sinar Mas和怡和集團擔任人力資源主管，擁有豐富的全球經驗，曾在印尼、馬來西亞、新加坡、香港、北京、台北和美國工作。他所著的職場書籍《走向全球—成功的國際職業指南》（Go Global—Guide to a successful international career）是印尼的暢銷書，他也是另外兩本書《全球職業》（Global Career）和《頭腦大師》（The Brain Master）的作者，這些書由印尼領先業界的出版商Kompas Gramedia Group出版。許漢迪還為報紙和商業雜誌撰寫了大量文章，他是一位在亞洲廣受歡迎的演講者。

 

 

譯者簡介

李永學

學士（物理），博士（物理化學），1989年前往英國做博士後研究工作，生活工作至今。2016年退休，成為自由譯者，迄今出版譯作四十餘部。

Preface...016

Introduction...018

ATTRACT ME

01      “We need your help”...022

02      How to wow a candi-date...024

03      Why does GE do campus recruitment at Fairfield Universi-ty …...026

04      Performance and brand ...027

05      Hiring is more an art than a science...028

06      Look behind the CV...029

07      I wanted to say, “You are hired”…...031

08      “A lot of us are very good at our jobs …”...032

09      The candidate was late...033

10      Verify or trust? ...034

11      Backed out from a job offer...035

12      My best career decision ever...037

13      Career change...038

14      You can choose your boss!...039

15      … Press click!...041

16      What the heck: Just try...043

GET ME STARTED

17      Wise beyond her years? ...048

18      It’s all in the atti-tude...049

19      Introvert and extro-vert...050

20      Dear introverts...055

21      An introvert learns to get social...056

22      How to succeed early in career...058

23      Read between the lines ...059

24      Make the best of the situation...060

25      Are you shaping your culture, or is culture shaping you? ...061

26      Number one priority as a newcomer...062

27      Building a relationship of trust ...063

28      We are all in the same boat...064

29      The first step is the hard-est...065

30      “I want to take over my boss’s role in 12 months”...066

31      Stuff managers wish you knew...067

DEVELOP ME

32      Finding the right lead-er...072

33      Betting on people...073

34      Help your people fly!...075

35      Being a management trainee...076

36      Talent hoarder or talent master?...078

37      Being a manager of people is like being responsible for a classic car...079

38      Are you a blocker?...080

39      The six-month itch...082

40      Speak up! Be heard! ...083

41      Step into the spot-light...085

42      Networking...087

43      It’s about trust...088

44      A helping hand...089

45      Books we love ...090

MANAGE MY PERFORMANCE

46      Talent is not enough...096

47      People who can do the work...098

48      Performance is not enough...099

49      One shot...101

50      Speak up … but do it right...102

51      Rise above office poli-tics...103

52      Some are great at “showing up”… ...105

53      Is it ever okay to mi-cromanage? ...106

54      I micromanage and that’s okay...108

55      What if a micromanager gives trust first?...110

56      It’s about focus...112

57      Feedback for suc-cess ...113

58      Giving feedback ...115

59      Managing poor perfor-mance...116

60      Why are incompetent bosses (IB) everywhere? ...118

61      In some organisa-tions ......119

62                 Stop thinking about your success, and start think-ing about the

success of others...120

63      Happy end-ings...121

64                 “When people make mistakes, the last thing they need is

discipline.” — Jack Welch ...122

ENGAGE AND MO-TIVATE ME

65      “Would you like to help?” ...126

66      I want a friend. I need a lead-er! ...128

67      Companies can have big hearts...130

68                 Treat others how you would like to be treated: Why it doesn’t

always work!...131

69      The quiet place...132

70      Once I give trust, it’s yours to keep or lose...134

71      I don’t trust people who can’t say sorry...135

72      Because “You can”...136

73      The prize is not the fish...138

74      How often have I missed an oppor-tunity …...139

75      I don’t volunteer for extra work ...141

76      The man who was too busy to com-plain...142

77      Be grateful for your work...143

78      Don’t just focus on engagement; focus on improving the business...144

APPRECIATE ME

79      The premi-um ...150

80      Appreciation at work...151

81      “I’m proud of you”...152

82      We offered him a big promotion, and …...153

83      “Jeff, can you cover Aileen?” …...154

84      It’s Friday, 5.00 pm and boss is calling for a meet-ing!...155

85                 Here’s some stuff many employees won’t tell their bosses, but wished

they knew...156

86      Don’t be a hostage of the amygda-la...157

87      Some wel-come my honesty until I am honest with them …...159

88      Dignity of work...160

89      You don’t hire someone to join your family...162

90      Stupid things I’ve done...164

BID ME FAREWELL

91      The part of my job I hate the most, but must get right...168

92      I remem-bered a retrenchment exercise...171

93      When you get retrenched, pick yourself up...172

94      Will you work for a brilliant jerk?...174

95      Shining star...175

96      Why retire at 56 when retirement was at 65? ...176

97      Loyalty at what cost? ...178

98      What is a leader?...179

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

99      The Green Spot...184

100    Kindness in the workplace ...185

101    When I help, I get back more than I give …...187

102    Money can-not buy time…...188

103    What do you splurge on? ...190

104    Chase after something bigger than you...191

105    Defining success...193

106    Lessons from life after work...194

107    How do you quit a smoking habit that is 40 years old? ...195

108    Try again...196

109    My mom is in her 80s and lives by herself...198

110    Money and memory...199

111    The 10 most important lessons I’ve learned so far ...200

112    Better Halves...201

 

Closing...205