Graduation Day

It’s my graduation day tomorrow for completing the Master of Commercial Law at Monash University, a degree that caters to graduates in disciplines other than law. Well, I must admit that I do have a few degrees in other disciplines – an undergraduate degree in Development Communication, a Master’s degree in Communications Research and an MBA. After the MBA I could have gone to complete a PhD, however there was something about studying law that intrigued me.

It took me about three years to complete this degree on a part-time basis. All of my Postgrad degree’s I did take as part-time as I can never justify to myself doing it full time. I like the idea of making money first by having a full time job, then the study comes in as an ‘extra’ thing to do that will satisfy my need for intellectual stimulation. But it was a lot of hard work. I study at night and during the weekends, after I have done the house chores. Torture it was – especially during exams with days of having a couple of hours of sleep was sanctity. And I do think this was also a major cause for a relationship breakdown. I barely had time for myself, let alone focus on others needs.

Thinking about it now on the reasons why I did the Law degree – I think my initial reaction then was that the workplace, at that time, was not engaging enough for me that I have lost interest in even learning new things and I needed some robust and intellectual discussion with depth – and I can’t find anyone in the workplace to have that discussion. Also I thought that perhaps I can prove to some Aussies (I have migrated here to Australia from Southeast Asia) that I can actually get into one of the best law schools in Melbourne and be very good at it. I still remember I was in a work meeting and someone asked how I got into Law school – to which I answered “I just applied. It was easy for me though – academically and experience wise – they wanted me in the program. Probably with you it will be hard!” or something to that effect.

I often dismiss the fact that I was studying law and racking up high distinctions, but there are situations whereby I shamelessly slapped that line to a few condescending individuals at work and at times socially when I’m in a group of ego-driven people. What a blissful experience when I get to say that.

Why I love school is that it is a great place to get validation. I get to be assessed whether I am good at understanding something or I totally suck! And there is no need to be very good at sucking up or brown-nosing and be buddy with someone totally abhorrent. To me that is harder work.

This degree I really would like to dedicate to PG. Thank you for allowing me to pursue this and for keeping up with everything.

The most difficult people in the world are the least talented ones

I got this statement from an article in the Friday AFR magazine sometime last year and it’s a statement made by a guy who works in the art/fashion industry. I barely remember who he works with but the magazine was focusing on the high-end products and the way they are branding it. It featured insights from these creative talents and in the article he was referring to the kind of people he works with in the industry and he said that in his profession he encounters all sorts of people and said that “the most difficult in the world are the least talented ones”.

Indeed. That applies to any workplace I think. I work in a private company listed in the Australian Stock Exchange. This energy company, although private, has a bit of a government flavour in it mainly because of the remaining culture of bureaucracy subscribed to by remnants of the old companies acquired through the years. There are definitely a lot of talented people in it; however, like most organisations it is littered with the “difficult” ones (translate to least talented ones). Surely each one has its own concept of what difficult is but in my books they consists of the following people:

• Drama Queens/Kings – these are the ones who make a big drama and fuss around the tiniest, little things in the world – like everything is frickin’ hard! You always hear them whinge, sigh, or make comments about anything each time they get an email or phone call. To them, everyone is being difficult and giving them a hard time. A simple email will end up a big deal and escalated to the powers-that-be in the company. They won’t move on to the next task unless they create a saga out of it. Definitely has no talent because if they were, work should just flow easy and any concerns will be dealt with appropriately with less fuss.
• Attention Seekers – Perhaps share the same qualities as the Drama Queens but these are the type who want to be ‘recognised’ for all the small things they do (they want this recognition because any work they have done seems like a lot to them and they expect to be recognised for that effort – oh please!!!). These are also the type who seek to be introduced to the powers-that-be at every opportunity they have – even to the point of giving hallow and irrelevant comments but they do it for the sake of being heard – just that, to be heard. They know they have less talent so they think of ways to be noticed and associate being noticed to being recognised because of their talent. YEAH. Whatever. They remind me of 5-year old kids who seek attention. The best way to deal with this type is to ignore the behaviour because eventually they will stop. (Me hopes…)
• Social Climbers – They are not difficult per se but they can be difficult to get rid out of your social system if you allow them leech onto you. I have been duped by a few thinking they are genuinely interested with my friendship but turns out all they want is the association with me and my contacts. Good thing I have been trained on how to be indifferent.
• Loud People – Some are really lovely people but I just can’t stand loud people. They are the ones you hear talk with almost like a microphone attached to their sleeves. These people tend to talk especially when in a packed lift – it’s almost certain that they want everyone to know what they want to say.

I may have to put a disclaimer here that all information provided here represent my own and not those of my employer. In addition, this is how I feel now and could change anytime – tomorrow I may have a different perspective. And I like this disclaimer: “Just in case. If I say something stupid in the future, it’s better to be able to point out that the stupidity is mine, and mine alone. My stupidity! You can’t have it!