Adventures of a Corporate Lacky

A couple of months after…

Posted on the January 5th, 2010 under Others Matters by angelopanares

It’s been a couple of months since my last post, and beginning today I hope to be able to have an update more often. I have adjusted well with my  new job and new country, the family is already here with me and have just recently moved to a more suitable flat. I have also visited the main location of Dow Jones Risk & Compliance in London.

While in London, I met my colleagues from the different teams, Anubhuti, my fellow Product Development Manager and Kevin our Product Manager. I also had the opportunity to meet Rupert our Managing Director. I had great time in London, the office is just across from the hotel I was staying and is a stone throw away from the famous London Tower and Tower Bridge.

I was introduced to the different teams which comprise the entire Risk & Compliance, I was able to catch-up with Ingrid back in Singapore a week after. The trip was very effective and useful, I cannot stress this enough. The learning process on my part was fast forwarded and I was able to fully understand the business and how the entire process works, most specially, I was able to meet the people behind the email address I was in contact with, the face-to-face interaction was one of the highlights of the trip. A social session on a bar nearby was another experience worth an entire post.

Now back to work, the list below are a couple of things I have learned from my new experience, as life is a never ending learning experience, expect more upcoming post on what I have learned so far.

Conference on the phone
a very good headset will be invaluable and be very attentive. The conference bridge provider is also crucial, the provider must be accessible with ease from everywhere possible and voice quality must be clear.

Organization
very good organizational skills will come in very handy as well as a task, project management system/process.

Communication
being able to communicate well, articulate and deliver the point is a must, I have also come to realize that learning another or more languages other than English will very well be an added asset.

Laptop, Internet and Blackberry
There are negative and positive aspects to having them but I believe it is all up to the user to be able to properly utilize and maximize both. Resist the urge and stay away when not needed. A secure VPN is also a must. With all these options, I am able to work from home and still have access to all I need as if I were in the office, the only think lacking is my soft phone which I hope will be rectified soon.

World Clock
A very robust, simple and functional world clock on your desktop. I like it unobtrusive and small but be always on top of other windows. I stayed with WClock but with the help of my buddy Mike, I found Qlock to be indespensible. Aside from just the different time and date, I am able to change time on one clock and the rest will adjust automatically which is very very helpfull for schedule meetings.

Flexibility and Focus
Focus on the task at hand while always keeping track on how everything works on a bigger aspect. Flexibility is also required as step will most certainly bring in new and sometimes unexpected outcome, a quick, open and flexible mind and approach will steer you through and keep everyone calm.

Learn the Culture
Research and learn as much as you can on the culture of the people you are dealing with, it helps give context as to how they interact with you as well as provide you with the right background on how they communicate and deal with you.

That’s it for now, I will be chronicling as much as I can on my learnings. Cheers !