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The Little People
Sunday, 13th April 2008
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Another crazy week for me. I put together my final ACS Mock Interview session and it went really well. We had 12 Young Territorians inspired and motivated and they learnt tips and tricks to put them one step ahead of their competition when they go for their next job interview. Photos will be up soon in the media section so stay tuned!
A few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend who casually remarked about the way I spoke to all the waiters and waitresses at our restaurant. I wondered if I was being rude but she said that I was just the opposite. I came across as being genuinely interested in how their shift was going and what else they had to say. I found this a little unusual as to me this is something I do all the time. I always ask anyone who serves me, whether it’s at a restaurant or service station or even at the shopping centre checkouts, how their shift is going and I’m interested in what they have to say. Oddly enough, one would expect the standard “yeah its okay” line from all of these people, but for me I rarely get that. Instead I find out if they’re enjoying their job, what their colleagues are like to work with, and any other bits of juicy information that they’d like to offer during the 30 seconds or so that I chat with them.
So having said that, for those of you out there who own a customer service establishment, either a restaurant, or a service station, or even a shop, make sure you chose the right people as the face of your establishment as you want to be able to ensure that your business is getting positive exposure. It goes a very long way to getting repeat business!!!
Going back to why I talk to these people in such a way? I guess its because I am genuinely interested in what they have to say and I always have the view that if something does go wrong I like to think that they’d do everything they can to help me out because I’m nice to them. For example, if I was in a restaurant and something is wrong with the food, if I’m nice to the staff, I like to think that they would help me out and chat to the chef and get it fixed, as opposed to being rude and complaining about the lack of quality in the food that i’m spending my hard-earned money on, and have them add amusing “extras” to the meal that I know nothing about.
The other reason why I talk to people like this, is best illustrated by a story that I heard on the night of the Young Achiever Awards. Matthew Bonson, minister for Youth Affairs got up on stage and spoke about a story he heard about Mohammed Ali. He said that one day a reporter much shorter than Ali went up to him and asked him “Hey Champ, what do you think the secret of being great is?” and in typical Ali humour, he stood up tall and towered over the man and said “Son, the secret to being great is NEVER look down on those who look up to you.”
That’s brilliant advice and I endeavour to follow it every chance I get, especially now after my awards.
So this week, I challenge you to have a conversation with one of the little people out there and be genuinely interested in what they have to say. Trust me, it goes a long way and makes them feel as though what their doing is worth it.
Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!
AJ~
Author: AJ Kulatunga
Category:
inspire, Young Achiever Awards, Matthew Bonson, Muhammed Ali
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The Biggest Guy In The Gym
Sunday, 6th April 2008
Wow what a crazy 24 hours I’ve had! Firstly...yes I did win the Career Achievement category of the NT Young Achiever Awards but also, in total shock to me, I also managed to become the overall winner making me the NT Young Achiever of the Year!!!
I had no idea that I even stood a chance at winning due to the high calibre of nominations this year (200 nominations!) but I decided earlier on that no matter what happens I would make it a fantastic night. So with that in mind, I invited some close friends and my family to join me on the night and wanted to travel in style. So I booked the stretch limo from Wise Limousines and made sure we had some champagne - Bollinger for the ride. Our driver Phil was an absolute champion and took us on a fantastic tour of Darwin before dropping us off at Ducks Nuts for some pre event drinks. I had to rush off to rehearsals while my entourage relaxed for awhile.
During rehearsal I got to meet a couple of nominees including my fellow nominees in the career category - Tashka Urban and Rachel De Viriglio. They were really nice and I’m only sorry that I didn’t get to spend more time with them learning about their own achievements. After rehearsal it was show time and we all sat down at the tables and listened to the opening speeches by the major sponsors and Matthew Bonson the Minister for Youth Affairs. Seated at my table was a former client of mine on one of that last projects I did for my previous employer. It was great to catch up with him and he ended up wining the Youth Leadership category. Congrats Donald! Also seated at my table was Bradley Lewis - take note of his name because you’ll see some amazing achievements from this guy. He’s only in Year 6 and achieved quite a lot despite being so young. Unfortunately he was under aged for the awards but his submission impressed the judges so much that Conoco Phillips honoured him with a special certificate. I always speak about passion and he’s a clear example of a person who is passionate about what he believes in and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with over the next few years. Good luck with your dreams Bradley!
After the entree it was time for the awards and each nominee was asked to come up on stage and receive a finalist certificate. So Rachel, Tashka and I walked up on stage and received our certificates and we walked back to our seats afterwards. It was then they announced the winner of the category - AJ Kulatunga! and I couldn’t believe it!!! It was just an amazing moment for me and I don’t think I’ll forget anytime soon! I walked up on stage and received the award from the sponsor - Drake International, and then went up to the podium to deliver my “Biggest Guy in the Gym” speech. I spoke to the crowd of 300 people and by the end of it I think I got my message across because people clapped and cheered. An amazing moment!
At the end of the night all the category winners were invited up on stage to announce the overall winner of the night. While I was on stage I was really honoured to be up there amongst some of these most amazing young people in the Territory and for me, that moment I was blown away simply by being one of them. Then they announced me as the winner of the category and I was totally at a loss for words because I REALLY didn’t think I’d win it at all. Words cannot describe what I was feeling at that moment, but there wasn’t really time to think because I had to accept my award and return to the podium for another speech. I had no idea what I’d say to top “The Biggest Guy in the Gym” but I decided to speak about the actual awards night, how it was my first time there and its been an amazing experience. How great it was to meet all the nominees tonight, and listen to the great speeches. But most of all, how great it was to be living in the Territory and meeting people here and how everyone here has a story to tell. And that’s what its all about, the stories that inspire and motivate you to go beyond your wildest dreams.
After that it was a massive photo session and doing the final goodbyes before Tashka and Phil rocked out to close the night.
What an amazing Night!!!
I’d like to say a big thank you to my Mum and Dad for putting up with my dreams even though they disagreed with them; Jaysin for being my inspiration and motivation throughout my contract with DHCS; Kathryn for nominating me; and Viran who’s kept me out of a lot of trouble but also got me into some too! Also a very special thanks to Gina from Awards Australia for putting in the time and effort to organise my tickets and photos; Diane and Phil from Wise Limousines for being such great people to deal with; The sponsors of the Awards night; a big thank you to my character referees Peter and Ana for speaking so highly of me to the judges and last but certainly not least my after party entourage (Dev, Alvin, Paki, Kirsty, Tasso, Skev, Milan and the others) at Ducks Nuts to help me celebrate the most amazing night of my life!
Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!
AJ~
Author: AJ Kulatunga
Category:
Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!, NT Young Achiever Awards, The Biggest Guy in the Gym, AJ Kulatunga
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Taxi!
Saturday, 5th April 2008
Hi Everyone, terribly sorry that this posting is so late. I had a lot of catching up to do when I got back from Sydney and I’m only just finding a bit of time to post this week’s blog entry. Can you believe its already April??? During March we hit another record of 1342 visitors to the site. Great stuff!
Now last week as I mentioned I was in Sydney for the Membership Lifecycle Board meeting for the Australian Computer Society and it was a great experience meeting such a high calibre of board members including the CIO of CSC Stephen Kowal and the new CEO of the ACS (yes we like our acronyms!) Kim Denham. The meeting went well but I decided that Sydney really wasn’t my kind of city.
For example, I went to a shopping centre that was supposidley near my hotel. It was about a 20 minute walk away and when I finally found the place, it took me another 20 minutes to walk all around the outside to work out how to get into the place. In the end, I ended up going in through a fire escape door. So frustrating!!!
While I was in Sydney I travelled around by taxi and I made use of the time between places to talk to the cab drivers and I had some really great conversations with them.
The first trip was from the airport to the hotel and my driver was from Bangladesh. He’d been living in Sydney for 10 years and driving cabs most of that time. He has a family and is proud of his children growing up in Australia. We spoke about the changes that the Rudd government were proposing and how did he feel about them. He voted for Rudd and believes that he’ll do a great job and take the country to a new level. I asked him if he had any plans for retirement and he said that he wanted to open up a restaurant but didn’t know the first thing about the business side of things even though he could cook some great food. I suggested he watched Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares and learn the business behind running a restaurant. I hope it all works out for him because I’ve never actually been to a Bangladeshi restaurant and I’m sure I would cherish the experience!
My second trip by cab was from my hotel to my cousin’s place for dinner. My driver was a little reserved but when I found out he was from Singapore, I mentioned how I used to go there every year as a kid on my way to Sri Lanka and we started to share stories about the local hotspots over there. Turns out that he’s been living in Sydney for 30 years. He’s seen quite a lot during that time and in his own words he’s seen Sydney “grow up”. Interesting way to look at it as we don’t often think of cities having biological characteristics. He has a family in Sydney and doesn’t think he could live anywhere else in the world. He’s excited about the changes that the government is proposing but feels as though they would need to do more for education in order to really bring Australia to the world stage in business competition. He was a great guy and I enjoyed chatting with him.
My last cab trip was from the hotel back to the airport and my driver this time was from India. Again we shared stories about our cultures and spoke about the governments proposed changes and how he felt about them. Again another fan of the Rudd Government who’d been living in Sydney for 10 years and was looking forward to the changes. He has a family in Sydney and only drives taxis on Sundays while the other days he drives buses. As we continued to talk it came out that he liked doing community development activities to give something back to the city that has welcomed him and his family. His aim upon retirement is to create a charity organisation that will help those less fortunate than him and perhaps assist to give kids a better education through scholarships. What a great idea! He also said that charity first begins at the home and then expands from there - which is very true. The topic then switched over to his Son and he explained that he was quite frustrated with him. He’s only 16 years old and sits infront of his computer all day long and doesn’t get any exercise. As a result his son is close to 100kg which is DEFINITELY not a good thing. He has tried everything to convince his son to lead a healthy lifestyle but unfortunately nothings worked so he’s given up. I hope things get better for him and his family soon as he seems like a great guy and I really would like to see his charity organisation established one day to help others.
Three amazing conversations with three great people and I found the experience quite interesting. Living in Darwin, everything is close by so those of us who catch cabs don’t really have the time to talk to cab drivers at length which is a real shame because I’m sure they could have some great stories to share.
Speaking of stories, I’ve just told you about three great cab rides but I should point out that I always haven’t had the best times in a cab. Last year when I was in Perth my trip from the airport to my hotel was quite interesting but I was quite relieved to arrive at the hotel in once piece. My cab driver was a young indian guy who had some quite unique ideas about perth and life in general. When he rocked on up to pick me up he didn’t get out of the cab to help me with my bags (a big mistake on customer service!) and when I hopped into the cabin with him he had all these shopping bags in there. In an attempt to start a conversation I asked him if he’d been shopping. He said “no...these are my gadgets.” and then while he was driving reached down into the bags and started pulling out all these electronic devices. Now fair enough if he pulled out a cd player or a mobile phone handsfree kit but this guy pulled out an ipod, 2 GPS trackers, a handheld tv, and a radar detector - which constantly kept beeping everytime we passed a cop car. I’m not sure which impressed me the most, the amount of electronic devices in the cab, or the manner in which he was driving and setting up the gadgets at the same time! He played some hindi songs quite loud and proceeded to sing along to the chorus of each one even though it was clear that his talents lied elsewhere. In between verses he complained constantly about the government and how Australia was so backward in everything but his master plan was to become a professional university student and milk the system. Charming!
So as you can see you win some, and you lose some.
Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!
AJ~
p.s. The NT Young Achiever of the Year awards are on tonight so wish me luck! Stay tunned to find out how I did...
Author: AJ Kulatunga
Category:
Inspire, ACS, Sydney, Taxi
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Everyday People
Sunday, March 23rd 2008
Hey Folks! Hit the 1000 visitor mark early this month so thanks to everyone who continuously promotes the site!
Have you ever been in conversation with someone and they drop a name and instantly expect you to know who that person is? For example I was talking about world heroes with a friend of mine and he mentioned the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Gandhi. While I’ve heard these names many times it suddenly struck me that I don’t know the full extent of why exactly are these people heroes? So this week I thought I’d look into exactly who these people are, and what makes them so special.
Name: Mahatma Gandhi
My understanding: Indian world leader for peace who wore VERY simple clothing
Who was he really:
Gandhi was born in 1869 and lived 78 years before his assassination in 1948. He was an Indian political and spiritual leader who pioneered the concept of Satyagraha or non violent resistance. He was deeply sadened by the way Indians were being treated and campaigned tirelessly to ensure equality for all those around him.His main activities as a peaceful protester in both South Africa and India were in relation to alleviating poverty, liberating women, ending the discrimination caused by the caste system.
He also protested strongly against the British imposed Salt Tax and subsequently led his Quit India campaign calling for the British to leave India. He lived quite a simple life in his own Ashram and made his own clothing, surviving on a vegetarian diet. Gandhi was well known for his fasting as self purification.
Gandhi went to London to study law and also ended up joining the British Armed Forces in South Africa during the time of the Zulu War.
For more info check out the wikipedia article on Gandhi
Name: Mother Teresa
My understanding: A nun who worked with un children
Who was she really:
Mother Teresa was an Albanian nun who worked tirelessly for the poor and homeless. She started the ordain The Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta with only 13 members in 1950. The purpose of this Mission was to look after “...the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.”
She pioneered the concept of a home for the dying, a palative care centre for “… people who lived like animals to die like angels — loved and wanted.” Individuals entering the home were given medical treatment and last rites according to their individual faiths. These homes were eventually expanded into orphanages, other hospices and leprosy homes.
By the time of her death in 1997, the organisation had grown to have 4,000 nuns and over 100,000 volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These missions included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children’s and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
For more info, check out the wikipedia article on Mother Teresa
Name: Nelson Mandela
My understanding: A South African political leader who was jailed for a very long time and managed to abolish apartheid upon his release.
Who was he really:
Nelson Mandela was the 11th President of South Africa of the African National Congress (ANC) Party who campaigned against justice and quality for blacks and whites during a fierce reign of Apartheid in the country. Before becoming President, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist for the ANC’s armed wing and commit ed a number of sabotage offences that he was subsequently sent to jail for 27 years.
While in jail Mandela was classified as a the lowest category of prisoner and was allowed only one visitor and one letter every six months. Making good use of his time in there, Mandela undertook a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London. During his jail term there was an increasing amount of international political pressure to have him released but unfortunately things were not able to change until P.W. Botha, the existing president during the time of Mandela’s imprisonment, stepped down from office.
After being released from prison, Mandela adopted a reconciliation and negotiation policy for his party and campaigned for equality to both blacks and whites. An example of his presidential potential is in his address to the nation following the assassination of ANC leader Chris Hani in 1993:
Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with the President at the time F.W. de Klerk for their combined efforts in negotiation of peaceful multi-racial elections within the country. Subsequently Mandela was elected as President of South Africa - the country’s first black president and the oldest - 77 years.
For more info check out the wikipedia article about Nelson Mandela
I used Wikipedia as my main source of information and even though the articles might not be 100% accurate, they still are able to articulate the amazing characteristics of these people. Its important to keep in mind that though these people are all hailed as heroes in the world today, they are still everyday people like you and me. They just have extra-ordinary stories to tell.
Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!
AJ~
p.s. Next week’s post might be a bit late as I’m in Sydney for a board meeting and might not be able to post on time.
Author: AJ Kulatunga
Category:
Dream, Inspire, Lead, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Everyday People
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